Bhagavatapurana 3.23
English (machine translation) 3.23
- Language
- English
Contents
3.23.1
Maitreya said:
When her parents departed, that virtuous lady, skilled in reading every hint,
constantly served her husband with love, as Bhavānī serves the Lord Bhava.
3.23.2
With trust, personal purity, reverence, and self-restraint,
with service, affection, and sweet speech, O dear sir,
3.23.3
Abandoning desire, hypocrisy, hatred, greed, sin, and pride,
always vigilant and attentive, she pleased him who was exceedingly radiant.
3.23.4
He, the best among divine seers, saw that daughter of Manu devoted to him,
expecting great blessings from her husband who was greater than fate,
3.23.5
Emaciated by a long time and worn down by ascetic observances,
and moved by compassion, he spoke to her in words choked with love.
3.23.6
Kardama said:
I am pleased today with you, O daughter of Manu, bestower of honor, because of your supreme service and highest devotion;
this body, which is the dearest friend of embodied beings, you did not spare, considering it fitting to wear down for my sake.
3.23.7
These graces of the Lord, attained by me engaged in my own dharma through asceticism, absorption, knowledge, and self-control,
behold with your vision that they are won by your service to me; I bestow on you these [blessings] that bring fearlessness and freedom from grief.
3.23.8
What of other achievements, whose arrangements are destroyed by the knitting of the brow of the wide-striding Lord?
You have attained perfection; enjoy the heavenly opulences, yielding the fruits of one's own dharma, which cannot be attained by men through royal accomplishments.
3.23.9
Hearing him speak thus, the woman, seeing him proficient in all the science of yoga and creative power, became free from anxiety;
with a voice trembling with humble affection, her face shining with a smile as she cast a slightly bashful glance, she said:
3.23.10
Devahūti said:
Ah, bull among the twice-born, lord of unfailing yoga and creative power, all this is accomplished in you, O lord; that I know, O husband.
Yet the agreement that was stated by you—that there would be bodily union once—let that take place; for offspring are a virtue of chaste women toward a superior [husband].
3.23.11
Therefore, prescribe the proper course of action according to instruction, by which this body of mine, emaciated by the desire for pleasure, may be restored;
so that it may be accomplished for me who am afflicted by desire aroused by you; therefore, O lord, consider an appropriate dwelling.
3.23.12
Maitreya said:
Seeking to please his beloved, Kardama resorted to yoga,
and at that very moment, O Vidura, brought forth an aerial chariot that could travel at will.
3.23.13
Yielding all desires, celestial, endowed with all kinds of jewels,
promising an abundance of all prosperity, adorned with pillars of gems,
3.23.14
Equipped with heavenly furnishings, bringing comfort in all seasons,
and decorated with ribbons and variegated banners,
3.23.15
Splendid with garlands of variegated blossoms around which six-footed bees softly hummed,
and with various fabrics: fine linens, flax, and silk,
3.23.16
Delightful with separate chambers arranged one above the other,
furnished with cushions, couches, fans, and seats,
3.23.17
Graced with various works of art placed here and there,
endowed with an expanse of great emeralds and altars of coral,
3.23.18
Shining at the doors with coral thresholds and gates of diamond,
and crowned upon its sapphire pinnacles with golden pitchers,
3.23.19
Equipped with windows fashioned of finest rubies in the diamond walls,
and provided with variegated awnings and costly golden gateways,
3.23.20
Echoing here and there with the cooing of flocks of swans and pigeons,
which, mistaking the artificial [birds] for their own, flew up again and again,
3.23.21
With pleasure-grounds, resting chambers, sleeping quarters, inner courts, and courtyards
arranged for supreme comfort, causing wonder even to himself.
3.23.22
As she looked upon such a mansion with a mind not entirely delighted,
Kardama himself, who knew the intentions of all living beings, spoke to her:
3.23.23
“Bathe in this lake, O timid one, and then ascend this aerial chariot;
this is a sacred pool created by the Lord, which fulfills the desires of men.”
3.23.24
Accepting those words of her husband, the lotus-eyed lady,
wearing dust-stained clothes, her hair matted into braids,
3.23.25
Her body covered with the filth of dirt, her breasts discolored,
entered the pool of the Sarasvatī, which had auspicious waters.
3.23.26
Inside the lake, in a palace, she saw a thousand maidens,
all in the bloom of youth and fragrant like blue lotuses.
3.23.27
Seeing her, the women rose at once, folded their hands, and said:
“We are your maidservants; instruct us: what shall we do?”
3.23.28
Having bathed that thoughtful lady with a precious bath,
those courteous maidens gave her two spotless, new linen garments,
3.23.29
Most excellent, precious, and radiant ornaments,
food possessing all good qualities, and a beverage that was like nectar.
3.23.30
Then, in a mirror, she [saw] herself adorned with garlands, wearing spotless garments,
cleansed of impurity, blessed with auspicious rites, greatly honored by the maidens,
3.23.31
Bathed, including her head, adorned with all ornaments,
with a golden necklace around her neck, wearing bracelets, and tinkling golden anklets,
3.23.32
Adorned with a golden girdle set with many jewels fastened around her hips,
with a precious pearl necklace and an auspicious mark,
3.23.33
Her face glowing with fine teeth, beautiful eyebrows, eyes with smooth and affectionate corners
that rivaled the calyx of a lotus, and dark tresses.
3.23.34
When she remembered her beloved husband, the foremost among the sages,
she was there, together with the women, where that lord of creatures was.
3.23.35
Seeing herself before her husband, surrounded by a thousand women,
she was struck with wonder at that display of his yogic power.
3.23.36
He [saw] her, cleansed of impurity by the bath, radiant as never before,
bearing her natural beauty, with her lovely breasts covered,
3.23.37
Attended by a thousand Vidyādharīs, beautifully dressed, / having awakened romantic feeling in him, that slayer of foes had her mount the aerial chariot.
3.23.37.p1
His majesty unimpaired in that aerial chariot, cherished by his beloved, his body attended upon by Vidyādharīs,
3.23.38
that handsome sage shone like the lord of the stars standing in the sky, surrounded by stars and possessing a host of blooming white water-lilies.
3.23.38.p1
[…]
3.23.38.p2
In valleys of the chief mountain ranges where the eight world-guardians disport, delightful with the wind that is the friend of the bodiless god [Kāma],
3.23.38.p3
In valleys of the chief mountain ranges where the eight world-guardians disport, delightful with the wind that is the friend of the bodiless god [Kāma],
3.23.39
praised by Siddhas, echoing with the auspicious sounds of the heavenly river's cascade, he took his pleasure long, accompanied by a troop of women like Kubera.
3.23.39.p1
[…]
3.23.40
In Vaiśrambhaka, Surasana, Nandana, Puṣpabhadraka, / and in Mānasa and Caitrarathya, he took his pleasure, delighted with his woman.
3.23.41
With that radiant, wish-moving, magnificent aerial chariot, / he surpassed the dwellers of celestial vehicles as he traversed the worlds like the wind.
3.23.42
What is difficult to attain for those men of unrestrained mind, / who have taken refuge in the foot of Him of purifying feet, which puts an end to misfortune?
3.23.43
Having shown his wife the globe of the earth in all its arrangement / and full of many wonders, the great yogin returned to his hermitage.
3.23.44
Dividing himself into nine forms, he gave pleasure to the daughter of Manu eager for union; / delighting that lovely woman, he enjoyed himself through a succession of years as if they were a moment.
3.23.45
Reclining in that aerial chariot upon an exquisite bed that induced amorous delight, / united with her handsome husband, she did not notice the passage of time.
3.23.46
As the couple thus took pleasure through the power of yoga, / longing for amorous delights, a hundred autumns passed like a single instant.
3.23.47
The all-powerful sage, the knower of the self, knowing every desire, / dividing his own form into nine and honoring her, deposited his seed within her by himself.
3.23.48
Then Devahūti forthwith gave birth to female offspring; / all of them were lovely in every limb and had the fragrance of red lotuses.
3.23.49
Observing that her husband was then intending to wander forth from home, though smiling / with a desire [to detain him], with an anxious and pained heart,
3.23.50
scraping the ground with head cast down, using her foot radiant with gem-like nails, / restraining a tear, she gently spoke charming words:
3.23.51
Devahūti said: / The Lord has fulfilled everything that was promised to me; / yet you should grant fearlessness to me who have surrendered to you.
3.23.52
O brāhmaṇa, suitable husbands must be sought by you for your daughters; / someone must be there to banish my sorrow when you have departed for the forest.
3.23.53
Enough with so much time that has elapsed for me, O lord! / Through attachment to sensory objects, I have neglected the Supreme Self.
3.23.54
Cleaving to sense objects, association was made by me with you, / ignorant of your supreme nature; nevertheless, may it lead to my fearlessness!
3.23.55
Association that is the cause of transmigration when made with the wicked through lack of wisdom, / that very same association, when made with the virtuous, leads to detachment.
3.23.56
Whatever action in this world does not lead to dharma, nor to dispassion, / nor to the service of Him of purifying feet—such a one is truly dead even while living.
3.23.57
Surely I have been firmly deceived by the creative power of the Lord, / since, having attained you who bestow liberation, I have not sought release from bondage.
Translations (1)
- The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English
Linked texts (1)
- Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit