​Bhagavatam study 49 1.9.43-48 Departure of great souls is a victory worthy of celebration

With this intention of absorption in the Lord, this extraordinary set of prayers ends. Thank you.
This is the verse which shifts the narrational focus from Bhishma to Suta Goswami. Bhishma has concluded his prayers to Krishna on his arrow deathbed and has fallen silent forever. And continuing the narrative, Suta Goswami speaks here, Krishnam evam bhagavate krishnam.
And to that Lord Krishna, who is the supreme, manovadrishti vitthi bhi, he offered his mind, his speech, his vision, atmanya, atma, atmanya, atmanam, aveshya, and his own self, he offered thus atmanam. So, unto that supreme, his own self, atmanam, atmanya, unto the supreme he offered aveshya, entered into or offered himself completely. So, antah shvasa uparamat, and he took a breath, uparamat, and thus became silent, ceased breathing.
We are eternally parts of Krishna, and the purpose and perfection of our life is to be integrated with Krishna as his parts, mamey vamshyo jeeval loke jeevabhutah sanatanaham. And at the present material level of reality, where the embodied soul resides, the consciousness of the soul is primarily rooted through matter. So, although the soul has capacity for spiritual cognition, that capacity is largely not active, and our consciousness is rooted primarily through our body, through our senses.
So, the process of bhakti involves offering our senses, or rather offering our consciousness to Krishna through the sensory pathways. As we behold the form of Krishna, we speak about Krishna, we hear about Krishna, and thus we move closer to him. So, this is what Vishwapitama has done, he has done this in one sense throughout his life, but towards the concluding stage of his life, he is absorbing himself completely in Krishna, and by thus absorbing himself completely in Krishna, manovagdhrishti viddhi atmanya atmanam.
So, his mind, his speech, his eyes, in this way, he offers his whole self to Krishna. The word aveshya actually means entering. Prabhupada translates here as merging.
Here, this merging is not actually a merging of beings, but it is a joining of consciousness, wherein the consciousness becomes filled with Krishna, becomes suffused with Krishna, and thus one enters into Krishna in an eternal rapture of love. Whenever we see a word like aveshya or its English translation as merging, we might feel, does this refer to impersonalist kind of merging? Not necessarily. You have to understand that the words like aveshya are not the monopoly of the Advaitins.
Aveshya is a standard Sanskrit word, and it is also, we have shakti-avesh avatars. So, aveshya basically means entering more than merging. And entering does not necessarily have to mean just like a person enters into a city.
That does not mean that that person loses one’s identity and individuality. Rather, that person who is outside the city has now come inside the city and then becomes a part of the broader community that is the city. So, like that, Krishna is the supreme person, but Krishna is also non-different from the spiritual world, which is beyond this material world.
So, to enter into the spiritual world, to enter into the spiritual reality, it does not necessarily have to mean entering into Krishna’s being in the sense of merging. It can also mean entering into Krishna’s personal abode, wherein one resides in an eternal ecstasy of love. The important point is that the focus is on the flow of consciousness towards Krishna, and this flow keeps happening continuously, eternally, by His mercy.
When we apply ourselves and absorb ourselves in the process of bhakti. Text 44, Sampadyamanam ajnaya bhishmam brahman nishkale sarve bhavoste tuṣhmi vayam siva-dinātyaye. So, dinātyaye, at the end of the day, vayam siva, vayam siva.
Vayam siva is birds. So, vayam siva means like birds, just like birds at the end of the day became silent. Everybody became silent.
Sampadyamanam ajnaya. So, Sampadyamanam, having attained transcendence, having gone beyond material reality to spiritual reality, ajnaya, knowing this. So, jnā is knowledge.
So, ajnaya means to come to know about this. Bhishmam brahman nishkale. That Bhishma had attained the nishkale, the unified, the unlimited, the non-differentiated spiritual reality, brahman.
Sarve bhavoste tuṣhmi. They all became. Uktvā tuṣhmi bhavah.
This verse also comes in the Bhagavad Gita. Ajnaya spoke this bhavah and became tuṣhmi, shant, silent. So, here also it is sarve bhavoste tuṣhmi.
They all became silent like birds at the end of a day. So, all of them had been hearing Bhishma and in one sense they had already been silent. But that silence was for the focus of attention on the words of Bhishma as he spoke his eulogies of Krishna.
Now, if we consider a natural setting, there is always the chirping of birds that is heard in the background. And even if a person is in a dark or in a closed place where one may not see the position of the sun, one can know to some extent that the sun is setting when the birds become silent. So, there is an intrinsic correlation between the physical sound of the chirping of the birds and the cosmic movements of cosmic alternations that cause shifting of days and nights.
Similarly, there was the reciprocity between the speaking of Bhishma and the hearing by others so that when people are hearing, attentively there is one kind of silence. When they are hearing someone speak attentively. But when there is no one speaking at all, at that time there is another kind of silence.
So, this was the silence which focused on taking in the reality that the great soul Bhishma had now departed. And it was this silence that was conveyed. And this was the silence where they were taking in the reality not just that Bhishma had departed from this world, but also they are taking in the reality that Bhishma because of having been in such exalted consciousness, absorbed in Krishna, because of having departed in the presence of Krishna, that great soul Bhishma has not only departed from this world, but he has departed to the next world.
So, once we understand that we are at our core, the source of spiritual, we focus not on the departure, we focus on the destination. So, if we have a relative who is leaving, we go to the airport to see them off. Naturally, that they are departing will cause us some sorrow because of separation from them.
But if we know where they are going, we know they are going to their other relatives, where they are going to rather loud ones, where they are going to be cared for, they are happy, then that focus consoles us. And we know that, oh, they will be safe. Although there is some grief that we are not, that they are not with us, but still there is also the relief in knowing that they are going to an auspicious destination, a place where they will be loud and cared for.
So, like that, when we focus on, we look at life with a spiritual perspective, especially when we see another fellow spiritualist departing, certainly there is a sorrow that they are departing, but the focus is not so much on the act, on the moment of departure, but the focus is on the moment towards the destination. So, by that focus on the moment towards the destination, we can be enlivened even when we face something which is potentially distressing, like the departure of a person, a devotee from our midst. So, that mood of celebration at the departure of Bhishma will become evident in the next verse.
45th text. So, once people and audience have taken in the reality that Bhishma has departed to the spiritual abode, at that time drums were sounded. So, death is here, is not just destruction, death is celebration, because Bhishma has ascended to a higher destination, that which was beaten by the devatas and the mahanavas.
So, sadhavo ragyam, the kings were, like sadhus, they were saintly kings, like Rajarishus, Rajarushi is mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita in 4.2, Yudhishthir and his brothers and the assembled people, they were all sadhavo ragyam. Khad, so from the sky, akash, pe tu fel, pushpa vishna jaha, flowers fell. So, the showering of flowers is a way of celebrating something.
So, here what is being celebrated is the departure of Bhishma and this is definitely indication of the transcendental vision that the characters in the Bhagavatam have. Normally, the flower beads are offered to the deceased, but that is in a mood of mourning, whereas here flowers were showered. So, the flowers are showered in a mood of celebration, and that celebrative mood is there because it’s understood that Bhishma has attained an auspicious transcendental destination.
Text 4.6 The last rites, the funeral ceremony and other rites associated with samparetasya bhargava, which is done for the dead body. The soul has departed at the same time, the body, that was the abode for an exalted soul also needs to be treated with due respect. Actually, whether it is putting in a coffin and burying, or it is burning on a funeral pyre, usually in whatever religious tradition it is, it is done with a mood of sobriety and respect.
And just as in life, the way we treat a person, even physically, conveys whether we respect or disrespect that person, similarly, the way we treat the dead body of a person also conveys our respectful or non-respectful attitude. So, for example, in the Ramayana it is mentioned that Ravana had ordered that all the bodies of the dead Rakshasas just be tossed away into the rivers, into the ocean, so that the enemies would not be, the Vanaras would not be able to see how many Rakshasas have died, and their morale would not be boasted. So, this is a use and throw attitude, literally speaking.
And it is horrible, pathetic. So, the dead body, although it is understood that the soul has departed from the body still, the body needs to be treated with due respect. Bhargava, so here it is, Suta Goswami is addressing Shaunak Rishi as a descendant of Dhrugu.
Dhrugu is considered to be one of the progenitors of the Brahmanas, and most Brahmanas are considered to be the descendants of Dhrugu. So, Bhargava, Yudhishthira, Kar, Yitva, Yudhishthira performed those last rites and then Muhurtham Dukhito Bhavat Then, while performing those last rites for some time, for a Muhurtham, briefly, he was overcome by grief. All grief is not necessarily a sign of ignorance.
Some grief is also a sign of affection, and that affection can also be rooted in spiritual knowledge. So, here, with this understanding of spiritual grieving, wherein Yudhishthira grieved, not just because the person has died, but because now he is no longer having the association of that great soul, Bhishma, his dear grandfather. Yudhishthira grieved.
So, lamenting is considered to be negative, grieving is considered to be positive, and it is a natural human way to release pent-up emotions. Text 47 TUSHTUR MUNAYO RISHTAHA KRISHNAM TAD GUHYANAMABHI TATASTE KRISHNA RIDAYA SVASHRAMAN TAYAYO PUNAHA TUSHTUR MUNAYO RISHTAHA So, TUSHTUR, satisfied, MUNAYO. The sages were satisfied.
In fact, the RISHTAHA, they were jubilant. KRISHNAM TAD GUHYANAMABHI TATASTE KRISHNA RIDAYA With his confidential names, TATASTE KRISHNA RIDAYA Thereafter, holding Krishna in their hearts, remembering Him within, SVASHRAMAN TAYAYO PUNAHA they went back to their ashrams. It is mentioned at the start of this chapter that the spiritual who’s who of the universe had come here on the occasion of Bhishma’s departure.
They wanted to offer their respects to Bhishma, the departing soul. They wanted to be enriched with wisdom on hearing Bhishma’s words, if Bhishma spoke anything. And they also wanted to be witness to the momentous occasion of a great soul departing from the world.
And all that happened as Bhishma There were very sweet loving exchanges between Bhishma and the Pandavas, especially Yudhishthira. Then there was the oceanic wisdom that Bhishma gave from his arrow bed. And finally, with intensely devotional prayers, Bhishma departed from the world in the presence of Krishna, absorbed in the remembrance of Krishna.
So, the whole event was in one sense a grand success. And therefore, all the sages departed. Suppose sometimes they say there is a cricket world cup final in Melbourne.
People from India may go, if India is especially in the finals, they go there all the way to watch that cricket match. And suppose India wins over there. Then they feel jubilant.
And then when they go back, they go back to India satisfied. This is, of course, a mundane example. But the point that it illustrates is that if we travel a long distance to a particular place to behold something, and if that thing works out to be truly wonderful, then there is a sense of fulfilment and delight in having gone so far.
So, similar principle applies here. The sages are assembled from various parts, not just the world, but the universe. And what they saw exceeded what they expected.
They had come primarily to be there or to offer their respects and bear witness to Bhishma’s departure. But they heard his oceanic instructions. They beheld his exalted devotion.
And thus, their own their own spiritual wisdom and their own faith in the process of spiritual absorption in Krishna, all that was enhanced, enriched. And thus they departed satisfied. Svashramam prayayuhpunah They went to their own ashrams.
Text 48 Tato yudhishtiro gatva Sahakrishno gajahavayam Pitaram santvayam Asa gandharincha tapasvinim Tato yudhishtiro gatva Thereafter, Yudhishthira went. Where did he go? Sahakrishno gajahavayam He went with Krishna to gajahavayam. So Hastinapur gajahava The word Hastinapur refers to the fact that Hastinapur was such a Hasti also means elephant.
So Hastinapur was such a prosperous and powerful kingdom that there were many many elephants for the members of the, especially for the members of the royal family to ride aloft on. So it was also called as gajahavayam. The word gaja of course, as in gajendra, refers to elephants.
So they went there. Yudhishthira along with Krishna Pitaram santvayam Asa pitaram So here the word pitaram, pitara normally means father but here it is used generically to refer to one in the father generation that is Dhritarashtra. Dhritarashtra had Dhritarashtra after the death of Pandu supposed to have acted like the surrogate father of the Pandavas although he never offered them affection he always was partial to Duryodhana and discriminatory against the Pandavas still Yudhishthira treated Dhritarashtra with respect due to a father and that point is conveyed he thought that oh for Dhritarashtra Bhishma had been a constant presence in his life since his childhood in one sense you know Dhritarashtra had known Bhishma as a prominent father figure in his life so he had been born through the steaming coming from Yasodev his father had already departed and the father figure in his life had been Bhishma primarily so Dhritarashtra had known Bhishma for a long time longer than Yudhishthira also and thus Yudhishthira was conscious that the departure of Bhishma would be a cause of great grief for Dhritarashtra practically everyone that Dhritarashtra had had been close to they had departed his own hundred sons had departed other people in his generation in the war had fallen and now Bhishma they all knew that he was going to die but still the inevitability or the imminent nature of someone’s death doesn’t necessarily always shield one from the shock of the actual occurrence of death so there has to be that sensitivity and respect and caring when somebody departs so Yudhishthira went to Bhishma to Dhritarashtra to console him Sant Vayam and that culture of respectfulness is seen even in Krishna himself going there Yudhishthira Krishna is like in the position of the son so he is mentioned in the centre and Krishna is a Krishna is a close friend and relative and counsellor so he is also going there another significant usage that comes over here is Gandharincha Tapasvinim so they went to console the father the father figure Dhritarashtra and his wife Gandhari so Gandhari’s tapasya was her chastity now chastity is itself a a challenge in this world because everyone has has desires and especially if one feels that one can get a better spouse or one could have got a better partner then the temptation to stray from one’s one’s marriage they can become much greater so Gandhari had a visually impaired husband and she was a princess, she was beautiful she was you know she could have won the hand of any of a able-bodied prince and yet once she had been married to Dhritarashtra she had accepted that marriage is austerity one measure of her austerity was that she had closed her own eyes and putting a cloth around her eyes she had she had tried to put herself in a position equal to her husband’s and that way that had been her tapasya to to have eyes and to still choose voluntarily to not use them this is a extraordinary level of austerity austerity basically poverty to be poor and then to eat simply is not really an austerity it is a necessity usually austerity involves having the capacity to indulge and yet refusing to indulge or having the capacity to do something and refusing to do it so to have so for Dhritarashtra he just didn’t have eyes so living without eyes was a necessity but for Gandhari living without eyes was an austerity that she chose she had the capacity to see and that is although she was living in a royal palace she is referred to here as tapasvini that she was she had performed the great austerity of giving up her vision so that she would not have a sense of superiority over her husband and thus they could have they could be a compatible couple while the specifics of this kind of sacrificial action can be discussed and even debated the principle of marriage requiring spouses to come together so that there are no ego tussles that I am superior or you are superior there is a there is a harmonious balance between them that principle is universal and that principle needs to be applied for any marital relationship to be sustainable so Gandhari had a difficult marriage and that the fact that she had been lifelong faithful within that marriage is highlighted through the use of the word tapasvini to refer to her text 49 raja here refers to Yudhishthira Maharaj he had been coronated and with the blessings under the guidance of with his permission pitrachanumato so although he was now the king Yudhishthira offered due respect to Dhritarashtra vasudevanumoditaha and as he had been anumoditaha confirmed approved appreciated by Vasudeva Krishna chakara rajyam dharmena chakara he executed rajyam his royal duties dharmena in compliance with the principle of dharma pitra pitamaham vibho pitra pitamaham vibho so his illustrious grandfather he came from a great dynasty and his Pandu had ruled virtuously Bhishma who had been looking after most of the royal administrative work during the Dhritarashtra’s reign he had also taken care of the citizens with dharmic care so Yudhishthira he continued that legacy of responsible righteous rule in his when he was the king this chapter began with Krishna’s with Krishna deciding to stay at the request of Yudhishthira because he was lamenting and Krishna deciding the chapter went on after Krishna’s own attempt to pacify Yudhishthira but didn’t work out Krishna suggested that they go to Bhishma and through Bhishma’s words Yudhishthira was pacified so there is this circularity in the chapter it begins with Yudhishthira’s lamenting oh am I being adharmic in ruling this kingdom which is obtained by the spoils of blood and the chapter concludes with his recognising the principles of dharma that for him his dharma lay in taking care of those who were interested to his care and his doing that responsibility righteously virtuously so the instructions of Bhishma they are shown here in the conclusion of this chapter to have had the desired effect of restoring Yudhishthira’s intelligence and re-establishing him on the path of dharma as his royal duty required