Shloka 38

Devanagari script

ऋतूनुत्पातान्‌ विविधान्यद्भूतानि मेघान्‌ विद्युत्सर्वमैरावतं च । सर्व कृष्णात्‌ स्थावरं जड़मं च विश्वात्मानं विष्णुमेनं प्रतीहि

Transliteration

Bhīṣma uvāca: ṛtūn utpātān vividhān adbhūtāni meghān vidyut sarvam Airāvataṁ ca | sarvaṁ kṛṣṇāt sthāvaraṁ jaḍaṁ ca viśvātmānaṁ Viṣṇum enaṁ pratīhi ||

Translation

Bhishma said: “Know this: the seasons, the many kinds of portents, wondrous phenomena, clouds, lightning, Airāvata, and indeed the whole moving and unmoving world—even what is fixed and insentient—arise from Kṛṣṇa. Therefore recognize Him as Viṣṇu, the very Self of the universe.”

Word by Word

• {'ṛtūn': 'seasons

• ordered cycles of time', 'utpātān': 'portents/omens

• extraordinary disturbances taken as signs', 'vividhān': 'various

• manifold', 'adbhūtāni': 'marvels

• wondrous phenomena', 'meghān': 'clouds', 'vidyut': 'lightning', 'sarvam': 'all

• the entirety', 'Airāvataṁ': 'Airāvata

• Indra’s divine elephant', 'kṛṣṇāt': 'from Kṛṣṇa

• originating in Kṛṣṇa', 'sthāvaram': 'immovable beings/things

• the fixed world (plants, mountains, etc.)', 'jaḍam': 'insentient

• inert matter', 'viśvātmānam': 'the Self of the universe

• the indwelling cosmic principle', 'Viṣṇum': 'Viṣṇu

• the all-pervading Lord', 'enaṁ': 'this one

• Him', 'pratīhi': 'recognize/understand

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Kṛṣṇa
• Viṣṇu
• Airāvata

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhīṣma teaches a theistic-vedāntic vision: all phenomena—regular (seasons) and irregular (portents), natural forces (clouds, lightning), and even divine beings like Airāvata—originate in Kṛṣṇa; therefore Kṛṣṇa is to be understood as Viṣṇu, the all-pervading cosmic Self (viśvātmā).

What is happening in the narrative?

In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and higher truths. Here he emphasizes Kṛṣṇa’s supreme, all-pervading status by listing elements of the cosmos and extraordinary signs, concluding that one should recognize Kṛṣṇa as Viṣṇu, the inner Self of the whole world.