The Passing Away Of Bhishmadeva [granthraj]

The last five days of Kartika or Damodar month is traditionally known as ‘Bhishma Panchaka’. Grandfather Bhishma fasted for these five days preparing to give up his life. Bhishmadeva, in his previous life was one of the eight Vasus by the name of Dyo. His wife happened to see the sacrificial cow (Kamadhenu) of the sage Vasishta and she wished to have it. Dyo, along with the other seven Vasus went and took away the cow of Vasishta by force. Vasishta, in his anger, cursed the eight Vasus to be born as mortals. They repented and begged pardon from Vasishta muni. The sage said that all of them would be born as the sons of Gangadevi and all except Dyo who actually stole the cow, would return to heaven at the time of birth itself. As for Dyo, he would continue to live in the earth for a long time. Accordingly Gangadevi threw all the seven children born to her into the river and all of them went back to heaven. Only Devavrata (Later on known as Bhishma) was brought up by her for a few years and then handed over to his father Santanu Maharaja. When Bhishma was lying on the bed of arrows waiting to give up his body, the passing away of the great warrior attracted the attention of all the contemporary elites and all of them assembled there to show feelings of love, respect and affection for the great soul.

In Srimad Bhagavatam canto 1, chapter 9 texts 6 -8, there is a list of all the sages who came to see Bhishmadeva. In this list, the most interesting thing is the presence of the sage Vasishta. As we saw in the story above, Vasistha is the sage who cursed the vasu Dyo to be born as a mortal and the same person is about to pass away now. But the sage Vasistha had no feelings of enmity or anger and he came with great eagerness to the presence of Bhishma. This is a very rare quality which is found in these sages. Even though they curse, they do not have any inimical feelings towards the person who is cursed. And previously Vasistha had also been a spiritual maser for Bhishma and now he comes here to hear the religious principles to be spoken by Bhishma deva, his disciple. Such is the magnanimity and broad mindedness of these great souls (saadhavo vishadaasayaah) In Srimad Bhagavatam 7.9.28 Shrila Prahlada Maharaj tells Lord Narasimhadeva that his first duty is to serve his spiritual master Narada muni and he says that he cannot leave that service. In the verse he mentions the quality of Narada muni as ‘krtvaa aatmasaat’- Narada caused his disciple to acquire spiritual qualities like himself.

The great sage Narada was also the spiritual master of Dhruva Maharaja. When he saw Dhruva Maharaj going back to Godhead, certainly he was very glad to see Dhruva’s glories. Srila Prabhupada writes, ‘As a father is very happy to see the son’s advancement in every respect, so the spiritual master is very happy to observe the ascendancy of his disciple.’

In Srimad Bhagavatam 1.9.9, we can see that Bhishmadeva is welcoming the sages;

taan sametaan mahaa-bhaagaan / upalabhya vasuttamah
pujayaam aasa dharma-jno / desha-kaala-vibhaagavit

Bhishmadeva, who was the best amongst the eight Vasus, received and welcomed all the great and powerful rshis who were assembled there, for he knew perfectly all the religious principles according to time and place.

Here Bhishma is referred to as ‘Vasu –uttamah’ – the best among the vasus. Thus Bhishmadeva remembers the offence he had committed in his previous life as Vasu at the lotus feet of the sage Vasishta and he does not want to repeat the same mistake now, for he knew all the religious principles. Thus he honours all the great personalities who came there even though he was not in his normal healthy physical condition. In the next verse 1.9.10, there is a description that Bhishmadeva worshiped Lord Krishna .

krishnam ca tat-prabhaava-jna / aasinam jagad-ishvaram
hrdi-stham pujayaam aasa / maayayopaatta-vigraham

Lord Sri Krishna is situated in everyone’s heart, yet He manifests His transcendental form by His internal potency. This very Lord was sitting before Bhishmadeva, and since Bhishmadeva knew of His glories, he worshiped Him duly.

Once Bhishma deva welcomed and honoured the great sages and devotees, he could have the darshan of Lord Krishna sitting before him and then he worshiped the Lord duly. This makes us understand the following powerful words of Srila Prabhupada : ‘In other words, Lord Sri Krishna is the property of His pure unconditional devotees, and as such only the devotees can deliver Krishna to another devotee; Krishna is never obtainable directly. Lord Caitanya therefore designated Himself as gopi-bhartuh pada-kamalayor daasa-daasaanudaasah, or “the most obedient servant of the servants of the Lord, who maintains the gopi damsels at Vrindaavana.” A pure devotee therefore never approaches the Lord directly, but tries to please the servant of the Lord’s servants, and thus the Lord becomes pleased, and only then can the devotee relish the taste of the tulasi leaves stuck to His lotus feet.’

Thus just in the scene of Bhishmadeva welcoming the sages and devotees while lying in the bed of arrows, we learn very great values to be absorbed and practised in our lives.

Thankyou very much,
Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada and Gurudev,
Vaijayanthimala devi dasi,
Abudhabi

Disclaimer: This article was originally published in the Yahoo Groups granthraj – run by the disciples of H H Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj – by the devotee name mentioned above. The posting in this article, is original realizations of our Guru Maharaj and the devotee who wrote this. Any comments regarding this article would be passed on directly to the devotee. In this article, ‘Maharaj’ and ‘Gurudev’ implicitly refer to our spiritual master H H Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj.