Shloka 2
Bhīṣma’s Hymn to Viṣṇu and Kṛṣṇa’s Criteria for Divine Self-Disclosure
भीष्म उवाच नमस्ते भगवन् कृष्ण लोकानां प्रभवाप्यय । त्वं हि कर्ता हृषीकेश संहर्ता चापराजित:,भीष्मजी बोले--सम्पूर्ण लोकोंकी उत्पत्ति और प्रलयके अधिष्ठान भगवान् श्रीकृष्ण! आपको नमस्कार है। हृषीकेश! आप ही इस जगत्की सृष्टि और संहार करनेवाले हैं। आपकी कभी पराजय नहीं होती
bhīṣma uvāca
namas te bhagavan kṛṣṇa lokānāṃ prabhavāpyaya |
tvaṃ hi kartā hṛṣīkeśa saṃhartā cāparājitaḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “Salutations to you, O Blessed Lord Kṛṣṇa—source and dissolution of all worlds. For you, O Hṛṣīkeśa, are indeed the maker and the destroyer; unconquered are you.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse affirms Krishna’s supreme sovereignty: he is the source and dissolution of the worlds, the ultimate agent behind creation and destruction, and therefore invincible. Ethically, it frames dharma-discourse in Shanti Parva as grounded in reverence for a cosmic moral order upheld by the divine.
In Shanti Parva, Bhishma—lying on the bed of arrows and instructing Yudhishthira—offers a reverential salutation to Krishna. He acknowledges Krishna’s cosmic role (origin and dissolution of worlds) before proceeding with teachings, marking Krishna as the spiritual and metaphysical foundation of the ensuing counsel.