Bhagavatapurana 12.11
English (machine translation) 12.11
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- English
Contents
12.11.1
Śrī Śaunaka said:
Now we ask this matter of you, who are the most knowledgeable;
O Bhāgavata, you are a knower of truth regarding the established doctrine of all Tantras.
12.11.2
In the worship of the absolute Lord of Śrī, how and by what means do the Tantrikas
envision his limbs, secondary limbs, weapons, and ornaments?
12.11.3
Therefore describe that yoga of ritual action to us who are eager to know it—may you be blessed!—
by which skill in ritual action a mortal may attain immortality.
12.11.4
Sūta said: / Having bowed to the gurus, I shall proclaim the manifestations of Viṣṇu / that have been taught according to the Vedas and Tantras by teachers beginning with the lotus-born [Brahmā].
12.11.5
With the nine principles beginning with creative power, that Virāṭ, consisting of transformations, / is fashioned, in which, endowed with consciousness, the three worlds are seen.
12.11.6
This indeed is the cosmic form of the Lord: the earth is his feet, heaven his head, the sky / his navel, the sun his two eyes, the wind his nostrils, and the directions his ears.
12.11.7
Prajāpati is the organ of generation, Apāna is death of the ruler; / the guardians of the worlds are his arms, the moon is his mind, and Yama is his eyebrows.
12.11.8
Modesty is his upper lip, greed his lower lip, the teeth are moonlight, his smile is delusion; / the trees are the bodily hairs of the Infinite One, and the clouds are the hair on the head of the Cosmic Person.
12.11.9
As large as this human person is, measured by his bodily frame, / so large is that Great Person, measured by the frame of the worlds.
12.11.10
Under the name of the Kaustubha gem, the Unborn bears the light of his own self; / its pervasive radiance is directly the Śrīvatsa upon the chest of the all-pervading Lord.
12.11.11
Bearing his own creative power named the garland of forest flowers, composed of the various qualities of nature, / he wears yellow garments made of Vedic meters, and a sacred thread of three strands that is the threefold sound [Om].
12.11.12
The God wears Sāṅkhya and Yoga as his shark-shaped earrings, / and the crown is the abode of the Supreme, granting fearlessness to all the worlds.
12.11.13
The unmanifest, known as Ananta, is the seat on which he is established; / purity, endowed with dharma, knowledge, and the rest, is called the lotus here.
12.11.14
Bearing the club, which is the primary vital energy endowed with energy, stamina, and strength; / the supreme conch is the element of water, and the Sudarśana discus is the element of fire.
12.11.15
The sword resembling the sky is the element of ether, the shield consists of darkness; / the bow Śārṅga has the form of time, and the quiver consists of action.
12.11.16
They say the senses are his arrows, and his impulses are his chariot; / the subtle elements are his appearance, and the hand-gesture is his practical efficacy.
12.11.17
The altar is the worship of the gods, initiation is the consecration of oneself; / attendance upon the Lord is the destruction of one's own sins.
12.11.18
The Lord, carrying the lotus of divine play, embodies the meaning of the word bhaga; / and the Lord has taken dharma and renown as his two chowrie fans.
12.11.19
His umbrella is Vaikuṇṭha, O twice-born, the realm free from fear; / the threefold Veda, named Suparṇa [Garuḍa], carries the Person of sacrifice.
12.11.20
The goddess Śrī, who never departs, is directly the self of Hari; / Viṣvaksena, whose form is the Tantra, is known as the chief of attendants; / and Nanda and the other eight door-keepers are the powers of Hari beginning with animā.
12.11.21
Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, and the Person himself, / Aniruddha—thus, O brāhmaṇa, the array of forms is described.
12.11.22
Through the states known as Viśva, Taijasa, Prājña, and Turīya, / [conceived] through object, sense, mind, and consciousness, the Lord is meditated upon.
12.11.23
Through his limbs, secondary limbs, weapons, and ornaments, the Lord bears that tetrad; / fourfold in form, the Lord is Hari, the supreme master.
12.11.23.p1
O best of the twice-born, he, the origin of the Vedas, self-luminous, / fully complete in his own majesty, by his own creative power,
12.11.24
creates, withdraws, and protects this [universe]—unveiled of sight, / he is described as if manifest under such names, attainable within oneself by those devoted to him.
12.11.24.p2
O Śrī Kṛṣṇa, friend of Arjuna, bull of the Vṛṣṇis, destroyer of the royal lineages / that oppressed the earth, whose prowess is never baffled,
12.11.24.p3
O Śrī Kṛṣṇa, friend of Arjuna, bull of the Vṛṣṇis, destroyer of the royal lineages / that oppressed the earth, whose prowess is never baffled,
12.11.25
O Govinda, whose praise is sung by the cowherd women and the folk of Vraja, whose renown is a holy place, the hearing of which is auspicious, protect Your servants!
12.11.26
Rising at dawn, composed in mind and purified, whoever recites this description of the characteristics of the Supreme Person realizes Brahman residing in the cave of the heart.
12.11.27
Śrī Śaunaka said:
What the revered Śuka recounted to Viṣṇurāta as he listened—that a solar company of seven dwells [with the sun] in different forms month after month—
12.11.28
Tell us, who are faithful, of their names and functions, appointed as they are by the supreme rulers, and of this arrangement of Hari as the embodiment of the sun.
12.11.29
Sūta said:
Through the beginningless ignorance of Viṣṇu, the Self of all embodied beings, this cosmic order has been constructed and revolves within the worlds.
12.11.30
Hari alone is the one sun, the source and self of all worlds, the root of all Vedic rituals, spoken of in many ways by the sages.
12.11.31
Time, place, action, the agent, the instrument, the deed, the sacred tradition, the substance, and the fruit: in nine ways, O sage, is Hari described through His creative power.
12.11.32
Assuming the form of time in the twelve months beginning with Madhu, the Lord travels with twelve distinct companies for the maintenance of the world.
12.11.33
Dhātṛ, Kṛtasthalī, Heti, Vāsuki, Rathakṛt, O sage, Pulastya, and Tumburu—these guide the month of Madhu.
12.11.34
Aryaman, Pulaha, then Athaujā, Praheti, Puñjikasthalī, Nārada, and Kacchanīra—these guide Mādhava.
12.11.35
Mitra, Atri, Pauruṣeya, then Takṣaka, Menakā, Hāhā, and Rathasvana—these guide the month of Śukra.
12.11.36
Vasiṣṭha, Varuṇa, Rambhā, Sahajanyā, and Huhū, Śukra, and Citrasvana—these guide the month of Śuci.
12.11.37
Indra, Viśvāvasu, Śrotā, Elāpatra, and Aṅgiras, Pramlocā, and the rākṣasa Varya—these guide the month of Nabhas.
12.11.38
Vivasvān, Ugrasena, Vyāghra, Āsāraṇa, Bhṛgu, Anumlocā, and Śaṅkhapāla—these guide the month known as Nabhasya.
12.11.39
Pūṣan, Dhanañjaya, Vāta, Suṣeṇa, Suruci, Ghṛtācī, and Gautama—these guide the month of Tapas.
12.11.40
Ṛtu, Varcas, Bharadvāja, Parjanya, Senajit, Viśva, and Airāvata—these guide the month known as Tapasya.
12.11.41
Then Aṃśu, Kaśyapa, Tārkṣya, Ṛtasena, Urvaśī, Vidyucchatru, and Mahāśaṅkha—these guide the month of Sahas.
12.11.42
Bhaga, Sphūrja, Ariṣṭanemi, Ūrṇa, Āyus as the fifth, Karkoṭaka, and Pūrvacitti—these guide the month of Puṣya.
12.11.43
Tvaṣṭṛ, the son of Ṛcīka, Kambala, Tilottamā, Brahmāpeta, Śatajit, and Dhṛtarāṣṭra maintain Iṣa.
12.11.44
Viṣṇu, Aśvatara, Rambhā, Sūryavarcas, Satyajit, Viśvāmitra, and Makhāpeta guide the month of Ūrja.
12.11.45
These are the manifestations of the Lord Viṣṇu as the Sun; they destroy the sins day after day of men who remember them at the two twilights.
12.11.46
Indeed, moving throughout [the world] in all twelve months with these sixfold [attendants], / this god bestows virtuous disposition here and in the next world.
12.11.47
The sages praise him with Sāman, Ṛg, and Yajus verses bearing his marks; / the Gandharvas sing of him, and the Apsarases dance before him.
12.11.48
The serpent spirits harness the chariot, the troop leaders yoke the chariot, / and the mighty spirits of darkness propel the chariot from behind.
12.11.49
Sixty thousand spotless seer-sages of Brahman, the Vālakhilyas, / walk in front facing him, praising the all-pervading lord with hymns of praise.
12.11.50
In this way, indeed, the Lord Hari, the unborn ruler without beginning or end, / arraying himself aeon after aeon, protects the worlds.
Translations (1)
- The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English
Commentaries (2)
- Bhāgavatacandrikā — Vīrarāghava, Sanskrit
- Padaratnāvalī — Vijayadhvaja Tīrtha, Sanskrit
Linked texts (1)
- Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit