srimadbhagavatham-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.