शुक्लाम्बरधरं विष्णुं शशिवर्णं चतुर्भुजम् ।
प्रसन्नवदनं ध्यायेत् सर्वविघ्नोपशान्तये ॥
युधिष्ठिर उवाच
किमेकं दैवतं लोके किं वाप्येकं परायणम् ।
स्तुवन्तः कं कमर्चन्तः प्राप्नुयुर्मानवाः शुभम् ॥
को धर्मः सर्वधर्माणां भवतः परमो मतः ।
किं जपन्मुच्यते जन्तुर्जन्मसंसारबन्धनात् ॥
भीष्म उवाच
जगत्प्रभुं देवदेवमनन्तं पुरुषोत्तमम् ।
स्तुवन्नामसहस्रेण पुरुषः सततोत्थितः ॥
अथ ध्यानम्
क्षीरोदन्वत्प्रदेशे शुचिमणिविलसत्सैकते मौक्तिकानां
मालाकॢप्तासनस्थः स्फटिकमणिनिभैर्मौक्तिकैर्मण्डिताङ्गः ।
शुभ्रैरभ्रैरदभ्रैरुपरिविरचितैर्मुक्तपीयूषवर्षै-
रानन्दी नः पुनीयादरिनलिनगदाशङ्खपाणिर्मुकुन्दः ॥
शान्ताकारं भुजगशयनं पद्मनाभं सुरेशं
विश्वाधारं गगनसदृशं मेघवर्णं शुभाङ्गम् ।
लक्ष्मीकान्तं कमलनयनं योगिभिर्ध्यानगम्यं
वन्दे विष्णुं भवभयहरं सर्वलोकैकनाथम् ॥
हरिः ॐ
विश्वं विष्णुर्वषट्कारो भूतभव्यभवत्प्रभुः ।
भूतकृद्भूतभृद्भावो भूतात्मा भूतभावनः ॥१॥
पूतात्मा परमात्मा च मुक्तानां परमा गतिः ।
अव्ययः पुरुषः साक्षी क्षेत्रज्ञोऽक्षर एव च ॥२॥
योगो योगविदां नेता प्रधानपुरुषेश्वरः ।
नारसिंहवपुः श्रीमान् केशवः पुरुषोत्तमः ॥३॥
सर्वः शर्वः शिवः स्थाणुर्भूतादिर्निधिरव्ययः ।
सम्भवो भावनो भर्ता प्रभवः प्रभुरीश्वरः ॥४॥
śuklāmbaradharaṃ viṣṇuṃ śaśivarṇaṃ caturbhujam |
prasannavadanaṃ dhyāyet sarvavighnopaśāntaye ||
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca
kimekaṃ daivataṃ loke kiṃ vāpyekaṃ parāyaṇam |
stuvantaḥ kaṃ kamarcantaḥ prāpnuyurmānavāḥ śubham ||
ko dharmaḥ sarvadharmāṇāṃ bhavataḥ paramo mataḥ |
kiṃ japanmucyate janturjanmasaṃsārabandhanāt ||
bhīṣma uvāca
jagatprabhuṃ devadevamanantaṃ puruṣottamam |
stuvannāmasahasreṇa puruṣaḥ satatotthitaḥ ||
atha dhyānam
kṣīrodanvatpradeśe śucimaṇivilasatsaikate mauktikānāṃ
mālākḷptāsanasthaḥ sphaṭikamaṇinibhairmauktikairmaṇḍitāṅgaḥ |
śubhrairabhrairadabhrairupariviracitairmuktapīyūṣavarṣai-
rānandī naḥ punīyādarinalinagadāśaṅkhapāṇirmukundaḥ ||
śāntākāraṃ bhujagaśayanaṃ padmanābhaṃ sureśaṃ
viśvādhāraṃ gaganasadṛśaṃ meghavarṇaṃ śubhāṅgam |
lakṣmīkāntaṃ kamalanayanaṃ yogibhirdhyānagamyaṃ
vande viṣṇuṃ bhavabhayaharaṃ sarvalokaikanātham ||
hariḥ oṃ
viśvaṃ viṣṇurvaṣaṭkāro bhūtabhavyabhavatprabhuḥ |
bhūtakṛdbhūtabhṛdbhāvo bhūtātmā bhūtabhāvanaḥ ||1||
pūtātmā paramātmā ca muktānāṃ paramā gatiḥ |
avyayaḥ puruṣaḥ sākṣī kṣetrajño'kṣara eva ca ||2||
yogo yogavidāṃ netā pradhānapuruṣeśvaraḥ |
nārasiṃhavapuḥ śrīmān keśavaḥ puruṣottamaḥ ||3||
sarvaḥ śarvaḥ śivaḥ sthāṇurbhūtādirnidhiravyayaḥ |
sambhavo bhāvano bhartā prabhavaḥ prabhurīśvaraḥ ||4||
Meaning
Opening: For the removal of every obstacle, meditate on Vishnu, clad in white, bright as the moon, four-armed, with a gracious face.
Yudhishthira asked: Who is the one God in the world? What is the one highest refuge? Praising whom, worshipping whom, may people gain the good? Which dharma do you hold highest of all dharmas? By chanting what is a living being freed from the bondage of birth and worldly existence?
Bhishma said: A person who, ever ready, praises with his thousand names the Lord of the world, God of gods, the Infinite, the Supreme Person (crosses all sorrow).
Dhyana 1: In the region of the ocean of milk, on a shore of sand shining with pure gems, seated on a throne made of garlands of pearls, his body adorned with pearls clear as crystal, under white clouds spread above that rain down nectar, may joyful Mukunda, holding discus, lotus, mace and conch, purify us.
Dhyana 2: I bow to Vishnu, peaceful in form, lying on the serpent, from whose navel the lotus rises, lord of the devas, support of the universe, vast as the sky, dark as a cloud, of auspicious body, beloved of Lakshmi, lotus-eyed, reached by yogis in meditation, remover of the fear of worldly existence, sole Lord of all the worlds.
Names 1: He is the universe (Vishvam); the all-pervading (Vishnu); the one invoked in sacrifice (Vashatkara); Lord of past, future and present; maker of beings, sustainer of beings, pure existence, the Self of beings, the one who brings beings into being.
Names 2: The pure Self, the Supreme Self, the highest goal of the liberated; the imperishable, the Purusha, the witness, the knower of the field, the undecaying.
Names 3: Yoga itself, the leader of those who know yoga, the Lord of prakriti and purusha; he who took the form of the Man-Lion, the glorious one, Keshava, the Supreme Person.
Names 4: The All, the destroyer (Sharva), the auspicious (Shiva), the unmoving, the origin of the elements, the inexhaustible treasure; he who is born at will, the one who gives fruit, the upholder, the source, the Lord, the Controller.
About this bhajan
On the bed of arrows, as the Mahabharata tells it, Bhishma answered Yudhishthira's six questions with the thousand names of Vishnu, and Maharshi Vyasa is named as their rishi. This is a selection: the opening shloka sung in every household, Yudhishthira's questions and Bhishma's answer, the two best-known dhyana verses, and the first four of the 107 verses of names. Note that the fourth verse calls Vishnu "Sarva, Sharva, Shiva". Kanchi Paramacharya urged every home to recite the whole of it, and Adi Shankaracharya wrote a commentary on it. The "Shuklambaradharam" and dhyana verses belong to the traditional recitation and are not part of the Mahabharata chapter itself.
Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, adhyāya 149 (vulgate; 13.135 in the BORI Critical Edition); text as in Sanskrit Wikisource श्रीविष्णुसहस्रनामस्तोत्रम् (pūrvapīṭhikā, dhyāna 1 and 3, nāma verses 1–4)