Shloka 21
ईशान: प्राणद: प्राणो ज्येष्ठ: श्रेष्ठ: प्रजापति: । हिरण्यगर्भो भूगर्भो माधवों मधुसूदन:
īśānaḥ prāṇadaḥ prāṇo jyeṣṭhaḥ śreṣṭhaḥ prajāpatiḥ | hiraṇyagarbho bhūgarbho mādhavo madhusūdanaḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: He is Īśāna, the sovereign Lord who governs all beings; the giver of life-breath and the very life-breath itself. As the primal cause He is the eldest, and as the supreme excellence He is the best. He is Prajāpati, the Lord of creatures. He is Hiraṇyagarbha, pervading the golden cosmic egg as the source of creation; and Bhūgarbha, the one who holds the earth within His womb. He is Mādhava, the consort of Lakṣmī, and Madhusūdana, the slayer of the demon Madhu.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches devotion grounded in understanding: the Divine is praised as ruler, life-giver, primal cause, cosmic source, world-supporter, and destroyer of evil. Remembering such names cultivates humility (dependence on the life-giver), ethical steadiness (aligning with the supreme), and trust in divine protection.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs and uplifts by reciting and explaining divine epithets. Here he continues a sequence of names (commonly associated with Viṣṇu/Kṛṣṇa) that describe the Lord’s sovereignty, creative pervasion, sustaining power, and heroic destruction of demonic forces.