Shloka 4
Rudra-Śiva: Names, Two Natures, and the Logic of Epithets (रुद्रनाम-बहुरूपत्व-प्रकरणम्)
तां दिदृक्षुरहं योगाच्चतुर्मूर्तित्वमागतः । चतुर्मुखश्न संवृत्तो दर्शयन् योगमुत्तमम्
tāṃ didṛkṣur ahaṃ yogāc caturmūrtitvam āgataḥ | caturmukhaś ca saṃvṛtto darśayan yogam uttamam ||
Wishing to behold her, I, by the power of yoga, assumed a fourfold form and became four-faced. In this way I displayed to the people the excellence of yogic mastery.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights yogic mastery as the capacity to transform oneself through disciplined inner power; even when desire arises (the wish to see Tilottamā), the emphasis is on controlled, demonstrative spiritual capability rather than uncontrolled indulgence.
Bhīṣma narrates that, wanting to see Tilottamā, he used yogic power to assume a fourfold, four-faced form, thereby publicly demonstrating an extraordinary yogic attainment.