Hare Kṛṣṇa,
Today marks the last day of Śrī Bhīṣma Pañcaka. The final five days of Kārtika, known as Bhīṣma Pañcaka, are especially recommended for reciting the prayers of Śrī Bhīṣmadeva (SB 1.9.32–42). While chanting these verses, I was particularly drawn to one prayer in which Bhīṣmadeva recalls the actions of the gopīs when Kṛṣṇa hid Himself from them.
He prays:
“Let my mind be fixed upon Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, whose motions and smiles of love attracted the damsels of Vrajadhāma [the gopīs]. The damsels imitated the characteristic movements of the Lord [after His disappearance from the rāsa dance].” (SB 1.9.40)
Srila Prabhupad explains in the purport, “Bhīṣma’s aspiration to remember the gopīs is a prayer 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 has also remembered the gopīs, who were endowed with unrivalled opportunities for rendering loving service to the Lord.”
Śrī Bhīṣmadeva teaches us the art of leaving the body at the time of death. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (First Canto), Mahārāja Parīkṣit inquires from Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī about what one should do at the moment of death.
“You are the spiritual master of great saints and devotees. I am therefore begging you to show the way of perfection for all persons, and especially for one who is about to die. (SB 1.19.37)
Please let me know what a man should hear, chant, remember and worship, and also what he should not do. Please explain all this to me.” (SB 1.19.38)
In response, Sri Sukadeva Goswami replied, “The highest perfection of human life, achieved either by complete knowledge of matter and spirit, by practice of mystic powers, or by perfect discharge of occupational duty, is to remember the Personality of Godhead at the end of life.” (SB 2.1.5)
Bhīṣmadeva is a living example of this truth—showing us, through his own departure, how to remember Kṛṣṇa at life’s final moment.
“Bhīṣmadeva, as a pure devotee of the Lord, entered the spiritual realm in one of the Vaikuṇṭha planets where the Lord in His eternal form of Pārtha-sārathi 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 pārtha-sārathi, and the Lord was present personally before Bhīṣmadeva while he was passing to the transcendental world. That is the highest perfection of life.” (SB 1.9.44 Purport)
Therefore, by studying these chapters describing the gopīs’ separation from Kṛṣṇa, may we also become qualified to remember Him always in that same mood of loving separation.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Krsna Katha 