Shloka 53
Bhīṣma’s Śara-śayyā Stuti to Vāsudeva and Yogic Preparation for Dehotsarga
Body-Relinquishment
यं च व्यक्तस्थमव्यक्त विचिन्वन्ति महर्षय: । क्षेत्रे क्षेत्रज्ममासीनं तस्मै क्षेत्रात्मने नम:
yaṃ ca vyaktastham avyaktam vicinvanti maharṣayaḥ | kṣetre kṣetrajñam āsīnaṃ tasmai kṣetrātmane namaḥ ||
Bhishma said: Salutations to the Supreme Self who, though unmanifest, abides within the manifest world; whose true principle the great seers ever seek to discern; and who sits in every field of experience as the Knower of the field—reverence to that Self, the soul of all fields.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse venerates the Supreme as the inner Knower (kṣetrajña) present in every ‘field’ (kṣetra)—the manifest world and embodied experience—while remaining essentially unmanifest; true wisdom is to seek and recognize this indwelling consciousness.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on peace and right understanding, Bhishma offers a reverential statement that frames ethical life and dharma as grounded in insight into the inner Self/Paramatman, whom sages investigate and whom one should honor.