Introducing Mahabharata Bhisma

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Swami Veda Bharati is the spiritual director of Sadhana Mandir, Swami Rama's Ashram, Rishikesh. He was born into a Sanskrit speaking family and raised in the centuries- old Sanskrit tradition. From the age of nine he has captivated audience with the depth of his knowledge and intuition in the Vedas and Patnjali's yoga sutras. He has achieved academic degrees; M.A. from the University of London, and the prestigious D.Lit. from Holland and is the author of many books.

He was initiated into one of the highest paths of Meditation and yoga by his master, the celebrated yogi Swami Rama of the Himalayas.

His immense experience and scholarship enable him to lecture on a wide variety of topics. He is able to conduct meditation in 17 languages. His ability to guide his audience to calm states of meditative stillness is well known to his students in the various centers he has established all over the world.

Swami Veda Bharati combines the best of the ancient and the modern. He is an inspired and loving teacher, a prolific author, poet and an international lecturer.

With his unique personality he radiates peace, divine love, and joy wherever he is. He was honoured by the swamis of India who conferred on him the title of Mahamandaleshwar, placing him among the top 30 or so swamis of India. The only title above Mahamandaleshwara is that of Shankaracharya.

The author has the habit of speaking to groups on whatever topic he is contemplating at any given time in the Forest of Eye-blinks. As he was contemplating the life of Bhishma at the time, he narrated portions of it to the Himalayan Institute's group visiting the Rishikesh Ashram in the fall of 1992. The way of this narrative somewhat follows on the tradition of Indian epics, Which encapsulate stories within stories, like Russian grandmother dolls.

It is hoped that this particular doll not only entertains you, but also speaks to you, to inspire and guide you.

My sincere appreciation goes to Moriah Wells, who laboriously took the dictation and edited the work, and deepest gratitude to Anne Glazier, who applied her Sanskrit scholarly apparatus and refined the work to its present polished form. It was hoped that I would find time to translate excerpts from Bhishma's 20,000 verses and include them here. However, time is limited, so here is another incomplete version, with the hope that it will still be somewhat of an elevating experience for those who read and contemplate it.