Bhagavatapurana 12.9
English (machine translation) 12.9
- Language
- English
Contents
12.9.1
Sūta said: / Thus praised by the wise Mārkaṇḍeya, / the Lord Nārāyaṇa, friend of Nara, was pleased and said to the descendant of Bhṛgu:
12.9.2
The Lord said: / O best of sage-brahmins, you have attained perfection through absorption in the self, / through undeviating devotion to Me, and through austerities, study of the Veda, and self-restraints.
12.9.3
We are well pleased with your practice of great vows. / Choose a boon; may all be well with you! I am the giver of your desired boon.
12.9.4
The sage said: / Victory to You, O Lord of the gods of gods, O remover of the distress of the surrendered, O Acyuta! / By this alone is our boon sufficient: that You have become visible.
12.9.5
He, the sight of whose glorious lotus feet / the unborn [Brahmā] and others attain in a mind matured by yoga, / that very You have come within the range of my eyes!
12.9.6
Even so, O lotus-petal-eyed Lord, O crest-jewel of those whose praise is purifying, / I wish to see the creative power by which the world, together with its guardians, perceives real diversity.
12.9.7
Sūta said: / Thus praised and fully worshipped by the sage, O muni, / the Lord, smiling, said 'So be it,' and departed for the hermitage of Badarī.
12.9.8
Thinking only of that matter, the sage, / dwelling in his own hermitage, in fire, sun, moon, water, / earth, wind, sky, and self,
12.9.9
and meditating upon Hari everywhere, worshipped Him with the articles of devotional feeling; / at times he forgot the worship, overwhelmed by an outpouring of love.
12.9.10
Once, O best of the Bhṛgus, as that sage was seated / on the bank of the Puṣpabhadrā at the twilight juncture, O brahmin, a great wind arose.
12.9.11
Dreadful clouds uttering fierce sounds followed it; / roaring loudly with lightnings, they released torrential downpours of rain as thick as axle-trees.
12.9.12
Then the four oceans were seen swallowing the surface of the earth on all sides, / with waves propelled by the wind's velocity, and deep roars from terrifying whirlpools full of fierce sea-monsters.
12.9.12.p1
Within and without, scorched by intense waters from the sky and fierce / lightnings, the universe,
12.9.13
seeing the fourfold creation along with himself and the earth submerged in water, the sage, distressed in mind, was terrified.
12.9.14
As he thus watched, the great ocean, terrifying with waves, / its waters churned by hurricane winds and filled by the raining clouds, / covered the earth together with its continents, regions, and mountains.
12.9.14.p1
Along with earth, intermediate space, heaven, constellations, / and the cardinal directions, the three worlds were inundated.
12.9.15
He alone, the great sage, was left; / he wandered about, disheveling his matted locks, like one inert and blind.
12.9.15.p2
Overcome by hunger and thirst, harassed by sea-monsters and timiṅgila fish, / battered by waves and wind,
12.9.15.p3
Overcome by hunger and thirst, harassed by sea-monsters and timiṅgila fish, / battered by waves and wind,
12.9.16
fallen into boundless darkness, wandering in all directions, / overcome by exhaustion, he did not know the sky or the earth.
12.9.17
Now plunged into a great whirlpool, now struck by surging waves, / at times he was devoured by aquatic creatures that were themselves devouring one another.
12.9.18
At times he found grief, at times delusion, at times misery, happiness, or fear; / at times he met death, or was afflicted by diseases and other pains.
12.9.19
Hundreds and thousands of tens of millions of years / passed by as he wandered therein, his mind enveloped by Viṣṇu's creative power.
12.9.20
Once, as he was wandering in that [deluge], upon a knoll of the earth the twice-born sage / beheld a young banyan tree adorned with fruit and blossoms.
12.9.21
Upon its northeast bough he also beheld an infant / lying inside a hollow fold of a leaf, swallowing up the darkness with his radiance.
12.9.22
He was dark as a great emerald, with a glorious lotus-like face, / a neck like a conch, a broad chest, a handsome nose, and beautiful eyebrows.
12.9.23
He shone with locks of hair stirred by his breath, with ears like pomegranate buds adorned like conches, / and a nectar-like smile made slightly crimson by the luster of his coral lips.
12.9.24
The corners of his eyes were reddish like the womb of a lotus, his gaze accompanied by an endearing smile, / and the leaf-like belly had a deep navel perturbed by folds moving with his breath.
12.9.25
Lifting up his lotus foot with both hands of lovely fingers / and placing it in his mouth, he was sucking it; seeing him, the best of sages was astonished.
12.9.26
From the sight of him his exhaustion was dispelled; with joy the lotus of his heart and eyes blossomed fully; / his body hair stood on end, filled with awe at that wondrous state; he stepped forward before the child to question him.
12.9.26.p1
Just then, drawn by the breath of the infant, the descendant of Bhṛgu / entered inside his body, like a mosquito.
12.9.27
There too he beheld this [entire universe] arranged in full, / just as before, and was thoroughly bewildered and amazed.
12.9.28
The sky, heaven and earth, constellations of stars, mountains, oceans, islands with their continents, the directions, gods and demons, / forests, lands, rivers, cities, mines, agricultural villages, cowherd settlements, and the duties of the life-stages and social classes;
12.9.29
the great gross elements, the products of the elements, and time, which fashions the various yugas and kalpas, / and whatever else is a cause of worldly practice—he saw the universe shining forth as if real.
12.9.30
Seeing the Himālaya, the river Puṣpavahā, and his own hermitage where he saw the two sages, / while beholding the universe, he was expelled outside by the breath of the infant and fell into the ocean of dissolution.
12.9.31
He [saw] the banyan tree grown upon that knoll of the earth, and lying within its fold of a leaf / was that child, and he was looked upon by him with a sidelong glance, with a smile of love like nectar.
12.9.32
Then, having seen that child, who entered through his eyes and took his seat in his heart, / he, deeply distressed, approached to embrace Adhokṣaja.
12.9.33
At that moment, the Lord himself, master of yoga, who dwells in the secret heart, / suddenly vanished from the sage, like an endeavor conceived by an incompetent person.
12.9.34
Following him, O brāhmaṇa, the banyan tree, the water, and the inundation of the world / vanished in an instant; he stood in his own hermitage as before.
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