Shloka 105

Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment

Parāśara’s Instruction

Devanagari script

बालानुचरगोप्ताय बालक्रीडनकाय च । नमो वृद्धाय लुब्धाय क्षुब्धाय क्षोभणाय च

Transliteration

bālānucaragoptāya bālakrīḍanakāya ca | namo vṛddhāya lubdhāya kṣubdhāya kṣobhaṇāya ca ||

Translation

ビーシュマは言った。「童子たちとその友を守り、彼らと戯れて喜ぶあなたに敬礼する。万有のうち最も古き者、帰依（バクティ）と愛を渇望するあなたに敬礼する。悪しき者の罪業を見れば、あなたは義憤に奮い立ち、不正をなす者を動揺へと投げ込む—その邪道を揺り起こして離れさせる。あなたに礼拝する。」

Word by Word

• {'bāla': 'child

• young one', 'anucara': 'follower

• companion', 'goptṛ/goptā': 'protector

• guardian', 'bālakrīḍana': 'playing with children

• childlike sport', 'namo': 'salutation

• homage', 'vṛddha': 'elder

• venerable', 'lubdha': 'eager

• ‘greedy’ (here: longing for devotion/love)', 'kṣubdha': 'agitated

• moved (often by moral outrage)', 'kṣobhaṇa': 'one who causes agitation

• one who unsettles (here: of wrongdoers)'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Śrī Kṛṣṇa
• bāla (children)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames the divine ideal as both tender and corrective: the Lord lovingly protects and plays with the innocent, yet becomes morally stirred by evil and actively unsettles wrongdoers. It presents dharma as compassionate guardianship combined with firm opposition to adharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma offers a hymn of praise to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, describing his qualities through epithets—guardian of children, playful companion, the most venerable, desirous of devotees’ love, and the one who is provoked by sinners and who provokes the wicked into turmoil.