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Bhagavatapurana 11.5

English (machine translation) 11.5

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11.5.1

The auspicious king said: / "Generally, those who think themselves the best knowers of the self do not worship the Lord Hari; / for them, whose desires are not calmed and whose selves are unconquered, what is their destination?"

11.5.2

The auspicious Camasa said: / "From the face, arms, thighs, and feet of the cosmic Person, along with the stages of life, / the four castes—brāhmaṇas and the rest—were born distinct according to their qualities.

11.5.3

Those among them who do not worship or who disrespect the Person Himself, / the Lord who is their own source, fall downward, fallen from their position.

11.5.4

Far from the narrations of Hari are some, and far from the glorification of Acyuta, / such as women, śūdras, and the like; they are worthy of compassion to those like you.

11.5.5

A brāhmaṇa, a kṣatriya, or a vaiśya, though having approached the vicinity of Hari's feet / through Vedic birth, yet become deluded as expositors of the scripture.

11.5.6

Unskilled in true action, arrogant, foolish, yet fancying themselves scholars, / these deluded ones speak flattering words, eager for honeyed speech.

11.5.7

With terrible intentions born of passion, lustful, angry as serpents, / hypocritical, proud, and wicked, they deride those who are dear to Acyuta.

11.5.8

Devoted to women in their homes and bent on sexual pleasure, they speak mutual blessings; / they perform sacrifices without distributing food or giving prescribed priestly gifts, and, ignorant of reality, kill beasts solely for their own sustenance.

11.5.9

With intellects blinded by pride arising from wealth, prosperity, high birth, learning, / renunciation, beauty, strength, and religious acts, these rogues despise the virtuous devotees, beloved of Hari, along with the Lord Himself.

11.5.9.p1

Ever situated in all embodied beings, / like space, the self, the cherished Lord,

11.5.10

celebrated by the Vedas—Him the foolish do not hear; / they speak only according to the talk of their whimsical desires.

11.5.10.p1

[…]

11.5.11

In this world, indulgence in sexual intercourse, meat, and liquor is natural to living beings; there is indeed no Vedic injunction for that; / a regulation regarding them is made by marriage, sacrifice, and the Sautrāmaṇī cup, but cessation from them is what is desired.

11.5.11.p1

Wealth has dharma as its sole fruit, from which arises / knowledge along with realised knowledge and ultimate peace;

11.5.12

yet they employ it in their homes for the body, / and do not see death of inevitable might.

11.5.12.p1

[…]

11.5.13

That which is prescribed as the smelling of wine, and the ritual offering of an animal which is not slaughter, / and likewise copulation for progeny, not for mere pleasure—this pure duty of theirs they do not know.

11.5.14

Those who, not knowing this, being unvirtuous, arrogant, and fancying themselves virtuous, / brazenly injure animals—those animals devour them in the next world.

11.5.15

Hating Hari, the Lord, their own self dwelling in the bodies of others, / bound in affection to this corpse and its relations, they fall downward."

11.5.16

Those who have not attained absolute liberation, yet have surpassed mere stupor, / pursuing the three goals of life without a moment's rest—they destroy their own self.

11.5.17

These killers of the self, devoid of peace, imagining themselves wise in their ignorance, / wither away with their tasks unfulfilled, their desires destroyed by Time.

11.5.18

Leaving behind house, children, friends, and wives fashioned by their own creative power, / they enter into darkness unwillingly, having turned their backs on Vāsudeva.

11.5.19

The glorious king said: / In what age, of what color, of what sort, by what name, / and by what ritual is the Lord worshipped by men? Please tell that here.

11.5.20

The glorious Karabhājana said: / In Kṛta, Tretā, Dvāpara, and Kali, Keśava is worshipped / with various colors, names, and forms, and indeed by different rituals.

11.5.21

In Kṛta, he is white, four-armed, with matted hair, wearing bark garments, / bearing a black antelope skin, a sacred thread, rosary beads, a staff, and a water-pot.

11.5.22

Human beings then, peaceful, free from enmity, friendly, and impartial, / worship the God through asceticism, through mental calmness, and sensory restraint.

11.5.23

He is praised as Haṃsa, Suparṇa, Vaikuṇṭha, Dharma, Lord of Yoga, the Pure One, / the Lord, the Person, the Unmanifest, and the Supreme Self.

11.5.24

In Tretā he is red-complexioned, four-armed, with a triple girdle, / with golden hair, embodying the triple Veda, marked by the sacrificial ladles and implements.

11.5.25

Then men who are most righteous and knowers of the Veda worship him, / the God Hari who comprises all gods, by means of the triple Vedic knowledge.

11.5.26

He is called Viṣṇu, Yajña, Pṛśnigarbha, Sarvadeva, Urukrama, / Vṛṣākapi, Jayanta, and Urugāya.

11.5.27

In Dvāpara, the Lord is dark blue, wearing yellow garments, bearing his own weapons, / and characterized by signs such as the Śrīvatsa mark.

11.5.28

Then, O king, mortal men desiring to know the Supreme Person / worship him, who bears the marks of a great king, by both Vedic and tantric rites:

11.5.29

"Obeisance to you, Vāsudeva; and obeisance to Saṅkarṣaṇa, / to Pradyumna and to Aniruddha; obeisance to you, the Lord!

11.5.30

Obeisance to the sage Nārāyaṇa, the Person, the Great Self, / to the Lord of the universe, the universe itself, the Self of all beings!"

11.5.31

Thus in Dvāpara, O lord of the earth, they praise the Lord of the world. / Now hear how it is in Kali as well, through the rituals of various Tantras:

11.5.32

The wise worship him whose color is dark yet bright with golden luster, / accompanied by his limbs, minor limbs, weapons, and associates, predominantly through sacrifices of communal chanting:

11.5.32.p1

Always to be meditated upon, dispelling humiliation, granting every desire, the abode of all holy places, praised by Śiva and Viriñci, giving shelter,

11.5.33

destroying the distress of your servants, protector of the surrendered, a boat for the ocean of cyclic existence—O Great Person, I bow to your lotus feet.

11.5.33.p1

[…]

11.5.33.p2

Having abandoned the fortune of kingship, so hard to give up and coveted by the gods, most righteous, he went to the forest at the word of his elder;

11.5.33.p3

having abandoned the fortune of kingship, so hard to give up and coveted by the gods, most righteous, he went to the forest at the word of his elder,

11.5.34

and pursued the illusory deer desired by his beloved—O Great Person, I bow to your lotus feet.

11.5.34.p1

[…]

11.5.35

Thus, O king, in accordance with each age, the Lord Hari, / the master of all blessings, is worshipped by the men living in that age.

11.5.36

Noble persons who know true virtue and grasp the essence praise the Kali age, / wherein all one's true aims are attained solely through communal chanting.

11.5.37

For there is no higher gain than this for embodied souls wandering in this world, / through which one finds supreme peace, and transmigration is destroyed.

11.5.38

O king, beings living in Kṛta and other ages desire birth in the Kali age; / for in Kali indeed there will be people wholly devoted to Nārāyaṇa,

11.5.39

here and there, O great king, but in large numbers in the Dravida lands, / where the rivers Tāmraparṇī, Kṛtamālā, and Payasvinī flow,

11.5.40

and the most sacred Kāverī, and the great western river. / The human beings who drink their waters, O ruler of men, / are mostly pure-hearted devotees of the Lord Vāsudeva.

11.5.41

He is neither a servant nor a debtor to the gods, sages, living beings, relatives, men, or ancestors, O king— / he who, casting aside all duty, has taken shelter with his whole being in Mukunda, the giver of refuge.

11.5.42

When a beloved devotee worships the base of his feet, casting aside all other desires, / whatever forbidden action happens to occur, the supreme Lord Hari, seated within his heart, removes it all.

11.5.43

The glorious Nārada said: / Having thus heard the dharma of the Bhāgavatas, the lord of Mithilā, / delighting, worshipped the sages born of Jayantī together with his priests.

11.5.44

Then the perfected beings vanished before the eyes of all the people. / Practicing these dharmas, the king attained the supreme state.

11.5.45

You also, O highly fortunate one, having heard these dharmas of the Bhāgavatas / and adhering to them with faith, free from attachment, shall attain the Supreme.

11.5.46

Indeed, the world is filled with the renown of you two, husband and wife, / since the Lord, the supreme Ruler, Hari, became your son.

11.5.47

By seeing, embracing, and conversing with him, by sleeping, sitting, and dining together, / your souls have been purified as you showed parental love toward Kṛṣṇa.

11.5.47.p1

Kings such as Śiśupāla, Pauṇḍra, and Śālva, who meditated on him with enmity through his movements, charms, and glances,

11.5.48

fixing their minds on him while resting and sitting, attained likeness to him—how much more so those whose minds are filled with love!

11.5.48.p1

[…]

11.5.49

Do not harbor the thought that he is merely your child with respect to Kṛṣṇa, the Lord and Self of all, / whose majesty is concealed under the guise of a mortal through creative power, the supreme, imperishable one.

11.5.50

He descended to slay the demon kings who were a burden to the earth and to protect the virtuous; / his fame is spread through the world for its liberation.

11.5.51

The glorious Śuka said: / Having heard this, the highly fortunate Vasudeva was greatly astonished, / and the highly fortunate Devakī cast off her delusion.

11.5.52

Whoever retains this sacred historical account with an attentive mind / shakes off all impurity here and is fit to attain the state of Brahman.

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