Shloka 71
Bhīṣma’s Śara-śayyā Stuti to Vāsudeva and Yogic Preparation for Dehotsarga
Body-Relinquishment
(वैद्युतो जाठरश्वैव पावक: शुचिरेव च । दहन: सर्वभक्षाणां तस्मै वल्लयात्मने नमः ||) जो मेघमें विद्युत् और उदरमें जठरानलके रूपमें स्थित हैं
vaidyuto jāṭharaś caiva pāvakaḥ śucir eva ca | dahanaḥ sarvabhakṣāṇāṃ tasmai vahnayātmane namaḥ || viṣaye vartamānānāṃ yaṃ te vaiśeṣikair guṇaiḥ | prāhur viṣayagoptāraṃ tasmai goptṛātmane namaḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: Salutations to that Supreme Self whose very form is Fire—present as lightning in the clouds and as the digestive flame within the belly; called ‘Pāvaka’ because it purifies all, and ‘Śuci’ because it is pure by its own nature; the burner that consumes every kind of food and offering. Salutations again to that Supreme Self who is the Protector of sense-objects: when people, drawn by the particular qualities described by the Vaiśeṣikas—form, taste, and the like—rush toward enjoyment, He is declared to be the guardian who saves them from bondage to those objects.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse praises the Supreme as immanent in Agni—both cosmic (lightning) and bodily (digestive fire)—and as the inner protector who helps beings avoid enslavement to sense-objects attracted by their qualities (form, taste, etc.). It links reverence with ethical self-restraint: purification is not only ritual but also freedom from attachment.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and inner discipline. Here he offers a devotional salutation (namaskāra) describing the Divine through the symbol of fire and then shifts to a philosophical-ethical point: the same Divine guards those who are drawn into worldly enjoyments by sensory qualities.