Shloka 130
आदिद्नान्तश्न देवानां गायत्रयोंकार एव च | हरितो रोहितो नील: कृष्णो रक्तस्तथारुण: । कद्रुश्न कपिलश्चैव कपोतो मेचकस्तथा,आप देवताओंके आदि और अन्त हैं। गायत्री-मन्त्र और ३>कार भी आप ही हैं। हरित, लोहित, नील, कृष्ण, रक्त, अरुण, कद्रु, कपिल, कबूतरके समान तथा मेचक (श्याम मेघके समान)--ये दस प्रकारके रंग भी आपके ही स्वरूप हैं
ādir anto ’ś ca devānāṃ gāyatrī oṃkāra eva ca | harito rohito nīlaḥ kṛṣṇo raktaḥ tathāruṇaḥ | kadruḥ kapilaś caiva kapoto mecakas tathā ||
Bhīṣma said: “You are the beginning and the end of the gods. You alone are the Gāyatrī and the sacred syllable Oṃ. Green, red, blue, black, blood-red, dawn-red, tawny-brown, golden-brown, dove-grey, and cloud-dark—these ten hues too are nothing but forms of You.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a non-dual, all-pervading vision of the Divine: the Supreme is both the source and the end of all gods, is present as the most sacred Vedic utterances (Gāyatrī and Oṃ), and manifests even as the diversity of colors in the world—inviting reverence toward the whole of reality as sacred.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and higher spiritual truths. Here he is in the midst of a praise/identification of the Supreme principle, describing how the Divine encompasses Vedic mantras and the visible spectrum of creation.