Shloka 94
Bhīṣma’s Śara-śayyā Stuti to Vāsudeva and Yogic Preparation for Dehotsarga
Body-Relinquishment
जिन्होंने श्रीकृष्ण-भजनका ही व्रत ले रखा है, जो श्रीकृष्णका निरन्तर स्मरण करते हुए ही रातको सोते हैं और उन्हींका स्मरण करते हुए सबेरे उठते हैं, वे श्रीकृष्णस्वरूप होकर उनमें इस तरह मिल जाते हैं, जैसे मन्त्र पढ़कर हवन किया हुआ घी अग्निमें मिल जाता है ।।
bhīṣma uvāca | ye śrīkṛṣṇa-bhajanaṃ eva vrataṃ gṛhītvā śrīkṛṣṇaṃ satataṃ smarantaḥ rātrau svapanti, śrīkṛṣṇa-smaraṇenaiva prātaḥ prabudhyante ca, te śrīkṛṣṇa-svarūpā bhūtvā tasmin eva tathā līyante yathā mantra-paṭhanena hutam ājyaṃ agnau līyate || namo naraka-saṃtrāsa-rakṣā-maṇḍala-kāriṇe | saṃsāra-nimna-gā-varta-tārikāṣṭhāya viṣṇave ||
Bhishma said: Those who have taken as their vow the worship of Sri Krishna alone—who fall asleep at night while continually remembering Krishna and awaken in the morning still remembering Him—become of Krishna’s very nature and merge into Him, just as clarified butter offered into the fire with mantra-recitation becomes one with the flame. Salutations to Lord Vishnu, the maker of a protective circle that saves beings from the terror of hell, and who is like a wooden raft that carries one across the whirlpools of the river of worldly existence.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Single-minded devotion expressed as continual remembrance—sleeping and waking with Krishna in mind—transforms the devotee’s identity and culminates in union with the divine; Vishnu is praised as the protector who saves from hellish fear and ferries beings across the whirlpools of samsara.
In Bhishma’s instruction discourse in the Shanti Parva, he describes the fruit of unwavering Krishna-bhakti using two images: ghee offered with mantras merging into fire (devotee merging into Krishna), and Vishnu as a protective ward and as a wooden raft that carries one across the dangerous currents of worldly life.