Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
शिल्पिक: शिसल्पिनां श्रेष्ठ: सर्वशिल्पप्रवर्तक: । भगनेत्राड्कुशश्वण्ड: पूष्णो दन्तविनाशन:
śilpikaḥ śilpināṁ śreṣṭhaḥ sarvaśilpapravartakaḥ | bhaganetrāṅkuśaśvaṇḍaḥ pūṣṇo dantavināśanaḥ ||
भीष्म म्हणाले— आप शिल्पकारांमध्ये श्रेष्ठ शिल्पी आहात; सर्व शिल्पांचे प्रवर्तक व प्रवर्धक आहात। आपणच भगदेवतेचा नेत्र भेदला; आपणच पूषाचे दात मोडले। अंकुश व दंड धारण करणारे, चंड—दोष दडपून व्यवस्था स्थापणारे—आपच स्मरणीय आहात।
भीष्म उवाच
The verse presents a model of authority that both disciplines and enables: the same divine force that punishes transgression (even among gods) is also the source that establishes and sustains the ordered practices—arts, crafts, and duties—by which society functions in harmony with dharma.
Bhīṣma is listing epithets and identifying marks of a powerful deity (commonly understood as Rudra/Śiva): he is praised as the supreme patron of crafts, and recalled through mythic acts—blinding Bhaga and breaking Pūṣan’s teeth—motifs associated with the chastisement of the gods in the context of sacrificial conflict (often linked to the Dakṣa-yajña tradition).