486 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 1, Ch. 9

Bhigsmadeva appreciated the all-merciful attitude of the Lord because He
did not leave Arjuna alone, although He was disturbed by the sharpened
arrows of Bhismadeva, nor was He reluctant to come before Bhisma’s
deathbed, even though He was ill-treated by him in the battlefield.
Bhigma’s repentance and the Lord’s merciful attitude are both unique in
this picture.

Sri Vigvanatha Cakravarti Thakur, a great Gcarya and devotee in the
humor of conjugal love with the Lord, remarks very saliently in this
regard. He says that the wounds created on the body of the Lord by the
sharpened arrows of Bhismadeva were as pleasing to the Lord as the
biting of a fiancee who bites the body of the Lord directed by a strong
sense of sex desire. Such biting by the opposite sex is never taken as a
sign of enmity, even if there is a wound on the body. Therefore, the
fighting as an exchange of transcendental pleasure between the Lord and
His pure devotee, Sti Bhismadeva, was not at all mundane. Besides that,
since the Lord’s body and the Lord are identical, there was no possibility
of wounds in the absoiute body. The apparent wounds caused by the
sharpened arrows are misleading to the common man, but one who has a
little absolute knowledge can understand the transcendental exchange in
the chivalrous relation. The Lord was perfectly happy with the wounds
caused by the sharpened arrows of Bhigmadeva. The word vibhidyamana is
significant because the Lord’s skin is not different from the Lord. Because
our skin is different from our soul, in our case the word vibhidyamana, or
being bruised and cut. would have been quite suitable. Transcendental
bliss is of different varieties, and the variety of activities in the mundane
world is but a perverted reflection of transcendental bliss. Because every-
thing in the mundane world is qualitatively mundane, it is full of ine-
brieties, whereas in the absolute realm, because everything is of the same
absolute nature, there are varieties of enjoyment without inebriety. The
Lord enjoyed the wounds created by His great devotee Bhismadeva, and
because Bhismadeva is a devotee in the chivalrous relation, he fixes up his
mind on Krsna in that wounded condition.

TEXT 35

aufe afarat frat ay
Raine wt Rae!
feaafe = Tafraren
gaat oelaa cfatareg 1241
