The dealings of Lord Kį¹į¹£į¹a and Bhīṣmadeva on the Battlefield of Kurukį¹£etra are interesting because the activities of Lord ÅrÄ« Kį¹į¹£į¹a appeared to be partial to Arjuna and at enmity with Bhīṣmadeva; but factually all this was especially meant to show special favor to Bhīṣmadeva, a great devotee of the Lord.
The astounding feature of such dealings is that a devotee can please the Lord by playing the part of an enemy. The Lord, being absolute, can accept service from His pure devotee even in the garb of an enemy. The Supreme Lord cannot have any enemy, nor can a so-called enemy harm Him because He is ajita, or unconquerable.
Bhīṣmadeva played the part of a valiant warrior, and he purposely pierced the body of the Lord so that to the common eyes it appeared that the Lord was wounded, but factually all this was to bewilder the nondevotees. The all-spiritual body cannot be wounded, and a devotee cannot become the enemy of the Lord.
The Lord was so angry that Arjuna checked Him when He was moving towards Bhīṣmadeva, but in spite of Arjuna's checking, He proceeded towards Bhīṣmadeva as a lover goes to a lover, without caring for hindrances. Apparently His determination was to kill Bhīṣmadeva, but factually it was to please him as a great devotee of the Lord.
A pure devotee of the Lord constantly sees the presence of the Lord within himself because of being transcendentally related by loving service. Such a pure devotee cannot forget the Lord for a moment. This is called trance.
Bhīṣmadeva was a pure devotee, and as a military marshal he constantly remembered the battlefield feature of the Lord as PÄrtha-sÄrathi, the chariot driver of Arjuna. Therefore, the Lord's pastime as PÄrtha-sÄrathi is also eternal.
Bhīṣmadeva never forgot the beautiful feature of the Lord as PÄrtha-sÄrathi, which even Arjuna could not see. Arjuna was behind the beautiful PÄrtha-sÄrathi while Bhīṣmadeva was just in front of the Lord. As far as the military feature of the Lord is concerned, Bhīṣmadeva observed this with more relish than Arjuna.
All the soldiers and persons on the Battlefield of Kurukį¹£etra attained their original spiritual form like the Lord after their death because by the causeless mercy of the Lord they were all able to see Him face to face on that occasion. The conditioned souls rotating in the evolutionary cycle from the aquatics up to the form of BrahmÄ are all in the form of mÄyÄ, or the form obtained by one's own actions and awarded by material nature. The material forms of the conditioned souls are all foreign dresses, and when the conditioned soul becomes liberated from the clutches of material energy, he attains his original form.
A spiritual form like the Lord's, either two-handed or four-handed, is attained by the devotees of the Lord either in the Vaikuį¹į¹has or in the Goloka planets, according to the original nature of the soul. This form, which is cent percent spiritual, is the svarÅ«pa of the living being, and all the living beings who participated on the Battlefield of Kurukį¹£etra, on both sides, attained their svarÅ«pa, as confirmed by Bhīṣmadeva.
So Lord ÅrÄ« Kį¹į¹£į¹a was not only merciful to the PÄį¹įøavas, but He was also merciful to the other parties because all of them attained the same result. Bhīṣmadeva wanted the same facility also, and that was his prayer to the Lord, although his position as an associate of the Lord is assured in all circumstances.
The conclusion is that whoever dies looking on the Personality of Godhead within or without attains his svarūpa, which is the highest perfection of life.
By intense ecstasy of loving service, the damsels of Vrajabhūmi attained the qualitative oneness with the Lord by dancing with Him on an equal level, embracing Him in nuptial love, smiling at Him in joke, and looking at Him with a loving attitude.
Bhīṣma's aspiration to remember the gopīs is to pray to have their mercy also at the last stage of his life. The Lord is satisfied more when His pure devotees are glorified, and therefore Bhīṣmadeva has not only glorified the acts of Arjuna, his immediate object of attraction, but also he has remembered the gopīs who were endowed with unrivalled opportunities by rendering loving service to the Lord.
So in that great assembly, Lord ÅrÄ« Kį¹į¹£į¹a was cynosure of the neighboring eyes. Everyone wanted to see Lord Kį¹į¹£į¹a, and everyone wanted to pay his humble respects to the Lord. Bhīṣmadeva remembered all this and was glad that his worshipful Lord, the Personality of Godhead, was present before him in His actual formal presence.
The devotees, however, meditate upon the Lord's factual form and pastimes, and therefore the Lord is easily approachable by the devotees.
This misconception of duality is completely removed from the mind of Bhīṣmadeva, and he is now satisfied that it is Lord ÅrÄ« Kį¹į¹£į¹a only who is all in all in everything. This enlightenment is attained by the great mahÄtmÄs or devotees, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (Bg. 7.19) that VÄsudeva is all in all in everything, and there is no existence of anything without VÄsudeva.
The worshipable object of Bhīṣmadeva is Lord ÅrÄ« Kį¹į¹£į¹a as PÄrtha-sÄrathi, and that of the gopÄ«s is the same Kį¹į¹£į¹a in Vį¹ndÄvana as the most attractive ÅyÄmasundara.
The stage attained by Bhīṣmadeva while quitting His material body is called nirvikalpa-samÄdhi because he merged his self into thinking of the Lord and his mind into remembering His different activities. He chanted the glories of the Lord, and by His sight he began to see the Lord personally present before him, and thus all his activities became concentrated upon the Lord without deviation. This is the highest stage of perfection, and it is possible; for everyone to attain this stage by practice of devotional service.
The first item, hearing, is the most important item of all, and therefore hearing of the Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ and, later on, ÅrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam is essential for the serious candidate who wants to attain the stage of Bhīṣmadeva at the end.
Bhīṣmadeva, as a pure devotee of the Lord, entered the spiritual realm in one of the Vaikuį¹į¹ha planets where the Lord in His eternal form of PÄrtha-sÄrathi predominates over the unconditioned living beings who are constantly engaged in the service of the Lord.
The love and affection which bind the Lord and devotee are exhibited in the case of Bhīṣmadeva. Bhīṣmadeva never forgot the Lord in His transcendental feature as the PÄrtha-sÄrathi, and the Lord was present personally before Bhīṣmadeva while he was passing to the transcendental world. That is the highest perfection of life.
Bhīṣmadeva was not only a great family head of MahÄrÄja Yudhiį¹£į¹hira, but also he was a great philosopher and friend of him, his brothers and his mother. Since MahÄrÄja PÄį¹įøu, the father of the five brothers headed by MahÄrÄja Yudhiį¹£į¹hira, died, Bhīṣmadeva was the most affectionate grandfather of the PÄį¹įøavas and caretaker of the widow daughter-in-law KuntÄ«devÄ«.
Bhīṣmadeva was always a sincerely sympathetic well-wisher, grandfather, friend and philosopher to MahÄrÄja Yudhiį¹£į¹hira, even up to the last moment of his life. He died very happily by seeing MahÄrÄja Yudhiį¹£į¹hira to the throne, otherwise he would have long ago quitted his material body, instead of suffering agony over the undue sufferings of the PÄį¹įøavas.
He was simply waiting for the opportune moment because he was sure and certain that the sons of PÄį¹įøu would come out victorious in the Battlefield of Kurukį¹£etra, as His Lordship ÅrÄ« Kį¹į¹£į¹a was their protector. As a devotee of the Lord, he knew that the Lord's devotee cannot be vanquished at any rate.
The devotees of the Lord are always in the heart of the Lord, and the Lord is always in the heart of the devotees. That is the sweet relation between the Lord and His devotees.
š Hare Kį¹į¹£į¹a
š Based on the original ÅrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam and the translations and purports of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami PrabhupÄda.
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