Shloka 2
Bhīṣma’s Hymn to Viṣṇu and Kṛṣṇa’s Criteria for Divine Self-Disclosure
भीष्म उवाच नमस्ते भगवन् कृष्ण लोकानां प्रभवाप्यय । त्वं हि कर्ता हृषीकेश संहर्ता चापराजित:
bhīṣma uvāca
namas te bhagavan kṛṣṇa lokānāṃ prabhavāpyaya |
tvaṃ hi kartā hṛṣīkeśa saṃhartā cāparājitaḥ ||
భీష్ముడు పలికెను—భగవాన్ కృష్ణా! లోకముల ఉద్భవ-ప్రళయములకు ఆధారభూతుడా, నీకు నమస్కారం. హృషీకేశా! నీవే సృష్టికర్తవు, సంహర్తవు; నీవు అపరాజితుడవు.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse affirms Krishna’s supreme sovereignty: he is the source and dissolution of the worlds, the ultimate agent behind creation and destruction, and therefore invincible. Ethically, it frames dharma-discourse in Shanti Parva as grounded in reverence for a cosmic moral order upheld by the divine.
In Shanti Parva, Bhishma—lying on the bed of arrows and instructing Yudhishthira—offers a reverential salutation to Krishna. He acknowledges Krishna’s cosmic role (origin and dissolution of worlds) before proceeding with teachings, marking Krishna as the spiritual and metaphysical foundation of the ensuing counsel.