Bhishma was a great Jnani, a man of wisdom, and also a man of great renunciation (maha tyagi). Sri Rama obeyed his father’s words only for fourteen years but Bhishma stuck to his father’s words for the rest of his entire life. By his great determination and strict observance of his vows, he got his name Bhishma. Such a great hero, he was wounded by Arjuna’s arrows and as a result, fell down on the battle field on the ninth day of the Kurukshetra war. According to his own grave determination, even at the critical period of the fag end of his life, he was lying on a bed of arrows. After the war when the Pandava brothers and Draupadi approached the grandsire Bhishma to pay their homage, he began explaining to them all aspects of Dharma (Righteousness) from his bed of arrows. After hearing him for a while, Draupadi burst into laughter. All the Pandava brothers were very much upset by her unaccountable levity and conceding it as an affront to the respectable Bhishma, they frowned upon her with angry looks. Understanding their distress, Bhishma calmed them down with his soft words and told them that Draupadi, being an exemplary woman in every respect, must be having a valid reason for her laughter. She replied, "Revered Grandsire! These lessons of Dharma which you should have taught to the evil minded and wicked Kauravas, you are now teaching to my noble and virtuous husbands. This appears to me both ironical and futile, hence, I could not refrain from laughing, although I knew it would seem impolite".
Bhishma then explained that he had been serving the Kauravas and living on their bounty. He said, "As a result of consuming the food received from such ignoble and vicious persons, my blood became polluted and all the pure thoughts in me were thereby suppressed. Now that Arjuna’s arrows have drained away all my impure blood from me, the Dharma that was deep inside me is gushing forth and is inducing me to communicate it to your husbands". From this episode, students must realise the crucial role food plays in determining one’s thoughts, words and actions.
Bhishma adored Krishna even when He was rushing towards him with His Sudarshana Chakra. His sense of Sharanagathi (Total surrender to Divinity) did not desert him at the point of death at the hands of the very person whom he revered as God. "Kill me or save me, I shall not falter in my loyalty", he said. The noble heroic warrior Bhishma waited for 56 days on the bed of arrows in the battle field so that he could give up his life in Uttarayana.
When you crave for the thought of the Lord and the company of the Godly, then you are in Uttarayana.
Bhishma too was in that mood. He prayed, "Asatho ma Sath gamaya" (from this transient world of decay, lead me to the everlasting world of bliss) "Thamaso ma Jyothir gamaya" (give me the effulgence of Thy Grace and illumine my soul with truth), "Mruthyorma Amritham gamaya" (save me from the torture of birth and death, destroy the cravings of the mind which produce the seeds of birth). That prayer and that yearning of Bhishma gave him the vision of Krishna when he passed away. That was the real Uttarayana for him.
Whatever the trouble, however great the travail, persist and win the same by means of Smarana, (remembrance). Remember Bhishma! Though prostrate on a bed of arrows he bore the pain patiently, awaiting the dawn of the auspicious moment; he never called out to God in his agony, asking Him to put an end to his sufferings. "I shall bear everything, whatever the pain, however long the agony. I shall be silent until the moment comes. Take me when it dawns" he said, for Bhishma was the chief among the sant bhaktas (saints and devotees).
Bhishma, who was Commander-in-Chief of the Kaurava forces in the Mahabharata war, was 126 years old at the time. He lived a pure celibate life, making a great sacrifice for the sake of his father.
Bhishma took a vow of life-long celibacy to enable his father to marry the woman whom he desired, whose father insisted that the son born to her should be the heir to the throne. Bhishma not only renounced his title to the throne but also took the vow of celibacy to ensure that he would leave no progeny to claim the right. After he fell in the battle he lay on a bed of arrows for 56 days for the auspicious moment of the northward motion of the sun to give up his life. He had such will power that he could bear any amount of personal suffering. He spent his last days imparting the highest wisdom to the Pandavas.
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