Bhagavatapurana 10.1
English (machine translation) 10.1
- Language
- English
Contents
10.1.1
And especially of the virtuous Yadu, O best of sages.
Relate to us now the mighty deeds of Viṣṇu, who descended there with his portion.
10.1.2
Incarnating in the lineage of Yadu, what deeds the Lord,
the creator of beings, the Self of the universe, performed—tell us those at length.
10.1.3
Chanted by those free from desire, medicine for mundane existence,
delightful to the ear and the mind—
from the narration of the qualities of He of highest renown,
what person would turn away, save a beast-killer?
10.1.4
Having made the impenetrable ocean of the Kaurava army—whose timiṅgila fish
were Bhiṣma and other chariot-chiefs who had conquered the immortals in battle—
into a puddle the size of a calf's hoof, my grandfathers crossed over, with him as their raft.
10.1.5
This body of mine, scorched by the weapon of the son of Droṇa,
the seed of the lineage of the Kurus and Pāṇḍavas,
he protected, entering my mother's womb wielding the discus, when she had taken refuge in him.
10.1.6
The heroic deeds of him who, within and without all embodied beings
in the forms of the Person and Time,
bestows death and immortality, who became a human through creative power—tell of them, O wise one!
10.1.7
Rāma Saṅkarṣaṇa was spoken of by you as the son of Rohiṇī;
how did he have a connection with Devakī's womb without another body?
10.1.8
Why did the Lord Mukunda go from his father's house to Vraja?
Where did the master of the Sātvatas live with his kinsmen?
10.1.9
What did Keśava do while living in Vraja and in Madhupurī?
And why did he kill Kaṃsa, his maternal uncle, an act clearly improper for him?
10.1.10
Assuming a human body, for how many years did he dwell
in the city of the Yadus together with the Vṛṣṇis? How many wives did the master have?
10.1.11
This and all other deeds of Kṛṣṇa, O sage,
you ought to tell me in full, for you are omniscient, and I am full of faith.
10.1.12
This hunger, difficult though it is to endure, does not afflict me,
even though I have renounced water,
as I drink the nectar of tales of Hari flowing from the lotus of your mouth.
10.1.13
This hunger, though very hard to endure, does not torment me, even though I have forsaken water, / as I drink the nectar of Hari's narratives falling from the lotus of your mouth.
10.1.14
Sūta said: / Having thus heard this fine speech, O son of Bhṛgu, the divine son of Vyāsa, foremost of the Bhāgavatas, / then praised Viṣṇurāta and began to narrate the deeds of Kṛṣṇa, which destroy the corruptions of Kali.
10.1.15
Śrī Śuka said: / Your intellect is rightly resolved, O best of royal sages, / since unswerving loving attachment has arisen in you toward the narrative of Vāsudeva.
10.1.16
Indeed, an inquiry into the narrative of Vāsudeva purifies three persons: / the speaker, the inquirer, and the listeners—just like the water from His feet.
10.1.17
Overburdened by hundreds and myriads of armies of Daityas disguised as haughty kings, / the Earth went to Brahmā for refuge.
10.1.18
Assuming the form of a cow, her face covered in tears, grieving and weeping piteously, / she stood before the lord and recounted her distress to him.
10.1.19
Brahmā, having considered that, then went with her and with the gods, / along with the three-eyed Rudra, to the shore of the ocean of milk.
10.1.20
Going there, with concentrated mind he worshipped the Puruṣa, the Lord of the Universe, / God of gods, Vṛṣākapi, with the Puruṣasūkta.
10.1.21
Having heard in meditative absorption a voice uttered in the sky, the Creator spoke to the gods: / 'Hear from me the word of the Supreme Person, O immortals, and quickly act upon it at once, without delay!
10.1.22
The distress of the Earth was known by the Supreme Person even before; you must take birth with portions [of yourselves] among the Yadus, / while that Lord of lords wanders on earth, destroying its burden by his own power of time.
10.1.23
In the house of Vasudeva, the Lord Himself, the Supreme Person, / will take birth; for His pleasure, let the wives of the gods be born.
10.1.24
Ananta, a portion of Vāsudeva, the thousand-faced, self-luminous god, / will appear beforehand, wishing to do what is pleasing to Hari.
10.1.25
The Lord's divine creative power, by which the universe is completely deluded, / commanded by the Master, will take birth with a portion [of herself] to accomplish his purpose.'
10.1.26
Śrī Śuka said: / Having thus instructed the hosts of immortals and comforted the Earth with words, / the all-powerful Lord of the Prajāpatis went to his own supreme abode.
10.1.27
In ancient times, Śūrasena, the lord of the Yadus, lived in the city of Mathurā / and ruled the territories of Mathurā and Śūrasena.
10.1.28
From then on, that Mathurā became the capital of all the Yādava kings, / where the Lord Hari is ever present.
10.1.29
In that city, once upon a time, Śauri Vasudeva, having celebrated his marriage, / mounted the chariot to depart together with his bride Devakī.
10.1.30
Ugrasena’s son, Kaṃsa, wishing to please his sister, / took the reins of the horses, surrounded by hundreds of golden chariots.
10.1.31
Four hundred elephants adorned with golden garlands, / fifteen thousand horses, and three times six hundred chariots—
10.1.32
and two hundred tender, well-adorned maidservants: / Devaka, affectionate toward his daughter, gave this dowry to his daughter upon her departure.
10.1.33
Conches, trumpets, mṛdaṅga drums, and kettle-drums sounded in unison, / O dear one, most auspiciously at the beginning of the departure of the bride and groom.
10.1.34
On the way, a bodiless voice addressed Kaṃsa, who held the reins: / 'Fool, the eighth child of her whom you are carrying shall kill you!'
10.1.35
Addressed thus, that wicked, sinful disgrace to the Bhoja clan / seized his sister by her hair, sword in hand, setting out to kill her.
10.1.36
To him of abominable deeds, cruel and shameless, / the highly fortunate Vasudeva spoke, trying to pacify him.
10.1.37
Śrī Vasudeva said: / You are one whose qualities are praised by heroes, a bringer of fame to the Bhojas; / how could such a man kill his own sister, a woman, on the festive occasion of her wedding?
10.1.38
Death is born alongside the body of living beings, O hero; / today or at the end of a hundred years, death is certain for living beings.
10.1.39
When the body undergoes dissolution into the five elements, the embodied soul, helplessly following its karma, / obtains another body and abandons its former form.
10.1.40
Just as a person walking stands with one foot while advancing with the other, / or just like a caterpillar on a blade of grass, so the embodied soul undergoes the course of karma.
10.1.41
Just as one sees such a body in a dream when consciousness is preoccupied with desire, / reflecting with the mind upon what was seen and heard, and through loss of memory assumes whatever [form that may be]—
10.1.42
whithersoever the mind, driven by fate and consisting of modifications, rushes among the five objects of sense / made pleasing by creative power, that embodied soul, pursuing it, takes birth together with that mind.
10.1.42.p1
Just as that light is perceived in water or on earthy substances / as conforming to the motion of the wind,
10.1.43
so this person, following attachment to the material qualities fashioned by his own creative power, is bewildered.
10.1.43.p1
[…]
10.1.44
Therefore, being of such a nature and seeking his own well-being, one should not bear malice toward anyone; / for indeed, fear arises in the next world for one who bears malice.
10.1.45
This young sister of yours is helpless, like a daughter to you; / you, who are compassionate to the wretched, ought not to kill this auspicious lady.
10.1.46
Śrī Śuka said: / Though advised in this way by peaceful and analytical arguments, that cruel man, / devoted to man-eating demons, did not turn back, O descendant of Kuru.
10.1.47
Knowing his obstinacy, Ānakadundubhi reflected, / and in order to avert the imminent death, hit upon this plan:
10.1.48
'Death should be warded off by an intelligent person as long as intelligence and strength arise; / if it does not turn back, there is no fault in the embodied being.
10.1.49
By giving over the sons to this death, I shall release this helpless woman; / that is, if sons are born to me, or if death itself should not die first.
10.1.50
Or why might the reverse not happen? The course of Providence is hard to overcome. / Impending danger may turn away, and that which had turned away may strike again.
10.1.51
Just as there is no cause other than unseen destiny for fire's union with and separation from wood, / so too the cause of a creature's union with and separation from a body is inconceivable.'
10.1.52
Having thus deliberated, Śauri honored that wicked man with great respect, / to the full extent of his discernment.
10.1.53
With a pleasant lotus-face, though his mind was burning with grief, / he smiled and addressed that cruel, shameless man:
10.1.54
Śrī Vasudeva said:
You have no fear from her, gentle sir, about what the bodiless voice proclaimed. / I shall hand over her sons to you, since it is from them that your fear has arisen.
10.1.55
Śrī Śuka said:
Kaṃsa, understanding the weight of his word, desisted from killing his sister. / Vasudeva too, pleased, praised him and entered his home.
10.1.56
Then, as time rolled by, Devakī, embodiment of all deities, / gave birth year after year to eight sons and a daughter.
10.1.57
Ānakadundubhi offered his firstborn, Kīrtimat, / to Kaṃsa with great distress, trembling exceedingly at [the thought of] untruth.
10.1.58
What indeed is unbearable to the virtuous? What can the wise expect? / What is forbidden to the vile? What is difficult to surrender for those whose minds are restrained?
10.1.59
Seeing that equanimity of Śauri and his steadfastness in truth, / Kaṃsa was pleased in mind, O king, and smiling said this:
10.1.60
"Let this boy go back; indeed, I have no fear of him. / It is from the eighth pregnancy of you two that my death has been decreed."
10.1.61
Saying "So be it," Ānakadundubhi took his son and departed, / but he placed no trust in the word of that wicked man whose mind was uncontrolled.
10.1.62
Nanda and the other cowherds who were in Vraja, and their womenfolk; / the Vṛṣṇis led by Vasudeva, and the Yadu women led by Devakī;
10.1.63
all of them were mostly divine beings on both sides, O Bhārata, / as were their kinsmen, relatives, friends, and those who followed Kaṃsa.
10.1.64
The venerable Nārada, having approached, disclosed this to Kaṃsa, / as well as the endeavor to slay the demons who were a burden to the earth.
10.1.65
Upon the sage’s departure, Kaṃsa considered the Yadus to be gods, / and Viṣṇu, who would be born from Devakī's womb, destined to slay him.
10.1.66
Confining Devakī and Vasudeva with chains in their home, / he killed each son born of them, fearing that it might be the Unborn.
10.1.67
Greedy kings on earth who live only to gratify their senses / usually kill their mother, father, brothers, and all friends.
10.1.68
Knowing that he had been born here as the great demon Kālanemi, slain previously by Viṣṇu, / he became hostile to the Yadus.
10.1.69
Having himself imprisoned his father Ugrasena, king of the Yadus, Bhojas, and Andhakas, / the mighty one ruled the Śūrasenas.
Translations (1)
- The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English
Linked texts (1)
- Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit