Shloka 89
भूतावासो वासुदेव: सर्वासुनिलयोडनल: । दर्पहा दर्पदो दृप्तो दुर्धरोडथापराजित:
bhūtāvāso vāsudevaḥ sarvāsunilayo 'nalaḥ | darpahā darpado dṛpto durdharo 'thāparājitaḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “He is the dwelling-place of all beings; he is Vāsudeva, the divine Lord who pervades and envelops the world. He is the support in which the life of all creatures rests, and he is ‘Anala’, of immeasurable power. He destroys the arrogant pride of those who walk in unrighteous ways; he grants pure courage and uplift to his devotees; he is ever-exultant, difficult to grasp and hold within the heart, and yet unconquered by any other.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse praises the Lord as the universal refuge and the inner support of all life, while stressing an ethical contrast: pride rooted in unrighteousness is destroyed, whereas devotees receive purified courage and uplift. The divine is both intimate (abode of beings) and transcendent (hard to grasp), and ultimately invincible.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and devotion. Here he continues a litany of divine epithets describing Vāsudeva’s nature—his cosmic pervasion, his role as the support of life, his moral governance (humbling the arrogant), and his unconquerable sovereignty.