sromadbhagavatham-skandha1-chapter9

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chapter9-Bhishma and Vishnusahasranama

 

All went to the place where Bhishma was lying on the bed of arrows

waiting for UttharAyaNa puNyakAla to leave his body as he had the boon

from his mother Gangadevi to do so. All the rshis also went with Krishna

to hear Bhishma speak of dharma. Bhishma looked like 'nipathitham

bhoomou dhivah chyutham iva amaram' a deva slipped and fell on the

earth, implying his minimal contact with the earth. In fact he was one

of the ashtavasus who was born as a human due to curse.

 

Krishna on appraching Bheeshma bowed down to him proving the truth of

the dharma and sahasranama yet to be told by Bhishma, that is,

'AchAraprabhavO dharmah dharmasyapraburachyuthah' Achyutha is the lord

of dharma which is based on propriety.Hence He is called in the

sahasranama 'amAnee mAnadhO mAnyah,' which means that the Lord does not

think twice in showing reverence and honouring His devotees while He

Himself is the most revered.

 

Bhishma was highly elated to see brhmarshis, rajarshis and dvarshis

because the darsana of mahatmas will secure salvation at the last

moments even without bhagavathsmaraNa. Seeing Krishna Bhishma worshipped

Him as hrdhisTha as well as Aseena, one who is in his heart as well as

in front, because Bheeshma was one of the few who understood the real

nature of Krishna as the Lord of the universe. He did manasa pooja

seeing the Lord in his heart as he was unable to do so externally.

 

Bhishma expressed his concern that the pandavas had to suffer a lot

inspite of having Yudhishtira, the righteous, Bhima, the fierce, Arjuna

, the valiant and Krishna as their saviour and said that he considered

it as kAlakrtha, play of time, like the clouds being agitated by the

wind. he said that it is impossible to fathom the will of Isvara, which

cannot be ascertained even by sages. Then Bhishma pointed out to Krishna

and said 'Eshavai bhagavAn sAkshAth AdhyO nArayaNah pumAn;mohayanmAyaya

lokamgooDascharathi vrishNishu, this is the Lord Narayana Himself who

is moving about among the yadhavas incognito, deluding the world by His

mAya. Only Lord Siva, Narada and Kapila knew His real nature.' Bhishma

wondered that such an entity has served the pandavas in various

capacities such as advisor, messenger and charioteer.

 

Further Bhishma said 'sarvAthmanah samadhrSOh hyadhvayasyAnahamkrthEh;

thathkrtham mathivaishamyam niravadhyasya na kvachith.' For bhagavan who

is the inner self of all, who sees all equally,who has no equal, free

from ahamkara,has no partiaity. It is srange that Bhishma who was on the

bed of arrows due to Arjuna ,who had the support of Krishna, said this,

which shows that he was a jnani.

 

The natural doubt would be that if the Lord is equal to all why should

he only help His devotees. The answer for this is supplied by Sri

Ramakrishna. He gives two examples to illustrate this point.

 

1. Eventhough the wind is favourable, one has to open his sails for it

to help the motion of the boat.

 

2. Even if the light is on, one has to open his eyes to see it.

 

Similarly The Lord is there for everyone who asks his help but it is

left to you to approach Him and ask for it.

 

He says 'samOham sarva bhoothEshu na mE dhvEshyosthi na priyah,' in the

Gita. That is , "I am equal to all beings and there is no friend or foe

for Me." But if one considers Him as a foe He comes to Him in that form.

 

At this juncture Yudhishtira asked Bhishma the question 'ko

DHarmassarvaDHarmANAm bhavathah paramO mathah,' as to which is the

greatest dharma in his opinion.The answer to this was the

VishnusahasranAma, Bhishma saying 'EshamE sarvaDHarmANAm DHarmO

aDHikathamO mathah,this (meaning the worship of the Lord by repeating

His thousand namas) is the greatest Dhrama of all.After all, did He not

say in the Gita 'sarvaDHarmAn parithyajya mAmEkam SaraNam vraja!'

 

Bhishma illustrated the karuNA of Bhagavan to His EkAnthabhaktha by

pointing out the fact that He has come to grace Bhishma at this moment

when he was about to leave his body. And he prayed that the Lord Krishna

should remain in front with His four arms and lotus-like eyes and with

His enchanting smile till the last moment of his life, because He is the

Devadeva, by meditating on whom with devotion and singing whose name, a

yogi gives up his life in order to be released from bondage of karma,

'bhakthyAdhESya manO yasmin vAchA yannAmakirthayan thyajan kalEbaram

yOgee muchyathE kamakarmabhih.'

 

Then Yudhishtira questioned Bhishma about various dharmas as Krishna

told him to do. The instruction on dharma by Bhishma runs to 500

chapters in the Mahabharatha.When Bhishma witnessed the Lord in front of

him he never asked anything for himself but was engrossed in talking

about dharma and Bhagavan, and the rshis also heard the discourse of

Bhishma. Here Vyasa refers to Bhishma as cchandhamrthyu, one who can die

at will. He took his own time looking at Krishna and savouring the

presence of the Lord.

 

The BhishmOpadheSa is extolled by Krishna Himself in Mahabharatha as

'yaccha thvam vakshyathE bheeshma pAndavAyanuprcchathe;vEdhapravAdhA iva

thE sThAsyanthi prthveethalE.' That is, the words of Bhishma will stand

forever on earth like the vedavakyas.

 

It is said 'geethA viDHuravAkyAni DharmAh SAnthanavErithAh;na sruthA

bhArathE yEna janma thasya nirarThakam.' The life of one, who has not

heard the Gita, the Vidhuravakya and the discourse on dharma by Bhishma,

is in vain.

 

Then the UttharAyaNa puNyakAla , eagerly awaited by Bhishma arrived. The

Lord appeared to him in all splendour and Bhishma became free from all

pain and turning his mind and senses inward he started praising

Bhagavan. Bhishmasthuthi in short, is as follows:

 

" May i always have pure bhakthi towards the friend of Arjuna, who is

thribhuvanakamana, enchants the three worlds with His

appearance,ThamAlavarna, of dark hue like the thamala flower, who is

wearing ravikara goura varAmbaram, the pithambara shining like the sun,

alaka kulAvrathAnanAbjam, His lotus -like face surrounded by curly hair.

 

May I have bhakthi towards the Parthasarathy, who led the chariot of

Arjuna in between the two armies and took away the life from the

enemies of Pandavas by His looks.

 

He forsake His promise of not to wield a weapon in the war in order to

fuflfil my vow that I will make Him take weapon and advanced towards me

with His discus in hand like a lion attacking an elephant.

 

It is beautiful to see Him holding the reins and the horsewhip ,seated

in front of the chariot of Arjuna and those who died seeing Him acquired

release. May I have devotion towards Him.

 

I perceive Him as residing in the heart of each of His creations like

the sun reflected in each eye. And I resort to Him being free from the

delusion of difference."

 

Thus speaking Bhishma breathed his last and was united with the Lord.

After doing the last rites of him Yudhishtira returned to hasthinapur

and started ruling his kingdom.

[Guest guest]

Note: forwarded message attached.

 

Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A., Ph.D, Siromani in sanskrit.

web address: http://www.geocities.com/sarojram18

http://freewebs.com/gitaclass

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Note: forwarded message attached.

 

Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A., Ph.D, Siromani in sanskrit.

web address: http://www.geocities.com/sarojram18

http://freewebs.com/gitaclass

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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