Shloka 26
रुद्रो बहुशिरा बश्रुविश्वयोनि: शुचिश्रवा: । अमृतः शाश्वतस्थाणुर्वसरोहो महातपा:
rudro bahuśirā baśruviśvayoniḥ śuciśravāḥ | amṛtaḥ śāśvata-sthāṇur varāroho mahātapāḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “He is Rudra—the remover of suffering; the many-headed one; the sustainer of the worlds; the source from which the universe arises; of pure and stainless fame; deathless; eternally the same and unmoving; the supreme ascent (the highest refuge to be attained); and possessed of great spiritual power.” In this litany, Bhīṣma frames the divine as both cosmic origin and moral refuge: the one whose steadfastness and purity ground dharma and whose power dispels distress.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches reverent contemplation of the divine through names that express ethical and metaphysical qualities—steadfastness, purity, immortality, and the power to remove suffering—presenting God as both the universe’s source and the highest refuge.
Bhīṣma is reciting a praise-list of Rudra/Śiva, stringing together epithets that describe his cosmic functions and spiritual supremacy, as part of a larger devotional and dharma-oriented discourse in the Anuśāsana Parva.