Shloka 151
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
त्रैलोक्यगोप्ता गोविन्दो गोमार्गोडमार्ग एव च | श्रेष्ठ: स्थिरश्न स्थाणुश्न निष्कम्प: कम्प एव च
trailokyagoptā govindo gomārgo ’mārga eva ca | śreṣṭhaḥ sthiraḥ sthāṇuś ca niṣkampāḥ kampa eva ca ||
भीष्म बोले— आप त्रैलोक्य के रक्षक गोविन्द हैं। आप इन्द्रियों के लिए ‘मार्ग’ भी हैं और इन्द्रियातीत ‘अमार्ग’ भी। आप श्रेष्ठ, स्थिर, स्थाणु; निष्कम्प भी और कम्प (गति का तत्त्व) भी हैं।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the Divine (Govinda) encompasses apparent opposites—stillness and motion, accessible guidance and transcendence beyond the senses—and is ultimately the protector and healer who removes both mental and physical suffering. Ethically, it grounds dharma in reliance on a cosmic order upheld by the Supreme.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma after the war. Here he offers a hymn-like enumeration of divine names and qualities, praising Govinda as the guardian of the worlds and the source of both restraint and relief from human afflictions.