Shloka 168
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
प्रविश्य वदनं राहोर्य: सोम॑ पिबते निशि । ग्रसत्यर्क च स्वर्भानुर्भूत्वा मां सोडभिरक्षतु
praviśya vadanaṃ rāhor yaḥ somaṃ pibate niśi | grasaty arkaṃ ca svarbhānur bhūtvā māṃ so 'ḍabhir rakṣatu
Dijo Bhīṣma: «Que Svarbhānu—quien, entrando en la boca de Rāhu, bebe el Soma en la noche y también arrebata al Sol—me proteja, habiéndose vuelto de seis colmillos».
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse functions as an invocation for protection, drawing on powerful cosmic imagery (eclipse myths) to express the idea that formidable forces—those capable of overpowering even the Sun and Moon—can be appealed to as guardians.
Bhīṣma utters a protective formula, referring to the eclipse-being (Svarbhānu/Rāhu) who is said to ‘drink Soma’ at night and ‘seize the Sun,’ and asks that being to protect him, described here as having six fangs.