Shloka 127
यदस्य बहुधा रूप॑ भूतभव्यभवस्थितम् | स्थावरं जज्भमं चैव बहुरूपस्तत: स्मृत:,भूत, भविष्य और वर्तमान--तीनों कालोंमें इनके स्थावर-जंगम बहुत-से रूप स्थित होते हैं; इसलिये इन्हें 'बहुरूप” नाम दिया गया है
yad asya bahudhā rūpaṃ bhūta-bhavya-bhavāvasthitam | sthāvaraṃ jaṅgamaṃ caiva bahurūpas tataḥ smṛtaḥ ||
Vyāsa said: “Because this being manifests in many forms—spread across the past, the future, and the present—and because within it abide countless forms both immobile and mobile, it is therefore remembered by the name ‘Bahurūpa’ (the Many-Formed).”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that a single underlying reality can be understood through its countless manifestations across time (past, future, present) and across categories of existence (immobile and mobile). The epithet ‘Bahurūpa’ highlights unity that expresses itself as multiplicity.
Vyāsa explains the reason behind a particular name—‘Bahurūpa’—by defining it: the one being spoken of contains and displays many forms, encompassing all times and all kinds of creatures, hence the designation.