this boon that I
grant thee, O puissant one, from my grace. Discomfort and stupefaction
and burning and pain and hunger and thirst shall not, O son of Ganga,
overcome thee, O thou of unfading glory! Thy perceptions and memory, O
sinless one, shall be unclouded.[158] Thy understanding shall not fail
thee. Thy mind, O Bhishma, freed from the qualities of passion and
darkness, will always be subject to the quality of goodness, like the
moon emerged from the clouds. Thy understanding will penetrate whatever
subject connected with duty, morality, or profit, thou wilt think upon. O
tiger among kings, obtaining celestial vision, thou wilt, O thou of
immeasurable prowess, succeed in beholding the four orders of created
things. Endued with the eye of knowledge, thou wilt, O Bhishma, behold,
like fishes in a limpid stream, all created things that thou mayst
endeavour to recollect!"'

"Vaisampayana continued, 'Then those great Rishis, with Vyasa amongst
them, adored Krishna with hymns from the Richs, the Yajuses, and the
Samans. A celestial shower of flowers belonging to every season fell on
that spot where he of Vrishni's race, with Ganga's son and the son of
Pandu were. Celestial instruments of every kind played in the welkin and
the tribes of Apsaras began to sing. Nothing of evil and no portent of
any evil kind were seen there. An auspicious, pleasant, and pure breeze,
bearing every kind of fragrance, began to blow. All the points of the
compass became clear and quiet, and all the animals and birds began to
rove in peace. Soon after, like a fire at the extremity of a great
forest, the divine Surya of a thousand rays was seen to descend to the
west. The great Rishis then, rising up, saluted Janardana and Bhishma and
king Yudhishthira. Upon this, Kesava, and the sons of Pandu, and Satyaki,
and Sanjaya, and Saradwata's son Kripa, bowed in reverence to those
sages. Devoted to the practice of righteousness, those sages, thus
worshipped by Kesava and others, speedily proceeded to their respective
abodes, saying, "We will return tomorrow." After this, Kesava and the
Pandavas, saluting Bhishma and circumambulating him, ascended their
handsome cars. Those heroes then proceeded, accompanied by many other
cars decked with golden Kuvaras, and infuriated elephants looking like
mountains and steeds fleet as Garudas, and foot-soldiers armed with bows
and weapons. That army, moving with great speed, proceeded in two
divisions, one in the van