Bhishma and his Amazing Vow !
Ever wondered why Bhishma took such a difficult vow of never getting married ?
Here are some of the reasons I have managed to fathom.
1)
He was a Vasu and was on earth only because of a curse. He did not want to remain on this
earth longer than he had to.
2)
He was cursed to be born into this world due to his
desire to fufil the greed of his wife.
Having suffered it once, he did not want to be married again, least that
should tie him further in this world.
3)
He did not want to leave his genetic imprint in this
world
4)
He wanted to complete his karmic cycle here and now and
have no residue left to pull him back.
In his previous life, Bhishma was a one of the eight Vasus and was called Dyaus
(sky). While visiting Vashishtha
Rishi, Dyaus’s wife Prutha fell in love with the ashram’s Kamadhenu – main
sacred-cow(s) that supplied milk and ghee for the sacraments. Vashishtha was unwilling to part
with his cow for any amount of inducement / money. At the insistence of his wife, Dyaus
abducted the cow(s) with the help of his fellow Vasus.
On learning of the theft, Vashishtha cursed the Vasus to be born as a human and
suffer pain and disappointments.
Vasus begged to be let off the curse.
Those Vasus who had helped in the abduction only out of loyalty, rather
than desire for the cow, were told their time on the earth will be limited. But Dyaus was told that he would
suffer a long life for being the instigator and for giving into the unreasonable
demands of his wife.
The sacred river Ganga was also cursed to be
born as a human by another rishi.
Vasus and Ganga
decided to help each other out. Ganga said she would give birth to the Vasus and kill them off one
by one. Dyaus would be spared the
instant death so that he can live out his curse.
This is cited as the reason behind seven infanticides of
Ganga who became the wife of king Shantanu. Dyaus, the eighth Vasu was born as
Gangaya / Devrata and studied under such great rishis as Brishaspati and
Parashurama.
Though born as a human, Dyaus / Gangaya had an idea that he wasn’t of this
world. His intuition helped him
make the decision not to be married in “this” human life. Marriage and children are born
through karmic connections. As a
Vasu, Dyaus had no karmic connections to any souls that could, or should, be
married to him or be born as his child.
So, by not marrying, Gangaya was making sure he did not create
unnecessary new karmic connections that would bind him to human life for
multiple cycles.
Having had subconscious intuition of his previous life, Gangaya knew that he was
born in this world because he had followed his wife’s unreasonable demands. So his decision not to marry in
“this life” was a reasonable way to avoid the same fate again.
The greatest karmic bond for a soul is to have a genetic link. Having children leaves genetic
imprints / links that perpetuate for generations to come. Though with each generation the
karmic bond weakens, it persists for as long as there are descendents of your
own blood. Souls who are cursed to
fall from a higher realm to lower, are sometimes “aware enough” to avoid leaving
such karmic trails by not having children.
Dyaus / Gangaya / Bhishma was one such soul who did not want to leave a
karmic trail.
Karmic bonds bind us to countless souls.
Love, hate, vengeance, give, take, serve etc are some of the emotions
that bind us. Some of these
emotions run so deep, they bind souls for several life times. This is the basis of most of our
“relationships” in our lives. Some
karmic actions / emotions are so strong, they keep us going round and round for
several life times. To avoid such
things, most enlightened souls act in ways that are karmically neutral. One of the best ways to do this is
to have no emotional attachment to the karma that you perform.
Pitamaha Bhishma was able to release himself from this world in a single
lifetime because he attached as little emotion to his actions as possible. He did his duty – dharma – and no
more. Ofcourse, its not always
possible to do this and sometimes, even if you are not attaching emotions to an
action, others might be doing so from their side and this too can bind you. Hence, the Kuru elder lived a
looooong life to pay off the karmic debts and suffered terribly at the end to
make sure every debt was paid off before leaving this earth.
Often the ways of the wise are confusing to the masses.
Its best to observe and contemplate on what they are doing rather than make
adverse comments or “emulate them” without knowing the full details.
Kuru-vrudha, Bhishma pitamaha was wise beyond the ken of most men. For
karmic reasons did not marry or have any children !
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