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 ||
毗湿摩说：凡以唯独礼敬圣黑天为誓者——夜卧亦不断忆念黑天，晨起仍忆念黑天者——皆成黑天之性相，融入黑天，如同酥油伴随真言投入祭火，遂与火焰合一。敬礼毗湿奴：为救众生脱离地狱怖畏而建立护持之轮者；又如木筏一般，载人渡过世间之河的漩涡者。
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.