Bhagavatapurana 5.14: atha caturdaśo'dhyāyaḥ

5.14.1

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/0 sa hovāca
sa eṣa dehātma-mānināṃ sattvādi-guṇa-viśeṣa-vikalpita-kuśalāku-śala-samavahāra-vinirmita-vividha-dehāvalibhir viyoga-saṃyogādy-anādi-saṃsārānubhavasya dvāra-bhūtena ṣaḍ-indriya-vargeṇa tasmin durgādhvavad asugame 'dhvany āpatita īśvarasya bhagavato viṣṇor vaśa-vartinyā māyayā jīva-loko 'yaṃ yathā vaṇik-sārtho 'rtha-paraḥ sva-deha-niṣpādita-karmānubhavaḥ śmaśānavad aśivatamāyāṃ saṃsārāṭavyāṃ gato nādyāpi viphala-bahu-pratiyogehas tat-tāpopaśamanīṃ hari-guru-caraṇāravinda-madhukarānupadavīm avarundhe //

He said:
This world of living beings, who identify the body with the self, is subjected by the creative power of the supreme Lord Viṣṇu to an impassable path like a perilous roadway, through the group of six senses which serves as the gateway to the experience of beginningless transmigration—marked by union and separation brought about by various bodies produced through the conjunction of virtuous and non-virtuous deeds determined by the qualities of purity and the rest. Like a caravan of merchants intent on wealth, experiencing the fruits of deeds performed with their own bodies, they have entered the forest of the cycle of rebirth, which is most inauspicious like a cremation ground; and even today, their diverse counter-efforts proving futile, they do not attain the path of the bumblebees at the lotus feet of Hari and the guru, which quenches that misery.

He (Bharata) said:—

1. All the Jivas have got into a way hard to foot like a mountain path, by (the force of) the six senses, that bring in the experiences of the beginningless Samsara which consists in entering into, and departing from, various kinds of bodies created by the good or bad actions induced by the particular gunas, Satva, Rajas or Tamas, in the case of those that mistake the body for Atman. Having been started on that road by Maya under the direction of the glorious Vishnu, Ruler of Rulers, Jivas like a company of merchants bent upon making a fortune enjoy the fruits of Karma, wrought by means of their own body, and find themselves in the wilderness of Samsara like unto the burning ground, all their activities being impeded by numerous obstacles and rendered ineffectual; still they do not find their way to association with the bees (devotees) that have made their resort to the lotus-like feet of the Guru who is no other than Hari—the only resort that promises relief from all afflictions of Samsara; for in that forest of Samsara robbers indeed are they who are called the ‘Six senses.’

5.14.2

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yasyām u ha vā ete ṣaḍ-indriya-nāmānaḥ karmaṇā dasyava eva te tad yathā puruṣasya dhanaṃ yat kiñcid dharmaupayikaṃ bahu-kṛcchrādhigataṃ sākṣāt parama-puruṣārādhana-lakṣaṇo yo 'sau dharmas taṃ tu sāmparāya udāharanti tad-dharmyaṃ dhanaṃ darśana-sparśana-śravaṇāsvādanāvaghrāṇa-saṅkalpa-vyavasāya-gṛha-grāmyopabhogena kunāthasyājitātmano yathā sārthasya vilum-panti //

In that forest, indeed, these six which bear the name of senses are robbers by their action. Just as a merchant caravan under a bad leader, with uncontrolled mind, is plundered, so do they plunder whatever wealth a man has that is suitable for dharma and obtained with great difficulty—that dharma whose distinguishing mark is the direct worship of the Supreme Person, which they declare to be for the hereafter—through the domestic, sensual enjoyment of seeing, touching, hearing, tasting, smelling, intending, and determining.

2. For what little money a man earns through many a hard task becomes the true means of Dharma or righteousness; and that Dharma, being no other than the direct and intensely faithful worship of the supreme Person, is, the wise say, the way to Heaven. Of that money or wealth fit to be used for righteous purposes, when, in domestic life, spent on vulgar enjoyments of seeing, touching, hearing, tasting, smelling or (other) low aims and purposes, the foolish man is deprived (by others), even as foolish caravans are, when headed by a wicked and worthless leader.

5.14.3

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atha ca yatra kauṭumbikā dārāpatyādayo nāmnā karmaṇā vṛka-sṛgālā evānicchato 'pi kadaryasya kuṭumbina uraṇakavat saṃrakṣyamāṇaṃ miṣato 'pi haranti //

And moreover, where those of the household—wife, children, and the rest—are by name and action wolves and jackals, they carry off, even as he looks on, what is being guarded like a ram, even against the will of the miserly householder.

3. Now in that wilderness, members of his own house, wife, children and others in name, but really wolves and jackals in action rob the miserly householder, wakeful yet unwitting as he is, of his valuables, like a lamb carefully kept (in a pen).

5.14.4

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yathā hy anuvatsaraṃ kṛṣyamāṇam apy adagdha-bījaṃ kṣetraṃ punar evāvapana-kāle gulma-tṛṇa-vīrudbhir gahvaram iva bhavaty evam eva gṛhāśramaḥ karma-kṣetraṃ yasmin na hi karmāṇy utsīdanti yad ayaṃ kāma-karaṇḍa eṣa āvasathaḥ //

For just as a field, though plowed year after year, whose seeds are not burnt, becomes dense again at sowing time with shrubs, grasses, and creepers, exactly so is the stage of the householder a field of action, in which karmas never perish, because this dwelling is a casket of desires.

4. Just as a field wherein, though ploughed every year, the seeds of weeds are not burnt out, is again and again, when sown with grain, overgrown densely into a forest with bushes, grasses and creepers; so also the life of a householder is the field where Karma grows thick and cannot be killed out; and this order of life is indeed a box of desires

5.14.5

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tatra gato daṃśa-maśaka-samāpasadair manujaiḥ śalabha-śakunta-taskara-mūṣakādibhir uparudhyamāna-bahiḥ-prāṇaḥ kvacit parivartamāno 'sminn adhvany avidyā-kāma-karmabhir uparakta-manasānupapannārthaṃ nara-lokaṃ gandharva-nagaram upapannam iti mithyā-dṛṣṭir anupaśyati //

Having entered there, with his outward life-breaths harassed by vile men like gnats and mosquitoes, and by locusts, birds, thieves, mice, and the like, wandering somewhere on this path, with his mind tainted by ignorance, desire, and action, he of false vision regards the human world, whose reality is unfounded, as real, like a city of Gandharvas.

5. In that life of Samsara, wealth which is external life to man is sapped by wicked men who are like unto stinged flies and mosquitoes, by insects, locusts, thieves, rats and others; thus sapped and tossed about somewhere on this road and with his mind and heart steeped in ignorance (Avidya), desires (Kama) and actions (Karma), the Jiva under a misapprehension regards this human world of undesirable things as full of real blessings, (which it is not).

5.14.6

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tatra ca kvacid ātapodaka-nibhān viṣayān upadhāvati pāna-bhojana-vyavāyādi-vyasana-lolupaḥ //

And there, somewhere, greedy for the vices of drinking, eating, sexual intercourse, and the rest, he runs after sense objects resembling the waters of a mirage.

6. There again, impelled by his passion for the vicious habits of drink, food, sexual relations and the like, he sometimes pursues objects fleeting like the mirage.

5.14.7

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kvacic cāśeṣa-doṣa-niṣadanaṃ purīṣa-viśeṣaṃ tad-varṇa-guṇa-nirmita-matiḥ suvarṇam upāditsaty agni-kāma-kātara ivolmuka-piśācam //

And somewhere, with a mind captivated by its color and quality, he desires to grasp gold—a particular kind of excrement and the abode of endless faults—like one eager for fire frightened by a will-o'-the-wisp.

7. Sometimes he is eager to acquire gold, his mind being captivated by its quality, *i. e.*, its glittering colour, which in verity is but a variety of offal and the focus of all evils; (but) he tries to grasp it like one who, impatient to find fire, grasps at will-o-the-wisp.

5.14.8

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atha kadācin nivāsa-pānīya-draviṇādy-anekātmopajīvanābhiniveśa etasyāṃ saṃsārāṭavyām itas tataḥ paridhāvati //

Then sometimes, intent on various means of self-sustenance such as dwelling, water, and wealth, he runs here and there in this forest of the cycle of rebirth.

8. Now again in his engrossing anxiety to find means of living and numerous comforts in the forms of abode, drink, property and the like, he runs about here and there in the forest of Samsara.

5.14.9

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kvacic ca vātyaupamyayā pramadayāroham āropitas tat-kāla-rajasā rajanī-bhūta ivāsādhu-maryādo rajas-valākṣo 'pi dig-devatā atirajas-vala-matir na vijānāti //

And somewhere, mounted onto the lap of a woman who is like a whirlwind, blinded as it were by the dust of passion of that moment, abandoning proper boundaries of conduct, with eyes full of dust and mind entirely blinded by passion, he does not recognize the guardian deities of the directions.

9. Sometimes enthroned on her lap by the woman who is like unto a whirlwind and under the force of Rajas (passion) roused at the time, violating like nocturnal spirits every good rule, and having his eyes covered with Rajas (dust of passion) and his mind overcharged with folly he fails to remember the deities of the cardinal points that are witnessing him.

5.14.10

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kvacit sakṛd avagata-viṣaya-vaitathyaḥ svayaṃ parābhidhyānena vibhraṃśita-smṛtis tayaiva marīci-toya-prāyāṃs tān evābhidhāvati //

Somewhere, having once understood the falsity of sense objects, he has his memory bewildered by dwelling upon another, and runs after those very same objects that are like mirage waters.

10. Now he perceives but for a moment the futility of worldly objects; however by force of habitual and intense contemplation of those objects (his body and its belongings), having lost his memory (and judgment) and led by the erring mind he rushes towards the same objects which are inviting like the currents of mirage.

5.14.11

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kvacid ulūka-jhillī-svanavad ati-paruṣa-rabhasāṭopaṃ pratyakṣaṃ parokṣaṃ vā ripu-rāja-kula-nirbhartsitenāti-vyathita-karṇa-mūla-hṛdayaḥ //

Somewhere, with his ears and heart deeply pained by the reproaches of an enemy or royal family, sounding like the harsh and vehement screech of owls and crickets, whether spoken directly or behind his back;

11. Now his ears and heart intensely ache with the threats which his enemies and kings directly or indirectly hold out with confounding and cruel display of force terrific like the noise of owls and jhillies (a species of insects).

5.14.12

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sa yadā dugdha-pūrva-sukṛtas tadā kāraskara-kākatuṇḍādy-apuṇya-druma-latā-viṣoda-pānavad ubhayārtha-śūnya-draviṇān jīvan-mṛtān svayaṃ jīvan-mriyamāṇa upadhāvati //

When his past merit is exhausted, he, dying while still living, runs after men whose wealth is devoid of both this world and the next and who are living-dead, like trees and creepers of ill omen such as the kāraskara and the kākatuṇḍa, or poisoned wells;

12. Having exhausted the merit acquired in a previous life and himself living in name but actually dead, he betakes himself to those who are destitute of substance serving any purpose here or hereafter and who are therefore dead while living in name and fit to be compared to Karaskara and other accursed trees and creepers or to wells full of poisonous water.

5.14.13

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ekadāsat-prasaṅgān nikṛta-matir vyudaka-srotaḥ-skhalanavad ubhayato 'pi duḥkhadaṃ pākhaṇḍam abhiyāti //

Sometimes, his mind ruined by association with the wicked, he goes over to heresy, which causes misery both here and hereafter, like tumbling into a waterless stream;

13. Now having his reason deluded by association with the wicked he goes over to the Pakhandas, which step leads him to misery in either way like one tumbling down in the rocky bed of a dried-up stream.

5.14.14

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yadā tu para-bādhayāndha ātmane nopanamati tadā hi pitṛ-putra-barhiṣmataḥ pitṛ-putrān vā sa khalu bhakṣayati //

When, however, blinded by the tormenting of others, nothing comes to himself, then indeed he preys upon his fathers and sons who perform sacrifices, or upon his fathers and sons;

14. When no food could be got even for himself by harassing strangers, he proceeds indeed to prey upon his own father or son, or even those that collect the sacred grass, or only his own parents and children.

5.14.15

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kvacid āsādya gṛhaṃ dāvavat priyārtha-vidhuram asukhodarkaṃ śokāgninā dahyamāno bhṛśaṃ nirvedam upagacchati //

Somewhere, finding a home like a forest fire, bereft of cherished objects and resulting in sorrow, burning with the fire of grief, he falls into utter despondency;

15. Now he finds himself in a household which like a burning

forest presents nothing desirable but only promises misery and burning with grief he gets highly disgusted with it.

5.14.16

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kvacit kāla-viṣa-mita-rāja-kula-rakṣasāpahṛta-priyatama-dhanāsuḥ pramṛtaka iva vigata-jīva-lakṣaṇa āste //

Somewhere, his most cherished life-breath of wealth snatched away by the demon of the royal house disguised by the poison of Time, he sits like a corpse, devoid of the signs of life;

16. Now of his wealth most beloved of him, his life itself, he is deprived by the angry sovereign through change of time and he remains like a dead man divested of all the characteristics of life.

5.14.17

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kadācin manorathopagata-pitṛ-pitāmahādy asat sad iti svapna-nirvṛti-lakṣaṇam anubhavati //

Sometimes, regarding unreal things like fathers and grandfathers appearing through daydreams as real, he experiences a state characterized by the fleeting joy of a dream;

17. Sometimes he fancies as real the unrealities of fathers, grand-fathers, etc, presented in fulfilment of his desires and enjoys a pleasure like that in a dream.

5.14.18

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kvacid gṛhāśrama-karma-codanāti-bhara-girim ārurukṣamāṇo loka-vyasana-karṣita-manāḥ kaṇṭaka-śarkarā-kṣetraṃ praviśann iva sīdati //

Somewhere, desiring to climb the mountain of the excessive burden of duties prescribed for the householder, with mind worn down by worldly distress, he flounders as if entering a field of thorns and pebbles;

18. Sometimes he proposes to himself the work of climbing up the hill of extensive duties (of completely doing all the duties) enjoined upon the house-holder, but his mind being distracted by the worldly passions, he languishes with pain like one walking on a ground full of thorns and sharp-edged gravel.

5.14.19

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kvacic ca duḥsahena kāyābhyantara-vahninā gṛhīta-sāraḥ sva-kuṭumbāya krudhyati //

And somewhere, his strength sapped by the intolerable fire within his body, he becomes angry with his own family;

19. Sometimes all his energy (courage) being sapped by the insupportable fire in his own body (i. e., by inordinate hunger), he vents his anger on the members of his own family.

5.14.20

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sa eva punar nidrājagara-gṛhīto 'ndhe tamasi magnaḥ śūnyāraṇya iva śete nānyat-kiñcana veda śava ivāpaviddhaḥ //

Again, seized by the python of sleep and plunged into blinding darkness, he lies down as if in a desolate forest, knowing nothing else, like an abandoned corpse;

20. Now again, seized by the boa-constructor of sleep and immersed in blinding darkness the same man is lying down as if in a desert, insensible of everything else, like a dead body cast off by all kith and kin.

5.14.21

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kadācid bhagna-māna-daṃṣṭro durjana-danda-śūkair alabdha-nidrā-kṣaṇo vyathita-hṛdayenānukṣīyamāṇa-vijñāno 'ndha-kūpe 'ndhavat patati //

Sometimes, with the fangs of his pride broken by the venomous serpents of wicked men, obtaining no moment of sleep, with his discernment gradually fading in his anguished heart, he falls like a blind man into a blind well;

21. And sometimes his tusk, i. e., his pride, is broken; and when attacked by wicked men like unto stinged flies he fails to find even a moment's pleasure of sleep, and every moment losing his sense and having his heart filled with troubles he like a blind man falls into a dark well, i. e., he is immersed in hopeless ignorance and misery.

5.14.22

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karhi sma cit kāma-madhu-lavān vicinvan yadā para-dāra-para-drav-yāṇy avarundhāno rājñā svāmibhir vā nihataḥ pataty apāre niraye //

At times, while gathering drops of the honey of pleasure, when he lays hold of another's wife or another's property, being slain by the king or the owners, he falls into boundless hell;

22. Sometime again in his eager quest of the little drops of honey (vulgar pleasures) he interferes with others' wives and property; he is beaten by the king or by their lords and falls into insurmountable hell.

5.14.23

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atha ca tasmād ubhayathāpi hi karmāsminn ātmanaḥ saṃsārāvapanam udāharanti //

And for that reason, they declare action in this world, either way, to be the field of sowing transmigration for the self;

23. Consequently then, the wise say, he goes on acquiring Karma which sows the seeds of future Saṃsāra (series of births and deaths) both here and hereafter.

5.14.24

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muktas tato yadi bandhād devadatta upācchinatti tasmād api viṣṇumitra ity anavasthitiḥ //

If freed from that bondage, Devadatta snatches it away; and from him, Viṣṇumitra takes it—thus there is no stability;

24. If he escapes from that one crisis, a Devadatta snatches away the object from him and from Devadatta another Vishnumitra wrests it and so on without end.

5.14.25

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kvacic ca śīta-vātādy-anekādhidaivika-bhautikātmīyānāṃ daśānāṃ pratinivāraṇe 'kalpo duranta-cintayā viṣaṇṇa āste //

And somewhere, unable to ward off the many conditions—supernatural, elemental, and internal—such as cold and wind, he sits dejected with endless anxiety;

25. Sometimes, incapable of counteracting the adverse conditions of heat and cold, wind and rain and the like caused by the agencies of the presiding deities, the great Bhutas and his own body, he becomes despondent in his endless anxiety.

5.14.26

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kvacin mitho vyavaharan yat kiñcid dhanam anyebhyo vā kākiṇikā-mātram apy apaharan yat kiñcid vā vidveṣam eti vitta-śāṭhyāt //

Somewhere, transacting with one another, or taking away even a mere cowrie's worth of wealth from others, or incurring some enmity due to dishonesty over money;

26. Sometimes, in mutual transactions he gets a little money from others; or if he deceitfully appropriates even a petty sum as twenty cowries, or even less, he reaps the enmity of others.

5.14.27

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adhvany amuṣminn ima upasargās tathā sukha-duḥkha-rāga-dveṣa-bhayābhimāna-pramādonmāda-śoka-moha-lobha-mātsaryerṣyāva-māna-kṣut-pipāsādhi-vyādhi-janma-jarā-maraṇādayaḥ //

On this road there are these afflictions, as well as pleasure and pain, attachment and aversion, fear, pride, negligence, madness, sorrow, delusion, greed, malice, jealousy, insult, hunger, thirst, mental agony, disease, birth, old age, death, and so forth.

27. On that road are present these untoward obstacles, as also pleasures and pains, and desires, hatred, fear and pride, carelessness and madness, grief, delusion and greed, envy and jealousy, disgrace, hunger and thirst, anxieties and diseases, birth and old age, and death and the like.

5.14.28

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kvāpi deva-māyayā striyā bhuja-latopagūḍhaḥ praskanna-viveka-vijñāno yad-vihāra-gṛhārambhākula-hṛdayas tad-āśrayāvasakta-suta-duhitṛ-kalatra-bhāṣitāvaloka-viceṣṭitāpahṛta-hṛdaya ātmānam ajitātmāpāre 'ndhe tamasi prahiṇoti //

Somewhere, embraced by the creeper-like arms of a woman through divine creative power, his discriminating insight fallen away, his heart agog with plans to build a house for sporting with her, his heart stolen by the talk, glances, and movements of his sons, daughters, and wife who cling to that shelter, he, having no self-mastery, plunges himself into endless, blinding darkness.

28. Sometimes, embraced with both her creeper-like arms by the woman who is no other than the Almighty Lord's deluding power, he loses his sense of discrimination and wisdom; with his heart anxious about building in the grove a pleasure-house for her, and in that relation to her he surrenders his heart to sons, daughters, and to that wife, to their utterances and looks and actions; and having thereby lost control over his mind he consigns himself to the shoreless hell of blinding darkness.

5.14.29

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kadācid īśvarasya bhagavato viṣṇoś cakrāt paramāṇv-ādi-dvi-parārdhāpavarga-kālopalakṣaṇāt parivartitena vayasā raṃhasā harata ābrahma-tṛṇa-stambādīnāṃ bhūtānām animiṣato miṣatāṃ vitrasta-hṛdayas tam eveśvaraṃ kāla-cakra-nijāyudhaṃ sākṣād bhagavantaṃ yajña-puruṣam anādṛtya pākhaṇḍa-devatāḥ kaṅka-gṛdhra-baka-vaṭa-prāyā ārya-samaya-parihṛtāḥ sāṅketyenābhidhatte //

Sometimes, his heart terrified by the swiftly rotating wheel of the Lord God Viṣṇu—which marks time from an atom up to the end of two parārdhas—which takes away the life of all beings from Brahmā down to a clump of grass while they watch helplessly without batting an eyelid, he disregards that very Lord who has the wheel of time as his personal weapon, the Lord in person, the sacrificial Puruṣa, and under conventional names designates heretical deities who resemble herons, vultures, cranes, and false mendicants, shunned by the traditional doctrine of the noble.

29. Sometimes, his heart gets filled with fear as he thinks of the Chakra of the glorious Vishnu the supreme Ruler, which in the form of Time from the minutest point to the length of Brahma's life, rolls down in its incomprehensible velocity, the ages of man and carries away without a pause all creatures from Brahma to the clump of grass and the tiniest animalculae, that are, though all awake, quite unable to counteract that force; all the same he neglects Yagna Purusha, no other than the glorious supreme Being whose true weapon is the wheel of Time, and he betakes himself to the Pakhanda deities who are verily kites, vultures, cranes or banian trees, having a place by mere convention and not recognised in the religion of the Aryas.

5.14.30

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yadā pākhaṇḍibhir ātma-vañcitais tair uru vañcito brahma-kulaṃ samāvasaṃs teṣāṃ śīlam upanayanādi-śrauta-smārta-karmānuṣṭhā-nena bhagavato yajña-puruṣasyārādhanam eva tad arocayan śūdra-kulaṃ bhajate nigamācāre 'śuddhito yasya mithunī-bhāvaḥ kuṭumba-bharaṇaṃ yathā vānara-jāteḥ //

When he has been greatly deceived by those heretics who are themselves deceived, he resides among a community of brāhmaṇas; but not liking their conduct, which consists simply of worshipping the Lord, the sacrificial Puruṣa, through the performance of Vedic and traditional rites beginning with the sacred thread investiture, he resorts to a śūdra community, being unfit for Vedic conduct, whose only purpose is sexual union and feeding a family, like that of the monkey species.

30. When he is thus greatly deceived by the Pakhandas who have deceived themselves; and, though living in the Brahmin community, yet he feels no liking to their pious character and to their worship of the glorious Lord of sacrifices by observing the duties laid down in Srutis and Smritis such as Upanayana, he resorts to the Sudra community and adopts what is declared sinful in the code of Aryan conduct such as addiction to sexual pleasure and earning bread for his own family as the monkey race does.

5.14.31

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tatrāpi niravarodhaḥ svaireṇa viharann ati-kṛpaṇa-buddhir anyonya-mukha-nirīkṣaṇādinā grāmya-karmaṇaiva vismṛta-kālāvadhiḥ //

There too, wandering unrestrained at his own will, of extremely wretched mind, through mere vulgar acts such as gazing into each other's faces, he forgets the limit of his time.

31. And there too, in uncurbed license he always seeks pleasure with a very pitiable understanding, pursues vulgar gratification in courses, such as looking at the faces of one another, entirely forgetting the limit of his time (on earth).

5.14.32

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kvacid drumavad aihikārtheṣu gṛheṣu raṃsyan yathā vānaraḥ suta-dāra-vatsalo vyavāya-kṣaṇaḥ //

Somewhere, like a monkey who loves his offspring and wife, seeking his moment for sexual indulgence, he finds delight in household pursuits aimed at worldly ends, like [a monkey] on trees.

32. Sometimes, like a tree, bent on finding pleasure in the worldly things of the household life and, like the monkey, fond of children and wife he rejoices in sexual pleasure.

5.14.33

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evam adhvany avarundhāno mṛtyu-gaja-bhayāt tamasi giri-kandara-prāye //

Thus being trapped on the path through fear of the elephant of death, [he falls] into darkness like a mountain cave.

33. Thus, pursuing pleasure and pain on his way he gets frightened by the elephant of Death and (falls down) into a dark hell like unto a mountain cave (is overtaken by diseases).

5.14.34

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kvacic chīta-vātādy-aneka-daivika-bhautikātmīyānāṃ duḥkhānāṃ pratinivāraṇe 'kalpo duranta-viṣaya-viṣaṇṇa āste //

Somewhere, incapable of warding off the manifold miseries—caused by gods, nature, and oneself, such as cold and wind—he sits dejected by endless worldly cares.

34. Sometimes, unable to ward off the sufferings due to heat and cold and the like engendered by the deities, the elements and his physical body, he stands perplexed in the midst of worldly endless environments (attractions).

5.14.35

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kvacin mitho vyavaharan yat kiñcid dhanam upayāti vitta-śāṭhyena //

Somewhere, dealing with one another, he acquires a little wealth through financial deceit.

35. Sometimes, he enters into mutual transactions out of greed but acquires only very little.

5.14.36

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kvacit kṣīṇa-dhanaḥ śayyāsanāśanādy-upabhoga-vihīno yāvad apratilabdha-manorathopagatādāne 'vasita-matis tatas tato 'vamānādīni janād abhilabhate //

Somewhere, his wealth depleted, deprived of enjoyments such as a bed, seat, and food, his mind intent on seizing whatever may fulfill his unrealized desires, he incurs insults and the like from people at every step.

36. Sometimes, when his fortune becomes slender and he so destitute as to want a bed, a seat, a morsel of foo or other comforts, he is still determined on pursuing some desired, though unreachable, object and so in due course he comes to be put by the world to shame and other difficulties.

5.14.37

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evaṃ vitta-vyatiṣaṅga-vivṛddha-vairānubandho 'pi pūrva-vāsanayā mitha udvahaty athāpavahati //

Though enmity constantly increases through business dealings with wealth in this manner, yet driven by past impressions he marries and gives in marriage among them.

37. Similarly, though his monetary relations entail enmity and

its consequences, he enters into marriage and other social relationships (with the same persons) irresistibly impelled by the force of custom or sometimes he abandons them all.

5.14.38

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etasmin saṃsārādhvani nānā-kleśopasarga-bādhita āpanna-vipanno yatra yas tam u ha vāvetaras tatra visṛjya jātaṃ jātam upādāya śocan muhyan bibhyad-vivadan krandan saṃhṛṣyan gāyan nahyamānaḥ sādhu-varjito naivāvartate 'dyāpi yata ārabdha eṣa nara-loka-sārtho yam adhvanaḥ pāram upadiśanti //

Afflicted by various miseries and visitations on this road of transmigration, having encountered calamity and ruin, abandoning there whoever dies, taking up each one that is born, grieving, bewildered, fearing, disputing, crying, rejoicing, singing, and bound fast, devoid of virtuous devotees, this caravan of human beings has not returned even to this day to the place from which it set out, which they teach to be the end of the road.

38. On this road of Samsara rendered impassable with various difficulties and obstacles he (often) gets into scrapes or sustains losses: now one in such a plight is abandoned by another who admits to his company a new-born member, grieves, loses sense, entertains fear, disputes, cries out, feels rejoiced, sings and, thus fast bound to it and distanced by the righteous, does not even then turn back to the starting point from which this company of human caravans set out and which, the wise say, is the end of this (long) road.

5.14.39

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yad idaṃ yogānuśāsanaṃ na vā etad avarundhate yan nyasta-daṇḍā munaya upaśama-śīlā uparatātmānaḥ samavagacchanti //

This teaching of yoga they do not master, which sages who have laid down their staff of punishment, of peaceful disposition and restrained selves, fully understand.

39. (Generally) men do not take to this discipline of Yoga (which has come down from the glorious Brahman), which those sages fully realise who are firm in the habits of self-control and tranquility and have withdrawn their mind and heart from worldly things.

5.14.40

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yad api dig-ibha-jayino yajvino ye vai rājarṣayaḥ kiṃ tu paraṃ mṛdhe śayīrann asyām eva mameyam iti kṛta-vairānubandhāyāṃ visṛjya svayam upasaṃhṛtāḥ //

Even those royal sages, conquerors of the elephants of the quarters and performers of sacrifices, though they lie dead on the battlefield in this very earth, having formed continuous enmities thinking 'this is mine,' leaving it behind, have themselves been withdrawn [by death].

40. Even pious kings who constantly perform sacrifices and have vanquished the elephants of the cardinal points, would not care for this Yoga; but would rather lay themselves down in battle, being attached to this earth and thinking it as their own—the earth which is the uninterrupted source of inimical relations and, on leaving which (they think) they are dead.

5.14.41

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karma-vallīm avalambya tata āpadaḥ kathañcin narakād vimuktaḥ punar apy evaṃ saṃsārādhvani vartamāno nara-loka-sārtham upayāti evam upari gato 'pi //

Clinging to the creeper of karma, somehow released from hell and its misfortunes, [the jīva], once again moving on this road of transmigration, joins the caravan of human beings; in this way, even if he has gone upward [to heaven, he returns].

41. Taking hold of the creeper of Karma and thereby escaping somehow from difficulty or hell he again strikes into the paths of Samsara and joins the company of worldly men; why, even he who happens to be in the higher regions as Swarga.

5.14.42

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/0 tasyedam upagāyanti----
ārṣabhasyeha rājarṣer manasāpi mahātmanaḥ /
nānuvartmārhati nṛpo makṣikeva garutmataḥ //

Concerning him, they sing this: / 'No king in this world can follow even in mind the path of the high-souled royal sage born of Ṛṣabha, / any more than a fly can follow the path of Garuḍa.'

Thus do they sing of Bharata's career.

42. "No other thing, like a mosquito following the Garuda, could even think of tracking the footsteps of the great and wise king, son of Rishabhadeva.

5.14.43

yo dustyajān dāra-sutān suhṛd rājyaṃ hṛdi-spṛśaḥ /
jahau yuvaiva malavad uttamaśloka-lālasaḥ //

'He who, while still young, eager for Him of highest renown, / cast away like feces his wife, sons, friends, and kingdom, which touch the heart and are so hard to abandon.'

43. “While yet in the prime of youth he thirsted after realising the supreme Lord of supreme glory and abandoned, like dirt, wife and children, friends and kingdom, most attractive to the heart and hard to be given up.

5.14.43.p1

yo dustyajān kṣiti-suta-svajanārtha-dārān $ prārthyāṃ śriyaṃ sura-varaiḥ sadayāvalokām &

'He who [renounced] earth, sons, kinsmen, wealth, and wife, so hard to abandon, and Fortune herself, whose compassionate glance is sought after by the foremost gods—'

44. “The king had no desire for the earth, children, kith and kin, wealth and wife, and the Royal Fortune wherein the great gods themselves might envy and who waits on him, as it were, for his gracious looks; and it is quite fit and natural that he so renounced them all, though hard to do so; for in the view of the great who with delight devote their mind and heart to the worship of Hari, even Moksha is of no great value.

5.14.44

naicchan nṛpas tad-ucitaṃ mahatāṃ madhudviṭ- % sevānurakta-manasām abhavo 'pi phalguḥ //

'The king did not desire them; this is fitting for exalted devotees whose minds are attached to the service of the Enemy of Madhu, for whom even liberation from rebirth is trifling.'

5.14.44.p2

yajñāya dharma-pataye vidhi-naipuṇāya $ yogāya sāṅkhya-śirase prakṛtīśvarāya &

To the sacrifice, the Lord of dharma, proficient in ritual, / to yoga, the summit of Sāṅkhya, the Lord of material nature;

45. “I bow to Hari who is the sacrifice, the defender of righteousness, most skilled in practical observance, Yoga itself, whose head is Sankhya (wisdom, *i. e.*, who is the most exalted object to be realised), who is the ruler of Prakriti and one resort of all the Jivas—thus devoutly uttered Bharata when he was about to cast off his body as a deer”.

5.14.44.p3

yajñāya dharma-pataye vidhi-naipuṇāya $ yogāya sāṅkhya-śirase prakṛtīśvarāya &

To the sacrifice, the Lord of dharma, proficient in ritual, / to yoga, the summit of Sāṅkhya, the Lord of material nature;

5.14.45

nārāyaṇāya haraye nama ity udāraṃ % hāsyan mṛgatvam api yaḥ samudājahāra //

'Thus he nobly proclaimed even when he was about to give up his body as a deer.'

5.14.46

ya idaṃ bhāgavata-sabhājitāvadāta-guṇa-karmaṇo rājarṣer bharatasyānucaritaṃ svasty-ayanam āyuṣyaṃ dhanyaṃ yaśasyaṃ svargyāpavargyaṃ vānuśṛṇoty ākhyāsyaty abhinandati ca sarvā evāśiṣa ātmana āśāste na kāñcana parata iti //

Whoever listens to, will narrate, or rejoices in this life of the royal sage Bharata, whose pure qualities and deeds are celebrated by the Bhāgavatas—which brings welfare, longevity, wealth, renown, heaven, and liberation—secures all blessings for himself and desires nothing from anyone else.

46. He who faithfully listens to or narrates or is rejoiced at this history of the pious king Bharata whose pure qualities and actions are praised and esteemed by the Lord’s votaries—the history which brings in all auspiciousness, long life, merit, renown, and leads to the attainment of Swarga and Moksha,—he reaps all the blessings he would have and needs nothing from another.