Shloka 153
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
शश: शशाड्क: शमन: शीतोष्णक्षुज्जराधिकृत् । आधयो व्याधयश्रैव व्याधिहा व्याधिरेव च
śaśaḥ śaśāṅkaḥ śamanaḥ śītoṣṇa-kṣud-jarādhikṛt | ādhayo vyādhayaś caiva vyādhihā vyādhir eva ca ||
ભીષ્મ બોલ્યા— હે પ્રભુ! તમે જ શશ, શશાંક (ચંદ્ર) અને શમન (યમ) છો. શીત-ઉષ્ણ, ભૂખ અને જરા— એ બધું કરાવનાર પણ તમે જ અને હરનાર પણ તમે જ. તમે જ આધિ-વ્યાધિ છો અને તમે જ વ્યાધિનો નાશ કરનાર વૈદ્ય; તમે જ રોગ અને તમે જ તેનું ઔષધ.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The Lord is portrayed as the ultimate ground of both bondage and release: He is present as the very conditions of suffering (ādhi, vyādhi, hunger, old age, heat/cold) and also as the power that pacifies and removes them. Ethically, this encourages equanimity toward life’s opposites and devotion/surrender to the divine source beyond them.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma—lying on his bed of arrows and instructing Yudhiṣṭhira—utters a hymn-like sequence of divine names and attributes. This verse is part of that praise, identifying the deity with cosmic functions (Moon, Yama) and with human experiences of affliction and healing.