Shloka 109
धर्मस्य बहुद्वारत्वम् — Nārada’s Audience with Indra (Śānti-parva 340)
पुराणं च भविष्यं च सरहस्यं च सत्तम । ब्रह्मन्! साधुप्रवर! तुम मुझमें भक्तिभाव रखनेवाले हो, इसलिये मैंने तुमसे भूत और भविष्यके सारे अवतारोंका रहस्यसहित वर्णन किया है || १०८ # ।।
purāṇaṃ ca bhaviṣyaṃ ca sa-rahasyaṃ ca sattama | brahman! sādhu-pravara! tvaṃ mayi bhakti-bhāvaṃ rakṣasi, tasmāt mayā tubhyaṃ bhūta-bhaviṣyatayoḥ sarveṣām avatārāṇāṃ rahasya-sahitaṃ varṇanaṃ kṛtam || (108) || bhīṣma uvāca: evaṃ sa bhagavān devo viśva-mūrti-dharo 'vyayaḥ ||
Bhīṣma dit : «Ô le meilleur des vertueux, ô brahmane ! Parce que tu portes envers moi un esprit de dévotion, je t’ai donc décrit—avec son mystère intérieur—tout le récit des incarnations du passé et de l’avenir.» Ainsi fut évoqué le Seigneur Bienheureux, le divin Impérissable, qui revêt la forme de l’univers tout entier.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage links spiritual receptivity (bhakti-bhāva) with eligibility for deeper instruction: because the listener is devoted and respectful, Bhishma shares a ‘rahasya’-level account of divine incarnations across time, emphasizing the Lord’s imperishable, cosmic nature.
Bhishma addresses a Brahmin interlocutor, stating that he has already narrated the mysteries of past and future avatāras due to the listener’s devotion; the text then transitions to a description of the Lord as the imperishable deity who bears the form of the universe.