Shloka 46
युगादिकृद् युगावर्तो नैकमायो महाशन: । अदृश्योड्व्यक्तरूपश्न सहस्नजिदनन्तजित्
yugādikṛd yugāvarto naikamāyo mahāśanaḥ | adṛśyo 'vyaktarūpaś ca sahasrajid anantajit ||
Bhishma dit : Il est l’initiateur des âges et celui qui fait tourner le cycle des yugas. Il revêt d’innombrables pouvoirs d’illusion, et à la fin d’une ère cosmique il consume tout. Invisible aux sens et non manifesté en forme, il est le vainqueur de milliers et le vainqueur sans fin — toujours victorieux de tous les êtres en tout domaine.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents the Supreme as the controller of cosmic time and dissolution: he initiates the yugas, turns their cycle, manifests through many powers (māyā), yet remains beyond sensory grasp and unmanifest in essence. Ethically, it grounds dharma in reverence for a transcendent ruler whose victory is universal and inexhaustible.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma is instructing Yudhiṣṭhira and praising the supreme deity through a sequence of epithets. This verse continues that litany, describing divine attributes—cosmic governance, hiddenness, and invincibility—within Bhīṣma’s didactic discourse on dharma and devotion.