Bhagavatapurana 8.3: atha tṛtīyo'dhyāyaḥ

8.3.1

/0 śrībādarāyaṇiruvāca
evaṃ vyavasito buddhyā samādhāya mano hṛdi /
jajāpa paramaṃ jāpyaṃ prāgjanmany anuśikṣitam //

The son of Bādarāyaṇa said:
Having thus resolved with his intellect and focusing his mind within his heart,
he chanted the supreme prayer that he had learned in a previous birth.

1. Śrī Śuka said:— Having thus concluded by force of reason and steadied his thought in his mind, he mentally repeated the most sacred prayer, which he had learned in a previous life. 2. Gajendra said:—Salutation to the Glorious and Perfect One, to whom we would mentally offer our worship and render obedience, who is the source of all this intelligent creation, the Supreme Person (pervading all the bodies as the cause), both Prakriti and Purusha and the Ruler of Rulers.

8.3.2

/0 śrīgajendra uvāca
oṃ namo bhagavate tasmai yata etac cidātmakam /
puruṣāyādibījāya pareśāyābhidhīmahi //

The king of elephants said:
“Oṃ! Salutations to that Lord, by whom this universe is endowed with consciousness.
We meditate upon the Puruṣa, the original seed, the supreme Lord.

8.3.3

yasminnidaṃ yataścedaṃ yenedaṃ ya idaṃ svayam /
yo 'smāt parasmāc ca parastaṃ prapadye svayambhuvam //

In whom this [universe exists], from whom this [comes], by whom this [is sustained], who is this [universe] Himself,
who is beyond both this [manifest effect] and the unmanifest cause—in Him, the Self-existent, I take refuge.

3. I resort to that self-existing Being in whom this Universe exists, from whom it is evolved, by whom it is brought about and who is its very self, and also far different from this (the effected world) and from that (cause of the gross world).

8.3.4

yaḥ svātmanīdaṃ nijamāyayārpitaṃ kvacidvibhātaṃ kva ca tat tirohitam /
aviddhadṛk sākṣy ubhayaṃ tadīkṣate sa ātmamūlo 'vatu māṃ parātparaḥ //

He who by His own creative power established this [universe] within Himself, which sometimes appears and sometimes remains hidden;
unobscured in vision, as the witness He observes both states—may that self-rooted Lord, higher than the highest, protect me!

4. May He who is independent and absolute, higher than the highest, who with His uninterrupted vision (self-realisation) and as unaffected witness, sees both the cause and the effect, this manifest world placed on Himself by His own supreme power and the same also in its unmanifest creation; who is shining by Himself and also makes other things shine,—may He protect me!

8.3.5

kālena pañcatvamiteṣu kṛtsnaśo lokeṣu pāleṣu ca sarvahetuṣu /
tamastadāsīdgahanaṃ gabhīraṃ yastasya pāre 'bhivirājate vibhuḥ //

When in time all the worlds, their guardians, and all causes have dissolved into nothingness,
there was dense and deep darkness; beyond that shines the all-pervading Lord.

5. May He protect me, who absolutely shines and who is Omnipresent, who is beyond that Tamas, profound and endless, which alone exists after all the worlds and their Rulers as well as all cause and effect vanish by force of time (in dissolution)!

8.3.6

na yasya devā ṛṣayaḥ padaṃ vidur jantuḥ punaḥ ko 'rhati gantumīritum /
yathā naṭasyākṛtibhirviceṣṭato duratyayānukramaṇaḥ sa māvatu //

Neither the gods nor the sages know His state; how then could any [ordinary] creature reach or describe it?
Like an actor disguised in various forms as he performs, He whose movements are unfathomable—may He protect me!

6. May He protect me, whose nature like that of an actor that acts differently under various forms and dress assumed by him, no gods, no sages, no individual being can understand or describe; for His course of action cannot be comprehended!

8.3.7

didṛkṣavo yasya padaṃ sumaṅgalaṃ vimuktasaṅgā munayaḥ susādhavaḥ /
caranty alokavratamavraṇaṃ vane bhūtātmabhūtāḥ suhṛdaḥ sa me gatiḥ //

Desiring to see whose auspicious state, sages entirely free from attachment, supremely virtuous,
practise an unblemished, transcendental vow in the forest, identifying themselves with all beings and acting as their friends—He is my refuge.”

7. That Supreme Lord is my refuge, whose most auspicious nature sages and righteous men free from all worldly attainments, are eager to realise and for which purpose they practise in the woods uninterrupted and extraordinary austerity (Brahmacharya and the like) and also see Atman (the Lord) in all beings and are friends (of all).

8.3.8

na vidyate yasya ca janma karma vā na nāmarūpe guṇadoṣa eva vā /
tathāpi lokāpyayasambhavāya yaḥ svamāyayā tāny anukālamṛcchati //

He has neither birth nor actions, neither names nor forms, nor indeed qualities or defects; / yet, for the creation and destruction of the worlds, he assumes them from time to time by his own creative power.

8. The Lord has no birth, no karma (to bind him), no name or form, no merit or demerit; still for the sake of creation and destruction of the world He adopts them and associates Himself with those gunas from time to time by virtue of His Maya.

8.3.9

tasmai namaḥ pareśāya brahmaṇe 'nantaśaktaye /
arūpāyorurūpāya nama āścaryakarmaṇe //

Salutations to him, the supreme sovereign, Brahman of infinite potency; / salutations to him of wondrous deeds, who is formless yet possesses countless forms!

9. I bow to that Supreme Ruler, Perfect Being of unlimited powers, destitute of form and colour; I bow to the Lord of wonderful activity.

8.3.10

nama ātmapradīpāya sākṣiṇe paramātmane /
namo girāṃ vidūrāya manasaścetasāmapi //

Salutations to the inner lamp, to the witness, the Supreme Self; / salutations to him who lies far beyond words, beyond mind, and beyond thoughts.

10. I bow to Him who is a Light Himself (but not revealed by any other light), the witness (the light of all) and the Supreme Atman and the Ruler of Jivas. I bow to Him who is beyond the range of words, thoughts and feelings.

8.3.11

sattvena pratilabhyāya naiṣkarmyeṇa vipaścitā /
namaḥ kaivalyanāthāya nirvāṇasukhasaṃvide //

To him who is attained through purity by the wise one endowed with freedom from karmic reaction; / salutations to the master of absolute liberation, the consciousness of the bliss of extinction!

11. I bow to Him who is realised by the wise man leading an ascetic life with the purity of mind gained thereby. I bow to Him who is the Lord of Salvation (Moksha or the state of unity), who is the embodiment of all blissfulness and consciousness in the state of Moksha.

8.3.12

namaḥ śāntāya ghorāya mūḍhāya guṇadharmiṇe /
nirviśeṣāya sāmyāya namo jñānaghanāya ca //

Salutations to him who appears peaceful, terrifying, or stupefied, assuming the natures of the material qualities; / salutations to him who is without distinction, uniform, and a solid mass of knowledge!

12. I bow to Him who is serene, who is formidable, who is obscured by ignorance, who acts through, and therefore bears, the attributes of, Satva, Rajas and Tamas, who is destitute of all differentiating attributes, is of even nature and consists of nothing but

consciousness.

8.3.13

kṣetrajñāya namastubhyaṃ sarvādhyakṣāya sākṣiṇe /
puruṣāyātmamūlāya mūlaprakṛtaye namaḥ //

Salutations to you, the knower of the field, the overseer of all, the witness; / salutations to the Puruṣa who is his own origin, and to original primordial nature!

13. I bow to Thee who as Kshetragna seest all in everything, still a mere witness, Perfect Being pervading all, the source of all Jivas and even the source of the first material cause.

8.3.14

sarvendriyaguṇadraṣṭre sarvapratyayahetave /
asatā cchāyayoktāya sadābhāsāya te namaḥ //

Salutations to you, the observer of all the faculties of the senses, the cause of all perceptions, / spoken of as a shadow by what is unreal, yet appearing as the real!

14. I bow to Thee who seest (realisest) all the senses and their objects, whom all the intellectual activities point to, who seemest to be touched by the shadow of Asat, Ahankara and other principles and who art reflected in every phenomenon.

8.3.15

namo namaste 'khilakāraṇāya niṣkāraṇāyādbhutakāraṇāya /
sarvāgamāmnāyamahārṇavāya namo 'pavargāya parāyaṇāya //

Repeated salutations to you, the cause of all, uncaused, the marvelous cause; / the great ocean into which all scriptures and Vedic traditions flow, salutations to liberation, the supreme refuge!

15. I bow to Thee who art the cause of all, Thyself without a cause; who art the wondrous cause (producing the effect without Thyself being changed in any manner); who art the one great sea where all Agamas (Pancharatra and the like) and Vedas meet (whom they ultimately point to). I bow to Thee who art Salvation (itself) and the resort of (even the great).

8.3.16

guṇāraṇicchannaciduṣmapāya tatkṣobhavisphūrjitamānasāya /
naiṣkarmyabhāvena vivarjitāgama svayaṃprakāśāya namas karomi //

To him who conceals the heat of consciousness like fire hidden in the kindling of the qualities, whose mind expands upon their agitation; / who is revealed to those who have abandoned Vedic rituals through the spirit of freedom from karmic reaction—salutations to the self-luminous one!

16. I bow to Thee who art hidden under the gunas like fire in *Arani* [who art the fire of consciousness hidden in the Arani of gunas], whose mind manifests itself through their agitation, (*i. e.*, whose activity becomes manifest through the effect of gunas) who shinest unto those that have risen above injunctions and prohibitions by virtue of their having realised the truth of Atman (that is

not to be attained by means of Karma).

8.3.17

mādṛk prapannapaśupāśavimokṣaṇāya muktāya bhūrikaruṇāya namo 'layāya /
svāṃśena sarvatanubhṛnmanasi pratīta pratyagdṛśe bhagavate bṛhate namaste //

Salutations to him who frees an animal-like surrendered soul like me from bonds, who is ever free, boundless in compassion, and tireless; / salutations to you, the immense Lord, who perceive from within, manifest in the mind of every embodied being as your own portion!

17. I bow to Thee who givest absolute freedom from *Avidyā* (mundane bondage) to souls like myself that have sought Thee, who art Mukta (eternally free and blessed), of boundless grace and not slow (to save Thy devotees); I bow to Thee who art by Thy own ray, the well-known inner light, powerful in directing all beings and yet unlimited in space.

8.3.18

ātmātmajāptagṛhavittajaneṣu saktair duṣprāpaṇāya guṇasaṅgavivarjitāya /
muktātmabhiḥ svahṛdaye paribhāvitāya jñānātmane bhagavate nama īśvarāya //

To him who is difficult to reach for those attached to self, children, kin, house, wealth, and dependents, and who is devoid of contact with material qualities; / salutations to the Lord, the sovereign whose nature is knowledge, meditated upon in their own hearts by liberated souls!

18. I bow to Thee, the Omnipotent Lord, embodiment of wisdom, contemplated at heart by those that are free from worldly attachments, who art destitute of all association with guṇas and who art not attainable by those who are attached to their body, children, relations, house, wealth and people.

8.3.19

yaṃ dharmakāmārthavimuktikāmā bhajanta iṣṭāṃ gatimāpnuvanti /
kiṃ cāśiṣo rāty api dehamavyayaṃ karotu me 'dabhradayo vimokṣaṇam //

Desiring dharma, desire, wealth, or total release, worshiping him, seekers attain their desired goal; / and he even grants an imperishable body and blessings: may he of abundant mercy bestow liberation upon me!

19. May He, the Lord of unlimited mercy, grant me deliverance, the Lord by worshipping whom those that seek after Dharma, Kāma, Artha or Moksha, do gain their desired goal, and who also bestows all other blessings as well as an undecaying body!

8.3.20

ekāntino yasya na kañcanārthaṃ vāñchanti ye vai bhagavatprapannāḥ /
atyadbhutaṃ taccaritaṃ sumaṅgalaṃ gāyanta ānandasamudramagnāḥ //

Whose exclusive devotees, fully surrendered to the Lord, truly desire no selfish purpose whatsoever, / immersed in the ocean of bliss as they sing his wondrous, all-auspicious pastimes!

20 & 21. I praise that imperishable and absolutely perfect Brahman, the highest Ruler, yet unmanifest and accessible by internal yoga, though beyond the range of the senses like a subtle and very distant thing, the First of all and endless One, from whom His true and constant devotees that have worshipped the feet of the wise seek no object to gain but are immersed in the sea of blissfulness in singing His most wonderful and auspicious work.

8.3.21

tamakṣaraṃ brahma paraṃ pareśam avyaktamādhyātmikayogagamyam /
atīndriyaṃ sūkṣmamivātidūram anantamādyaṃ paripūrṇamīḍe //

I praise that imperishable, supreme Brahman, the supreme ruler, unmanifest, reachable by interior yoga, / beyond the senses, subtle, as if exceedingly remote, endless, primeval, and complete!

8.3.22

yasya brahmādayo devā vedā lokāścarācarāḥ /
nāmarūpavibhedena phalgvyā ca kalayā kṛtāḥ //

By whose mere fractional portion the gods headed by Brahmā, the Vedas, and the moving and unmoving worlds / are produced with differentiations of names and forms;

22 to 24. May He be pleased to reveal Himself who, only by his single and minutest ray, produces Brahmā and other gods, the Vedas, the worlds, mobile and immobile, with distinct names and forms, from whom the stream of guṇas and their products, Budhi,

8.3.23

yathārciṣo 'gneḥ saviturgabhastayo niryānti saṃyānty asakṛt svarociṣaḥ /
tathā yato 'yaṃ guṇasampravāho buddhirmanaḥ khāni śarīrasargāḥ //

Just as sparks emerge from a fire, and rays constantly emanate from and return to the self-luminous sun, / so from him flows forth this stream of material qualities, intellect, mind, senses, and bodily creations;

manas, and the senses, the constituents of the gross just as flames go forth from self-luminous Agni (fire), rays from the self-luminous sun and are frequently withdrawn into themselves; who is indeed no god, no asura, no human being, no beast or bird, no woman, no eunuch, no male, no born-animal, no guna, no action, no existing thing, no non-existence, but what is left after the negation of all these and yet constitutes all!

8.3.24

sa vai na devāsuramartyatiryaṅ na strī na ṣaṇḍho na pumān na jantuḥ /
nāyaṃ guṇaḥ karma na san na cāsan niṣedhaśeṣo jayatādaśeṣaḥ //

He is indeed neither god nor demon, neither mortal nor animal, neither female, neuter, nor male, nor an ordinary creature; / he is not this quality, nor action, neither existent nor non-existent: may he, the complete remainder after all negation, be victorious!

8.3.25

jijīviṣe nāhamihāmuyā kim antarbahiścāvṛtayebhayonyā /
icchāmi kālena na yasya viplavas tasyātmalokāvaraṇasya mokṣam //

Why should I wish to live in this world in this elephant body, enveloped inside and outside [by ignorance]? / I desire freedom from that covering over the self's realm, which is not destroyed by time.

25. I do not wish to live on with this body; what have I to do with this elephant life, which is but a screen in and out? I seek for that release from the environment that obscures the light of wisdom, of which no reduction is possible by mere time.

8.3.26

so 'haṃ viśvasṛjaṃ viśvamaviśvaṃ viśvavedasam /
viśvātmānamajaṃ brahma praṇato 'smi paraṃ padam //

Therefore, I bow down to the creator of the universe, who is the universe and yet not the universe, the omniscient knower of the universe, / the soul of the universe, the unborn Brahman, the supreme abode.

26. With this purpose I bow to that Perfect Being, the last and the highest resort, who is the creator of the universe, who is the universe, yet not all, of whom the entire matter is an instrument, who is the source of all (the Ruler of all) and who is the unborn one.

8.3.27

yogarandhitakarmāṇo hṛdi yogavibhāvite /
yogino yaṃ prapaśyanti yogeśaṃ taṃ nato 'smy aham //

Whom the yogins, their karma burned away by yoga, behold in a heart purified by yoga—/ to that master of yoga I bow.

27. I have bowed to Him who is the Lord of yoga, whom yogins realise in their heart purified by yoga on their having burnt down all their Karma by devotion to the Lord.

8.3.28

namo namastubhyamasahyavega śaktitrayāyākhiladhīguṇāya /
prapannapālāya durantaśaktaye kadindriyāṇāmanavāpyavartmane //

Repeated salutations to you of irresistible speed, possessing the three energies, possessing all intellectual faculties; / the protector of the surrendered, endowed with endless power, whose path is unattainable by the uncontrolled senses!

28. Again and again do I bow to Thee whose three-fold power is of irresistible speed (in association with likes, dislikes, etc) who

art present (outside) as the object of all the senses, who art the protector of those that seek Thy shelter, who art of incomprehensible energy and beyond the path traversed by the poor senses.

8.3.29

nāyaṃ veda svamātmānaṃ yacchaktyāhaṃdhiyā hatam /
taṃ duratyayamāhātmyaṃ bhagavantamito 'smy aham //

This [embodied being] does not know its own self, struck down by the ego-sense through your power; / to that Lord of insurmountable majesty I have approached for refuge.

29. I have betaken myself to that all-powerful Being of unlimited glory under whose Maya (power) this Jiva does not realise his self obscured by Ahankara.

8.3.30

/0 śrīśuka uvāca
evaṃ gajendramupavarṇitanirviśeṣaṃ $ brahmādayo vividhaliṅgabhidābhimānāḥ &
evaṃ gajendramupavarṇitanirviśeṣaṃ $ brahmādayo vividhaliṅgabhidābhimānāḥ &
naite yadopasasṛpurnikhilātmakatvāt % tatrākhilāmaramayo harirāvirāsīt //

Śrī Śuka said: / When Brahmā and the other gods, proud of their diverse particular identities, did not approach the king of elephants who had thus described [the Lord] devoid of particularities, / because he is the soul of all, Hari, consisting of all the immortals, manifested there.

30. Sri Suka said:— When, having heard the great elephant describing the Supreme Being without reference to any particular form or attribute, (in a general way), all these gods, Brahma and others, who think of their distinct form and attribute, did not come forward (to help him), Hari who is the Atman of all and the embodiment of all the gods revealed Himself on the spot.

8.3.31

* //
taṃ tadvadārtamupalabhya jagannivāsaḥ $ stotraṃ niśamya divijaiḥ saha saṃstuvadbhiḥ &
taṃ tadvadārtamupalabhya jagannivāsaḥ $ stotraṃ niśamya divijaiḥ saha saṃstuvadbhiḥ &
chandomayena garuḍena samuhyamānaś % cakrāyudho 'bhyagamadāśu yato gajendraḥ //

Seeing him thus afflicted and hearing his hymn along with the gods praising him, the abode of the universe, / carried on the Vedas-bodied Garuḍa and armed with the disc, went swiftly to where the king of elephants was.

31. Having seen Him in that wretched plight Hari who pervades the Universe, heard his prayer and, borne by Garuda, the embodiment of Vedas, along with the gods singing His, praises, soon came with His weapon *Chakra* to the very place where the great elephant was.

8.3.32

* //
so 'ntaḥsarasy urubalena gṛhīta ārto $ dṛṣṭvā garutmati hariṃ kha upāttacakram &
so 'ntaḥsarasy urubalena gṛhīta ārto $ dṛṣṭvā garutmati hariṃ kha upāttacakram &
utkṣipya sāmbujakaraṃ giramāha kṛcchrān % nārāyaṇākhilaguro bhagavan namaste //

Caught within the lake by one of immense strength and deeply distressed, he saw Hari in the sky mounted on Garuḍa holding his disc; / raising his trunk holding a lotus, he uttered with difficulty the words: 'O Nārāyaṇa, teacher of all, O Lord, salutations to you!'

32. The elephant in the lake, held by the very powerful animal and greatly distressed, saw in the sky Hari seated on Garuda with Chakra (in His hand) and holding up his trunk with a lotus, he uttered with great effort these words “I bow to Thee, O glorious Narayana, Father of all.”

8.3.33

* //
taṃ vīkṣya pīḍitamajaḥ sahasāvatīrya $ sagrāhamāśu sarasaḥ kṛpayojjahāra &
taṃ vīkṣya pīḍitamajaḥ sahasāvatīrya $ sagrāhamāśu sarasaḥ kṛpayojjahāra &
grāhādvipāṭitamukhādariṇā gajendraṃ % saṃpaśyatāṃ hariramūmucaducchriyāṇām //

Seeing him tormented, the unborn Lord immediately descended, and swiftly pulled him out of the lake along with the crocodile out of compassion; / before the watching eyes of the celestials, Hari freed the king of elephants from the crocodile whose jaws were split open by the disc.

33. Hari, the Unborn, saw him in affliction, alighted at once and soon dragged out the monster from the lake and rescued the great elephant from its jaws which were cut open, while the gods stood witnessing.