SB 1.9.43 (1964)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 43
Suta Uvacha Krishna evam bhagawati mano bag dristi brittibhih Atmani atmanam avesya sa antaswasa uparamat.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Suta uvacha—Suta Goswami said, Krishna—Lord Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Eva—only, Bhagawati—unto Him, Mano—mind, Bag—speeches, Dristi—sight, Brittibhih—activities, Atmani—unto the Supersoul, Atmanam—the living being, Avesya—having merged in, Sa—he, Antaswasa—inhailing, Uparamat—became silent.
TRANSLATION
Suta Goswami said, "thus Bhismadeva merging himself in the Super soul Lord Shri Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead by his mind, speeches, sight and activities and thus he became silent stopping breathing within."
PURPORT
The stage attained by Bhismadeva while quiting his material body is called nirvikalapa samadhi because he merged his own self unto the thinking of the Lord by the mind remembering His different activities, by speeches he chanted the glories of the Lord, by his sight he began to see the Lord personally present before him and all his activities became concentrated upon the Lord, without any deviation. This is the highest stage of perfection and it is possible for everyone to attain this stage by practice of devotional service. The devotional service of the Lord consist of nine principles of service activities and they are 1. Hearing, 2. Chanting, 3. Remembering, 4. Serving the lotus feet, 5. Worshipping, 6. Praying 7. Executing the order, 8. Fraternising, and 9. Full surrendering. Anyone of them or all of them are equally competent to award the desired result but they require to be practised persistently under the guidance of an expert devotee of the Lord. The first item, hearing, is the most important item of all the other and, therefore, hearing of the Bhagwat Geeta, and later on Srimad Bhagwatam is essential for the serious candidate who wants to attain the stage of Bhismadeva at the end. The unique situation at the time of death of Bhismadeva can be attained even though Lord Krishna is not personally present before one as it was possible for Bhismadeva. His words of the Bhagwat Geeta or that of Srimad Bhagwatam are identical with the Lord. They are sound incarnations of the Lord and one can fully utilise them in the matter of being entitled to attain to the stage of Sri Bhismadeva who was one of the eight Basus. Every man or animal must die at a certain stage of life but one who dies like Bhismadeva attains perfection and one who dies forced by the laws of nature dies like the animal. That is the difference between a man and an animal and the human form of life is specially meant for dying like Bhismadeva.