Shloka 38

Devanagari script

ऋतूनुत्पातान्‌ विविधान्यद्भूतानि मेघान्‌ विद्युत्सर्वमैरावतं च । सर्व कृष्णात्‌ स्थावरं जड़मं च विश्वात्मानं विष्णुमेनं प्रतीहि

Transliteration

Bhīṣma uvāca: ṛtūn utpātān vividhān adbhūtāni meghān vidyut sarvam Airāvataṁ ca | sarvaṁ kṛṣṇāt sthāvaraṁ jaḍaṁ ca viśvātmānaṁ Viṣṇum enaṁ pratīhi ||

Translation

ऋतूनुत्पातान् विविधान्यद्भूतानि मेघान् विद्युत्सर्वमैरावतं च। सर्वं कृष्णात् स्थावरं जङ्गमं च विश्वात्मानं विष्णुमेनं प्रतीहि॥

Word by Word

• {'ṛtūn': 'seasons

• ordered cycles of time', 'utpātān': 'portents/omens

• extraordinary disturbances taken as signs', 'vividhān': 'various

• manifold', 'adbhūtāni': 'marvels

• wondrous phenomena', 'meghān': 'clouds', 'vidyut': 'lightning', 'sarvam': 'all

• the entirety', 'Airāvataṁ': 'Airāvata

• Indra’s divine elephant', 'kṛṣṇāt': 'from Kṛṣṇa

• originating in Kṛṣṇa', 'sthāvaram': 'immovable beings/things

• the fixed world (plants, mountains, etc.)', 'jaḍam': 'insentient

• inert matter', 'viśvātmānam': 'the Self of the universe

• the indwelling cosmic principle', 'Viṣṇum': 'Viṣṇu

• the all-pervading Lord', 'enaṁ': 'this one

• Him', 'pratīhi': 'recognize/understand

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Kṛṣṇa
• Viṣṇu
• Airāvata

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhīṣma teaches a theistic-vedāntic vision: all phenomena—regular (seasons) and irregular (portents), natural forces (clouds, lightning), and even divine beings like Airāvata—originate in Kṛṣṇa; therefore Kṛṣṇa is to be understood as Viṣṇu, the all-pervading cosmic Self (viśvātmā).

What is happening in the narrative?

In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and higher truths. Here he emphasizes Kṛṣṇa’s supreme, all-pervading status by listing elements of the cosmos and extraordinary signs, concluding that one should recognize Kṛṣṇa as Viṣṇu, the inner Self of the whole world.