Bhagavatham Stories

Bhishma, the grandsire of both the Pandavas and the Kauravas, one of the greatest warriors and most respected figures in all of Vedic civilization, lay dying on a bed of countless arrows that pierced his body on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. The great warrior had fought on the Kaurava side during the war, though his heart was not entirely with them, because he had taken a vow to follow the orders of the kingdom's crowned ruler - Duryodhana. Even though he disagreed with many of Duryodhana's actions and recognized the Pandavas as more virtuous, his vow bound him to fight against them. Now, with his body completely immobilized by the arrows that had felled him, Bhishma faced the final chapter of his life. However, Bhishma possessed a rare blessing - he had been given the power to choose the exact time of his death. Through his tapasya (austerities) and his service to the king, he had earned this extraordinary boon from his parents. He waited for the auspicious time of Uttarayana, the sacred period when the sun moves northward, which is considered the most auspicious time for a great soul to leave the material world.

When the auspicious moment of Uttarayana arrived, Krishna and the five Pandava brothers, along with their wives and numerous great sages including Vyasadeva himself and the celestial sage Narada, gathered around Bhishma's deathbed. This was not a scene of ordinary dying but a gathering of the most exalted personalities in the cosmos assembling to receive the final teachings of one of the age's greatest souls. Bhishma, though his material body was pierced with innumerable arrows and his physical condition was such that he should have been unconscious from pain, remained completely alert, his consciousness crystal clear and his tongue flowing with wisdom. The intensity of pain that would have incapacitated an ordinary person seemed to only sharpen his spiritual consciousness.

When Yudhishthira approached his grandfather with reverence and asked him to clarify various aspects of dharma (religious duty, virtue, and proper living), Bhishma began to speak eloquently despite his mortal condition. His discourse covered topics ranging from the principles of proper governance for kings, to the duties of people in different life stages and social positions, to the nature of the self and the process of liberation, to the supreme position of devotional service to Krishna. Bhishma did not merely recite philosophical theories; every word was infused with the lived wisdom of a soul who had dedicated his entire long life to these principles. Though his body was in agony, his consciousness was soaring in transcendental wisdom. He explained that true knowledge is not merely intellectual understanding but lived realization - the integration of philosophy with actual devotional practice.

Throughout his discourse, Bhishma repeatedly glorified Krishna, expressing his wonder and his profound gratitude for the Lord's presence in his life. He acknowledged Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and expressed astonishment at His transcendental pastimes - how He appeared in a human form to establish dharma and protect His devotees. Bhishma praised Krishna's kindness in appearing on the Kurukshetra battlefield as Arjuna's charioteer - a position that would normally be occupied by a servant - yet He was the eternal master of everything. Bhishma expressed particular admiration for Krishna's arrangement that he, Bhishma, would achieve a glorious death on the battlefield rather than wasting away on a sickbed. From a spiritual perspective, to die in battle remembering the Lord is far more auspicious than to die passively. Bhishma's gratitude for Krishna's mercy was so profound that even his final moments became an expression of his love for the Lord.

As the auspicious moment of Uttarayana reached its peak, Bhishma consciously withdrew his senses from the material world and fixed his mind completely on Krishna. He meditated deeply on the Lord's beautiful transcendental form - visualizing His eternal, unchangeable features, His lotus eyes expressing infinite compassion, His divine smile that can overwhelm the consciousness of anyone who glimpses it. He particularly remembered how Krishna had appeared on the battlefield, His transcendental body covered with dust from moving about in His chariot, dust that had become as valuable as precious sandalwood paste because it had touched the Lord's body. He remembered Krishna's lotus feet moving gracefully between the chariot wheels as He maneuvered the vehicle on the battlefield. He remembered the sound of Krishna's voice as He spoke the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna, words that contained the solution to all of life's problems and the pathway to all spiritual perfection.

With his consciousness completely absorbed in this meditation on Krishna's form, his mind purified of all material attachments through his final discourse, and his devotion to Krishna burning brighter than a flame fueled by ghee, Bhishma's soul left his material body. At that exact moment, all the assembled great sages and celestial beings showered flowers from the sky as an acknowledgment that Bhishma had achieved the supreme destination. His death was not a tragedy but a triumph - the culmination of a life lived with the utmost integrity, the highest wisdom, and unshakeable devotion. Bhishma's example teaches us the most important lesson: that the key to ultimate spiritual success and liberation is to remember Krishna at the moment of death, and that such remembrance is not a last-minute achievement but the natural result of practicing Krishna consciousness throughout one's entire life. By fixing the mind on Krishna through all stages of existence, when death arrives, that same consciousness naturally continues, carrying the soul to the Lord's eternal realm.