Bhagavatapurana 10.45
English (machine translation) 10.45
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Contents
10.45.1
Śrī-Śuka said:
Knowing that His parents had realized the truth, the Supreme Person,
thinking, "Let this not be so," spread His creative power that bewilders living beings.
10.45.2
Approaching His parents together with His elder brother, the best of the Sātvatas,
bowing low in deference and gladdening them, said respectfully, "Mother! Father!"
10.45.3
"Father, you two, though ever yearning for us, never obtained from us,
your two sons, the pleasures of childhood, boyhood, or youth."
10.45.4
Struck down by fate, we two did not obtain dwelling near you, / [nor] that joy which boys staying in their father's house enjoy when cherished.
10.45.5
Since the body, the source of all ends, was brought forth and nurtured [by them], / a mortal cannot repay his parents even in a lifespan of a hundred years.
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That son who, capable in himself and with wealth, / does not provide maintenance for them, they indeed make eat his own flesh after death.
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An aged mother and father, a virtuous wife, an infant child, / a spiritual teacher, a brāhmaṇa, and one who has sought refuge—capable [of maintaining them] and yet not supporting them, he is dead while breathing.
10.45.8
So, because we two were unable, our minds ever anxious on account of Kaṃsa, / these days have passed in vain, without worshiping you two.
10.45.9
Therefore you two should forgive us, father [and] mother, for we were dependent on others, / not rendering service to you two who were severely tormented by the malicious one.
10.45.10
Śrī Śuka said: / Bewildered by these words of Hari, the Supreme Self who had become a man by His creative power, / they placed [them] on their laps, embraced them, and obtained joy.
10.45.11
Drenching them with streams of tears, bound by the cord of affection, / they said nothing, O King, their throats choked with tears, deeply overcome with love.
10.45.12
Having thus consoled His parents, the Lord, the son of Devakī, / made His maternal grandfather Ugrasena king of the Yadus.
10.45.13
And He said: "O Great King, you should command us and the subjects. / Because of Yayāti's curse, the Yadus must not sit upon the royal throne.
10.45.14
When I wait upon you as a servant, the gods and others / will humbly bring tribute; what to say of other rulers of men?"
10.45.15
All their own kinsmen and relatives who had fled in all directions, troubled by fear of Kaṃsa— / the Yadus, Vṛṣṇis, Andhakas, Madhus, Dāśārhas, Kukuras, and others—
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honored and consoled, emaciated from living in foreign lands, / the Creator of the universe settled in their own homes, having gratified them with riches.
10.45.17
Protected by the arms of Kṛṣṇa and Saṅkarṣaṇa, their desires attained, / their anxieties dispelled by Kṛṣṇa and Rāma, they rejoiced in their homes like perfected souls.
10.45.18
Day after day, delighted, they gazed upon Mukunda's lotus face, / ever joyful, splendid, with its glance of compassionate smiles.
10.45.19
Even the aged there became young men of immense strength and vigor, / continually drinking through their eyes the nectar of Mukunda's lotus face.
10.45.20
Then, approaching Nanda, the Lord, the son of Devakī, / and Saṅkarṣaṇa embraced him, O best of kings, and said this:
10.45.21
"O Father, by you two full of affection we were greatly nourished and cherished; / indeed, the love of parents for their children is greater than for themselves.
10.45.22
He is the father and she the mother who nurture like their own children / infants abandoned by relatives unable to nourish and protect them.
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Go you all to Vraja, dear father, and having brought joy to our friends, / we shall come to see you, our kinsmen pained by affection."
10.45.24
Having thus consoled Nanda together with the people of Vraja, the Lord, Acyuta, / honored him respectfully with garments, ornaments, utensils, and other gifts.
10.45.25
Addressed thus, having embraced the two, Nanda, overcome with love, / his eyes filling with tears, departed for Vraja with the cowherds.
10.45.26
Then the son of Śūra, O King, had the ceremony of twice-born initiation performed properly / for his two sons by the family priest and brāhmaṇas.
10.45.27
He gave them dakṣiṇā of well-adorned cows with gold necklaces, / along with their calves and garlanded with silken cloth, having honored the well-adorned [priests],
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and remembering those [cows] mentally given on the birth-constellation of Kṛṣṇa and Rāma / which had been taken away unlawfully by Kaṃsa, the noble-minded one gave them too.
10.45.29
Then, having received the saṃskāra, having attained the status of twice-born, the two of good vows / undertook the vow of the Gāyatrī from Garga, the spiritual preceptor of the Yadu clan.
10.45.30
The source of all branches of knowledge, all-knowing, the two Lords of the universe, / hiding their pure knowledge not achieved from another under human actions,
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then, desiring to dwell in the teacher's house, approached / a descendant of Kaśya named Sāndīpani, a resident of the city of Avanti.
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Approaching him properly, those two self-controlled ones, teaching blameless conduct / toward the guru, served him with devotion, respectfully, as if a deity.
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Pleased by their pure-hearted attendance, the guru, the best of the twice-born, / taught them the entire Vedas together with their auxiliary branches and the Upaniṣads,
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the science of archery along with its esoteric secrets, the codes of dharma, and the paths of logic, / and likewise the philosophical science of inquiry and the sixfold statecraft.
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The two foremost of men, the originators of all branches of knowledge, / grasped everything after being spoken to only once, O King.
10.45.36
Disciplined, in sixty-four days and nights they mastered as many arts, / and then requested the preceptor, O King, for his teacher's fee.
10.45.36.p1
O King, observing their wondrous greatness and superhuman intellect, / the twice-born,
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having consulted with his wife, chose as his boon his boy who had died in the great ocean at Prabhāsa.
10.45.37.p1
[Omitted verse]
10.45.37.p2
Saying "So be it," those two of boundless valor, great chariot-warriors, mounted their chariot / and, reaching Prabhāsa,
10.45.37.p3
saying "So be it," those two of boundless valor, great chariot-warriors, mounted their chariot / and, reaching Prabhāsa,
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went up to the shore and sat for a moment; / the ocean, recognizing them, brought them respectful offerings.
10.45.38.p1
[Omitted verse]
10.45.39
The Lord said to him: "Quickly give back the guru's son, / that boy who was swallowed here by you with a huge wave."
10.45.40
The ocean said: / "I did not take him, O Lord; there is a great Daitya, Pañcajana, / an Asura moving inside the water, O Kṛṣṇa, who bears the form of a conch.
10.45.41
He surely dwells there, having seized him." Hearing that, the Lord quickly / entered the water, killed him, but did not see the child in his belly.
10.45.42
Taking the conch that arose from his body, He returned to the chariot; / then to Saṃyamanī, the beloved city of Yama,
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having gone, Janārdana blew the conch, accompanied by the plow-armed one [Balarāma]. / Hearing the sounding of the conch, Yama, the restrainer of creatures,
10.45.44
performed a great worship of the two, enhanced with devotion. / Bowing low, he said to Kṛṣṇa, the indweller in the hearts of all beings: / "What may we do for you two, who are Viṣṇu in human form by divine play?"
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The Lord said: / "Bring here the guru's son brought here bound by his own karma, / O Great King, honoring My command."
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Saying "So be it," the guru's son was brought by him; the two best of the Yadus, / having given him to their guru, said to him: "Choose again [a boon]."
10.45.47
The guru said:
My boys, you have fully provided the guru's fee.
What desires could remain unfulfilled for a teacher of disciples like you?
10.45.48
Go to your home, O heroes! May your renown be purifying!
May the Vedic verses never lose their potency for you, here and in the hereafter!
10.45.49
Having thus been granted leave by their guru, my dear,
they returned to their own city in a chariot as swift as the wind, rumbling like a rain-cloud.
10.45.50
All the citizens rejoiced upon seeing Rāma and Janārdana,
having not seen them for many days, like those who recover lost wealth.
Translations (1)
- The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English
Linked texts (1)
- Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit