Shloka 5
Śānti Parva Adhyāya 43 — Yudhiṣṭhira’s Stuti of Kṛṣṇa
Assembly Hymn of Many Names
विश्वकर्मन् नमस्ते<स्तु विश्वात्मन् विश्वसम्भव । विष्णो जिष्णो हरे कृष्ण वैकुण्ठ पुरुषोत्तम,“यह सम्पूर्ण विश्व आपकी लीलामयी सृष्टि है। आप इस विश्वके आत्मा हैं। आपहीसे इस जगत्की उत्पत्ति हुई है। आप ही व्यापक होनेके कारण “विष्णु', विजयी होनेसे 'जिष्णु', दुःख और पाप हर लेनेसे “हरि', अपनी ओर आकृष्ट करनेके कारण “कृष्ण', विकुण्ठ धामके अधिपति होनेसे “वैकुण्ठ” तथा क्षर-अक्षर पुरुषसे उत्तम होनेके कारण 'पुरुषोतम” कहलाते हैं। आपको नमस्कार है
viśvakarman namas te 'stu viśvātman viśvasambhava | viṣṇo jiṣṇo hare kṛṣṇa vaikuṇṭha puruṣottama ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “Salutations to you, O Viśvakarman—O Soul of the universe, source of the universe. O Viṣṇu, O Jiṣṇu, O Hari, O Kṛṣṇa, O Lord of Vaikuṇṭha, O Puruṣottama. This entire cosmos is your playful creation; you are its inner Self, and from you its arising proceeds. Because you pervade all you are called ‘Viṣṇu’; because you are ever-victorious, ‘Jiṣṇu’; because you remove sorrow and sin, ‘Hari’; because you draw all beings toward yourself, ‘Kṛṣṇa’; because you rule the realm of Vaikuṇṭha, ‘Vaikuṇṭha’; and because you transcend both the perishable and the imperishable, you are ‘Puruṣottama.’ To you be reverence.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a devotional and philosophical vision in which the Supreme Lord is both the creator and the indwelling Self of the cosmos. Multiple divine epithets are explained as ethical-spiritual functions: pervading all (Viṣṇu), triumphing over adharma (Jiṣṇu), removing sin and suffering (Hari), attracting beings toward the good and the divine (Kṛṣṇa), presiding over the highest abode (Vaikuṇṭha), and transcending the perishable and imperishable (Puruṣottama).
Vaiśampāyana, in the Shānti Parva’s reflective setting after the war, voices a hymn-like salutation. The narration pauses to praise the Supreme with a chain of names and brief etymological meanings, framing the universe and its moral order as grounded in the Lord’s presence and creative power.