Shloka 150
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
अधर्महा महापार्श्चक्षण्डधारो गणाधिप: । गोनर्दो गोप्रतारश्न॒ गोवृषेश्चवरवाहन:,आप अधर्मके नाशक, महापार्श्च, चण्डधार, गणाधिप, गोनर्द, गौओंको आपत्तिसे बचानेवाले, नन्न्दीकी सवारी करनेवाले, त्रैलोक्यरक्षक, गोविन्द (श्रीकृष्णरूप), गोमार्ग (इन्द्रियोंके संचालक), अमार्ग (इन्द्रियोंके अगोचर), श्रेष्ठ, स्थिर, स्थाणु, निष्कम्प, कम्प, दुर्वरण (जिनका सामना करना कठिन है, ऐसे), दुर्विषह (असहा वेगवाले), दुःसह, दुर्लडघ्य, दुर्द्धर्ष, दुष्प्र कम्प, दुर्विष, दुर्जय, जय, शश (शीघ्रगामी), शशांक (चन्द्रमा) तथा शमन (यमराज) हैं। सर्दी-गर्मी, क्षुधा, वृद्धावस्था तथा मानसिक चिन्ताको दूर करनेवाले भी आप ही हैं। आप ही आधि-व्याधि तथा उसे दूर करनेवाले हैं
adharmahā mahāpārśvaś caṇḍadhāro gaṇādhipaḥ | gonardo gopratāraś ca govṛṣaś ca varavāhanaḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “You are the destroyer of unrighteousness; broad-flanked and mighty; the bearer of a fierce weapon; the Lord of hosts. You are Gonarda; the rescuer and protector of cattle in times of peril; and the bull among cows, borne upon the excellent mount. Indeed, you are praised by many such names and powers—hard to withstand, irresistible, unconquerable, yet ever-victorious; swift as the hare, radiant as the moon, and the chastiser like Yama. You alone remove cold and heat, hunger, old age, and the burdens of mental anxiety. You are both the affliction and the remedy: the source of suffering and the one who brings it to an end.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames the Divine as the upholder of dharma and the ultimate refuge: the same supreme reality that permits the experience of hardship is also the power that removes it. Ethically, it urges turning toward dharma and seeking protection in the righteous, sustaining principle rather than in force or fear.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs and consoles Yudhiṣṭhira after the war. Here he offers a praise-list of divine epithets—celebrating the Lord’s power to destroy adharma, protect beings (symbolized by ‘cows’), and relieve human suffering such as hunger, aging, and mental distress.