Bhagavatapurana 3.31: athaikatriṃśo'dhyāyaḥ

3.31.1

/0 śrī-bhagavān uvāca
karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur dehopapattaye /
striyāḥ praviṣṭa udaraṃ puṃso retaḥ-kaṇāśrayaḥ //

The Lord said: / Guided by fate on account of his karma, the living being, to obtain a body, / enters the womb of a woman by taking shelter in a particle of the man's semen.

1. The Lord said:—By force of (previous) Karma which is under the direction of the Deity, the jīva conveyed by the seed of a man enters into the womb of a woman so that his gross body may be formed.

3.31.2

kalalaṃ tv eka-rātreṇa pañca-rātreṇa budbudam /
daśāhena tu karkandhūḥ peśy aṇḍaṃ vā tataḥ param //

In a single night it becomes a mixed mass, and in five nights a bubble; / in ten days it is like a jujube fruit, and after that, an egg or a lump of flesh.

2. In the course of a night the mingling of the seed and blood takes place; in five nights it becomes a round semi-solid mass; in ten days it becomes as hard as an apple, or it may become a ball of flesh or an egg;

3.31.3

māsena tu śiro dvābhyāṃ bāhv-aṅghry-ādy-aṅga-vigrahaḥ /
nakha-lomāsthi-carmāṇi liṅga-cchidrodbhavas tribhiḥ //

In a month the head appears, in two months the form of the limbs such as arms and feet; / in three months nails, body hair, bones, and skin appear, as do the sex organs and apertures.

3. And in a month a head is formed and in two months the body is formed with hands, feet, and other organs; by the end of three months, nails, hair, bones and skin are produced as well as its penis and anus.

3.31.4

caturbhir dhātavaḥ sapta pañcabhiḥ kṣut-tṛḍ-udbhavaḥ /
ṣaḍbhir jarāyuṇā vītaḥ kukṣau bhrāmyati dakṣiṇe //

In four months the seven bodily elements appear; in five months hunger and thirst arise; / in six months, enclosed in the amnion, it moves about on the mother's right side of the belly.

4. At the end of four months (the fourth month) the seven Dhātus or forms of matter become differentiated; in five months, hunger and thirst make their appearance; at the end of six months (the sixth month) it is covered with a (an external) skin (called jarayu) and in the right side of the abdomen it begins to turn (to be in a state of motion).

3.31.5

mātur jagdhānna-pānādyair edhad-dhātur asammate /
śete viṇ-mūtrayor garte sa jantur jantu-sambhave //

With its bodily tissues growing from the food and drink swallowed by the mother, / that creature lies in an unwholesome pit of feces and urine, a place where worms breed.

5. The creature grows feeding on the food, drink, etc. consumed by the mother and remains in the disagreeable (horrible) hollow filled with urine and excreta, from which creatures are born.

3.31.6

kṛmibhiḥ kṣata-sarvāṅgaḥ saukumāryāt pratikṣaṇam /
mūrcchām āpnoty uru-kleśas tatratyaiḥ kṣudhitair muhuḥ //

Because of its tenderness, with all its limbs bitten every moment by the hungry worms / bred there, it suffers extreme agony and repeatedly swoons.

6. On account of its softness its body is constantly bitten by hungry worms which are in the same hollow, and in great affliction and pain it swoons away at every moment.

3.31.7

kaṭu-tīkṣṇoṣṇa-lavaṇa- rūkṣāmlādibhir ulbaṇaiḥ /
mātṛ-bhuktair upaspṛṣṭaḥ sarvāṅgotthita-vedanaḥ //

Afflicted by the harsh pungent, bitter, hot, salty, / dry, and sour substances eaten by the mother, it feels pain rising throughout all its limbs.

7—8. Touched by the bitter, pungent, hot, salt, astringent sour and such other substances of painful effect, which are devoured by the mother and consequently suffering from pain produced all over the body; bound in a membraneous sheath (amnion) and surrounded on the outside with entrails it lies in that cavity with its head bent towards the stomach and with its back and neck bent (like a bow).

3.31.8

ulbena saṃvṛtas tasminn antraiś ca bahir āvṛtaḥ /
āste kṛtvā śiraḥ kukṣau bhugna-pṛṣṭha-śirodharaḥ //

Enclosed within the membrane and surrounded on the outside by the intestines, / it remains with its head tucked against its belly, its back and neck bent.

3.31.9

akalpaḥ svāṅga-ceṣṭāyāṃ śakunta iva pañjare /
tatra labdha-smṛtir daivāt karma janma-śatodbhavam /
smaran dīrgham anucchvāsaṃ śarma kiṃ nāma vindate //

Powerless to move its limbs, like a bird in a cage, / and there, by divine dispensation, gaining remembrance of its deeds arising from hundreds of births, / remembering them while sighing deeply, what happiness can it possibly find?

9. Like a bird in the cage it is helpless, it cannot move its own limbs (cannot make use of its limbs in moving about), and there (in that condition) it acquires the power of memory through the will of Providence, recollects its own Karma done in hundreds of previous lives and breathlessly suffers endless pain; (and in that plight) what happiness, what pleasurable feeling, could it have?

3.31.10

ārabhya saptamān māsāl labdha-bodho 'pi vepitaḥ /
naikatrāste sūti-vātair viṣṭhā-bhūr iva sodaraḥ //

Though gaining awareness from the seventh month onward, it is shaken / by the winds of labor and cannot remain in one place, like a worm bred in feces born from the same womb.

10. From the seventh month it has consciousness, always being tossed by the winds of the womb, it cannot remain in one spot, like the worm born of the dirt in the same hollow (cavity).

3.31.11

nāthamāna ṛṣir bhītaḥ sapta-vadhriḥ kṛtāñjaliḥ /
stuvīta taṃ viklavayā vācā yenodare 'rpitaḥ //

Frightened and imploring, the sage bound by the seven ties, with joined palms, / prays with a distressed voice to Him by whom he was placed in the womb.

11. Now in the midst of its suffering, bound with the seven Dhatus and afraid of similar residence in the womb in the future, the conscious creature entreats and, with folded hands and in accents of distress, praises Him who placed it in the cavity of the stomach.

3.31.12

/0 jantur uvāca
tasyopasannam avituṃ jagad icchayātta- $ nānā-tanor bhuvi calac-caraṇāravindam &
tasyopasannam avituṃ jagad icchayātta- $ nānā-tanor bhuvi calac-caraṇāravindam &
so 'haṃ vrajāmi śaraṇaṃ hy akuto-bhayaṃ me % yenedṛśī gatir adarśy asato 'nurūpā //

The creature said: / I take refuge in the lotus feet, moving upon the earth, of Him who has assumed various forms / by His own will to protect the universe, approaching Him who affords me freedom from fear; / for through Him such an appropriate fate has been revealed to me, a wicked soul.

12. The creature said (says) being so wretched, "I take shelter under the lotus-like feet of the Lord who treads the earth in various forms assumed at His will to protect the world that has sought His protection—the Lord by whom I have been thrown into this condition most befitting my wicked self.

3.31.13

* //
yas tv atra baddha iva karmabhir āvṛtātmā $ bhūtendriyāśayamayīm avalambya māyām &
yas tv atra baddha iva karmabhir āvṛtātmā $ bhūtendriyāśayamayīm avalambya māyām &
āste viśuddham avikāram akhaṇḍa-bodham % ātapyamāna-hṛdaye 'vasitaṃ namāmi //

I bow down to Him who, though remaining here like one bound, His self covered by karmas, / having resorted to creative power consisting of elements, senses, and desires, / is pure, changeless, and of unbroken consciousness, abiding in my suffering heart.

13. "Here (in the mother's body), dependent upon the Maya in the form of the five Bhutas, Indriyas and Manas and seeming to be assailed by (the fruits of) Karma and kept in bondage, I bow to the Lord who remains in the same place, unassailed by

conditions, and unchanged and who shines with uninterrupted wisdom and whom I have realised in my afflicted heart.

3.31.14

* //
yaḥ pañca-bhūta-racite rahitaḥ śarīre $ cchanno 'yathendriya-guṇārtha-cid-ātmako 'ham &
yaḥ pañca-bhūta-racite rahitaḥ śarīre $ cchanno 'yathendriya-guṇārtha-cid-ātmako 'ham &
tenāvikuṇṭha-mahimānam ṛṣiṃ tam enaṃ % vande paraṃ prakṛti-pūruṣayoḥ pumāṃsam //

I revere that Supreme Person, beyond material nature and the individual soul, / that sage of uncurbed majesty who, though staying in this body fashioned from the five elements, / is untouched by it, whereas I, conscious by nature, am concealed by the senses, the gunas, and sense objects.

14. “I who lie concealed, unreal as it may be, in the body composed of the five Bhutas and who am the intelligent image reflected, false as it may be, in the Indriyas, the gunas, and the objects—I praise and bow to that Omniscient Person (Lord), now in my view, of glory unaffected by that condition, being the ruler of Prakriti and Purusha.

3.31.15

* //
yan-māyayoru-guṇa-karma-nibandhane 'smin $ sāṃsārike pathi caraṃs tad-abhiśrameṇa &
yan-māyayoru-guṇa-karma-nibandhane 'smin $ sāṃsārike pathi caraṃs tad-abhiśrameṇa &
naṣṭa-smṛtiḥ punar ayaṃ pravṛṇīta lokaṃ % yuktyā kayā mahad-anugraham antareṇa //

Wandering along this path of transmigration bound by vast gunas and actions by His creative power, / with his memory destroyed through exhaustion from that, / by what means could this soul ever choose this world again without the grace of exalted devotees?

15. “How could the jiva again attain to his natural state by any other means than through the grace of that Great Person by virtue of whose Maya, the jiva has lost his memory (of his own true self), and is wandering in the path of Samsara with the sufferings produced in it—the path in which he becomes fettered with the heavy Karma induced by the three gunas?

3.31.16

* //
jñānaṃ yad etad adadhāt katamaḥ sa devas $ trai-kālikaṃ sthira-careṣv anuvartitāṃśaḥ &
jñānaṃ yad etad adadhāt katamaḥ sa devas $ trai-kālikaṃ sthira-careṣv anuvartitāṃśaḥ &
taṃ jīva-karma-padavīm anuvartamānās % tāpa-trayopaśamanāya vayaṃ bhajema //

Which God is that who bestowed this knowledge extending over the three times, / whose portion is present in moving and unmoving beings? / Following the path of living beings' karmas, let us worship Him to pacify the three kinds of torment.

16. “Which of all the gods has bestowed upon me this knowledge of all the three times? Could it be any other than the Supreme Being who pervades all the mobile and the immobile creatures with His Amsa? May that supreme Lord be the object of our worship while we are following the path of Karma in the form of the jiva.

3.31.17

* //
dehy anya-deha-vivare jaṭharāgnināsṛg- $ viṇ-mūtra-kūpa-patito bhṛśa-tapta-dehaḥ &
dehy anya-deha-vivare jaṭharāgnināsṛg- $ viṇ-mūtra-kūpa-patito bhṛśa-tapta-dehaḥ &
icchann ito vivasituṃ gaṇayan sva-māsān % nirvāsyate kṛpaṇa-dhīr bhagavan kadā nu //

This embodied soul, fallen into the hollow of another body, a pit of blood, feces, and urine, / with its body severely scorched by the gastric fire, / wishing to emerge from here and counting its months—when, O Lord, will this miserable soul be delivered?

17. “O glorious Lord, when will the creature (the embodied being) be thrust out—the creature who has fallen into the pit of blood, excreta and urine, in the hollow of the body of another *i.e.* (the mother) and there has his body badly scorched by the fire of the stomach, and who is therefore anxious to get out of it counting his months?

3.31.18

* //
yenedṛśīṃ gatim asau daśa-māsya īśa $ saṅgrāhitaḥ puru-dayena bhavādṛśena &
yenedṛśīṃ gatim asau daśa-māsya īśa $ saṅgrāhitaḥ puru-dayena bhavādṛśena &
svenaiva tuṣyatu kṛtena sa dīna-nāthaḥ % ko nāma tat-prati vināñjalim asya kuryāt //

O Lord, by whom, so exceedingly compassionate, this ten-month-old creature / has been brought to such a state—may that Lord of the destitute / be pleased by His own act; for who indeed could do anything in return for Him other than join their palms?

18. “O Lord, may that Protector of the distressed be pleased with His own doing—the protector (_i.e._ Thyself) who has no comparison and being full of mercy has bestowed upon me such light of knowledge; Who could possibly do him a return in any manner other than by folding his hands in reverence?

3.31.19

* //
paśyaty ayaṃ dhiṣaṇayā nanu sapta-vadhriḥ $ śārīrake dama-śarīry aparaḥ sva-dehe &
paśyaty ayaṃ dhiṣaṇayā nanu sapta-vadhriḥ $ śārīrake dama-śarīry aparaḥ sva-dehe &
yat-sṛṣṭayāsaṃ tam ahaṃ puruṣaṃ purāṇaṃ % paśye bahir hṛdi ca caityam iva pratītam //

Surely, this one bound by the seven ties, possessing a body of self-restraint, / perceives with his intellect in his own body the Other within the bodily frame; / by whose gifted intellect I exist, that Ancient Person / I behold, recognized outside and in the heart, as the indwelling spirit.

19. “This other kind of jiva’s life of seven ties (beasts, birds etc.) realises only the pleasure and pain arising from its own body while in it; on the other hand I am endowed with a body fit to be trained with Sama, Dama etc. and by means of the light conferred (on me) by Him, I see the eternal Perfect Person, both within and without, directly perceptible like the being who is invested with Ahankara and is the subject of experiences.

3.31.20

* //
so 'haṃ vasann api vibho bahu-duḥkha-vāsaṃ $ garbhān na nirjigamiṣe bahir andha-kūpe &
so 'haṃ vasann api vibho bahu-duḥkha-vāsaṃ $ garbhān na nirjigamiṣe bahir andha-kūpe &
yatropayātam upasarpati deva-māyā % mithyā matir yad-anu saṃsṛti-cakram etat //

Therefore, O all-pervading Lord, though dwelling in an abode of great misery, / I do not desire to depart from the womb into the blind well outside, / where the Lord's creative power approaches whoever has arrived there, / followed by false understanding, and after that, this cycle of transmigration.

20. “O Lord, though living a very miserable life here, I do not wish to get out of this womb and go into the pit of darkness outside, for there the Lord’s Maya overtakes the being that has fallen and following her (through her forces), the wrong notion of regarding the body as self and this wheel of Samsara (_i.e._ this cycle of worldly life) overtake him.

3.31.21

* //
tasmād ahaṃ vigata-viklava uddhariṣya $ ātmānam āśu tamasaḥ suhṛdātmanaiva &
tasmād ahaṃ vigata-viklava uddhariṣya $ ātmānam āśu tamasaḥ suhṛdātmanaiva &
bhūyo yathā vyasanam etad aneka-randhraṃ % mā me bhaviṣyad upasādita-viṣṇu-pādaḥ //

Therefore, freed from agitation, having taken shelter at the feet of Viṣṇu, / I shall swiftly deliver myself from darkness by my own self as friend, / so that this calamity with its many openings / may not befall me again.

21. “Therefore I will remain only here free from confusion and soon lift myself out of darkness with the help of the mind alone which is my friend so that this misery of many holes (many lives abiding in wombs) may not again assail me, for I have now access to the feet of Vishnu.”