Bhagavatapurana 9.19: athaikonaviṃśo'dhyāyaḥ

9.19.1

/0 śrīśuka uvāca
sa itthamācaran kāmān straiṇo 'pahnavamātmanaḥ /
buddhvā priyāyai nirviṇṇo gāthāmetāmagāyata //

Śrī Śuka said: / Thus indulging in desires, devoted to women, and realizing his own deception, / he became disillusioned and sang this song to his beloved:

1. Sri Suka said:—The king who, fond of woman, thus enjoyed pleasures, opened his eyes to his having ignored the welfare of self, and full of renunciation, he related an Ithihasa (parable) to his wife.

9.19.2

śṛṇu bhārgavyamūṃ gāthāṃ madvidhācaritāṃ bhuvi /
dhīrā yasyānuśocanti vane grāmanivāsinaḥ //

"Listen, Bhārgavī, to this allegory of the conduct of people like me on earth, / which wise men who dwell in the forest lament for those living in the village.

2. Listen to this Ithihasa, O Devayani, of one like myself on the earth, for whom wise men in the forest as well as those in the town feel sorry.

9.19.3

basta eko vane kaścidvicinvan priyamātmanaḥ /
dadarśa kūpe patitāṃ svakarmavaśagāmajām //

A certain he-goat in the forest, seeking his own pleasure, / saw a she-goat fallen into a well, driven by her past karma.

3. A certain sheep going in quest of his beloved thing in the forest saw a she-goat fallen through its karma into a well.

9.19.4

tasyā uddharaṇopāyaṃ bastaḥ kāmī vicintayan /
vyadhatta tīrthamuddhṛtya viṣāṇāgreṇa rodhasī //

The lustful he-goat, considering the means to rescue her, / made a ramp by digging up the two banks with the tip of his horn.

4. The sheep, full of passion, considered how to lift her and created an outlet for the water by digging into the bank with his horns.

9.19.5

sottīrya kūpāt suśroṇī tameva cakame kila /
tayā vṛtaṃ samudvīkṣya bahvyo 'jāḥ kāntakāminīḥ //

Climbing out of the well, that fair-hipped she-goat longed for him alone; / seeing him chosen by her, many other she-goats, lusting for a lover,

5. When she came out of the well, that beautiful she-goat loved that very sheep; on seeing him chosen by her, many she-goats, in quest of mates, resorted to him as he was stout, wore good beard, looked most lovable, and capable of fulfilling their desires and of gratifying the fair sex.

9.19.6

pīvānaṃ śmaśrulaṃ preṣṭhaṃ mīḍhvāṃsaṃ yābhakovidam /
sa eko 'javṛṣastāsāṃ bahvīnāṃ rativardhanaḥ /
reme kāmagrahagrasta ātmānaṃ nāvabudhyata //

fat, bearded, desirable, virile, and skilled in mating— / he, the one buck, increasing the passion of those many, / seized by the demon of lust, enjoyed himself and did not understand his true self.

6. That one proud sheep was capable of delighting those many female companions and possessed by the devil of love, he sported with them and ceased to think of himself.

9.19.7

tameva preṣṭhatamayā ramamāṇamajānyayā /
vilokya kūpasaṃvignā nāmṛṣyadbastakarma tat //

Seeing him mating with another, most beloved she-goat, / she who had trembled in the well could not bear that act of the buck.

7. That she-goat which had suffered in the well was jealous to see him associated with another love and did not bear with him for his act.

9.19.8

taṃ durhṛdaṃ suhṛdrūpaṃ kāminaṃ kṣaṇasauhṛdam /
indriyārāmamutsṛjya svāminaṃ duḥkhitā yayau //

Abandoning that false-hearted one who appeared as a friend, lustful, of momentary affection, / taking pleasure only in the senses, she, distressed, departed from her master.

8. Having left that wicked hearted lover in the guise of a friend, professing love for a moment only and given to the gratification of his senses, she went away in distress to her own lord (father).

9.19.9

so 'pi cānugataḥ straiṇaḥ kṛpaṇastāṃ prasāditum /
kurvanniḍaviḍākāraṃ nāśaknot pathi sandhitum //

He too, submissive to women and wretched, followed to appease her, / bleating like a goat, but could not win her back on the road.

9. Being infatuated with his passion for women and poor of wisdom, he too went after her in order to win her grace (again); but on the way with all his erotic eloquence, he did not succeed in conciliating her.

9.19.10

tasya tatra dvijaḥ kaścidajāsvāmyacchinadruṣā /
lambantaṃ vṛṣaṇaṃ bhūyaḥ sandadhe 'rthāya yogavit //

There a certain twice-born, the master of the she-goat, angrily cut off / his dangling scrotum; then, skilled in yoga, he joined it back again for his own purpose.

10. There her brahmin master in anger castrated him and again, versed in expedients, sewed back the (cut off) limb for his own purpose.

9.19.11

sambaddhavṛṣaṇaḥ so 'pi hyajayā kūpalabdhayā /
kālaṃ bahutithaṃ bhadre kāmairnādyāpi tuṣyati //

Even with his scrotum rejoined, along with the she-goat rescued from the well, / for a very long time, O auspicious one, he is not satisfied with desires even today.

11. And having his limb well restored he too spent a very long time with that love he found in the well, O happy one, and he is not yet satisfied with pleasures.

9.19.12

tathāhaṃ kṛpaṇaḥ subhru bhavatyāḥ premayantritaḥ /
ātmānaṃ nābhijānāmi mohitastava māyayā //

So am I, wretched, O fair-browed one, bound by love for you; / deluded by your māyā, I do not know my own self.

12. Similarly I, a creature of poor sense, O beautiful one, remain fettered with thy affection and deluded by thy charms, I do not understand what myself is.

9.19.13

yat pṛthivyāṃ vrīhiyavaṃ hiraṇyaṃ paśavaḥ striyaḥ /
na duhyanti manaḥprītiṃ puṃsaḥ kāmahatasya te //

Whatever rice, barley, gold, cattle, and women exist on earth / do not yield satisfaction to the mind of a man afflicted by desire.

13. Anything on the earth, viz. rice, barley, gold, cattle or women (or anything else), cannot yield delight to the person who is a slave to passion and desire.

9.19.14

na jātu kāmaḥ kāmānāmupabhogena śāṃyati /
haviṣā kṛṣṇavartmeva bhūya evābhivardhate //

Never is desire extinguished by the enjoyment of desired objects; / it only increases all the more, like fire fed with clarified butter.

14. Never does desire subside through enjoyment of its objects, just as fire does not subside with the offerings thrown into it; on the other hand it grows more intense.

9.19.15

yadā na kurute bhāvaṃ sarvabhūteṣv amaṅgalam /
samadṛṣṭestadā puṃsaḥ sarvāḥ sukhamayā diśaḥ //

When a man harbors no ill will toward any living beings, / then for him of equal vision all directions are filled with happiness.

15. To that person who does not cherish an evil thought (like or dislike) towards any being, and who is of equal vision, all the directions (ways) richly promise happiness.

9.19.16

yā dustyajā durmatibhirjīryato yā na jīryate /
tāṃ tṛṣṇāṃ duḥkhanivahāṃ śarmakāmo drutaṃ tyajet //

That craving which is hard for fools to abandon, which does not age even as one ages, / and which brings a multitude of sorrows—one desiring peace should swiftly cast it off.

16. He who is bent upon finding eternal happiness ought to shun that thirst which is productive of endless misery and is not easy for the evil-minded to give up; for it does not wither out, though the man gets worn out with age.

9.19.17

mātrā svasrā duhitrā vā nāviviktāsano bhavet /
balavān indriyagrāmo vidvāṃsamapi karṣati //

One should not sit in a secluded place with one's mother, sister, or daughter; / the powerful group of the senses drags away even the learned man.

17. No one ought to sit on the same seat (share the same seat in privacy) with his own mother or sister or daughter; the wonderful troop of the senses lead astray even a learned man (wise man).

9.19.18

pūrṇaṃ varṣasahasraṃ me viṣayān sevato 'sakṛt /
tathāpi cānusavanaṃ tṛṣṇā teṣūpajāyate //

A full thousand years have passed while I repeatedly served the sense objects, / yet desire for them continues to arise at every moment.

18. It is a complete thousand years since I began to enjoy incessantly the objects of life: still every hour my thirst for them is growing.

9.19.19

tasmādetāmahaṃ tyaktvā brahmaṇyadhyāya mānasam /
nirdvandvo nirahaṅkāraścariṣyāmi mṛgaiḥ saha //

Therefore, abandoning this [desire] and fixing my mind on Brahman, / free from dualities and free from egoism, I shall roam with the deer.

19. Therefore, I shall (now) dismiss her (thirst) and set my mind on the Supreme Being and free myself from the opposite passions and notions of I and mine and shall with deer (and other beasts) (D. with the wise who are in quest of Truth) roam about.

9.19.20

dṛṣṭaṃ śrutamasadbuddhvā nānudhyāyen na sandiśet /
saṃsṛtiṃ cātmanāśaṃ ca tatra vidvān sa ātmadṛk //

Realizing that what is seen and heard is unreal, one should neither brood over it nor command it; / a wise man who sees transmigration and the destruction of the self in that is a seer of the self."

20. For, a man should see that both what is seen and what is heard are unreal, and should not think of, or associate with, them; and he becomes the seer of Atman who realises in them the source of samsara and the ruin of Atman.

9.19.21

ityuktvā nāhuṣo jāyāṃ tadīyaṃ pūrave vayaḥ /
dattvā svajarasaṃ tasmādādade vigataspṛhaḥ //

Having spoken thus to his wife, the son of Nahuṣa returned his youth / to Pūru, and, free from desire, took back his own old age from him.

21. Having said this to his wife Yayati returned to Pooru his youth and received his own old age, as he shook off (all) desires.

9.19.22

diśi dakṣiṇapūrvasyāṃ druhyuṃ dakṣiṇato yadum /
pratīcyāṃ turvasuṃ cakra udīcyāmanumīśvaram //

In the south-eastern direction he placed Druhyu; in the south, Yadu; / in the west he made Turvasu, and in the north Anu, the ruler.

22. He appointed Druhyu as ruler in the south-east direction and Yadu in the south, Turvasu in the west and Anu in the north.

9.19.23

bhūmaṇḍalasya sarvasya pūrumarhattamaṃ viśām /
abhiṣicyāgrajāṃstasya vaśe sthāpya vanaṃ yayau //

Anointing Pūru, the most worthy of men, over the entire circle of the earth, / and placing his elder brothers under his control, he went to the forest.

23. And he installed on the throne Pooru, the most worthy of them, as the Lord of the whole earth and of the subjects (directions), placed his elder brothers under his control and repaired to the forest.

9.19.24

āsevitaṃ varṣapūgān ṣaḍvargaṃ viṣayeṣu saḥ /
kṣaṇena mumuce nīḍaṃ jātapakṣa iva dvijaḥ //

The six senses, which he had indulged for multitudes of years in sensory objects, / he abandoned in a moment, like a winged bird leaving its nest.

24. Like a full-fledged bird that leaves the nest, he in a moment cast off the six-fold passion for the wordly objects which he had been pursuing many, many years.

9.19.25

sa tatra nirmuktasamastasaṅga ātmānubhūtyā vidhutatriliṅgaḥ /
pare 'male brahmaṇi vāsudeve lebhe gatiṃ bhāgavatīṃ pratītaḥ //

There, freed from all attachment, having shaken off the threefold subtle body through realization of the self, / he, having attained faith, reached the state of the Lord in the supreme, immaculate Brahman, Vāsudeva.

25. Free from all attachments, and having, by virtue of self-realisation, shaken off the subtle body of three gunas, the famous king obtained the divine attainment (intense devotion) in the Perfect Brahman, Vasudeva, untouched by any defect or impurity.

9.19.26

śrutvā gāthāṃ devayānī mene prastobhamātmanaḥ /
strīpuṃsoḥ snehavaiklavyāt parihāsamiveritam //

Hearing this story, Devayānī thought it was an allusion to herself, / uttered as if in jest due to the faltering of affection between man and woman.

26. Hearing the story, Devayani understood it as an indirect ridicule of herself and as a joke uttered on account of fainting love between man and woman.

9.19.27

sā sannivāsaṃ suhṛdāṃ prapāyāmiva gacchatām /
vijñāyeśvaratantrāṇāṃ māyāviracitaṃ prabhoḥ //

Understanding that the association of friends, like that of travellers at a watering station, / is dependent on Providence and fashioned by the māyā of the Lord,

27. & 28. Realising that the creatures under the control of the Supreme Lord meet together as arranged by the force of His maya, just as friends in the course of their journey do in an inn (where they find water to quench their thirst), Devayani too rid herself of all attachments which she realised to be like dreams, devoted her mind to Krishna and shook off her body.

9.19.28

sarvatra saṅgamutsṛjya svapnaupamyena bhārgavī /
kṛṣṇe manaḥ samāveśya vyadhunol liṅgamātmanaḥ //

abandoning attachment everywhere, viewing it as comparable to a dream, the daughter of Bhṛgu, / absorbing her mind into Kṛṣṇa, shook off her subtle body:

9.19.29

namastubhyaṃ bhagavate vāsudevāya vedhase /
sarvabhūtādhivāsāya śāntāya bṛhate namaḥ //

"Obeisance to You, the Lord Vāsudeva, the creator, / the abode of all beings, peaceful, the infinite Brahman, obeisance!"

29. Salutation to Thee, the Almighty glorious maker, Vasudeva, that is the abode of all beings, and abides in all beings, yet tranquil, perfect and all-pervading. Salutation to Thee.