Prayers from Bed of Arrows. Part 1
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · 2026
Chapters
Introduction to Bhishma's departure and prayers
Umna mo bhavate vasudeva, Omna mo bhagavate Vudevaya, Omnamo Bhagavate V Sudeva sudeva dama desayada dando vaja dita sharkishware te ne, brahmahridaya, rikawae muhyaintia surha, te jo varim ridam yathini mayoya pra tri sardam grisha, dam naswina, sadhani rasta kuhakam, sadyamamparbi Mahi Satyam Paramimahi, Satyamparamhi, Yamprava Jantamanopedamadakrityam Dvipa PH, 3 tan 1 to 2, 9, 2, 2, 3, 1, 2, sweet narayanamas kriti naram cheva narotamam devi muswati, tako dajam di raje.
So today and the next two days, we will speak on the topic of the ninth chapter of the first canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, Vishmasti, the prayers of Bhishma in the presence of Lord Krishna and his glorious departure.
We have a special Mangalachana, written by Padma Devi for this katha. Namami Bishmaam Hari Bhakti Ratnam, Astani Krishna Pratimukkavantam, Yad Bhakti Badhogatavan Mukundas, Tasysu Shayan Tadanu Grahaya.
I bow down to Bhishma, a precious jewel among the devotees of Lord Hari, who shoot arrows at Lord Krishna Himself. Bound by His love, Mukunda personally went to his bed of arrows to bestow upon him a special mercy,
and then a few other verses namamidevavramanta kade dhyantamadiam bhagavantam isyam ananta lokam Gatavantamante Sri Krishna Bhaktepsitam Apta Sidhim.
I bow down to Devavrata, another name of Bhismadev, who at the moment of death meditated on the original personality of Godhead, having attained and having attained perfection in the end, departed for the eternal abode to which Krishna's devotee long to return.
Omagyana dimiranda syagyanamjana salakaya, chaksuru mi tamjana tasmai sriguravenma, Sri Caitanya Manu Vishtam stapitamy na putale, swayamrupa kadamayam Dadati Swapadantikam Mandiham Shri Guru Shri Utapadakamalam Sri Guru Vaishnavam Scha Sri Rupam Sagraja tam Sahakana Ragunatam Vitam tam Sajivam, Sadvaitam Savadutam Parijana Sahitam Krishna Chaitanya Devam, Shri Rada Krishna Padam Sahakanamadita Shri Vishakadamscha Krishna Karana Sindho De Vandhu Jagatpate Gopesha Gopikakanthan Pradakantanamstu.
Taptakanchana Gorangiradhi vrindavane shware brishamu sutadevranamani hari banchakalpataru viascha kripa sindu vevacha patitanam ja Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhunitananda, Sri Advaita Gadatara,
Śrivāsa Guru Bhakta Vṛnda, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma, Rāma, Hare Hare, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Hare,
Significance of Bhishma's eleven verses
Adirma Bari Ramin. So prayers of Bhishmadev consists only of eleven verses and the number of these verses is also significant. I will try to explain in the course of this little katha.
The meaning of this figure, eleven verses. So eleven verses of his prayers, which Śrīla Vyāsadeva included into Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
If we put them on a scale, and on another scale we put 26,000 verses of Anuśāsana Parva and Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma's instruction to Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira
consists of 26,000 verses, almost one and a half times bigger than Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā. So, these 11 verses, in the opinion of Vyāsadeva, overweight these 26,000 verses.
The whole essence of 26,000 verses of the teachings of Bhijmadev are expressed or included into these 11 precious verses.
And why these verses are so important, the reason is that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam consists of prayers. And prayers express the sentiments of devotees. They express the emotions which devotees feel towards Lord Krishna.
And by meditating on these verses, we can to a certain extent catch the glimpse of their emotions. And that's the way how bhakti can be transferred from their heart to our heart.
We know that bhakti comes from heart to heart. What does it mean? It comes from heart to heart. Does it mean that we have to make heart surgery and extract some blood from the heart or get some bhakti from the heart? No.
The heart is expressed in emotions. Heart means the emotional center of a human being. And the heart is expressed. in prayers, and prayers contain the emotions. So by meditating on the emotions, not just on the philosophy,
philosophy is very important, there is no doubt about it. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is a very philosophical book. And every story contains a lot of philosophical teachings, which we definitely have to extract from the stories.
But even more important, what we have to extract from all these teachings is the mood of devotees.
Because bhakti is the mood, bhakti is nothing but bhāva. And bhāva is the mood and bhāva is expressed in a certain way with a certain of course gestures and anubhāvas and all kinds of expressions, but it also expressed by the words, by the words of prayers of great devotees.
And therefore, it is said that stutis or prayers are the prāṇa of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. As much as our body is moving and acting because there is prāṇa, the movement of the prāṇa. The whole Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is alive as Kṛṣṇa's literary incarnation, the whole Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is alive or is living and moving so to speak
in this world, through the prayers of the great devotees. So, therefore, these prayers are again extremely important.
The ultimate success of human life
In Anuśāsana Parva, at the end of Anuśāsana Parva, there is Viṣṇu-sahasranāma, very important section of Mahābhārata upon which great ācāryas commented thousand names of Lord Viṣṇu. But still 11 verses of Bhīṣmadeva outweigh, even Viṣṇu-sahasranāma, including the rest of the 26,000 verses of Anuśāsana Parva and Śānti Parva. And the reason why these stutis are so important.
The special reason, every stuti, every prayer which is included in Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam is very important.
But Bhīṣma's prayers are especially important because this is the prayers at the very last moment of his life. He's basically showing us example how we should leave this body, how we should live this world, and which mood and how we should meditate upon the Lord.
Basically, this whole story is to teach us how our meditation: whatever we can accomplish during our lifetime has ultimately culminated in this last meditation on the Supreme Lord.
How our whole life and our attempts to meditate on the Lord, however faulty, have
to culminate in these final prayers. Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī in the Second Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says, janma-lābhaḥ paraḥ puṁsām ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ.
So this is a very important verse of the second canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that the ultimate success, janmalābha, paraḥ puṁsām, that the ultimate success of human life.
We know that human life is very special, it's a very rare gift which we have to utilize properly. But ultimately, it's only fruitful as much as it brings us to the point of ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ and
it's very interesting that Śukadeva Gosvāmī says at ā-jānanaṁ sāṅkhya-yogābhyāṁ sva-dharma-pariniṣṭhayā it says, whatever path you follow in this world, whether it's yoga or sāṅkhya or svadharma, the
success of this path is ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ. Remembering about the Lord at the end. If you achieve aṣṭa-siddhi in yoga, it's not success.
If you know by heart all the Sāṅkhya-kārikā or understand the intricacies of the creation of this world, it's not a success.
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī commenting on this verse, he says that by mentioning sāṅkhya, yoga, svadharma, Śukadeva Gosvāmī wants to impress upon us that there is no other goal. Whatever path you follow.
Ultimately, the measure stick of the success of following whatever path is there is uh if we can remember Nārāyaṇa. It's not only bhakti. It's not only success on the path of bhakti.
Any path, whatever you follow, if you want to claim that you achieve success by following this path, you will be able, you should be able to remember about Lord Krishna or Lord Vishnu at the end.
Relating to Bhishma's humanity and compromises
And in this sense, of course, the final prayers of Bhīṣmadeva is the very vivid and solid proof of him being successful.
And there is another point which makes these prayers and the whole story about Krishna's departure very relevant to us. That is, we can to a certain extent relate to Bhīṣma.
Bhīṣma according to Mahābhārata and according to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, to a lesser extent according to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but definitely according to Mahābhārata, is not a glossy ideal person. He made mistakes. He compromised.
He himself says, I ate this sinful bread of Duryodhana and therefore, my whole blood is contaminated, my mind is bewildered, my body is bewildered.
We can very clearly relate to all these statements. We eat so much grains which may not be extremely pure. We commit so many mistakes we deviate, we compromise, but still he was successful.
He deviated to the extent that he fought with Lord Krishna himself. It is said that if a Bhakta is against Krishna somehow or other or fights with Krishna, he goes to hell, even if he is a bhakta.
But ante-narāyaṇā-smṛti, he remembered about the Lord. Moreover, the Lord Himself made a point to come to his battle pharaohs to show to the whole world, here is the greatest devotee.
So, how is it possible that despite of so many faults or apparent faults, he was still successful?
That's a very relevant question which we should ask and try to find the answer, because the answer may explain to us the key for our ultimate success.
There is another point which I want to make in the beginning before we start with this katha to explain the background of the whole thing. Here, to understand very clearly these prayers of Bhīṣmadeva.
We have to understand the context of and the significance of this prayers in the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. We have to understand the context in the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
And the whole first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, as we know, is describing adhikāra-tattva. It's explaining the truth about the qualification, the adhikāra, the eligibility.
Ultimately, the eligibility to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the eligibility to perform bhakti, so that's the essence of the first canto of Śrīmad- Bhagavatam, and as we know the adhikāra
for bhakti, the one quality which makes us eligible to perform bhakti, which ensures success in our bhakti path is śaraṇāgati, complete surrender.
And going little ahead of time, uh, I can say now, this is at least one of the meanings of the 11 verses, the 11 verses of the prayers of Bhīṣmadeva signifies eleven senses. Five jñānendriyas, five karmendriyas, and antaḥkaraṇa, our internal organ.
So these eleven verses, and some ācāryas even explain which verse signifies his surrender of his eyes, surrender of his ears, surrender of his tongue, surrender of his hands, and even the genitals.
So they explain and make the correlation, make the correspondence between the 11 verses of his prayers and the 11 senses which we have. So these 11 verses basically signify his complete surrender. Samarpaṇa.
I am giving everything to you. Please take everything which I have, and I am completely sold out, surrendered to you.
And in this sense the uh 11 verses of the prayers of Bhīṣmadev, they express the very essence of Śaraṇāgati and the very essence of the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is describing this point of eligibility.
Hearing answers from a higher authority
So let's go a little back. This is a little introduction.
But before we come to the ninth chapter, let's try to remember the context of the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, starting with the six questions of the sages in the forest of Naimisharanya, headed by Śaunaka Ṛṣi.
The essence of those questions, actually, it's interesting. The very questions of Śaunaka Ṛṣi, if we analyze them carefully, show that he knows the answers to these questions.
He's already asking about Krishna, tell us why Krishna came, and what is he
he's asking what is the ultimate śreyas, the ekāntika śreyas of the human being, what is the highest goal of every living entity, and what is the essence of all the scriptures?
And he already knows the answer. Lord Krishna is the essence. All his questions are about Lord Krishna. But he wants to hear the proper answer from guru. It is a very important point.
We may know the answer, still we have to hear it from the higher authority. It's the utmost foolishness if we think that we know the answer and therefore we don't need to hear it.
Even if we know the answer, perfectly well, we still have to hear, we still have to confirm because when it comes from the higher authority, it comes with realization. We may have theoretical knowledge.
And we probably do have theoretical knowledge. We probably do know that Kṛṣṇa is the supreme personality of Godhead, but still we have to hear again and again and again.
And uh the Zoom is uh doing its oh no, it came back somehow or other. Yeah. So uh we still have to hear again and again and again,
and in this way, to really imbibe the proper answer, and not to manifest foolishness by saying I already know this answer.
Don't tell me again why you're telling me again the thing which I already tell me something new, some joke or some story, you know. Why are you repeating the same thing again and again and again?
So basically, the essence of the questions and these six questions uh constitute the foundation of the whole Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
The personal and beautiful nature of God
So the six questions and answers to this question constitute the essence of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Basically, the essence of this question is to understand how God is person which is the most difficult thing to understand.
So many people now, even scientists, they kind of come to this conclusion that there is some power, that consciousness is the background of creation. Quantum mechanics clearly indicates in this direction.
So many people speak about primordial consciousness, but they all speak about this impersonal energy-like consciousness.
To understand that there is a person who is the source of this consciousness, who is this consciousness, is very difficult. And it's very difficult for our false ego to understand this. And in general, it's very difficult.
So therefore, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is describing that God is the person, not only that God is the person, that He is a very beautiful person.
The beautiful book, śrīmat means beautiful, the beautiful book about Bhagavān describes His beauty, how beautiful He is, how He is a beautiful personality, not just personality.
Śrīla Prabhupāda translates this as a supreme personality of Godhead. But the implication behind this phrase is that he is supremely beautiful, supremely kind, supremely merciful.
And moreover, what is the hallmark of a person?
Why we sometimes call somebody impersonalist or tell that he is just dealing impersonally because we don't feel that he or she understands us and reciprocates with us accordingly.
If somebody is just prescribing something to us or putting us into some box and saying that's what you are and you know you you go and do something. We don't like it. But person means he knows that we also are a person.
And he reciprocates with us in a perfect way. So that's what Krishna is. He is a beautiful person because he is capable of understanding our personality and reciprocate in a perfect way with us and amplify our mood.
He understands our mood. He himself says, yeah, he perfectly understands the mood which we have. He reflects this mood and amplifies this mood.
He deals with every person in a very personal way, meaning that he's basically reflecting the mood. When he is reciprocating with people who don't understand that he is a person, he manifests his impersonal feature.
And that's the perfect expression of his personality. Being personal or manifesting his impersonal feature, he expresses his personal nature.
And with some people he reciprocates by just disappearing because they don't want to see him. And that's again his perfect response, personal response, to their foolish attitude towards him.
And of course, towards his devotees, he reflects the innumerable variety of their moods and reciprocates with their moods and enters into the relationship, which is basically, as I said, reflecting the mood and amplifying the mood, reciprocating with the mood and amplifying the mood, and in this way the chain reaction of relationship starts.
Because relationship is nothing but you know this reciprocation and amplifying the love which we have in our heart. So this is what the whole Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is teaching us.
And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, even though the first canto, we usually say the first canto and even second canto is the introduction to the whole book, but in reality,
the story of Shimad Bhagavatam, the description of how Krishna personally enters into relationship with his devotees, starts with the seventh, basically seventh, somebody says
chapter of the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
But in real sense, it starts with the seventh chapter of uh the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, where uh This nature of the Lord, his personal nature of the Lord is being described. How he reciprocates.
How she reciprocates with Kuntī. It's very interesting. Kuntī, she offers her heartfelt prayers with tears in her eyes. And Lord Krishna he smiles, he doesn't speak anything in response.
But he remains in Hastināpura, even though he was ready to leave. So he knows what she needs. He knows that she only needs him to stay.
She doesn't need, you know, some praise in return: "Oh, my dear Kuntī, you're so nice, and your prayers are so nice, thank you very much." She doesn't need it. She wants him to stay there as a person. He understands this.
And even though it may sound little impersonal, you know, he doesn't say a word in response to her prayers, but no, he knows what she needs and he responds accordingly.
Storytelling and context in Srimad Bhagavatam
And of course, the story of the departure of Bhīṣmadeva is, in one sense, culmination of his personal dealings.
So if we strictly take the storyline of the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we may consider all this chapter, like the eighth chapter, or to a lesser extent, the eighth chapter, but the ninth chapter is definitely a digression.
It's not the direct storyline, you know: the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya say, "Śaunaka Ṛṣi, please describe to us the story of how Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam appeared.
appeared, how Mahārāja Parīkṣit appeared, who is the first listener of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, how Śukadeva Gosvāmī—how they met together. Please explain to us."
And all of a sudden, Sūta Gosvāmī starts telling about Bhīṣmadeva. What does it have to do with the whole story? It can easily be skipped.
Sometimes people who don't know what the art of storytelling means they expect a very straightforward and direct storyline.
Real beautiful storytelling means it goes here and then there and here and then there and then and you already forgot what was there in the beginning. But then it comes back and then you realize, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, now here we are, this is the line.
So this is the real art. You know the you you can diverge from the straight uh storyline, but you have to come back. So this beautiful ninth chapter of the first canto is the example of this thing.
And of course, the sages of Naimisharanya, we never heard that Saunaka Rishi will say, you know, can you can you know make it more straightforward? Please tell me directly, you know, I'm asking you this question.
Why are you telling me about Bhisma? Bhishma? What does it have to do with our subject matter? You know, can you be more straightforward? No, no. They uh they They enjoy it because again they understand.
Here he is answering our implied question. The implied question: please explain to us how Krishna is the person. And that's āśraya. Because ultimately, that's the essence of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the whole Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is there to explain āśraya, how we can take shelter of Krishna?
But we can only take shelter of Krishna if he is a beautiful person who will want to take shelter of somebody who is impersonal? What does it mean, anyway, to take shelter of something impersonal?
Shelter means reciprocation.
So he is āśraya, he is this perfect āśraya. Perfect place, if one can say like this about Lord Krishna, where all our desires of our heart are fulfilled by this beautiful reciprocation with Him.
So this is this is what it is. And of course, uh the whole uh Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is the literary incarnation or vāṅ-mayī pratimūrti and incarnation of the Lord, which is made of speech.
And by listening, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, by taking shelter of this literary incarnation of the Lord, and we should try to reciprocate with Him as much as Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is reciprocating with us.
I will not diverge my storyline by explaining so many different examples of how Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam reciprocates with us, but let's go to our line. So and
of course, uh the ninth chapter of the first canto also directly addresses the question of Maharaja Parikshit, which he has not already which he has not yet asked this question will be there at the end of the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
He will ask, please tell us So, what should I do? What should I hear? What should I chant? And what should be the object of my worship? He will ask Śukadeva Gosvāmī about this.
At the moment of death, and before this question even is asked. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam already answers this question. That's the beauty of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Anticipating this question, very important question: what is the duty of the man at the end of his life, when he's about to die, when he's mriyamāṇa, when he's in the process of dying.
Already Sūta Gosvāmī answers this in this ninth chapter of first canto, where he explains what happened by the
Background to Yudhishthira's post war depression
bed of arrows. So, today we'll not start with the prayers themselves. I don't know how many prayers we'll be able to cover within two next days.
But let's try to understand the background of this story behind the ninth chapter of the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is in more details described in Mahābhārata.
We know that Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira was depressed. His depression is briefly explained in the eighth chapter of the first canto, where he laments, where he's basically saying, I am doomed. I am a great sinful person.
I am I betrayed my prajā. Those people who trusted me, whom I am supposed to protect, I betrayed them. I killed so many prajās. Because of me they were killed. So he was lamenting.
And Mahābhārata actually explains in more details how it happened, why this depression dawned upon came in the heart of Yudhiṣṭhira. The beginning of his rule was not very auspicious.
When the first enthusiasm and elation about the victory over enemies kind of vanished,
and the smoke of the funeral pyres poisoned the atmosphere,, Pāṇḍavas and Vyāsadeva and Nārada Muni who came for this occasion, they all uh wanted to do last rites to their relatives, and for that they came to Dhritarashtra and Gandhari.
Gandharya and Dhritarashtra were the eldest persons who survived from this massacre. And both Dhritarashtra and Gandhari were extremely angry. And especially Gandhari.
Dhritarashtra was pacified quite easily, even though he was also anguished and angry and morose. But it's a difference between male and female natures.
It's easier to deal with males because their emotions are not as strong. Feminine nature is famous for producing very strong and powerful emotions.
So when, when Pandavas came after visiting Dhritarashtra and pacifying Dhritarashtra, Dhritarashtra of course he crushed the iron statue of Bhima and when it happened, he was pacified. So it took some time, but uh
he was peaceful, but then they and then he said, let's go to Gandhari. And actually, he himself was afraid to go to Gandhari. Because he knew that she's raging with anger inside. And she's such a powerful person.
She's a tapasvinī. She accumulated so much austerities and so much mystic powers.
Gandhari's anger and her curse on Krishna
So they came to her and then she heard then that Pandavas came and Yudhiṣṭhira is in front. She asked, Are you here, Yudhiṣṭhira? And he said, Yes, mother, I'm here.
Yudhiṣṭhira was very bold. Actually, other Pandavas they were kind of hiding behind him. After all, he's the leader, he is the king.
He stepped forward, he took the whole blow upon himself, he came in front of Gandhari and he said, Mother, you know that's me.
And she started saying something, why did you kill hundreds of my sons? Couldn't you leave just one? Why did you kill all of them? Why? Now we are completely old and unprotected. How you can do this to us?
And she became so angry. She opened her eyes, she took away her blindfold. And everyone knew if Gandhari takes away her blindfold. Oh my goodness. Arjuna went behind the back of Lord Krishna.
He knew the best place to be protected nicely. Gandhari she took off the blindfold and looked at the feet of Yudhiṣṭhira. Yudhiṣṭhira was standing in front of her bare foot
and the nails on the feet of Yudhiṣṭhira burnt. They became brown. He was still standing there, very humbly begging pardon. And after burning the nails of Maharaja Yudhiṣṭhira, she became a little pacified too.
She was still raging, she was still saying, no. Then she said, and then you know, after doing this, then she said, after putting back her blindfold.
She started saying, Krishna, and you're here. And I know that you're behind everything. You arrange this war. You are behind the murder of my hundred sons. You are behind of the destruction of the whole Kuru race.
I curse you now. In thirty-six years from now, Vrishnis and Andakas and Sattvatas, they will have fratricidal war, fratricidal war, and they will kill each other.
And you will be killed by inglorious death. You will meet inglorious death. This is my curse and it will happen. Krishna smiled.
Krishna said, Oh mother, I was thinking how to eliminate the whole race of Pāṇḍavas and Yodas, sorry, Yadavas and Vrishnis. I couldn't figure out because they're so powerful.
Now you gave me a good idea. Thank you so much. Now I know I do how they will be eliminated. They have to get out of this world. So yes, mother. Very nice. Thank you. So he was very happy to hear this curse.
But Yudhishtir was. He was completely shocked. He was struck. He didn't know what to say. He looked at his brothers. He said, 36 years, after 36 years, Krishna will leave. After 36 years we will be left alone.
And you know, he was completely shocked, and Bhīma was shocked, Arjuna was shocked, everyone was completely shocked.
Kunti reveals the truth about Karna
So that was the beginning of his rule. Very inauspicious. Anyway, they went with Gāndhārī and Dhṛtarāṣṭra to perform the last rites on to Ganga and they stood.
They entered the waters of Ganga to perform the proper rituals. And at this moment, when they started chanting the names of their deceased relatives, their sons and grandsons and everyone and mourning.
The male members of Kuru dynasty, they were all in the water, and the females, they were standing on the bank and they were crying and basically completely demoralized. And this moment of complete grief.
Kunti all of a sudden said, Don't forget the name of Karna. Karna is your brother, your elder brother, and my son. Oh my goodness. Yudhiṣṭhira was — he felt as if he was struck by the lightning.
He was completely sure. He said, Mother, why didn't you say this before? If I knew that he was my brother, I would offer him to be the king of the whole kingdom. He's my elder brother. And then he would not join Duryodhana.
And if he would not join Duryodhana, Duryodhana would not dare to fight with us. He would give the kingdom back. And he would be the ruler and everything would be fine and nobody would be killed. Why did you do this?
The whole war could have been avoided. Why didn't you say this before? Why are you saying this now? And Kunti, she explained the whole story. She said it's a shameful story. I didn't want to do this.
And yet he still said, you should have trusted us little more. After all, you know, we're not somebody who is foreign to you? Were your sons, we would understand everything. Why didn't you say this?
He and cursed. And he said, from now on, women will not be able to keep the secrets. Now because of Kunti everyone else is suffering
But basically you still at this moment when he heard the cries of Subhadrā, wife of Arjuna, and the piteous cries of Draupadī. She was crying so much because her five sons were killed and so many other things.
Yudhishthira's overwhelming guilt and grief
And of course, Subhadrā was crying because of the death of Abhimanyu, and Uttarā was there, everyone was there.
So when you still heard these cries, you know there is one thing which female which which male person cannot tolerate this is the tears of females.
You just Śrīla Prabhupāda said this about our This is the ultimate weapon of women. And they cry. It really tears apart the heart of male people who are responsible or who are supposed to be protectors.
So when you still heard Draupadī's cries. His heart, which was already totally gloomy, already all these bad inauspicious things happened. Gandhārī burned her nails and she was so angry and she cursed Krishna and Krishna said that he will depart.
And so many things happened, and now the cries of Draupadī made him think, how many other women are crying at this moment of time?
How many women in my country wiped out the sindūra from their foreheads, from their how you call this? Yeah. They became widows. How many children became orphans? And why? Because of me.
Looking deeper within his heart, he said, I wanted to become king. I thought that I am the rightful heir of the throne of Hastināpura, I have to become the king. And because of me they all died.
Because of my ambition, they all died because of me. So it's and at this moment of time he said, like Sūta Prajadroha.
Prajadroha. I betrayed my prajas. I'm the king. I'm the emperor. I'm supposed to protect prajas. They trust me. What did I do instead? I made all the children orphans, I made all the women widows. And how can I undo this?
He says in, uh, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that cannot really purify the pot. The wine cannot really, you know, if the pot kept wine, you cannot really wash off the wine from this contaminated pot by pouring more wine into it.
So in the same way, by performing yajñas, because the answer at that moment of time, this is Dwapara-yuga. In Dwapara-yuga, the standard answer was, perform the sacrifice.
Do sacrifice, and by sacrifice, you will nullify all the sinful activities which you have. So do some aśvamedha-yajña, do some other yajñas, and everything will be okay.
So anticipating this answer, he says no, by killing animals in yajña, you cannot really nullify the pap, the sin of killing man. How can you do this? It's not possible.
You cannot neutralize murder by murdering innocent animals. So he was totally completely demoralized. But that's not all.
After in the evening, after performing these rites, they were talking with each other, and Yudhiṣṭhira was completely depressed. He was experiencing duḥkha and aśānti, he was very restless.
You know, when you have depression, when the depression comes to you, you cannot really find the relief anywhere. If you have some physical pain, you can somehow or other get the relief.
But if the pain is in your mind, you know, by changing something external you can alleviate external pain.
Inability of external rituals to cure guilt
But if the pain is internal, if the pain is in your mind, which is the very organ by which you can feel the pain. If the pain entered the mind, you cannot really get rid of the pain.
No amount of external things can help you to alleviate this pain which you experience internally. So he was restless. One of the symptoms of depression is restlessness because you want to change the situation.
But you don't know how to change the situation. You change it, but it remains the same because the situation, the problem is within, not without. You're trying to change something externally, but nothing works.
You don't know where to run. So the restlessness is there, the duḥkha is there, the shock is there, the complete dejection, he's in complete viṣāda, he's so down, and he says, No, I will not rule the kingdom.
Let Bhīma become the king, and I will go to the forest and I will perform the austerities till the end of my life. I will do austerities, that's the only thing which—and he's afraid.
It's actually also the beginning of the ninth canto of the ninth chapter of the first canto, uh Sūta Gosvāmī says, feeling this fear, fear of consequences of his quote unquote sinful activities.
He said, I will go to the forest. Please let me go. Let Bhīma become the ruler, or if he doesn't want, let Arjuna become the ruler, I don't care. Nakula, Sahadeva, Draupadī, it doesn't matter. He was very generous.
So everyone started talking with him. Bhīma first, he said, you know, you can do this. You know, we were fighting for you.
You were supposed to be the king. That was the cause, that was our goal, to make you king, and all of a sudden you say, no, I don't want to be the king. You're joking? What are you doing to us? What's going on?
And Arjuna was trying to say that this is ultimately, everything was predestined. Don't say these foolish things. You know, nothing worked. Nakula, Sahadeva spoke, Vyāsadeva spoke. Ultimately, Draupadī spoke.
Again, uh, you know, Yudhiṣṭhira should have, should have listened at least to Draupadī, because Draupadī knows when she's saying something. Draupadī tried to reason with him, nothing really worked. And then ultimately Krishna said, okay, you become the king, and we will deal with the problem.
You should become the king, and you disturb uh uh unwillingly he agreed uh next morning to become the king. This is before he was anointed as a king.
And actually, at that time, Vyāsadeva, who was also here, there with Yudhiṣṭhira, and he was speaking. Narada, actually, also speaking. And Narada was also saying to Yudhiṣṭhira, you should become the king. Everyone was saying this.
Yudhishthira's reluctance to face Bhishma
Ultimately, he reluctantly agreed. But at that moment of time, Vyāsadeva suggested: why don't we go to Bhishma? Why don't we visit the old man, the grandfather Bhishma,
in his battle arrows and we beg forgiveness from him. And Yudhiṣṭhira still said, no, not this. How do you think I can look at his eyes? I'm the cause of his death, I'm the cause of his suffering. He's laying down there on the bed of arrows.
Luckily Arjuna managed to give some pillow to him, and this pillow was also from the arrows. When Bhīṣmadev, his body fell on the ground.
Arjuna put a few arrows under the head of Bhīṣma so that at least Bhīṣma could place his head on something. Anyway, he's there and Yudhiṣṭhira says, how can I see this? How can I look at his eyes?
I could look in the eyes of Gandhari, no problem. I could meet her direct eyesight. That's possible.
I cannot look in the eyes of Bhīṣma. But anyway, Vyāsadeva said, okay, if you don't want to go there, don't go there, no problem. So next morning, the story continues next
morning, they entering Hastināpura, would be emperor of this huge country, huge kingdom. Entering with great pomp. He's still depressed, but all the brāhmaṇas are rejoicing, they are chanting Vedic hymns, and they are.
uh among this uh commotion, among this uh noise and joyful reception of the king and of course Yudhiṣṭhira it's very difficult. Please try to put yourself in the shoes of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira.
Everyone is rejoicing and saying something and even your brothers are behind you and pushing you and you are Shhh. You can't really reciprocate with the same mood, with the same joy.
And all of a sudden, among the brāhmaṇas, one steps forward and says, I am the spokesman of all the brāhmaṇas. Actually, all the brāhmaṇas delegated me and they told me to curse you.
You are the sinful person because of you, you are the cause of all this murders, of all this killing of innocent people. The whole Kuru race was basically eliminated because of you.
All the brāhmaṇas, they heard this and they started you know they started roaring. You know, we never we never told this guy to speak on our behalf. And some of them they looked at this guy with the mystical
vision and they realized he's not a brāhmaṇa, he's a rākṣasa. His name is Cārvāka and, he a's friend of Duryodhana. And he came on this day of coronation of Yudhiṣṭhira just to spoil the whole thing.
And of course, brāhmaṇas they cursed this Cārvāka, and Cārvāka he fell dead on the ground, but Yudhiṣṭhira by hearing it again, and it's all please remember who is the conductor behind this?
Who is the you know there by the pupils and he's saying, yeah, yeah, right. It's Krishna. Krishna is arranging this gloom of or depression of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira. For what? Only to glorify Bhīṣmadeva.
This whole thing, the cause behind it, to glorify Bhīṣmadeva, to show to the whole world how glorious he is.
But as I said, yeah, reluctantly, Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira is still seated on the throne, he is tolerating all these ceremonies. But he refused to go to Bhīṣmadeva.
Krishna meditating on Bhishma's love
So next morning, after this ceremony, He comes to Krishna because he wants to pour out his heart. He wants to express his grief. The most important thing for somebody who is depressed is to have somebody who
to whom he can confide to whom he can say everything you know now he his situation is even more difficult because he is the king. And king is supposed to be strong.
You know can you imagine Trump being depressed It's not possible. You know, even if he wanted he he couldn't do this, you know, or Putin being depressed. No. You know, the king is not supposed to be depressed.
Even if he is depressed, he shouldn't show that he is depressed. He should put a nice show and you know, in the beginning
of the ninth chapter of the first canto, it is said that you know when They were proceeding, Yudhishthira was very, you know, sitting there like Kuver.
Th There is a secret behind it, but that's that's I will tell a little later. But anyway, he's depressed internally, but his difficulty now is that he cannot express it externally.
So he goes to Krishna to confide, to get some solace, to get some words of pacification. And Krishna, when he enters the quarters of Lord Krishna, he sees Krishna sitting in lotus posture in complete samadhi.
His eyes are closed, and the whole air around Lord Krishna is very intense. He is in deep deep deep meditation and Yudhishthira very respectfully.
He sits down nearby, looking and trying to understand what's going on inside the heart of Krishna, why he is in Samadhi.
And then to his surprise, he sees that the tears starts gliding the eyes of Lord Krishna. He's crying in his samadhi. Then some time passes quite a long time, and ultimately Krishna regains his external consciousness.
And Yudhishthira he embraces Lord Krishna, Lord Krishna being junior, bows down to him and he's asking, for a long time you're here.
And Yudhishthira says, yes, for a long time I am here, and I see that you are meditating on somebody or something in this early morning hour. What is it? Please tell me.
And Lord Krishna says, in the battlefield of Kurukṣetra, Bhīṣmadeva, experiencing excruciating pain is constantly thinking about me and waiting for me and shedding the tears, but not the tears of pain, but the tears of love.
He's waiting for me to come, and because he's thinking about me I started thinking about him. And because he is crying about me, I started crying about him. And at that time Krishna says, we should go to see him.
And Yudhisthira says, yes, we should go to see him. This is how they ultimately decided to go to see Yudhisthira, to see Bhishmadev on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. This is how Yudhishtir ultimately agreed to this.
And this is why one of the names of Krishna is Vasuman. Vasuman. Vasu means one of the eight vasus, Bhishma Dev, he is the Vasu. Vasu man, he is in the man in the mind of Krishna.
He is Krishna, he is connected with Bhishma, he's Vasuman. So that's what happened on the next day of coronation,
The royal procession to Kurukshetra
and that's why that's where the ninth chapter starts. I will go a few minutes more than announced to explain what happened. So Yudhisthira comes back and he says, we are going to see Bhishmadev. And everyone is very happy.
And the whole procession goes to Kurukshetra. And we really have to, with our mind, meditate on this glorious procession. It's actually very interesting.
It is said in Mahabharata that on the first chariot, Dhritarashtra and Gandhari were seated because they are eldest. And they're there in front of everyone.
Even Krishna behind them, Vyasadeva is behind them. Then Maharaja Yudhisthira in his chariot and Bhima is holding white umbrella, the sign of his royal
power or his royal position, and Nakul and Sahadev are worshiping him and fanning him with chamaras. And Lord Krishna and Dhaumya and Vyasadeva are on the chariot of Yudhisthira. They are there.
And Lord Krishna and Arjuna they are in a different chariot. But this time it's not Krishna who is driving the horses of Arjuna, but Arjuna is driving Krishna. Krishna said, okay, you know, let's be fair.
You know, I drive you for so long. Let me become the passenger and you become the driver.
So Arjuna is behind this, and so many other people and brāhmaṇas are going with them and when they come ultimately to Kurukshetra and Yudhishthira is seated there as Kubera and And uh uh like Kuvera with his Guchyakas, Kuverra is the lord of Guchyakas,
and Cuvera his very name indicates that he is not very beautiful. Kud si te vera, his eyes krooked.
He is not a very straightforward person, as you should have expected from somebody who is the treasurer. Treasurers are always little corrupt. So anyway.
This is not a very komplimentary comparison saying that you know Yudhiṣṭhira is like Kubera.
Basically, it is said that externally there is a lot of pomp and glory in this procession, but internally his internal mood does not match the external glory of the procession. He is very gloomy.
Bhishma resting upon his bed of arrows
You know, the procession is brilliant, it's glowing, but he is deprived of his internal glow, he is gloomy internally.
And ultimately they come to Bhīṣmadeva, and Bhīṣmadeva is laying on the bed of arrows, like a demigod, fallen from the sky. So it basically means that his figure is still very majestic.
Even though the whole blood completely sucked out from his body, it's drained from his body and he's pale, but still he's beautiful. His long white beard, beard, and long hair.
He is he is majestic, he is beautiful, he's laying there on the bed of arrows. And there are different explanations why he's like demigod.
Of course, he looks like demigod, but one explanation is that demigods, when they come to earth, they don't touch the earth, they hover over, hover over the earth a little bit.
And in the same way, Bhīṣmadeva, he is you don't see from from the distance the arrows, you only see that he's hovering a little bit over the surface of the earth.
Another explanation is very interesting actually, Vallabachary gives this explanation. He says that in Garuda Purana, why it is specifically said that he is there like fallen demigod and the bed of arrows.
In Garuda Purana it is said that if you want liberation, if you want mukti, you should die on the ground. There is a special ritual how you should die properly.
You should put the white bed sheet on the ground directly, and your body should be on the ground. That's the proper way of dying according to the Vedic rituals. But Bhīṣmadeva, he is not touching the earth so uh chari he's indicated that by this uh it is indicated that even though he is not strictly following the prescriptions of the scriptures, he will still be liberated because Lord Krishna Himself is coming to see him at the last moment of his life.
So So so what else did I want to say? Yeah, actually as I said It's actually a very beautiful point which Radha Govinda Maharaja makes in his kathā on this topic. He says, remembers another episode from Mahābhārata.
Reminds us another episode from Mahābhārata. When Krishna came to Hastināpura, he was He was speaking very convincingly to Duryodhana.
You should surrender to Pandavas, you should not even surrender, you know, please give them five villages.
He was dutifully performing his obligations as a dūta, as a messenger of Maharaja Yudhiṣṭhira, and he was offering this peace offer to Duryodhana.
But with his different form from the heart of Duryodhana He was depriving him of the opportunity to hear his own speech. So externally, he speaks and is trying to convince Duryodhana.
Duryodhana, you should not fight this war, it's not good for you, it's not good for anyone. Make peace. Internally, in the heart of Duryodhana, he says: no, no, no, no, no, no, no, don't listen to this Krishna.
Duryodhana says this very interestingly. Duryodhana says: Jānāmi dharmaṁ na ca me pravṛttiḥ jānāmy adharmaṁ na ca me nivṛttiḥ.
It says there is one glowing brilliant person within my heart. And whatever he tells me, I will do.
And therefore, I don't care about Dharma, Dharma, whatever is there, you know, I'm following the command of somebody who is in my heart. Could you guess who is in the heart of Duryodhana? It's Krishna.
Some Deva, some divine being is within my heart and he is saying something, but at the same time, uh externally, but at the same time he is uh obstructing the understanding of Duryodhana.
In the same way, when Krishna was trying to convince Yudhishthira, Yudhishthira, you should become the ruler and give up your grief, dispel he couldn't do this
because in another form from the heart of Yudhiṣṭhira he was saying, no, no, no, no, no, this is not true. Don't hear this, don't listen to this.
So it's very interesting how Krishna acts and how Krishna controls everything in this world. So Krishna is not so simple. That's why he's a little crooked and he is tri-bhanga. He is never straightforward.
So he's saying this, and they're coming to Bhīṣmadeva.
And Bhīṣmadeva is laying on the bed of arrows and all the ṛṣis, Brahma-ṛṣi and rāja-ṛṣi and deva-ṛṣi, all three kinds of Rishis came from all over the world, from all over the universe basically, because they know Bhīṣma is going to depart from this world.
He's waiting for the auspicious moment, and Krishna himself is coming. They also know by their internal vision that Krishna is coming.
It's so significant, therefore, they all flock together to be the witness of this departure. They are the audience. You know, that's the setting the scene of uh Bhīṣma giving instructions to Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira.
Again, why? Because Krishna wants what? Glorify Bhīṣma. You know, can you imagine to which extent he goes?
He arranged all this, manipulated this whole situation with the bad omens and the cursing on Gandhari and everything else and this Charvaka, and uh that he is unconsolable. Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira is totally unconsolable.
He arranged this, and then he uh attracted all the sages from all over the universe to come to show to everyone how glorious my devotee is.
Moreover, when he comes, of course, Bhīṣma, he pays his obeisances. He cannot pay his obeisances in the real sense. But according to Desha and Kala, uh as it is said in
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he is paying obeisances to all the ṛṣis who came, brahma-ṛṣi and rāja-ṛṣi and deva-ṛṣi, by his mind and his speech.
He reciprocates accordingly, and he, of course pays obeisances internally to Lord Krishna. And Lord Krishna sits. Where does he sit? He sits by his feet.
He sits right at the feet of Bhishmadev so that Bhishmadev could look at him. Because Bhīṣmadeva cannot look sideways, he cannot look anywhere.
He can only look straight at the feet and therefore Krishna, he pays obeisances to Bhīṣmadev and he sits by his feet to show that this is my bhakta, how glorious devotees. This is the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the book about Bhagavān, it's the book about Bhāgavatas. It's the book about the devotee and the Lord about their relationship.
How glorious this relationship between Bhīṣma and Krishna are in this very beginning of this first candle, describing this.
Becoming worthy of seeing the Supreme Lord
And another point which is also very beautiful, which actually Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda did. Siddhanta Saraswati Takur Prabhupada did. It is said in the
fourth canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, bhakta-dṛk-spṛhā-gataḥ Kṛṣṇa when Dhruva was meditating then bhakta-dṛk-spṛhā-gataḥ Kṛṣṇa came. Why did he come? Why did he come? He came because he wanted to see Dhruva.
Dhruva is standing there with his eyes closed and his one leg, he's retaining his breath, he's chanting Oṁ namo bhagavate Vāsudevāya. He of course wants to see Krishna. But Krishna wants to see his bhakta.
Bhakta-dṛk-spṛhā-gataḥ. He comes because he wants to see Bhakti.
This is exactly what Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda says that when people want to see Bhagavān or want to have darśana of Bhagavān, he said it's useless.
You should live in such a way that Bhagavān would like to see you. That's the only way for you to see Bhagavān. It's not that your desire will determine whether you will see Bhagavān or not.
Of course, desire is important, but ultimately the stress should be how I should behave, how I should be, how I should become, so that he would like to see me here. And that's exactly what is happening.
Of course, Bhīṣma is praying to Bhagavān to come, but Bhagavān himself he wants to come. And that's why he's arranging this whole thing. Another reason behind this whole very
big arrangement with the grief of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira is to have an excuse to come to see Bhīṣma.
And to show to everyone how glorious his bhakta is, but he wanted to see Bhīṣma more than even Bhīṣma wanted to see him because they were reciprocating with each other. Yayāti, again, perfect reciprocation.
Bhishma wanted to see him. Krishna. Desire in the heart of Krishna was amplified by the desire of Bhīṣmadeva, and by the desire of yeah, by the desire of Bhīṣmadeva. And that's why he appears in front of him.
And that's why in the first verse of the ninth chapter of 1 Kanto, Krishna is called Devavrata. Oh, sorry, not Krishna. Bhīṣmadeva is called Devavrata. He is Devavrata. His uh vrata, his vow is like that of Deva.
By following this vow, what is the secret behind this? How you can inspire in the heart of Bhagavān Himself the desire to see you, then you have to follow the vow, which is the vow of.
You have to basically become like God by following certain vows. And of course, we know the vow which Bhishma followed so perfectly was the vow of Brahmacharya.
And Brahmacharya means the acharya behavior which is spiritual, which is aligned with the spirit.
So So this behavior of Bhishma made him ultimately successful and created or inspired within the heart of Bhagavan the desire to see him at the very last moment of his uh life.
Krishna empowering Bhishma to speak on dharma
So anyway, I think I I yeah, let me say a few more words in this regard. And then they come, it's already evening, when they came. And Krishna himself, he sits in front.
This is not explained in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but it is explained in Mahābhārata. Krishna sits in front of Bhīṣmadeva by his feet, and he pleads him.
He says, Your grandson Yudhishthir is depressed, and he doesn't want to perform his duties. What are we supposed to do? We tried to reason him. Vyāsadeva tried to reason him. Nārada Muni was speaking with him.
All his brothers were speaking with him. Even his wife spoke with him. Still, he was not convinced. You know, the ultimate weapon was used and nothing worked.
So Krishna says, can you please instruct him what is his duty now? Can you say something? We all have trust in you. We know that if you say something, he will be convinced.
And Bhishma Dev says, how is it proper for me to speak in front of you? You are the source of universe, you are the source of all teachings. Whatever I know, I know only because of you. I don't know anything else.
How is that proper to speak in front of you? I will not dare to open my mouth. This is the proper etiquette. It's not proper to speak in front of one's guru.
And the guru of the whole world, Jagat Guru, as Kuntī Devi calls him, is sitting there, and Bhīṣmadev uh is saying, you know, I will not be able to say anything.
You please tell him, you know, you dispel the ignorance of Arjuna. Why don't you dispel the ignorance if you want you? You will be able to do this. What's the problem for you? No problem for you.
And uh Krishna says, no, no, no, you should you should do this. I ask you. If the guru orders the disciple to speak, then you have then the disciple has to speak. So I'm asking you, you have to speak.
And Bhishma said, no, I cannot speak because I'm completely confused. I feel so much pain, I'm so weak, and moreover, my buddhi is clouded. I completely cannot understand anything.
So how how am I supposed to speak about dharma? There is no way for me to speak about dharma. To speak about dharma, you have to be clear-minded. You have to really know this is good, this is bad. You have to say this.
I will not be able to say this, even if I want. I don't want, but even if I want it, I I will not be able to do this. And at that time, that is evening.
Because when they came from Hastināpura some time past, Krishna says, Okay, my dear Bhīṣmadev, I bless you. From now on, you will not feel even a little bit of pain. You will be completely pain-free.
You will have a lot of enthusiasm and your mind will become completely clear, everything will come to your mind in a perfect order, so you will speak perfectly. So, this is another very important lesson.
You know: what is the source by which we can speak? Who is giving us the knowledge? Mattattḥ smṛtiḥ jñānam apohanaṁ ca. Ghyana Mapohanam Chao. Who is giving the knowledge? Who is giving the ability to speak?
Who is there to give our mind or intelligence the power to discriminate. It's Kṛṣṇa. It's his blessings. Or blessings of the spiritual master. And the blessings of the spiritual master enable, empowers us to speak.
So Kṛṣṇa first, Kṛṣṇa could not convince Yudhiṣṭhira, but he empowered Bhīṣmadev to convince Yudhiṣṭhira.
And ultimately it's Kṛṣṇa who convinced Yudhiṣṭhira, but because it's he who empowered Bhīṣmadev. And he said, actually, specifically, he said, for 56 days. What is this pañcāpan?
Oh, chappan, chappan, yeah, chappan, bhau, so chappan, fifty six days you will be able to speak. And he says, I want you to speak because I want to glorify my bhakta. I want to glorify the speech of my bhakta, and the words
which you will speak will be remembered and repeated by people as much as the words of the Vedas.
The words which you say, which you speak now, will be remembered by all the people for the rest of the time, and they will be considered on the level of Vedas.
That's how the Śānti Parva, Anuśāsana Parva, and Viṣṇu-sahasra-nāma came to being. And therefore, so many people still to this day, every day, they repeat Viṣṇu-sahasra-nāma. Sahasranam. This is the daily practice.
Because of the blessings of Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna said, this will be the power of the words which you will speak. So, by the blessings of Lord Kṛṣṇa. And in the next morning, early next morning, they come to Bhīṣmadev.
Bhīṣmadev is laying there on the bed of arrows. And Kṛṣṇa again comes to Bhīṣmadev, sits in his place by his feet and he asks, how you feel today, Bhīṣmadev, Bhīṣma, how are you today?
And Bhīṣmadev says, oh, I'm completely alright, no problem. My mind is very clear. I have a power, so I'm ready to speak. No problem. And if I don't feel even a little bit of pain.
I'm totally alright and I am so grateful to you for you to come here. So that's uh that's setting the scene for this chapter and uh I hope little emotion can be reflected in us and we can understand
what is the what is the setting what is the feeling which is there in the heart of Bhishman? Can you imagine how grateful he is? And how eager he is to follow the order of Lord Krishna? Yes, I will do whatever you tell me.
If you want me, I will tell. I will speak for 56 days, for hundreds and six days, for 56 years, no problem. I will speak on your order. And I will convince and I will do whatever is in my power. And Krishna he is rejoicing.
And he's looking around, he's looking at Krishna, but sometimes he's looking around and he's seeing what is the impression this whole thing made upon all the audience.
Like you know, the sometimes it's interesting to look and to see, you know. Are they impressed? And they were all impressed, without exception.
Everyone is anticipating to hear what Bhishma Dev is about to say and ultimately to hear his final prayers, final offering to Lord Krishna.
Questions on receiving knowledge and expressing feelings
So thank you very much. Questions? Okay, uh one or two because I really have to go. As you are mentioning, even if we know we should hear from spiritual masters, so uh what is the understanding we need?
Because we may or may not have proper realization our knowledge may be uh maybe theoretical, but when we hear from the spiritual master, uh all of a sudden this knowledge uh gives us some experience.
This is what Jīva Gosvāmī explains in the commentary of Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu or also in, yeah, uh he says that uh by hearing uh Sramanadvara Kinchit Anubuti Bhavati uh by hearing from the proper source, you get little experience, kinchit.
So the knowledge which is heard as opposed to the knowledge which is read or obtained by some other sources, or as opposed to the knowledge which is downloaded from the internet. It gives you some experience.
You know, internet is such a glorious source of information. You can download so many lectures, but you don't download the experience. So Kinchitana Bhuti Bhavati. That's even recorded lecture will not have it.
Well there are different uh different conceptions. Śrīla Prabhupāda definitely did not uh did not devalue how to say this, he he valued recorded lectures. It is actually in Gargamuni's memoirs
it is mentioned that at that time there was this big monstrous recorders with big you know reels.
So it would take some time when the one reel would be finished and because they were expensive they would record on one reel.
So when during the lecture they would have to change the reels, Śrīla Prabhupāda would stop abruptly his speech and wait before they change this and then continue so that everything will be recorded.
So Śrīla Prabhupāda definitely valued recorded lectures, so we should not uh also deprecate somehow or other yeah, look down at the recorded word. It gives definitely some experience.
But it's better if it's in a personal kind of setting because again it's personal interaction. It's recorded lectures can be the source of experience if you take them seriously.
And it's easy to kind of, you know, not to take them so seriously. You can do all kinds of things, you're cooking, you're doing this, you're doing that, and at the same time you're listening to lecture.
But again, listening is a personal interaction.
So if interaction is there, then definitely if you listen a recorded lecture and if you interact with the person who is speaking, then it has power without the buttons interaction has to be in a proper mood.
And if you listen, you just just to get some information. Yes, you will get some information. Okay. Thank you, Maharaj, for such a wonderful insights in the life of Vishma.
Maharaj, my question is that uh you mentioned that in case of Queen Kuntī, Krishna knew whatever was in her heart.
So I I want to know that uh since he knows whatever in our hearts, so why it is still important to communicate and express our feelings because on one hand we don't know whether we are able to communicate to him he knows what is in our heart, but we don't know what is in our heart. And when we express it, it becomes more clear to us.
So many times you probably experienced this, you you don't know, but you start speaking and once Bernard Shaw, the famous author, English author, asked some, you know, lady some beautiful lady asked, what do you think?
She said, How do I know before I started speaking? I don't know what I think before I started speaking. So that's that's usually the case.
When we speak words have certain power to give our thoughts a very specific form and shape. Therefore, Śrīla Prabhupāda said that one of the most powerful forms of meditation is writing.
You may try to sit and meditate, but you probably all experience that your meditation is interrupted, it's interrupted by this thought and that thought.
But when you're writing, the flow of meditation can be completely uninterrupted. Because still, you know, some new sites you can look in between.
But still, if you try to put it in it in vers, it gives you your thought much more strong kind of direction. That's why writing or translating or editing is a very powerful form of meditation. Alright, thank you very much.
Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam mahāpurāṇa kī jaya