Shloka 85
महाक्रमो महाकर्मा महातेजा महोरग: । महाक्रतुर्महायज्वा महायज्ञों महाहवि:,६७१ महाक्रम:-बड़े वेगसे चलनेवाले, ६७२ महाकर्मा-भिन्न-भिन्न अवतारोंमें नाना प्रकारके महान् कर्म करनेवाले, ६७३ महातेजा:-जिसके तेजसे समस्त सूर्य आदि तेजस्वी देदीप्पमान होते हैं-ऐसे महान् तेजस्वी, ६७४ महोरगः-बड़े भारी सर्प यानी वासुकिस्वरूप, ६७५ महाक्रतुः:-महान् यज्ञस्वरूप, ६७६ महायज्वा-लोकसंग्रहके लिये बड़े-बड़े यज्ञोंका अनुष्ठान करनेवाले, ६७७ महायज्ञ:-जपयज्ञ आदि भगवत्प्राप्तिके साधनरूप समस्त यज्ञ जिनकी विभूतियाँ हैं--ऐसे महान् यज्ञस्वरूप, ६७८ महाहवि:- ब्रह्मरूप अग्निमें हवन किये जाने योग्य प्रपणचरूप हवि जिनका स्वरूप है--ऐसे महान् हवि:स्वरूप
mahākramo mahākarmā mahātejā mahoragaḥ | mahākratur mahāyajvā mahāyajño mahāhaviḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: He is of mighty stride and mighty deeds; of immense splendor, and like a great serpent in power and depth. He is the great sacrificial rite itself, the great performer of sacrifices for the welfare of the worlds; He is the great sacrifice—of whom all sacred offerings and disciplines are manifestations—and He is the great oblation, the very essence fit to be offered into the divine fire. In this hymn-like praise, Bhīṣma frames the Supreme as both the agent and the substance of righteous action, teaching that true dharma culminates in devotion and self-offering to the Highest.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse identifies the Supreme as both the performer of righteous acts and the very substance of worship: He is the sacrificer, the sacrifice, and the offering. Ethically, it implies that dharma is fulfilled when action is consecrated—done for loka-saṅgraha (the welfare and cohesion of the world) and offered inwardly to the Highest rather than claimed as personal merit.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and extols the Supreme through a sequence of divine epithets. This verse is part of that laudatory enumeration, presenting God in sacrificial imagery to connect Vedic ritual, moral duty, and devotion into a single vision.