Text 17] Bhisma’s Passing Away 457
na hy asya karhicid rajan
puman veda vidhitsitam
yad vijijndsaya yuk ta
muhyanti kavayo ‘pi hi
na—never; hi—certainly; asya—His; karhicit—whatsoever; rajan—O King;
puman—anyone; veda—knows; vidhitsitam—plan; yat—which; vijijndsaya—
even after exhaustive inquiries; yuktah—being engaged in; muhyanti—
bewildered; kavayah—great philosophers; api—even; hi—certainly.
TRANSLATION
O King, no one can know the plan of the Lord [Sri Krsna]. Even
though great philosophers inquire exhaustively, they are bewildered.
PURPORT
The bewilderment of Maharaja Yudhisthira over his past sinful acts and
the resultant sufferings, etc., is completely negated by a great authority
like Bhisma (one of the twelve authorized persons). Bhisma wanted to
impress upon Maharaja Yudhisthira that since time immemorial no one,
including such demigods as Siva and Brahma, could ascertain the real
plan of the Lord. So what can we understand about it? It is useless also to
inquire about it. Even the exhaustive philosophical inquiries of sages
cannot ascertain the plan of the Lord. The best policy is simply to abide
by the orders of the Lord without argument. The sufferings of the
Pandavas are never due to their past deeds. The Lord had to execute the
plan of establishing the kingdom of virtue, and therefore His own devotees
suffered temporarily in order to establish the conquest of virtue. Bhisma-
deva was certainly satisfied by seeing the triumph of virtue, and he was
glad to see King Yudhisthira on the throne, although he himself fought
against him. Even a great fighter like Bhisma could not win the Battle of
Kuruksetra because the Lord wanted to show that vice cannot conquer
virtue, regardless of who tries to execute it. Bhismadeva was a great
devotee of the Lord, but he chose to fight against the Pandavas by the will
of the Lord because the Lord wanted to show that a fighter like Bhisma
cannot win on the wrong side.
TEXT 17
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