Bhagavatapurana 10.86
English (machine translation) 10.86
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- English
Contents
10.86.1
The king said:
O brāhmaṇa, we wish to know how Vijaya married the sister of Rāma and Kṛṣṇa, who was my grandmother.
10.86.2
Śrī Śuka said:
While wandering the earth on a pilgrimage to sacred places, the powerful Arjuna arrived at Prabhāsa, where he heard about his maternal cousin.
10.86.3
He heard that Rāma intended to give her to Duryodhana and to no one else. Desiring to obtain her, he assumed the guise of an ascetic carrying three staves and went to Dvārakā.
10.86.4
There he lived during the rainy months to accomplish his purpose, constantly honored by the citizens and by Rāma, who did not recognize him.
10.86.5
Once, brought to his house and invited for hospitality by Bala, he ate the alms offered with faith.
10.86.6
There he saw the noble maiden who captivates the minds of heroes; with eyes blossoming with affection, he set his mind, agitated by emotion, upon her.
10.86.7
Seeing him who touches the hearts of women, she too desired him, smiling with bashful glances, fixing her heart and eyes upon him.
10.86.8
Contemplating her alone and seeking an opportunity, Arjuna found no peace, his mind wandering under the sway of overpowering desire.
10.86.9
During a great festival procession of the deity, as she came out of the fortress standing in a chariot, that great car-warrior carried her off with the consent of her parents and of Kṛṣṇa.
10.86.10
Standing on the chariot and taking up his bow, he drove away the heroic soldiers who attempted to block him, as a lion carries off his own share amidst crying beasts.
10.86.11
Hearing of this, Rāma was agitated like the ocean on the full-moon day; but his feet were grasped by Kṛṣṇa, and he was appeased by his friends.
10.86.12
Bala joyfully sent bridal gifts to the bride and bridegroom: rich treasures, furnishings, elephants, chariots, horses, men, and women.
10.86.13
Śrī Śuka said:
There was a best of the twice-born, a devotee of Kṛṣṇa known as Śrutadeva, who had achieved all goals through exclusive devotion to Kṛṣṇa, peaceful, wise, and free from desire.
10.86.14
He lived as a householder in Mithilā in the land of the Videhas, performing his obligatory duties with sustenance that arrived without effort.
10.86.15
Only what was needed for bare sustenance came to him day by day by providence, and nothing more; satisfied with just that, he performed his proper duties.
10.86.16
Likewise, the ruler of that kingdom, known as Bahulāśva, king of Mithilā, was free from egotism; both of them were dear to Acyuta.
10.86.17
Pleased with them both, the Lord mounted the chariot brought by Dāruka and set out for Videha together with the sages.
10.86.18
Nārada, Vāmadeva, Atri, Kṛṣṇa, Rāma, Asita, Āruṇi, myself, Bṛhaspati, Kaṇva, Maitreya, Cyavana, and others.
10.86.19
Wherever He went, O king, the townspeople and villagers approached Him with offerings of water in their hands, as planets approach the risen sun.
10.86.19.p1
The people of Ānarta, Dhanva, Kuru-jāṅgala, Kaṅka, Matsya, Pāñcāla, Kunti, Madhu, Kekaya, Kośala, Arṇa,
10.86.20
and others, men and women, O king, drank in with their eyes His lotus face with its generous smile and affectionate glances.
10.86.20.p1
[…]
10.86.20.p2
Bestowing well-being and perception of the ultimate truth upon those whose blindness of ignorance was destroyed by His gaze,
10.86.20.p3
bestowing well-being and perception of the ultimate truth upon those whose blindness of ignorance was destroyed by His gaze,
10.86.21
hearing His own fame—which brightened the quarters of the sky and destroyed misfortune—sung by gods and men, the spiritual master of the three worlds slowly arrived in Videha.
10.86.21.p1
[…]
10.86.22
Hearing that Acyuta had arrived, O king, the townspeople and villagers joyfully went out toward Him, with offerings in their hands.
10.86.23
Seeing Him of highest renown, their faces and minds blossoming with affection, they bowed with joined hands to Him and to the sages of whom they had previously heard.
10.86.24
Thinking that the spiritual master of the universe had arrived to bestow grace upon them, both the king of Mithilā and Śrutadeva fell at the feet of the Lord.
10.86.25
Both the king of Mithilā and Śrutadeva simultaneously invited the descendant of Daśārha, together with the twice-born, to accept their hospitality, with folded hands.
10.86.26
Understanding their wish and desiring to please them both, the Lord entered the home of each, unseen by the other.
10.86.27
Then, as they sat comfortably on the finest seats brought for them, though they were fatigued from arriving at his home from afar, the noble-minded Janaka,
10.86.28
his heart overflowing with joy from increased devotion and his eyes clouded with tears, bowed down, washed their feet, and with the water that purifies the world,
10.86.29
together with his family, bearing it upon his head, worshipped the lords with fragrances, garlands, garments, ornaments, incense, lamps, guest-offerings, cows, and bulls.
10.86.30
Pleasing them with sweet words, he addressed them as they were satisfied with food, gently massaging the feet of Viṣṇu in his lap with joy.
10.86.31
Śrī Bahulāśva said:
You are indeed the Self of all beings, the witness, self-luminous, O omnipresent one; and now You have come into the sight of us who remember Your lotus feet.
10.86.32
You have come within the range of our sight to make true Your own words, when You said: 'Neither Ananta, nor Śrī, nor the unborn Brahmā is dear to Me as are My unalloyed devotees.'
10.86.33
What person, knowing this, would abandon Your lotus feet, when You give Your own self to peaceful sages who possess nothing?
10.86.34
Incarnating in the line of Yadu for people wandering in this cycle of rebirth, You spread renown that removes the affliction of the three worlds for the sake of their peace.
10.86.35
Obeisance to You, the Lord Kṛṣṇa of unobstructed intelligence, and to the sage Nārāyaṇa, who has undertaken perfectly peaceful austerities.
10.86.36
O boundless one, dwell in our home for a few days together with the twice-born, and purify this family of Nimi with the dust of Your feet.
10.86.37
Thus invited by the king, the Lord, the sustainer of the world, remained, bestowing welfare upon the men and women of Mithilā.
10.86.38
Śrutadeva, seeing that Acyuta had arrived at his home just as Janaka had, bowed to the sages and, overjoyed, waved his cloth and danced.
10.86.39
Seating them on grass mats and woven cushions brought forward, he welcomed them with words of greeting and joyfully washed their feet together with his wife.
10.86.40
With that water, the highly fortunate man, overjoyed and having all his desires fulfilled, / bathed himself along with his household and family.
10.86.41
With fruits, offerings, fragrant khus grass, auspicious ambrosial water, fragrant earth, tulasī, kuśa grass, and arghya water, / he worshiped them with whatever suitable articles of worship were available, and with food that increases purity.
10.86.42
He wondered: “How did this association come to me, fallen into the blind well of household life— / [an association] with Kṛṣṇa, whose feet's dust is the abode of all sacred sites, and with these brāhmaṇas who are His own abode?”
10.86.43
When they were comfortably seated and hospitality had been shown, Śrutadeva approached / along with his wife, kin, and children, and massaging their feet, he said:
10.86.44
Śrutadeva said: / It is not only today that the Supreme Person has come into our sight, / for He already entered this [creation] with His own being after creating it by His powers,
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just as a sleeping person, having created by his own mind's power / another world of dreams, enters it and appears within it.
10.86.46
For those who constantly listen, speak, worship, bow down to You, / and converse about You, You shine within their hearts, their minds purified.
10.86.47
Though staying in the heart, You are far away for those whose minds are distracted by fruitive deeds; / and though ungraspable by one's own faculties, You are close to those who have realized the virtues of the self.
10.86.47.p1
Obeisances unto You, the Supreme Self of knowers of the supreme self, non-self to those lacking self, who assign death to them by their own nature,
10.86.48
who have attained the forms of cause and effect, whose vision is never obstructed by Your own creative power!
10.86.48.p1
[…]
10.86.49
Command us, Your servants, O Lord—what may we do? / For the affliction of men ends when You come within range of sight.
10.86.50
Śrī Śuka said: / Hearing what was spoken thus, the Lord, the dispeller of the distress of those surrendered to Him, / grasped his hand with His own hand and smilingly said to him:
10.86.51
The Lord said:
O brāhmaṇa, know these sages to have arrived to bestow favor upon you;
traveling through the worlds with me, they purify them with the dust of their feet.
10.86.52
Gods, sacred sites, and holy waters, through seeing, touching, and worshiping,
purify slowly in time, and that only through the sight of the most worthy.
10.86.53
A brāhmaṇa is superior by birth to all living beings here [on earth];
by austerity, learning, and contentment, how much more so when endowed with my portion?
10.86.54
This four-armed form of mine is not as dear to me as the brāhmaṇa;
for a brāhmaṇa embodies all the Vedas, while I embody all the gods.
10.86.55
The foolish, envious, not knowing this, disregard
me, the brāhmaṇa, the guru, the self, seeing deity only in idols and the like.
10.86.56
This universe of moving and unmoving beings, and the entities that cause it—
a brāhmaṇa holds in mind that they are forms of mine, through seeing me.
10.86.57
Therefore worship these brāhmaṇa-sages, O brāhmaṇa, with faith in me;
if worshiped thus, I am truly worshiped, not otherwise by abundant offerings.
10.86.58
Śrī Śuka said:
Thus instructed by the Lord, the king of Mithilā, having worshiped
the best of twice-born along with Kṛṣṇa with single-minded devotion, attained the virtuous destiny.
10.86.59
Having stayed thus with his devotees, O king, the Lord, who is devoted to his devotees,
and having taught the path of virtue, returned once again to Dvāravatī.
Translations (1)
- The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English
Commentaries (1)
- Śrutistutivyākhyā — Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī 1550, Sanskrit
Linked texts (1)
- Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit