Bhisma | The Hare Krishna Movement

Lord Krishna’s Merciful Glance

25 Jun 2012 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Bhagavad-gita, Salvation, Srimad Bhagavatam Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Arjuna, Battlefield of Kuruksetra, bhagavad-gita, Bhisma, liberation from material bondage, merciful glance, salvation, SB 1.9.35, Srimad Bhagavatam, The Passing Away of Bhismadeva in the Presence of Lord Krsna

…The Lord diminished the duration of life of the opposite party by His merciful glance. It is said that all the fighters who assembled on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra attained salvation by personally seeing the Lord at the time of death. Therefore, His diminishing the duration of life of Arjuna’s enemy does not mean that He was partial to the cause of Arjuna. Factually He was merciful to the opposite party because they would not have attained salvation by dying at home in the ordinary course of life. Here was a chance to see the Lord at the time of death and thus attain salvation from material life. Therefore, the Lord is all good, and whatever He does is for everyone’s good.

Srimad Bhagavatam
By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Canto 1, Chapter 9, Text 35

The Passing Away of Bhismadeva in the Presence of Lord Krsna

sapadi sakhi-vaco niśamya madhye
nija-parayor balayo rathaṁ niveśya
sthitavati para-sainikāyur akṣṇā
hṛtavati pārtha-sakhe ratir mamāstu

sapadi—on the battlefield; sakhi-vacaḥ—command of the friend; niśamya—after hearing; madhye—in the midst; nija—His own; parayoḥ—and the opposite party; balayoḥ—strength; ratham—chariot; niveśya—having entered; sthitavati—while staying there; para-sainika—of the soldiers on the opposite side; āyuḥ—duration of life; akṣṇā—by looking over; hṛtavati—act of diminishing; pārtha—of Arjuna, son of Pṛthā (Kuntī); sakhe—unto the friend; ratiḥ—intimate relation; mama—my; astu—let there be.

In obedience to the command of His friend, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa entered the arena of the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra between the soldiers of Arjuna and Duryodhana, and while there He shortened the life spans of the opposite party by His merciful glance. This was done simply by His looking at the enemy. Let my mind be fixed upon that Kṛṣṇa.

Purport

In the Bhagavad-gītā (1.21-25) Arjuna ordered the infallible Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa to place his chariot between the phalanxes of the soldiers. He asked Him to stay there until he had finished observing the enemies he had to face in the battle. When the Lord was so asked, He at once did so, just like an order carrier. And the Lord pointed out all the important men on the opposite side, saying, “Here is Bhīṣma, here is Droṇa,” and so on. The Lord, being the supreme living being, is never the order supplier or order carrier of anyone, whoever he may be. But out of His causeless mercy and affection for His pure devotees, sometimes He carries out the order of the devotee like an awaiting servant. By executing the order of a devotee, the Lord becomes pleased, as a father is pleased to carry out the order of his small child. This is possible only out of pure transcendental love between the Lord and His devotees, and Bhīṣmadeva was quite aware of this fact. He therefore addressed the Lord as the friend of Arjuna.

Dangerous Encounters

22 May 2012 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Teachings of Queen Kunti Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Arjuna, Asvatthama, bhagavad-gita, Bhima, Bhisma, cannibals, Devaki, Draupadi, Drona, Dronacarya, exile in the forest, Karna, Kunti, Lord Krishna, man-eater Hidimba, My devotee is never vanquished, Pandavas, Queen Kunti, sons of Pandu, Srila Prabhupada, Teachings of Queen Kunti

…Here Kuntī remembers all the dangers through which she passed before the Pāṇḍavas regained their kingdom. In Bhagavad-gītā Lord Kṛṣṇa says, kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati: “My dear Arjuna, you may declare to the world that My devotee is never vanquished.” The Pāṇḍavas, the sons of Pāṇḍu, were great devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa, but because people in the material world are interested in material things, the Pāṇḍavas were put into many dangers. Their materialistic uncle Dhṛtarāṣṭra was always planning to kill them and usurp the kingdom for his own sons. That was his policy from the very beginning.

Teachings of Queen Kunti
By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Chapter 7

Dangerous Encounters

viṣān mahāgneḥ puruṣāda-darśanād
asat-sabhāyā vana-vāsa-kṛcchrataḥ
mṛdhe mṛdhe ’neka-mahārathāstrato
drauṇy-astrataś cāsma hare ’bhirakṣitāḥ

My dear Kṛṣṇa, Your Lordship has protected us from a poisoned cake, from a great fire, from cannibals, from the vicious assembly, from sufferings during our exile in the forest, and from the battle where great generals fought. And now You have saved us from the weapon of Aśvatthāmā.

—Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.8.24

The list of dangerous encounters is submitted herein. Devakī was once put into difficulty by her envious brother, otherwise she was well. But Kuntīdevī and her sons were put into one difficulty after another for years and years together. They were put into trouble by Duryodhana and his party due to the kingdom, and each and every time the sons of Kuntī were saved by the Lord. Once Bhīma was administered poison in a cake, once they were put into the house made of shellac and set afire, and once Draupadī was dragged out, and attempts were made to insult her by stripping her naked in the vicious assembly of the Kurus. The Lord saved Draupadī by supplying an immeasurable length of cloth, and Duryodhana’s party failed to see her naked. Similarly, when they were exiled in the forest, Bhīma had to fight with the man-eater demon Hiḍimba Rākṣasa, but the Lord saved him. So it was not finished there. After all these tribulations, there was the great Battle of Kurukṣetra, and Arjuna had to meet such great generals as Droṇa, Bhīṣma, and Karṇa, all powerful fighters. And at last, even when everything was done away with, there was the brahmāstra released by the son of Droṇācārya to kill the child within the womb of Uttarā, and so the Lord saved the only surviving descendant of the Kurus, Mahārāja Parīkṣit.

No One Can Know the Plan of the Lord [Śrī Kṛṣṇa]

18 Oct 2011 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Bhismadeva, Srimad Bhagavatam Tags: Bhisma, Bishmadeva, Brahma, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Maharaja Yudhisthira, plan of the Lord, Siva, Srimad Bhagavatam, vice cannot conqure virtue

Bhishmadeva

Even a great fighter like Bhīṣma could not win the Battle of Kurukṣetra because the Lord wanted to show that vice cannot conquer virtue, regardless of who tries to execute it.

Srimad-Bhagavatam
By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Canto 1″Creation”, Chapter 9, Text 16
The Passing Away of Bhismadeva in the Presence of Lord Krsna

na hy asya karhicid rājan
pumān veda vidhitsitam
yad vijijñāsayā yuktā
muhyanti kavayo ‘pi hi

na—never; hi—certainly; asya—His; karhicit—whatsoever; rājan—O King; pumān—anyone; veda—knows; vidhitsitam—plan; yat—which; vijijñāsayā—with exhaustive inquiries; yuktāḥ—being engaged; muhyanti—bewildered; kavayaḥ—great philosophers; api—even; hi—certainly.

O King, no one can know the plan of the Lord [Śrī Kṛṣṇa]. Even though great philosophers inquire exhaustively, they are bewildered.

The bewilderment of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira over his past sinful acts and the resultant sufferings, etc., is completely negated by the great authority Bhīṣma (one of the twelve authorized persons). Bhīṣma wanted to impress upon Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira that since time immemorial no one, including such demigods as Śiva and Brahmā, could ascertain the real plan of the Lord. So what can we understand about it? More

The Disappearance of Bhismadeva

12 Feb 2011 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Spiritual Life, Srimad Bhagavatam Tags: BBT, Bhisma, Bhismastami, HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, Lord Krishna, purports, Srimad Bhagavatam

Feb 10, 2011 — CANADA (SUN) — Bhismastami, observed on February 11th, from Srimad Bhagavatam Chapter Nine with select Purports by HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada.

The Passing Away of Bhismadeva in the Presence of Lord Krsna

TEXT 1

Suta Gosvami said: Being afraid for having killed so many subjects on the Battlefield of Kuruksetra, Maharaja Yudhisthira went to the scene of the massacre. There, Bhismadeva was lying on a bed of arrows, about to pass away.

PURPORT
In this Ninth Chapter, as it is willed by Lord Sri Krsna, Bhismadeva will impart instructions to King Yudhisthira on the subject of occupational duties. Bhismadeva will also offer his last prayer to the Lord on the verge of passing away from this mortal world and thus become liberated from the bondage of further material engagements. Bhismadeva was endowed with the power of leaving his material body at will, and his lying down on the bed of arrows was his own choice. This passing away of the great warrior attracted the attention of all the contemporary elites, and all of them assembled there to show their feelings of love, respect and affection for the great soul.