Posted on: 06 Feb 2005
[Bhishma was a pure soul with the purest character. Krishna on the other hand seemed quite characterless, but Bhishma prayed to Krishna for salvation. How is this possible?]
Krishna was the Lord, who was covered by some bad qualities like a diamond covered by coal ash. Bhishma was a soul covered by good qualities like a piece of charcoal covered by lime powder [whitewash]. Both can be washed away by a jug of water. The Lord is the purest, like a diamond which has come down for entertainment, wearing a black coat. The Jeeva, individual soul is the very substance of impurity and might have achieved some good character like a white coat. The attachment [bad qualities] of Lord Krishna is superficial and he is completely detached at the core. The detachment of Bhishma is also superficial and he was attached at the core.
The individual soul can become pure by such white coats in millions of births. The charcoal is transformed into a diamond after millions of white coats. But Lord Krishna’s attachment can be broken in a fraction of a second. He was very deeply attached to the Gopikas. But once He left Vrindavan, He never returned back. Bhishma could not properly understand even Dharma. When Draupadi was insulted, he kept silent thinking that loyalty to the king is the highest Dharma. But Dharma Shastra says that torture of good and innocent people is the highest injustice. Prevention of such highest injustice is the highest justice. He failed to understand the highest justice in this case. He thought that loyality to the king is the highest justice. When one cannot even understand Dharma, how can he understand spirituality? He knew that Krishna was the Lord and that the Lord should be higher than even the highest justice. Yet he gave importance to the loyalty to the king and wounded the Lord in the war.
You say that Krishna is characterless because you are not aware of the background. The Gopikas were sages, who asked the Lord in the previous birth for salvation. Salvation means liberation from bonds. The strongest bonds are:
1. Bond with wife or husband
2. Bond with children
3. Bond with money
As per the request of sages He attracted the Gopikas and danced with them in Vrindavan to cut their bonds with their husbands. He attracted their children, who were not loyal to their parents. This was done to cut their bonds with their children. He stole butter, which was their self-earned wealth and which was the fruit of their work. This was done to cut their bonds with money. Thus there was a background even for that black coat on the diamond. You can follow logic in recognizing the Lord. But once the Lord is recognized, logic should not be applied to Him. He is beyond logic as said in the Veda “Naisha Tarkena”. Unless He reveals Himself, no human brain can ever understand the logic in His actions. There is a super logic in His actions, which is not grasped by us and this does not mean that He deviates from logic. The logic in His actions is a multi-dimentional network, connecting so many parameters, which are beyond our imagination.
For example, we don’t know the incidents in the previous births, which are the reasons for the present actions. Without knowing the previous birth of the Gopikas and their request to the Lord, in the previous birth, we mistake Lord Krishna and we think that it is a black coat. But when it is analysed, it also becomes white. Similarly the white coat of Bhishma, which is the loyalty to the king becomes black, when the deep analysis is done. Therefore, Bhishma is an individual soul who is a piece of black charcoal and the white coat on this charcoal also turns out to be black on deep analysis. Krishna is the Lord, who is the diamond and the black coat on this diamond also turns out to be white on deep analysis. Scholars cannot do such a deep analysis. Only Lord Datta, who is the divine preacher, can give such deep analysis. Bhishma realized all this at the end and prayed to Lord Krishna for salvation. He could not get this realization in the court or in the war. Only on the bed of arrows i.e., in the period of difficulties, could he get self-realization. Thus difficulties are the real friends, which activate the soul and impart true knowledge. A happy life makes the brain mild and intoxicated with egoism and thus the soul falls down. That is why Kunti requested the Lord to always give her difficulties.