Guest guest Posted July 29, 1997 Report Share Posted July 29, 1997 srimathE lakshmi-nrsumha parabrahmaNE namaha sri vedanta guravE namaha Dear "bhAgavatOttamA-s", An eerie silence descended on the battle-fields of Kurukshetra. Both camps stood still and watched, in shock and horror, the crippled body of their beloved "pitA-mahar", shot to shreds, slowly sinking to the ground. Bhishma looked at his own frame brutally mangled beyond recognition by Arjuna's arrows. Momentarily, he was shaken by the sight. It was the sight of incipient Death, fearful and pathetic. A searing pain numbed his body .... what body?, he thought, in a flash of irony ...soon it would be called a decaying caracass... His head spun. And in his throat suddenly began to rage a burning thirst. Everything around seemed to be swirling. Through dimmed eyes he saw the blurred shapes of the Kaurava and Pandava armies all crowding around him..... shocked, silent and helpless.... He saw the hazy outlines of Duryodhana, DrOnA, Karna, Yudhistra, ..... None came readily forward to aid him in his moment of extreme pain.... his moment of death. They all remained transfixed, unable to believe the sight before them. It was a moment of indescribable agony that Bhishma experienced. It was a morbid moment of death the closest description of which is, perhaps, given in our holy literature nowhere as brutally and graphically as in PeriAzhwAr's "pattha-rAya irrapAr perum pEru" : mEl ezhun-thathu-Or vAy-kiLirnthu mEl mIdaRRinai uLL-ezha vAngIk kAlUm kaiyUm vidhir vidhirthu Erik kaNn urrakamad Ava ....... etc. (Gasping, rasping; heart palpitating; Limbs twisting in spasms; rheumy eye-balls turning inside sockets ..etc.) and then again, madi vazhi vandhu neer pulansOra vAyil attiya kanjiyUm mIndE kadai vazhi vArak kandam adaippak ..... todaivazhi ummai nAygaL kavara .... etc. (Bladder ruptured, urine dripping; body-bile seeping out of a stenchful mouth ; foul mucus drooling down the chin.....etc.) and further, vAy oru pakkam vAngI valippa vArntha nIrk-kUzhi kaNgal mIzhartha ... (mouth twisted in ugly pain ... incoherent eyes swollen in utter terror ...etc.) It was a moment of sheer loneliness and complete despair... for BhishmAchAryar. He despaired that the last moments of life would now be spent lying supine on the unholy soil of Kurukshetra.... a futile champion to the cause of a "visEsha-dharmA" whose purpose was not even so clear to him ... He despaired that his dying body would be under the custody of moral pygmies like Duryodhana, Karna and the rest of the gang... He despaired that his parched throat would now be quenched with water fetched by the unclean, impure hands of the Kauravas and Pandavas ... stained by the blood of so many thousands of his beloved poor, innocent Hastinapurians.... He despaired... and feared ... that in the terminal moments when life and body parted, his lifeless head would probably be cradled in the wicked arms or lap of the likes of Duryodhana, Karna or DussAsana ..... Although what PeriAzhwAr wrote cannot be strictly applied to him, the words quoted below nevertheless carry an indirect but poignant relevance to BhishmA's final plight: "thAi oru-pakkam thandhai oru pakkam tAramUm oru pakkam alarRa ...etc." or perhaps, "koodi koodi utrArgal irundu kutram nirka natrangal paraindu pAdi pAdi Or pAdayil eetu .....etc." In Bhishma's case, all of Hastinapur and its peoples, gathering then to watch him die, were collectively, so to speak, his loving mother, father, spouse ..... He had none else on earth to call as kith or kin. And the insincere ones, to gather, perhaps, at his funeral to sing requiems for him, would be the Kauravas ...like Duryodhana, Karna and the rest of the notorious pack. Such dark thoughts brought unbearable pain into his heart. Bhishma then murmured to himself : "Is this how it all ends then ?" "Is this the result for all the "dharmA-s" I lived and fought for all my life ? Is this the kind of exit that I am destined for ? Must it all end for me in this inglorious way ? Oh, my Lord, Woe unto me !" It was in that instant of supreme despair that BhishmAchAryar's glance suddenly fell on Lord Krishna on His chariot : Krishna dazzled ! Bhishma saw Him in a new light as never before. The Lord appeared to him in a halo of majesty never witnessed earlier. He was like an extraordinary piece of grace-filled sculpture, one hand clasping the reins of His magnificent horses and the other one casually draped around Arjuna's shoulder .... a furtive, bewitching smile spanning His lips ! It was the Lord in a vision of Dawning Glory, "vijaya-sakhE" Himself ! triBhuvana-kamanam tamAla-varNam ravikara-goura-varAmbaram daDhAnE I Bhishma's near-dead eyes cleared instantly and brimmed with the enchanting image of Krishna. That glance of Bhishma, we can imagine, spoke volumes ! The endearing appeal in that glance, perhaps, is what Saint TOndar-adi-podi had in mind when he composed those stirring words in Verse #29 of the "tirumAlai" : oorilEn kAni-illai uravu-matrOrUvar illai pAril nin pAdha moolam paRRilEn, parama-muthi ! kAr-OLi vaNNaNe ! kaNNaNe ! kadari-kinrEn ! Arular ! kaLai-kann ammA ! arangamA nagarUlANE ! (There's nothing now left in this world to call my own, Oh Kanna! Not a stretch of earth (on Kurukshetra or Hastinapur); Not a soul whom I can call my kith or kin (neither the Kauravas or Pandavas)! Not even the means I've used to endear myself to You, my Lord ! (Not even all the "dharmA-s" for which I, BhishmA, have become so renowned for !) My lustrous One, I prithee, helpless and damned am I My Beauteous One, Oh tarry not! If You won't save me in this Moment Who will ?) Suddenly, Bhisma felt a strange lightness fill up his whole being. In a moment, gone was the darkness of despair! Effortlessly, Bhishma's torn lips curled and lucidly whispered : "HarE Krishna....!" Pain vanished. Fear fled to be replaced by the bliss of an ineffable certainty that Arjuna's UNFAILING friend and savior of many, many long years ...."vijaya-sakhE" .... the Supreme One, this time around, would stand no less resolutely by Bhishma in his moment of extinction. Swami Desikan describes the emotion of such CERTAINTY, many ages later, in a verse of rare insight into human death. "abhiti-stavam" (Verse # 7): rama-dayita ranga-bhu-ramaNa krishna vishnO harE trivikrama janArdana triyuga nAtha nArAyANa I ithIva shubha-dAni yaf paTTa~thi nAma-dhEyani thE na tasya yama-vashyathA naraka-pAtha-Bheethi kutha-ha II (Meaning: How can there ever be place, in the hearts of men, for Fear of death or of Yama's horrors when the names ring, loud and clear, in them ... the names of Ramadayita, RangabhUramaNa, Krishna, Vishnu, HarE, Trivikrama, JanArdanA, Triyuga, Natha, NarAyaNa ?!) ********************************************* (Concluded) srimathe srivan satagopa sri narayana yatindra mahadesikaya namaha sudarshan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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