Shloka 140
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
मृत्यु, क्षुर॒ .छेदन करनेका शस्त्र), कृत्य (छेदन करने योग्य), पक्ष (मित्र) तथा अपक्ष- क्षयंकर (शत्रुपक्षका नाश करनेवाले) भी आप ही हैं। आप मेघके समान काले, बड़ी-बड़ी दाढ़ोंवाले और प्रलयकालीन मेघ हैं ।।
mṛtyuḥ kṣuraś chedana-karaṇaṃ śastraṃ kṛtyaṃ chedana-yogyaṃ pakṣaḥ mitram apakṣa-kṣayaṅkaraḥ śatru-pakṣa-nāśakaś ca tvam eva | tvam megha-samaḥ kālaḥ mahā-dāḍhāḥ pralayakālīya-meghaḥ || ghaṇṭo ’ghaṇṭo ghaṭī ghaṇṭī carucelī milī-milī | brahma-kāyikam agnīnāṃ daṇḍī muṇḍas tri-daṇḍa-dhṛk tvam eva ||
Wika ni Bhīṣma: “Ikaw lamang ang Kamatayan; Ikaw ang sandatang parang labaha na pumuputol, ang mismong pagputol at ang bagay na nararapat putulin; Ikaw ang kaibigan at ang tagawasak ng panig ng kaaway. Maitim na gaya ng ulap-ulan, may pangil na nakapanghihilakbot, Ikaw ay tulad ng mga ulap sa panahon ng pralaya. Tinatawag Ka rin na Ghaṇṭa at Aghaṇṭa, Ghaṭī at Ghaṇṭī—mga kapangyarihang nagpapakita at nagkukubli, nagtatali sa mga nilalang sa bunga ng karma, at umaalingawngaw sa mga daigdig; Ikaw si Carucelī, na nakikipaglaro sa mga may buhay, at si Milī-milī, na lumalaganap sa lahat bilang sanhi. Ikaw ang Brahman; Ikaw ang mga anyo ng mga banal na apoy; Ikaw ang may dalang tungkod, ang ahit-ulong asceta, at ang may hawak ng tatlong tungkod.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse identifies the supreme principle as both terrifying and sustaining: Death and Time, ally and destroyer, manifest and unmanifest. Ethically, it frames worldly power and mortality as expressions of a single cosmic order, urging humility and surrender to dharma rather than ego-driven control.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma—lying on the bed of arrows—utters a hymn-like sequence of divine epithets. Here he praises the deity as the force behind destruction, karmic fruition, and ascetic discipline, using dense names and images (cloud-dark, pralaya, bells/time-measures) to convey omnipresence and sovereignty.