Shloka 60

Bhīṣma’s Śara-śayyā Stuti to Vāsudeva and Yogic Preparation for Dehotsarga

Body-Relinquishment

Devanagari script

सहस्रशिरसे चैव पुरुषायामितात्मने । चतुःसमुद्रपर्याययोगनिद्रात्मने नम:

Transliteration

sahasraśirase caiva puruṣāyāmitātmane | catuḥsamudraparyāyayoganidrātmane namaḥ ||

Translation

Bhīṣma offers reverent salutations to the Supreme Person: the thousand-headed Lord who abides as the inner ruler (antaryāmin) within all beings, whose nature is immeasurable and unconfined. When the four oceans merge into a single cosmic expanse, He rests in Yoga-nidrā; thus Bhīṣma bows to that Lord whose very essence is yogic sleep, the sustaining stillness behind creation and dissolution.

Word by Word

• {'sahasra-śiras': 'thousand-headed

• epithet of the cosmic Lord (all-pervading, manifold)', 'puruṣa': 'the Supreme Person

• cosmic being', 'amita-ātman': 'of immeasurable nature

• limitless self', 'catuḥ-samudra': 'the four oceans', 'paryāya': 'confluence/turning into a single state

• merging into one expanse', 'yoga-nidrā': 'yogic sleep

• divine repose during cosmic dissolution, sustaining potentiality', 'ātman (in -ātmane)': 'whose essence is

• constituted of', 'namaḥ': 'salutation

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• Purusha (Supreme Lord)
• Yoga-nidra
• Four oceans (catuḥsamudra)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches reverence for the Supreme as both immanent and transcendent: He dwells within all as the inner ruler, yet remains limitless. His Yoga-nidrā symbolizes sovereign control over creation and dissolution—ethical life (dharma) is grounded in recognizing this higher order and aligning oneself with it.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva, Bhishma instructs Yudhishthira on dharma and the foundations of peace after the war. Here he pauses to offer a hymn-like salutation to the Supreme Person, invoking cosmic imagery (the oceans merging, the Lord’s yogic repose) to frame his teaching within a larger metaphysical and devotional context.