Shloka 89
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
नमो ज्येष्ठाय श्रेष्ठाय बलप्रमथनाय च । कालनाथाय कल्याय क्षयायोपक्षयाय च
namo jyeṣṭhāya śreṣṭhāya balapramathanāya ca | kālanāthāya kalyāya kṣayāyopakṣayāya ca ||
Pagpupugay sa Iyo—sa pinakamatanda at pinakadakila. Ikaw ang dumurog sa demonyong si Bala, nang Ikaw ay nagpakita sa anyo ni Indra. Ikaw ang Panginoon maging ng Panahon, ang makapangyarihan sa lahat. Ikaw ang Dakilang Pagkalusaw at gayundin ang mga munting pagkalusaw na paulit-ulit na dumarating. Sa Iyo ako yumuyuko.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames the Supreme as both auspicious and terrifyingly absolute: the Lord is beyond all hierarchy (eldest and best), governs even Time, and is the principle behind both periodic and final dissolution. Ethically, it teaches humility and surrender before the cosmic order that no power—human or divine—can escape.
In Shanti Parva, Bhishma instructs Yudhishthira on dharma and higher truths. Here he offers a hymn-like salutation, praising the addressed deity’s supremacy through epithets and mythic reference (the subjugation of the daitya Bala), and by identifying the deity with Time and cosmic dissolution.