Shloka 85
नमो होत्रेडथ मन्त्राय शुक्लध्वजपताकिने । नमो नाभाय नाभ्याय नम: कटकटाय च,आप ही होता और मन्त्र हैं। आपको नमस्कार है। आपकी ध्वजा और पताकाका रंग श्वेत है। आपको नमस्कार है। आप नाभ (नाभिमें सम्पूर्ण जगत्को धारण करनेवाले), नाभ्य (संसार-चक्रके नाभि-स्थान) तथा कट-कट (आवरणके भी आवरण) हैं। आपको नमस्कार है
namo hotre ’tha mantrāya śukladhvajapatākine | namo nābhāya nābhyāya namaḥ kaṭakaṭāya ca ||
Bhīṣma said: “Homage to you as the Hotṛ-priest and as the sacred mantra itself. Homage to you whose banner and pennon are white. Homage to you as Nābha—in whom the whole universe is upheld; as Nābhya—the navel-point of the turning wheel of existence; and as Kaṭakaṭa—the covering even of coverings. To you, again and again, I bow.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a devotional vision in which the Supreme is not separate from sacred action and sacred speech: the deity is identified with the Hotṛ of sacrifice and with mantra itself, and also with the cosmic ‘hub’ that sustains and centers the universe. Reverence is directed to the divine as both ritual presence and metaphysical ground.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma continues a hymn-like praise, offering successive epithets to the Supreme (often understood as Nārāyaṇa/Viṣṇu in this section). He salutes the deity through Vedic and cosmic identifiers—priest, mantra, white-bannered lord, and the universe’s sustaining center—deepening the contemplative tone of instruction after the war.