Shloka 117
भूर्भुव:स्वस्तरुस्तार: सविता प्रपितामह: । यज्ञो यज्ञपतिर्यज्वा यज्ञाड़ो यज्ञवाहन:
bhūrbhuvaḥsvas tarus tāraḥ savitā prapitāmahaḥ | yajño yajñapatir yajvā yajñāṅgo yajñavāhanaḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: He is the very ground, mid-region, and heaven—the three worlds themselves; the cosmic tree that sustains existence; the ferry who carries beings across the ocean of saṃsāra; the Creator who brings all forth; the Primal Grandsire, even beyond Brahmā. He is the sacrifice itself, the Lord who presides over all sacrifices, the worshipper who performs them, the one whose very body is made of sacrificial members, and the power that bears and conveys the sacrifice to its destined end.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The Supreme is presented as both the cosmos (the three worlds) and the sacred means within it (yajña). Therefore, righteous action and worship should be offered as participation in a divine order, not as ego-driven performance; the doer, the deed, and the goal are ultimately grounded in the same highest reality.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira and recites the Viṣṇu-sahasranāma. This verse is a cluster of divine epithets praising the Lord as cosmic foundation and as the very principle of sacrifice—its presiding lord, performer, constituents, and vehicle—emphasizing devotion and dharmic worship.