Shloka 154
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
मम यज्ञमृगव्याधो व्याधीनामागमो गम: । शिखण्डी पुण्डरीकाक्ष: पुण्डरीकवनालय:
mama yajña-mṛga-vyādho vyādhīnām āgamo gamaḥ | śikhaṇḍī puṇḍarīkākṣaḥ puṇḍarīka-vanālayaḥ ||
Bhīṣma dit : «Tu es le chasseur qui abat le “cerf du sacrifice” : c’est toi qui fais venir les maladies et c’est toi qui les ôtes. Dans la forme de Kṛṣṇa, parce que tu portes au front la huppe de plumes de paon (śikhaṇḍa), on te nomme Śikhaṇḍī. Tu as des yeux de lotus et tu demeures dans une forêt de lotus.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the divine is the ultimate cause behind both adversity and its resolution—diseases ‘come’ and ‘go’ under the same sovereign power. Ethically, it encourages humility and surrender: rather than seeing suffering as random, one recognizes a higher order and seeks refuge in dharma and devotion.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma delivers teachings and praises; here he offers a stuti-like address, piling epithets upon the Lord (identified through lotus-eyed imagery and the peacock-crest association with Kṛṣṇa). The praise frames Kṛṣṇa as the hidden agent who both inflicts and cures, emphasizing divine control over life’s extremes.