Bhagavatapurana 4.21

English (machine translation) 4.21

Language: English

4.21.1

Maitreya said: / It was adorned here and there with pearls, flower garlands, / fine silken fabrics, golden archways, and highly fragrant incense,

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having streets, squares, and roads sprinkled with sandalwood and aguru water, / and worshipped with flowers, unbroken grains, fruits, barley sprouts, roasted grain, and lamps,

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embellished with banana stems bearing fruit clusters and young betel trees, / and decorated all around with festoons of tree foliage.

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The subjects approached him with offerings of lamps and every kind of auspicious article, / as did adorned maidens decorated with bright earrings.

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With the sound of conches and kettledrums and the Vedic chanting of the priests, / the heroic king, praised by all and devoid of pride, entered the palace.

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Honored there, he of great renown honored in return, in each place, / those various city and country dwellers, delighted, granting desired boons.

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Performing many such deeds of flawless conduct, / the great one, the foremost of the great, ruled the circle of the earth, and leaving abundant fame behind, ascended to the supreme abode.

Sūta said: / As the famous deeds of the primal king, expanded by all virtues, were celebrated by the virtuous, / the kṣattā, the exalted devotee of the Lord, spoke to Kauṣāravi as he praised him, honoring him, O master of the assembly:

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Vidura said: / Consecrated by the brāhmaṇas, having obtained offerings from all the gods, / and bearing the Vaiṣṇava power in his two arms with which he milked the earth,

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who indeed, if wise, would not listen to the fame of him whose leftover valor all kings / and the worlds together with their guardians live upon at will even today? Tell me of his pure deeds.

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Maitreya said: / Residing in the tract between the Gaṅgā and Yamunā rivers, / he enjoyed only the fruits of deeds already commenced, desiring to exhaust his merit.

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His command was unhindered everywhere, wielding the sole staff of authority over the seven islands, / except over the family of brāhmaṇas, except over the lineage of Acyuta.

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Once, there was the consecration for a great sacrificial session, / where an assembly of gods, brahmin seers, and royal seers gathered, O best of the virtuous.

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When all the worthy had been duly honored according to their merit, / he arose in the midst of the assembly like the moon among the stars.

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He was tall, with plump, long arms, fair-complexioned, with eyes red as lotuses, / with a handsome nose, a beautiful face, gentle, with broad shoulders and a smile showing fine teeth,

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with a broad chest, large hips, an abdomen lovely with folds, / a coiled navel, radiant, with thighs like gold, and arched feet,

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with fine, curled, black, glossy hair, and a neck like a conch-shell; / wearing and draping over his shoulder two very costly, excellent silken garments,

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his entire bodily splendor revealed, his ornaments laid aside in vow, / clad in a black antelope skin, glorious, with kuśa grass in hand, having performed the proper rites,

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with cool, loving pupils in his eyes, he looked all around; / and the lord of the earth spoke these words, as if delighting the assembly,

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in lovely, varied words, smooth, polished, profound, and composed, / as if repeating them then for the benefit of all.

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The king said: / Members of the assembly, listen—blessed be you, good people who have come here! / By those seeking to know dharma, their own thought should be submitted to the virtuous devotees.

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I am the king appointed here as the wielder of the staff for the subjects, / their protector, provider of livelihood, and who establishes each in their own boundaries.

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To me who perform that duty, there should belong the realms full of all desires, as the expounders of the Veda declare, / when he who oversees destiny is pleased.

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A king who exacts tax without instructing the subjects in their dharmas / consumes the sin of the subjects and forfeits his own good fortune.

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Therefore, O subjects, for the benefit of your ruler in the hereafter and for your own good, / without malice, with your minds fixed on Adhokṣaja, do this—then mercy is shown to me.

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You, pure ancestors, gods, and seers, approve of this; / for the agent, the instructor, and the one who consents share equal fruit after death.

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According to some, O best of the worthy, there is indeed a Lord of sacrifice; / for in this world and the next, certain luminous realms are seen.

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For Manu, Uttānapāda, and King Dhruva, / for the royal seer Priyavrata, and for Aṅga, the father of my father,

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as well as for other such beings, and for the Unborn and for Bhava, / for Prahlāda and for Bali, there is a relationship of duty with the Bearer of the Club.

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Except for the maternal grandson of Death and others like him, who are pitiable and bewildered about dharma, / for he is generally the cause of oneness for the three pursuits, heaven, and liberation.

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Taste for the service of his feet immediately destroys the impurity of the mind / accumulated over countless births by austere persons, constantly increasing, just like the river flowing from the toe of his foot.

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A person who has completely shaken off all impurities of mind and is empowered by the special power of unattached wisdom, / having made his dwelling at the root of his feet, never again enters transmigration that brings suffering.

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Worship him alone through the functions of your self, through your own actions / with the qualities of mind, speech, and body, free of deceit, his lotus feet granting all desires, according to your qualification and attained goals.

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He, though devoid of qualities, is the sacrifice of many qualities in this world, constituted by various substances, qualities, rites, and mantras, / with forms, intentions, symbols, and names, yet in his own nature a mass of pure consciousness.

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Assuming consciousness in this body, which is a combination of primal matter, time, latent tendencies, and dharma, / the all-pervading Lord is perceived as the fruit of actions, just as fire in pieces of wood takes on their qualities.

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Ah! These people of mine bestow grace upon me, / for with steadfast vows they continually worship Hari on earth, the spiritual master and supreme lord of those who partake of sacrifice, through the yoga of their own dharma.

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Never may the power arising from the royal family prevail / over the family of the twice-born whose deity is the Invincible, blazing through forbearance, austerity, and learning, and endowed with great prosperity.

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Because of constantly revering their feet, the ancient Person, the God favorable to brāhmaṇas, / Hari, the foremost of the most exalted, obtained Lakṣmī who never departs, and fame that purifies the universe.

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Since the sovereign Lord, who dwells in the heart of all and loves brāhmaṇas, is thoroughly pleased by their service, / let the family of brāhmaṇas be served with all one's being by humble persons devoted to his dharma.

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A man quickly attains supreme peace from within himself, by himself, when the Self is pleased;
by serving those who have an eternal connection with Him—what higher mouth for the eaters of sacrificial oblations is there here than that?

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Ananta indeed eats through the mouths [of brāhmaṇas] when offered with faith by knowers of truth using the names of sacrifices;
He who is attained by the state of the supreme ascetic does not [eat] in that way in the fire, which is devoid of consciousness.

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That eternal, stainless, everlasting Brahman, which [brāhmaṇas] hold through faith, austerity, auspicious conduct, silence, and self-restraint,
and through absorption for the vision of the ultimate goal—in which this [universe] is reflected as in a mirror.

Translations (1)

The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English

Linked texts (1)

Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit