Shloka 90
विश्वमूर्तिमहामूर्तिदीप्तमूर्तिरमूर्तिमान् । अनेकमूर्तिरिव्यक्त: शतमूर्ति: शतानन:
viśvamūrtimahāmūrtidīptamūrtiramūrtimān | anekamūrtiravyaktaḥ śatamūrtiḥ śatānanaḥ ||
Bhīṣma dit : « Il est l’Unique dont la forme est l’univers tout entier — le vaste Homme cosmique ; de forme incommensurable, de forme resplendissante, et pourtant sans forme. Bien qu’il prenne de multiples formes pour le bien des êtres, sa nature véritable demeure au-delà de toute expression totale. Il est comme doté de cent formes et de cent visages — sans limite dans sa manifestation ».
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches the paradoxical fullness of the Divine: the Lord pervades the entire universe as a cosmic form, yet is ultimately formless and beyond complete description. Multiple manifestations (avatars and forms) are expressions of compassion and governance, not limitations of His true nature.
Bhīṣma is praising and describing the Supreme Lord through a litany of epithets, emphasizing both immanence (as the universe itself) and transcendence (as the unmanifest), as part of a devotional-hymnic passage within Anuśāsana Parva.