Shloka 154
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
मम यज्ञमृगव्याधो व्याधीनामागमो गम: । शिखण्डी पुण्डरीकाक्ष: पुण्डरीकवनालय:
mama yajña-mṛga-vyādho vyādhīnām āgamo gamaḥ | śikhaṇḍī puṇḍarīkākṣaḥ puṇḍarīka-vanālayaḥ ||
Бхишма сказал: «Ты — охотник, поражающий “жертвенного оленя”; ты же приносишь болезни и ты же их устраняешь. В облике Кришны, нося на голове павлинье перо (śikhaṇḍa), ты зовёшься Śikhaṇḍī. Ты — лотосоокий, обитающий в лесу лотосов».
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the divine is the ultimate cause behind both adversity and its resolution—diseases ‘come’ and ‘go’ under the same sovereign power. Ethically, it encourages humility and surrender: rather than seeing suffering as random, one recognizes a higher order and seeks refuge in dharma and devotion.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma delivers teachings and praises; here he offers a stuti-like address, piling epithets upon the Lord (identified through lotus-eyed imagery and the peacock-crest association with Kṛṣṇa). The praise frames Kṛṣṇa as the hidden agent who both inflicts and cures, emphasizing divine control over life’s extremes.