Shloka 90
विश्वमूर्तिमहामूर्तिदीप्तमूर्तिरमूर्तिमान् । अनेकमूर्तिरिव्यक्त: शतमूर्ति: शतानन:
viśvamūrtimahāmūrtidīptamūrtiramūrtimān | anekamūrtiravyaktaḥ śatamūrtiḥ śatānanaḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: He is the One whose form is the whole universe—the vast Cosmic Person; of immeasurable form, of radiant form, and yet formless. Though He assumes many forms for the good of beings, His true nature remains beyond full expression. He is as if of a hundred forms and a hundred faces—limitless in manifestation.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches the paradoxical fullness of the Divine: the Lord pervades the entire universe as a cosmic form, yet is ultimately formless and beyond complete description. Multiple manifestations (avatars and forms) are expressions of compassion and governance, not limitations of His true nature.
Bhīṣma is praising and describing the Supreme Lord through a litany of epithets, emphasizing both immanence (as the universe itself) and transcendence (as the unmanifest), as part of a devotional-hymnic passage within Anuśāsana Parva.