Why did Bhishma fight against the Pandavas?
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question why did Bhishma fight against the Pandavas answer Bhishma had taken a vow long ago when he had abdicated his right to the claim for the sake of having his father marry a second wife for Shantanu to marry Matsyaganya the fish princess so for that time he had not only announced a claim to his throne not only had he said that I will not marry so that I will have no heir who will contest for the throne but he also in that vow said that I will always guard the ruler of the Kuru kingdom not only will I not be a rival to the Kuru ruler but I will be a guard, I will fight and protect the Kuru ruler, so of course when he took vow, he could not have foreseen that a weak king like Dhritarashtra aided by a demoniac son like abetted, instigated by a demoniac son like Duryodhana would ever grab the Kuru throne and worse still they would put themselves into a fight against the virtuous Pandavas so because of that vow he was bound further in the Mahabharata he explains when Yudhishthira approaches him before the war, he says I am bound by the Kuru’s wealth he is actually at that time more than making a factual claim stating his humility and his sadness at being unable to fight on the side of the Pandavas so that when he says that because he had taken the wealth of the Kuru’s that’s why he had to fight on behalf of the Kuru’s that’s actually a very superficial reason and the point there is he had a right to the wealth because he was a descendant in that Kuru dynasty so it was not that the Kuru’s had given him the wealth he had a right of being a descendant in that dynasty now being an illustrious grandsire but there he is expressing his sadness in not being able to fight on the side of the Pandavas now from the spiritual perspective we understand that Bhishma is a great devotee of the Lord and such a great devotee does what is required for the service of the Lord even if that is misunderstood by people so Krishna in the Dharma Yudha of Kurukshetra wanted to demonstrate to the world that no matter what happens that no matter how serious be the opposition to Dharma no matter how glorious be the warriors on the side of Adharma still ultimately they will be defeated so Bhishma was extremely learned having learned from the sages in the heavens when his mother Ganga had taken him to heaven having heard from many other sages thereafter also he was extremely powerful being a formidable warrior one of the world’s foremost warriors he was hugely experienced and in that sense in any war against anyone he would have been the huge favorite to emerge victorious but even such a person when he chose to fight on the side of Adharma he doomed himself to destruction and Krishna wanted to demonstrate this principle that no matter how powerful a person may be if that person fights against Adharma that person will be destroyed and although Bhishma knew that he would be misunderstood he would be condemned for having chosen to fight on the side of Adharma he chose to accept that as a service so that he could serve the Lord’s purpose and the fact that he acquitted himself gloriously in this very demanding service where his actions would be misunderstood and his reputation would be sullied in spite of that he did the service and Krishna was so pleased with him for the service that Krishna was by his side during his last days he instructed Yudhishthir who was Dharmaraj therefore if he had acted adharmically fighting on the side of the Kauravas Yudhishthir would not have heard from him Yudhishthir knew that Bhishma was a great authority on Dharma and so he heard from Bhishma and then in the presence of Krishna Bhishma attained life’s perfection leaving his mortal coil while beholding in the presence of Krishna after beholding his beautiful form so Bhishma fought ultimately because Krishna wanted him to fight on the side of Adharma thereby demonstrating that no matter how powerful how glorious those on the side of Adharma they may be they will ultimately not be able to be victorious against Dharma thank you Hare Krishna