Lessons from Bhishmadev Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis

Lessons from Bhishmadev Date: 2009-10-26 Author: Kalacakra Krsna das Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva. When the Pandavas along with Lord Krishna and other sages came to meet Bhishmadev in the battle-field of Kurukshetra, he received and welcomed everyone properly, although he was lying on the death-bed. Important point to remember is that he was not lying in bed of roses - but was lying on bed of arrows. We are so fallen that even when we are in healthy and comfortable position, we fail to welcome people properly. With advancement of so-called technology - nowadays people are so engrossed in TV and computers that they don't even care to make an eye to eye contact to welcome guests. In Srimad Bhagavatam verse 1.9.9, Suta Goswami says, tān sametān mahā-bhāgān upalabhya vasūttamaḥ pūjayām āsa dharma-jño deśa-kāla-vibhāgavit Bhishmadeva, who was the best amongst the eight Vasus, received and welcomed all the great and powerful rshis who were assembled there, for he knew perfectly all the religious principles according to time and place. In his powerful purport to the above verse Srila Prabhupada is teaching us some very practical, important lessons which we must follow in our day to day life when we interact with different souls. He says - "Bhishmadeva was one of the twelve great authorities in preaching this cult of devotional service, and therefore he could receive and welcome all the powerful sages assembled there at his deathbed from all parts of the universe. He was certainly unable at that time to welcome and receive them physically because he was neither at his home nor in a normal healthy condition. But he was quite fit by the activities of his sound mind, and therefore he could utter sweet words with hearty expressions, and all of them were well received. One can perform one's duty by physical work, by mind and by words. And he knew well how to utilize them in the proper place, and therefore there was no difficulty for him to receive them, although physically unfit." After welcoming everyone Bhishmadev then continues to speak kind and encouraging words to Yudhishtir Maharaj with real feeling of empathy and concern. He goes ahead and recites the Vishnu sahasranama and also advises him about the duties of king etc. Indeed we can see this same kindness and empathy in our dear spirtual master as well. All these days when we used to hear about Gurudev's travel etc - we hardly realised how much Maharaj was extending himself. But few weeks back by the mercy of Maharaj and Krishna, when we happen to meet him personally at Rajkot, we could see how much difficulties he is going through. In deed unless we experience the pain ourselves, we will never be in a position to appreciate the magnanimous and empathetic nature of Maharaj. In spite of all the pains he is under- going due to oldage, Maharaj talks to each one us with so much care, concern and empathy - be it over phone or in person. He patiently enquires about our situation and provides practical instructions to solve our problems in life, based on Bhagavat Gita and Bhagavatam and encourages us to do sincere devotional service. Normally if we are sick or having some other difficult situation, we will consider our disease/problem to be the most "biggest" problem in the whole universe and would not even care to think about how others are doing. We would either prefer not to meet people to avoid wasting our energy talking with them or even when people come to meet us - we don't care to check about their situation or well-being, but keep grumbling about our own problem. But great souls like Bhishmadev and Srila Gurudev are showing us how we should behave. They neglect their pains and try to reduce the pains of others by showing them the path of devotional service. So the lesson for us is that, irrespective of whatever situation we are in, instead of forcing others to put our shoes - we should try to place ourselves in theirs and in a genuine manner we should utter words of encouragement. We should also make a humble effort to explain to them to take shelter of Supreme Lord and His Names which alone could instil fearlessness in all our minds, in all situations. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Kalacakra Krsna das and Sudarshana devi dasi. Lessons from Bhishmadev - Part 1 Date: 2015-06-08 Author: Sudarshana devi dasi Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva. The following is a humble effort to transcribe one of the nectarean and inspiring class given by our beloved spiritual master HH Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj in London on Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 1, Chapter 9. This chapter titled, "The Passing Away of Bhismadev", Chapter 9 in Canto 1 of Srimad Bhagavatam is a very important chapter. As soon as we think about Bhishmadev we have to remember that in his life, beginning of his life, he has sacrificed his own enjoyment for his father's enjoyment. And then again for continuing the dynasty, he sacrificed again and again, so many times. The incident in Mahabharat is worth knowing about Bhishmadev. Bhishmadev was the son of Ganga, Ganges. There is a story that Santanu the father of Bhishmadev, in his previous life, he was a great king known as Mahabhisa. Formerly the kings were rshi also, sages also. So he had gone to the heavenly planets and he met king Indra at that time. And when he met Indra, Ganges had also gone there and somehow or the other, they had a loving glance at each other. And the demigods knew this and Ganges was cursed to come to the material world and take the human form and marry Santanu, who was that king in the previous life. So because she was cursed, she had to take birth as Ganga in the mortal world, mrtyu loka and eventually Santanu met her on the bank of the river. So again they fell in love and eventually she married. But while marrying Bhishmadev's father, she made one condition that he should never ask her anything, why she is doing or how she is doing. This was the condition. She said, "If you don't follow this condition, the day you don't follow, I will leave." The king agreed because he wanted to marry Ganga and he said, "I will not tell you anything. You do whatever you like and I will never object to it." So they stayed very happily and one by one they had 8 sons. And every time the son was born, she will take the son and throw it in the Ganges. The king controlled up to 7 sons. You can see that the king was powerful person, but he was helpless, because every time the son was born, Ganga will take away the son and throw it in the river Ganges. He had to keep quite, but it was very painful. He was jubilant when the son was born, but soon the son disappeared and he became miserable. But even then he continued as that was the condition. He knew that if he tells her anything, she will quit. He continued like this for 7 sons and the eighth son was Devavrat, Bhishmadev. So when he was born, again she started to go towards the river and this time, the king could not control himself and asked, "Are you a demon? What kind of demon you are?" Then she replied that these sons were the eight Vasus who were cursed to be born one after the other and die immediately. So she had to throw them away. Then she added, "This eighth son had to survive as he had to lead a long life in this planet. But since you have broken the condition, I have to go." The king was very much pained as he did not want to lose Ganga. But she was out of his hands. This is how in our life also fate plays very important part. Fate never tolerates that everything should go alright. That is the quality of fate or bhāgya. Bhāgya will never allow you to be cent percent happy. That is bhāgya. It will always add a bitter drop to a very nice cup full of joy. It will always add a bitter thing and when the bitter thing is added, we don't like it. But we don't know the nature of fate. In this material world fate is one of the instrument of Krishna. Krishna willing we shall continue to hear more about Bhishmadev from Maharaj in the subsequent offering. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Sudarshana devi dasi. Lessons from Bhishmadev - Part 2 Date: 2015-06-09 Author: Sudarshana devi dasi Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva. This is in continuation of the transcription of the nectarean and inspiring class given by our beloved spiritual master HH Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj in London on Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 1, Chapter 9. In previous offering we heard from Maharaj about the birth of Bhishmadev and how by influence of fate his father King Santanu had to be separated from his wife Ganga.

Load more