Shloka 68

Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment

Parāśara’s Instruction

Devanagari script

भीष्म उवाच श्रूयतां देवदेवस्य 42426 सडक :। गूढव्रतस्य गुह्मानि प्रकाशानि च भारत

Transliteration

bhīṣma uvāca: śrūyatāṃ devadevasya … gūḍhavratasya guhyāni prakāśāni ca bhārata.

Translation

毗湿摩说道：“噢，婆罗多的后裔，且听我言。大天（摩诃提婆）——诸神之神，誓行幽深，功业奇绝——其名有的秘而不宣，有的昭然宣告。你当尽听其全。”

Word by Word

• {'bhīṣma uvāca': 'Bhishma said', 'śrūyatām': 'let it be heard

• listen (imperative/passive exhortation)', 'devadevasya': 'of the god of gods (supreme deity)', 'mahādeva': 'Mahadeva

• a principal epithet of Śiva', 'gūḍha': 'hidden, profound, secret', 'vrata': 'vow

• disciplined practice', 'gūḍhavratasya': 'of one whose vows/observances are secret or profound', 'guhyāni': 'secret things

• esoteric (here: secret names/epithets)', 'prakāśāni': 'manifest, public, openly known (here: public names/epithets)', 'ca': 'and', 'bhārata': 'O Bhārata

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Bhārata (Yudhiṣṭhira as addressee)
• Devadeva
• Mahādeva (Śiva)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames a dharmic approach to devotion: the divine can be approached through both publicly known epithets and more guarded, esoteric names. It signals that spiritual knowledge has levels—some meant for general recitation and some reserved for disciplined seekers—yet both belong to the same sacred reality.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva dialogue, Bhishma continues instructing Yudhiṣṭhira. Here he introduces a forthcoming enumeration or discussion of Mahādeva’s names, distinguishing between secret (guhya) and openly proclaimed (prakāśa) designations, and asks the king to listen attentively.