Bhagavatapurana 12
English (machine translation) 12
- Language
- English
Contents
- 12.1 — 41 parts
- 12.2 — 44 parts
- 12.3 — 52 parts
- 12.4 — 43 parts
- 12.5 — 13 parts
- 12.6 — 80 parts
- 12.7 — 25 parts
- 12.8 — 49 parts
- 12.9 — 34 parts
- 12.10 — 42 parts
- 12.11 — 50 parts
- 12.12 — 69 parts
- 12.13 — 23 parts
12.1.1
Śrī Śuka said: / The last king of Bṛhadratha's line will be named Purañjaya. / His minister, Śunaka, having killed his master, will make his own son,
12.1.2
known as Pradyota, the king. His son will be Pālaka; / his son will be Viśākhayūpa, and from him will come Rājaka.
12.1.3
His son will be Nandivardhana. These five Pradyotas / will rule the earth as kings for one hundred and thirty-eight years.
12.1.4
Then Śiśunāga will come to be, and Kākavarṇa will be his son; / his son will be Kṣemadharman, and born of Kṣemadharman will be Kṣetrajña.
12.1.5
Vidhisāra will be his son, and Ajātaśatru will be [his]; / Darbhaka will be his son, and Ajaya is remembered as the son of Darbhaka.
12.1.6
Nandivardhana will be born of Ajaya, and then his son will be Mahānandi. / These ten are indeed the Śiśunāgas, who for three hundred and sixty
12.1.7
years will rule the earth in the Kali age, O best of the Kurus. / O King, the son of Mahānandi, born from the womb of a Śūdra woman, will be mighty:
12.1.8
a certain Nanda, lord of vast armies, destroyer of the kṣatriyas. / Thereafter kings will be mostly Śūdras and devoid of dharma.
12.1.9
Under a single umbrella, with his commands unvanquished, / that Mahāpadma will rule the earth like a second Paraśurāma.
12.1.10
He will have eight sons, headed by Sumālya, / who will rule this earth as kings for a hundred years.
12.1.11
A certain brahmin will uproot the nine Nandas who had fallen into his power; / in their absence, the Mauryas will indeed rule the earth in the Kali age.
12.1.12
That very brahmin will consecrate Candragupta on the throne; / his son will be Vārisāra, and then Aśokavardhana.
12.1.13
His son will be Suyaśas, and Saṅgata will be Suyaśas's son. / Then his son will be Śāliśūka; Somaśarman will come next; / Śatadhanvan will follow, and after him will come Bṛhadratha.
12.1.14
These ten kings, the Mauryas, will rule the earth / for one hundred and thirty-seven years in the Kali age, O scion of the Kuru clan.
12.1.15
From him will come Agnimitra, and from him Sujyeṣṭha will follow; / Vasumitra, Bhadraka, and Pulinda will be the son;
12.1.16
then his son Ghoṣa, and from him Vajramitra will arise; / then Bhāgavata, and from him Devabhūti, O leader of the Kurus.
12.1.17
These ten Śuṅgas will rule the earth for more than a hundred years; / thereafter, O King, this earth will pass to the Kāṇvas of meager virtue.
12.1.18
Killing the lustful Śuṅga king Devabhūti, his minister, / the Kāṇva Vasudeva, of great intelligence, will rule the kingdom himself.
12.1.19
His son will be Bhūmitra, and his son Nārāyaṇa. / These descendants of Kaṇva will rule the earth / for three hundred and forty-five years in the Kali age.
12.1.20
Having slain the Kāṇva king Suśarman, his servant, a mighty Śūdra / of the Andhra lineage, a most degraded man, will rule the earth for some time.
12.1.21
Then his brother named Kṛṣṇa will become lord of the earth; / Śrī Śāntakarṇa will be his son, and Paurṇamāsa his son;
12.1.22
Lambodara will be his son, and from him King Cibilaka; / Meghasvāti from Cibilaka, and Aṭamāna his [son];
12.1.23
Aniṣṭakarman, Hāleya, and Talaka will be his son; / Purīṣabhīru will be his son, and then King Sunandana;
12.1.24
Cakora, where there were many, and Śivasvāti, subduer of enemies; / his son will be Gomatī, and then Purīmān will come to be;
12.1.25
Medaśiras, Śivaskanda, and Yajñaśrī his son after him; / Vijaya will be his son, Candravijña, along with Lomadhi.
12.1.26
These thirty kings will rule the earth / for four hundred and fifty-six years, O delight of the Kurus.
12.1.27
There will be seven Ābhīras, kings of Avabhṛti, and ten Gardabhins; / sixteen Kaṅka kings will arise, exceedingly greedy.
12.1.28
Then eight Yavanas will be, fourteen Turuṣkas, / and further ten Guruṇḍas, and eleven Maulas.
12.1.29
These will rule the earth for a thousand years / and ninety-nine more; the eleven Maulas will rule the earth
12.1.30
for three hundred years, my dear. When they are gone, then / kings in Kilakilā: Bhūtananda, then Vaṅgiri,
12.1.31
Śiśunandi, his brother Yaśonandi, and Pravīraka; / these will indeed rule for one hundred and six years.
12.1.32
They will have thirteen sons, the Bāhlikas; / then the royal Puṣpamitra, and likewise his [son] Durmitra.
12.1.33
These kings will rule at the same time: seven Andhras, seven Kauśalas, / kings of Vidūra, and from that very area the Niṣadhas.
12.1.34
Over the Māgadhas will arise Viśvasphūrji, also known as Purañjaya; / he will turn the other social classes into Pulindas, Yadus, and Madrakas.
12.1.35
That evil-minded one will establish subjects mostly lacking brahminical culture; / being powerful, having destroyed the kṣatriya order, he will rule from the city of Padmāvatī / the protected earth along the Gaṅgā up to Prayāga.
12.1.36
In Saurāṣṭra, Avanti, Ābhīra, Śūra, Arbuda, and Mālava, / the twice-born will become outcasts, and the rulers will be mostly Śūdras.
12.1.37
The bank of the Sindhu, the Candrabhāgā, the Kauntī, the realm of Kaśmīra / will be ruled by Śūdras, outcasts, and mlecchas devoid of brahminical luster.
12.1.38
These contemporaneous rulers, O King, will be mostly mlecchas; / devoted to unrighteousness and untruth, giving petty gifts, fiercely wrathful,
12.1.39
slayers of women, children, cows, and brahmins, coveting the wives and wealth of others, / mostly rising and falling quickly, of little vitality and short lifespan,
12.1.40
unpurified by rites, devoid of sacred ceremonies, shrouded in passion and darkness— / these mlecchas in the guise of kings will devour the subjects.
12.1.41
Having them as masters, those populations, imitating their character and conduct, / tormented by one another and by their kings, will go to ruin.
12.2.1
Śrī Śuka said: / And thereafter, day by day, dharma, truth, purity, forbearance, compassion, / lifespan, strength, and memory will deteriorate through powerful time, O King.
12.2.2
In Kali, wealth alone will be the cause of men's birth, conduct, and excellence of virtues; / and in determining dharma and justice, brute force alone will be the criterion.
12.2.3
In marriage, mutual liking will be the only reason; trickery alone will govern business dealings; / in womanhood and manhood, sexual pleasure alone [will be the measure], and a sacred thread alone will signify a brāhmaṇa.
12.2.4
Outward insignia alone will be the criterion for identifying a stage of life and for switching from one to another; / a lack of livelihood will lead to defeat in justice, and clever, glib speech will pass for scholarship.
12.2.5
Poverty alone will be [regarded as] lack of virtue, and hypocrisy alone will pass for goodness; / verbal consent alone will constitute marriage, and merely taking a bath will be the adornment of the body.
12.2.6
A distant reservoir of water will be considered a holy pilgrimage site; having long hair will constitute beauty; / filling one's belly will be the only goal of life, and brazen audacity will be taken for truthfulness.
12.2.7
Skill will mean maintaining one's family; dharma will be observed merely for fame. / When the earth is thus overrun by wicked creatures,
12.2.8
whoever is the strongest among brāhmaṇas, vaiśyas, kṣatriyas, or śūdras will become the ruler. / Oppressed by greedy, merciless rulers who act like bandits,
12.2.9
the subjects, stripped of their wives and property, will flee to mountains and forests, / subsisting on vegetables, roots, meat, wild honey, fruits, flowers, and seeds.
12.2.10
Tormented by drought, famine, and heavy taxation, / and troubled by cold, wind, scorching heat, torrential rains, snow, and strife among themselves, the subjects will perish.
12.2.11
They will be afflicted by hunger, thirst, disease, and overwhelming anxiety; / thirty or twenty years will be the maximum lifespan of human beings in Kali.
12.2.12
When the bodies of embodied beings are thus diminished through the faults of Kali, / when the dharma of the social orders and stages of life, the path of the Vedas, is lost to men,
12.2.13
when heretical teachings abound in religion, when kings are mostly thieves, / and when men take up various livelihoods marked by theft, falsehood, and gratuitous violence,
12.2.14
when all classes are largely reduced to śūdras, when cows are no bigger than goats, / when hermitages are indistinguishable from worldly households, and relationships are based merely on marriage ties,
12.2.15
when plants are mostly tiny, when trees are mostly thorny like the śamī, / when clouds yield mostly lightning [without rain], and homes are mostly empty and desolate—
12.2.16
when the Kali age has thus nearly run its course and people behave like asses, / the Lord will descend in purity to protect dharma.
12.2.17
The birth of Viṣṇu, the preceptor of the moving and unmoving, the Supreme Lord and Self of all, / is for the defense of dharma, for the virtuous devotees, and for the removal of the bondage of action.
12.2.18
In the house of Viṣṇuyaśas, an exalted brāhmaṇa / and the foremost citizen of the village of Śambhala, Kalki will appear.
12.2.19
Mounting the swift horse Devadatta, the Lord of the universe, / endowed with the eight supernatural powers and virtues, will subdue the wicked with his sword.
12.2.20
Roaming the earth upon his swift steed, possessing peerless splendor, / he will slaughter bandits by the tens of millions who disguised themselves in the garb of kings.
12.2.21
Then, when all the bandits have been slain, / the minds of the citizens and countrymen will become clear and pure / as they are touched by the breeze bearing the exceedingly sacred fragrance of the ointment of Vāsudeva's limbs.
12.2.22
Their progeny will be most abundant
when the Lord Vāsudeva, whose form is purity, is established in their hearts.
12.2.23
When the Lord Hari, master of dharma, descends as Kalki,
then the Kṛta age will begin, and the generation of offspring will be endowed with purity.
12.2.24
When the Moon, the Sun, the constellation Puṣya, and Jupiter
come together in the same zodiacal sign, then the Kṛta age will begin.
12.2.25
The kings who have passed away, those who are present, and those who will be in the future
from the dynasties of the Moon and the Sun have been described to you in brief.
12.2.26
From your birth up to the coronation of Nanda,
there are one thousand one hundred and fifteen years.
12.2.27
Of the Seven Sages, the two that are seen rising first in the sky—
between them, the lunar mansion that is seen equidistant at night,
12.2.28
joined with that very one, those sages remain for a hundred human years.
In your time now, O twice-born one, they reside in Maghā.
12.2.29
When that sun of the Lord Viṣṇu named Kṛṣṇa departed to heaven,
then Kali entered the world, wherein people take delight in sin.
12.2.30
As long as he, the husband of Ramā, touched the earth with his lotus feet,
so long Kali was unable to advance upon it.
12.2.31
When the seven celestial sages traverse the constellation Maghā,
then Kali, enduring for twelve hundred [divine] years, begins.
12.2.32
When the great sages proceed from Maghā to Pūrvāṣāḍhā,
then, starting from the time of Nanda, this Kali age will reach its increase.
12.2.33
On the very day that Kṛṣṇa departed to heaven,
the Kali age began, so say those who know antiquity.
12.2.34
At the end of a thousand divine years, in the fourth [age],
the Kṛta age will come again, and then people's minds will reveal the self.
12.2.35
Just as this lineage of Manu on earth has been recounted,
so should be known those [lineages] of Vaiśyas, Śūdras, and Brāhmaṇas throughout the ages.
12.2.36
Of these great souls, of whom only names and designations remain,
and who survive merely as tales, only the fame persists on earth.
12.2.37
Devāpi, the brother of Śāntanu, and Maru, born in the Ikṣvāku dynasty,
both endowed with great power of yoga, abide in the village of Kalāpa.
12.2.38
Having returned here at the end of Kali, instructed by Vāsudeva,
they will propagate, as before, the dharma endowed with castes and stages of life.
12.2.39
Kṛta, Tretā, Dvāpara, and Kali—these four ages
recur among living beings on earth in this continuous succession.
12.2.40
O King, these rulers of men, as well as others, have been described by me;
having conceived a sense of 'mine' toward the earth, they abandoned it in the end and met destruction.
12.2.41
Even for one with the title of 'king', the end is called worms, feces, or ashes;
what self-interest can a tormentor of living beings understand for the sake of that body, from which hell ensues?
12.2.42
[Thinking:] 'How can this undivided earth, held by my ancestors,
belong to my son, my grandson, or to someone born in my dynasty?'
12.2.43
Accepting the body composed of fire, water, and food as the self, the foolish
and the earth as 'mine', having abandoned both, in the end vanish from sight.
12.2.44
Whichever rulers of the earth, O King, enjoy the earth through their might,
all of them have been reduced by time to mere tales within stories.
12.3.1
Śrī Śuka said:
Seeing kings absorbed in conquering it, this earth laughs:
'Alas, these kings, playthings of death, wish to conquer me!
12.3.2
This desire of rulers of men would be futile even for wise men,
through which kings place excessive trust in a mass resembling foam.
12.3.3
'First conquering the group of six [senses], we shall conquer the king's ministers;
then the counselors, citizens, allies, and noble elephants—the thorns in his side.
12.3.4
In this manner, step by step, we will conquer the earth girdled by the ocean.'
With hearts bound by hope in this way, they do not see death near at hand.
12.3.5
Having conquered me whose garment is the sea, through might they enter the ocean.
What does this conquest of oneself amount to? The fruit of self-conquest is liberation.
12.3.6
Having abandoned me, the Manus and their sons, O leader of the Kurus,
have departed in battle just as they came; those fools seek to conquer that very me!
12.3.7
For my sake conflict arises between fathers and sons, and even brothers,
among the wicked whose minds are bound by the sense of 'mine' in the kingdom.
12.3.8
Saying, "This entire earth is mine alone, not yours, fool!",
kings, competing with one another, slay and are slain for my sake.'
12.3.9
Pṛthu, Purūravas, Gādhi, Nahuṣa, Bharata, Arjuna,
Māndhātṛ, Sagara, Rāma, Khaṭvāṅga, the slayer of Dhundhu, Raghu,
12.3.10
Tṛṇabindu, Yayāti, Śaryāti, Śantanu, Gaya,
Bhagīratha, Kuvalayāśva, Kakutstha, the king of Niṣadha, Nṛga,
12.3.11
Hiraṇyakaśipu, Vṛtra, Rāvaṇa who caused the worlds to weep,
Namuci, Śambara, Bhauma, Hiraṇyākṣa, and Tāraka,
12.3.12
and many other Daityas and kings who were great sovereigns—
all of them all-knowing, heroes, all victorious over all, unconquered—
12.3.13
having strongly maintained the sense of 'mine' toward me, subject to mortality as they were,
have been reduced by time to mere tales, their aims unfulfilled, O mighty one.
12.3.14
These stories of the illustrious who departed after spreading their fame across the worlds
have been narrated to you with the intention of teaching higher knowledge and dispassion, O mighty one,
as embellishments of speech, not as the ultimate reality.
12.3.15
The continuous recitation of the virtues of Him of highest renown, however, destroys misfortune;
one who desires pure devotion to Kṛṣṇa should constantly hear that alone at all times.
12.3.16
The King said:
By what means, O Lord, will people in the Kali age blow away
the accumulated faults of Kali? Tell me that, O sage,
12.3.17
as well as the ages, the dharmas of the ages, the measure of dissolution and creation,
and the movement of time, the form of the Lord, the Supreme Self, Viṣṇu.
12.3.18
Śrī Śuka said:
In the Kṛta age, four-footed dharma flourishes, maintained by the people of that time;
truthfulness, compassion, austerity, and charity are the feet of the Lord [of dharma], O King.
12.3.19
Content, compassionate, friendly, calm, self-controlled, patient,
finding joy within, viewing all equally, people are mostly ascetics.
12.3.20
In Tretā, a fourth part of the feet of dharma is gradually diminished
by the feet of adharma—untruth, violence, discontent, and strife.
12.3.21
At that time, devoted to ritual actions and austerity, not excessively violent, not lustful,
pursuing the three aims of life, mature in the three Vedas, the castes are led by the Brāhmaṇas, O King.
12.3.22
In Dvāpara, austerity, truth, compassion, and charity are reduced by half / through violence, discontent, falsehood, and malice, which are the characteristics of unrighteousness.
12.3.23
Renowned, of noble character, devoted to the study of the Vedas, / wealthy, living with their families, and joyful are the classes headed by the kṣatriyas and the twice-born.
12.3.24
In Kali, however, only one-fourth of the pillars of dharma remains, and that too, diminishing / through the growing causes of unrighteousness, will completely disappear at the end.
12.3.25
In that age, people will be greedy, wicked in conduct, merciless, picking quarrels over nothing, / unfortunate, filled with insatiable desires, and predominantly śūdras and slaves.
12.3.26
Purity, passion, and darkness—these are the three qualities observed in an individual; / impelled by time, they continually revolve within the mind.
12.3.27
When purity dominates the mind, the intellect, and the senses, / and when there is delight in knowledge and austerity, one should know that to be the Kṛta age.
12.3.28
When embodied beings are devoted to actions driven by desire and to seeking fame, / then, O wise one, know it to be Tretā, in which passion is active.
12.3.29
When there is greed, discontent, false pride, hypocrisy, envy, / and actions performed for desire, that is Dvāpara, dominated by passion and darkness.
12.3.30
When there is deceit, falsehood, sluggishness, excessive sleep, violence, dejection, / grief, delusion, fear, and wretchedness, that is recalled as Kali, dominated by darkness.
12.3.31
Therefore, mortals will have petty vision, poor fortune, and voracious appetites; / they will be lustful, destitute, and women will be unchaste and wanton.
12.3.32
Inhabited lands will be plagued by bandits, the Vedas will be corrupted by heretics, / kings will devour their subjects, and the twice-born will be dedicated only to their genitals and bellies.
12.3.33
Students will be without vows and impure, householders will turn into beggars, / ascetics will dwell in villages, and renunciants will be exceedingly greedy for wealth.
12.3.34
Women will be short in stature, voracious eaters, bearing many children, and shameless; / they will speak harshly at all times and engage in daring acts of theft and deceit.
12.3.35
Petty merchants, acting like cheats, will carry on dishonest trade; / even when not in distress, people will consider base livelihoods to be acceptable.
12.3.36
Servants will abandon a master who has lost his wealth, even if he is the best of men; / masters will abandon a distressed servant though he has served the family for generations, and abandon cows that no longer give milk.
12.3.37
Abandoning their fathers, brothers, friends, and kin, men will bond only over sexual pleasure; / wretched and henpecked, men in Kali will take counsel only with their sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law.
12.3.38
Śūdras, living disguised in the garb of ascetics, will accept religious gifts; / ignorant of dharma, they will mount the exalted seat and discourse on dharma.
12.3.39
Their minds constantly anxious, emaciated by famine and taxation, / on an earth bereft of grain, O King, they will be terrified by fear of drought.
12.3.40
Lacking clothing, food, drink, beds, / sexual union, baths, and ornaments, the people in Kali will look like goblins.
12.3.41
In Kali, quarreling even over a cowrie shell, having cast aside all affection, / they will abandon their own dear lives and even kill their own kin.
12.3.42
Vile men, intent only on filling their bellies and gratifying their genitals, / will not protect even their aged parents, their children, or their noble wives.
12.3.43
In Kali, O King, mortals whose intellects are corrupted by heresy / will generally not worship the Lord, Acyuta, the supreme preceptor of the worlds, whose lotus feet are bowed to by the masters of the three realms.
12.3.44
Whose name a dying person, stricken by disease, falling, or stumbling, chanting even helplessly, / breaks the bar of karma and attains the supreme destination—people in Kali will not worship Him.
12.3.45
The Lord, the Supreme Person, residing within the heart, / removes all the faults of men caused by Kali, arising from material objects, places, and the self.
12.3.46
When heard, chanted, meditated upon, worshipped, or even venerated,
the Lord, dwelling in the heart, cleanses the impurity of ten thousand births of men.
12.3.47
Just as fire present in gold destroys its discoloration born of other metals,
so Viṣṇu, entered into the self, destroys the impure tendencies of yogins.
12.3.48
By learning, austerity, breath control, friendliness, bathing in sacred waters, vows, charity, and mutterings of mantras,
the inner self does not attain absolute purity as it does when the infinite Lord is situated in the heart.
12.3.49
Therefore, O king, with all your being place Keśava in your heart;
for dying with full attention [on him], you will go to the supreme state.
12.3.50
The Lord, the supreme sovereign, should be meditated upon by the dying;
He, the self of all and refuge of all, leads [them] to His own nature, my dear.
12.3.51
Though Kali is an ocean of faults, O king, there is indeed one great virtue:
simply from glorification of Kṛṣṇa, freed from attachment, one reaches the supreme.
12.3.52
What is attained in the Kṛta age by meditating on Viṣṇu, in Tretā by sacrificing with rituals,
and in Dvāpara by worship, that is attained in Kali from glorification of Hari.
12.4.1
Śrī Śuka said:
Time, beginning with an indivisible atom and ending with two parārdhas, has been spoken to you, O king,
as well as the duration of the yugas. Hear now about the kalpas and dissolutions.
12.4.2
A thousand cycles of four yugas is said to be a day of Brahmā;
that is a kalpa, in which there are fourteen Manus, O ruler of men.
12.4.3
At its end occurs a dissolution of the same length, called the night of Brahmā;
there these three worlds indeed undergo dissolution.
12.4.4
This is declared to be the occasional dissolution, wherein the creator of the universe,
the self-born, having absorbed the universe into Himself, sleeps upon the couch of Ananta.
12.4.5
When two parārdhas of Brahmā, the supreme being, have passed,
then the seven primary elements indeed undergo dissolution.
12.4.6
This, O king, is the elemental dissolution, wherein dissolves
the shell of the cosmic egg, the aggregate, when disintegration has arrived.
12.4.7
Rain does not fall upon the earth for a hundred years, O king;
then, destitute of food, afflicted with hunger, preying on one another,
12.4.8
the creatures, assaulted by time, will gradually go to destruction.
The cosmic-dissolution sun drinks the moisture
12.4.9
of the ocean, of bodies, and of the earth with its terrible rays, and releases nothing.
Then the fire of cosmic dissolution, arisen from the mouth of Saṅkarṣaṇa,
12.4.10
augmented by the force of the wind, burns the empty fissures of the earth.
Above, below, and on all sides, by the flames of fire and sun,
12.4.11
the universe, being burned, glows like a burned ball of cow dung.
Then a violent, cosmic-dissolution wind blows for more than a hundred years,
12.4.12
and the sky turns smoky, covered with dust.
Then multitudes of clouds of manifold colors, my dear,
12.4.13
pour down rain for a hundred years, thundering with fierce roaring sounds.
Then the universe within the cosmic egg becomes a single sheet of water.
12.4.14
Then, during the inundation of water, the waters consume the quality of smell of the earth;
and the earth, its smell consumed, is resolved into dissolution.
12.4.15
Then fire consumes the taste of the waters, and they, bereft of taste, dissolve.
Wind then consumes the form of fire, and deprived of that, fire dissolves
12.4.16
into the wind; and space consumes the quality of wind.
Wind enters space, O king, and then the origin of the elements
12.4.17
consumes sound, the quality of space, and space dissolves into it.
The taijasa ego consumes the senses, my dear, and the vaikārika ego consumes the deities along with the qualities;
12.4.18
the Mahat consumes the ego, and the guṇas, sattva and the rest, consume it;
and the unmanifest, impelled by time, consumes the guṇas, O king.
12.4.19
It has no transformation or other attributes caused by the divisions of time;
it is beginningless, endless, unmanifest, eternal, the imperishable cause.
12.4.20
Where there is neither speech nor mind, neither sattva, tamas, nor rajas, nor these [principles] such as the Mahat;
neither vital breath, intellect, sense organs, nor deities; nor the cosmic arrangement of the worlds;
12.4.21
neither dreaming, waking, nor deep sleep; neither space, water, earth, wind, fire, nor the sun;
like deep sleep, like the void, inconceivable—that original state they declare to be the foundation.
12.4.22
This is the elemental dissolution, when of the Puruṣa and the Unmanifest
the powers, driven by time, dissolve helplessly.
12.4.23
Consciousness shines in the form of intellect, senses, and sense objects, being their foundation;
whatever has a beginning and an end is non-substantial, because of being perceivable and non-different [from its cause].
12.4.24
A lamp, the eye, and visible form are not separate from light;
likewise the intellect, the sense organs, and their objects cannot exist apart from the one absolute Truth.
12.4.25
The waking state, dreaming, and deep sleep are said to belong to the intellect;
this multiplicity in the inner self is mere creative power, O king.
12.4.26
Just as clouds appear and disappear in the sky,
so does this composite universe in Brahman, through origination and dissolution.
12.4.27
For the part is declared to be the reality of all composite wholes in this world;
they can be conceived without the composite whole, just as the threads [can be conceived without] the cloth, my dear.
12.4.28
Whatever is perceived through generic and specific characteristics is an illusion;
because of mutual dependence, everything that has a beginning and an end is unreal.
12.4.29
Even though a transformation is perceived, apart from the inner self
not even an atom of it can be determined; if it could, it would be identical to consciousness, like the self.
12.4.30
Indeed there is no multiplicity in the Truth, though the ignorant may think so;
just as there is no difference between two spaces, two lights, or two winds.
12.4.31
Just as gold is spoken of in many ways by men through various functions in customary practice,
so the Lord, Adhokṣaja, is described in various terms by worldly and Vedic people.
12.4.31.p1
Just as a cloud, originated by the sun and revealed by the sun,
is darkness to the eye which is a part of the sun,
12.4.32
so the ego, a quality of Brahman, witnessed by it,
is the self's bondage for the self, which is an integral part of Brahman.
12.4.32.p1
[…]
12.4.33
When the cloud produced by the sun is dispersed, then the eye beholds the sun in its true form;
when the ego, the limiting adjunct of the self, is destroyed by inquiry, then one remembers [one's true nature].
12.4.34
When thus, by this weapon of discrimination, one cuts away
the bondage of the self in the form of illusory ego, and abides in the direct experience of the immutable Self—that, my dear, they call absolute dissolution.
12.4.35
Some who possess subtle insight declare, O scorcher of foes,
that creation and dissolution are continuously occurring for all beings, from Brahmā downwards.
12.4.36
Carried away swiftly and continuously by the momentum of the stream of time,
those changing states of transforming entities are the causes of birth and dissolution.
12.4.37
By this time, which is without beginning or end and is an embodiment of the Lord, / the stages [of change] are not perceived at all, just as [the movements] of the heavenly bodies in the sky.
12.4.38
The continuous dissolution, the occasional dissolution, and likewise the elemental dissolution, / and the ultimate dissolution have been described; such is the course of time.
12.4.39
These stories of the divine play of Nārāyaṇa, the creator of the universe and abode of all purity, / have been told to you in brief, O best of Kurus; even the unborn [Brahmā] is not capable of reciting them completely.
12.4.39.p1
For a person wishing to cross the ocean of the cycle of rebirth, which is exceedingly difficult to traverse, / there is no other boat than
12.4.40
the relishing of the aesthetic flavor of the stories of the divine play of the Lord, the Supreme Person, / for one tormented by the forest fire of various sufferings.
12.4.40.p1
[…]
12.4.41
This collection of Purāṇas the imperishable sage Nārāyaṇa / formerly spoke to Nārada, and he to Kṛṣṇa-Dvaipāyana.
12.4.42
Indeed, the glorious Bādarāyaṇa, pleased [with me], O great king, / [imparted] to me this Bhāgavata collection, equal to the Vedas.
12.4.43
This very [work] Sūta will speak to the sages residing at Naimiṣa, / at the long sacrificial session, O best of the Kurus, when questioned by Śaunaka and others.
12.5.1
Śrī Śuka said: / Here is constantly celebrated the Lord Hari, the self of the universe, / from whose grace Brahmā was born, and Rudra arose from his anger.
12.5.2
O king, cast away this animal notion, 'I shall die': / you were not born, nor did you not exist previously, nor today will you perish like the body.
12.5.3
You will not become, having come into being, one having the form of sons, grandsons, and so forth, / like a sprout from a seed; you are distinct from the body and the rest, just as fire [from wood].
12.5.4
Since one perceives by oneself in a dream the decapitation of one's head and the death, etc., / of the body, therefore the self is indeed unborn and immortal.
12.5.5
When a pot is broken, the pot-space becomes space just as before; / likewise, when the body dies, the individual soul attains Brahman once more.
12.5.6
The mind indeed produces the bodies, the qualities, and the karmic actions of the soul; / creative power creates that mind, and from that arises the transmigration of the individual soul.
12.5.7
As long as the combination of oil, container, wick, and fire is observed, / so long does the lamp have the nature of a lamp; likewise, existence produced by the body / is born and then destroyed through the activity of passion, purity, and darkness.
12.5.8
There the self is self-luminous, beyond both the manifest and the unmanifest; / like space, it is the support, constant, and therefore comparable to infinity.
12.5.9
Thus reflect upon the self dwelling in yourself by yourself, O master, / with an intellect full of reasoning and through meditation upon Vāsudeva.
12.5.10
Impelled by the brahmin's words, Takṣaka will not burn you; / deaths will not burn the Ruler, the death of deaths.
12.5.11
'I am Brahman, the supreme abode; I am Brahman, the supreme state'— / having thus understood, and having placed the self in the indivisible self,
12.5.12
you will not see Takṣaka biting your foot and licking with mouths full of poison, / nor your body, nor the universe, as separate from the self.
12.5.13
This has been told to you, dear one, which you asked concerning yourself, O king, / [and] the activity of Hari, the self of the universe; what more do you wish to hear?
12.6.1
Sūta said: / Hearing this spoken by the sage, the son of Vyāsa, who saw all as the self and was impartial, / Parīkṣit, Viṣṇurāta, approached the base of his feet with his head bowed, / and with joined palms spoke this to him:
12.6.2
// / The king said: / I am perfected, I am favored by you, whose nature is compassionate, / in that Hari, who has no beginning or end, was directly made known to me by hearing.
12.6.3
I do not think it very wonderful that exalted devotees, whose self is Acyuta, / bestow grace upon ignorant beings afflicted with torments.
First 200 of 602 passages. Read on
Translations (1)
- The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English
Commentaries (3)
- Bhāgavatacandrikā — Vīrarāghava, Sanskrit
- Padaratnāvalī — Vijayadhvaja Tīrtha, Sanskrit
- Bhāgavatapurāṇaṭīkā — Vaṃśīdhara 1630, Sanskrit
Linked texts (1)
- Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit