Shloka 157
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
हिरण्यरेता: पुरुषस्त्वमेव त्वं स्त्री पुमांस्त्वं च नपुंसकं च । बालो युवा स्थविरो जीर्णदिष्ट- स्त्वं नागेन्द्र शक्रस्त्वं विश्वकृद्धिश्चकर्ता
hiraṇyaretāḥ puruṣas tvam eva tvaṁ strī pumāṁs tvaṁ ca napuṁsakaṁ ca | bālo yuvā sthaviro jīrṇadiṣṭas tvaṁ nāgendra śakras tvaṁ viśvakṛd dhiś ca kartā ||
Bhīṣma dijo: «Sólo tú eres Hiraṇyaretas, la semilla dorada, el poder ígneo de la creación; y tú eres también la Persona interior. Tú eres mujer, varón y el tercer género; tú eres el niño, el joven y el anciano. ¡Oh señor de los Nāgas!, tú eres asimismo Śakra (Indra). Tú eres el hacedor y el deshacedor del universo: su creador, su sustentador y su disolutor, manifestado en toda forma y función».
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches an all-inclusive vision of the divine: the same ultimate reality appears as every gender, every age, and even as major deities like Indra. Ethically, it supports reverence toward all beings and life-stages as expressions of one cosmic principle, grounding dharma in universality rather than narrow identity.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma—lying on the bed of arrows—delivers long instruction and praise concerning dharma and ultimate reality. Here he is offering a hymn-like identification of the supreme with all forms and functions of the cosmos, using a litany of identities (Agni/creative power, Puruṣa, genders, ages, Indra) to express divine omnipresence.