480 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 1, Ch. 9
visuddhaya—by the purified: dhadranaya— meditation; hata-asubhah—one
who had minimized the inauspicious qualities of material existence; tat—
his; thsaya—by looking on; eva—simply by: asu—immediately ; gata—having
gone away; yudha—arrows: sramah—fatigue: nivrtta—being stopped; sarva—
all; indriya—senses; vytti—activities; vibhramah—being widely engaged;
tustava—prayed for: janyam—the material tabernacle; visrjan—while quit-
ting; janardanam—the controller of the living beings.
TRANSLATION
By pure meditation, looking at Lord Sri Krsna, he at once was freed
from all material inauspiciousness and was relieved of all bodily pains
caused by the arrow wounds. Thus all the external activities of his senses
were at once stopped, and he prayed transcendenially to the controller of
all living beings while quitting bis material body.
PURPORT
The material body is a gift of the material energy technically called
illusion. Identification with the material body is due to forgetfulness of
our eternal relationship with the Lord. For a pure devotee of the Lord like
Bhismadeva, this illusion was at once removed as soon as the Lord arrived.
Lord Krsna is like the sun, and the illusory external material energy is like
darkness. In the presence of the sun there is no possibility of darkness
standing. Therefore. just on the arrival of Lord Krsna, all material con-
lamination was completely removed, and Bhismadeva was thus able to be
transcendentally situated hy stopping the activities of the impure senses
in collaboration with matter. The soul is originally pure and so also the
senses. By material Contamination the senses assume the role of imper-
fection and impurity. By revival of contact with the Supreme Pure Lord
Krsna the senses again become freed from material contaminations.
Bhismadeva attained all these transcendental conditions prior to his leaving
the material body because of the presence of the Lord. The Lord is the
controller and benefactor of all living beings. That is the verdict of all
Vedas. He is the supreme eternity and living entity amongst all the eternal
living beings.* And Ile alone provides all necessities for all kinds of living
heings. Thus He provided all facilities to fulfill the transcendental desires
*nilye nitydndm cetanas cetandndm eke ye bahindm vidadhati kaman (Katha Upanisad)
