Shloka 209
Guru’s Instruction on Dream, Mind, Guṇas, and Knowing Brahman
Svapna–Manas–Guṇa–Brahma-vicāra
(युधिष्ठिर उवाच पितामह महाप्राज्ञ सर्वशास्त्रविशारद । प्रयाणकाले कि जप्य॑ मोक्षिभिस्तत्त्वचिन्तकै: ।।
bhīṣma uvāca |
sadyuktisahitaḥ sūkṣma uktaḥ praśnas tvayānagha |
śṛṇuṣvāvahito rājan nāradena purā śrutam ||
śrīvatsāṅkaṃ jagadbījam anantaṃ lokasākṣiṇam |
purā nārāyaṇaṃ devaṃ nāradaḥ paripṛṣṭavān ||
nārada uvāca |
tvām akṣaraṃ paraṃ brahma nirguṇaṃ tamasaḥ param |
āhuḥ vedyam paraṃ dhāma brahmādikam alodbhavam ||
bhagavan bhūtabhavyeśa śraddadhānaiḥ jitendriyaiḥ |
kathaṃ bhaktibhiś cintyo ’si yogibhir mokṣakāṅkṣibhiḥ ||
kiṃ ca japyaṃ japen nityaṃ kalyam utthāya mānavaḥ |
kathaṃ yuñjan sadā dhyāyed brūhi tattvaṃ sanātanam ||
śrībhagavān uvāca |
hanta te kathayiṣyāmi imāṃ divyām anusmṛtim |
yām adhītya prayāṇe tu madbhāvāyopapadyate ||
oṃkāram agrataḥ kṛtvā māṃ namaskṛtya nārada |
ekāgraḥ prayato bhūtvā imaṃ mantram udīrayet |
"oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya" iti ||
… (tataḥ nāradena viṣṇoḥ stutir-anusmṛtiḥ; indriyasaṃhāraḥ; maraṇakāle smaraṇavidhiḥ; bhaktiphalaśrutiḥ) …
bhīṣma uvāca |
evaṃ pṛṣṭaḥ purā tena nāradena surarṣiṇā |
yad uvāca tadā viṣṇus tad uktaṃ tava suvrata ||
tvam apy ekamanā bhūtvā dhyāhi dhyeyaṃ guṇātigam |
bhajasva sarvabhāvena paramātmānam avyayam ||
…
"namo nārāyaṇāya" iti mantraḥ sarvārthalādhakaḥ ||
Bhishma said: Your question, O sinless king, is subtle, well-reasoned, and rightly framed. Listen attentively; I will repeat what I once heard from Narada. In former times Narada approached Narayana—marked with the Śrīvatsa, the seed of the universe, endless, and the witness of all worlds—and asked: “You are called the imperishable Supreme Brahman, beyond the darkness of ignorance, without limiting qualities, the highest knowable reality and the supreme abode, the source even of Brahmā and the lotus of origin. How should the faithful, self-controlled devotees and the yogins who long for liberation contemplate you? What should a person regularly recite upon rising at dawn, and how should a yogin maintain unbroken meditation? Teach me the eternal truth.” The Lord replied that he would teach a divine ‘anusmṛti’—a sacred recollection—by which, especially at the time of departure, one attains the Lord’s own state. He instructed Narada to begin with Oṃ, bow in reverence, become one-pointed and purified, and recite the mantra: “Oṃ, homage to the Blessed Lord Vāsudeva.” What follows is a long hymn of surrender and remembrance: Narada praises Vishnu as the ancient, unborn, all-pervading ruler; the inner witness in every body; the support of all principles; beyond prakṛti, intellect, ego, and the three guṇas; the light within sun, moon, and stars; the refuge of those freed from desire, anger, and duality. He prays that at death his mind and breath may rest in the Lord alone, that the senses dissolve back into their cosmic sources, and that he may go debtless—freed from karmic residue—to Vishnu’s highest abode. The Lord then teaches the inner discipline of withdrawal: restrain the ten senses, merge them into mind, mind into ego, ego into intellect, and intellect into the Self; know the Supreme beyond even intellect; and at the moment of death remember him in this way. Such remembrance, he declares, carries even a former wrongdoer to the highest goal. He praises the power of simple devotion—uttering ‘namaḥ’ with faith—and urges constant, unwearied meditation on Narayana rather than prideful ritualism. Bhishma concludes by urging Yudhishthira to become single-minded, worship the imperishable Supreme Self, and take up this remembrance as the sure support at life’s end.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
At the time of death, liberation is secured by single-pointed remembrance of Narayana/Vishnu, supported by disciplined withdrawal of the senses and ego, and by devotional japa—especially the mantra “oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya” (and the essence ‘namo nārāyaṇāya’). The passage emphasizes humility and surrender over ego-driven ritual merit.
Yudhishthira asks Bhishma what a seeker should recite and remember at death to attain the highest perfection. Bhishma answers by recounting an older dialogue: Narada questions Narayana about contemplation and japa for moksha; Vishnu teaches a divine ‘anusmṛti’ and the Vasudeva mantra, followed by Narada’s extensive hymn and the Lord’s instructions on meditative dissolution and deathbed remembrance.