Shloka 80
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
नमोर्ध्वदंष्टकेशाय शुक्लायावतताय च । विलोहिताय धूम्राय नीलग्रीवाय वै नम:
namordhvadaṃṣṭrakeśāya śuklāyāvatatāya ca | vilohitāya dhūmrāya nīlagrīvāya vai namaḥ ||
Nagpupugay si Bhishma sa Kataas-taasan: sa may pangil na nakataas at buhok na nakatindig; sa Śukla—ang dalisay at maningning na katotohanan—at sa Avatata—ang lumalaganap bilang nahahayag na sansinukob. Kapag kaugnay ng rajas, Siya’y Vilohita, mapula; kapag kaugnay ng tamas, Siya’y Dhūmra, kulay-usok. May tandang bughaw sa leeg, Siya’y pinupuri bilang Nīlagrīva. Sa Kanya ang pagyukod at pagsamba.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a devotional and philosophical recognition that the one supreme reality can be spoken of through multiple forms and qualities: transcendent purity (śukla), immanent cosmic expansion (avatata), and appearances conditioned by the guṇas—red with rajas (vilohita) and smoke-colored with tamas (dhūmra).
Bhīṣma is offering a hymn-like salutation, invoking a fierce yet cosmic form identified by epithets such as Urdhvadaṃṣṭrakeśa and Nīlagrīva, praising the deity’s manifestations and attributes as part of a larger didactic discourse in the Śānti Parva.