ब्रह्माण्यं सर्वधर्मज्ञें लोकानां कीर्तिवर्धनम् । लोकनाथं महदभूतं सर्वभूतभवोद्धवम्
bhīṣma uvāca | brahmāṇyaṃ sarvadharmajñaṃ lokānāṃ kīrtivardhanam | lokanāthaṃ mahadbhūtaṃ sarvabhūtabhavodbhavam | brāhmaṇānāṃ hitakārī sarvadharmavidāṃ varam | prāṇināṃ kīrtivardhānaṃ sarvalokamaheśvaram | sarvabhūtodbhava-sthānaṃ saṃsāra-kāraṇa-rūpiṇam | parameśvaraṃ stuvato manuṣyasya sarvaduḥkhāni praṇaśyanti ||
Bhishma said: By praising the Supreme Lord—who is devoted to Brahmins, who knows all dharma, who increases the good fame of beings, who is the Lord of all worlds, the great source from whom all creatures arise, and the very cause-form of worldly existence—a person is released from every sorrow.
भीष्म उवाच
The verse teaches that praising the Supreme Lord—described as the knower of all dharma and the source of all beings—destroys a person’s sorrows. Devotional praise is presented as an ethical-spiritual practice that purifies the mind and aligns one with dharma, leading to relief from suffering.
In Anushasana Parva, Bhishma instructs on dharma and religious duties. Here he extols the Supreme Lord with a chain of epithets and states the fruit (phala) of such praise: the devotee becomes free from all duḥkha (sorrow).