Shloka 14
३० विश्व विष्णुर्वघट्कारों भूतभव्यभवत्प्रभु: । भूतकृद् भूतभूद् भावों भूतात्मा भूतभावन:
viśvaṁ viṣṇur vaṣaṭkāro bhūtabhavyabhavatprabhuḥ | bhūtakṛd bhūtabhṛd bhāvo bhūtātmā bhūtabhāvanaḥ ||
भीष्म उवाच— स एव विश्वं विराट्स्वरूपो विष्णुः सर्वव्यापी प्रभुः। स एव वषट्कारो यज्ञकर्मस्वरूपः, येन हविर्नियोज्यते। स भूतभव्यभवतां प्रभुः—भूतस्य भविष्यतः वर्तमानस्य च स्वामी। स रजोगुणाश्रयेण भूतकृत् सर्वभूतान् सृजति; सत्त्वगुणाश्रयेण भूतभृत् सर्वभूतान् धारयति पोषयति च। नित्यस्वरूपोऽपि स एव भावः स्वयमेव प्रादुर्भवन्। स भूतात्मा सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा, स च भूतभावनः—भूतानां जननवर्धनकर्ता।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse identifies the Lord as both the cosmic totality and the indwelling Self of all beings, and also as the very principle of yajña. Ethically, it implies that dharma is upheld by seeing the divine in all creatures and by treating sacrificial duty, self-restraint, and care for life as worship of the same all-pervading Reality.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and extols Viṣṇu through a litany of divine names (the Viṣṇu-sahasranāma context). This verse is one segment of that praise, describing Viṣṇu’s cosmic, sacrificial, and immanent aspects.