Bhagavatapurana 7.2: atha dvitīyo'dhyāyaḥ

7.2.1

/0 śrīnārada uvāca
bhrātaryevaṃ vinihate hariṇā kroḍamūrtinā /
hiraṇyakaśipū rājan paryatapyadruṣā śucā //

Śrī Nārada said:
When his brother was thus slain by Hari in the form of a boar,
O king, Hiraṇyakaśipu was consumed with fury and grief.

1. Narada said:— When his brother was thus (through partiality to the gods) slain by Hari in the form of a Boar, Hiranyakasipu, O king, was sorely oppressed with anger and grief.

7.2.2

āha cedaṃ ruṣā pūrṇaḥ sandaṣṭadaśanacchadaḥ /
kopojjvaladbhyāṃ cakṣurbhyāṃ nirīkṣan dhūmramambaram //

Filled with rage, biting his lip,
and gazing at the smoky sky with eyes burning with anger, he spoke:

2. And, full of rage, biting his lips, fixing in the hazy sky his eyes burning with anger, he spoke as follows:—

7.2.3

karāladaṃṣṭrogradṛṣṭyā duṣprekṣyabhrukuṭīmukhaḥ /
śūlamudyamya sadasi dānavān idamabravīt //

His fierce fangs terrible, his face daunting with knitted brows,
he raised his trident in the assembly and addressed the Dānavas:

3. Looking terrible with horrible tusks and with his face dark and terrific with knit-brows, raising his trident, he addressed the Daityas assembled in his court thus:—

7.2.4

bho bho dānavadaiteyā dvimūrdhaṃstryakṣa śambara /
śatabāho hayagrīva namuce pāka ilvala //

“O Dānavas and Daiteyas! Dvimūrdhan, Tryakṣa, Śambara,
Śatabāhu, Hayagrīva, Namuci, Pāka, Ilvala,

4. & 5. O Danavas and Daityas, O double-headed one, Sambara, Hundred-armed one, Hayagriva, Namuchi, Paka, Ilvala, Viprachithi, Puloman, Sakuna, all listen to my word immediately and let it be done at once; no delay!

7.2.5

vipracitte mama vacaḥ puloman śakunādayaḥ /
śṛṇutānantaraṃ sarve kriyatāmāśu mā ciram //

Vipracitti, Puloman, Śakuni, and the rest! Hear my words,
and then let all of you act swiftly without delay!

7.2.6

sapatnairghātitaḥ kṣudrairbhrātā me dayitaḥ suhṛt /
pārṣṇigrāheṇa hariṇā samenāpyupadhāvanaiḥ //

My beloved brother and friend was caused to be slain by petty enemies,
by the rear-guard Hari through their supplications, although He is supposed to be impartial.

6. "At the instance of our little (weak) enemies my beloved friend and brother has been killed by Hari who, though equal to both, has become their ally on account of their attentions to Him.

7.2.7

tasya tyaktasvabhāvasya ghṛṇermāyāvanaukasaḥ /
bhajantaṃ bhajamānasya bālasyevāsthirātmanaḥ //

Having cast off His true nature, cruel, residing in the forest through his creative power,
He takes the side of whoever worships Him, like an unsteady child.

7. & 8. "With the profuse blood of that Hari who changed His nature, (though pure light) and became a wild animal (Boar) through His Maya and who helps any one that waits on Him, [fickle-minded like a boy] and who will have His head cut off by my trident, I shall gratify my brother thirsting for blood and be rid of the pain at my heart.

7.2.8

macchūlabhinnagrīvasya bhūriṇā rudhireṇa vai /
asṛkpriyaṃ tarpayiṣye bhrātaraṃ me gatavyathaḥ //

With the abundant blood from his neck severed by my trident,
I shall surely gratify my blood-loving brother and become free from sorrow.

7.2.9

tasmin kūṭe 'hite naṣṭe kṛttamūle vanaspatau /
viṭapā iva śuṣyanti viṣṇuprāṇā divaukasaḥ //

When that deceitful enemy is destroyed, like a tree whose root has been cut down,
the heaven-dwellers, whose life-breath is Viṣṇu, will wither away like branches.

9. "When that secret enemy is destroyed, like a tree whose roots are cut, the celestials whose life is Vishnu will wither away like the branches.

7.2.10

tāvadyāta bhuvaṃ yūyaṃ brahmakṣatrasamedhitām /
sūdayadhvaṃ tapoyajña svādhyāyavratadāninaḥ //

Go therefore to the earth, which flourishes by Brāhmaṇas and Kṣatriyas,
and slaughter those who practice austerity, sacrifice, Vedic recitation, vows, and charity!

10. "Now do you all go to the earth made prosperous by Brahmins and Kshatriyas; slaughter those who are engaged in Tapas, sacrifices, Vedic studies, purifying vows and in making charitable gifts.

7.2.11

viṣṇurdvijakriyāmūlo yajño dharmamayaḥ pumān /
devarṣipitṛbhūtānāṃ dharmasya ca parāyaṇam //

Viṣṇu has His root in the rituals of the twice-born; He is sacrifice, the person consisting of dharma,
the supreme refuge of gods, sages, ancestors, and living beings, and of dharma itself.

11. Vishnu has His root in the religious performances of Brahmins. He is Sacrifice and the embodiment of Righteousness; and He is the one supreme support of the gods, Rishis, Pitris and other beings as well as of Dharma.

7.2.12

yatra yatra dvijā gāvo vedā varṇāśramakriyāḥ /
taṃ taṃ janapadaṃ yāta sandīpayata vṛścata //

Wherever there are twice-born, cows, the Vedas, and the duties of classes and life-stages,
go to every such province: burn it down and cut it down!”

12. Wherever there are Brahmins, kine, Vedas, Varnas and Asramas (properly observed) and their functions (in full swing), go to every such country, burn it, and cut it down.

7.2.13

iti te bhartṛnirdeśamādāya śirasādṛtāḥ /
tathā prajānāṃ kadanaṃ vidadhuḥ kadanapriyāḥ //

Thus taking their master's command upon their heads with reverence,
they, who delighted in slaughter, wreaked havoc upon the people.

13. They received this mandate of their lord and, bowing their head and full of earnestness, and naturally fond of oppressing others, spread havoc among the peoples (of the earth), according to their lord’s (direction).

7.2.14

puragrāmavrajodyāna kṣetrārāmāśramākarān /
kheṭakharvaṭaghoṣāṃśca dadahuḥ pattanāni ca //

They burned cities, villages, cowherds' settlements, parks, fields, orchards, hermitages, and mines,
peasant villages, market towns, pastoral settlements, and capitals.

14. They set fire to towns, villages, stalls, parks, fields, gardens, hermitages, quarries, cow-pens, hamlets, the habitations, farmers, and cowherds as well as great cities.

7.2.15

kecit khanitrairbibhiduḥ setuprākāragopurān /
ājīvyāṃścicchidurvṛkṣān kecit paraśupāṇayaḥ /
prādahan śaraṇānyeke prajānāṃ jvalitolmukaiḥ //

Some broke dikes, ramparts, and gateways with picks;
some with axes in hand chopped down fruit-bearing trees;
and others set fire to people's dwellings with blazing firebrands.

15. With spades some knocked down dams and bridges, ramparts and towers, and some others with axes in their hands felled the trees that yielded fruits and food to other creatures; and some again burnt the dwellings of people with flaming brands.

7.2.16

evaṃ viprakṛte loke daityendrānucarairmuhuḥ /
divaṃ devāḥ parityajya bhuvi ceruralakṣitāḥ //

While the world was thus repeatedly ravaged by the followers of the Daitya king,
the gods abandoned heaven and roamed the earth unrecognised.

16. When the world was thus constantly harassed by the followers of the great Daitya (Hiranyakasipu), the gods abandoned the celestial region and wandered *in cognito* on the earth.

7.2.17

hiraṇyakaśipurbhrātuḥ samparetasya duḥkhitaḥ /
kṛtvā kaṭodakādīni bhrātṛputrān asāntvayat //

Grieving for his deceased brother, Hiraṇyakaśipu performed the funeral rites
such as the offering of water on a mat of grass, and then consoled his nephews:

17.—19. Having lamented the deceased brother, Hiranyakasipu poured oblations of water and performed other funeral rites and consoled his brother’s sons, named Sakuni, Sambara, Dhrishta (Dharshti), Bhutasantapana, Vrika, Kalanabha, (Kalanemi) Mahanabha, Harismasru, and Utkacha (Utkala) as also their mother Rushabhanu and his own mother Diti with soothing words; and perceiving the turn of time and place, O lord of men, he (the lord of men) said as follows:—

7.2.18

śakuniṃ śambaraṃ dhṛṣṭiṃ bhūtasantāpanaṃ vṛkam /
kālanābhaṃ mahānābhaṃ hariśmaśrumathotkacam //

Śakuni, Śambara, Dhṛṣṭi, Bhūtasantāpana, Vṛka,
Kālanābha, Mahānābha, Hariśmaśru, and Utkaca,

7.2.19

tanmātaraṃ ruṣābhānuṃ ditiṃ ca jananīṃ girā /
ślakṣṇayā deśakālajña idamāha janeśvara //

along with their mother Ruṣābhānu, and his own mother Diti.
Knowing place and time, O lord of men, he spoke these gentle words to them:

7.2.20

/0 śrīhiraṇyakaśipuruvāca
ambāmba he vadhūḥ putrā vīraṃ mārhatha śocitum /
riporabhimukhe ślāghyaḥ śūrāṇāṃ vadha īpsitaḥ //

Śrī Hiraṇyakaśipu said:
Mother, mother, daughters-in-law, and sons! You should not grieve for the hero;
death facing the enemy is praiseworthy and desired by heroes.

20. Hiranyakasipu said:— Mother, O mother, O daughter, O

children, it is not fit that you sorrow for the hero. Praiseworthy and desired is the fall of heroes in front of the enemy.

7.2.21

bhūtānāmiha saṃvāsaḥ prapāyāmiva suvrate /
daivenaikatra nītānāmunnītānāṃ svakarmabhiḥ //

The association of living beings in this world is like [meeting] at a roadside shelter, O virtuous lady,
brought together by fate and led onward by their own past deeds.

21. Here elements (beings) meet together as travellers do in a water-shed (an inn), O chaste one; for they are severally brought together or scattered by Providence according to their Karma.

7.2.22

nitya ātmāvyayaḥ śuddhaḥ sarvagaḥ sarvavit paraḥ /
dhatte 'sāvātmano liṅgaṃ māyayā visṛjan guṇān //

The self is eternal, imperishable, pure, all-pervading, omniscient, and supreme;
it assumes a subtle body of its own through creative power, projecting the qualities.

22. Atman is eternal, undecaying, pure, present everywhere, all-knowing, the cause of all yet distinct from all; through His own Maya He creates the gunas and puts on a form or body which is (a product of the gunas).

7.2.23

yathāmbhasā pracalatā taravo 'pi calā iva /
cakṣuṣā bhrāmyamāṇena dṛśyate calatīva bhūḥ //

Just as when water moves, even trees appear to move,
and when an eye is spun around, the earth appears to spin,

23. Just as, when water is running, trees are seen to run, and when the eye is swimming, the earth seems to be in motion;

7.2.24

evaṃ guṇairbhrāmyamāṇe manasyavikalaḥ pumān /
yāti tatsāmyatāṃ bhadre hyaliṅgo liṅgavān iva //

even so, when the mind is agitated by the qualities, the undisturbed person
attains likeness to it, O auspicious lady, as if possessing a body though bodiless.

24. So also the mind set agoing by the gunas, the *Absolute being* seems to be active like it and to be invested with a body though really He has no body.

7.2.25

eṣa ātmaviparyāso hyaliṅge liṅgabhāvanā /
eṣa priyāpriyairyogo viyogaḥ karmasaṃsṛtiḥ //

This error of the self is indeed the perception of a body in the bodiless;
from this comes union and separation with the pleasant and unpleasant, and transmigration through action.

25. & 26. This attachment to the body (as if it were his essence) which does not exist is the mistake that has come over Atman; and this (thus) experience of what is desirable or undesirable or their

loss constitutes Karma and Samsara. (So also) birth, destruction and sorrow of various description, want of discernment and discrimination, anxiety and want of realisation of the distinction (constitute Samsara).

7.2.26

sambhavaśca vināśaśca śokaśca vividhaḥ smṛtaḥ /
avivekaśca cintā ca vivekāsmṛtireva ca //

Birth and destruction, various forms of sorrow,
lack of discernment, anxiety, and the loss of discrimination are remembered to arise from this.

7.2.27

atrāpyudāharantīmamitihāsaṃ purātanam /
yamasya pretabandhūnāṃ saṃvādaṃ taṃ nibodhata //

In this regard they cite this ancient history:
the conversation between Yama and the kinsmen of a deceased man; listen to it.

27. In illustration of this very point there is the following account handed down from ancient times; it is a conversation between Yama and the relations of a dead man. Listen to it:—

7.2.28

uśīnareṣvabhūdrājā suyajña iti viśrutaḥ /
sapatnairnihato yuddhe jñātayastamupāsata //

Among the Uśīnaras there was a king renowned as Suyajña;
when he was slain in battle by his rivals, his relatives gathered around him.

28. In the country of Usinaras there was a celebrated king called Suyajna; he was slain by the foe in a battle, and his kith and kin stood round him.

7.2.29

viśīrṇaratnakavacaṃ vibhraṣṭābharaṇasrajam /
śaranirbhinnahṛdayaṃ śayānamasṛgāvilam //

His bejewelled armour shattered, his ornaments and garlands fallen away,
his heart pierced by arrows, lying smeared with blood,

29. & 30. He lay on the battle-field with his armour set with jewels shattered, his ornaments and wreaths fallen in disorder, his heart pierced through with arrows, his body stained with blood, his hair dishevelled, eyes blown out, biting his lips in anger, with his face covered with dust, his weapons and arms being broken.

7.2.30

prakīrṇakeśaṃ dhvastākṣaṃ rabhasā daṣṭadacchadam /
rajaḥkuṇṭhamukhāmbhojaṃ chinnāyudhabhujaṃ mṛdhe //

his hair dishevelled, his eyes ruined, his lip bitten in fury,
his lotus-like face covered with dust, his arms with their weapons severed in battle—

7.2.31

uśīnarendraṃ vidhinā tathā kṛtaṃ patiṃ mahiṣyaḥ prasamīkṣya duḥkhitāḥ /
hatāḥ sma nātheti karairuro bhṛśaṃ ghnantyo muhustatpadayorupāpatan //

Seeing their husband, the king of the Uśīnaras, brought to such a state by destiny, his grieving queens,
crying out repeatedly, “We are undone, O master!”, beat their breasts violently with their hands and fell at his feet.

31. His queens saw the Lord of Usinaras, their consort, so dealt with by Fate and in their affliction screamed, ‘Ah! we are undone, O lord’, and violently beat their breasts with their hands and often fell on his feet.

7.2.32

rudatya uccairdayitāṅghripaṅkajaṃ siñcantya asraiḥ kucakuṅkumāruṇaiḥ /
visrastakeśābharaṇāḥ śucaṃ nṛṇāṃ sṛjantya ākrandanayā vilepire //

Weeping loudly, bathing their beloved's lotus feet with tears reddened by the saffron from their breasts,
their hair and ornaments dishevelled, they lamented with shrieks that awakened grief in all who heard:

32. Wailing aloud and showering the lotus-like feet of their beloved lord with tears red with kunkuma on their bosom, with their locks falling in disorder, they wailed in such sorrowful tones as to fill the audience with sorrow.

7.2.33

aho vidhātrākaruṇena naḥ prabho bhavān praṇīto dṛgagocarāṃ daśām /
uśīnarāṇāmasi vṛttidaḥ purā kṛto 'dhunā yena śucāṃ vivardhanaḥ //

“Alas, O master, by unpitying destiny you have been brought to a state beyond our sight!
You who formerly provided livelihood to the Uśīnaras have now been made the cause of multiplying their grief!”

33. & 34. “Alas! by the merciless Fate, O lord, thou art reduced to an invisible state; thou, who wast once the life-giver to (protector of) Usinaras, hast now become the source of their growing sorrow! Without thee, O king, full of gratitude and most friendly lord, how could we be (live), O warrior? Permit us, servants of thy feet, to go where thou wilt go.

7.2.34

tvayā kṛtajñena vayaṃ mahīpate kathaṃ vinā syāma suhṛttamena te /
tatrānuyānaṃ tava vīra pādayoḥ śuśrūṣatīnāṃ diśa yatra yāsyasi //

O king, how can we live without you, who are grateful and our dearest friend? / Direct our path, O hero, following at your feet wherever you will go, desiring to serve you.

7.2.35

evaṃ vilapatīnāṃ vai parigṛhya mṛtaṃ patim /
anicchatīnāṃ nirhāramarko 'staṃ sannyavartata //

While they thus lamented, embracing their dead husband / and not wishing for his funeral, the sun set.

35. When taking possession of their dead husband, they thus poured out their wailings and would not allow it to be removed: the sun set on them.

7.2.36

tatra ha pretabandhūnāmāśrutya paridevitam /
āha tān bālako bhūtvā yamaḥ svayamupāgataḥ //

Hearing the wailing of the dead king's kinsmen there, / Yama himself approached, having assumed the form of a boy, and spoke to them:

36. (Then) hearing the lamentation of the dead man’s relations Yama himself came there as a boy and said to them.

7.2.37

/0 śrīyama uvāca
aho amīṣāṃ vayasādhikānāṃ vipaśyatāṃ lokavidhiṃ vimohaḥ /
yatrāgatastatra gataṃ manuṣyaṃ svayaṃ sadharmā api śocantyapārtham //

Śrī Yama said: / Oh, the delusion of these elders who behold the way of the world! / A man has gone where he came from, yet they, sharing the very same nature, lament in vain!

37. Yama said:— What wonder is it! what folly is it on the part of these who are my superiors by age and who daily observe the course of the world characterised by birth and death; and (though they know) that he is gone to that unmanifest source from which he came and they are themselves of the same mortal nature, these in vain lament the dead man.

7.2.38

aho vayaṃ dhanyatamā yadatra tyaktāḥ pitṛbhyāṃ na vicintayāmaḥ /
abhakṣyamāṇā abalā vṛkādibhiḥ sa rakṣitā rakṣati yo hi garbhe //

Oh, how truly fortunate we are that, abandoned here by our parents, we do not worry! / Helpless as we are, we are not devoured by wolves and other beasts; He who protected [us] in the womb indeed protects [now].

38. Oh! Really blessed we are that abandoned by parents we are not anxious; we are not eaten though weak (helpless) by wolves and other beasts of prey, for He is the protector everywhere who protects the Being in the womb.

7.2.39

ya icchayeśaḥ sṛjatīdamavyayo ya eva rakṣatyavalumpate ca yaḥ /
tasyābalāḥ krīḍanamāhurīśituś carācaraṃ nigrahasaṅgrahe prabhuḥ //

The immutable Lord who creates this [universe] by His will, who alone preserves it, and who destroys it— / the moving and unmoving creation, O women, is said to be the plaything of that Ruler; He is master in binding and freeing.

39. To the undecaying Lord who at His will creates this, who alone protects it and also destroys it, O weak women, all this world of mobile and immobile creatures is said to be a toy and He alone is powerful in making or unmaking it.

7.2.40

pathi cyutaṃ tiṣṭhati diṣṭarakṣitaṃ gṛhe sthitaṃ tadvihataṃ vinaśyati /
jīvatyanātho 'pi tadīkṣito vane gṛhe 'bhigupto 'sya hato na jīvati //

Fallen on the road, [something] remains if guarded by destiny; kept in the house, it perishes if destroyed by it. / Even one without a protector lives in the forest if watched over by Him; guarded in a house, one struck down by Him does not live.

40. What has dropped on the way remains there protected by Providence, and a thing (carefully kept) in the house perishes blighted by Providence; even a helpless creature lives on in a forest looked after by Him and though secreted in the house he does not live when (cannot escape death) He would kill him.

7.2.41

bhūtāni taistairnijayonikarmabhir bhavanti kāle na bhavanti sarvaśaḥ /
na tatra hātmā prakṛtāvapi sthitas tasyā guṇairanyatamo hi badhyate //

Through their respective wombs and actions, beings come to be in due time and cease completely to be. / The self, though dwelling in material nature, is distinct from it and is not bound by its qualities.

41. It is bodies (what are produced) that in due time come into existence and completely go out of existence (only) as the result of the various actions which depend upon the subtle body or Lingasareera; though Atman is there in association with Prakriti or body, He is not affected by the conditions of Prakriti, for He is quite different in nature from it.

7.2.42

idaṃ śarīraṃ puruṣasya mohajaṃ yathā pṛthag bhautikamīyate gṛham /
yathaudakaiḥ pārthivataijasairjanaḥ kālena jāto vikṛto vinaśyati //

This body of the soul is born of delusion, just as a house made of elements is perceived as separate [from its dweller], / as a person, born in time out of combinations of water, earth, and fire, is transformed and perishes.

42. This body of Atman is the result of delusion (want of power to discriminate), but being a product of Bhutas it is different from Atman just as a house is seen to be (different from the occupant):

like bubbles formed of the particles of water and like earthenware and ornaments made of earth and fire (solid), the body that is produced by time undergoes change and perishes.

7.2.43

yathānalo dāruṣu bhinna īyate yathānilo dehagataḥ pṛthak sthitaḥ /
yathā nabhaḥ sarvagataṃ na sajjate tathā pumān sarvaguṇāśrayaḥ paraḥ //

Just as fire is perceived as distinct in wood, just as the wind abiding in the body remains separate, / just as all-pervading space is not attached, so is the supreme Person, the support of all material qualities, [detached].

43. Just as fire in the fuel is seen to differ from it, the breath in the body remains distinct from it, the sky pervading everything does not stick to anything, so Atman, though associated with the body, the senses, and other things as their support or as resting on their support, is still distinct from them all.

7.2.44

suyajño nanvayaṃ śete mūḍhā yamanuśocatha /
yaḥ śrotā yo 'nuvakteha sa na dṛśyeta karhicit //

Surely this Suyajña lies here, whom you fools lament! / But he who was the hearer and speaker here was never visible at any time.

44. O foolish people, this Suyajṅa, whom do you lament, is sleeping indeed; what for do you lament? For he who should hear you or give you replies could never be seen.

7.2.45

na śrotā nānuvaktāyaṃ mukhyo 'pyatra mahān asuḥ /
yastvihendriyavān ātmā sa cānyaḥ prāṇadehayoḥ //

Neither the hearer nor the speaker here is even the chief, great vital breath; / rather, the self that possesses the senses in this body is distinct from both the breath and the body.

45. Even Mukhya Prana (the vital breath of great importance) in the body spoken of as life does not hear or answer; but He who is the lord of the senses is Atman and He is different from Mukhya Prana and the body.

7.2.46

bhūtendriyamanoliṅgān dehān uccāvacān vibhuḥ /
bhajatyutsṛjati hyanyastac cāpi svena tejasā //

The all-powerful [self], which is distinct [from them], assumes and discards / higher and lower bodies marked by the elements, the senses, and the mind, by its own potency.

D. Even Mukhya Prana who is the chief functionary in the body does not independently hear and answer. Then it is no matter for surprise that the little Jiva called 'Suyajna' conditioned by the body and the senses is not able to do so except when allowed to do so by the Lord; hence the Jiva in the body is to be distiugnirhed from the Lord who is also present there. 46. The Jiva who has an eternal existence forms attachments to various bodies (high or low) constituted of the five Bhutas, the senses and the mind and identifies himself with them, though he is really distinct from them and then by force of his wisdom he abandons them (he realises himself as quite distinct from them).

7.2.47

yāval liṅgānvito hyātmā tāvat karmanibandhanam /
tato viparyayaḥ kleśo māyāyogo 'nuvartate //

As long as the self is connected to the subtle body, so long does the bondage of action remain; / from that follows error, affliction, and the conjunction with creative power.

47. As long as Atman is beset with the subtle body (i.e., has attachments to it), Karma (gross activity) continues to be the cause of bondage; hence the perverse (undesirable) state (leading to) misery, and all that time association with Maya continues to be.

7.2.48

vitathābhiniveśo 'yaṃ yadguṇeṣvarthadṛgvacaḥ /
yathā manorathaḥ svapnaḥ sarvamaindriyakaṃ mṛṣā //

It is a false fixation—this view and speech that sees reality in the gunas; / like a daydream or a dream, everything belonging to the senses is unreal.

48. It is a false (an ill-founded) attachment (notion) to think the gunas or their effect, viz., pleasure, pain and the like, as well as all talk about them, to be real. Just as dream is mere fancy, so everything in the range of the senses is unsubstantial.

7.2.49

atha nityamanityaṃ vā neha śocanti tadvidaḥ /
nānyathā śakyate kartuṃ svabhāvaḥ śocatāmiti //

Therefore, those who know the truth do not lament here for what is eternal or transient. / Yet the nature of those who lament cannot be made otherwise—such is the case.

49. Therefore, those that truly know what is eternal (real) and what is not (fanciful) do not grieve for the eternal (Atman) or the

48. *D. The Maya Yoga* in verse 47 is explained:—the notion or all the talk that the sense objects form the purpose to be sought after is worthless, i.e., to send the senses after objects in the hope of ending miseries is not the true end or means thereof. It is often to such misleading statements that the wrong notion is due, for those objects are of no abiding value just as anything merely fancied or a gem presented in a dream vision is not. transient (body); but it is not easy to change the nature of those that are given to grieving.

7.2.50

lubdhako vipine kaścit pakṣiṇāṃ nirmito 'ntakaḥ /
vitatya jālaṃ vidadhe tatra tatra pralobhayan //

A certain hunter in the forest was created as death for birds; / spreading his net here and there, he caught them by enticing them.

50. A fowler, who is created a Yama (a destroyer) to birds in the forest, spread his net in different parts of it, alluring them (with grains of corn, pieces of flesh and the like).

7.2.51

kuliṅgamithunaṃ tatra vicarat samadṛśyata /
tayoḥ kuliṅgī sahasā lubdhakena pralobhitā //

A pair of kuliṅga birds was seen wandering there. / Between them, the female kuliṅga was suddenly enticed by the hunter.

51. There a pair of Kulinga birds (these live upon luscious roots) was found on its wing; of the two, the female bird was soon allured by the fowler.

7.2.52

āsajjata sicastantryāṃ mahiṣyaḥ kālayantritā /
kuliṅgastāṃ tathāpannāṃ nirīkṣya bhṛśaduḥkhitaḥ /
snehādakalpaḥ kṛpaṇaḥ kṛpaṇāṃ paryadevayat //

Entangled in the cord of the net, O queens, she was bound by time. / Seeing her in that plight, the male kuliṅga, sorely grieved, / helpless through affection and wretched, lamented for his wretched mate:

52. Forced by time (fate) the queen-bird was caught in the threads (meshes) of the net; and the Kulinga was very much afflicted to see her in that plight; and under the force of affection the poor mate could not contain its grief and loudly lamented its helpless companion.

7.2.53

aho akaruṇo devaḥ striyākaruṇayā vibhuḥ /
kṛpaṇaṃ māmanuśocantyā dīnayā kiṃ kariṣyati //

‘Alas, what will the ruthless Lord, the Almighty, do with my ruthless wife, / a poor bird who laments for me, her wretched mate?

53. Alas! What would the powerful, yet merciless Providence do with the helpless female lamenting me and most pitiable in every respect?

7.2.54

kāmaṃ nayatu māṃ devaḥ kimardhenātmano hi me /
dīnena jīvatā duḥkhamanena vidhurāyuṣā //

Let the deity take me instead at will! What use to me is half of my own self / living in misery, wretched and with a widowed life?

54. May the Deity please Himself by taking away also myself! Of what use is it to me this one half living a miserable and pitiable life separated from the better half when life is cut short?

7.2.55

kathaṃ tvajātapakṣāṃstān mātṛhīnān bibharmyaham /
mandabhāgyāḥ pratīkṣante nīḍe me mātaraṃ prajāḥ //

How can I nurture those featherless young, bereft of their mother? / In the nest, my unfortunate offspring await their mother!’

55. How could I support those motherless unfledged young ones? They—the poor young ones, are expecting their mother in my nest.

7.2.56

evaṃ kuliṅgaṃ vilapantamārāt priyāviyogāturamaśrukaṇṭham /
sa eva taṃ śākunikaḥ śareṇa vivyādha kālaprahito vilīnaḥ //

As the kuliṅga bird was thus lamenting nearby, stricken by separation from his beloved, with a tear-choked throat, / that very bird-catcher, directed by time, hiding unseen, pierced him with an arrow.

56. On separation from his beloved the Kulinga was from a distance lamenting thus in his anxiety, his throat choked with tears; from his concealment the same fowler, impelled by time, hit it with an arrow.

7.2.57

evaṃ yūyamapaśyantya ātmāpāyamabuddhayaḥ /
nainaṃ prāpsyatha śocantyaḥ patiṃ varṣaśatairapi //

In the same way, you senseless women, failing to see your own destruction, / will not regain your husband even in hundreds of years by lamenting.

57. Thus you are devoid of sense and do not see your own peril; you will not recover your husband (by) lamenting him even for hundreds of years.

7.2.58

/0 śrīhiraṇyakaśipuruvāca
bāla evaṃ pravadati sarve vismitacetasaḥ /
jñātayo menire sarvamanityamayathotthitam //

Śrī Hiraṇyakaśipu said: / As the boy was thus speaking, all the kinsmen, with astonished minds, / considered everything to be impermanent and falsely arisen.

58. Hiranyakasipu said:— When the boy remonstrated thus

all were astonished and all the relations thought that everything was transient and was only an appearance without reality.

7.2.59

yama etadupākhyāya tatraivāntaradhīyata /
jñātayo hi suyajñasya cakruryat sāmparāyikam //

Having recounted this story, Yama vanished right there; / and Suyajña's kinsmen performed the funeral rites for the departed.

59. Having thus expounded the truth, God Yama vanished out of sight at the very spot, and the relations of Suyajna performed the funeral rites.

7.2.60

ataḥ śocata mā yūyaṃ paraṃ cātmānameva vā /
ka ātmā kaḥ paro vātra svīyaḥ pārakya eva vā /
svaparābhiniveśena vinājñānena dehinām //

Therefore, do not grieve either for another or for yourselves. / Who is oneself and who is another here, or who is one's own and who is a stranger, / apart from the embodied souls’ ignorance rooted in the fixation on ‘self’ and ‘other’?

60. Therefore do you not grieve for yourselves or for another. Who is self? Who is another? What is one's own? And what is it that belongs to another but for the ignorance that invests creatures leading them to form attachments as one's own and as sombody else's?

7.2.61

/0 śrīnārada uvāca
iti daityapatervākyaṃ ditirākarṇya sasnuṣā /
putraśokaṃ kṣaṇāt tyaktvā tattve cittamadhārayat //

Śrī Nārada said: / Having heard these words of the Daitya king, Diti together with her daughter-in-law / cast away grief for her son in an instant and fixed her mind on the truth.

61. Narada said:—Having heard these words of the great Daitya, Diti with her daughter-in-law at once left off grieving for her son and steadied her heart by setting it on Truth.