Shloka 103
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
आप ही यज्ञके निर्वाहक अथवा उसे सब देवताओंतक पहुँचानेवाले अग्निदेव हैं। आप मन और इन्द्रियोंको वशमें रखनेवाले हैं। आप ही भक्तोंका कष्ट देखकर संतप्त होनेवाले तथा शत्रुओंको संताप देनेवाले हैं। आप ही तट हैं। आप ही तटवर्ती नदी आदि हैं तथा आप ही तटोंके पालक हैं। आपको नमस्कार है ।।
bhīṣma uvāca | āpa hi yajñasya nirvāhakaḥ athavā taṁ sarva-devatābhyaḥ prāpayitā agnidevaḥ asi | tvaṁ mana-indriyāṇāṁ vaśīkartā asi | tvaṁ bhaktānāṁ duḥkhaṁ dṛṣṭvā santaptaḥ, śatrūṇāṁ ca santāpa-kartā asi | tvaṁ eva taṭaḥ asi | tvaṁ eva taṭavartinī nadī-ādayaḥ asi, tathā tvaṁ eva taṭānāṁ pālakaḥ asi | te namaḥ || annadāya annapataye namas tv annabhuje tathā | namaḥ sahasraśīrṣāya sahasracaraṇāya ca ||
毗湿摩说道：你正是祭祀的维系者——确然，你即火神阿耆尼，将供献传达诸天。你能制御心意与诸根。见信众受苦，你以悲悯而炽然；临于仇敌，你以威力灼烧。你是堤岸，赐予界限与安护；你亦是河流，以及依岸而住的一切；你又是诸岸的守护者。向你致敬。你是施食者、食之主、亦是食之享受者。具千首千足者啊，我一次又一次向你顶礼。
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents the Supreme as both immanent and transcendent: the power that sustains ritual order (yajña/Agni), grants inner discipline (control of mind and senses), protects devotees with compassionate concern, and governs cosmic nourishment (food as giver, lord, and enjoyer). It frames ethical life as sustained by divine order and self-mastery, while devotion recognizes the One behind all functions.
In Śānti Parva, Bhishma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and related teachings. Here he offers a hymn of praise (stuti), addressing the divine as the universal principle manifesting as sacrificial fire, moral restraint, protection, and cosmic form, culminating in salutations to the all-pervading thousand-headed, thousand-footed Lord.