Shloka 95

Devanagari script

नमो रक्तविरक्ताय भावनायाक्षमालिने । सम्भिन्नाय विभिन्नाय छायायातपनाय च

Transliteration

namo raktaviraktāya bhāvanāyākṣamāline | sambhinnāya vibhinnāya chāyāyātapanāya ca ||

Translation

Salve al principio supremo, a la vez apegado y desapegado; a la potencia interior del devenir y de la contemplación, portador del rosario de sílabas imperecederas. Salve también a esa realidad que se muestra unificada y múltiple, y que se manifiesta como sombra y como calor: contrarios reunidos en un único fundamento que todo lo penetra.

Word by Word

नमःsalutation; homage

रक्तविरक्तायto (him who is) attached and detached

भावनायto the creative power / contemplation

अक्षमालिनेto the rosary-bearer

सम्भिन्नायto the united / compacted

विभिन्नायto the separated / diverse

छायायto the shade

आतपनायto the sunshine / heat

चand

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhishma

the Supreme reality (unnamed; addressed through epithets)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse praises the highest principle as encompassing opposites—attachment and detachment, unity and multiplicity, shade and heat—suggesting that ultimate dharma and truth transcend rigid binaries and hold the world’s contradictions within a single coherent reality.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Shanti Parva, Bhishma instructs Yudhishthira on dharma and higher wisdom; here he shifts into a hymn-like salutation, invoking the Supreme through paradoxical epithets to orient ethical teaching within a devotional and metaphysical framework.