Shloka 105

Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment

Parāśara’s Instruction

Devanagari script

बालानुचरगोप्ताय बालक्रीडनकाय च । नमो वृद्धाय लुब्धाय क्षुब्धाय क्षोभणाय च

Transliteration

bālānucaragoptāya bālakrīḍanakāya ca | namo vṛddhāya lubdhāya kṣubdhāya kṣobhaṇāya ca ||

Translation

بھیشم نے کہا: بچوں اور ان کے ساتھیوں کے محافظ، اور بچوں کے ساتھ کھیلنے والے آپ کو نمسکار۔ سب میں سب سے بزرگ، بھکتی اور پریم کے مشتاق، بدکاروں کے پاپ آچار سے برہم ہونے والے، اور دُراچاریوں کو اضطراب میں ڈالنے والے آپ کو پرنام۔

Word by Word

• {'bāla': 'child

• young one', 'anucara': 'follower

• companion', 'goptṛ/goptā': 'protector

• guardian', 'bālakrīḍana': 'playing with children

• childlike sport', 'namo': 'salutation

• homage', 'vṛddha': 'elder

• venerable', 'lubdha': 'eager

• ‘greedy’ (here: longing for devotion/love)', 'kṣubdha': 'agitated

• moved (often by moral outrage)', 'kṣobhaṇa': 'one who causes agitation

• one who unsettles (here: of wrongdoers)'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Śrī Kṛṣṇa
• bāla (children)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames the divine ideal as both tender and corrective: the Lord lovingly protects and plays with the innocent, yet becomes morally stirred by evil and actively unsettles wrongdoers. It presents dharma as compassionate guardianship combined with firm opposition to adharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma offers a hymn of praise to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, describing his qualities through epithets—guardian of children, playful companion, the most venerable, desirous of devotees’ love, and the one who is provoked by sinners and who provokes the wicked into turmoil.