Shloka 155
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
दण्डधारस्त्र्यम्बकश्ष उग्रदण्डो5ण्डनाशन: । विषाग्निपा: सुरश्रेष्ठ: सोमपास्त्वं मरुत्पति:
daṇḍadhāras tryambakaś ca ugradaṇḍo brahmāṇḍanāśanaḥ | viṣāgnipāḥ suraśreṣṭhaḥ somapās tvaṃ marutpatiḥ ||
Bhīṣma loue le Suprême : «Tu portes le bâton du châtiment ; tu es Tryambaka (le Seigneur aux trois yeux), dont la discipline est terrible et dont la puissance peut dissoudre jusqu’à l’ordre cosmique. Tu peux boire le poison et le feu ; tu es le meilleur des dieux, buveur de Soma, et seigneur des Maruts.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the Supreme Lord embodies both mercy and discipline: he upholds dharma by wielding corrective authority (daṇḍa) and, at the cosmic level, has the power to dissolve the universe when order must be reset. Devotion here recognizes divine governance as ethically purposeful, not merely destructive.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma delivers teachings and praises the divine through a litany of epithets. Here he addresses the Lord with names strongly associated with Śiva (Tryambaka, poison/fire-drinker) and also with Vedic-divine sovereignty (Soma-drinker, lord of the Maruts), presenting the addressed deity as the all-encompassing source of divine powers.