Bhagavatapurana 3.2
English (machine translation) 3.2
- Language
- English
3.2.1
Śrī Śuka said: / Questioned thus by Vidura about news regarding his beloved Lord, / the Bhāgavata was unable to reply, his Lord brought to mind by intense longing.
3.2.2
He who, at five years old, when called by his mother for breakfast, / did not want it, being engaged in worshiping Him in child's play—
3.2.3
how, having grown old in time through His service, / when questioned about news, could he reply, remembering his Master's feet?
3.2.4
For a moment he became silent, deeply absorbed in the nectar of Kṛṣṇa's feet / through intense bhakti-yoga, thoroughly serene.
3.2.5
With his whole body trembling with bristling hair, shedding tears of sorrow from closed eyes, / he was seen to have attained his goal, inundated by the surge of affection.
3.2.6
Slowly returning from the Lord's realm back to the world of mortals, / Uddhava wiped his eyes and, smiling with love, spoke to Vidura.
3.2.7
Uddhava said: / Now that the Kṛṣṇa-sun has set and we have been swallowed by the python of time, / what auspicious news can I tell you of homes bereft of fortune?
3.2.8
Alas, unfortunate is this world, and the Yadus even more so, / who, living together with Hari, did not recognize Him, like fish [not recognizing] the moon!
3.2.9
The Sātvatas, expert in gestures, thoroughly mature, and finding delight in Him alone, / all considered the bull of the Sātvatas to be the abode of all beings.
3.2.10
Those touched by the Lord's creative power, who rely on something else that is unreal, / their intellect is bewildered; not so the minds of those devoted whose self is rooted in Hari.
3.2.11
Having shown to men who had performed no penance and whose eyes were never satiated, / He took back His form, the delight of the world's eyes, and disappeared.
3.2.12
That form, suitable for His mortal play, assumed by displaying the power of His yoga-māyā, / was astonishing even to Himself, the pinnacle of the wealth of charm, an ornament to its very ornaments.
3.2.13
Beholding it at the Rājasūya sacrifice of Dharma's son, the three worlds found it an auspicious feast for the eyes, / and thought that the Creator's skill in fashioning the mortal world had been entirely exhausted there.
3.2.14
Honored by His affectionate smiles and looks during the rāsa-līlā, / the women of Vraja stood motionless, their tasks unfinished, their minds having followed along with their eyes.
3.2.15
When His own peaceful forms are oppressed by others of His forms, with a compassionate heart, / the Lord of the higher and the lower, endowed with His cosmic portion, is born though unborn, like fire [from wood].
3.2.16
This grieves me: the pretense of birth of the Unborn in Vasudeva's house, / and His residence in Vraja as if from fear of the enemy, although He possesses infinite valor, and that He fled the city.
3.2.17
It pains my heart to remember what He said, bowing at the feet of His parents: / 'O father, O mother, in great dread of Kaṃsa, be pleased with us, who have performed no service to you!'
3.2.18
Who could ever forget the dust of His lotus feet after smelling it, / He who, with the twitch of His eyebrow resembling a branch, removed the earth's burden through death?
3.2.19
Indeed, you saw at the Rājasūya sacrifice the perfection achieved by the king of Cedi, though he hated Kṛṣṇa— / that perfection which yogins earnestly desire through yoga; who could endure separation from Him?
3.2.20
And likewise other heroes of the human world, who in battle drank in / with their eyes the lotus face of Kṛṣṇa, delight of the eyes, and purified by Arjuna's weapons, attained His realm.
3.2.21
He is Himself without equal or superior, Lord of the three worlds, / all His desires fulfilled by the majesty of His sovereign rule, His footstool praised by the crowns of countless world-guardians offering tribute.
3.2.22
That service to him utterly exhausts us servants, my dear, when to Ugrasena / standing or seated upon the sovereign throne, [the Lord] would announce: 'Command, O Lord!'"
3.2.23
Ah, she, the wicked sister of Baka, who with desire to kill suckled him with breast[-milk containing] deadly poison, / attained the destination suitable for a foster-mother; what other compassionate [refuge] should we take shelter under than him?
3.2.24
I consider even the demons as Bhāgavatas whose minds were fixed on the master of the three [worlds] through the path of confrontation, / who in battle beheld the son of Tārkṣya with the weapon of good navel [the Sudarśana disc] on his shoulder descending upon them.
3.2.25
Born to Vasudeva from Devakī while in the prison of the king of the Bhojas, / the Lord, implored by the unborn [Brahmā], desired to bring peace to this [earth].
3.2.26
Then brought to the settlement of Nanda by his father who was afraid of Kaṃsa, / he dwelt there with Baladeva for eleven years, his splendor concealed.
3.2.27
Surrounded by calf-herders while grazing calves, the all-powerful Lord sported / in the woodland garden along the Yamunā, whose trees were filled with chirping birds.
3.2.28
Displaying childhood activities delightful to see for the residents of Vraja, / weeping as it were, laughing, with the glance of an innocent lion cub,
3.2.29
he indeed, grazing the wealth of cattle—the abode of Lakṣmī—with their white bulls, / delighted his following cowherds as his flute sounded.
3.2.30
Those deceitful ones sent by the king of the Bhojas, who could assume any form at will, / he dispelled with ease, as a child does with toys.
3.2.31
Subduing the lord of serpents, he revived [the calves and cowherds] who had died from drinking poison, / and made the cattle drink that water which had returned to its natural state.
3.2.32
Through the best of the twice-born, the all-powerful Lord caused the king of cowherds to sacrifice with the offering of cows, / wishing to make proper use of the immense burden of his wealth.
3.2.33
When Indra sent rain in anger, his pride crushed, the settlement was utterly distraught; / it was saved through his divine play with the mountain as an umbrella, as he bestowed auspicious grace.
3.2.34
Honoring the twilight wiped clean by the rays of the autumn moon, / singing sweet melodies, he revelled as the ornament of the circle of women.
Translations (1)
- The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English
Linked texts (1)
- Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit