Shloka 112

Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment

Parāśara’s Instruction

Devanagari script

काम कामद कामघ्न तृप्तातृप्तविचारिणे । सर्व सर्वद सर्वघ्न संध्याराग नमोस्तु ते

Transliteration

kāma kāmada kāmaghna tṛptātṛptavicāriṇe | sarva sarvada sarvaghna sandhyārāga namo'stu te ||

Translation

Bhīṣma nói: Hỡi Kāma—đấng ban dục vọng, đấng diệt dục vọng; đấng xét soi trạng thái thỏa mãn và bất mãn; hỡi Đấng Là Tất Cả—đấng ban tất cả và cũng hủy diệt tất cả—con xin kính lễ Ngài, hỡi đấng mang sắc màu hoàng hôn.

Word by Word

• काम: O Desire (personified)
• काम: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: काम
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• कामद: giver of desires
• कामद: Adhikarana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: कामद
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• कामघ्न: destroyer of desires
• कामघ्न: Adhikarana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: कामघ्न
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• तृप्तातृप्तविचारिणे: to the discerner of the satisfied and the unsatisfied
• तृप्तातृप्तविचारिणे: Sampradana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: तृप्त-अतृप्त-विचारिन्
• Form: Masculine, Dative, Singular

• सर्व: O All (all-pervading one)
• सर्व: Adhikarana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सर्व
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• सर्वद: giver of all
• सर्वद: Adhikarana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सर्वद
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• सर्वघ्न: destroyer of all
• सर्वघ्न: Adhikarana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सर्वघ्न
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• संध्याराग: O one of twilight-hue / twilight-redness
• संध्याराग: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: संध्याराग
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• नमः: salutation
• नमः: Karma
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: नमस्

• अस्तु: may it be
• Type: Verb
• Root: अस्
• Form: Imperative (Vidhi-lin), Third, Singular

• ते: to you
• ते: Sampradana
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: युष्मद्
• Form: Dative, Singular

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Kāma (Desire)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Desire (kāma) is portrayed as ambivalent: it can fulfill aims (kāmada) yet also annihilate them (kāmaghna), and it keeps the mind oscillating between satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Ethical life requires discerning this force and governing it so that it does not overpower dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s instruction, Bhīṣma delivers reflective teachings to guide conduct after the war. Here he offers a reverential address to Kāma, recognizing its cosmic and psychological power—both creative and destructive—within the moral analysis of human motivation.