Bhishma's Justification – IV

Continued from previous issue.....Anjali: Kṛṣṇa killed Bhīṣma?Swamiji: Chakra refers to Sudarshan Chakra. The Chakra of the Lord is called Sudarshan - the Great Vision. That is what Bhishma saw and exclaimed, ‘Now I don't mind. I have been rewarded completely. I am not dying yet because the Uttarayana has not come. Therefore, I am just waiting for another three more days. When Uttarayana starts, then if you will me to die, let me die.’Now it is by that portion of the Mahabharata that Bhishma's entire justification comes up. Superficially looking, one does talk about the ‘salt’ aspect. It is not salt, as you said, no. It is not their salt, rather these people are eating his salt..Anjali: But why did he side with the wicked hundred? He was equally beholden to stay with the five brothers. I mean, all along' he had brought them up too.Swamiji: He was in the palace. He was not anywhere else. The palace came under the hundred. So, he remained in the palace because he knew that to get away from there was against the Lord's wish. ‘Five times I tried, five times some obstacle came: Therefore, the Lord's wish is different.’ That is how he viewed it.Anjali: Here is an example of how only the individual himself can determine his own dharma.