Shloka 74
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
आपके सैकड़ों उदर, सैकड़ों आवर्त और सैकड़ों जिह्वाएँ होनेके कारण आप क्रमशः शतोदर, शतावर्त और शतजिद्ठ नामसे प्रसिद्ध हैं। आपको प्रणाम है। गायत्री-मन्त्रका जप करनेवाले द्विज आपकी ही महिमाका गान करते हैं और सूर्योपासक सूर्यके रूपमें आपकी ही आराधना करते हैं। ऋषिगण आपको ही ब्रह्मा, शतक्रतु इन्द्र और आकाशके समान सर्वोच्च पद मानते हैं ।। मूर्ती हि ते महामूर्ते समुद्राम्बरसंनिभ । सर्वा वै देवता हास्मिन् गावो गोष्ठ इवासते
Bhīṣma uvāca: śatodaraśatāvartaśatajihvābhir eva ca | kramāt tvaṁ śatodaraḥ śatāvartaḥ śatajihva iti śrutaḥ || namas te | gāyatrīmantrajapino dvijāḥ tavaiva mahimānaṁ gāyanti, sūryopāsakāś ca sūryarūpeṇa tvām eva ārādhayanti | ṛṣayaś ca tvām eva brahmāṇaṁ śatakratuṁ indraṁ ca ākāśavat paramam padam manyante || mūrtiḥ hi te mahāmūrte samudrāmbarasaṁnibhā | sarvā vai devatā hy asmin gāvo goṣṭha ivāsate ||
Bhishma said: “Because you possess hundreds of bellies, hundreds of whirlpools, and hundreds of tongues, you are renowned in due order as ‘Hundred-bellied’, ‘Hundred-whorled’, and ‘Hundred-tongued’. Salutations to you. The twice-born who recite the Gāyatrī mantra sing only your greatness, and the worshippers of the Sun adore you alone in the form of the Sun. The seers regard you as Brahmā, as Indra of a hundred sacrifices, and as the supreme station vast like the sky. O Great-Formed One, your manifestation is like the ocean clothed by the heavens; within you all the gods dwell, as cows dwell together in a cowshed.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a unitive vision of divinity: diverse Vedic practices (Gāyatrī recitation, Sun-worship) and diverse divine names (Brahmā, Indra, the sky-like supreme station) are understood as directed toward one all-encompassing reality, within which all deities ‘dwell’ like cows in a common shelter.
Bhīṣma is offering a stuti (praise) to a vast, cosmic being described with oceanic imagery and multiple epithets. He explains how different religious communities and sages recognize and worship that same supreme presence under different forms and names.