Bhagavatapurana 5.11: athaikādaśo'dhyāyaḥ

5.11.1

/0 brāhmaṇa uvāca
akovidaḥ kovida-vāda-vādān vadasy atho nāti-vidāṃ variṣṭhaḥ /
na sūrayo hi vyavahāram enaṃ tattvāvamarśena sahāmananti //

The Brahmana said:—

1. "Though not wise, still thou talkest like the wise; but thou canst not be (considered) great in the midst of those who are full of wisdom; for the wise do not talk about this subject (of mundane relations) in a line with their enquiry into truth.

5.11.2

tathaiva rājann uru-gārhamedha- vitāna-vidyoru-vijṛmbhiteṣu /
na veda-vādeṣu hi tattva-vādaḥ prāyeṇa śuddho nu cakāsti sādhuḥ //

2. "So also, O king, in the highly flourishing discussions on the Vedas in regard to the studies of extensive sacrificial acts connected with domestic life, a discourse on truth cannot mostly be indeed free from the taint (of injury) and cannot certainly be free from the (inroads of) passions.

5.11.3

na tasya tattva-grahaṇāya sākṣād varīyasīr api vācaḥ samāsan /
svapne niruktyā gṛhamedhi-saukhyaṃ na yasya heyānumitaṃ svayaṃ syāt //

3. "In the case of a person by whom the domestic happiness is not naturally perceived as fit to be cast off like the experiences of a dream, even most sacred words cannot be expected to give him a proper grasp of Truth.

5.11.4

yāvan mano rajasā pūruṣasya sattvena vā tamasā vānuruddham /
cetobhir ākūtibhir ātanoti niraṅkuśaṃ kuśalaṃ cetaraṃ vā //

4. "According as the mind of a person is under the influence of Satva, Rajas or Tamas, it proceeds unchecked to work out good or bad for him by means of the sense-organs and those of physical activity.

5.11.5

sa vāsanātmā viṣayoparakto guṇa-pravāho vikṛtaḥ ṣoḍaśātmā /
bibhrat pṛthaṅ-nāmabhi rūpa-bhedam antar-bahiṣṭvaṃ ca purais tanoti //

5. "The mind charged with reminiscences attracted to the objects and tossed hither and thither by the gunas, modified by passions, and, being the prominent factor of the sixteen that constitute the Linga deha, puts on different forms under different names and gives rise to a higher or a lower life in the various corporeal, gross existences.

5.11.6

duḥkhaṃ sukhaṃ vyatiriktaṃ ca tīvraṃ kālopapannaṃ phalam āvyanakti /
āliṅgya māyā-racitāntarātmā sva-dehinaṃ saṃsṛti-cakra-kūṭaḥ //

6. "The mind, an internal condition instituted by Maya, and capable of deceiving in cycles of age, embraces the Jiva with which it is associated and creates on all sides, pain, pleasure, or, other inevitable fruit (delusion fructified by Time).

5.11.7

tāvān ayaṃ vyavahāraḥ sadāviḥ kṣetrajña-sākṣyo bhavati sthūla-sūkṣmaḥ /
tasmān mano liṅgam ado vadanti guṇāguṇatvasya parāvarasya //

7. "So long does this perception and talk of the world shine forth as it is, subtle or gross, within the range of Kshetragna's perception; therefore the wise say that the mind is the cause of the high-

er or the lower state, or, of the degree of being attached or not to the three qualities (Satva and others).

5.11.8

guṇānuraktaṃ vyasanāya jantoḥ kṣemāya nairguṇyam atho manaḥ syāt /
yathā pradīpo ghṛta-vartim aśnan śikhāḥ sadhūmā bhajati hy anyadā svam /
padaṃ tathā guṇa-karmānubaddhaṃ vṛttīr manaḥ śrayate 'nyatra tattvam //

8. The mind, if given to the objects, (of the senses) leads the creature to misery; if free from their influence, leads him to happiness; just as a flame, so long as it consumes the ghee-soaked wick, is associated with soot and at other times it rests in itself; similarly, the mind impelled by the objects and imbued with the consequent activities takes to (or adopts) various courses, but otherwise returns to (the source of) Truth.

5.11.9

ekādaśāsan manaso hi vṛttaya ākūtayaḥ pañca dhiyo 'bhimānaḥ /
mātrāṇi karmāṇi puraṃ ca tāsāṃ vadanti haikādaśa vīra bhūmīḥ //

9. Eleven have been the courses of the mind; five in relation to the physical organs, five in relation to the sense-organs, and attachment in relation to itself; and these courses are correlated with the objects, the activities and the body, which, the wise say, O warrior, are the eleven grounds (plots).

5.11.10

gandhākṛti-sparśa-rasa-śravāṃsi visarga-raty-arty-abhijalpa-śilpāḥ /
ekādaśaṃ svīkaraṇaṃ mameti śayyām ahaṃ dvādaśam eka āhuḥ //

10. These objects are smell, colour, touch, taste, sound, the passing out of urine, pleasure, motion, speech, work, and the eleventh the body which is appropriated by the self as mine; and some (wise

men) say that there is a twelfth object called "Aham" of which the bed is the body, (resting in which the Jiva is called Purusha).

5.11.11

dravya-svabhāvāśaya-karma-kālair ekādaśāmī manaso vikārāḥ /
sahasraśaḥ śataśaḥ koṭiśaś ca kṣetrajñato na mitho na svataḥ syuḥ //

11. These eleven changes of the mind become hundreds, thousands, and crores in relation to individual objects, nature (the cause of change), the inhering experience, the unseen Karma (force), the time that agitates; these are caused by Kshetragna, not reciprocally amongst themselves, nor by themselves individually [These do not spring from Jiva; the Kshetragna being above change, not by acting upon one another, not by itself; hence all these are illusory.]

5.11.12

kṣetrajña etā manaso vibhūtīr jīvasya māyā-racitasya nityāḥ /
āvirhitāḥ kvāpi tirohitāś ca śuddho vicaṣṭe hy aviśuddha-kartuḥ //

12. The Kshetragna (the intelligent principle, mere witness of all) looks on these various mental forms of the Jiva—environments instituted by Maya—forms as permanent, appearing in an endless current; sometimes manifest, i. e., during the waking and dreaming states (and sometimes unmanifest, i. e., during sleep); Kshetragna being pure and unaffected, while the mind is of impure activity, in not working towards Atman.

5.11.13

kṣetrajña ātmā puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ sākṣāt svayaṃ jyotir ajaḥ pareśaḥ /
nārāyaṇo bhagavān vāsudevaḥ sva-māyayātmany avadhīyamānaḥ //

13. Kshetragna (Isvara) is Atman (all-pervading), the perfect one, the first cause of the universe, self-realising, self-luminous, un-

born, the ruler of the great Brahma and others, Narayana (the abode of all the souls), the glorious Vasudeva, in whom all beings exist and who abides in the Jiva, (by His own Maya) as his inner Ruler.

5.11.14

yathānilaḥ sthāvara-jaṅgamānām ātma-svarūpeṇa niviṣṭa īśet /
evaṃ paro bhagavān vāsudevaḥ kṣetrajña ātmedam anupraviṣṭaḥ //

14. Just as the air entering in the form of breath is the Ruler of both those that move and those that do not, so also the supreme and glorious Vasudeva, the all-pervading Atman, has entered into this universe.

5.11.15

na yāvad etāṃ tanu-bhṛn narendra vidhūya māyāṃ vayunodayena /
vimukta-saṅgo jita-ṣaṭ-sapatno vedātma-tattvaṃ bhramatīha tāvat //

15. O king, a person wanders about in the Samsara so long as he is not able to shake off this Maya (which he can do) on the dawn of knowledge, to free himself from attachment, to subdue the six enemies and to realise the truth of Atman.

5.11.16

na yāvad etan mana ātma-liṅgaṃ saṃsāra-tāpāvapanaṃ janasya /
yac choka-mohāmaya-rāga-lobha- vairānubandhaṃ mamatāṃ vidhatte //

16. (He wanders about) so long as he does not understand that the mind, being the environment of Atman, remains the field of afflictions in Samsara of the creature, and gives rise to a continuous stream of griefs, delusion, disease, passion, covetousness, hatred and selfishness.

5.11.17

bhrātṛvyam enaṃ tad adabhra-vīryam upekṣayādhyedhitam apramattaḥ /
guror hareś caraṇopāsanāstro jahi vyalīkaṃ svayam ātma-moṣam //

17. Therefore, arming thyself with devotion to the feet of Hari who is no other than the preceptor and being ever cautious, put an end to this enemy of enormous strength, who has grown very strong through neglect and who, though unreal in himself, is still capable of deluding Atman.