Shloka 183
Bhīṣma’s Śara-śayyā Stuti to Vāsudeva and Yogic Preparation for Dehotsarga
Body-Relinquishment
एको यं वेद भगवान् धाता नारायणो हरि: । उनका न आदि है न अन्त। वे ही परब्रह्म परमात्मा हैं। उनको न देवता जानते हैं न ऋषि। एकमात्र सबका धारण-पोषण करनेवाले ये भगवान् श्रीनारायण हरि ही उन्हें जानते हैं
eko yaṃ veda bhagavān dhātā nārāyaṇo hariḥ | na tasya ādir na antaḥ | sa eva parabrahma paramātmā | na taṃ devā jānanti na ṛṣayaḥ | eka-mātraḥ sarva-dhāraṇa-poṣaṇa-kartā bhagavān śrī-nārāyaṇo hariḥ tam eva veda |
Bhishma said: Only the Blessed Lord—Nārāyaṇa, Hari, the cosmic Sustainer—truly knows Him. He has neither beginning nor end; He alone is the Supreme Brahman, the Supreme Self. Neither the gods nor the seers fully comprehend Him. Only that one Lord, Śrī Nārāyaṇa Hari, who upholds and nourishes all beings, knows that ultimate Reality.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches the transcendence of the Supreme Reality: the ultimate Brahman/Paramātmā is beginningless and endless, beyond the full grasp of even gods and sages. It emphasizes that Nārāyaṇa (Hari), as the all-sustaining Lord, is uniquely identified with and capable of knowing that supreme principle—highlighting both metaphysical supremacy and devotional orientation.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and higher spiritual truths after the war. Here he turns to a theological affirmation: he proclaims Nārāyaṇa/Hari as the supreme sustainer and identifies the ultimate, unknowable-to-others Absolute with Him, underscoring the limits of ordinary divine and ascetic knowledge.