Shloka 7
Bhīṣma’s Hymn to Viṣṇu and Kṛṣṇa’s Criteria for Divine Self-Disclosure
दिवं ते शिरसा व्याप्तं पद्धयां देवी वसुन्धरा । दिशो भुजा रविश्वक्षुवीर्ये शुक्र: प्रतिष्ठित:
divaṃ te śirasā vyāptaṃ pṛthivyāṃ devī vasundharā | diśo bhujā raviś cakṣuḥ vīrye śukraḥ pratiṣṭhitaḥ ||
Бхишма сказал: «Небо раскинулось над Твоей главой, а богиня Земля (Васундхара) простирается под Твоими стопами. Стороны света — Твои руки; Солнце — Твоё око; и Шукра утверждён в Твоей жизненной мощи (вирья)».
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a vision of rulership and personhood aligned with cosmic dharma: the ideal being (often a king or exalted figure) is praised as embodying the world’s structure—heaven above, earth below, directions as arms, sun as eye—suggesting that ethical authority must uphold and mirror the sustaining order of the universe.
Bhīṣma is speaking in Śānti Parva and offers a lofty, cosmological praise (a universal-form style description) of the person addressed, mapping cosmic elements onto that figure’s body to emphasize grandeur, legitimacy, and the responsibility to maintain dharma.