Shloka 46
Bhīṣma’s Śara-śayyā Stuti to Vāsudeva and Yogic Preparation for Dehotsarga
Body-Relinquishment
यः सहस्रसमे सत्रे जज्ञे विश्वसृजामृषि: । हिरण्यपक्ष: शकुनिस्तस्मै हंसात्मने नम:
yaḥ sahasra-same satre jajñe viśva-sṛjām ṛṣiḥ | hiraṇya-pakṣaḥ śakunis tasmai haṃsātmane namaḥ ||
Bhishma said: “Salutations to that Supreme Lord who, in the thousand-year sacrificial session (satra) of the world-creating Prajāpatis, manifested as the sage-bird with golden wings—assuming the form of the haṃsa, the sacred swan.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches dharmic reverence: acknowledging the divine as the inner reality behind cosmic creation and sacred ritual. By saluting the Lord in the haṃsa-form, it also points to purity and discriminative wisdom—qualities traditionally associated with the haṃsa.
Bhīṣma offers a hymn-like salutation, recalling a mythic manifestation during a thousand-year satra performed by the world-creating Prajāpatis. The Lord is praised as appearing as a golden-winged bird/swan, and Bhīṣma bows to that haṃsa-formed Supreme.