“anta-käle ca mäm eva
smaran muktvä kalevaram
yaù prayäti sa mad-bhävaà
yäti nästy atra saàçayaù”
Bhagavad-Gita 8.5
SYNONYMS
anta-käle—at the end of life; ca—also; mäm—Me; eva—certainly; smaran—remembering; muktvä—quitting; kalevaram—the body; yaù—he who; prayäti—goes; saù—he; mat-bhävam—My nature; yäti—achieves; na—not; asti—there is; atra—here; saàçayaù—doubt.
TRANSLATION
And whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body remembering Me alone at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.
PURPORT
In this verse the importance of Kåñëa consciousness is stressed. Anyone who quits his body in Kåñëa consciousness is at once transferred to the transcendental nature of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord is the purest of the pure. Therefore anyone who is constantly Kåñëa conscious is also the purest of the pure. The word smaran (“remembering”) is important. Remembrance of Kåñëa is not possible for the impure soul who has not practiced Kåñëa consciousness in devotional service. Therefore one should practice Kåñëa consciousness from the very beginning of life. If one wants to achieve success at the end of his life, the process of remembering Kåñëa is essential. Therefore one should constantly, incessantly chant the mahä-mantra—Hare Kåñëa, Hare Kåñëa, Kåñëa Kåñëa, Hare Hare/ Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare. Lord Caitanya has advised that one be as tolerant as a tree (taror iva sahiñëunä). There may be so many impediments for a person who is chanting Hare Kåñëa. Nonetheless, tolerating all these impediments, one should continue to chant Hare Kåñëa, Hare Kåñëa, Kåñëa Kåñëa, Hare Hare/ Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare, so that at the end of one’s life one can have the full benefit of Kåñëa consciousness.
It is said that there are two types of Bhagvatas. There is the book Bhagavat and the person Bhagavat. The book Bhagavata is the holy scripture, which is spoken by the Lord.
Learning to live & die.
Within the scriptures of the world, especially Bhagavad-Gita, which is the most important basic scripture of all the Vedic literatures, the guide of how to live in this world is perfectly enunciated by the creator, of the world Sri Krishna. If we want to learn how to utilize a machine properly, we must learn from the manufacturer. Especially if the machine is quite complex. If you buy a highly sophisticated computer system, the manufacturer does not give it to you in a box and say, now you figure out how to use it. Will any one buy such a computer? There is a very sophisticated detailed owner’s manual that is included. Any expensive piece of machinery you buy ,on the front page of owner’s manual,it will say do not even attempt to use it without thoroughly reading this manual. Is not that correct? So the book Bhagavad-Gita is the word of god. “dharmaà tu säkñäd bhagavat-çoëitam” that the lord himself is the only one qualified to install religion within this world. And the person Bhagavat is that person, that great saint whose every word and whose every act is an illustration of the conclusion of this scripture. The qualification of a saddhu has nothing to do with performing magical tricks or juggling words. The real saddhu according to Bhagavad-Gita is one who simply humbly repeats the word of god without change and he is a living example of how to live.
It is said, “mahäjano yena gataù sa panthäù”. That if one truly wants to understand how to live, for the perfection of life? One must follow in the footsteps of the Mahajana, the great souls. Because the mahajanas through their every word and act they are teaching us how to live. But they are also teaching us something else. They are teaching us how to die. Because in this world you must live and you must die. Is any one in this room excluded from either of the two? Krishna says in Bhagavad-Gita for one who has been born, death is certain and for one who is died, birth is certain. So people are very anxious especially in today’s society to learn how to live very nicely. People are very much anxious to accumulate as much wealth, prestige, power, and luxuries. So they could live nicely. But they do not understand that more important in this world than learning how to live nicely , is learning how to die nicely. Because death is the final exam. We have many people here who have gone through college, there are many intelligent people. What is the use, if you go through all the forms of college, you go to all the classes and you go to all of the seminars, and you read all the books? But you fail on your final exam, and what happens, you have to start all over again. You do not graduate to the next level. But you have to start from the beginning of that class again, correct? Everything we do culminates in how we perform in the final exam, and how we perform in the final exam is dependent on how we prepare ourselves during the course. This human life is a course. You are all in school, however old you are. This is a course and purpose of this course of human form of life is to graduate. Graduate means you may no longer have to go to school, correct. You graduate out, form this material conception of life and you return to the spiritual world, and the graduation ceremony is the time of death.
Of course people are not very learned in this regard. Generally a college graduation, everyone is happy. No one is crying. But at the time of death everyone is crying. But factually if you graduate college, what have you attained. If you got out of the school, so that you can enter into the mad rat race of the human society. But at the time of death if you graduate with honors, you never have to see the rat race of human society again. You returned to the spiritual world. And graduation means to remember Krishna. So the great souls the mahajana they teach us how to live and how to die. And those who are sincere about utilizing this human existence for its proper virtue & purpose must learn from the great souls, how to live and how to die?
There are twelve mahajanas. One of the great mahajans is that great son of Maharaja Santanu and Ganga Devi, his name is Bhisma.
The great life of Bhismadev.
Bhisma was always honorable, loyal and true in the service of the lord. Although as an instrument in the lords hands, he had to play a thankless role and be misunderstood and accused,but Bhisma was the embodiment of dharma. He was a man, who was so true to his vow, before god. That there was no power and no temptation on earth that could even wave his determination slightly. So why Bhisma, a great devotee of Sri Hari, he took the side of adharma, on the great battle of Kurukshetra. Why he chose to fight against Krishna. Bhisma has been for the past five thousands years highly misunderstood and criticized for doing this. Generally people think that Bhisma was being paid by Duryodhan, and because he was obliged, he was receiving his food and his living conditions, he had to take side with him. He could not betray him. As they say in west, “you should not bite the hand that feeds you”. But this really is not the reason, why Bhisma took the side of the kurus. It is because he was the most powerful, the most glorious of all warriors on earth. He was undefeatable. He received a benediction from his father that nothing and no power could kill him unless he decided by his own freewill that he wanted to die. So who in the world could defeat a soldier, who has that benediction?
In fact Duryodhan in the first chapter of Bhagavad-Gita, we find that his whole confidence for fighting this war was that Bhisma was the commander in chief of his army. He knew as long as Bhisma is the commander in chief, no one can defeat us. It is not possible. In fact he knew that Bhisma alone could single handedly could destroy the entire Pandava’s army, if he wanted to do so,& Krishna and Pandavas knew that too. Now Bhisma was sitting looking at the two armies,On one side he saw Duryodhana, Sakuni, and Dhusashan. He knew what criminal, envious mind they had. He knew they are simply fighting out of greed and lust and envy and on the other side he saw Maharaja Yudhisthira, who is the embodiment of truth and honor. He saw Arjuna who is a pure hearted servant of the Lord Hari, and sitting on the charioteer of Arjuna was Parthsarathi Sri Krishna, the supreme Lord of his life, his worshipable deity, for whom ,his every act, his every word, and his every thought was a loving service . Can you imagine what Bhisma, felt like? He was the most learned scholar. It is not that he was in anyway bewildered. He was trained by Brihaspati to understand what is religion and what is truth. He was in a thoroughly miserable condition, and he understood that the whole world will misunderstand him, think that he is simply sailing out all truth and virtue, because Duryodhna is feeding him. But the real reason that Bhisma accepted the side of Kuru’s, was the will of Krishna, and there was no reason other than that. Because when Krishna wants to make an example known to the world, He uses His devotee. Just like when, Krishna wanted to exhibit His munificent strength of how he could kill the most powerful incredible unconquerable demons in the whole creation,he chose His own devotee to become the demons, Jaya and Vijaya they become Hiranyakashipu, Hiranakshya, Ravana, Kumbhakarna, Sishupala and Dantavakra.
When Krishna wants to show the world a fantastic example, he uses His devotees. Even if His devotee has to temporarily become His enemy,the devotee accepts that position out of love. So Bhisma understood Krishna’s plan. He wanted to show the whole world for all time to come,the most important principle in life, that whoever you are, however wealthy you are, however powerful you are, however famous you are, however beautiful you are, however learned you are, however renounced you are? If you are not on the side of Krishna, then you will be defeated. You will loose everything in due course of time. And whoever you are, if you are on the side of Krishna you will be victorious. Because Krishna is Achyuta. Achyuta means unconquerable. But the unconquerable agrees to be conquered by the love of His devotees. Krishna says in Bhagavad-Gita
“kaunteya pratijänéhi
na me bhaktaù praëaçyati”
Bhagavad-Gita 9.31
You should know Arjuna that My devotee will never perish, I will always protect My devotees. But how I protect you? That is not according to your choice. That is according to My choice. I may protect you by kicking you, punching you, taking everything away from you, or I may protect you by giving you the whole world. He gave that to the Pandavas. First he protected the Pandavas, by banishing them to the forest for fourteen years, where they had nothing to eat but the roots on the ground and sleep on the hard ground. Later on He protected them by destroying all eleven akshohini divisions of the Kuru army and establishing Maharaj Yudhistra as the king of Bharata Varsha (the entire world).
Need Of Krishna consciousness.
Krishna wants everyone to know that the only criterion of success, in our life is how we are obedient to the will of god? Now, of course in this world, everyone is looking at life according to their material calculations. I do not have time for Krishna Consciousness because I have to make lot of money, I have to develop my business, I have to develop my practice, I have to get a good reputation and therefore to the degree, I spend time in my saddhana and in my devotional practice to that degree, I do not have time for my material life. And after all I am a practical man I have to get things done in this world. And we become very proud, when we are successful. Is it not the condition of human society? Practically every religion in the world, people are not surrendering to god. They simply accept religion as a hobby or part time occupation. When I have time, then I’ll go to the temple. When I have time then, I’ll chant the holynames. When I have time, then I’ll associate with saddhus. But when we come to eating and sleeping, when we come to doing our work, when we come to maintaining our family, we never say when I have time, do we? We say it is my duty, I must do it. No one says when I have time, I’ll go to work, when I have time, I’ll eat and sleep. When I have time I’ll take care of my family. But when we come to the most important occupation, religion, then we say, when I have time, then I’ll do it. Because we are making so many material calculations, of what is success of life, this is the condemned condition of the human mind in Kali Yuga. But Krishna wanted to show all the world, the most illustrious example, the greatest of all personalities, the most undefeatable, unconquerable, and learned of all men in the world. If he is not obedient to the will of god, if he is on wrong side, he will be destroyed.
Before the battle of Kurukshetra, Krishna gave Duryodhana and Arjuna,a choice. He said Duryodhana you chose, either take my armies or take me but I’ll not fight. I promise. Duryoudhana said what is the use of you, without fighting. I’ll take your armies. By material calculation, who wants Krishna? If he is not fighting. Why not have his armies and His weapons. But Arjuna was very happy. Because Arjuna had faith. Bhisma knew that he was going to be killed. He knew that he was on the wrong side. He knew that he was going to be defending. But because he wanted to surrender to the will of god, he accepted such a thankless task, such a painful condition of fighting for Duryodhana.
When Bhisma was fighting for several days, he was commanding the armies, but he was not really trying, because his heart was not into it. He basically was hoping, that Krishna should win. He was hoping that Yudhisthira side, should win. He was praying. How do we command an army and millions of soldiers under your direction and you are hoping, that the other side wins? But at the same time, he had to make show of being a good Kshatirya. But Duryodhana was very clever. Duryodhana had better material intelligence than anyone. He was very sharp and very crude, and very clever, and he knew exactly how to get things done. And he could see through people, and he saw that Bhisma was not trying. So one day he insulted him. What kind of kshatriya are you? You are defending the whole Kuru Dynasty on the battle field,you must give your life for the virtue of victory,he made Bhisma so angry. Then Bhisma said, alright I’ll destroy the entire army of the Pandavas, I will even kill the Pandavas, and these five arrows of mine will be used to kill the Pandavas. Duryodhana said, let me keep these five arrows till tomorrow morning, when the fight begins.
Krishnas protection.
So of course Krishna knows everything,
“vedähaà samatétäni
vartamänäni cärjuna
bhaviñyäëi ca bhütäni
mäà tu veda na kaçcana”
Bhagavad-Gita 7.26
Krishna says, I know everything past, present and future. I also know all living beings, but me, no one can know me. So Krishna told Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva, that you know Duryodhana has five arrows, and with that, he will kill you tomorrow, by using those weapons. The only hope you have is, you must get those weapons, those arrows, from Duryodhana. So in the middle of that night, Krishna along with Pandavas went to the tent of Duryodhana. The custom in the Vedic society is, anybody who comes to your house, you must take very good care of them, otherwise you will spoil all your religious principles. And there is a curse upon your head. It is said in Srimad Bhagavatam in the fifth canto. That there is hell that awaits one, who has a guest, even an unexpected guest, if you mistreat him. When a guest come to your home, it is your duty as a grihastha that you must satisfy him in everyway and if you do not, there is hell that awaits you. So Duryodhan was very much careful to follow this etiquette. So of course,with a tent in the battle field, what you have to offer your guest. He offered Yudhisthira, Krishna, and brothers some water. He said, how can I serve you? You are guest in my house. They said give us these five arrows. He said, these five arrows,you can ask for anything, but not these five arrows. They said no no, we want these five arrows. So he had to give these five arrows. Even as crooked minded as he was, he still had a sense of honor.
Next day Bhisma came and said, Duryodhana give me these five arrows. In Bhisma’s heart, he knew that he could not kill the Pandavas. This was all his lila. He knew, Krishna would get those five arrows. But he was just playing the role that Krishna wanted him to play. So, Duryodhan said Krishna took the five arrows yesterday. He said, I know what Krishna is, It is all Krishna’s plan. He said, Krishna has forced me to break my promise. I had promised , I would kill the Pandavas with these five arrows. Therefore tomorrow, I vow that I will make Krishna break His promise. He has promised that, he would not fight. But he has also told Arjuna to promise, that His devotee will never perish. So I’ll put Krishna in a position, either he has to break His promise, or Arjuna has to break his promise, and out of the two Krishna will break his promise, you wait and see. The next day, Bhisma began to fight with Arjuna,and of course nobody could defeat Bhisma. Arjuna was down in the ground and he was helpless, he was totally defeated, and Bhisma was about to end his life.
He was just waiting, for Krishna to break His promise. And at that time, Bhisma looked at Krishna,that Krishna either you break your promise and defeat me or your devotee will be killed.
And Krishna became very angry. He did not have any weapons, so he just found a chariot wheel lying on the battle field, then he picked it up and charged to Bhisma. His eyes were red like fire, and when Bhisma saw Krishna coming to destroy him he became very happy, and he bowed down and offered his obeisances and said, Jai Sri Krishna. Because he surrendered, Krishna did not destroy him and Arjuna was saved.
But Duryodhana was still not satisfied, Bhisma you are not trying hard enough, and Duryodhona was very expert at manipulating sharp harsh words to just completely catalyze, whatever emotion he wanted to catalyze , within your heart. Bhisma was so angry, he said tomorrow, I’ll destroy half of the Pandava army and the next day, I’ll destroy the other half. But Duryodhana I’ll not able to kill the Pandavas, because they are protected by Krishna. And the next day, Bhisma destroyed half the army. He was like a hurricane. Even Bhima and Arjuna they had to just stand and look. They could not even fight against him. He was like death personified. There were just millions of soldiers, being slaughtered by him, helplessly. No body could fight against him. He was so fearful and so powerful,that all the soldiers could do was just get destroyed. Did you ever try to fight against the cyclone? You can fight against your neighbor, but did you ever try to fight against the cyclone or what you could do is just watch it, and be devoured by it. You won’t start punching or shooting bullets at it. You can do nothing. That’s what it was like that day, fighting against Bhisma. He was all devouring and the end of the day, there had never been such a slaughter. Yudhisthira was crying, they will be finished. Tomorrow he will finish the other half of our army. What to do Krishna? Krishna said, that you have to come with me to Bhisma’s tent and we have to ask him for permission to kill him, to defeat him. Otherwise he cannot be defeated. Unless he gives his permission, he cannot be defeated. Not only we have to ask him, to teach us to how to defeat him. Because nobody can defeat him, otherwise. So Pandavas were thinking, he is our grandfather. We love him very much. How we will do this, to ask him, how can we kill you? Did you ever ask your grandfather a question like that? And they loved Bhisma. Even though Bhisma was on the other side, he was the only man, he and Vidura in the whole Kuru Dynasty,who were always fair and loving towards the Pandavas. In fact it is said that for the Pandavas, besides Krishna there was no man on earth that they loved more, than their grandfather Bhisma.
So they went to the tent and Bhisma was sitting there, he had a mountain like body and he was very old and very wise. When he saw them, he began to cry. He patted them on heads, gave them his blessings. They all bowed to him. They asked each others welfare and then he asked, what have you come for? What is your mission? Their voices were chocked up. How to reply this question? But finally they asked, my dear beloved grandfather, you already destroyed half of our armies. We were not fighting for own satisfaction. We are fighting for Krishna. So with your permission, teach us how we can defeat you tomorrow. And Bhisma became very happy. He began to smile. He said, thank you very much. I have been simply waiting for this day for many years. Then he explains the whole long long story. It will take at least one hour or two to tell the story, and I know that you are hungry for Prasad, so therefore I will not tell the story. But the story is, about how for so many years he wanted to die because he saw so many injustices.
History of life of Bhisma.
He was one of the eight Vasus, who appeared in this world due to a curse and His other seven brothers they were immediately killed by Ganga devi.
The story is, the Vasus were cursed by a great sage to leave the heavenly planets and take the birth in the earth planet. It is a very degrading situation for heavenly inmates. At the same time Gangadevi was also cursed to take birth in this earth planet. So the Vasus made an agreement with Gangadevi. They said alright, we have to take birth, but the curse does not say, how long we have to stay, so please do us this favor.
We want to take birth in your womb, Gangadevi, but as soon as we are born, we want you to kill us, by throwing us in the River Ganges, and immediately we can return to the heavenly planets, and not have to suffer the earthly existence. She said alright, I’ll do like this.
So we know the story, she married Maharaja Santanu and every time a child was born, she threw it in the Ganges. Maharaja Santanu promised her, he would never asked her, why she did anything? He would never question any of her activities.
But after seven of her children were killed, his own sons, in their infancy by their own mother, it was just such a heavy burden on his heart, that he could not tolerate it. So when the eighth son, she was about to throw on the Ganges and Maharaja Santanu said, no, Why are you doing like this? How can you be so cruel? I have tolerated for so many times. How can mother kill her own children? Of course today we have a family planning, where mother kills her children. Family planning, what is this family, it is planning your future destiny in a hellish condition of life. This is the type of planning. It is said in Manu Shamita that if a mother kills her child in the womb that mother has to take birth one hundred times in a womb of a mother and be killed in the womb for each time and never see the light of the day. This is family planning. Planning a miserable hellish condition. So Maharaj Santanu was wondering, why is Gangadevi doing this family planning, this is not proper. He stopped her, I cannot tolerate any more. She said alright, you had vowed that you would not question, whatever I do. So now I must leave you. But I’ll take your son with me and I’ll send him back.
He will be the greatest Kshatirya on earth. So she took him, and twelve years later, she returned him and during those twelve years he was trained by Parsuram, in fighting, by Brihaspati,in how to learn the scriptures. He was the greatest man on earth. But he was not meant to be on earth. He had to live such a suffering existence. He had to see so many injustices.
He was not able to take the throne of the King, but he had to act as the king. He got wives for him,one of the wives had already given her heart to another man, and this was a very very bad thing.
She spent her whole life doing tapasya, just so, she could kill him. She wanted to Kill Bhisma.
At the same time he saw Yudhisthira , Duryodhana, Arjuna and Bhima,and how Duryodhana had such envy toward them, how he tried to kill them in the house of lac. How he fed Bhima poison. How Sakuni and he, they cheated in gambling match, and exiled the Pandavas to the forest fourteen years. Do you know the pain all these inflicted in the heart of Bhisma.
There were only four people on earth who knew, the real identity of Karna, Radheya. Krishna knows everything. Krishna knew that Radheya is the son of Kunti. During the tournament, when Radheya came into the assembly and he was wearing his Kundala and Kabaja. When Kunti saw him, she fainted. She realized that here is my eldest son, who has become the worse enemy of Arjuna, my dear most son. And when she fainted, nobody understood why she fainted. But at that time immediately Vidura and Bhisma were so clever. They understood this is her first child. And that’s why she fainted out of anxiety. So Bhisma knew, he was seeing his own grandson fighting against his brothers with hate, and he could not even tell him. Do you know what a miserable condition that was? And then by Krishna’s arrangement, he took on the side of Duryodhana.
Bhisma told them I am tired of this war, I want to die, but I cannot die, until someone defeats me, so I’ll teach you how to defeat me. He said, bring srikhandi first, she took the form of man, just to kill me. Put him before me to shoot the first arrow. Then he said, everyone now shoot. He said but Arjuna is the only one who can tear my body. Arjuna, you must shoot and you must not leave, even enough room, to put even a finger through between arrows in my body.
Glorious departure of Bhismadev.
So the next day in the battle field Bhisma was just effulgent like the sun and Duryodhana was thinking ah, he is so fired up. That today, he is going to destroy the whole army. But in the heart Bhisma knew that today, Arjuna will defeat me. This is my great pleasure. Then on the battle field, he was piercied through the arrows, from his neck upto his feet. And being conquered, the whole battle stopped and everyone on both sides, came before Bhisma to offer him prayers and flowers,and he laid on that battlefield for six months. The whole battle continued on, and the Pandavas were victorious. Then Yudhisthira was brought back to Hastinapur and he was coordinated as the king. Meanwhile Bhisma was lying on that bed of arrows, day after day, week after week, month after month.
He would not give up his body. He was waiting for Krishna, because he knew that Krishna would come. Some of us are little impatient, we expect why is not Krishna fulfilling my desire, now. Why he is putting me in so much anxiety. But Bhisma is teaching us real patience. Sometimes we are walking with bare feet and step on a thorn and what happens? We cannot tolerate it. We just start crying. We just sit down, and spend so much time taking the thorn out. A little thorn in our foot, causes such a miserable condition of life. Sometimes we get stung by a bee. Then we go, oh my god. How can I go on? Bhisma had the sharpened, iron like arrows of Arjuna, piercing through from one side of his body, through to the other end, into the ground, from his head to his chin, and you could not even put your little finger between any two arrows. There were thousands of arrows through his body. He was lying there and patiently waiting there for Krishna. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months went by and he was simply chanting Hare Krishna. He taught us the real patience. We are all performing our saddhana, we are performing a little tapasya, and we all waiting for Krishna to reveal Himself to us. We are waiting for Krishna to save us from the miseries of material existence. Bhisma taught us, how to be patient. Srila Rupa Gosvami has instructed that there are two essential principles, that compose the quality of a surrendered soul. That is enthusiasm and patience. If you have simply enthusiasm without patience, then your work will be very hard,then you give up because you are not getting results. Krishna, I am chanting sixteen rounds everyday, as hard as I can. I am following the principles, and have given up so many things of this world, and I am working so hard, and still people are misusing me and still I am not getting what I want, and still I have material desires. I have done so much for you, what you have given me in return. I resign. I’ll enjoy. What kind of god are you? You are not a good gentleman. You are not a good businessman. I’ll go somewhere else. That’s what happens to your enthusiasm, if you do not have patience. What happens if you have patience without enthusiasm? Then you just ,wait, wait, wait, and wait. Just like a man who says well, I am very patient to get my PHD, but I am not going to go to college, I am not going to study. I would just wait. We can wait,but we never come. I must be working with great enthusiasm. So one must have enthusiasm and patience. Bhisma, he illustrated to the highest degree, qualities of enthusiasm and patience. He was not complaining. Can you imagine how torturous condition it was, physically and mentally? He was not complaining. He was not saying, why is god doing this to me? He was simply thinking, Krishna you are very kind. This is the way you want me to be. This is the way I’ll be, simply waiting for your arrival. So of course by Krishna’s divine arrangement, Yudhisthira was also so humble, that even though the whole battle of Kurukshetra was fought, due to the injustice against him, he took all the blame,he began to lament. He was thinking, all these people were killed and all the widowed women, they are all crying, and all the children they are fatherless. It is all my fault. There everyone, was killed only because of my greed for the throne. And Krishna could see, how humble Yudhisthira was. You see the great souls,teach by their example, how we should live. Everyone is very anxious to put all blame on another, but nobody wants to accept blame upon oneself, even if one is wrong, and in one’s heart one knows, one’s wrong but does not want to admit his own mistake. What to speak of admitting it to another person? To admit your own guilt, is very painful to the false ego, and the false ego is very much dear to us. It is said, any fool can praise himself, but it takes a great man to admit his own mistakes or his own faults. Now Yudhisthira, he was completely, one hundred percent correct, he was flawless. He was pure and unmotivated and went to honorably respect, the great devotee Bhisma, who happened to be lying on the battle field, waiting for the six months. So Krishna and the Pandavas, they all went into the battle field of Kurukshetra from Hastinapur, on their chariots and they approached Bhisma. He was just lying there, and when he saw the Pandavas and Krishna, he began to smile. Bhisma looked at Krishna, he said my body is ridden with arrows, and I am in torturous pain, and you are asking me to give ideas about how to rule the world,this is very difficult, Krishna. So then Krishna blessed him, with nice sprinkling of some water upon him. And at that time Bhisma was relieved of all pain,he withdrew his mind and his senses and all his physical energies, from everything of this world,and chocked with love, he began to glorify Krishna.
