Shloka 48
अच्युत: प्रथित: प्राण: प्राणदो वासवानुज: । अपां निधिरधिष्ठानमप्रमत्त: प्रतिष्ठित:
acyutaḥ prathitaḥ prāṇaḥ prāṇado vāsavānujaḥ | apāṁ nidhir adhiṣṭhānam apramattaḥ pratiṣṭhitaḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “He is Acyuta, the Unfailing—unchanged by any modification; Prathita, the Renowned—celebrated as the cause behind the world’s arising and order; Prāṇa, the Life-breath—sustaining creatures as the cosmic vital principle; Prāṇada, the Giver of life—nourishing and supporting all beings; Vāsavānuja, the younger brother of Indra—born as such in the Vāmana incarnation; Apāṁ Nidhi, the Repository of waters—present as the ocean that gathers and holds them; Adhiṣṭhāna, the Foundation—serving as the underlying support and material basis of all beings; Apramatta, the Ever-vigilant—never negligent; and Pratiṣṭhita, the Firmly Established—abiding in His own majesty.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches contemplative devotion through divine names: the Supreme is portrayed as changeless, life-sustaining, the cosmic foundation, and ever-vigilant. Remembering these epithets frames dharma as grounded in a stable, sustaining divine order rather than in human fluctuation or negligence.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and devotion. Here he continues a litany of Viṣṇu’s names (a section associated with the Viṣṇu-sahasranāma tradition), explaining the Lord’s attributes through epithets that connect theology with cosmic functions (life, support, vigilance).