Bhagavatapurana 3.30: atha triṃśo'dhyāyaḥ

3.30.1

/0 kapila uvāca
tasyaitasya jano nūnaṃ nāyaṃ vedoru-vikramam /
kālyamāno 'pi balino vāyor iva ghanāvaliḥ //

Kapila said:
Surely this person does not recognize the immense prowess of this [time], / even while being driven along like a line of clouds by a mighty wind.

1. Kapila said:—This (ignorant) creature does not certainly understand the great power of that time (the Lord), just as clouds do not know the power of the mighty Vāyu though they are being drifted by him.

3.30.2

yaṃ yam artham upādatte duḥkhena sukha-hetave /
taṃ taṃ dhunoti bhagavān pumān chocati yat-kṛte //

Whatever object a man acquires with great pain for the sake of happiness, / the Lord disperses that very thing, on account of which the man laments.

2. Whatever he acquires with great labour with a view to enjoying happiness, the supreme Lord makes it slip (from his hands); and for their sake man sorrows;

3.30.3

yad adhruvasya dehasya sānubandhasya durmatiḥ /
dhruvāṇi manyate mohād gṛha-kṣetra-vasūni ca //

Out of delusion the fool considers the house, fields, and wealth / of this unstable body and its dependents to be permanent.

3. For, through a misapprehension the unwise man regards as permanent the house, lands, wealth and other belongings which are transient and which pertain to the perishable body and its relations as wife, son and so on.

3.30.4

jantur vai bhava etasmin yāṃ yāṃ yonim anuvrajet /
tasyāṃ tasyāṃ sa labhate nirvṛtiṃ na virajyate //

Whatever womb the creature enters in this cycle of existence, / in that very womb he finds satisfaction and does not feel dispassion.

4. Whatever race of beings the jiva may under the influence of this grand force be born in, he finds delight or pleasure in every one of those bodies, and does not lose his attachment to them.

3.30.5

naraka-stho 'pi dehaṃ vai na pumāṃs tyaktum icchati /
nārakyāṃ nirvṛtau satyāṃ deva-māyā-vimohitaḥ //

Even while residing in hell, a person does not wish to abandon his body, / finding satisfaction even in a hellish condition, deluded by the Lord's creative power.

5. Even in hell, the creature does not like to lose its body being deluded by the Lord's Maya, even when it finds only hellish enjoyment.

3.30.6

ātma-jāyā-sutāgāra- paśu-draviṇa-bandhuṣu /
nirūḍha-mūla-hṛdaya ātmānaṃ bahu manyate //

With his heart deeply rooted in his self, wife, children, home, / cattle, wealth, and relatives, he thinks highly of himself.

6. With his heart strongly rooted in his own body, wife, children and other relations, house, animals and property (money), man regards himself as one blessed.

3.30.7

sandahyamāna-sarvāṅga eṣām udvahanādhinā /
karoty avirataṃ mūḍho duritāni durāśayaḥ //

His whole body burning with anxiety over maintaining them, / the fool of wicked intentions commits sins incessantly.

7. With all his body burning on account of the anxiety of maintaining these (belongings), the deluded man full of impious thoughts constantly does sinful things ;

3.30.8

ākṣiptātmendriyaḥ strīṇām asatīnāṃ ca māyayā /
raho racitayālāpaiḥ śiśūnāṃ kala-bhāṣiṇām //

His mind and senses captivated by the charms of unchaste women / arranged in secret, and by the sweet prattle of his children,

8. With his mind and senses stolen away (diverted from the right path) by the charms exercised in privacy upon him by bad women and by the words of lisping children ;

3.30.9

gṛheṣu kūṭa-dharmeṣu duḥkha-tantreṣv atandritaḥ /
kurvan duḥkha-pratīkāraṃ sukhavan manyate gṛhī //

vigilant in household life characterized by false duties and bound up with misery, / the householder, merely counteracting sorrow, considers himself happy.

9. Being (ever) on his alert in his household affairs which include the performance of many a specious Dharma and which are the source of misery and attempting at the remedies of that misery, the householder thinks himself (imagines himself) to be happy.

3.30.10

arthair āpāditair gurvyā hiṃsayetas-tataś ca tān /
puṣṇāti yeṣāṃ poṣeṇa śeṣa-bhug yāty adhaḥ svayam //

With wealth procured by severe violence here and there, / he nurtures them; and eating only their remnants, he himself goes down to ruin by supporting them.

10. He nourishes thein with things which are acquired in various ways with extreme trouble (to himself and to others) and by taking care of them he goes down (works towards misery and hell) ; (while) he has but to enjoy what is left remaining (almost nothing).

3.30.11

vārtāyāṃ lupyamānāyām ārabdhāyāṃ punaḥ punaḥ /
lobhābhibhūto niḥsattvaḥ parārthe kurute spṛhām //

When his livelihood fails, though attempted again and again, / overcome by greed and devoid of courage, he covets the wealth of others.

11. When the means of his living becomes slender (day by day) and it (the same course) is tried again and again (without success), the person is overcome with covetousness, grows weaker and entertains a desire for the property of other people.

3.30.12

kuṭumba-bharaṇākalpo manda-bhāgyo vṛthodyamaḥ /
śriyā vihīnaḥ kṛpaṇo dhyāyan chvasiti mūḍha-dhīḥ //

Unable to support his family, unfortunate, his efforts in vain, / bereft of fortune, the wretched, foolish-minded man sighs while brooding.

12. Unable to maintain his family, with the future frowning upon him, with his efforts rendered futile and deprived of his wealth, the distressed man sighs thinking over his condition in his clouded mind.[*]

3.30.13

evaṃ sva-bharaṇākalpaṃ tat-kalatrādayas tathā /
nādriyante yathā pūrvaṃ kīnāśā iva go-jaram //

When he is thus incapable of supporting himself, his wife and others / no longer respect him as before, just as stingy farmers disregard an old ox.

13. So his wives aud others do not as before treat him with respect or kindness when he is unable to support them, even as poor farmers cease to be kind to old and weak oxen ;

3.30.14

tatrāpy ajāta-nirvedo bhriyamāṇaḥ svayam bhṛtaiḥ /
jarayopātta-vairūpyo maraṇābhimukho gṛhe //

Even then feeling no disillusionment, maintained by those whom he himself maintained, / disfigured by old age, facing death within his home,

14-15. Still he does not feel renunciation to them ; though he is now fed by those who were fed by himself, though deformed on account of old age, though he looks forward to death and is like the dog eating what is thrown to him in disregard, though overtaken by disease and eating little owing to loss of appetite and though he continues to be in the house incapable of any movement.

3.30.15

āste 'vamatyopanyastaṃ gṛha-pāla ivāharan /
āmayāvy apradīptāgnir alpāhāro 'lpa-ceṣṭitaḥ //

he sits eating what is offered with contempt, like a house dog, / sickly, his digestive fire extinguished, eating little, and scarcely active.

3.30.16

vāyunotkramatottāraḥ kapha-saṃruddha-nāḍikaḥ /
kāsa-śvāsa-kṛtāyāsaḥ kaṇṭhe ghura-ghurāyate //

With his eyes rolled up by the upward-moving vital breath, his channels blocked with phlegm, / exhausted by coughing and labored breathing, he makes a rattling sound in his throat.

16. His eye-balls are shot out by the wind trying to find a way out and the passage in his lungs is choked with phelgm and he suffers extreme agony owing to difficulty in breathing caused by asthma, while gurgling sounds are heard from the throat.

3.30.17

śayānaḥ pariśocadbhiḥ parivītaḥ sva-bandhubhiḥ /
vācyamāno 'pi na brūte kāla-pāśa-vaśaṃ gataḥ //

Lying down, surrounded by his weeping relatives, / though spoken to, he does not speak, fallen under the sway of the noose of time.

17. When he lies down surrounded by his sorrowing relations (wife, children, and others), the man who is bound by the cords of Yama (death) does not (cannot) speak (reply), though requested (to speak a word by the relations about him).

3.30.18

evaṃ kuṭumba-bharaṇe vyāpṛtātmājitendriyaḥ /
mriyate rudatāṃ svānām uru-vedanayāsta-dhīḥ //

Thus, with his mind absorbed in maintaining his family, his senses unsubdued, / he dies in terrible agony, his consciousness lost, while his kin weep.

18. So the man who has not subdued his senses and has given his mind wholly to supporting his family (household) dies (will die) having lost his good sense and consciousness in his extreme agony, while his kith and kin sit weeping around him.

3.30.19

yama-dūtau tadā prāptau bhīmau sarabhasekṣaṇau /
sa dṛṣṭvā trasta-hṛdayaḥ śakṛn-mūtraṃ vimuñcati //

Seeing the two messengers of Yama arrived at that moment, terrible, their eyes full of wrath, / his heart terrified, he discharges stool and urine.

19. Then he sees two very fearful messengers of Yama who stand before him with angry looks, and, with his heart full of fear, he passes urine and excreta.

3.30.20

yātanā-deha āvṛtya pāśair baddhvā gale balāt /
nayato dīrgham adhvānaṃ daṇḍyaṃ rāja-bhaṭā yathā //

Enclosing him in a body meant for torment, binding him forcefully by the neck with ropes, / they lead him along a long road, just as royal guards lead a condemned criminal.

20. His soul now passing into Yātanā-deha (the special body with which the soul is provided for undergoing sufferings in hell), they bind him with cords about the neck and violently drag him along the long road even as the king’s men drag one about to be punished.

3.30.21

tayor nirbhinna-hṛdayas tarjanair jāta-vepathuḥ /
pathi śvabhir bhakṣyamāṇa ārto 'ghaṃ svam anusmaran //

His heart pierced by their threats, trembling with fear, / bitten by dogs along the way, afflicted, remembering his own sins,

21—22. With his heart breaking under the threats, shivering with fear, being bitten by hellish hounds on the road, full of distress, remembering his own sinful ways; harassed by hunger and thirst, afflicted by the sun, forest, fire and violent blasts on the road, covered with red hot sand, being severely beaten on the back with whips, he tries to move his limbs (to get away) though powerless, on the road where there is no shelter or water.

3.30.22

kṣut-tṛṭ-parīto 'rka-davānalānilaiḥ santapyamānaḥ pathi tapta-vāluke /
kṛcchreṇa pṛṣṭhe kaśayā ca tāḍitaś calaty aśakto 'pi nirāśramodake //

Overcome by hunger and thirst, scorched on the path of burning sand by the sun, forest fires, and winds, / and struck painfully on his back with a whip, he moves forward, though powerless, where there is neither shelter nor water.

3.30.23

tatra tatra patan chrānto mūrcchitaḥ punar utthitaḥ /
pathā pāpīyasā nītas tarasā yama-sādanam //

Falling here and there, exhausted, swooning, and rising up again, / he is led swiftly to Yama's dwelling by that most wretched road.

23. Frequently he falls fatigued and swoons, rises again and is being carried by the most abominable path, and through darkness to the abode of Yama *i.e.* hell.

3.30.24

yojanānāṃ sahasrāṇi navatiṃ nava cādhvanaḥ /
tribhir muhūrtair dvābhyāṃ vā nītaḥ prāpnoti yātanāḥ //

Brought across the distance of ninety-nine thousand yojanas / in two or three muhūrtas, he meets with punishments:

24. On this road, 99,000 Yojanas long, he is dragged in three or even two hours and experiences these sufferings.

3.30.25

ādīpanaṃ sva-gātrāṇāṃ veṣṭayitvolmukādibhiḥ /
ātma-māṃsādanaṃ kvāpi sva-kṛttaṃ parato 'pi vā //

the burning of his limbs after being wrapped with firebrands and the like, / eating his own flesh cut off either by himself or by others,

25—26. His limbs are bound (with rags) and burnt with brands; he has at some stages to eat his own flesh cut out by himself or by others in the abode of Yama; his entrails are pulled out by hounds and the kites of hell, while he is alive to see it; he is subjected to torment by serpents, scorpions, fearful mosquitoes and others that bite him.

3.30.26

jīvataś cāntrābhyuddhāraḥ śva-gṛdhrair yama-sādane /
sarpa-vṛścika-daṃśādyair daśadbhiś cātma-vaiśasam //

having his entrails torn out while still alive by dogs and vultures in Yama's abode, / and his torment caused by biting serpents, scorpions, and gadflies,

3.30.27

kṛntanaṃ cāvayavaśo gajādibhyo bhidāpanam /
pātanaṃ giri-śṛṅgebhyo rodhanaṃ cāmbu-gartayoḥ //

being hacked limb by limb, being torn apart by elephants and other beasts, / being cast down from mountain peaks, and being confined in water and pits.

27. He has his limbs cut off one by one; he is sometimes trampled under the foot of elephants and other animals; he is hurled down from the tops of mountains; he is shut up under water or in caves.

3.30.28

yās tāmisrāndha-tāmisrā rauravādyāś ca yātanāḥ /
bhuṅkte naro vā nārī vā mithaḥ saṅgena nirmitāḥ //

The torments such as Tāmisra, Andhatāmisra, and Raurava / are suffered by a man or a woman, produced through mutual attachment.

28. Whether man or woman, every one must in the regions of hell known as Tāmisra, Andhatāmisra, and Raurava etc., undergo these extreme sufferings brought about by their mutual relations.

3.30.29

atraiva narakaḥ svarga iti mātaḥ pracakṣate /
yā yātanā vai nārakyas tā ihāpy upalakṣitāḥ //

Right here are hell and heaven, O Mother, so they say; / for the very torments of hell are witnessed here as well.

29. O mother, the wise see that both heaven and hell are to be seen even here; those sufferings that are in hell are also in experience in this world, too.

3.30.30

evaṃ kuṭumbaṃ bibhrāṇa udaram bhara eva vā /
visṛjyehobhayaṃ pretya bhuṅkte tat-phalam īdṛśam //

In this way, one who maintains a family or merely fills his own belly, / having abandoned both here and departed from this world, suffers such fruit.

30. He who is thus given to maintaining his family or to the satisfaction of his own appetite leaves both here (both his family and body) and going to the other world, eats the fruit of his worldly attachment.

3.30.31

ekaḥ prapadyate dhvāntaṃ hitvedaṃ sva-kalevaram /
kuśaletara-pātheyo bhūta-droheṇa yad bhṛtam //

Leaving behind this body, which was nourished by doing injury to living beings, / he enters the darkness all alone, with his misdeeds as his only provisions for the journey.

31. He who has thus provided himself with a wallet of sin, loses this gross body which he maintained here at the expense of other beings and singly falls into the hell of darkness.

3.30.32

daivenāsāditaṃ tasya śamalaṃ niraye pumān /
bhuṅkte kuṭumba-poṣasya hṛta-vitta ivāturaḥ //

In hell, by divine decree, a man undergoes the suffering / of that maintenance of his family, like one distressed whose wealth has been stolen.

32. Like a person who is deprived of his wealth the man in hell eats the fruit of his sinful ways of supporting his family—the fruit which is brought to him there (by the power of) Providence.

3.30.33

kevalena hy adharmeṇa kuṭumba-bharaṇotsukaḥ /
yāti jīvo 'ndha-tāmisraṃ caramaṃ tamasaḥ padam //

Intent on maintaining a family solely through unrighteousness, / the living being goes to Andhatāmisra, the lowest realm of darkness.

33. The jīva who is very eager to support his family by purely unrighteous ways, falls into the hell called the Andhatāmisra the lowest (and the most abominable) region of darkness.

3.30.34

adhastān nara-lokasya yāvatīr yātanādayaḥ /
kramaśaḥ samanukramya punar atrāvrajec chuciḥ //

Having undergone in due order as many torments and the like / as exist below the mortal world, he may return here once purified.

34. Having regularly gone through the sufferings and the miserable states (of being born as pigs, dogs, etc., which are below (to be passed through before reaching human life) and after being purified by such sufferings, he may come back to the human body (state).