“Suta Gosvami said: Thus Bhishmadeva merged himself in the Supersoul, Lord Shri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, with his mind, speech, sight and actions, and thus he became silent, and his breathing stopped.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 1.9.43)

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सूत उवाच
कृष्ण एवं भगवति
मनो-वाग्-दृष्टि-वृत्तिभिः
आत्मन्य् आत्मानम् आवेश्य
सो ऽन्तःश्वास उपारमत्

sūta uvāca
kṛṣṇa evaṁ bhagavati
mano-vāg-dṛṣṭi-vṛttibhiḥ
ātmany ātmānam āveśya
so ‘ntaḥśvāsa upāramat

“I heard an interesting thought exercise recently. It is in the realm of religion. If you prefer to refer to it as spirituality or some kind of faith, I am fine with that. The idea is that you first take this collection of different people. You are within the group. The people are not of the same tradition. They have their own sacred text, their chosen savior, and their means of propagating that particular faith.

“The exercise is to consider the situation of a trauma victim. Someone who is really in trouble. Think of a person who survives the burning down of a house. Perhaps they were in a terrible automobile accident. Survivors on the battlefield also come to mind.

“The difference between the before and the after is striking. There might have been so many plans laid down. They thought of the future. They met with a financial advisor to account for retirement savings. They were ready to settle down and find purpose in life.

“Then tragedy struck. It dealt a terrible blow. Swiftly, at that. They are now in such bad shape that their friends can barely recognize them. It is within that situation you are asked to focus. As you are part of this group of followers, what would your specific philosophy or religion have to give to that person? What kind of counsel could you offer the victim?

“I think it is an interesting exercise, no? What would the person from the Vaishnava tradition say? What is the best approach? I am assuming it is a little cruel to bring up karma and how everyone either enjoys or suffers the results of past activities. You know, that verse from Bhagavad-gita about the karana and guna-sanga.”

पुरुषः प्रकृति-स्थो हि
भुङ्क्ते प्रकृति-जान् गुणान्
कारणं गुण-सङ्गो ऽस्य
सद्-असद्-योनि-जन्मसु

puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi
bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān
kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo ‘sya
sad-asad-yoni-janmasu

“The living entity in material nature thus follows the ways of life, enjoying the three modes of nature. This is due to his association with that material nature. Thus he meets with good and evil amongst various species.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 13.22)

The question itself is a little puzzling given many of the well-known images associated with the Vaishnava tradition. One of the more celebrated works, informally referred to as the ripened fruit of Vedic literature, is Bhagavata Purana. The work is also known by a more celebratory title: Shrimad Bhagavatam. The premise is a pious king learning of his dreaded fate, that he will leave the world within two weeks.

This means that he has a terminal condition. It may not necessarily be a rapidly developing illness, but the end-result is the same. There is the trauma in the sense of a forced exit. There is really nothing that Parikshit Maharaja can do about it. The fate is sealed.

His choice in the matter is everything. He favors hearing, shravanam. He decides to hear the highest wisdom from the teacher named Shukadeva Gosvami. Their conversation is instruction provided to a trauma patient. The setting may not be a hospital room or a home with medical service around the clock, but the intention is the same. Deliver the highest knowledge to the passing individual, to give them something valuable that will launch them to a higher place in the next destination.

Another angle of vision says that it is the victim who provides the instruction. They are giving the most valuable lesson, without speaking a word. They are showing the potential in tragedy that begins at the time of birth. As soon as there is birth, there is death. As soon as there is birth, there is misery. A person only foolishly thinks that they can avoid it, that trauma is only for the unlucky ones.

Shrimad Bhagavatam also briefly describes the departure of the respected Bhishmadeva. Though he is lying on the battlefield defeated, with a body full of arrows, he does not secure his great knowledge in a vault, as a secret only he will keep. Rather, he decides to pass that knowledge on to the respected Yudhishthira, such that the knowledge can be of value to so many others. That great hero of the Kuru family lived by dharma and also died by it, merging into transcendence at the time of death.

In Closing:

Though days left approaching zero,
With specific plan that hero.

Though death in the face to stare,
Highest knowledge eager to share.

Such that others the truth to gain,
That image so much to explain.

Bhishma then into Vishnu merging,
Never from dharma diverging.

Categories: bhishma departing, questions

Tags: counseling, god, hare krishna, mental health, poem, poems, poetry, trauma