teachings of Bhismadeva

[Paramananda das]

Dandavat Pranams
All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
I will first share something you might have never heard or read even from my Gurudeva .Srila Prabhupada has also not mentioned this but it is from Srila Bhaktivnoda Thakuras book Sri Navadvipa Bhava Taranga.Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura went all over Navadvipa and had transcendental visions he recorded in this book ,this is when he came to Jahnu Dvipa and met Grandfather Bhisma now in a spiritual youthful form chanting Hare Krsna and wearing Tulso beads ,a Goloka Vrindavana form of Sad Cit Ananda :
94 North of Vidya Nagar shines the island of Jahnu-dvipa, where the forest hermitage of the ascetic Janu Muni is visible to all moving and non-moving beings. Here the best of munis drink some water from the river Ganga and the river then appeared as his daughter named Jahnavi.
95 Here are Jahnu Muni's hermitage, Krsna's devotee named Bhisma learned Bhagavata Dharma relating to Lord Trivikrama. Jahnu Himself took to worshipping the Lord in a manner free from duplicity and easily attained the lotus feet of Sri Krsna Caitanya.
96 This island of Jahnu-dvipa is non different from the forest of Bhadravan in Braja. When will that spotless divine forest be visible to my eyes? Within that forest is the hill known as Bhisma Tila. On top of that hill I shall stay and perform my worship of the Lord.
97 In the evening Bhisma-deva with a pleased mind will appear before me in his pure spiritual body - his complexion blackish like Krsna's holding Tulasi beads in his hand and marked with twelve tilaka marks on his body, he is overflowing with the bliss of constantly chanting the Lord's holy names.
98 He will say to me, "Listen, O newcomer to Navadvipa! Today my words are praising the glories of Lord Gauranga. Long ago, during the battle of Kuru-ksetra, I was struck down and fatally wounded. While dying I was able to behold the form of the moonlike Sri Krsna-chandra with fixed attention."
99 "At the time of my death, Lord Krsna told me, 'Formerly you had darshan of Navadvipa, and by that pious activity you have gained Gauranga's mercy. Thus you have now become the eternal resident of Navadvipa.
100 (Bhisma continues) "therefore, I also ask you to please give up all other desires, live in Navadvipa and worship Gaurahari. You need no longer fear the bondage of material sense objects, for you will definitely attain the service of Gauranga's lotus feet."
101 "By the desire of the Lord, the liberated souls can see at all times the pastimes of Krsna and the pastimes of Gaura in this Dhama. Here is the complete absence of the conditioned soul's afflictions such as lamentation, fear, death, all causes of disturbance, as well as desires to be inimical to the Lord."
102 "The pure devotees are intoxicated by drinking the wine of servitude to Lord Krsna, and they are all immersed in the ocean of happiness while performing their respective forms of worship. They do not know the pains of the material world, nor do they experience the difficulty of any wants because everyone is situated in their pure spiritual bodies and possess only perfect desires."
103 "The Supreme Lord has multitudes of servants who are limitless in number. His devoted associates come from two main categories - the nitya mukta or eternally liberated souls, and the baddha-mukta or liberated souls coming from the material world as former conditioned souls. In these very forests of Navadvipa Dhama, the Lord performs His eternal pastimes along with each of these devotees according to their own respective emotional mood."
104 "This transcendental abode is unlimited, with no presence of dull matter whatsoever. Here, only the spiritually conscious energy is in control as the predominating goddess. Everything and everyone here is in perfect accord as followers of the Lord, including place, time, actions, and the bodies of the living entities. all these things are harmoniously situated far beyond the illusory energy - this truth is definitely absolute."
105 "According to the Lord's desire, as long as we do not give up the material body, then for that long we will not perceive the actual ecstatic mood of this Dhama in its complete form. That is because your intelligence refuses to give up its habitual attachment to material designations."
106 "According to the Lord's desire, when you receive a spiritual body then your progressive advancement here is unobstructed. The veil of illusion generated by the material energy will retreat far away, and you will obtain unlimited bliss in this eternal spiritual realm."
107 "O brother! As long as you have this material body, then very carefully remain always fixed in the principles of devotion. Service to the devotees, chanting the holy name of Krsna and worship of the Divine Couple Sri Sri Radha and Krsna should be performed diligently at all times while remaining aloof from temptations of sense gratification.
108 "By the power of the mercy of the Dhama, the mercy of the holy name and the mercy of the devotees, expertly keep undesirable association far away. Very soon you will attain residence in the eternal abode, where pure devotional service to the Divine Couple will become manifest by direct revelation.
109 Hearing these instructions of Bhisma-deva, I will fall down at his feet like a rod and offer obeisances with all my limbs. Giving me his blessings, he will then disappear. Weeping and weeping, I will proceed to the forest on the island of Modadruma-dvipa.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura spend the last years of his life in Sri Navadvipa Dham and in Puri he had chanted 64 rounds daily but in Sri Navadvipa ,his main activity was to chant Hare Krsna and Srila Bhaktivnoda increased his chanting to 128 rounds daily and then to 192 rounds ,3 lahks daily .In Sri Harinama Cintamni Srila Bhaktivinoda has also stated increase your chanting from 64 rounds to 192 then you will develop love of Krsna.But unfortunaly devotees are not reading and understanding Sri Harinama Cintamani they think Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura is ANTI ISKCON and we should only chant 16 rounds that is there neophyte rascaldom unwilling to improve their chanting in quality and quantity .
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura writes if we want to have love of Krsna we must chant 192 rounds daily ,his words not mine
mane habe-aja laksha nama ye kariba;
krame krame tina laksha nama ye smariba.
mahagraha habe citte namera sankhyaya;
acire jabe jadya sadhura kripaya.
“When one’s mind desires to chant and remember one hundred thousand holy names (64 rounds) daily and furthur desires to slowly increase it to three hundred thousand and when one’s mind becomes very attached and eager to complete the fixed number of rounds daily and pushes one to complete the sankhya everyday, then it is understood that very soon the laziness or apathy in chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra will vanish by the mercy of the devotees and one’s chanting will bring one the desired fruit of pure love for Krishna.”
begging to serve the dust of the true Vaisnavas in the line of Srila Rupa Goswami ,Srila Prabhupada always encouraged chanting and said in Perth Australia ,if you have a tinge of material desires increase your chanting to 64 rounds and if that is not enough then you follow the footsteps of Sri Haridas Thakura and chant 192 rounds daily ,Srila Prabhupadas words not mine :

Morning Walk, May 14, 1975, Perth:
Devotee (1): "Srila Prabhupada, how can the position be reconciled if in Krishna consciousness one of the two, the husband or the wife, wants to enjoy sense
gratification, but the other does not? Should there be separation then?
Prabhupada: No... They should be trained up. Sense enjoyment means not advanced in Krishna consciousness. As soon as one is advancing in Krishna consciousness, his sense
enjoyment spirit will be reduced. That is the test. Bhaktih pareshanubhavo
viraktir anyatra ca [SB 11.2.42]. The test is, how you are advancing in Krishna
consciousness is the proportionate diminishing of sense enjoyment. That is the
test. Just like cure of the disease means diminishing the fever, temperature.
This is the test.
Devotee (1): What if that (material) fever is not being diminished?
Prabhupada: Then he should try to chant Hare Krishna mantra, instead of sixteen rounds, sixty-four rounds. That is the way. Sixteen rounds is the minimum. Otherwise
Haridasa Thakura was 300,000. So you have to increase. That is the only remedy.
If one has got determination, he will make progress without any trouble. That
determination is very difficult, that determination, "I must be Krishna
conscious fully." That determination. Dridha-vratah."

Here Srila Prabhupada very clearly state if you have even a tint of sex desires then you should chant even 192 rounds daily BUT YOU MUST BECOME KRSNA CONSCIOUS
Jaya Srila Prabhupada ,that is Dridha Vrata ...
Paramananda das
Teachings Of Grandfather Bhisma
Category: 2000

20 January 2000

Last Updated: 16 January 2022

Views: 16101
Narayana Gaura Caturdasi
Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja
Murwillumbah, Australia, January 20, 2000, am
Once upon a time a war was going on between the demigods and the demons. The demigods came to earth in India, where there was a powerful king named Khatvanga Maharaja. They requested him to help them - to become their general, their commander. He told that, "Yes I am coming." And he went there. A very big war was there, and at last he defeated the demons. Some of them were killed and the rest ran away from there. The demigods then requested him (the king), "Whatever boon you want we will give. Anything you want we will give." The King told, "I want, really, salvation from this world, and to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead." The demigods said, "That we cannot give. You should ask another." The King said, "Then you should tell me when my death will come." They said' "Very soon. In 24 minutes." He requested that, "At once you should take him to India." They did so.
When he arrived, half of the time was gone - only 12 minutes left. He sat in the lotus position like a muni, concentrating on the lotus feet of Krishna. And thus, in a moment, he was liberated; and he had a chance to serve the lotus feet of Krishna. Even a moment can give us all this. But what are we doing? We are not engaged in pure bhakti. We have so many requirements - worldly requirements. We are busy in so much aropa-siddha bhakti to maintain our life. And we are very busy to solve these problems. As much as we try to solve these problems, more problems are coming like waves of the ocean - one by one. And we say, "Oh, if I cross this one, everything will be alright." But you see that, "Oh, more problems!"
Don't try to do all this. What to do? We should chant and remember Krishna. Oh; automatically all the waves of problems will finish. Life-maintaining will be done. We should only try to solve the problem of how we can attain the service of Krishna, especially Vraja bhakti. If you want a little money, you can attain it by a very little effort. But if you want the highest thing, then you'll have to do so much effort. Quickly it will not be achieved. And what is this Prema-bhakti? The highest thing. You'll have to give your precious time - everything - for this. You'll have to be a street beggar, no harm. And if you do this. Oh see Svamiji smiling (indicating the picture of Srila Prabhupada on the wall). Perhaps this picture is of his last days? No?
[Devotee:] Its in Australia on a morning walk in the botanical gardens - in Melbourne.
[Srila Narayana Maharaja:] What year?
[Devotee:] I can't remember. Early seventies - 1974.
[Srila Narayana Maharaja:] So he was like this in the beginning [in his early life]. He was solving so many things. Then he did like this (he raises his hands). Full surrender. If you are doing this and that, they will try to kill you. But if someone is trying to kill you and you raise your hands then.
[Navina Krishna dasa:] White flag, surrender.
[Srila Narayana Maharaja:] You should surrender to Krishna. He came to Mathura. He [Srila Svami Maharaja] called to the acaryas and also he was a very powerful acarya, serving all - my Gurudeva and others. And you are seeing me - I have no problem at all, no death problem either. Not any problem; never. I think that I will have nothing to solve. I am only worried for that [for you spiritual benefit]. So try to realise that.
Once after the battle of the Mahabharata, all were killed except for Krishna and the Pandava's; on the other side Krpacarya, Ashwatama, and Krtavarma were left. Practically all were killed, all. A blind person was also there to realise all these things, he who has made nearly all the problems. Who are blind? Drtarastra. At that time one was blind, and now all are blind. We have no strong faith in Krishna and Krishna bhakti. So we are all blind, and at that time only one was blind. So the war was finished, all were killed, and then Pandavas were weeping so much, lamenting that, "We have killed all. Now there are only widows in India." Only widows were there and all were crying. Yudisthira Maharaja and all Pandavas were thinking that, "We are the main cause of all destruction. Why did we do so? We will give up all this kingdom and we will be street beggars." Krishna told them, "You should be ready, we are going to visit Grandfather Bhisma." Still he was alive. For 6 months he stopped his death because he was so powerful. A boon was given to Grandfather Bhisma that he will leave his body at his own will. Otherwise death was waiting. Death was waiting for six months.
Then Krishna took all the five Pandavas and Draupadi, and then they went to Bhismapitama where he was lying on the bed of arrows. His whole body was pierced with arrows. They went there - the Pandavas and Draupadi did pranama to Pitamaha Bhisma, and they sat at his feet. And when Krishna came there, Pitama Bhisma did pranama from his eyes, because his hands and everything were pierced by arrows. So by the eyes and he prayed Krishna to sit in front of him - very near. So Krishna was sitting very near, like this, and Pandavas sat near his feet. Krishna told, "O, Pitamaha Bhisma you are such a high class of devotee, and you know all the Vaisnava tattva. So you should try to pacify them. They are very worried for that they have killed so many - all. So they are very worried."
Bhisma Pitamaha began to tell something and then when he began, Draupadi was smiling. How smiling? [hiding behind veil] There was veil here, and she was smiling. Not "Ho ho, ho.", but she was smiling. Bhisma looked at her and questioned her, "My dear daughter Draupadi, why you are laughing? I want to know." And Draupadi, in a very humble way, said, "Oh Bhisma you are going to give knowledge, but where were you when Duryodhana was trying to make me naked? You are giving such high class of knowledge but where were you then?" Bhisma very humbly told, "My dear daughter, at that time I was taking my meals from Duryodhana, the demon, so in those meals the mood of demon was there. So I was knowing all these things. But I was so weak. So, at that time I could not check him. I could not control. I thought that Duryodhana would be unhappy and that is why, by weakness, I could not. But now it has been six months. My all blood, which was made by his meals has totally gone. Not only blood, the other bodily substances - everything - has gone. And now my heart is cured, especially by the darsana of Krishna." Draupadi was satisfied. Then Bhisma pitama said, "O Maharaja Yudisthira, Bhima, Arjuna and all Pandavas; Hear carefully.
"There was a widow. She had a son of only 12 - very beautiful and qualified. The old lady used to worship and serve Deities of Narayana or anyone. So every morning she used to pick flowers, and did arcana. One day she was engaged in any other job, and she told her son, "O my dear son, you should go and pick some flowers and return. It was Brahma Muhurta, the end of the night, but it was dark. Some clouds were there. The boy went into the nearby forest and from a bush he began to pick flowers - beli, chameli, and others. As he was picking the flowers a very poisonous snake - black with a hood and big teeth - bit him, and in a moment the boy became black and fell down and died. A hunter then came that way, and saw that, for no reason that snake had bitten the boy and he died. He knew a mantra to control the snake and, taking the snake in a clay pot, he put the boy's dead body on his shoulders and went with the snake to the old lady widow. She had been waiting for her son, and then she saw, "O my son is coming." But she realised that it wasn't her son, but only his dead body. "Oh, what happened?" she said. She began to cry.
[Navina Krishna dasa:] She beat her heart.
[Srila Narayana Maharaja:] "O boy, what happened? He was the only stick of my blind self. (as a blind person has a stick, so the son was like a stick to help her in old age). "What happened?" She became like senseless. After some time, when she came in sense, that hunter told her, "Mother I was coming from that way. The boy was picking flowers. He did nothing, but this black serpent snake came and bit him. Now you should order me that I should at once kill and I burn it to ashes."
He said this repeatedly - two times, three times, four times - but she was only lamenting and weeping. At last she told him, "Oh hunter, if you kill this snake and burn it, will my son be alive or not?" The hunter began to think, and he replied, "Oh, your son cannot be alive." She said, "Then why are you uselessly killing him? Let the snake go free." The hunter said, " Oh I cannot do because these snakes are very wicked and always angry. Without any purpose they bite others."
The animals like them - what animals? Snakes, scorpions, rats, without any use they will cut all your cloths. And one thing also; white ants, tirmites, without any reason, without any gain, from one ant they will soon become lakhs and lakhs and they will make your roof fall. Then after some time your whole house will be finished. If you keep any cloth or anything else - they like these very precious things very much - in a moment they will take it all. So they should be killed. Otherwise, next day he will kill another, bite another and then another. So I must finish this snake. Seeing this, again she said, "O, you should not. Please set him free." But he told her, "I will not, I will kill him. Why did he bite your son?" Then he was to kill the serpent, but the serpent said, "Why are you killing me? I've done nothing. Why did I not bite others? Why only to this child? Kala came to me. Kala you know? Time came. Death came and told me, 'You should bite. Then I did it.'"
Then the hunter said, "This is not logic. If someone is biting or killing anyone, and someone else is telling, 'Oh, you should kill him'" Inspiring him to kill, ordering him to kill, both are guilty. So you must be punished and that Kala should be punished for it. But I will kill you. This is not logic."
Then at once Kala came, in the shape of a person and told him, "Oh hunter, why are you accusing me?" And he told to the serpent, "I am not the cause, I have not told. The reason is this. This boy in his past birth has done like this, and then his activities, in this form, have become kala. And I, through you, bit him. Not myself; his own activities. In this world no one in friend, no one is enemy."
So we should try to remember this. If anyone is insulting, if anyone is beating, Don't think him as an enemy. Your activities are your enemy. So your activities from now, and in the future, should be how? Not to criticise. Not to offend. Not to do anything wrong. Otherwise, your activites will come and do this. So in this world no one is enemy or anything. That is why Narada Gosvami used to go to Kamsa Maharaja, and he used to think that, "He is my guru." And after that he used to go to Vasudeva Maharaja, and he also used to think that, "He is my guru." Narada Rsi went to Kamsa and said, "Oh, why are you waiting? Why are you not killing all the sons of Vasudeva? When they will come collectively, what will you do? So you should do it. I went to Kailasa or anywhere, and I was in the council of all demigods, and they were making some conspiracy thinking how to kill you. So all these are the sons of the demigods. All are demigods, and they will kill you if you are not alert. So you should be alert."
And when he went to Vasudeva Maharaja he said, "Oh, don't worry. Your bad times, your bad times have gone. Now, very soon, your 8th son of Devaki will kill Kamsa. So wait a little; wait a little. Don't feel so weak. He knows everything.
So you should try to do bhajan always. No thinking that, "He insulted me. He is my enemy. He is my friend." Not like this. The only friend is Krishna and Guru. It is very hard, very rare to find a real devotee, who is a real friend, and who, without no gain, will do good to you. He will always think of your welfare. Your wife, your sons, your friends - they will always bluff you, and they will try to enjoy their own sense gratification. All these things. Not for you, that you should be happy. Try to know all these things. Wealth cannot save you. Try to know all these things, and be one pointed to Krishna. And then try to be very happy, without no problem. The only problem is, "Oh, how to attain Krishna. Oh, where is Vrajendra-nandana? Where is Vrajendra-nandana? Where is Radhika?" Like this. Sometimes in Vrindavana, sometimes here and there, like Srila Rupa Gosvami and all others. As Srila Bhaktivedanta Svami Maharaja told, "My office is in Bombay, my sadhana-ksetra is Mayapura, and my abode is Vrindavana. So in his last days he was there in Vrindavana. Always think of Vrindavana, Vrindavana Candra and Vrindavana Candri.
Gaura Premanande!
Hari Bol!