Shloka 95

Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment

Parāśara’s Instruction

Devanagari script

नमो रक्तविरक्ताय भावनायाक्षमालिने । सम्भिन्नाय विभिन्नाय छायायातपनाय च

Transliteration

namo raktaviraktāya bhāvanāyākṣamāline | sambhinnāya vibhinnāya chāyāyātapanāya ca ||

Translation

礼敬那至上本原：既染亦离；礼敬那内在之力——成就与观照之能，佩持不坏音节之念珠者。亦礼敬那真实：既一亦多，显为荫影与炎热——诸对立同归于一处遍满一切的根基。

Word by Word

• नमः: salutation; homage
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: नमस्
• Form: Avyaya (indeclinable interjection of salutation)

• रक्तविरक्ताय: to (him who is) attached and detached
• रक्तविरक्ताय: Sampradana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: रक्तविरक्त
• Form: Masculine, Dative, Singular

• भावनाय: to the creative power / contemplation
• भावनाय: Sampradana
• Type: Noun
• Root: भावना
• Form: Feminine, Dative, Singular

• अक्षमालिने: to the rosary-bearer
• अक्षमालिने: Sampradana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अक्षमालिन्
• Form: Masculine, Dative, Singular

• सम्भिन्नाय: to the united / compacted
• सम्भिन्नाय: Sampradana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सम्भिन्न
• Form: Masculine, Dative, Singular

• विभिन्नाय: to the separated / diverse
• विभिन्नाय: Sampradana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: विभिन्न
• Form: Masculine, Dative, Singular

• छायाय: to the shade
• छायाय: Sampradana
• Type: Noun
• Root: छाया
• Form: Feminine, Dative, Singular

• आतपनाय: to the sunshine / heat
• आतपनाय: Sampradana
• Type: Noun
• Root: आतपन
• Form: Masculine, Dative, Singular

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च
• Form: Avyaya (conjunction)

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• the Supreme reality (unnamed; addressed through epithets)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse praises the highest principle as encompassing opposites—attachment and detachment, unity and multiplicity, shade and heat—suggesting that ultimate dharma and truth transcend rigid binaries and hold the world’s contradictions within a single coherent reality.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Shanti Parva, Bhishma instructs Yudhishthira on dharma and higher wisdom; here he shifts into a hymn-like salutation, invoking the Supreme through paradoxical epithets to orient ethical teaching within a devotional and metaphysical framework.