Shloka 156
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
अमृतपास्त्वं जगन्नाथ देवदेव गणेश्वर: । विषाग्निपा मृत्युपाश्च क्षीरपा: सोमपास्तथा । मधुधश्न्युतानामग्रपास्त्वमेव तुषिताद्यपा:
amṛtapāstvam jagannātha devadeva gaṇeśvaraḥ | viṣāgnipā mṛtyupāś ca kṣīrapāḥ somapās tathā | madhudhaśnyutānām agrapās tvam eva tuṣitādyapāḥ, devādhideva jagannātha |
Wika ni Bhīṣma: “O Panginoon ng sansinukob, O Diyos ng mga diyos, O Pinuno ng mga pangkat! Ikaw ang umiinom ng amṛta. Ikaw ang tagapagtanggol laban sa lason, apoy, at kamatayan. Ikaw rin ang tumatanggap ng gatas at Soma. Para sa mga nilalang na nalihis mula sa ligaya, Ikaw ang pangunahing kanlungan at tagapag-ingat; at Ikaw ang sumusuporta maging sa mga Tuṣita at sa sinaunang ninuno (Brahmā).”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the highest dharma is reliance on the Supreme Protector who sustains the cosmos: the Lord is portrayed as the source of immortality and the guardian who wards off poison, fire, and death, making devotion and surrender a stabilizing ethical orientation amid human vulnerability.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma after the war; here he offers a hymn of praise, enumerating divine epithets to emphasize the Lord’s universal sovereignty and protective power over gods and afflicted beings alike.