Shloka 153
Dharma-vyādha on Parental Worship
Pitṛ-mātṛ-śuśrūṣā as Paramadaivata
स्वप्रभावाद् दुराधर्षो महाबलपराक्रम: । वे चारों वेदोंके विद्वान् हैं। जरायुज आदि चतुर्विध जीव उन्हींके स्वरूप हैं। उनके चार मुख हैं। उनके बल और पराक्रम महान् हैं। वे अपने प्रभावसे दुर्धर्ष हैं
svaprabhāvād durādharṣo mahābala-parākramaḥ | caturṇāṃ vedānāṃ vidvān | jarāyujādi-caturvidha-jīvāḥ tasyaiva svarūpāḥ | tasya catvāri mukhāni | tasya balaṃ ca parākramaś ca mahān | sa svaprabhāvena durādharṣaḥ |
Mārkaṇḍeya dijo: “Por su propio resplandor innato es inconquistable, dotado de inmensa fuerza y heroico poder. Es versado en los cuatro Vedas. Las cuatro clases de seres vivientes—comenzando por los nacidos del vientre—son manifestaciones de su misma forma. Tiene cuatro rostros; su fuerza y su valor son grandes. Por el poder de su propia naturaleza, nadie puede vencerlo.”
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
True authority is grounded in intrinsic power joined with sacred knowledge: the figure described is unconquerable not by external weapons alone but by innate spiritual potency and complete Vedic wisdom, suggesting that dharma and cosmic order rest on inner excellence and right knowledge.
Mārkaṇḍeya is describing a supremely powerful, four-faced being learned in the four Vedas, identifying the entire spectrum of living creatures as manifestations of that being’s form—an exalted portrayal that frames the character as a cosmic principle of creation and order.