Verse Text
dvitīyo, yathā prathame –
sva-nigamam apahāya mat-pratijṣām
ṛtam adhikartum avapluto rathasthaḥ |
dhṛta-ratha-caraṇo ’bhyayāc caladgur
harir iva hantum ibhaṁ gatottarīyaḥ ||150||
Translation
An example of being the friend of His servant, from the First Canto: Fulfilling my desire and sacrificing His own promise, He got down from the chariot, took up its wheel, and ran towards me hurriedly, just as a lion goes to kill an elephant. He even dropped His upper garment on the way. SB 1.9.37
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
This is a statement of Bhīṣma on leaving his body. Kṛṣṇa gave up His promise (nigamam apahāya) to take up arms in the war. “I also made an oath, to make Kṛṣṇa take up arms. Though standing in Arjuna’s chariot, to make my oath come true, Kṛṣṇa got down on the ground and took the chariot wheel in His hand. Being absorbed in this, His top cloth fell off (gataḥ uttarīyaḥ) and by that absorption, with His manifested power, the earth shook. He came towards me to kill me, but did not do so. May that Mukunda be the object of my mind! (This is stated in the next verse.) He was like a lion attacking an elephant (me). His sense of friendship, with its devotion, detected a trace of past devotion in me--who by fate have now become a great offender to Kṛṣṇa and His friend Arjuna. In addition, such friendship increased my glory while decreasing His glory.” Kṛṣṇa alone has such friendship with His pure devotees at all times.
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
Kṛṣṇa’s favoritism toward His devotees was exhibited in His fight with Bhīṣma. When Grandfather Bhīṣma was lying at the point of death on the bed of arrows, Kṛṣṇa was present before him, and Bhīṣma was remembering how Kṛṣṇa had been kind to him on the battlefield. Kṛṣṇa had promised that in the Battle of Kurukṣetra He would not even touch a weapon to help either side; He would remain neutral. Although Kṛṣṇa was Arjuna’s charioteer, He had promised that He would not help Arjuna by using any weapons. But one day Bhīṣma, in order to nullify Kṛṣṇa’s promise, exhibited his fighting spirit so magnificently against Arjuna that Kṛṣṇa was obliged to get down from His chariot. Taking up a broken chariot wheel, He ran toward Grandfather Bhīṣma as a lion runs toward an elephant to kill it. Grandfather Bhīṣma remembered this scene, and He later praised Kṛṣṇa for His glorious favoritism toward His devotee, Arjuna, even at the risk of breaking His own promise.