Bhagavatapurana 10.3
English (machine translation) 10.3
- Language
- English
Contents
- 10.3.18 — 1 part
- 10.3.19 — 3 parts
- 10.3.20 — 1 part
- 10.3.21 — 1 part
- 10.3.22 — 1 part
- 10.3.25 — 1 part
- 10.3.26 — 1 part
- 10.3.46 — 1 part
- 10.3.47 — 1 part
- 10.3.50 — 1 part
- 10.3.51 — 1 part
10.3.1
Śrī Śuka said:
Then came a supremely auspicious time, endowed with all favorable qualities, / at which the birth constellation of the unborn Lord appeared, with tranquil constellations, planets, and stars.
10.3.2
The directions grew serene, and the sky displayed a multitude of spotless stars; / the earth was filled with auspicious cities, villages, cowherd settlements, and mines.
10.3.3
The rivers flowed with clear waters; the lakes were glorious with water lilies; / and rows of forests bloomed with clusters of flowers resounding with flocks of birds and swarms of bees.
10.3.4
A pure wind blew, pleasant to the touch and bearing sacred fragrance; / and the sacrificial fires of the twice-born, which had been extinguished, flared up brightly.
10.3.5
The minds of the virtuous devotees, persecuted by the asuras, became cheerful; / when that unborn Lord was being born, kettledrums sounded together.
10.3.6
The Kinnaras and Gandharvas sang; the Siddhas and Cāraṇas chanted praises; / and the Vidyādhara women danced joyfully together with the Apsarases.
10.3.7
The sages and the gods, filled with joy, showered down blossoms; / and the clouds rumbled gently following the ocean.
10.3.8
At midnight, when darkness had arisen, as Janārdana was being born / from Devakī of divine form, Viṣṇu, who dwells in the secret heart of all, / appeared like the full moon rising in the eastern quarter.
10.3.9
That wondrous lotus-eyed child, four-armed, holding weapons upraised—conch, mace, and others— / marked with the Śrīvatsa, the Kaustubha gem shining on his neck, dressed in yellow silk, handsome as a dense rain-cloud,
10.3.10
his abundant locks kissed by the radiance of earrings and a diadem set with priceless cat's-eye gems, / resplendent with an exquisite girdle, armlets, bracelets, and other ornaments, Vasudeva beheld.
10.3.11
His eyes wide with wonder at beholding Hari as his son, Ānakadundubhi then, / agitated with joy at the festival of Kṛṣṇa's incarnation, after bathing mentally gave ten thousand cows to the twice-born.
10.3.12
Then, having realized that he was the Supreme Person, with bent limbs, collected mind, and folded hands, / his fear dispelled as he knew his power, O descendant of Bharata, he praised him who was illuminating the lying-in chamber with his own radiance.
10.3.13
Śrī Vasudeva said:
You are known to be the Supreme Person himself, beyond material nature, / whose very nature is the bliss of pure realization, who perceives the intellects of all.
10.3.14
Having in the beginning created through your own nature this [universe] consisting of the three qualities, / you then appear to have entered it, though you have not entered at all.
10.3.15
Just as these unevolved elements, along with their evolutes, / possessing diverse potencies and remaining separate, produce the cosmic form,
10.3.16
combining and giving rise [to it], they appear to have entered into it, / yet there is no [actual] entrance for them into it, because they existed beforehand.
10.3.17
In this way, though You exist with perceptible qualities whose characteristics are inferred by the intellect, You do not grasp those qualities. / Because You are unobstructed, there is neither an outside nor an inside to You, the Self of all, the substance of reality.
10.3.18
The unwise man who resolves that the self exists in perceptible qualities apart from itself / does not possess deliberate insight without empty repetition, since such a person takes back up what has been properly cast away.
10.3.18.p1
They declare, O all-pervading Lord, that the birth, maintenance, and dissolution of this universe proceed from You, who are devoid of striving, without qualities, and changeless;
10.3.19
in You, the sovereign Lord, Brahman, there is no contradiction, since [these activities] are metaphorically ascribed through the qualities because You are their foundation.
10.3.19.p1
[…]
10.3.19.p2
That very You, for the preservation of the three worlds, by Your own creative power / assume indeed a white form of Your own;
10.3.19.p3
That very You, for the preservation of the three worlds, by Your own creative power / assume indeed a white form of Your own;
10.3.20
a red form augmented by passion for creation; / and a dark form through inertia at the destruction of all beings.
10.3.20.p1
[…]
10.3.21
Desiring to protect this world, O all-pervading Lord of all, You have descended into my home; / You will destroy the armies deployed by commanders of millions of demons posing as kings.
10.3.21.p1
Now this vulgar man, hearing of Your birth in our house, O Lord of the gods, / has slain Your elder brothers;
10.3.22
having just now heard Your incarnation reported by his men, / he approaches with weapons raised.
10.3.22.p1
[…]
10.3.23
Śrī Śuka said: / Then Devakī, beholding this child bearing the marks of the Supreme Person, / approached Him with prayer, terrified of Kaṃsa and deeply astonished.
10.3.24
Śrī Devakī said: / That form which they call the unmanifest, primal Brahman, light, beyond qualities, changeless, / that form which they call the unmanifest, primal Brahman, light, beyond qualities, changeless, / pure existence, devoid of distinctions, without striving—that very One are You, Viṣṇu in person, the lamp of inner self.
10.3.25
// / When the universe is destroyed at the end of two parārdhas, when the great elements have merged into their primal source, / and the manifest world has dissolved into the unmanifest by the swift rush of Time, You alone remain, known by the name of the Remainder.
10.3.25.p1
This Time, O friend of the unmanifest, is called an activity of Yours, / by which the universe is set in motion;
10.3.26
beginning with the blink of an eye and ending with a year, immense— / to You, that sovereign Ruler, the abode of safety, I surrender.
10.3.26.p1
[…]
10.3.27
A mortal, terrified of the serpent of death and fleeing through all the worlds, could find no place free from fear; / having attained Your lotus feet by good fortune today, he rests at ease, and death departs from him.
10.3.28
Therefore protect us, frightened as we are, from the terrible son of Ugrasena, for You destroy the fear of Your servants; / and do not make this cosmic form, fit only for meditation, visible to the eyes of flesh.
10.3.29
May that wicked one not discover Your birth through me, O slayer of Madhu; / I am agitated on Your account, my mind faint with fear of Kaṃsa.
10.3.30
Withdraw, O Self of the universe, this unearthly form / endowed with four arms adorned with the splendor of the conch, discus, mace, and lotus.
10.3.31
You, the Supreme Person, who hold this entire universe within Your body at the end of a cosmic night according to the space available, / that very You have entered my womb! Ah, truly that is a playful imitation of the human world.
10.3.32
The Lord said: / In a previous creation, during the era of Svāyambhuva, O chaste woman, you were indeed Pṛśni, / and at that time this [Vasudeva] was the faultless progenitor named Sutapas.
10.3.33
When both of you were commanded by Brahmā to create progeny, / you then restrained the aggregate of senses and performed supreme austerities.
10.3.34
Enduring the properties of the seasons—rain, wind, heat, frost, and summer— / you had the impurities of your minds washed away by breath control.
10.3.35
Feeding on withered leaves and air, with tranquil minds, / desiring fulfillment of wishes from Me, you undertook My worship.
10.3.36
As you were thus performing intense and exceedingly difficult austerities, / twelve thousand celestial years passed, your minds absorbed in Me.
10.3.37
Then, O sinless woman, I was delighted with you both through this very form, / having been constantly contemplated in your hearts through austerity, faith, and devotion.
10.3.38
Desiring to grant your wish, I, the King of boon-givers, appeared before you; / when told, “Choose a boon,” a son like Me was chosen by you both.
10.3.39
Having not enjoyed vulgar sensual pleasures, and being childless, as husband and wife / you did not ask for liberation from Me, being bewildered by divine creative power.
10.3.40
When I departed, having obtained the boon of a son equal to Me, / you both enjoyed ordinary pleasures, your desire fulfilled.
10.3.41
Seeing no other person in the world equal to Me in good conduct, magnanimity, and virtues, / I became your son, known as Pṛśnigarbha.
10.3.42
To both of you again I was born from Kaśyapa through Aditi, / renowned as Upendra, and called Vāmana because of being a dwarf.
10.3.43
In this third existence, I have indeed been born to the very two of you again / in this identical form; what I have spoken, O chaste lady, is the truth.
10.3.44
This form has been shown to both of you to awaken remembrance of My previous births; / otherwise, knowledge of My divine nature would not arise through the marks of a mortal.
10.3.45
Constantly thinking of Me both with parental affection as a son and with knowledge as Brahman, / and having formed loving attachment, you shall attain to My supreme abode.
10.3.46
Śrī Śuka said: / Having spoken thus, Hari, the Lord, fell silent; through His own creative power, / He at once became an ordinary infant before the eyes of His parents.
10.3.46.p1
Then Śauri, impelled by the Lord, / took his son from the maternity chamber;
10.3.47
and when he desired to go outside, at that moment the unborn Yogamāyā / was born of the wife of Nanda.
10.3.47.p1
[…]
10.3.48
When by her all the senses of the door-keepers and the townspeople were robbed of perception and they were put to sleep, / all the gates, which were impassable and bolted with massive panels, iron bolts, and chains,
10.3.49
opened by themselves as Vasudeva carrying Kṛṣṇa approached, just as darkness vanishes before the sun; / the raincloud poured down with muted thunder, and Śeṣa followed behind, warding off the water with his hoods.
10.3.50
As Indra showered rain incessantly, the younger sister of Yama, the river [Yamunā], foamy with the swift current of its deep waters / and agitated by hundreds of frightening whirlpools, gave way just like the ocean to the Lord of Śrī.
10.3.50.p1
Śauri, reaching the pastoral settlement of Nanda, / found the cowherds there fast asleep;
10.3.51
laying his son on Yaśodā's bed and taking up her daughter, / he returned once more to his home.
10.3.51.p1
[…]
10.3.52
Then, having laid the infant girl on Devakī's bed,
Vasudeva fastened the iron shackles on his feet again and remained bound as before.
10.3.53
And Yaśodā, the wife of Nanda, knew only that a child was born;
exhausted, her memory lost in sleep, she did not know its gender.
Translations (1)
- The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English
Linked texts (1)
- Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit