Shloka 7
Rudra-Śiva: Names, Two Natures, and the Logic of Epithets (रुद्रनाम-बहुरूपत्व-प्रकरणम्)
मेरा पश्चिमवाला मुख सौम्य है और सम्पूर्ण प्राणियोंको सुख देनेवाला है तथा दक्षिण दिशावाला भयानक मुख रौद्र है, जो समस्त प्रजाका संहार करता है ।।
paścimavālaṁ mukhaṁ me saumyaṁ ca sarvaprāṇisukhapradam | dakṣiṇadiśāvālaṁ bhayānakaṁ mukhaṁ raudraṁ ca yat samastaprajāsaṁhārakam || jaṭilo brahmacārī ca lokānāṁ hitakāmyayā | devakāryārthasiddhyarthaṁ pinākaṁ me kare sthitam ||
ビーシュマは言った。「我が西に向く御面は柔和にして、あらゆる生きとし生けるものに安楽を与える。されど南に向く御面は恐るべく憤怒に燃え、万の生類に滅びをもたらす。諸世界の福利のため、我は結髪して梵行を守る苦行者の姿にとどまり、神々の目的を成就するため、弓ピナーカは常に我が手にある。」
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a dharmic model of power held in restraint: benevolence is offered to protect and nourish beings, while fierceness is reserved for necessary destruction in service of cosmic order and the gods’ purpose. Ascetic discipline (brahmacarya) is shown as compatible with decisive action when undertaken for lokahita (the welfare of the world).
The speaker describes having two contrasting aspects—gentle and welfare-giving in one direction, terrifying and destructive in another—and explains that he maintains an ascetic guise for the good of the worlds while keeping the weapon Pināka ready to fulfill divine objectives.