Bhagavatapurana 6.15: atha pañcadaśo'dhyāyaḥ

6.15.1

/0 śrīśuka uvāca
ūcaturmṛtakopānte patitaṃ mṛtakopamam /
śokābhibhūtaṃ rājānaṃ bodhayantau saduktibhiḥ //

Śrī Śuka said:
They two spoke to the king, who had fallen near the corpse, resembling a corpse himself,
overcome by sorrow, awakening him with wise words:

1. Sri Suka said:— With soft and appropriate words, both Narada and Angiras brought the king back to his senses who, overpowered with grief, lay like a dead man beside the dead child, and said to him.

6.15.2

ko 'yaṃ syāt tava rājendra bhavān yamanuśocati /
tvaṃ cāsya katamaḥ sṛṣṭau puredānīmataḥ param //

“Who might this one be to you, O king of kings, whom you grieve for?
And which one are you to him in creation—formerly, now, or hereafter?

2. O great king! Who is this? How is he related to thee whom thou art bewailing? What thou to him, in the previous, present and future, creation?

6.15.3

yathā prayānti saṃyānti srotovegena bālukāḥ /
saṃyujyante viyujyante tathā kālena dehinaḥ //

Just as grains of sand come together and part by the force of the current,
so embodied beings are joined and separated by time.

3. Just as sand is washed away or heaped up by the velocity of the current, so by Time embodied creatures are brought together or are separated.

6.15.4

yathā dhānāsu vai dhānā bhavanti na bhavanti ca /
evaṃ bhūtāni bhūteṣu coditānīśamāyayā //

Just as from grains of corn indeed other grains arise or do not arise,
even so living beings are impelled among beings by the Lord’s creative power.

4. Just as seeds may or may not produce other seeds, so beings actuated by God's Maya may or may not produce other beings. 5. Just as We, thou, and these, mobile and immobile creatures, who belong to the same (present) time, never have same relationship to one another before birth and after death, so also, O king, they are not even now related to one another.

6.15.5

vayaṃ ca tvaṃ ca ye ceme tulyakālāścarācarāḥ /
janmamṛtyoryathā paścāt prāṅ naivamadhunāpi bhoḥ //

We, you, and these moving and unmoving beings who share this present time—
as it is after death and before birth, so it is not even now, sir.

6.15.6

bhūtairbhūtāni bhūteśaḥ sṛjaty avati hanti ca /
ātmasṛṣṭairasvatantrairanapekṣo 'pi bālavat //

By means of created beings, the Lord of beings creates, protects, and destroys beings,
through beings created by Himself, unfree though they are, while He remains desireless, like a child.

6. The Supreme Lord of all Bhutas (things), like a boy, though He has no purpose to achieve, creates, protects and destroys creatures by means of the Bhutas produced by Himself and depending on Himself.

6.15.7

dehena dehino rājan dehāddeho 'bhijāyate /
bījādeva yathā bījaṃ dehy artha iva śāśvataḥ //

Through a body, O king, an embodied being is born from a body, a body from a body,
just as seed arises from seed; but the embodied self, like the true entity, is eternal.

7. From the body of one (the father), is produced the body of another (the son); (so also) from that (of the mother), O king, just as a seed is produced from another seed; the occupant of the body is eternal as the earth and other principles are.

6.15.8

dehadehivibhāgo 'yamavivekakṛtaḥ purā /
jātivyaktivibhāgo 'yaṃ yathā vastuni kalpitaḥ //

This distinction between body and embodied self was forged by lack of discrimination long ago,
just as this distinction between genus and individual is imagined in a real entity.”

8. From eternity there exists this distinction of the body and of the one in the body instituted by ignorance like the distinction of the class and the particular unit thereof which is supposed to subsist in the thing itself.

6.15.9

/0 śrīśuka uvāca
evamāśvāsito rājā citraketurdvijoktibhiḥ /
vimṛjya pāṇinā vaktramādhimlānamabhāṣata //

Śrī Śuka said:
Thus consoled by the words of the two brāhmaṇas, King Citraketu,
wiping his face with his hand, which was withered by anguish, spoke.

9. Sri Suka said:—Thus consoled with the words of the sage king Chitraketu wiped his face drooping with grief with his own hand and said.

6.15.10

/0 śrīrājovāca
kau yuvāṃ jñānasampannau mahiṣṭhau ca mahīyasām /
avadhūtena veṣeṇa gūḍhāviha samāgatau //

The king said:
“Who are you two, endowed with knowledge, the greatest among the great,
who have arrived here disguised in the garb of avadhūtas?

10. The king said:— Who are you both, full of wisdom, most worshipful among the great, that have come here disguised in the Avadhuta habits (in the habits of ascetics)?

6.15.11

caranti hy avanau kāmaṃ brāhmaṇā bhagavatpriyāḥ /
mādṛśāṃ grāmyabuddhīnāṃ bodhāyonmattaliṅginaḥ //

For brāhmaṇas beloved of the Lord wander the earth at will
in the guise of madmen, to enlighten those like me whose intellects are worldly.

11. Indeed brahmins beloved of the Almighty Lord freely go about the earth in the guise of mad men to afford life to (to counsel) the poor-witted souls like me.

6.15.12

kumāro nārada ṛbhuraṅgirā devalo 'sitaḥ /
apāntaratamā vyāso mārkaṇḍeyo 'tha gautamaḥ //

Sanatkumāra, Nārada, Ṛbhu, Aṅgiras, Devala, Asita, / Apāntaratamas, Vyāsa, Mārkaṇḍeya, and Gautama;

12. Kumara, Narada, Ribhu, Angiras, Devala, Asita, Apantaratama, Vyasa, Markandeya, Gautama.

6.15.13

vasiṣṭho bhagavān rāmaḥ kapilo bādarāyaṇiḥ /
durvāsā yājñavalkyaśca jātukarṇastathāruṇiḥ //

Vasiṣṭha, the Lord Rāma, Kapila, the son of Bādarāyaṇa, / Durvāsas, Yājñavalkya, Jātukarṇa, and Āruṇi;

13. The worshipful Vasishta, Parasurama, Kapila, Sukacharya, Durvasas, Yagnavalkya, Jatukarnya and Aruni.

6.15.14

romaśaścyavano datta āsuriḥ sapatañjaliḥ /
ṛṣirvedaśirā dhaumyo muniḥ pañcaśikhastathā //

Romaśa, Cyavana, Datta, Āsuri along with Patañjali, / the seer Vedaśiras, Dhaumya, and the sage Pañcaśikha;

14. Romasa, Chyavana, Datta, Asuri, Patanjali, [Parasara, Maitreya, Bharadwaja and Varuni], the sage Vedasiras, Bhodhya, and the sage Panchasiras.

6.15.15

hiraṇyanābhaḥ kauśalyaḥ śrutadeva ṛtadhvajaḥ /
ete pare ca siddheśāścaranti jñānahetavaḥ //

Hiraṇyanābha Kauśalya, Śrutadeva, and Ṛtadhvaja— / these and other lords of perfected beings wander about causing knowledge.

15. Hiranyanabha, Kausalya, Srutadeva, Rithadwaja--these and many other chief sages of wisdom go about the world to impart knowledge.

6.15.16

tasmādyuvāṃ grāmyapaśormama mūḍhadhiyaḥ prabhū /
andhe tamasi magnasya jñānadīpa udīryatām //

Therefore, you two masters, light the lamp of knowledge / for me, a village beast of dull intellect, sunken in blinding darkness.

16. Therefore may you, powerful sages, be pleased to protect me an ignorant brute fallen into blinding darkness! May the light of wisdom be allowed to shine on me!

6.15.17

/0 śrīaṅgirā uvāca
ahaṃ te putrakāmasya putrado 'smy aṅgirā nṛpa /
eṣa brahmasutaḥ sākṣān nārado bhagavān ṛṣiḥ //

The venerable Aṅgiras said:
I am that Aṅgiras who gave you a son when you desired a son, O king;
and this is the son of Brahmā in person, the divine sage Nārada.

17. Angiras said:— I am, O king, the Rishi Angiras who gave thee the boon of a child when thou wast yearning for an issue; and here is Narada the most important son of Brahma, and the worshipful divine sage.

6.15.18

itthaṃ tvāṃ putraśokena magnaṃ tamasi dustare /
atadarhamanusmṛtya mahāpuruṣagocaram //

Remembering that you, an object of grace for great persons, do not deserve
to be thus plunged into impassable darkness by grief for a son,

18. & 19. Perceiving thee to be a votary of the Supreme Person Hari, immersed deep, through not worthy of it, in the impassable darkness of grief for the son, we have both come here to help thee out of it, O powerful king, for thou art devoted to brahmins and to the Supreme Lord Hari, and does not deserve to be despondent.

6.15.19

anugrahāya bhavataḥ prāptāvāvāmiha prabho /
brahmaṇyo bhagavadbhakto nāvāsāditumarhasi //

we two have come here to bestow favor upon you, O lord.
You are devoted to the brāhmaṇas and a devotee of the Lord; you should not sink into despair.

6.15.20

tadaiva te paraṃ jñānaṃ dadāmi gṛhamāgataḥ /
jñātvānyābhiniveśaṃ te putrameva dadāmy aham //

At that very time, having come to your home, I would have given you supreme knowledge;
knowing your intense attachment to another object, I gave you only a son.

20. Then (the very first time I came to thy house) I would have given thee the supreme knowledge; but seeing that thy heart was strongly set on some other thing I gave thee only an issue.

6.15.21

adhunā putriṇāṃ tāpo bhavataivānubhūyate /
evaṃ dārā gṛhā rāyo vividhaiśvaryasampadaḥ //

Now the burning agony of those who have sons is experienced by your own self.
Likewise wives, homes, riches, diverse opulences and fortunes,

21. Now thou art actually experiencing the grief or affliction pertaining to those that have children; similarly the wife, the house, wealth, and various kinds of prosperous circumstances in the world are sources of grief.

6.15.22

śabdādayaśca viṣayāścalā rājyavibhūtayaḥ /
mahī rājyaṃ balaṃ koṣo bhṛtyāmātyasuhṛjjanāḥ //

objects of sense such as sound, unsteady royal majesties,
the earth, kingdom, army, treasury, servants, ministers, and friendly folk—

22. So also sound and other objects of the senses, prosperous conditions of a kingdom, the earth, the kingly power, strength (an army), treasure, servants, ministers, companions and well-wishers are all changing (transient).

6.15.23

sarve 'pi śūraseneme śokamohabhayārtidāḥ /
gandharvanagaraprakhyāḥ svapnamāyāmanorathāḥ //

all these, O ruler of the Śūrasenas, produce grief, delusion, fear, and pain;
they are like celestial cities in the clouds, dreams, illusions, and mental fancies.

23. O king of Surasenas, all these are the causes of grief, delusion, fear and affliction, seeming to come and go like Gandharva nagara and unreal like unto dreams, illusions and fancies.

6.15.24

dṛśyamānā vinārthena na dṛśyante manobhavāḥ /
karmabhirdhyāyato nānā karmāṇi manaso 'bhavan //

Born of the mind, seen without real existence, they cease to be seen;
from desires born of past actions, various actions arise for the mind meditating [upon them].

24. These are all the products of the mind seeming to be without the substance, for in the next moment they are not seen; for a person who is always meditating on objects under the force of acquired

tendencies of a previous life, various activities spring from the mind.

6.15.25

ayaṃ hi dehino deho dravyajñānakriyātmakaḥ /
dehino vividhakleśa santāpakṛdudāhṛtaḥ //

For this body of the embodied soul, consisting of elements, sense organs, and action,
is declared to be the producer of various miseries and burning agonies for the embodied one.

25. Indeed this body of the embodied creature, being made up of substance, intellect and activity is said to be the cause of various sorrows and afflictions of the creature.

6.15.26

tasmāt svasthena manasā vimṛśya gatimātmanaḥ /
dvaite dhruvārthaviśrambhaṃ tyajopaśamamāviśa //

Therefore, examining with a calm mind the destination of your self,
abandon faith in the permanence of duality and enter into peace.

26. Therefore with a concentrated mind enquire into the truth of Atman; give up faith in the permanency of the objective world implying duality; and betake thyself to renunciation and serenity of mind.

6.15.27

/0 śrīnārada uvāca
etāṃ mantropaniṣadaṃ pratīccha prayato mama /
yāṃ dhārayan saptarātrāddraṣṭā saṅkarṣaṇaṃ vibhum //

The venerable Nārada said:
Receive with pure attention this secret Upanisadic mantra of mine,
retaining which you will, within seven nights, see the all-pervading Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa.

27. Narada said:— Piously and devoutly do thou learn from me this Manthropanishad, bearing this in thy mind and contemplating it for seven nights thou wilt see the Lord Sankarshana.

6.15.27.p1

yatpādamūlamupasṛtya narendra pūrve $ śarvādayo bhramamimaṃ dvitayaṃ visṛjya &

Approaching the soles of whose feet in ancient times, O king of men, Śarva and others abandoned this illusion of duality, and

28. O great king, the ancients, Sarva and others, having approached the feet of Sankarshana got over this illusion relating to duality and soon attaind to His greatness which was not equalled

6.15.28

sadyastadīyamatulānadhikaṃ mahitvaṃ % prāpurbhavān api paraṃ na cirādupaiti //

at once attained His peerless and unsurpassable greatness; you too shall reach the Supreme before long.

or surpassed by that of anybody else: thou will also before long attain to that high position.