The handful of warriors that manage to survive the great battle of Kurukshetra gather before the greatest warrior of all, Grandsire Bhishma. He lies on a bed of arrows, holding his life energy inside his battle-destroyed body until an auspicious time to depart.
He speaks with wisdom on the ultimate transcendental religious principle: surrender unto the Supreme Lord and love Him with every breath, movement, word and thought. He sees the ultimate goal of his life before his eyes at the last moments of his life. The inevitable time for his soul to leave his body has now come…
(Shrimad-Bhagavatam, by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)
| sarvaḿ kāla-kṛtaḿ manye bhavatāḿ ca yad-apriyam sapālo yad-vaśe loko vāyor iva ghanāvaliḥ |
1.9.14: This is all due to inevitable time, under whose control everyone in every planet is carried, just as the clouds are carried by the wind. |
| iti bhītaḥ prajā-drohāt sarva-dharma-vivitsayā tato vinaśanaḿ prāgād yatra deva-vrato ‘patat |
1.9.1: Being afraid for having killed so many subjects on the Battlefield of Kurukshetra, Maharaja Yudhishthira went to the scene of the massacre. There, Bhishma was lying on a bed of arrows, about to pass away. |
| kṛṣṇaḿ ca tat-prabhāva-jña āsīnaḿ jagad-īśvaram hṛdi-sthaḿ pūjayām āsa māyayopātta-vigraham |
1.9.10: Lord Shri Krishna is situated in everyone’s heart, yet He manifests His transcendental form by His internal potency. This very Lord was sitting before Bhishma, and since Bhishma knew of His glories, he worshiped Him duly. |
| sarvaḿ kāla-kṛtaḿ manye | Chorus: This is all due to inevitable time, I believe. |
| sa deva-devo bhagavān pratīkṣatāḿ kalevaraḿ yāvad idaḿ hinomy aham prasanna-hāsāruṇa-locanollasan- mukhāmbujo dhyāna-pathaś catur-bhujaḥ |
1.9.24: May my Lord, who is four-handed and whose beautifully decorated lotus face, with eyes as red as the rising sun, is smiling, kindly await me at that moment when I quit this material body. |
| vijaya-ratha-kuṭumba ātta-totre dhṛta-haya-raśmini tac-chriyekṣaṇīye bhagavati ratir astu me mumūrṣor yam iha nirīkṣya hatā gatāḥ sva-rūpam |
1.9.39: At the moment of death, let my ultimate attraction be to Shri Krishna, the Personality of Godhead. I concentrate my mind upon the chariot driver of Arjuna who stood with a whip in His right hand and a bridle rope in His left, who was very careful to give protection to Arjuna’s chariot by all means. Those who saw Him on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra attained their original forms after death. |
| kṛṣṇa evaḿ bhagavati mano-vāg-dṛṣṭi-vṛttibhiḥ ātmany ātmānam āveśya so ‘ntaḥśvāsa upāramat |
1.9.43: Thus Bhishma 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. |
| sarvaḿ kāla-kṛtaḿ manye | Chorus: This is all due to inevitable time, I believe. |
INEVITABLE TIME 