Bhagavatam study 47 1.9.31-35 Bhishma identifies and adores the ultimate cause of his death

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, text 1931.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, text 1931. So this is the beginning of the prayers of Bhishma wherein he is describing how he will be the Bhāgavatam will be describing how he offers classic deathbed prayers. So it is said, His focus, his concentration was very deep, was very purified.
All impurity, all nauseousness was removed. And the prayers to Bhishma are one of the again the most important prayers in the Bhāgavatam. In the previous chapter, there were the prayers of Bhishma, rather not to Bhishma.
In the previous chapter, we had the prayers of Kunti. And similarly, we have prayers in this chapter. And the whole focus is on describing how wonderful, wonderfully exalted, non-typical and transcendental the consciousness of those who are absorbed in Vishnu is.
So, here it is described that these people, that the Bhāgavatas, through this through this prayers, it will illustrate how the Bhāgavatas are utterly transcendental in whatever they do. Of course, it has been described already through the example of how the Bhāgavatas are transcendental. But here some other theme will be addressed, theme of approaching death and preparing for death.
And that is a theme which is central to the Bhāgavatam’s philosophical message. And this will be, this will be a precursor or a preview for the Bhāgavatam’s central setting of Parīkṣit Mahārāja’s preparing for death. So, of course, Parīkṣit Mahārāja prepares for his death by by śravaṇaṁ, whereas Bhishma Pitāmah prepares for his death by vandanam.
But both śravaṇaṁ and vandanam are ultimately processes of bhakti. And bhakti is the central means by which the Bhāgavatam urges us all to prepare for, to prepare for the dream of perfection, to prepare for the final exam of death. So, here it is stated that he was Bhishmapadiṣva.
He, by beholding the Lord who was right in front of him, by beholding the Lord who was, whom he could see right in front of him with his eyes, by that what did he do? It happened that gata yudha śramahā. So, gata means went away, śramahā is the fatigue, the pain, the agony which he was experiencing because of the arrows, all of it went away when he just realised what was happening. When he realised that the Supreme Vishnu, Krishna himself was there with him and he was beholding Krishna’s form.
nivṛttu sarvendriya vṛtti vibhramas So, nivṛttu sarvendriya sarvendriya, in all the senses they were active in various ways, vṛtti vibhramas. So, now according to vṛtti, the activity, activity according to one’s nature, we have to understand that kṣatriyas cannot be renounced like the sages who are in the forest. Kṣatriyas can also be sages, but they are rāja rishi, they are royal sages who are different from ordinary, who are different from people in general and different especially from kṣatriyas.
Kṣatriyas, if they are to rule, they have to get engaged. As they say that they cannot clean a house without getting your hand dirty, at least without getting your clothes dirty. You can, of course, wash the clothes later, but some amount of dirt is going to come.
So, similarly, when we act in this world, we have to, to some extent, we can’t just wish away entanglement. To some extent, some emotional engagement will be there if you want to do things well and that emotional engagement can cause some level of entanglement. But just as we become unclean, but thereafter we clean ourselves.
And we can’t avoid, we can’t say that because I don’t want to become clean, so I will not clean my house. Well, if I have to stay in the house, I have to clean my house. If I have to stay in my body, I have to clean my body.
So, similarly, kṣatriyas are meant to clean up the administration and clean up the kingdom and to maintain order. To some extent, they have to be emotionally and intellectually involved in whatever they are doing. And when they are involved thus, the best way for them to stay distance, the best way for them to become disentangled is through, is through periodic intense phases of purification.
So, for example, when the sages come and instruct them or when, so at that time they hear. So, they have their royal administration and along with the royal administration, they also have their responsibilities elsewhere. They take the spiritual responsibilities of associating with the sages also very seriously and that ensures that they move onwards steadily in their spiritual journey towards Krishna.
So, here with death coming close by, Bhishma Pitamah is taking care that he doesn’t let himself get distracted by anything, but stays single-mindedly focused on moving onwards towards the Supreme Lord by keeping his consciousness fixed on him. So, by keeping the consciousness fixed thus, what Bhishma Pitamah is doing is tushṭāva. So, tushṭāva, he tried to satisfy the Lord by offering prayers.
Janāyam visrujān janārdhanam. Janāyam visrujān, janāyam, that which is born, visrujān, he gave up his material body, the material tabernacle. Janārdhanam, to that Lord who is the Ardhana.
Ardhana can either mean destroyer or the maintainer. So, he is the maintainer of all living beings, he is the destroyer of all of living beings. That means that he destroys the material existence and the material bodies of people, and he maintains the spiritual credits of people from lifetime to lifetime, and he ultimately helps them attain liberation.
This is the setting of the prayers, and then the prayers will begin themselves from text 32. Śrī Bhīṣma vāca, iti matir upakal pitāvitṛṣṇā bhagavati sāttva-tapuṅgave vibhoṃ nī sva-sukhaṁ upagate kvacid vihārtuṁ prakṛtiṁ upeyuṣīyat bhavaḥ pravāham. So, here it is stated that, iti matir upakal pitāvitṛṣṇā, in this way, he, Bhīṣma Pitāmā is saying, iti matir upakal pitāvitṛṣṇā.
So, vitṛṣṇā, that is, the craving sense desire which actually pervades all living beings, let that desire be removed. How can it be removed? Iti matir upakal pitā. Let it be withdrawn from everything else and let my consciousness.
So, Prabhupāda gives us an insightful, as we say, bhāvārtha, a translation in terms of essential emotion, when he translates mati not just as consciousness but as thinking, feeling and willing. So, the point is that he was investing all his inner faculties in the Supreme. By giving up all the cravings caused the faculties to be invested in anything other than the Supreme.
Iti matir upakal pitāvitṛṣṇā bhagavati sātvata puṅgave vibhoṃ nirbhagavati sātvata puṅgave. He is the leader of the sātvatas. Sātvata can refer either to the sātvata dynasty, sātvata can also refer to those who are situated in sattva, in the absolute truth.
vibhoṃ nirbhagavati sātvata puṅgave vibhoṃ nirbhagavati Under the grade, sva-sukhaṁ upagate kochid vihārtuṁ, sva-sukhaṁ upagate kochid vihārtuṁ. So, sva-sukhaṁ, self-satisfaction, upagate. That lord descends to this world for his own pleasure.
He is not bound to come over here. Kochid vihārtuṁ. Sometimes he comes for his own leela.
prakṛtim upeyuṣy adbhavaḥ pravāham prakṛtim upeyuṣy adbhavaḥ pravāham From whom the pravāha of this world, pravāha, the flow of material existence which involves creation, maintenance and destruction, that happens from him, that happens through him. prakṛtim upeyuṣy adbhavaḥ pravāham prakṛtim upeyuṣy adbhavaḥ pravāham So, overall, the bhāgavatam is urging us to, through this starting meditation, shift our focus from the world to the lord of the world. So, in three ways, this verse is connecting the lord with the world.
First is that, it starts by saying, he is the leader of the people who are seeking the truth in the world. It is for leading such people that he descends with this world. And ultimately, the world itself, along with its cyclicity of creation, maintenance, destruction, that originates from him.
So, the transcendental lord, why he manifests in this world and what he does when he manifests, those things are stated in this text. Text 33, tribhuvana kamanaṁ tamāla varṇaṁ pravikara gaura varāmbara dadhāne vāpurala kakulā vṛtāna nāpyaṁ vijaya sakhera tirastu menavadyā. So, tribhuvana kamanaṁ tamāla varṇaṁ tribhuvana kamanaṁ.
So, tribhuvana is the three worlds. Kamanaṁ, that is a variant coming from the same root as the word kāma. Kāma can mean lust.
Kāma can also mean desire. And kamanaṁ means desirable. So, in the three worlds, he is the most desirable object.
So, this connects with and flows from the previous verse which talks of his relationship with the world. So, when he descends to this world, he descends as the most attractive object in this world. Tribhuvana kamanaṁ tamāla varṇaṁ.
So, varṇaṁ, his complexion is like that of a tamal tree, bluish black. Pravikara gaura varāmbara dadhāne. So, varāmbara, so best of the clothes that he is wearing, which are glittering, which are shining, pravikara gaura, how are they shining? Like the sun itself.
So, Krishna is himself, is himself bluish black in complexion, but when he wears clothes that are shining like the sun. One of the, one of the very important aspects of beauty is contrast. Now, when somebody is, say, using Photoshop to design some images on the computer or somebody is painting, painting something.
So, contrast is, at such times, colour contrast is a very important feature for enhancing beauty. So, here it is stated that there is a beautiful contrast between the tamāla varṇaṁ of his body and the pravikara gaura varāmbara dadhāne, the clothes that he is wearing. Vapuralaka kula vṛtāna nāpjam.
And further, his beauty is being described that his form is anointed with sandalwood paste. So, in traditional Indian culture, one of the ways to honour a person was to apply sandalwood paste on that person’s head. The application of sandalwood paste indicated that that person was actually, was actually the honourable person.
And of course, practical point of view, applying sandalwood paste also enabled people to stay cool in India’s tropical weather. So, Vijaya Sakhe is referring to that supreme absolute truth who has descended in this world. He is referring to him with one of his prominent relationships, that is his relationship with Arjuna.
And this Vijaya Sakhe will be a precursor to the specific mode of the kind of relationship that Bhishma has or Bhishma relishes with Krishna. That relationship, his relationship with Krishna centres on his appreciation of Krishna acting as a charioteer of his opponent. And so, he is describing that lord’s relationship.
And to that Vijaya Sakha, Let him stay, let my attraction be towards him. Let my attraction be towards him without being distracted towards anything else. Till now, he has not described his direct, his any relationship with the lord, how he wants to relate with the lord, or how he is related with the lord.
In fact, we will see throughout the prayers, Bhishma does not refer to Krishna by any relationship as per the dynasties of their bodies. All that he focusses on is that how Krishna is wonderfully related with his devotees and how Krishna relates inconceivably with him. So, he is describing the glorious lord, who is the most desirable in this world, who has a beautiful form, which is characterised by beautiful contrast between his complexion and his dress and who is anointed further with Ananabjam with a face beautiful like a lotus which is decorated by sandalwood paste.
And to that lord, who is the friend of Vijaya, of Arjuna, he says, let my consciousness flow steadily. So, text 34, Yudhi turagrajo vidhum ravishvak. So, he says, on the battlefield, turagrajo.
There were the horses and there was the dust. Vidhum ravishvak. So, as the dust rose, because the horses were moving so fast and their hooves were raising dust.
Kachilulij shamavarya langratasya. Normally, when we start off a day, we comb our hair neatly and we try to look as good as is practically possible at that time, as good in the sense as orderly as possible. But especially when there is assertive action, when there is a sudden movement as is often required in the middle, in the throes of a war to parry the attacks of the opponents or to oneself launch a sudden swift attack.
So, during that course of such physical, sudden abrupt physical motion, one’s hair tends to get disorganised. So, here it is said, kachilulij shamavarya langratasya. So, now disorderliness is usually not considered to be a sign of beauty.
Now, if we go to a place and we find the room very disorderly. Now, we usually would not praise such a person, oh, your room is so disorderly. But suppose, we go to the house of a millionaire or a billionaire and we find that in their face, in their houses, or they are having drops of sweat and we find that, you know, that they have themselves been working very hard at something.
So, now they may not need to work hard, but they choose to work hard. And they choose to work hard because of their desire to, of their desire to influence, of their desire to make a contribution, whatever, if it is a desire especially to assist others, to set an example for others or whatever, then that sweat is, the sweat of hard work is good for anyone and everyone. But the sweat of hard work especially seen among the well to do is especially noteworthy but in terms of what it signifies about them.
It signifies that they have been working, they have been working very hard. Similarly, when the Lord comes to this world, when he performs his pastimes, it is not that he is utterly detached and indifferent. He remains transcendental, but at the same time, he does get engaged in this world.
He is engaged without being encaged. So, engaged in the sense that he takes up responsibility. And when he takes up responsibility, the point of his taking up responsibility is that he enables us to look closer to him and to attain him through the remarkable purification, through the remarkable, all attractiveness that he manifests in this world and also through the divine instructions that he often gives during his descent.
So, he is saying over here that the Lord’s forehead was decorated with the dust that had risen from the horse’s hooves. That was the beads of perspiration coming from his shamavarya. As he was handling the chariot, the horses, it is not an easy job.
Actually, handling chariots requires far more expertise and causes far greater exhaustion than say, being a chauffeur of a car. Car is largely mechanical and one just needs some basic attentiveness to drive a car. But steering horses, one does not have the kind of mechanical reavers and brakes and steering wheels that one has in a car.
So, therefore, it requires much greater effort to be able to keep a car and to keep a chariot under control and then not just keep it under control, but to direct it in quick ways. And all this to do it when there is an attack by those who would like to knock one down, to even destroy one, then that causes enormous stress and can cause exhaustion. And now that the Lord himself is taking up this exhaustion, for what? For the sake of his devotees, for the sake of establishing dharma and for the sake of serving his devotees, that is alankratasya.
So, even in a sense of appearance, that means not appearance in a sense of superficiality as contrasted with substance, but appearance in the sense of how it looks, that it is Krishna, even when there were blood, even when there, his forehead was decorated with dust particles, with beads of sweat. And as the next line states, mama nishit sharair vibhidhyamana tachi villasat. So, by my arrows that he was pierced.
So, normally, warriors are meant to attack warriors, not the charioteers. Charioteers are not directly a part of the fight, but just as warriors may try to destroy the chariot of the other party so as to get an advantage over them. And the charioteer is considered to be a part of the chariot, not in the sense that depersonalised or mechanised way of looking at things, but simply in terms of strategy that killing the charioteer can give an upper hand to the attacking warrior because the defending warrior becomes immobile and thus can become a more easier target.
So, although singular targeting of the charioteer alone is considered unfair, especially if the chariot warrior is not in the position to defend, but attacking the charioteer is also a part of war strategy. So, sometimes Bhishma in his fierce fight with Arjuna, while he was attacking Arjuna, he attacked Arjuna s charioteer also. Now, Bhishma, he is a devotee and we may wonder how can a devotee attack the Lord like this? But the point is that his focus was on various things firstly, that within the flow of the pastime, he wanted to see Krishna exhibit his martial prowess in some inconceivable way.
Because Krishna had taken the promise of being a non-combatant and Bhishma wanted Krishna to exhibit his martial prowess by which he would demonstrate his love for his devotees. This theme will come to later. But for that purpose, to goad Arjuna, who was not fighting wholeheartedly, to goad Arjuna to fight wholeheartedly, what he was doing was, he was striving to establish, he was striving to establish, to create some fury within Arjuna and one way of doing that was by attacking Arjuna s charioteer.
So, even the blood that was flowing, normally the flow of blood does not indicate, is not very beautiful. But flow of blood can also look beautiful, especially in the right setting or the right situation. So, in this particular case, he looked beautiful, Krishna looked beautiful with all that blood flow, the blood drops which were also there on his forehead and he says, Vilasat.
And it was not only Bhishma who delighted in seeing, oh, Krishna looks so beautiful and observing that beautiful form of Krishna. But Krishna himself enjoyed, Chivilasat kavache astu krishna atma. So, kavache astu, that as his armour was pierced by the attacks of Bhishma, then after that his skin was also pierced and then blood came out.
Krishna atma, unto that Krishna, unto that supreme spiritual reality, let my consciousness be attracted and let my consciousness be attracted constantly. That is the prayer here of Bhishma Pitama for Krishna and his rathir, Vilasat. That means now here, it is not only Bhishma who enjoys the pleasure, it is Krishna also enjoys the pleasure and Krishna enjoys vivarasa over here.
Just like Chakravarty Path gives the example that when lovers, when they are in the heat of passion, sometimes they bite each other and although that bite may draw blood, but actually it gives pleasure, it does not cause any anger or animosity. Instead, it actually gives pleasure by helping people to recognise that they are at their core, by helping each other convey the intensity of their attraction towards each other, by which they want to come in contact with and by which they want to come in contact as much as possible through all the modes of experience, including the sense of touch, in the sense of the mouth. So, now moving onwards, text 34.
So, unto that Lord who is inconceivably beautified by blood and dust particles and by dust and sweat and blood, let my consciousness be attracted, he says. So, text 35. In the battlefield, Sapadi Sakhi Vachho, on hearing the words of his opponent, Sakhi Vachho, Nishamya Madhye, he took the, on hearing them he took the Madhye, took the chariot in between, in between what? Nijaparayor Balayo, that Nijaparayor, that between him and the other party, Balayo, the force, Ratham Niveshyam.
So, their own army, the opponent s army, in between he took the army, took the two, in between the two armies he took them and Sthithavati Parasainikayurakshana. Sthithavati, he situated him in the middle of the two armies, Parasainikayurakshana. So, and then as they are situated, Parasainika, that means the opposing army, Akshana with his eyes, Rathavati, he stole away the lifespan, stole away the life of the opposing army, Parthasakher Thirmamastu, unto that lord, let my attraction be.
The Thirmamastu. It is fascinating here that, now who is there in the Parasainika ayu? Parasainika, whose ayu, Rathavati was done, whose ayu was stolen away. Actually Bhishma himself is in that Parasainika.
So, there are, so Bhishma is in one sense, let my attraction be towards that person who stole away my life. What an extraordinary point to make in such a case, that he is saying that let my attraction be to that person to whom, who stole away my life. Now another point to consider here is that, did Bhishma actually steal away, did Krishna steal away Bhishma’s life? In one sense, Krishna did nothing, Krishna did not raise weapons in the war and Krishna did not kill anyone.
But here Bhishma is seeing that the whole war was ultimately the arrangement of Krishna and being the arrangement of Krishna, what Bhishma did was, he appreciated that it was by Krishna’s will that whatever destruction happened, happened. And Krishna also says, by my arrangement has been destroyed. Who has been destroyed? The Parasainika ayur.
By my arrangement, the opposing army has been destroyed. Opposing soldiers will be defeated. So, you just go and fight and you can take the credit of Arjuna.
He took, stole away the life of those people. Now, this is the setting before, this verse comes as one text before the text which will talk about the Kurukshetra message of Krishna that will be mentioned in the next verse. But the significant point of this verse is that Krishna took Arjuna in the middle and then he stole away the lives of his opponents and that means stole away the life of Bhishma also and yet, in understanding the transcendence of Krishna, Bhishma is saying,