Shloka 3
Bhīṣma’s Śara-śayyā Stuti to Vāsudeva and Yogic Preparation for Dehotsarga
Body-Relinquishment
(शुक्लपक्षस्य चाष्टम्यां माघमासस्य पार्थिव | प्राजापत्ये च नक्षत्रे मध्यं प्राप्ते दिवाकरे ।।
Vaiśaṃpāyana uvāca |
śuklapakṣasya cāṣṭamyāṃ māghamāsasya pārthiva |
prājāpatye ca nakṣatre madhyaṃ prāpte divākare ||
nivṛttamātre tvayane uttare vai divākare |
samāveśayad ātmānam ātmany eva samāhitaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana dit : « Ô roi, au mois de Māgha, le huitième jour de la quinzaine claire, lorsque le soleil était au zénith sous la constellation de Prajāpati, au moment même où le Dakṣiṇāyana venait de s’achever et où le soleil prenait la course du nord (Uttarāyaṇa), Bhīṣma, l’esprit parfaitement recueilli, ramena son être au-dedans et le fixa dans le Soi suprême. »
वैशग्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights disciplined self-mastery at life’s end: Bhīṣma waits for an auspicious, dharmically significant time (Uttarāyaṇa) and then, with a collected mind, turns inward—placing the individual self in the Supreme Self—presenting an ideal of conscious, ethical, and yogic departure.
As the sun turns from Dakṣiṇāyana to Uttarāyaṇa, on Māgha bright eighth day at midday under the Prajāpati/Rohiṇī asterism, Bhīṣma enters deep meditation and withdraws his consciousness inward, preparing for his chosen time of death while instructive discourse continues in the Śānti Parva setting.