Esoteric Interpretation of Bhishma's Celibacy

Prologue:

 

Prabhasa was the youngest of the Ashta Vasus, the others being :

1. Anala
2. Anila
3. Soma
4. Ahas
5. Dhara
6. Dhruva
7. Pratyoosha

 

Once, during their wanderings, the eight Vasus came across the divine cow Nandhini in the ashram of Sage Vashishtha. They came to know that the milk given by Nandhini was akin to the fountain of youth and could reverse old age. Anyone who drank this milk would never suffer from old age. The eight Vasus were divine beings. The Devas never suffer from old age and the milk of Nandhini  was of no use to the Vasus. Vasunandini the wife of Prabhasa had a close friend called Avijhitha. She  wanted her friend Avijhitha to benefit from drinking the milk provided by Nandhini. She requested her husband Prabhasa to steal the cow from Sage Vashishtha. Prabhasa wanting to fulfill his wife’s desire managed to abduct Nandhini from the ashram of Sage Vashishtha with the help of his seven brothers. Sage Vashishtha couldn’t find his cow the next morning.  With the help of his yogic powers he could ascertain that the Vasus had stolen her from his ashram. He cursed the Vasus to take birth as mortals on the Earth. He relaxed the severity of his curse for the first seven Vasus since they were incited to steal the cow by their brother Prabhasa. The first seven Vasus had to take birth on Earth but could return to their abode immediately. This was their punishment for aiding and abetting Prabhasa. As Prabhasa had stolen the cow for the sake of his wife, he had to spend a longer duration on Earth. Sage Vashishtha also cursed that Prabhasa will not have the company of women since he stole the cow to please his wife.

 

In the meantime, there was a huge gathering at Sathya Lokam. Mahabhishak was a king who belonged to the lineage of Ishvaku. He participated in the gathering. The beautiful Goddess Ganga (Goddess of river Ganges ) also participated in the gathering. Lord Brahma wanted to test if everyone present at the gathering had proper control over their senses. He selected Lord Vayu as the examiner since Lord Vayu is the father of Jeethendriyan (Jeethendriyan is the name of a person who has complete control over his senses) Lord Hanuman. Lord Vayu caused a strong breeze to flow and moved the cloth covering Goddess Ganga’s upper body. All the Devas averted their eyes so as to not look at the Goddess while Mahabhishak instead of averting his eyes smiled at the Goddess. The Goddess reciprocated by smiling at Mahabhishak. As this was inappropriate behaviour in such a gathering, Lord Brahma cursed both Goddess Ganga and Mahabhishak to return to Earth. Mahabhishak was an incarnation of Lord Varuna. As all the rivers flow into the ocean,  there was an affinity between Goddess Ganga and Mahabhishak.

 

Enroute to Earth, Goddess Ganga met the descending Ashta Vasus. She promised to deliver them from their fate. On Earth, she took the form of a beautiful maiden and met king Pratheepan of lunar dynasty on the shores of river Ganges . She sat on the king’s left lap and requested the king to wed her. As she sat on the left lap of the king which was reserved for daughters and sisters, the king promised to accept her as his daughter-in-law even though he did not have a son at that time because he recognized her to be a divine being.

 

Mahabhishak incarnated as Shantanu the son of Pratheepan. He had no memory of his previous birth. After Shantanu was born to king Pratheepan, the king informed Shantanu about the promise he had made to Ganga Devi and told him that if he ever met the divine lady he must marry her and accept any condition she might impose on him.

As per his father’s wish, Shantanu accepted all the conditions imposed by Ganga Devi and wedded her. Shantanu promised Ganga Devi that he would never question her conduct or any deed she may perform even if the deed may seem improper to him at the time. The couple had seven children. As soon as they were born, Ganga Devi drowned them in the river Ganges as they were the Vasus who had to be liberated from their curse. Shantanu maintained the promise he had made to his wife with great difficulty even though he could not understand why his wife would drown their children. As the eighth child was born and Ganga Devi was enroute to the river, Shantanu stopped her and asked her for an explanation. Ganga Devi narrated the story of the Vasus to him and as he had broken his promise she told him that she must leave him. She promised to raise the eighth child and to  return  the child to the king once the child was older. This child was named Devavrata and he  obtained his spiritual training from sage Vashishtha, learnt political science from Brihaspathi and military science from sage Parasurama.

As promised Ganga Devi returned Devavrata to king Shantanu. The overjoyed king crowned Devavrata as the crown-prince.

Once while walking along the river Yamuna, king Shantanu met a beautiful maiden named Satyavati. He fell in love with her and wished to marry her. He requested Satyavati’s hand in marriage from her father who was the king of fishermen. Satyavati’s father agreed to give her hand in marriage if the king promised to make her son as the crown-prince. As Shantanu had already made Devavrata the crown-prince, he refused to the terms of Satyavati’s father and returned to his palace with a broken heart. Devavrata came to know about this incident and in order to please his father he approached Satyavati’s father and promised to step-down as the crown-prince. Satyavati’s father was happy with Devavrata’s promise but said that there could be problems in the future from Devavrata’s sons who may wish to become the next ruler. Devavrata then made a promise to be a celibate for the rest of his life starting from the time he made his vow. As he took up this difficult vow, he came to be known as Bhishma. King Shantanu conferred upon him the boon that Bhishma can choose the time of his death.

 

Morals revealed by the story:

There are three main morals to be learnt from this story.

1. If a person lives according to the wishes of their parent then their child will fulfill their wishes.  Shantanu agreed to wed Ganga devi in order to keep up the promise made to Ganga Devi by his father Pratheepan. At the time when Shantanu made a promise to his father he had not even met Ganga Devi. If his father had met her even before Shantanu was born, she would be very old by the time he could marry her. In spite of this he agreed to  honour his father’s promise. It was only later he knew that due to the divine origin of Ganga she was blessed with perpetual youth. As Shantanu had honoured the promise made by his father, Shantanu was blessed with a good  son Bhishma and Bhishma took up the vow of celibacy to fulfill Shantanu’s desire.
2. Vasunandini wanted to steal the cow Nandhini to help her friend. Even though she only wanted to help her friend, the means she selected to achieve this was not proper. Instead of pointing out the flaw in Vasunandhini’s plan, Prabhasa went along with her plot to steal the cow. As a result Prabhasa was cursed by Sage Vashishtha. Even if we wish to help the public, we will have to face severe consequences if we choose methods prohibited by the law.  
3. Vasunandini wanted to make her friend Avijhitha free from old age and enjoy perpetual youth. As Avijhitha was a mortal she did not deserve to enjoy perpetual youth. Only the celestial beings could enjoy perpetual youth. It is a  sin to grant a person something they do not deserve.

 

Esoteric Meaning:

The reason Prabhasa was born as Bhishmacharya was because he tried to steal the cow Nandhini from Sage Vashishtha. The cow Nandhini could represent true knowledge Brahma Vidhya. Vasunandini asked her husband Prabhasa to steal this cow to help her mortal friend Avijhitha. Their intention was to reach the benefit provided by Nandhini to a mortal woman; this woman could represent all of us. Perpetual youth could be attained when we break free from samsara. To make this possible, they were sent down to this Earth by Sage Vashishtha who is Brahma-Rishi. Spiritual training has to be received properly through a guru as knowledge cannot and should not be stolen. Prabhasa as Bhishmacharya received spiritual training from Sage Vashishtha as per the proper protocol.

Bhishmacharya took birth in the lunar dynasty. The moon is called Soma in Sanskrit. The sacrifice made by Bhishmacharya is the Soma Sacrifice in which ego along with selfish desires are sacrificed to attain the Supreme Self.

He took up the vow of celibacy called as Brahmacharya. When Bhishma took up the vow of celibacy, he said that ‘from now on I will be a celibate!’ His vow means that prior to this incident he was not a celibate. Prabhasa’s wife Vasunandini also took birth as a mortal on earth and was married to Bhishma. The Mahabharata provides proof to Bhishma’s wedding. It is mentioned in the Mahabharata that Yudhishthira used the fire maintained by Bhishmacharya in his home for performing Agnihotram to perform the last rites for Bhishmacharya. As only a householder who is married can perform Agnihotram, Bhishmacharya was married. A proper discharge of duties assigned to a householder will deliver the householder from Selfish desires. Husband and wife are married to each other for the purpose of protecting other people around them. Their duty is to help the needy and look upon every living being with love and affection like the divine couple Sriman Narayana and Goddess Sri Devi who love each and every one of us equally.  The main duties of a householder are to be hospitable, perform charities, help the needy, provide comfort to everyone and act with kindness. A householder exists for the protection of others. This should be the true purpose of any marriage. The couple are expected to realize the divine couple concealed in their hearts. Both Bhishmacharya and his wife followed these rules. The sacrifice made by Vasunandini is even superior to that of the sacrifice made by Bhishmacharya. She remained anonymous and her name was never mentioned even once in the Mahabharata; as a result, she never received any credit for her sacrifice. Remaining an anonymous donor or sacrificer is the true sacrifice of ego. Brahmacharya means moving towards  God. The Supreme Brahman is attained by practicing the conduct of Brahmacharya.  Brahmacharya is the sacrifice of selfish desires in order to attain the Supreme Brahman.

 

Winter Solstice is the beginning of Utharayanam. Utharayanam means “path of light” and refers to the path of ever increasing knowledge. This path is illuminated by the light of true knowledge called Brahmavidhya. Bhishmacharya used his boon to be able to choose the time of his death and waited patiently for Utharayanam even though he was lying on a bed of arrow after being mortally wounded in the battle field. While waiting for Utharayanam he taught Sri Vishnu Sahasranama to the Pandavas. His success as well as the power of Sri Vishnu Sahasranama is revealed to us when at the commencement of Utharayanam Lord Krishna approached Bhishmacharya and granted him dharshan. Bhishmacharya chose this supreme moment to cast his body and was united forever with Lord Krishna.

 

The esoteric interpretation of this story is as follows.

It is said that “Oushadham Jhanavi Dheyam vaidhyo Narayano Hari”

Of all the medicines the best cure is provided by the waters of Ganges and Lord Vishnu is the Supreme Physician with the ability to cure all diseases. The worst incurable disease is Samsara. We are afflicted by birth death and re-birth. We go through this circle and suffer. We are unable to find a remedy to rid us of this terrible disease. Water from river Ganges is prescribed as a remedy at the time of death to attain liberation but the water from the river Ganges is not easily available for everyone. A much effective remedy is the Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam. Mahabhishak was an ardent devotee of Lord Dhanvantari the divine Physician and an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Mahabhishak also had the energy of Lord Vishnu in him. Mahabhishak incarnated as Shantanu and married Ganga Devi. Their Son Bhishmacharya blessed us all by revealing to everyone Vishnu Sahasranama which has the powers to cure the ordinary diseases as well as the capacity to free us from Samsara.

Vasunandini  and Prabhasa made it possible for us to drink the milk given by the cow of true knowledge to attain everlasting youth. The milk is given to us in the form of Sri Vishnu Sahasranama and we will be blessed with everlasting youth when we are liberated from this prison of samsara and are united with Lord Sriman Narayana.