​Bhagavatam study 45 1.9.17-24 By doing the Lord’s will, we understand his benevolence

Srimad Bhagavatam, 1.9.17 Bhishma Pitamah is speaking to Yudhishthira Maharaj and he is trying to analyse and make sense of the adversities that befell the virtuous Pandavas and he’s saying that actually we can’t understand.
That’s what he said in the previous verse. Those who try to understand the Lord’s plan can’t understand and the learned, when they enquire about it, even they get bewildered. The Bhagavatam has said in this first verse, it’s in 1.1.1, even the Suras and the Devatas are bewildered about him by his illusory energy.
So here Bhishma Pitamah continues that thread of thought and he says that tasma, therefore, therefore means because we can’t understand his plans, what can we do? We can’t understand his plan, we simply have to cooperate with it. Understanding the daivatantram, that this is the divine providence, tantram, that it refers to the arrangement, the providence, divine providence. So what should we determine? That this is the will of the Lord.
And once we accept that as the will of the Lord, as he has decided for you, now that the war has taken place, there are many people who are left as orphans. There were widows who had lost their husbands, their brothers, there were other women who had lost their brothers, their fathers, their sons, and there were children who had become orphans. So he says that you have to become an anath for them.
Those who are anath, you have to become for them. And you have to protect them. Those people, now they were not born from you, they are not your praja in the sense of you giving them birth, but they are your praja in the form of you giving them, you being their ruler, they being your citizens.
So they are your praja and when there is no immediate anath for them, the king has to become their anath and protect them. Prabho. So it’s interesting that here the word Prabho is used in a respectful sense by Bhishma for his grandson, for his grandnephew.
He is giving due weight to the position that Dinesh Chatur has acquired and is going to live according to, that is the position of the emperor and accordingly is referring to him as Prabho. So essentially, Bhishma is telling here to Yudhishthira that because we can’t understand his will, we just have to accept that this is his will. We accept that this is his will and accordingly we act.
I can’t understand why this is happening. I can’t understand why things worked out like this, but I am a servant. I am Krishna’s servant and I simply need to serve Krishna in whatever situation I find myself in.
So presently, I am in a situation and from this Bhishma speaking from Yudhishthira’s perspective that, you know, Bhishma, he says there is a clear service ahead for you, O king, and that service is that you have to rule for the well-being of society. You have the rule for for helping people to become elevated. If you do not take care of this responsibility, who will? And if this responsibility is not taken care of, then people will be lost.
Therefore, people are already orphans and they need some protector. There is a big responsibility waiting ahead for you, O king. Take up that responsibility.
Put aside bothering, put aside thoughts about what cannot be figured out. In life, all of us have to choose our battles. Either we can sweat and spend our time struggling to understand what is in any way difficult for us to understand or we can focus on that which is within our understanding and make a positive contribution therein.
So now he’s saying, this is the Lord’s plan. Please execute it. It goes on the 18th text now.
So till now, there has been analysis of the causes and pointing out that this analysis can not lead to any success. So then he says, therefore, one should simply follow the supreme will. Now somebody may ask a question, but how do I know what the will of the supreme is? Does the supreme really want me to fight? Does the supreme really want me to use to actually take the mantle of kingship? So to answer that question, to address that question, here we have Bhishma speaking, So how can Yudhishthira know the will of the Lord? The Lord is himself present here.
Till now Bhishma has been addressing Yudhishthira. Now he points towards Krishna who is standing nearby and he says, this is certainly Bhagwan’s akshad. He’s himself Bhagwan.
He’s the original Narayan. Now we may wonder, oh Narayan, he stays in Vaikuntha. How is he here? How can this Krishna be Narayan? He says, By his illusory potency, he deludes people.
In a confidential, not easy to understand manifestation, he moves around. As a member of the Vishnu dynasty, one of the greatest mysteries in the Bhakti theology, or it’s not a mystery for the Bhakti theology, it’s a mystery for those who are approaching the Bhakti theology, is how the unlimited can manifest within the limited. How one who is the shelter of material nature can exist as a being within material nature.
How the unlimited can manifest within the limited and still remain unlimited. That is difficult for most people to understand. The important point is that we gain a truly unlimited, we can get a true understanding of what unlimited means.
But the unlimited is not just unlimited in dimension. The unlimited is unlimited also in potency. That means, that is not that when we say Krishna is unlimited, that doesn’t mean that he’s so big, like sometimes the person is very tall.
And then that person has to come inside a house. And the door height is not enough, that person has to bow down and come in. Sometimes the person has to come in through a window, the window is too small, that person can’t fit in.
So that person is stuck with a huge, big body. So that actually hugeness of the body then becomes a limitation. So Krishna is not like that.
He’s unlimited. He’s not just unlimited in dimension. He’s unlimited also in potency.
That means, although he is greater than the greatest, he can also become smaller than the smallest. And by becoming smaller than the smallest, he can actually pervade even within an atom, within the heart as a super soul. So just as he can pervade within the heart, so he can also come within material nature and act as seemingly like another member in the human race.
So Krishna is saying that that he deludes people. So although he’s moving around like a Vrishni or Yudhishthira, know that he is Bhagavan Saksha. He is the supreme person himself and it is he who we should be worshipping.
It is he who we should be all trying to follow, all abide by his will. Bhagavan Saksha. He’s God himself.
Asya Anubhavam Bhagavan Vedaguhyatamam Shivaham Devarshir Naradah Sakshad Bhagavan Kapilondrupam Here he says, Asya Anubhavam Bhagavan. Asya of his Anubhavam, his emotions, his glories, his greatness, Bhagavan. Bhagavan of that, Asya Anubhavam of him who know the glories.
Vedaguhyatamam Shivaham are known guhyatamam, confidential glories. Shiva, Shiva is the first lord, Shiva and then Devarshir Narada, Sakshad. Devarshir Narada, Narada is the sage of the gods, about whom we read in the 4th, 5th, 6th chapters quite a bit.
Bhagavan Kapilondrupam and also we have Bhagavan Kapila. So, that is Kapila, Kapila who is also an incarnation of the Lord, Nrupa, O King. So, that mystery of the word Gudha was used in the previous verse, Gudhas Charatni Krishnesu and here the word Guhyatamam is used, Vedaguhyatamam Shivaham.
So, this confidential knowledge of how the unlimited manifests in the limited realm, that is talked about or that is known to special people and he lists some of those special people when he says over here it is known to Shiva, it is known to Narada, it is known to Kapila. So, now these three names are, they are not exhaustive, they are representative or indicative and the point is that great people, these are all of these are great people within the Vedic Vedic universe, in the Vedic who’s who. So, he said these people know about Krishna’s glories especially about how he manifests in this world and how he acts as if he’s just one among the people while remaining, while still remaining the supreme person.
Text 20. And we may wonder, you know, whenever a list of some special people is brought out, the question may come up, oh, am I there in that list or not? Of course, sometimes some lists are of such special people that we obviously, we know that, oh, I won’t be there in this list. But okay, Nishma will point out how the Pandavas have a very, very special position.
Oh, they have, not only they do know the greatness of the Lord, but more than that, they have a very intimate relationship and sometimes in the intimacy and the proximity that comes with that intimacy, they may forget the divinity of their intimate and proximate friend and they’re saying that, here Nishma points that out and he says, that person whom you think to be, you think him to be a maternal cousin, you consider him to be a friend, a well-wisher. And who has on your behalf, akaro, acted as. So, there are relationships and there are roles within the relationships.
So, first he is talking about the relationships. He is talking about the relationships. Matulayam, he is your maternal cousin, he is your very dear friend and he is your well-wisher.
And within that, he has played further roles. Sachivam, dhutam. Sachivam, he acted as your sachiva.
As in, the word sachiva can mean one who gives counsel, one who executes, one who can be a secretary or a counsellor, depending on the context. Dhutam, dhutam is messenger. And out of his great affection, he also became your charioteer.
So, here this extent of the intimate relationship of the Pandavas with Yudhishthira, of what Krishna is talking about and Nishma Patama is addressing Yudhishthira, but he is referring to Yudhishthira collectively. He is referring to the Pandavas collectively through Yudhishthira and thus he says that he became your charioteer. So, he did not become Yudhishthira s charioteer, he became Arjuna s charioteer.
But the Pandavas are one unit and Nishma is addressing them in a collective sense over here. And thus he says that how extraordinary it is that the supreme being who is the controller of all controllers, he not only became your messenger, we know that Krishna went as Shanti to Duryodhana s kingdom to Hastinapur to try to petition for peace and avoid war before the Kurukshetra war. And then during the Kurukshetra war, because Arjuna and Krishna were such close friends, when Arjuna requested Krishna to become his charioteer, Krishna agreed.
Krishna would not have done that for anyone else. It requires a very, very intimate friend to have the courage to make that kind of request and that friendship also has to be very, very intimate by which the Lord will respond affirmatively to that request. And he will agree to become a charioteer for the person.
So, now Nishma in this section is analysing how is it that the Pandavas, how is it that for the Pandavas, they were, they are relating so intimately with Krishna that because of that intimate relationship, they might forget. So, here he moves on and says that text 21 So, he goes on to say that that supreme lord whom you had, that person who acted as your charioteer also, who is he actually? Sarvaatmanaha. He is the one who is Sarvaatmanaha.
He is a soul present in all living beings. That means he is a super soul. He is equal towards all living beings.
He is non-dual. He is free from all material identity of false. He has no ahankara.
Tatkrtam mativaysamyam. Tatkrtam. In him, in him, by him, mativaysamyam.
In his consciousness, vaysamyam. Differentiation. Niravadyasya nakvachit.
Niravadyasya. Because he has no attachments, he has no illusions. Nakvachit.
So, for in him, differentiation never comes about. Sarvaatmanaha samadrashoya. So, here basically, Bhishma is outlining the supreme position of Krishna, of the absolute truth.
So, he is making this point clear. He is stressing the attributes while talking about the position of the absolute truth to convey the point that Krishna, even though he is acting so intimately with Yudhishthira, still he is the absolute truth. And Yudhishthira needs to bear that in mind and not get carried away by just the intimate relationship.
Because even when Krishna has intimate relationship with someone and even when Krishna does the bidding of that person, still it is Krishna who remains God. And being God, he can do, he can still be omnipotent. So, by his omnipotent will, he has now arranged the situation where Yudhishthira has to take on the responsibility of the emperor.
And Yudhishthira needs to see this circumstance not as circumstantial, but as transcendental. Because the transcendental Lord also orchestrates our circumstances. Text 22.
Therefore, he says, therefore, that tathapi, not therefore, it is despite, tasmad is therefore, which was used two verses ago. In the previous verse, he says that how the Lord is equal, impartial, non-differentiating, having no attachments. For one, for those who are his unalloyed devotees, paśyabhūpānukampitam.
Just see paśyabhūpa, one who is the ruler of the earth, anukampitam, the mercy, the anukampa. When he was about to depart from the world, sākṣāt, he himself has appeared over here. Krishna has himself appeared.
He has come over here. The point he is making is that Krishna is impartial and still he has come himself to darshan to Bhishma when Bhishma is about to depart. Bhishma is saying that I am his ekānta bhakta, I am his ekānta.
The word ekānta is used often to mean confidentiality or a privacy, seclusion, a place where there’s no disturbance, ekānta. So I want seclusion so that I can have concentration. Ekānta is not just a matter of physical location, it’s also a matter of inner disposition.
Like if ekānta, if we have only one purpose in mind, then we are ekānta. So Bhishma is saying that he had one purpose. What was that purpose? Ekānta bhakteṣu, that he was affixed in devotion to the Supreme Lord.
Krishna says 9.13 in the Bhagavad Gita that the great soul, the mahātmās, their mind, no, nothing apart from Krishna. So here ekānta, one end they have. So Bhishma is saying that I worship the Lord with one-pointed devotion, ekānta bhakteṣu.
Now is this self-glorification? That he is, how can a devotee say that I am a pure devotee? Actually the point here is not to glorify himself. The point of Bhishma Pitāmaha here is to stress how the Lord reciprocates with someone who is an ekānta bhakta. That means because Krishna, because Bhishma was an ekānta bhakta, so just see how Krishna has rewarded me.
What is the reward? That he has himself come when I am in my last stages and he has blessed me in this extraordinary way. So the implication is that Yudhiṣṭhira, if you also become devoted to the Lord, he will bless you also in a similar way. And then Bhishma in the next two verses will give the general principle of how the Lord blesses those who become devoted to Him.
So he says that the Lord has appeared before me. Is it an exceptional thing? No, it is not exceptional. It is reciprocal.
That means whoever approaches to the Lord with sincerity, with fixed devotion, the Lord will reciprocate accordingly. Yes, for everyone the Lord may not himself come in a form that is manifest and visible on the earth, but he will manifest in their heart. And that principle Bhishma talks in this in the next verse.
He says bhaktāveśa, infused with devotion, mano yasmin, when a person infused with devotion in his mind, so internally infused with devotion, verbally chanting the names of the Lord. The yogi who gives up his body in such a condition, is freed from the bondage caused by kāmakarma, by activities born of desire, they cause bondage. And the yogi is freed from all bondage.
The yogi remembers the Lord with devotion internally and chants His name externally. Then such a person will be liberated. Chapter 24 Bhishma comes to his condition and he says that now I am also in that situation where I am going to depart.
He says, O Lord, I am also close to departing now. So please, please you also bless me by being, by manifesting in my consciousness, by being on my side when I depart from this world. So while I prepare to give up this body during this period, I am waiting for that moment to come.
And you, O Lord, also please, please bless me by waiting for that moment of death to come. Prasanna hāsa aruna lochan ullasan. Prasanna hāsa aruna.
So Prasanna hāsa aruna. So you are in a beautiful smiling face. Aruna lochan ullasan.
Aruna lochana. His eyes red like the morning sun. Ullasan.
Beautifully decorated. Mukhāmbhoja dhyāna patashyatur bhujahā. Mukhāmbhoja is the lotus flower of his face.
Dhyāna patashyatur bhujahā. O Lord, you are the four-handed Lord. Chaturbhuja refers to, Bhishma is aware that this is not just an ordinary human being.
He is the supreme being. He is there. He is the being who is celebrated as the supreme, Vishnu.
And Chaturbhuja means, you please, dhyāna patashyatur. It’s a beautiful word. Dhyāna patashyatur means on the path of my meditation.
So we have Jagannātha Swami, nayanapathagāmi bhavattume. So the eyes are going here and there. The eyes have a path which they follow.
So we pray that Lord Jagannātha manifests on the path of our eyes. So similarly, he’s praying dhyāna patashyatur. So my thoughts, my meditation will go in some direction or the other.
Please, O Lord, you manifest on the dhyāna patashyatur. So his request is not just that Krishna be there next to him externally while he departs from the world. But more importantly, Bhishma’s request is that, O Lord, please be on the path of my meditation.
And bless me so that I may also attain liberation from material existence. Thank you.