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,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
trailokyagoptā govindo gomārgo ’mārga eva ca | śreṣṭhaḥ sthiraḥ sthāṇuś ca niṣkampāḥ kampa eva ca ||
Bhīṣma said: He is the Protector of the three worlds—Govinda. He is the ‘path’ that guides the senses, and also the ‘non-path’ beyond the reach of the senses. He is the Supreme, the Steady, the Immovable Pillar; He is the Unshaken, and yet the very principle of movement. He is the hard-to-face and hard-to-endure, the irresistible and unconquerable—yet also Victory itself. He is swift as a hare, radiant as the moon, and the restrainer like Yama. It is He who removes cold and heat, hunger, old age, and the burdens of mental anxiety; He is both affliction and remedy—disease and the one who heals it.
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.