Shloka 37
Bhīṣma’s Śara-śayyā Stuti to Vāsudeva and Yogic Preparation for Dehotsarga
Body-Relinquishment
अनादिनिधन देवमात्मयोनिं सनातनम् | अप्रेक्ष्यमनभिकज्ञेयं हरिं नारायणं प्रभुम्
bhīṣma uvāca | anādinidhanaṁ devam ātmayoniṁ sanātanam | apreksyam anabhijñeyaṁ hariṁ nārāyaṇaṁ prabhum |
Bhishma said: I take refuge in Hari—Nārāyaṇa, the supreme Lord—who is without beginning or end, self-born and eternal; beyond the reach of the senses and not fully knowable by ordinary cognition. Though one, He appears in many forms; transcending the senses and their objects He is called Adhokṣaja. He fulfills the desires of His worshippers; the single-minded devotees engaged in sacrifice and worship adore Him. He is the treasury of the world, the support in whom all beings abide; as water-birds rest upon water, so the movements of the entire universe proceed upon Him. He is the highest truth, the one-syllabled Brahman (Praṇava), distinct from both the manifest and the unmanifest; without beginning, middle, or end. Neither gods nor seers know Him completely; yet devas, asuras, gandharvas, siddhas, ṛṣis, and mighty nāgas, restraining mind and senses, worship Him always. He is the greatest medicine for the disease of sorrow—free from birth and death, self-existent, and eternal—impossible to see with these physical eyes or to comprehend in totality by the intellect.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches śaraṇāgati (taking refuge) in the supreme Lord who transcends sensory perception and conceptual grasp, yet sustains the cosmos and heals existential sorrow. It links devotion and worship with the recognition of an ultimate reality beyond sat and asat, identified with Praṇava (Oṁ) and Brahman.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and higher truths. Here he offers a hymn-like declaration of refuge in Nārāyaṇa, describing the Lord’s transcendence, cosmic support, and the universal worship offered by gods, sages, and other beings.