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 ||
我向你致敬——最古老者、最卓越者。你曾以因陀罗之相摧伏名为“婆罗”的魔。你亦为时间之主，全能无上。你既是大劫之毁灭，亦是周而复始的诸小劫毁灭。我向你稽首。
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.