Shloka 85
महाक्रमो महाकर्मा महातेजा महोरग: । महाक्रतुर्महायज्वा महायज्ञों महाहवि:
mahākramo mahākarmā mahātejā mahoragaḥ | mahākratur mahāyajvā mahāyajño mahāhaviḥ ||
Bhīṣma berkata: Ia bertapak besar dan berkarya besar; bersinar dengan kemuliaan yang dahsyat, laksana ular agung dalam daya dan kedalaman. Ia adalah mahākratu itu sendiri—hakikat yajña; Ia pelaksana agung yajña demi kesejahteraan dunia; Ia adalah mahāyajña—yang darinya segala persembahan suci dan laku disiplin memancar sebagai vibhūti; dan Ia adalah mahāhavi—inti tertinggi yang layak dipersembahkan ke dalam api ilahi.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse identifies the Supreme as both the performer of righteous acts and the very substance of worship: He is the sacrificer, the sacrifice, and the offering. Ethically, it implies that dharma is fulfilled when action is consecrated—done for loka-saṅgraha (the welfare and cohesion of the world) and offered inwardly to the Highest rather than claimed as personal merit.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and extols the Supreme through a sequence of divine epithets. This verse is part of that laudatory enumeration, presenting God in sacrificial imagery to connect Vedic ritual, moral duty, and devotion into a single vision.