Shloka 93
Bhīṣma’s Śara-śayyā Stuti to Vāsudeva and Yogic Preparation for Dehotsarga
Body-Relinquishment
कृष्णव्रता: कृष्णमनुस्मरन्तो रात्रौ च कृष्णं पुनरुत्थिता ये । ते कृष्णदेहा: प्रविशन्ति कृष्ण- माज्यं यथा मन्त्रहुतं हुताशे
kṛṣṇavratāḥ kṛṣṇam anusmaranto rātrau ca kṛṣṇaṃ punar utthitā ye | te kṛṣṇadehāḥ praviśanti kṛṣṇam ājyaṃ yathā mantrahutaṃ hutāśe ||
भीष्म ने कहा—जो कृष्ण-व्रती हैं, जो निरन्तर कृष्ण का स्मरण करते हैं, और जो रात्रि में भी कृष्ण का ध्यान करके फिर उठ बैठते हैं—वे कृष्ण-स्वरूप हो जाते हैं और कृष्ण में इस प्रकार प्रवेश करते हैं, जैसे मन्त्र से आहुति दिया हुआ घृत अग्नि में समा जाता है।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Single-pointed devotion expressed as disciplined remembrance (vrata + anusmaraṇa) transforms the devotee’s nature; such a person ‘enters’ Kṛṣṇa—i.e., attains intimate union or final refuge in the divine—like a properly consecrated oblation reaching the fire.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction in the Śānti Parva, he praises Kṛṣṇa-centered observance: devotees who continually remember Kṛṣṇa, even rising at night for renewed recollection, are described as becoming Kṛṣṇa-formed and merging into him, illustrated through the sacrificial image of ghee offered with mantra entering Agni.