Bhagavatapurana 11.13: atha trayodaśo'dhyāyaḥ

11.13.1

/0 śrī-bhagavān uvāca
sattvaṃ rajas tama iti guṇā buddher na cātmanaḥ /
sattvenānyatamau hanyāt sattvaṃ sattvena caiva hi //

The Lord said: / Purity, passion, and darkness are qualities of the intellect, not of the self; / by purity one should destroy the other two, and then purity by purity itself.

The Lord said: — Satva, Rajas and Tamas are the three qualities of Prakriti, but not of Atman; therefore by Satva one should subdue the other two and Satva by Satva itself.

11.13.2

sattvād dharmo bhaved vṛddhāt puṃso mad-bhakti-lakṣaṇaḥ /
sāttvikopāsayā sattvaṃ tato dharmaḥ pravartate //

From developed purity comes dharma characterized by devotion to me; / through cultivation of pure things purity increases, and thence dharma proceeds.

2. By means of the developed Satva man attains Dharma which indicates the way to My devotion (takes the form of devotion to Me): by the use of Satvika things (and association with Satvika persons) Satva develops and thence dharma.

11.13.3

dharmo rajas tamo hanyāt sattva-vṛddhir anuttamaḥ /
āśu naśyati tan-mūlo hy adharma ubhaye hate //

Unexcelled dharma, through an increase of purity, destroys passion and darkness; / when both are destroyed, adharma, rooted in them, is swiftly destroyed.

3. Dharma of matchless power contributing to the development of Satva itself has the power to subdue Rajas and Tamas: when these two are subdued, the Adharma growing out of them soon ceases to be.

11.13.4

āgamo 'paḥ prajā deśaḥ kālaḥ karma ca janma ca /
dhyānaṃ mantro 'tha saṃskāro daśaite guṇa-hetavaḥ //

Sacred scripture, water, people, place, time, work, birth, / meditation, mantra, and consecration—these ten are the determinants of the qualities.

4. Sastra, water, issue, place, time, action, birth, contemplation, Mantras, purificatory ceremonies form the ten causes that promote the Satva guna.

11.13.5

tat tat sāttvikam evaiṣāṃ yad yad vṛddhāḥ pracakṣate /
nindanti tāmasaṃ tat tad rājasaṃ tad-upekṣitam //

Whichever among these the elders praise are pure; / those they blame are dark; those they treat with indifference are passionate.

5. Of these things whatever men of mature wisdom pronounce as Satva (to be acceptable) is Satvika and whatever they censure (prohibit) is Tamasa and whatever they are different to is Rajasa.

11.13.6

sāttvikāny eva seveta pumān sattva-vivṛddhaye /
tato dharmas tato jñānaṃ yāvat smṛtir apohanam //

A person should cultivate only pure things for the increase of purity; / thence comes dharma, thence knowledge, until realization and the removal of ignorance [are achieved].

6. A man ought to use and associate with only Satvika things and persons for the devlopment of Satva; thence arises Dharma form which knowledge arises and grows till the direct realisation is attained and all the causes of mundane bondage are completely destroyed.

11.13.7

veṇu-saṅgharṣa-jo vahnir dagdhvā śāmyati tad-vanam /
evaṃ guṇa-vyatyaya-jo dehaḥ śāmyati tat-kriyaḥ //

Fire produced by the friction of bamboo ceases after burning that forest; / so the body, born of the agitation of the qualities, ceases once its actions are completed.

7. The fire produced by the concussion of bomboo stalks subsides after burning down that forest: similarly the body produced by the unequal proportions of gunas ceases to be, being capable of acting like that fire.

11.13.8

/0 śrī-uddhava uvāca
vidanti martyāḥ prāyeṇa viṣayān padam āpadām /
tathāpi bhuñjate kṛṣṇa tat kathaṃ śva-kharāja-vat //

Śrī Uddhava said: / Mortals generally know sense objects to be the source of calamities, / yet they still enjoy them, O Kṛṣṇa; why is that, like a dog, an ass, or a goat?

8. Uddhava said:— Mortals generally know the objects as the source of evil, O Krishna, how is it that they, like the dog, the ass and the goat (sheep) take to them (seek after enjoyment)?

11.13.9

/0 śrī-bhagavān uvāca
aham ity anyathā-buddhiḥ pramattasya yathā hṛdi /
utsarpati rajo ghoraṃ tato vaikārikaṃ manaḥ //

The Lord said: / In the heart of an heedless person, as the misconception of 'I' arises, / terrible passion surges forth; thence the mind becomes subject to agitation.

9. The Lord said:—In the man wanting in discrimination the wrong notion with reference to the body as 'I' springs up in his heart: and by virtue of this notion the formidable Rajas invades the mind though it is produced out of Satva.

11.13.10

rajo-yuktasya manasaḥ saṅkalpaḥ sa-vikalpakaḥ /
tataḥ kāmo guṇa-dhyānād duḥsahaḥ syād dhi durmateḥ //

In a mind joined with passion, intention is full of alternatives; / thence, from dwelling on qualities, unbearable desire arises for that foolish-minded person.

10. The mind possessed with Rajas becomes the ground for various thoughts and doubts; then arises in the man of such wrong notions an irresistible passion for the thing on whose excellent aspects the mind dwells.

11.13.11

karoti kāma-vaśa-gaḥ karmāṇy avijitendriyaḥ /
duḥkhodarkāṇi sampaśyan rajo-vega-vimohitaḥ //

Under the sway of desire, with senses uncontrolled, he performs actions / whose consequences are misery, even seeing them, bewildered by the force of passion.

11. Overpowered by desires and with no control over his senses and organs he does acts which are sure to bring miseries and though he actually sees them, he is deluded by the force of Rajas.

11.13.12

rajas-tamobhyāṃ yad api vidvān vikṣipta-dhīḥ punaḥ /
atandrito mano yuñjan doṣa-dṛṣṭir na sajjate //

Even if the wise person's intellect is agitated by passion and darkness, / by applying his mind vigilantly and perceiving the faults [of objects], he does not become attached.

12. Though his good sense is distracted by Rajas and Tamas, the man of knowledge, if careful in concentrating his mind, realises the evil and ceases to form attachments.

11.13.13

apramatto 'nuyuñjīta mano mayy arpayañ chanaiḥ /
anirviṇṇo yathā-kālaṃ jita-śvāso jitāsanaḥ //

Unflagging, one should practice yoga, surrendering the mind gradually to me, / undaunted, at the appropriate time, breath conquered and posture mastered.

13. Having set the mind on Me, one should be on the alert to concentrate it slowly without any feeling of disappointment or disgust and having secured firmness in the seat one should control the breaths in due course of time.

11.13.14

etāvān yoga ādiṣṭo mac-chiṣyaiḥ sanakādibhiḥ /
sarvato mana ākṛṣya mayy addhāveśyate yathā //

Just this much yoga was taught by my disciples, Sanaka and the others: / that withdrawing the mind from everything, it is directly fixed in me.

14. Truly this is the extent of yoga taught by My disciples, Sanaka and others, that the mind is thereby withdrawn successfully from everything else and firmly concentrated on Me.

11.13.15

/0 śrī-uddhava uvāca
yadā tvaṃ sanakādibhyo yena rūpeṇa keśava /
yogam ādiṣṭavān etad rūpam icchāmi veditum //

Śrī Uddhava said: / When, Keśava, and in what form did you teach / yoga to Sanaka and the others? I wish to know this form.

15 Uddhava said:—O Kesava, I wish to know the form which Thou hadst assumed at the time of teaching this yoga to Sanaka and others.

11.13.16

/0 śrī-bhagavān uvāca
putrā hiraṇyagarbhasya mānasāḥ sanakādayaḥ /
papracchuḥ pitaraṃ sūkṣmāṃ yogasyaikāntikīm gatim //

The Lord said: / The mind-born sons of Hiraṇyagarbha, Sanaka and the rest, / asked their father about the subtle, ultimate goal of yoga.

16. The Lord said:—Sanaka and others, the sons of Brahma, born of his mind, requested their father to tell them of the subtle and one unfailing course of yoga (the highest goal of yoga).

11.13.17

/0 sanakādaya ūcuḥ
guṇeṣv āviśate ceto guṇāś cetasi ca prabho /
katham anyonya-santyāgo mumukṣor atititīrṣoḥ //

Sanaka and the others said: / The mind enters into the qualities of matter, O Lord, and the qualities enter into the mind. / How can one wishing for liberation and desiring to cross over effect their mutual renunciation?

17. Sanaka and others said:—The mind goes to the objects and gets entangled there and the objects implant themselves in the mind as tendencies, O Lord. How, for one that seeks to get over them and attain Moksha, is it possible to make them abandon one another.

11.13.18

/0 śrī-bhagavān uvāca
evaṃ pṛṣṭo mahā-devaḥ svayambhūr bhūta-bhāvanaḥ /
dhyāyamānaḥ praśna-bījaṃ nābhyapadyata karma-dhīḥ //

The Lord said: / Being asked thus, the great god, the self-born creator of beings, / meditating, could not grasp the root of the question, his intellect committed to ritual action.

18. The Lord said:—Thus requested, the great god Brahma, the creator of beings, contemplated, but was not able to realise the root of the question, since his mind was taken up with his karma (duties).

11.13.19

sa mām acintayad devaḥ praśna-pāra-titīrṣayā /
tasyāhaṃ haṃsa-rūpeṇa sakāśam agamaṃ tadā //

Wishing to cross to the far shore of the question, that god thought of me; / then I went into his presence in the form of a swan.

19. (Thereupon) bent on knowing the solution of the question he contemplated Me: then I presented Myself by his side in the form of a Hamsa.

11.13.20

dṛṣṭvā mām ta upavrajya kṛtva pādābhivandanam /
brahmāṇam agrataḥ kṛtvā papracchuḥ ko bhavān iti //

Seeing me, they approached, bowed down at my feet, / and placing Brahmā at their head, asked: “Who are you?”

20. On seeing Me, they came up, bowed at My feet: and with Brahma in their front asked Me, ‘who art Thou?’

11.13.21

ity ahaṃ munibhiḥ pṛṣṭas tattva-jijñāsubhis tadā /
yad avocam ahaṃ tebhyas tad uddhava nibodha me //

Asked thus at that time by the sages desirous of knowing the truth, / listen to me, Uddhava, as to what I spoke to them:

21. When asked by the sages eager to know the truth, do thou now hear from Me, O Uddhava, of what I then told them.

11.13.22

vastuno yady anānātva ātmanaḥ praśna īdṛśaḥ /
kathaṃ ghaṭeta vo viprā vaktur vā me ka āśrayaḥ //

“O brahmins, if the entity of the self is without diversity, how can such a question / be applicable to you, or what is the basis for me as a speaker?

22. If there be no difference in (the category of) the real entity of Atman, how could such a question be put, O Brahmins, or what is the ground for Me to base my answer on?

11.13.23

pañcātmakeṣu bhūteṣu samāneṣu ca vastutaḥ /
ko bhavān iti vaḥ praśno vācārambho hy anarthakaḥ //

Since the material elements, composed of the five constituents, are essentially the same, / your question, ‘Who are you?’, is indeed a mere verbal expression, devoid of purpose.

23. Or when all the Bhutas, five in number, are really the same substance, your question, “who art Thou,” is a mere matter of words without any sense.

11.13.24

manasā vacasā dṛṣṭyā gṛhyate 'nyair apīndriyaiḥ /
aham eva na matto 'nyad iti budhyadhvam añjasā //

Whatever is grasped by the mind, speech, sight, and other senses / is I alone; there is nothing other than me—understand this directly.

24. Whatever is perceived by the mind, by speech, by sight, or by the other senses, is Myself and nothing else than Myself, --- so do you understand.

11.13.25

guṇeṣv āviśate ceto guṇāś cetasi ca prajāḥ /
jīvasya deha ubhayaṃ guṇāś ceto mad-ātmanaḥ //

The mind enters the qualities, O sons, and the qualities enter the mind; / both the qualities and the mind are the body of the individual soul whose essence is myself.

25. The objects invade the mind and it gets entangled in the objects, O sons; both these form the body of the Jiva who is Myself.

11.13.26

guṇeṣu cāviśac cittam abhīkṣṇaṃ guṇa-sevayā /
guṇāś ca citta-prabhavā mad-rūpa ubhayaṃ tyajet //

Through repeated indulgence in the qualities, the mind enters into the qualities, / and the qualities arise from the mind; having become identical with me, one should renounce both.

26. The mind entangled in the objects by constantly resorting to them and the objects born of the mind—both these the Jiva who realises himself to be Myself should abandon.

11.13.27

jāgrat svapnaḥ suṣuptaṃ ca guṇato buddhi-vṛttayaḥ /
tāsāṃ vilakṣaṇo jīvaḥ sākṣitvena viniścitaḥ //

Waking, dreaming, and deep sleep are operations of the intellect born of the material qualities; / distinct from them, the individual soul is ascertained to be their witness.

27. Wakefulness, dreams and sleep are the three states of Buddhi instituted by Tamas and the Jiva who is distinct from those states is conclusively known to be their witness.

11.13.28

yarhi saṃsṛti-bandho 'yam ātmano guṇa-vṛtti-daḥ /
mayi turye sthito jahyāt tyāgas tad guṇa-cetasām //

Since this bondage of transmigration, which brings about the operations of the qualities, belongs to the self, / abiding in me, the Fourth, one should abandon it; then occurs the abandonment of the qualities and the mind.

28. Because this bondage of Atman proceeds from Buddhi, and the mind projects on Atman the functions of the gunas, he should take his stand on Me in the Turya form (Vasudeva) and shake off that bondage and then it is possible to abandon those gunas or objects and their thoughts.

11.13.29

ahaṅkāra-kṛtaṃ bandham ātmano 'rtha-viparyayam /
vidvān nirvidya saṃsāra- cintāṃ turye sthitas tyajet //

Recognizing this bondage created by the ego as the inversion of the self's true welfare, / the wise person, becoming disenchanted, should abandon worry about the cycle of rebirth, abiding in the Fourth.

29. He who realises the bondage to be the work of Ahankara in relation to Atman and how it is unreal, may develop renunciation and taking his stand on Turya (Vasudeva) rid himself of the fear of samsara.

11.13.30

yāvan nānārtha-dhīḥ puṃso na nivarteta yuktibhiḥ /
jāgarty api svapann ajñaḥ svapne jāgaraṇaṃ yathā //

As long as a person's notion of manifold reality is not dispelled by reasoning, / the ignorant person is dreaming even while awake, just as one is awake in a dream.

29. D. *Note.* This verse answers the view of the dull-witted that Ahankara is another cause of bondage. The answer being the same as in the previous verse. Ahankara is almost another expression for the gunas. 30. So long as the sense of man implying the existence of difference in things, does not disappear, despite all his powers of reasoning and attempts, he is really ignorant, sleeping while wakeful, just as he is wakeful in dreams (or sleep).

11.13.31

asattvād ātmano 'nyeṣāṃ bhāvānāṃ tat-kṛtā bhidā /
gatayo hetavaś cāsya mṛṣā svapna-dṛśo yathā //

Due to the unreality of things other than the self, the difference created by them, / along with the soul's courses of existence and their causes, is false, like those of one who sees a dream.

31. As all things other than Atman (self) have no real existence, the notion of difference instituted by them, the various courses pertaining to Varna, Asrama etc., and the purposes to be gained such as Swarga and the many acts of karma which are the causes of various fruits, are all unreal like things seen by one in a dream.

11.13.31.p1

yo jāgare bahir anukṣaṇa-dharmiṇo 'rthān $ bhuṅkte samasta-karaṇair hṛdi tat-sadṛkṣān &

The one who in waking experiences through all senses external objects which possess momentary nature, and within the heart experiences their counterparts

32. It is but one Atman who in the wakeful state enjoys through all his senses the objects external and transient and in dreams experiences objects similar to them in his mind, and, in sleep, withdraws himself from them all, because he realises himself as the one individual under all the three states and as the Lord of the senses.

11.13.32

svapne suṣupta upasaṃharate sa ekaḥ % smṛty-anvayāt tri-guṇa-vṛtti-dṛg indriyeśaḥ //

in dream, and withdraws them in deep sleep, is the one master of the senses, who beholds the operations of the three qualities through the continuity of memory.

11.13.32.p2

evaṃ vimṛśya guṇato manasas try-avasthā $ man-māyayā mayi kṛtā iti niścitārthāḥ &

Reflecting thus that the three states of mind born of the qualities are produced in me by my creative power, having ascertained the truth,

When the work of the Lord is regarded as that of the jiva through ignorance, then arises the misapprehension that jiva is Para-Brahman. So the correction of it is laid down in the preceding verse. 33. Having thus investigated and arrived at the conviction that the three states of the mind are produced by the gunas and through My Maya they are attributed to Me and having cut off Ahaṅkara, the source of all doubts, by reasoning and by the precepts of the great and by the sharp sword of wisdom, he should contemplate Me present in the heart.

11.13.32.p3

evaṃ vimṛśya guṇato manasas try-avasthā $ man-māyayā mayi kṛtā iti niścitārthāḥ &

reflecting thus that the three states of mind born of the qualities are produced in me by my creative power, having ascertained the truth,

11.13.33

sañchidya hārdam anumāna-sad-ukti-tīkṣṇa % jñānāsinā bhajata mākhila-saṃśayādhim //

sever with the sharp sword of knowledge—wielding inference and sacred testimony—the affliction of all doubt residing in the heart, and worship me.

11.13.33.p2

īkṣeta vibhramam idaṃ manaso vilāsaṃ $ dṛṣṭaṃ vinaṣṭam ati-lolam alāta-cakram &

One should see this world as a delusion, a play of the mind, seen and immediately vanishing, utterly flickering like a firebrand's circle;

34. He should see that the world is a matter of misapprehension, only a display of the mind, only a seeming existence, transient, inconstant like the circle described by a fire-brand, that one Consciousness appears as many and that the dreamy difference instituted by the gunas in three ways is but Maya.

11.13.33.p3

īkṣeta vibhramam idaṃ manaso vilāsaṃ $ dṛṣṭaṃ vinaṣṭam ati-lolam alāta-cakram &

one should see this world as a delusion, a play of the mind, seen and immediately vanishing, utterly flickering like a firebrand's circle;

11.13.34

vijñānam ekam urudheva vibhāti māyā % svapnas tridhā guṇa-visarga-kṛto vikalpaḥ //

it is single consciousness that shines forth manifoldly through creative power, a threefold dream-like conceptualization produced by the transformation of the qualities.

11.13.34.p2

dṛṣṭim tataḥ pratinivartya nivṛtta-tṛṣṇas $ tūṣṇīṃ bhaven nija-sukhānubhavo nirīhaḥ &

Withdrawing one's gaze from that, with desire ceased, one should be silent, experiencing one's own bliss, free from striving;

35. Therefore having drawn away the eye from the visible and having eschewed all thirsts, he should remain quiet immersed in the bliss of self-realisation; if sometimes this still appears to be, that apprehension does not imply the reality of the appearance: for what is once abandoned as unreal cannot become

an object of misapprehension, though its memory may continue till the fall of the body.

11.13.34.p3

dṛṣṭim tataḥ pratinivartya nivṛtta-tṛṣṇas $ tūṣṇīṃ bhaven nija-sukhānubhavo nirīhaḥ &

withdrawing one's gaze from that, with desire ceased, one should be silent, experiencing one's own bliss, free from striving;

11.13.35

sandṛśyate kva ca yadīdam avastu-buddhyā % tyaktaṃ bhramāya na bhavet smṛtir ā-nipātāt //

and if this world is perceived somewhere, having been abandoned through the understanding of its unreality, the memory of it until the body falls will not lead to delusion.

11.13.35.p2

dehaṃ ca naśvaram avasthitam utthitaṃ vā $ siddho na paśyati yato 'dhyagamat svarūpam &

The accomplished sage does not see the perishable body, whether seated or risen, because he has realized his true nature,

36. A man who has thus gained wisdom and realised his essential nature ceases to see the transient body as motionless or as moving or fallen like one blinded with intoxication, and does not see whether by chance his cloth remains on, or falls from, his person.

11.13.35.p3

dehaṃ ca naśvaram avasthitam utthitaṃ vā $ siddho na paśyati yato 'dhyagamat svarūpam &

the accomplished sage does not see the perishable body, whether seated or risen, because he has realized his true nature,

11.13.36

daivād apetam atha daiva-vaśād upetaṃ % vāso yathā parikṛtaṃ madirā-madāndhaḥ //

whether gone by destiny or arrived by the power of destiny, just as one blinded by the intoxication of liquor does not notice the garment worn around oneself.

11.13.36.p2

deho 'pi daiva-vaśa-gaḥ khalu karma yāvat $ svārambhakaṃ pratisamīkṣata eva sāsuḥ &

The body too, under the control of destiny, indeed waits with its life-breaths only as long as the karma that initiated it lasts;

37. Even the body evidently under the control of Providence is with its life looking to the time when Karma, the cause of it, might become exhausted: the individual who is perfect in yogic concentration, unconscious of everything else, and has realised the truth, does not again resort to the world which is like unto dream visions.

11.13.36.p3

deho 'pi daiva-vaśa-gaḥ khalu karma yāvat $ svārambhakaṃ pratisamīkṣata eva sāsuḥ &

the body too, under the control of destiny, indeed waits with its life-breaths only as long as the karma that initiated it lasts;

11.13.37

taṃ sa-prapañcam adhirūḍha-samādhi-yogaḥ % svāpnaṃ punar na bhajate pratibuddha-vastuḥ //

having ascended to meditative absorption in yoga, one who has awakened to the real entity no longer pursues that body and its phenomenal world, any more than one would pursue a dream.

11.13.38

mayaitad uktaṃ vo viprā guhyaṃ yat sāṅkhya-yogayoḥ /
jānīta māgataṃ yajñaṃ yuṣmad-dharma-vivakṣayā //

This secret doctrine of Sāṅkhya and Yoga has been spoken by me to you, O brahmins; / know me to be the sacrifice, come here desiring to speak to you of your dharma.

38. O sages, this secret and essential truth of the Sankhya and Yoga courses has been explained to you and know Me to be Yagna come to explain Dharma to you.

11.13.39

ahaṃ yogasya sāṅkhyasya satyasyartasya tejasaḥ /
parāyaṇaṃ dvija-śreṣṭhāḥ śriyaḥ kīrter damasya ca //

O best of the twice-born, I am the ultimate resort of yoga, of Sāṅkhya, of truth, / of cosmic order, of splendor, of fortune, of fame, and of self-control.

39. O excellent brahmins, I am the one goal of yoga, sankhya, (virtue, theoretical and practical), of prowess, of splendour, of power, of fame, and of self-control.

11.13.40

māṃ bhajanti guṇāḥ sarve nirguṇaṃ nirapekṣakam /
suhṛdaṃ priyam ātmānaṃ sāmyāsaṅgādayo 'guṇāḥ //

All virtues resort to me, who am beyond the material qualities, free from dependence, / the friend, the beloved, the self; the virtues such as equanimity and non-attachment are free from the material qualities.

40. All excellent qualities abide in Me who am destitute of the Prakrita qualities and wanting in nothing, and all those qualities which are not the modifications of Satva, Rajas etc., viz.,

equality, non-attachment etc., find place in Me, the friend and beloved Atman.

11.13.41

iti me chinna-sandehā munayaḥ sanakādayaḥ /
sabhājayitvā parayā bhaktyāgṛṇata saṃstavaiḥ //

Thus with their doubts severed by me, the sages, Sanaka and the others, / having honored me with supreme devotion, praised me with hymns.

41. Thus Sanaka and other sages had their doubt cleared up by Me, worshipped Me in intense devotion and sang hymns of praise.

11.13.42

tair ahaṃ pūjitaḥ saṃyak saṃstutaḥ paramarṣibhiḥ /
pratyeyāya svakaṃ dhāma paśyataḥ parameṣṭhinaḥ //

Fully worshiped and praised by those supreme ṛṣis, / I returned to my own abode as Parameṣṭhin looked on.

42. Devoutly worshipped by them and praised by the great Rishis, Brahma witnessing, I returned to My abode.