Text 1: Sūta said: Being fearful because of having committed violence against the population, Yudhiṣṭhira, desiring to examine all dharmas, went to Kurukṣetra where Bhīṣma had fallen.

Text* 2: His brother and brāhmaṇas such as Vyāsa and Dhaumya followed behind with chariots decorated with gold and fine horses.

Text 3: O Śaunaka! The Lord along with Arjuna also followed behind in his chariot. King Yudhiṣṭhira shone like the god of wealth Kuvera accompanied by the Guhyakas, guardians of his treasures.

Text* 4: Seeing Bhīṣma lying on the ground like a fallen devatā, the Pāṇḍavas offered respects to him along with their followers and Kṛṣṇa.

Text* 5: O Śaunaka! There the brāhmaṇa sages, the sages of the heavenly planets and the kings who were sages had gathered to see the best of the Bharata lineage.

Text 6-8: O brāhmaṇa! Parvata, Nārada, Dhaumya, Vyāsa, Bṛhadaśva, Bharadvāja, Parāśurāma, Vasiṣṭha, Indrapramada, Trita, Gṛtsamada, Asita, Kakṣivān, Gautama, Atri, Kauśika, Sudarśana, along with their disciples, and as well many other pure sages such as Śuka, Kaśyapa and Bṛhaspati came along with their disciples.

Text 9: The best of the Vasus, Bhīṣma, endowed with great qualities, knowledgeable of dharma as applicable according to place and time, seeing that they had gathered, worshipped them.31

Text 10: Bhīṣma, understanding Kṛṣṇa’s powers, worshipped Kṛṣṇa, the lord of the universe, situated within the heart, who was seated there and who had come before Bhīṣma out of great mercy.

Text 11: His eyes blinded by tears of love, he spoke to the Pāṇḍavas sitting there, filled with humility and love.

Text 12: Having the shelter of brāhmaṇas, dharma and Kṛṣṇa, you should not live your life in suffering since that is dangerous and improper.

Text 13: When the great warrior Pāṇḍu died, his wife Kuntī with young children constantly underwent many difficulties in raising you since you were young at that time.

Text 14: I consider that this, which is unwelcome, has all been done to you by time, which controls the world and its protectors just as the wind controls the clouds.

Text 15: You are lamenting where there is Yudhiṣṭhira, the son of Dharma, Bhīma, holder of the club, Arjuna holder of the bow Gāṇḍiva, and your friend Kṛṣṇa.

Text 16: O King! No one can understand the plan of Kṛṣṇa because even those engaged in reasoning and scripture are bewildered by that inquiry.

Text 17: O master! O controller! Of best of the Bharata lineage! Therefore, discerning that the suffering and happiness is dependent only on Kṛṣṇa, follow him and protect the helpless citizens.

Text 18: Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, the original Nārāyaṇa, the puruṣa, who bewilders the world with his energy, secretly moves in the Yādava family.

Text 19: O king! Lord Śiva, Nārada, sage of the heavens, and Lord Kapila know the most secret anubhāvas of Kṛṣṇa, though not his intentions.

Text 20: You think of Kṛṣṇa as your cousin, as a dear friend, as your selfless helper, and out of affection made him your counselor, messenger, and charioteer.

Text 21: His actions are not a mistake of his judgment for he is faultless, he is the soul of all beings, he sees all equally, he is without a second, and is without pride.

Text 22: O king! See his mercy to his dedicated devotees! By that mercy he has come before me directly when I am about to leave my body.

Text 23-24: The devotee whose mind is absorbed in Kṛṣṇa, whose voice chants his name, becomes freed from all karmas on giving up the material body. May that Kṛṣṇa, lord of lords, with glowing lotus face, red eyes and pleasing smile, with four arms, the object of my meditation, remain before me while I drink his beauty and praise him, before giving up this body.

Text 25: Sūta said: Yudhiṣṭhira, hearing what he had said, then asked Bhīṣma, lying on a bed of arrows, about various dharmas while the sages were listening.

Text 26: He described dharmas suitable for men according to their natures, according to varṇa and āśrama, which have qualities of renunciation and enjoyment described according to a person’s detachment or attachment.

Text 27: Within varṇāśṛama, he described duties of charity, duties of the king, duties for attaining liberation, duties of women and bhakti-yoga, in brief and in detail.

Text 28: O Śaunaka! Bhīṣma, knower of truth, accurately described dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa along with their methods, using various stories and histories as proof.

Text 29: The time of uttarāyaṇa, which was desired by Bhīṣma, who had finished speaking on dharma and could die when he chose, then arrived.

Text 30: At that time, withdrawing his words from other subjects, with eyes wide open, Bhīṣma, leader of a thousand chariots, concentrated himself, free of all material attachment, upon Kṛṣṇa, the original person, dressed in shining yellow garments, with four arms, standing before him.

Text 31: As Bhīṣma, free of all inauspiciousness by his pure concentration, free of physical fatigue from fighting and free of wandering senses by Kṛṣṇa’s glance of mercy, left his body, he began to praise Kṛṣṇa.

Text 32: Bhīṣma said: At the end of my life I offer my thoughts to you, bhagavān full of six qualities, best of the Yadus, superior to all other forms of the Lord, absorbed in bliss with your associates, and who, as a pastime, in the form of the puruṣāvatara, sometimes accepts māyā by your glance, which produces the material world.

Text 33: Let me have pure prema for Kṛṣṇa, the friend of Arjuna, who possesses a body desired by all the inhabitants of the three worlds, which is clothed with intense yellow garments shining in the sun, whose complexion is dark like the tamāla tree, and whose lotus face is surrounded by locks of hair.

Text 34: May my mind concentrate on Kṛṣṇa, whose face was decorated with hair covered with the dust raised by horses, tossed all about because of the speed of his driving, and with perspiration because of his great effort in protecting Arjuna, whose armor shone brightly, pierced slightly by my sharp arrows.

Text 35: May I have prema for the chariot driver of Arjuna, who placed the chariot between the two opposing armies immediately on hearing Arjuna’s request, and, situated there, by his glance, took away the prārabdha-karmas of the opposing party.

Text 36: May I have prema for the feet of the Supreme Lord who, by giving knowledge of Himself, destroyed the ignorance of Arjuna who, on seeing the heads of the opposing army at a distance, refused to fight because he thought it was a sin to kill his relatives.

Text 37: Giving up his own promise not to fight, and making my vow to make him fight come true, Kṛṣṇa, situated on the chariot, quickly got down and holding the wheel of a chariot, ran towards me, like a lion coming to kill an elephant, while the earth shook and his top cloth fell to the ground.

Text 38: O Kṛṣṇa! Let my only goal be Mukunda, who, afflicted by my sharp arrows, armor broken, covered in blood, rushed towards me, his enemy, with great force, in order to kill me.

Text 39: Desiring to die, may I have prema for the Lord who protected Arjuna’s chariot while holding a whip in his right hand, the reins in his left hand, whose beauty must be seen, and who bestowed liberation to those who died on the battle field after seeing him.

Text 40: The gopīs were worshipped by Kṛṣṇa’s expert actions, emotional displays, words and glances. Attaining those qualities, they responded in harmony to his most extraordinary displays of love, blinded by the madness of love. How amazing that these gopīs attained the nature of Kṛṣṇa himself.

Text 41: The lord of my life, worthy of being seen, who received the worship of all the greatest sages and kings in the assembly during the rājasūya sacrifice of Yudhiṣṭhira, has become visible to my eyes.

Text 42: Freed of the illusion of difference in the Lord’s various forms, I have attained the Lord who is one though appearing to be many like the sun seen by many people, who is the charioteer, but who is also in my heart, the unborn and is situated in the hearts of all the jīvas, who create their own bodies.

Text 43: Suta said: Thus Bhīṣma, absorbing himself in Kṛṣṇa, bhagavān, the charioteer situated in his heart, using his mind, words and sight, stopped his breathing and ceased external functions.

Text 44: The ignorant, who were like birds who think that day has been destroyed at the approach of evening, thought that Bhīṣma had attained the brahman, and became silent.

Text 45: Drums played by devatās and men sounded, the kings without hatred praised him, and flowers fell from the sky.

Text 46: O Śaunaka of the Bhṛgu dynasty! Yudhiṣṭhira had last rites of the departed Bhīṣma performed and became sad for a moment.

Text 47: The sages in joy praised Kṛṣṇa with his confidential names and then with Kṛṣṇa in their hearts departed again for their hermitages.

Text 48: Then Yudhiṣṭhira went to Hastināpura with Kṛṣṇa and consoled Dhṛtarāṣtṛa and Gāndhārī, who was overcome with grief.

Text* 49: With the permission of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, and agreement of Kṛṣṇa, powerful Yudhiṣṭhira ruled the ancestral kingdom according to dharma.