Harivamsha 41
English (machine translation) 41
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- English
41.1
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: / Hearing that speech of Viṣṇu, Brahmā, the Grandfather of the worlds, / spoke supreme words beneficial to all the dwellers in heaven:
41.2
"There is no fear at all, O Viṣṇu, for the gods, O slayer of Asuras, / to whom you grant fearlessness, being their helmsman in battle after battle.
41.3
While Śakra, lord of the gods, is victorious, and while you are the slayer of Asuras, / whence could there be fear for men striving in dharma?
41.4
Men devoted to truth and dharma are free from anguish; / untimely death is unable to look upon them.
41.5
And the rulers of men, the kings, enjoying each their sixth part, / do not create division amongst one another.
41.6
Doing good for their subjects, uncensured by taxpayers, / and having their wealth separated from non-taxpayers, they constantly fill the treasury.
41.7
Protecting their respective thriving realms, intent on forbearance, / inflicting mild punishments, they protect the four classes straightforwardly.
41.8
Not frightening to living beings, well honored by their ministers, / endowed with fourfold armies, they employ the six policies.
41.9
All are devoted to the science of archery, all are established in the Vedas, / and they sacrifice at the proper time with sacrifices offering generous fees.
41.10
Having studied the Vedas, with consecrations [they gratify] the great seers through chaste studentship, / and with hundreds of pure ancestral rites they gratify the ancestors.
41.11
Nothing of the three types on earth is unknown to them: / the Vedic, the worldly, and that taught in the dharmaśāstras.
41.12
Having seen high and low matters, equal in splendor to the great seers, / those lords of men are capable of making the Kṛta Yuga once again.
41.13
By their power alone Vāsava rains propitiously, / the winds blew properly, and the ten directions were free of dust.
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[...] winds of auspicious fragrance;
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and the sky became spotless [...];
41.14
the earth is free from portents, and the planets move well; / and the moon, together with constellations, moves gently in conjunction.
41.15
The sun, moving in regular course, travelled through the two solstices, / and the fire, sated with various oblations, was of auspicious fragrance.
41.16
When [all] are thus correctly engaged, turned away from wrongdoing, / and delighting the whole earth, whence would fear of Death arise for men?
41.17
Yet by the forces of those mighty kings whose fame blazes / and who emulate one another, the surface of the earth is oppressed.
41.18
Exhausted by the burden, oppressed by the lords of men, / this earth has approached like a ship near to sinking.
41.19
With an appearance like the end of a yuga, her bond of mountains loosened, / agitated by the surge of waters, repeatedly showing sweat,
41.20
by the bodies of the kṣatriyas, their splendor, and their strength, / and by the extensive realms of men, the earth seems to grow weary.
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And what was spoken in the abode of Brahman by Brahmā Parameṣṭhin,
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listen to that, O mighty-armed one, this supreme secret:
41.21
'In city after city, a lord of men is surrounded by forces numbered in tens of millions, / and in realm after realm are many villages by the hundreds of thousands.
41.22
By thousands of rulers of the earth and the forces of those strong men, / and by realms rich in myriads of villages, the earth is rendered without empty space.
41.23
Rendering time before her prey-less and motionless, / she has reached my abode, O Viṣṇu, and you are her supreme refuge.
41.24
This realm of action for those residing here, this earth, has fallen into distress; / that must be done so she does not sink, for she is eternal in the world.
41.25
For in her oppression there would be a great wrong, O Madhusūdana, / rituals would fail for the worlds, and the universe would be ruined.
41.26
Evidently she grows weary, severely oppressed by the multitude of kings; / casting aside her innate forbearance, the unmoving one has become unsteady.
41.27
Therefore, we have listened to her, and she has been heard by you as well; / for the sake of lifting the burden, indeed, we deliberate with you.
41.28
For all the kings who prosper their realms stand on the path of truth, / and the three classes of men follow the brahmins.
41.29
All speech is full of truth, and the classes are devoted to dharma; / all the learned are devoted to the Vedas, and all men are devoted to the learned.
41.30
Thus do humans conduct themselves in the world on account of dharma; / let counsel proceed in such a way that no destruction of dharma occurs.
41.31
This is the only resort of the virtuous, and dharma is its excellent means; / yet the destruction of kings must be brought about to resolve the earth's burden.
41.32
Therefore come, O fortunate one, for the sake of counsel together; / placing the earth at our head, let us go to the peak of Meru.'"
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Having said this much, O king of kings, Brahmā, the Grandfather of the worlds,
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the soul of all, possessed of great splendor, fell silent together with the earth.
Linked texts (1)
- Harivaṃśa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit