Chapter 1373(45)
Janamejaya asked, ‘O brahmana! After having obtained the kingdom, what did the immensely energetic Dharmaraja Yudhishthira do next? You should tell me that. O rishi! What did the illustrious Hrishikesha, the supreme preceptor of the three worlds, do? You should tell me that in detail.’
Vaishampayana replied, ‘O Indra among kings! Listen. O unblemished one! I will recount that in detail, about what the Pandavas did, with Vasudeva at the forefront. Having obtained the kingdom, the immensely energetic Dharmaraja Yudhishthira instructed the four varnas to be engaged in their own dharma. He announced that one thousand great-souled snataka411 brahmanas would be given one thousand golden coins each. He arranged sustenance for the servants and the guests who sought refuge and gratified their desires, even the distressed ones who were prone to debating.412 He gave tens of thousands of cows to the priest, Dhoumya, and also riches, gold, silver and many kinds of garments. O great king! He behaved towards Kripa as one would towards a preceptor. With dharma in his soul, he was careful in his vows and honoured Vidura. The supreme among generous ones gave food, drink, many kinds of garments, beds and seats and satisfied all those who resorted to him. O supreme among kings! Having obtained peace, the immensely illustrious king honoured Yuyutsu, Dhritarashtra’s son. King Yudhishthira offered the kingdom to Dhritarashtra, Gandhari and Vidura and informed them that the kingdom was safe. O Janamejaya! He satisfied everyone in the city in this way.
‘With hands joined in salutation, he then went to the great-souled Vasudeva. He saw Krishna seated on an expensive couch, decorated with jewels and gold. He looked like a blue rain cloud atop Mount Meru. Decorated with divine ornaments, his form blazed. He was attired in yellow silk garments and was like a jewel set in golden jewellery. The koustubha jewel was on his chest, radiant amidst other gems. He looked like Mount Udaya,413 with the sun blazing its crown. There was no one like him in the three worlds. He approached the great-souled Vishnu, an idol in human form. Smiling first, he addressed him in gentle words. “O supreme among intelligent ones! Have you spent the night in comfort? O Achyuta! I hope all your senses are at ease. O supreme among intelligent ones! We sought refuge with you and the goddess of your intelligence. That is how we obtained our kingdom back and the earth is under our subjugation. O illustrious one! Through your valour, you covered the three worlds in three steps414 and you have shown us your favours. Hence, we obtained victory and the best of fame. Nor have we deviated from dharma.” Dharmaraja Yudhishthira spoke to him in this way. However, the illustrious one was meditating. He remained silent and did not say anything in reply.’
Chapter 1374(46)
‘Yudhishthira said, “O infinitely valorous one! It is wonderful that you should be meditating thus. O refuge of the worlds! I hope the three worlds will be safe. O Purushottama! You have resorted to the fourth stage of meditation.415 O god! You have withdrawn and my mind is surprised. You have stilled the five winds that perform action in the body.416 You have established all the senses in your mind. You have restrained your senses and your mind in your intelligence.417 O god! All those groups have been immersed in your soul.418 Your body hair is still and so are your intelligence and your mind. O Madhava! You don’t seem to be here and are like a pillar, a wall or a rock. O Achyuta! You are as still as the blazing flame of a lamp where there is no wind. O illustrious one! O god! Firm in your resolution, you are as immobile as that. O god! If I deserve to hear it and if it is not a secret, show me your favours and dispel my doubts. You are the creator and the transformer.419 You are the one who decays and you are the own who does not decay. You are without a beginning and without an end. O Purushottoma! You are the one who is here now. I am bowing down my head before you. With devotion, I am seeking refuge with you. O supreme among upholders of dharma! Tell me the truth about this meditation.”’
Vaishampayana said, ‘The illustrious one, Vasava’s younger brother, then brought his mind, his intelligence and his senses to their usual state. Smiling first, he said, “Bhishma is lying down on a bed of arrows, like a fire that has been pacified. The tiger among men was thinking of me and my mind was concentrated on him. The sound of his bowstring against his palm was like thunder with lightning. Even the king of the gods could not tolerate that. My mind had gone out to him. In earlier times, when he swiftly attacked the assembled circle of kings and abducted the three maidens,420 my mind had gone out to him. When he fought for twenty-three nights with Bhargava Rama421 without being overpowered, my mind had gone out to him. In the proper way, Ganga had carried the king in her womb. O father!422 He was Vasishtha’s student. O king! My mind had gone out to him. The extremely energetic and intelligent one wielded divine weapons and knew the four Vedas and the Vedangas. My mind had gone out to him. O Pandava! He was the beloved disciple of Rama,423 Jamadagni’s son. He was the store of all kinds of knowledge. My mind had gone out to him. He united his senses, controlled his mind and his intelligence and sought refuge with me. My mind had gone out to him. O bull among men! He knew the past, the present and the future and upheld the best forms of dharma. My mind had gone out to him. O Partha! When that tiger among men has ascended to heaven because of his own deeds, the earth will be like a night when there is no moon. O Yudhishthira! Gangeya Bhishma is terrible in his valour. Go to him and carefully ask him about what is in your mind. O lord of the earth! Ask him about the four Vedas, the four rites of sacrifice,424 the four stages of life and the dharma of the four varnas. Bhishma, has borne the great burden of the Kouravas, and with him, all that knowledge is about to set. That is the reason I am asking you to approach him.” When he heard Vasudeva’s excellent words, which were full of purport, the one who knew about dharma425 addressed Janardana in a voice that was choking with tears. “O Madhava! O one who shows honours! There is not the slightest bit of doubt in my mind about the truth of what you have said about Bhishma’s powers. I have heard the great-souled brahmanas talk about the immensely fortunate and great-souled Bhishma’s powers. O destroyer of enemies! You are the lord of the worlds and there cannot be any doubt about what you have said. O Madhava! If your mind is so inclined towards showing me your favours, then, with you at the forefront, let us go and see Bhishma. When the illustrious sun god has turned around,426 he will leave for those worlds. O mighty-armed one! Therefore, Kourava should also see you. You are the origin of the gods. You are the one who is destroyed and you are also the one who is not destroyed. You are the storehouse of the brahman. Therfore, seeing you is a true gain.” On hearing Dharmaraja’s words, Madhusudana instructed Satyaki, who was next to him, that his chariot should be yoked.
‘Satyaki departed from Krishna’s presence and went and told Daruka that Krishna’s chariot should be yoked. The different parts of that supreme chariot were decorated with gold. Its parts were adorned with sapphires and crystals. The wheels were encrusted with gold. It was swift and possessed the complexion of the sun’s rays. It was decorated with many kinds of gems and jewels. It blazed like the rising sun. The wonderful standard had Tarkshya427 atop it. It was as swift as thought and its different parts were embellished with gold. Sugriva, Sainya and the best of horses were yoked to it. On hearing Satyaki’s instructions, Daruka quickly yoked it properly. O lion among kings! Hands joined in salutation, he then went and informed that it had been readied.’
Chapter 1375(47)
Janamejaya asked, ‘The grandfather of the Bharatas was lying down on a bed of arrows. How did he give up his body? What kind of yoga did he resort to?’
Vaishampayana replied, ‘O king! O tiger of the Kuru lineage! Purify yourself and listen attentively to how the great-souled Bhishma gave up his body. Pierced by hundreds of arrows, Bhishma was stretched out, like the sun with its rays. As soon as the sun turned towards uttarayana, he controlled himself and immersed himself in his atman. In his supreme prosperity, he was surrounded by the best of brahmanas—Vyasa, known for his learning in the Vedas, Narada, the rishi of the gods, Devasthana, Vatsya, Ashmaka and Sumantu. These,
and large numbers of other immensely fortunate and great-souled sages surrounded him. With faith and self-control, they surrounded him, like the moon by the planets. Bhishma was a tiger among men, in his deeds, thoughts and words.
‘Lying down on that bed of arrows, he joined his hands in salutation and worshipped Krishna. In a loud voice, he praised Madhusudana, the lord of yoga, Padmanabha,428 Vishnu, Jishnu, the lord of the universe. He joined his hands in salutation and purified himself. Bhishma was supreme among eloquent ones and had great dharma in his soul. He praised the lord Vasudeva. “O Krishna! I wish to worship you. O Purushottama! May you be pleased with my words, which will be both brief and extensive. You are pure. You are the essence of purity. You are the swan.429 You are supreme. You are the supreme creator. You are in all atmans and you are the lord of beings. You enter and are established in all beings in the universe. You are the qualities in beings. You are the lord of qualities, like a string which holds gems together. Your limbs constitute the universe. You perform deeds in the universe. Everything in the universe is strung together in you, like a garland strung together by a firm thread. You are Hari. You are the one with one thousand heads. You are the one with one thousand feet and one thousand eyes. You are known as the god Narayana. You are the refuge of the universe. You are finer than the finest. You are larger than the largest. You are heavier than the heaviest. You are better than the best. In the vakas, the anuvakas, the nishads and the Upanishads, you are the one who is praised as the performer of truthful deeds.430 You are truth. You are in the truth of the samas. There are four parts to your atman.431 You are in all understanding and you are the lord of the Satvatas. Your supreme and secret names are worshipped by the celestial gods. You are the god who was born to the goddess Devaki and Vasudeva, for the sake of protecting brahmanas on earth and they were like two sticks rubbed together to kindle a blazing fire. When one cleanses oneself, controls and withdraws from all desire, desiring the infinite, one sees the unblemished atman of Govinda in one’s own atman. In the Puranas, you have been spoken of as Purusha. At the beginning of a yuga, you are Brahma. When the time for destruction has arrived, you are known by the name of Samkarshana. I am worshipping the one who should be worshipped. Your deeds surpass those of Vayu and Agni. You surpass the sun and the fire in your energy.
Your atman is beyond the reach of intelligence and the senses. I am seeking refuge with that Prajapati. You are the creator of the universe. You are the lord of everything in the universe. That is how the universe speaks of you. You are the supervisor. You are without decay. You are the supreme state. Your complexion is like that of gold. Though you are one, for the sake of destroying the daityas, Aditi bore twelve different parts in her womb.432 I am bowing down to the one whose atman is the sun. I bow down before the one whose atman is the moon. He is the king of the brahmanas and gratifies the gods in shuklapaksha and the ancestors in krishnapaksha.433 You are the blazing and resplendent being who is beyond the great darkness. Knowing you, one goes beyond death. I am bowing down to the one who is everything that there is to be known. In the great ukthas,434 the large number of brahmanas chants of you as the great one and as the fire in the great sacrifice. You are the soul of the Vedas and I bow down before you. Your abode is in the Rig, Yajur and Sama hymns. You are the five kinds of oblations.435 You are the seven strands.436 You are the soul of a sacrifice and I bow down before you. You are the bird named Yajur. The metres are your limbs and the three forms of chanting437 constitute your head. The brihat and rathamtara438 are the eyes. You are the hymns and I bow down before you. When the creators performed a sacrifice with one thousand flows,439 you were the rishi who appeared. You are the bird with a golden complexion. Your atman is the swan and I bow down before you. I bow down to the one whose atman is speech. He is said to be the eternal akshara.440
The words441 are his limbs. The joints are sandhi.442 The vowels and the consonants are the manifestations. For the sake of the virtuous, you build a bridge from the false to the truth. Your limbs are the use of dharma and artha. I bow down to the one who is the truth. There are those who follow different dharmas. They desire fruits through the pursuit of these different kinds of dharma. They worship you through these different kinds of dharma. I bow down to the one who has dharma in his soul. The maharshis think of you as the unmanifest within the manifest. You are the kshetrajna in the kshetra.443 I bow down to the one who has his atman in the kshetra. I bow down to the one who is the atman of samkhya, who is spoken of in samkhya as the seventeenth and who, firm with the atman in the self, is surrounded by the sixteen qualities.444 Without sleep, controlling the breath, established in the self and restraining the senses, those who are engaged in yoga see a light. You are the atman of that and I bow down before you. Without any fear of rebirth, peaceful sannyasis obtain the supreme you, beyond the good and the bad. You are the atman of salvation and I bow down before you. At the end of one thousand yugas, you are the blazing flames of fire and devour all beings. You are the atman of the terrible and I bow down before you. Having consumed all beings and having rendered the entire universe into a single ocean, you sleep alone, like a child. You are the atman of maya and I bow down before you. You are the thousand-headed being and your atman is infinite. I bow down before the one who is the atman of this yoga of sleep, in each of the four oceans in turn.445 You are the lotus in the navel of the one who has not been born. The entire universe is established in you. You are Pushkara and Pushkaraksha. I bow down before the one who is the atman of the lotus. The clouds are your hair. The rivers flow through all the joints of your body. The four oceans are in your stomach. I bow down before the one who is the atman of water. You flow through the yugas in the form of days, seasons, ayanas446 and years. You are the cause of creation and destruction. I bow down before the one who is the atman of time. The brahmanas are your mouth, the kshatriyas are your arms, the vaishyas are your thighs and stomach and the shudras find refuge in your feet. I bow down before the one who is the atman of the varnas. The fire is your face. The firmament is the crown of your head. The sky is your navel and the earth constitutes your feet. Your eyes are the sun. The directions are your ears. I bow down before the one whose atman is in the worlds. You are present in objects in the form of vaisheshika qualities.447 You are spoken of as the protector of objects. I bow down before the one whose atman is in all protection. You are the one who sustains beings through food, drink and riches and extends their juice and breaths of life. I bow down before the one whose atman is in the breath of life. You are beyond time. You are beyond sacrifices. You are beyond notions of truth and falsehood. You have no beginning. You are the origin of the universe. I bow down before the one whose atman is in the universe. He is the one who confounds beings through the bonds of affection and hatred. This is for the sake of preserving creation. I bow down before the one whose atman is in confusion. Knowledge about the atman is knowledge one can obtain while still remaining established in the five.448 Those who obtain that knowledge go to him. I bow down before the one whose atman is in knowledge. His body cannot be measured. His infinite eyes see everything. He is infinite and cannot be measured. I bow down before the one whose atman is in thought. He is matted and always carries a staff.
His body has an elongated stomach. The water pot is his quiver.449 I bow down before the one whose atman is in Brahma. He wields a trident and is the lord of the gods. He is great-souled and three-eyed. His body is smeared in ashes and his linga is turned up.450 I bow down before the one whose atman is in Rudra. He is the embodiment of the five elements. He is the creator and destroyer of all beings. He is without anger, without malice and without confusion. I bow down before the one whose atman is in peace. Everything is in him. He is in everything. He is everything. Everything comes from him. He is always made up of everything. I bow down before the one whose atman is in everything. I bow down before the one whose deeds are the universe. You are the soul of the universe. The universe originates in you. Etablished beyond the five,451 you are the fulfilm
ent of all beings. In the three worlds, I bow down before you. I bow down before you in everything that is beyond those three. I bow down before you in all the directions. You are the refuge of everything. I bow down before the illustrious Vishnu, the origin of the worlds. O Hrishikesha! You are the unvanquished creator and destroyer. I see your divine form in the three paths.452 I can see the truth about your eternal form. The heaven is pervaded with your head and the goddess earth with your feet. You are the eternal being whose valour is in the three worlds. Your complexion is like the atasi flower.453 You are Achyuta in your yellow garments. Those who bow down before Govinda have no fear. Just as truth is full of Vishnu, oblations are full of Vishnu. Since everything is full of Vishnu, the wicked deeds that I have done will be destroyed. Faithfully, I am seeking refuge with you. I wish to attain the best objective. O Pundarikaksha! O supreme among gods! You will think of what is best. You are the source of learning and austerities. You are Vishnu, who has no origin. I have worshipped the god with my words. May Janardana be pleased with me.” With devotion in his mind, Bhishma spoke these words. Having said this, he bowed down before Krishna.
Mahabharata: Volume 8 Page 27
