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Ah! You are asking about the stuti (prayer/verse) by Bhīṣma in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. 🙏
This is different from Sūta Gosvāmī’s opening prayers. In the Bhāgavatam, Bhīṣma Pratīṣṭhita Stuti occurs in Canto 1, Chapter 9, where the elderly Bhīṣma, lying on the bed of arrows, praises the Bhāgavatam, the Supreme Lord, and dharma before instructing Yudhiṣṭhira about the duties of life and devotion.
Here’s a structured summary:
🌸 Context
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After the Kurukshetra war, Bhīṣma lies on the bed of arrows (Śayyāsana) on the battlefield.
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He is approached by Yudhishṭhira, who asks about righteous governance, dharma, and ultimate liberation.
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Bhīṣma gives his final instructions (1.9) and includes a stuti (glorification) of the Supreme Lord, the Vedas, and the Bhāgavatam.
🌺 Essence of Bhīṣma’s Stuti
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Praise of Lord Kṛṣṇa (the Supreme)
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Bhīṣma glorifies the Lord as the ultimate cause of all creation, maintenance, and destruction.
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He emphasizes that God is omniscient, omnipotent, and beyond material illusion.
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Bhāgavatam as the Supreme Scripture
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Supreme Dharma
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Bhīṣma stresses that bhakti is the highest dharma.
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All other duties, rituals, and austerities are secondary if they do not lead to love of God.
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Role of Devotional Listening
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Like Sūta Gosvāmī’s Maṅgalācaraṇa, Bhīṣma highlights listening to the Bhāgavatam as a supreme act of devotion.
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He urges Yudhishṭhira and all kings to hear, study, and teach it.
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📝 Key Verses (Summary)
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Bhīṣma glorifies the Lord – verses 1.9.1–4
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“The Supreme Lord is the origin of all, and everything else is dependent.”
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Bhīṣma glorifies the Bhāgavatam – verses 1.9.5–10
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“This Purāṇa is the essence of all scriptures, free from hypocrisy, and destroys all miseries.”
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Dharma and Bhakti – verses 1.9.11–23
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“The highest dharma is devotion; everything else is secondary. Those who follow it attain supreme happiness.”
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🌟 Essence for Practitioners
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Bhīṣma’s stuti is considered a bridge between dharma and bhakti, showing how a great kṣatriya and elder statesman venerates scripture and God.
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Like Sūta Gosvāmī, he emphasizes that hearing, reciting, and meditating on the Bhāgavatam is the supreme path, especially at the end of life, preparing the soul for mokṣa.
If you want, I can compile the exact Sanskrit verses of Bhīṣma’s Stuti (1.9.1–23) with IAST transliteration and English translation, just like we did for Sūta Gosvāmī, so you can study or recite them.
Do you want me to do that?
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Certainly! Here is the Bhīṣma Stuti from Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.9.32–42, presented in a continuous prayer format with:
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Sanskrit (Devanāgarī)
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IAST Transliteration
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English Translation
🌸 Bhīṣma Stuti (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.9.32–42)
Sanskrit (Devanāgarī)
श्रीभीष्म उवाच |
इति मतिरुपकल्पिता वितृष्णा भगवति सात्वतपुङ्गवे विभूम्नि |
स्वसुखमुपगते क्वचिद्विहर्तुं प्रकृतिमुपेयुषि यद्भवप्रवाह: || ३२ ||
त्रिभुवनकमनं तमालवर्णं रविकरगौरवराम्बरं दधाने |
वपुरलकलकुलावृताननाब्जं विजयसखे रतिर्ममास्तु मेऽनवद्यां || ३३ ||
युधि तुरगरजोविदूम्रविष्वक्कचलुलितश्रमवार्यलङ्कृतास्ये |
मम निशितशरैर्विभिद्यमानत्वचि विलसत्कवचेऽस्तु कृष्णात्मा || ३४ ||
सपदि सखिवचनो निषम्य मध्ये निजपरयो: बलयो रथं निवेश्य |
स्थितवति परसैनिकायुरक्ष्णा हृतवति पार्थसखे रतिर्ममास्तु || ३५ ||
व्यवहितपृतनामुखं निरिक्ष्य स्वजनवधाद्विमुखस्य दोषबुद्ध्या |
कुमतिमहरदात्मविद्यया य: चरणरति: परमस्य तस्य मेऽस्तु || ३६ ||
स्वनिगममपहार्यमत्प्रतिज्ञां ऋतमधिकर्तुमवाप्लुतो रथस्थ: |
धृतरथचरणोऽभयाच्चलद्गुर् हरिरिव हन्तुमिभं गतुत्तरीय: || ३७ ||
शितविशिखहतो विशीर्णदंष: क्षतजपरिप्लुतातातायिनो मे |
प्रसभमभिससार मद्वधार्थं स भवतु मे भगवान्गतिर्मुकुन्द: || ३८ ||
विजयरथकुटुम्भात्तत्स्रोत्रे धृतहयरश्मिनि तच्छ्रियेक्षणीये |
भगवति रतिर्ममेमुमूर्षो यं इह निरिक्ष्य हता गताश्वरूपम् || ३९ ||
ललितगतिकिलासवल्गुहासप्रणयनिरीक्षणकल्पितोरुमान: |
कृतमनुक्रितावत्या उन्मदांधा: प्रकृतिमगनकिलयस्य गोपवध्व: || ४० ||
मुनिगणनृपवर्षसङ्कुलेऽन्त:सदसि युधिष्ठिरराजसूयेऽषाम् |
अर्हणमुपपेदे ईक्षणीयो मम दृष्टिगोचर: एष आत्मा || ४१ ||
तमिममहमजं शरीरभाजां हृदि हृदि धिष्ठितमात्मकल्पितानाम् |
प्रतिदृष्टमिवैकधार्कमेकं समाधिगतोऽस्मि विधूतबेदमोह: || ४२ ||
IAST Transliteration
śrī-bhīṣma uvāca |
iti matir upakalpitā vitṛṣṇā bhagavati sātvata-puṅgave vibhūmni |
sva-sukham upagate kvacid vihartuṁ prakṛtim upeyuṣi yad-bhava-pravāhaḥ || 32 ||
tribhuvana-kamanam tamāla-varṇam ravikara-gaura-vara-ambaraṁ dadhāne |
vapuralaka-kulāvṛtānanābjam vijaya-sakhe ratiḥ mamāstu me ’navadyām || 33 ||
yudhi turaga-rajo-vidhūmra-viṣvak-kaca-lulita-śrama-vāry-alaṅkṛtāsye |
mama niśita-śarair vibhidyamāna-tvaci vilasat-kavace ’stu kṛṣṇa-ātmā || 34 ||
sapadi sakhi-vaco niśamya madhye nija-parayor balayo rathaṁ niveśya |
sthitavati para-sainikāyur akṣṇā hṛtavati pārtha-sakhe ratiḥ mamāstu || 35 ||
vyavahita-pṛtanā-mukhaṁ nirīkṣya sva-jana-vadhād vimukhasya doṣa-buddhyā |
kumatim aharad ātma-vidyayā yaḥ caraṇa-ratiḥ paramasya tasya me ’stu || 36 ||
sva-nigamam apahāya mat-pratijñām ṛtam adhikartum avāpluto rathasthaḥ |
dhṛta-ratha-caraṇo ’bhyayāc calad-gur harir iva hantum ibhaṁ gatottarīyaḥ || 37 ||
śita-viśikha-hato viśīrṇa-daṁśaḥ kṣataja-paripluta ātatāyino me |
prasabham abhisasāra mad-vadhārthaṁ sa bhavatu me bhagavān gatir mukundaḥ || 38 ||
vijaya-ratha-kuṭumbhāt tac-chrotre dhṛta-haya-raśmini tac-chriyekṣaṇīye |
bhagavati ratir astu me mumūrṣor yam iha nirīkṣya hatā gatāḥ sva-rūpam || 39 ||
lalita-gati-vilāsa-valgu-hāsa-pranaya-nirīkṣaṇa-kalpitorumānāḥ |
kṛtam anukṛtavatya unmadāndhāḥ prakṛtim agan kila yasya gopa-vadhvaḥ || 40 ||
muni-gaṇa-nṛpa-varya-saṅkule ’ntaḥ-sadasi yudhiṣṭira-rājasūya eṣām |
arhaṇam upapeda īkṣaṇīyo mama dṛśi-gocara eṣa āvir ātmā || 41 ||
tam imam aham ajaṁ śarīra-bhājāṁ hṛdi hṛdi dhiṣṭhitam ātma-kalpitānām |
pratidṛśam iva naikadhārkam ekaṁ samadhi-gato ’smi vidhūta-bheda-mohaḥ || 42 ||
English Translation
Verse 32:
Bhīṣma said: Let me now invest my thinking, feeling, and willing, which were so long engaged in different subjects and occupational duties, in the all-powerful Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. He is always self-satisfied, but sometimes, being the leader of the devotees, He enjoys transcendental pleasure by descending to the material world, although from Him only the material world is created.
Verse 33:
Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the intimate friend of Arjuna. He has appeared on this earth in His transcendental body, which resembles the bluish color of the tamāla tree. His body attracts everyone in the three planetary systems [upper, middle, and lower]. May His glittering yellow dress and His lotus face, covered with paintings of sandalwood pulp, be the object of my attraction, and may I not desire fruitive results.
Verse 34:
On the battlefield [where Śrī Kṛṣṇa attended Arjuna out of friendship], the flowing hair of Lord Kṛṣṇa turned ashen due to the dust raised by the hoofs of the horses. And because of His labor, beads of sweat wetted His face. All these decorations, intensified by the wounds dealt by my sharp arrows, were enjoyed by Him. Let my mind thus go unto Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
Verse 35:
In obedience to the command of His friend, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa entered the arena of the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra between the soldiers of Arjuna and Duryodhana, and while there He shortened the life spans of the opposite party by His merciful glance. This was done simply by His looking at the enemy. Let my mind be fixed upon that Kṛṣṇa.
Verse 36:
When Arjuna was seemingly polluted by ignorance upon observing the soldiers and commanders before him on the battlefield, the Lord eradicated his ignorance by delivering transcendental knowledge. May His lotus feet always remain the object of my attraction.
Verse 37:
Fulfilling my vow and sacrificing His own promise, He got down from the chariot, took up its wheel, and ran towards me hurriedly, just as a lion goes to kill an elephant. He even dropped His outer garment on the way.
Verse 38:
May He, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, who awards salvation, be my ultimate destination. On the battlefield He charged me, as if angry because of the wounds dealt by my sharp arrows. His shield was scattered, and His body was smeared with blood due to the wounds.
Verse 39:
At the moment of death, let my ultimate attraction be to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead. I concentrate my mind upon the chariot driver of Arjuna who stood with a whip in His right hand and a bridle rope in His left, who was very careful to give protection to Arjuna’s chariot by all means. Those who saw Him on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra attained their original forms after death.
Verse 40:
Let my mind be fixed upon Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, whose motions and smiles of love attracted the damsels of Vrajadhāma [the gopīs]. The damsels imitated the characteristic movements of the Lord [after His disappearance from the rāsa dance].
Verse 41:
At the Rājasūya-yajña [sacrifice] performed by Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, there was the greatest assembly of all the elite men of the world, the royal and learned orders, and in that great assembly Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa was worshiped by one and all as the most exalted Personality of Godhead.
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AND THEN THERE WAS LIGHT - MLB
Both the Vedas and the Bible, products respectively of the Indo-European
and Semitic cultures, assert that the light of creation arose from the mind of
God. If we make the paradigm shift to conceiving God as an undivided,
allpervading entity, rather than a distant, finite being, then what would the
mind of God look like? Perhaps it would be something like the cosmic
consciousness of which the rishis spoke.
In the cosmology of the Vedas, the first thing Brahman uttered into the void
was a sound: om. The Torah and, later, the Gospel of St. John, also suggest
that God’s breath carried a word (Logos), and they tie creation to the naming
of things. Either way, we find the striking notion that material reality arises
from conscious intent: the idea of a thing comes before the thing itself. In the
fourth century BCE, Plato reached the same conclusion by way of reason
rather than revelation, and his thinking later influenced Christianity and
perhaps Eastern belief systems as well.
More than two millennia after Plato, these same strains of thought found
their way, albeit more humbly, into the mind of a thin, barefoot adolescent
slogging his way to and from school with plenty of stops for daydreaming
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