Bhagavatapurana 3.9
English (machine translation) 3.9
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3.9.1
Brahmā said: / Today, after so long, you have become known to me. It is indeed a reproach that the destination of the Lord is not known to embodied beings. / There is nothing other than you, O Lord, and yet even that [manifest world] is not pure, since you shine forth in manifold forms through the mingling of the qualities of your creative power.
3.9.2
This form of yours, wherein darkness has been perpetually dispelled by the dawning of the aesthetic flavor of spiritual awareness, was assumed in the beginning for the grace of the virtuous devotees—the sole seed of hundreds of incarnations— / from the lotus dwelling of whose navel I came into being.
3.9.3
O Supreme One, I see nothing beyond this essential nature of yours, which is pure bliss, devoid of differentiation, and whose radiance is unassailable. / You are the creator of the universe, one, not identical with the universe, O Self; I, though proud of being made of elements and senses, have taken refuge in you.
3.9.4
Indeed, O auspicious one of the worlds, for our good fortune this very form was revealed in meditation to us, your worshipers. / We offer our homage to you, the Lord, who are disregarded by those bound for hell on account of their association with the unrighteous.
3.9.5
Those who smell the fragrance of the blossom of your lotus feet, borne through the apertures of their ears by the wind of the Vedic teachings, / and whose feet are seized with supreme devotion—from the lotus of the hearts of such men of your own, O Lord, you never depart.
3.9.6
Only so long is there fear born of wealth, body, and friends, grief, craving, humiliation, and vast greed; / only so long does the false attachment of 'mine', the root of distress, persist, until people choose your fearless feet.
3.9.7
Their minds struck down by fate, their senses turned away from association with you, which pacifies all inauspiciousness, / these wretched ones, their hearts overcome by greed, continually perform harmful deeds for the sake of a mere particle of sensual pleasure.
3.9.8
Constantly tormented by hunger, thirst, and the three humors, by cold, heat, wind, and rain, and by one another, / as well as by the fire of lust and unyielding anger, so hard to bear—as I behold these [creatures], O Lord of wide strides, my mind sinks in sorrow.
3.9.9
As long as a person, O Lord, sees this separateness of the self as the power of the creative power over the objects of the senses belonging to the Lord, / so long does this transmigration not cease—which, though baseless, brings a multitude of miseries since it aims at ritual action.
3.9.10
With senses distressed by toil by day, sleeping by night, their slumber broken in an instant by thoughts of various desires, / their plans struck down by fate—even the sages, O God, transmigrate in this world, turned away from association with you.
3.9.11
You dwell in the lotus of the heart purified by the yoga of devotion, O Lord, your path perceived through hearing; / in whatever form your devotees meditate upon you with their minds, O far-famed one, that very form you manifest out of grace for the virtuous devotees.
3.9.12
He is not so pleased when worshiped by the hosts of gods with elaborate offerings while desire remains bound in their hearts, / as he is by compassion toward all beings—unattainable by the wicked—he, the solitary friend and inner Self, attentively present in diverse beings.
3.9.13
Therefore, worship of you, the Lord, by men through various actions such as sacrifices, through charity, severe asceticism, and service, / is dharma dedicated as an act of devotion, wherein [the merit] never perishes.
3.9.14
Homage to the Supreme, whose seat of wisdom has perpetually swallowed up the delusion of duality solely by the brilliance of his own nature; / homage we pay to you, the Supreme Ruler, the joyous participant in the divine play that is the cause of the world's origin, maintenance, and dissolution.
3.9.15
Those who, helplessly at the departure of their life-breaths, utter your names that imitate your incarnations, qualities, and deeds, / cast off at once the sins of many lifetimes and attain unveiled immortality; in that unborn Lord I take refuge.
3.9.16
Homage to that Lord, the tree of the universe, who, breaking through his own root, grew as one trunk having three trunks—myself, Giriśa, and the all-pervading Lord himself, causes of creation, dissolution, and maintenance—with vast branches.
3.9.17
This world is intent on improper action, negligent regarding virtuous action, and heedless of its own duty taught by you for worshiping you; / may homage be to him, the watchful unblinking one, who, all-powerful, instantly severs their hope for life here.
3.9.18
In fear of whom even I—seated on a seat lasting two parārdhas, / which is bowed to by all the worlds— / performed austerities for many sacrifices seeking to comprehend You: / to You, the Lord of sacrifice, the Lord, homage!
3.9.19
Who by His own will, desirous of protecting the boundary He Himself created, / sportingly plays among animal, human, and divine wombs, / though free from objects of sense, having assumed various forms: / to You, the Lord, the Supreme Person, homage!
3.9.20
Who, though untouched by ignorance in its fivefold functions, / took to sleep, having taken the course of the worlds into His belly, / amidst the waters upon the pleasant touch of the serpent-couch / in the ocean of fierce waves, revealing bliss to mankind!
3.9.21
From the lotus-abode of whose navel I arose, O praiseworthy one, / equipping the three worlds by whose grace: / homage to You, who bear the world in Your belly, / whose lotus-eyes unfold at the end of the yogic sleep!
3.9.22
May this very Lord, the friend and sole self of all the worlds, / who gladdens them with His purity and sovereign majesty, / touch my vision with that very [grace], so that I / may create this [world] as before, He who loves those who bow to Him.
3.9.23
Whatever He, the granter of boons to the surrendered, does with Ramā, His own potency, / having assumed incarnations through the gunas, / may my mind fix upon His prowess in that, even while creating this, / and may I cast off the taint of action.
3.9.24
From the lake of whose navel as He lay in the waters I, the cognitive energy / of that Person of endless energy, came to be: / as I unfold this manifold form of His, / may my utterance of the words of the Veda never fail.
3.9.25
May that Lord of boundless compassion, opening the lotus of His eyes / with a smile of mounting love, / rising up for the victory of the universe, / remove our despair with His sweet speech—He, the ancient Person.
3.9.26
Maitreya said: / Having thus perceived his own origin through austerity, knowledge, and absorption, / [Brahmā], after praising to the extent of his mind and speech, / ceased, as if exhausted.
3.9.27
Then Madhusūdana, observing the intention of Brahmā, / whose mind was dejected by the waters of the dissolution of the cosmic cycle,
3.9.28
who was grieved in himself concerning the knowledge of the structure of the worlds, / spoke to him with profound words, as if dispelling his distress:
3.9.29
The Lord said: / Do not fall into sloth, O repository of the Vedas! Undertake the effort of creation! / That which you ask of Me has already been granted by Me beforehand.
3.9.30
Undergo austerity again, and knowledge rooted in Me alone; / by these two, O Brahman, you will see the worlds revealed within your heart.
3.9.31
Then, endowed with devotion and composed, / you will see Me pervading within yourself and the universe, O Brahman, and the worlds and yourself within Me.
3.9.32
When a person perceives Me abiding in all beings / like fire in pieces of wood, / then indeed he casts off all delusion.
3.9.33
When he sees the self freed from the elements, the senses, the gunas, and the mind, / united with Me in its essential nature, he attains sovereignty over himself.
3.9.34
Though you desire to create many creatures through the manifold expansion of rites, / your mind will not faint in this; My grace towards you is great.
3.9.35
The sinful quality of passion will not bind you, the primeval seer, / because your mind is firmly fixed on Me, even as you create offspring.
3.9.36
Today I have been known by you, though difficult to know for embodied beings, / since you consider Me untouched by the elements, the senses, the gunas, and the mind.
3.9.37
When you doubted about Me, My self was revealed to you internally / as you searched for the root of the lotus along its stem in the water.
3.9.38
That you composed a hymn to Me marked by the rising of My deeds, / and that you have steadfast dedication to austerity—this is My grace.
3.9.39
I am pleased; let good fortune be yours! Desiring the triumph of the worlds, / you have praised Me, describing Me both as possessing attributes and as beyond attributes.
3.9.40
Whatever person continually worships Me after praising Me with this hymn, / to him I, the Lord of all desires and boons, will swiftly be gracious.
3.9.41
By pious works, austerity, sacrifices, gifts, and the absorption of yoga, / the supreme good of men is attained; My pleasure is the conclusion of those who know the truth.
3.9.42
I am the self of all selves, O creator, being the dearest of the dear; / therefore one should place loving attachment in Me, for whose sake the body and the rest are dear.
3.9.43
With your self composed of all the Vedas, through your own self, born from My self, / create creatures as before, and those that lie resting in Me.
3.9.44
Maitreya said: / Having thus instructed the creator of the world, the Lord of nature and spirit, / whose navel is a lotus, disappeared in that very form of His.
Translations (1)
- The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English
Linked texts (1)
- Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit