Shloka 68
Bhīṣma’s Śara-śayyā Stuti to Vāsudeva and Yogic Preparation for Dehotsarga
Body-Relinquishment
ब्रह्म वक्त्रं भुजौ क्षत्र॑ कृत्स्नमूरूदरं विश: । पादौ यस्याश्रिता: शूद्रास्तस्मै वर्णात्मने नम:
brahma vaktraṁ bhujau kṣatra kṛtsnam ūrū-daraṁ viśaḥ | pādau yasyāśritāḥ śūdrās tasmai varṇātmane namaḥ ||
Bhīṣma dit : « Les brahmanes sont sa bouche ; les kṣatriya, ses bras ; les vaiśya sont tout entiers ses cuisses et son ventre ; et les śūdra se réfugient à ses pieds. À cet Être dont la nature est l’ordre quadruple, je m’incline. »
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Society’s four varṇas are presented as limbs of a single higher Being, implying an organic interdependence and a sacred framework for social duties; the verse culminates in reverence toward that unifying principle.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs on dharma and social order; here he uses the ‘body’ metaphor to describe the varṇas and offers a salutation to the divine reality that encompasses them.