The Pandavas Go To Bhishma
That evening Yudhisthira was speechless. He had seen Bhishma’s terrible destructive abilities up close, and now he felt more dismayed than ever. If their grandfather had continued to fight like that, the final victory would have remained a dream for them and nothing more. He turned to Krishna for advice.
“Bhishma is by no means invincible,” replied the Lord, “but your brothers who love and respect him do not have the courage to kill him. On the other hand, we cannot continue in this way: if Arjuna himself does not attack him determinedly tomorrow to kill him, I will take up arms and do justice. Give me your consent and I will destroy all your enemies.”
“No, don’t do that,” Yudhisthira retorted. “I don’t want your name to be tainted with the shame of breaking such an important promise. We have to find another solution.”
For a while Pandu’s son was silent.
“Bhishma is not happy to have to fight this war,” he then resumed, “because Duryodhana is evil and has no regard for morality and virtue. I know that he hates this war, that he does not want to live it to the fullest, and that he would like to die. But it is also true that, unless he himself decides to leave his body, no one will ever be able to defeat him. One solution could be this: to make him himself choose to abandon this life.”
The idea seemed good to Krishna. So the five Pandavas and the Lord, protected from the darkness of the night, went to the old man’s tent and offered him their respectful obeisances. Glad to be able to see them again in a circumstance other than the dusty battlefield, Bhishma smiled at everyone.
“What can I do for you?” He asked.
“As long as you are on the battlefield we have no chance of winning the war,” replied Yudhisthira, “and on the other hand it is not destined for Duryodhana to triumph. At this juncture what can we do?”
“It’s true: as long as I live, you won’t be able to beat the Kauravas. So you’ll have to kill me.”
“But we love and respect you as a father, and no one would feel like confronting you with the aim of giving you death. Isn’t there any other solution?”
“No, there are no others,” Bhishma replied, “You have to do it; but don’t be too sorry because I have lived on this Earth for a long time and I feel tremendously tired. For so long I’ve just wanted to return back to my place of origin. Also, the living conditions here, at the court of the Kauravas, have become intolerable to me, especially because of Duryodhana, who has completely rejected the sense of virtue. So do it without saddening yourself, in fact you will make me happy.
“It will be Arjuna who will have to take my life. In this world, in fact, there are only two people capable of defeating me: one is Krishna, the other is Arjuna. Tomorrow bring Shikhandi to the front and use him as a shield. I will not fight against him because, as you know, he was born a woman and also because it is right that Amba has her revenge; from her shoulders shoot thousands of arrows against my body and in this way you will be victorious.”
And once again Bhishma told the tragic story of Amba; then the Pandavas returned to their camp.
That night Krishna was busy convincing Arjuna that he should kill Bhishma tomorrow.
This is a section of the book “Maha-bharata, Vol. 2”.
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