Why did Bhishma wait till Uttarayana to leave his body?
From: Chethan
What is the reason behind Bhishma waiting for Uttarayana time to leave his body? In BG 8th chapter, Krishna tells about how a soul leaving body at specific time can attain Him, but later tells for My devotee there are no such restrictions. Then Why does Bhishma need to follow these timings? One understanding I have is ,Krishna`s plan. But are there any other ways to see this?
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Question by Chetan What is the reason behind Bhishma waiting for Uttarayan time to leave his body? In the Bhagavad Gita 8 chapter Krishna tells how a soul leaving body at a specific time can attain him but later tells for my devotee there are no such restrictions then why does Bhishma need to follow these timings? Answer Bhishma’s passing away is described both in the Mahabharata and in the Srimad Bhagavatam Now the event that happened when Krishna appeared in this world as depicted in the Mahabharata and as depicted in the Srimad Bhagavatam have two different focuses in the Mahabharata the focus is on showing how by practicing Dharma one can attain even worldly success there may be worldly reversals for those who live on the path of Dharma but those reversals will be ultimately countered and they will attain even worldly success so the Mahabharata to some extent focuses on worldly religiosity which comprises of Dharma, Artha, Kama and then ultimately Moksha whereas Bhagavatam focuses primarily on Paradharma on the religion of love for God beyond Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha so because of these different focuses the same events in the Mahabharata can sometimes be understood at different levels so at the level of Karmaka and the right time the Mahurta for performing particular activities is very important so Vishwapitama’s example demonstrates that how even by worldly standards Vishwapitama’s departure was a success that he did not die at an auspicious time but could keep himself in his body long enough for that auspicious time to arrive and then depart from the world at that auspicious time so Bhishma’s departing during Uttarayana from the Mahabharata point of view shows how even from the material point of view of material religiosity Bhishma was successful now from the point of view of pure devotion Bhishma waited for that long because he knew that Krishna wanted him to perform a service now he wanted Krishna wanted his devotee Bhishma to see the ultimate triumph of those whom he loved and those who were virtues, the Pandavas so Bhishma although he could have because of his Iccha-mrtyu he could have ended his life even before the Kurukshetra war even before Draupadi’s being disrobed but he did not do that because he knew that Krishna had some special service for him and that service was at one level to just see the triumph of virtue in the case of the Pandavas ultimately triumphing over all odds and regaining the kingdom that was rightfully theirs, but at a deeper level Lord Krishna wanted to glorify Bhishma by showing that even if some people may think that he was short-sighted in siding with the Kauravas because of his family connection with them and his earlier vows that had not affected his virtue, his intelligence his clarity of thought so when Yudhishthira became disconsolate Yudhishthira was grieving terribly for having been the cause of so much bloodshed in the Kurukshetra war nobody could convince him except Bhishma Pitamah even Krishna himself, Vyasadev who had compiled all the Vedic literature also failed to convince Yudhishthira, but it was Bhishma Pitamah who convinced him so in this way it was demonstrated that Bhishma Pitamah’s wisdom was greater than that of all else, everybody else and then Krishna offered Bhishma Pitamah the perfect departure by being present right in front of him, by his side when Bhishma Pitamah departed so this indicates the ultimate success for a devotee that in the presence of the Lord while beholding the Lord externally while holding the Lord internally in one’s heart one departs from the world then there is complete certainty that one will return back to the spiritual world so to demonstrate the glory of Bhishma in this world by having him wait so that he would instruct Yudhishthira and by demonstrating Bhishma’s glory in having orchestrating the perfect departure for him in the presence of Krishna Krishna actually glorified Bhishma Pitamah in a very unique way so that is the reason from the Srimad Bhagavatam’s perspective which is the ultimate perspective, which is the highest understanding that in order to Bhishma in order to perform his service to Krishna of consoling and reassuring Yudhishthira he decided to wait till Uttara and Krishna wanted him to wait so that the world would see the depth and the glory of his wisdom and clarity of his consciousness even amidst the overpowering pain of being pierced by hundreds upon hundreds of arrows all over the body completely clear in consciousness and gave profound instructions at that time and executed the perfect departure