Bhagavatapurana 2.3

English (machine translation) 2.3

Language: English

2.3.11 — 1 part
2.3.12 — 1 part

2.3.1

Śrī Śuka said: / Thus has this been declared, which you asked of me, / concerning that which is [to be done] by dying men among wise mortals.

2.3.2

One who desires Brahmanic splendor should worship the Lord of the Veda; / one who desires powerful senses, Indra; and one who desires offspring, the Prajāpatis;

2.3.3

one who desires prosperity, the goddess Māyā; one who desires brilliance, Fire; / one who desires wealth, the Vasus; and one who is valiant, desiring valor, the Rudras;

2.3.4

one who desires food and the like, Aditi; one who desires heaven, the sons of Aditi; / one who desires kingship, the Viśvedevas; one who desires to accomplish things, the Sādhyas;

2.3.5

one who desires a full life, the two divine Aśvins; one who desires nourishment should worship the Earth; / a man who desires status [should worship] heaven and earth, the mothers of the worlds;

2.3.6

one who desires beauty, the Gandharvas; one who desires women, the Apsaras Urvaśī; / and one who desires lordship over all should worship the Supreme Lord [Brahmā];

2.3.7

one who desires renown should worship Yajña; one who desires treasure, Varuṇa; / one who desires learning, Giriśa; and for the sake of conjugal harmony, the virtuous Umā;

2.3.8

for the sake of dharma, He of highest renown; continuing the family line, one should worship the ancestors; / one who desires protection, the Yakṣas; one who desires vigor, the hosts of Maruts;

2.3.9

one who desires a kingdom should worship the Manus; one who practices sorcery, Nirṛti; / one who desires sense pleasures should worship Soma; but one without desires, the Supreme Person.

2.3.10

Whether free from desires, full of all desires, / or desiring liberation, one of broad intelligence / should worship the Supreme Person with intense yoga of devotion.

2.3.11

Only this much is the dawn of the highest good in this world for those who worship: / unswerving devotional emotion toward the Lord, which arises from association with Bhāgavatas.

2.3.11.p1

Knowledge by which the churning whirlpool of the guṇas is checked, peace of self, and detachment from the guṇas,

2.3.12

and the yoga of devotion, the path approved for absolute liberation—who, being at peace, would not take delight in narratives of Hari?

2.3.13

Śaunaka said: / Having heard what was thus spoken, what else did the king, / the bull of the Bharatas, ask further of the sage and poet, the son of Vyāsa?

2.3.14

O wise Sūta, you ought to speak this to us who wish to hear; / for narratives ending in tales of Hari surely arise in an assembly of virtuous devotees.

2.3.15

He indeed was a Bhāgavata king, a descendant of the Pāṇḍavas, a great chariot warrior, / who, while playing with children's toys, took up the play of Kṛṣṇa.

2.3.16

And the son of Vyāsa is a venerable sage, devoted solely to Vāsudeva; / indeed, in the assembly of virtuous devotees, narratives noble with the virtues of Him of wide strides surely occur.

2.3.17

Indeed, as it rises and sets, this sun takes away the lifespan of men, / except for that moment of one which has been spent in talk of He of highest renown.

2.3.18

Do the trees not live? Do the bellows not breathe? / Do the other beasts in the village not eat and urinate?

2.3.19

A human beast is praised by dogs, dung-eating boars, camels, and donkeys, / to whose ear the name of the elder brother of Gada has never come.

Alas, the two ear-holes of a man that do not hear the mighty strides of Him of wide strides are mere snake-holes! / The untruthful tongue, O Sūta, like that of a frog, does not sing aloud the praises of Him of wide renown!

2.3.21

The head, even adorned with a silk turban and crown, is merely a heavy burden if it does not bow to Mukunda; / the two hands, even with shining golden bracelets, are like those of a corpse if they do not perform worship of Hari.

2.3.22

Those eyes of men that do not behold the forms of Viṣṇu are like the eyes on peacock feathers; / those two feet of men that do not walk to the sacred places of Hari are like the roots of trees.

2.3.23

The mortal who never obtains the dust from the feet of a Bhāgavata is a living corpse; / and the human who does not perceive the scent of the tulasī from the feet of the auspicious Viṣṇu is a corpse that breathes.

2.3.24

Alas, that heart is made of iron stone which, when the names of Hari are being chanted, / does not melt, nor is there modification—tears in the eyes and bristling of hair on the limbs.

2.3.25

Therefore speak, my friend, that which is pleasing to the mind, for you speak as foremost among Bhāgavatas; / what did the son of Vyāsa, skilled in the science of the self, say to the king when duly questioned?

Translations (1)

The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English

Linked texts (1)

Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit