Performing Bhakti Through Mind and Words [granthraj]

DAILY SB/BG 14-Mar-2010 Sunday MALA:7 BEAD:077
NITYAM BHAGAVATA SEVAYA SB 1. 2. 18 (Regularly reading/hearing Srimad Bhagavatam or Serving the pure Devotee)
Karma Yoga	(Do Your Duty, Leave the result to Krsna)	Great (easy to do)
Gnana Yoga	Realising Self by controlling senses and mind	Very Great (tough)
Bakthi Yoga KC	Realising the Paramatma is Everything and Surrender to Krishna is the Ultimate goal	Very Very Great (very easy to do)

Today we were studying 9th chapter of 1st Canto Srimad Bhagavatam titled "The Passing Away of Bhishmadeva". Many of the points were very striking and sublime especially because it reminded us so much of our Gurudev’s last days.

Bhishmadeva was lying down in extreme pain in the bed of arrows from the 10th day of the battle of Kurukshetra until the battle was over and Yudhishtira was crowned as the King. It was his vrata that he will not die until he sees Hastinapura in the safe hands of a noble king. And he also had the benediction to die whenever he desires to die. We may think for a moment, if only we had such a benediction how nicely we could succeed in our material and spiritual life! But we forget that Bhishmadev only got the benediction to die whenever he wants, not that he won’t feel the pains of the material body. While he used all his purity to sustain the life force even when he had to lie down in the bed of arrows, he had to tolerate the extreme pain of the wounds due to the arrows that pierced through one end of the body to the other end. That speaks volume of his purity and bhakti. If we were to face such a situation (infact there are many situations we face in our lives wherein) we would decide it is better to die than to live with so much pain.

As much as it is easier for us to think and decide to leave the body when we are in extreme pain, it is that much more difficult to bear the pain and sustain our life during the testing times. Old age and disease are especially is like that.., when half our body will not function according to our desire and all those who are closely associated with us do not listen to us or take care of us, many times we think it is better to die than to live with all the physical and mental anguish. Such is the effect of old age, that the same people whom we bring up by shedding our own blood, think of us as a burden when we become old and invalid. It is an extremely depressing situation. Maharaj had told us once that in such depressing situation, it is only Bhagavatam and holy name that will come to our help. These are the only two personalities (Bhaagavata-prabhu and Nama-prabhu) that will keep us in the mood of prasannata (cheerfulness).

Bhishmadeva was lying down in the bed of arrows when all the great personalities from different parts of the universe assembled there to take part in the glorious departure pastime of this great Mahajana. At that time Bhishmadev welcomed them all even though he was unable to do so (SB 1.9.9):

taan sametaan mahaa-bhaagaan / upalabhya vasuttamah
pujayaam aasa dharmajno / 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."

In the Purport Srila Prabhupada beautifully writes, "He was certainly unable at that time to welcome and receive them physically because he was neither at his home nor in a normal healthy condition. But he was quite fit by the activities of his sound mind, and therefore he could utter sweet words with hearty expressions, and all of them were well received. One can perform one’s duty by physical work, by mind and by words. And he knew well how to utilize them in the proper place, and therefore there was no difficulty for him to receive them, although physically unfit."

This reminded us so much of our Guru Maharaj Srila Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj in his last days in the Bhaktivedanta Hospital. Somehow even though Maharaj was unwillingly accepting the medications the doctors gave and patiently accepting the pleading from his disciples and well-wishers all over the world to stay with us for some more years, he got the transcendental communication from the Supreme Lord that it was time for him to leave. Especially after the second major life threatening situation during 26th and 27th December, Maharaj opened the door for all the devotees to come and take his darshan and blessings. For the next 3 weeks Maharaj constantly gave his association in the hospital for everyone who came by and many devotees were simply bewildered to see him in action even in that precarious physical condition. Now it makes us feel that he just waited for 3 weeks (from the end of December to 25th January) to give darshan to everyone of us and then accepted the order of the Lord to return home back to Godhead.

It was obvious that he was struggling so much internally during those 3-4 weeks, but was astoundingly welcoming everyone of us with a glowing smile and was enquiring about our well-being. He had kept us all completely unexposed and oblivious to his physical pains. Almost everyday he had to have the oxygen tube due to breathing problem and was completely wiped out but inspite of that he will call everyone inside his room for darshan and with a beautiful smile on his face will enquire us through sign language about our children, family, our job etc. He would advice us to chant nicely (showing by moving his hands on his beads). He whispered very few words and in the middle of this, to our complete bewilderment one day he took us all to the Panvel land, gave a nice pravacan and met us all again and spoke with each one of us individually.

Even though his physical body was not cooperating, Maharaj uttered sweet words to everyone with hearty expressions (just like Bhishmadev) because he was quite fit by the activities of his sound mind. We could understand how ‘sound’ his mind was when we saw him remembering and telling us exactly how many times each of us came to take his darshan in the midst of hundreds of devotees coming every day to meet him. Many times when our physical body does not cooperate, we have to resort to performing our duty (of devotional service) by the strength of our mind and words. Activities performed through mind and words are subtle and sublime but at the same time more difficult to perform too. Especially if our mind is not strong enough, we cannot think or speak sanely when we cannot bear the pains of the physical body. Most of the time, we may not even be conscious, as the doctors told us based on their experience about anyone who would have to face Maharaj’s situation. But Maharaj was so sound in his mind and words that he would even quote Bhagavatam verses waking up from his deep sleep.

Thinking of all these transcendental pastimes of my dear spiritual master, I can only fall at his feet and pay my shata koti dandavat pranams and beg for his forgiveness for all the offenses I have done at his lotus feet. Let me pray to all the vaishnavas to bless me that at least from now on let me avoid offending him, by strictly following his instructions.

Thank you very much.
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva,
Kalacakra Krsna das

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.