Shloka 155
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
दण्डधारस्त्र्यम्बकश्ष उग्रदण्डो5ण्डनाशन: । विषाग्निपा: सुरश्रेष्ठ: सोमपास्त्वं मरुत्पति:
daṇḍadhāras tryambakaś ca ugradaṇḍo brahmāṇḍanāśanaḥ | viṣāgnipāḥ suraśreṣṭhaḥ somapās tvaṃ marutpatiḥ ||
Pinuri ni Bhīṣma: “Ikaw ang may hawak ng tungkod ng kaparusahan; Ikaw si Tryambaka, ang Panginoong may tatlong mata. Marahas ang Iyong pagdidisiplina at kaya Mong tunawin maging ang kaayusan ng sansinukob. Ikaw ang nakaiinom ng lason at apoy; Ikaw ang pinakadakila sa mga diyos; umiinom ng Soma; at Panginoon ng mga Marut.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the Supreme Lord embodies both mercy and discipline: he upholds dharma by wielding corrective authority (daṇḍa) and, at the cosmic level, has the power to dissolve the universe when order must be reset. Devotion here recognizes divine governance as ethically purposeful, not merely destructive.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma delivers teachings and praises the divine through a litany of epithets. Here he addresses the Lord with names strongly associated with Śiva (Tryambaka, poison/fire-drinker) and also with Vedic-divine sovereignty (Soma-drinker, lord of the Maruts), presenting the addressed deity as the all-encompassing source of divine powers.