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Bhagavatapurana 4.22

English (machine translation) 4.22

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4.22.1

Maitreya said: / While the people were thus extolling Pṛthu of broad stride, / four sages, radiant like the sun, arrived there.

4.22.2

The king, along with his retinue, beheld those masters of perfection descending from the sky, / purifying the worlds with their luster, recognized [by all].

4.22.3

Rising as though wishing to reclaim his life-breaths that had gone out at their sight, / Vena's son stood up with his courtiers and attendants, as the lord of the senses rises with the faculties.

4.22.4

Constrained by reverent awe, courteous, his neck bent in humility, / he duly worshiped them once they had accepted the seat of honor and offerings.

4.22.5

Having washed his hair with the water that cleansed their feet, / he seemed to honor their conduct, practicing the way of the virtuous.

4.22.6

To those elder brothers of Śiva, seated upon golden thrones like fires upon their own altars, / he spoke, delighted, endowed with faith and self-restraint:

4.22.7

Pṛthu said: / Ah, what auspicious deed have I performed, O abodes of auspiciousness, / that I should have the sight of you, who are difficult to see even for yogins?

4.22.8

What is difficult for that person to obtain in this world or in the next, / with whom the brāhmaṇas are pleased, and Śiva, and Viṣṇu with His attendants?

4.22.9

People do not at all perceive you, even as you wander through the worlds, / just as people do not perceive the all-seeing Self, who is the cause of this [universe].

4.22.10

Though destitute, those householders are blessed and virtuous, / whose homes are graced with the best water worthy of welcome, grass, ground, and humble masters.

4.22.11

Indeed, those houses are like trees harboring venomous serpents, even if filled with every wealth, / which are devoid of the water that has washed the feet of Him whose feet are places of pilgrimage.

4.22.12

Welcome to you, O best of the twice-born! / Resolute seekers of liberation, while still boys, undertake with faith your great vows.

4.22.13

Is all well with us, O masters—we who take sense objects to be the supreme goal, / fallen by our own actions into this pit of distress?

4.22.14

An inquiry into well-being is not appropriate toward you who delight in the Self, / in whom there are no mental states concerning good or bad fortune.

4.22.15

Therefore, full of confidence in you, friends of the austere, / I ask: by what means may well-being be attained easily in this cyclic existence?

4.22.16

Clearly, the unborn Lord, the Self of those who possess the Self and the cultivator of the self, / wanders the earth in the form of perfected beings to bestow grace upon His own.

4.22.17

Maitreya said: / Hearing that well-spoken speech of Pṛthu, essential, well-formed, measured, and sweet, / the Kumāra replied, as if smiling with affection.

4.22.18

Sanatkumāra said: / Well asked, O great king, by you whose self seeks the good of all beings, / and who are wise; such indeed is the mind of the virtuous.

4.22.19

The meeting of the virtuous is approved by both parties, / for conversation and inquiries between them extend peace to all.

4.22.20

There is already in you, O king, an unswerving loving attachment to reciting the glories of the slayer of Madhu's lotus feet— / a rare attachment that shakes off desire, the staining impurity within the heart.

4.22.21

In the scriptures, when correctly reflected upon, only this much is firmly determined as the cause of well-being for human beings: / non-attachment to what is other than the Self, and firm, loving attachment to the Self, Brahman beyond the qualities.

4.22.22

That [attachment arises] through faith, through the practice of dharma dedicated to the Lord, through spiritual inquiry and devotion to adhyātma-yoga, / through the constant worship of the masters of yoga, and through the sacred narration of Him whose renown is purifying,

4.22.23

through lack of thirst for gatherings of those whose delight is in wealth and the senses, through non-acceptance of what they approve, / through delight in solitude, and contentment in the Self, without cease from drinking the nectar of Hari's qualities,

4.22.24

through non-violence, through the conduct of the supreme ascetics, through remembrance of the supreme nectar of Mukunda's deeds, / through desireless restraints and observances, through refraining from blame, through freedom from selfish striving, and through forbearance toward the pairs of opposites,

4.22.25

and through devotion expanding continually by the recitation of Hari's qualities, an adornment for the ears of those devoted to Him; / then there will easily be non-attachment to the non-Self, both gross and subtle, and loving attachment to Brahman beyond the qualities.

4.22.26

When firm loving attachment to Brahman arises, the person who has a spiritual teacher, / by the swift force of knowledge and dispassion, burns up the fivefold sheath of the individual soul, the heart emptied of potency, just as fire that has arisen burns up its source.

4.22.27

With his latent impressions burnt away, freed from all their qualities, he no longer perceives outside or inside his self / that which was formerly an obstruction between the soul and the Supreme Self, just as a person [perceives no division] upon the dissolution of a dream.

4.22.28

Only while the mind with its latent impressions remains as a conditioning factor / does a person perceive the self, the sense objects, and that which is beyond both, but never otherwise.

4.22.29

When there is an operative cause—such as water—a person everywhere perceives / a distinction between himself and another, but never otherwise.

4.22.30

When the mind contemplates [sense objects], drawn away by the senses attracted to their objects, / it robs the intellect of its awareness, as a clump of reeds drains water from a pool.

4.22.31

Continuous recollection is destroyed; for the mind, loss of knowledge follows upon the destruction of memory. / The wise declare the obstruction of that [knowledge] to be the soul's destruction of its own self.

4.22.32

In this world there is no greater destruction of a person's true interest than this:
that he cherishes something else more dearly than his self, out of neglect for himself.

4.22.33

Dwelling intently upon wealth and sense objects is the destruction of every goal of humanity;
fallen away from knowledge and realization thereby, a person enters into the condition of trees and beasts.

4.22.34

One who desires to cross over intense darkness should never cultivate attachment,
which is the absolute obstacle to dharma, wealth, pleasure, and liberation.

4.22.35

Even among these, liberation alone is desired as the ultimate goal,
because the aims of the three pursuits are constantly attended by fear of death.

4.22.36

Whatever states there are, higher or lower, arising subsequently from the agitation of the guṇas,
there is no security for them, since their hopes are brought to ruin by the Lord.

4.22.36.p1

Therefore, O king of men, of moving beings and of the unmoving, / enveloped by body, senses, vital breaths, intellect, and ego,

4.22.37

the Lord who shines as the ruler of the knower of the field, manifested everywhere in the heart as the innermost Self—know that 'He I am.'

4.22.37.p1

[…]

4.22.37.p2

In whom this creative power, consisting of existence and non-existence, appears, / and disappears upon discernment, like the notion of a snake in a garland—

4.22.37.p3

in whom this creative power, consisting of existence and non-existence, appears, / and disappears upon discernment, like the notion of a snake in a garland—

4.22.38

unto Him whose truth is eternally free, immaculate, and utterly pure, / who has repelled material nature turgid with karma, I surrender.

4.22.38.p1

[…]

4.22.38.p2

Through devotion expressing love for the petals of whose lotus feet / the virtuous devotees untie the knot of accumulated karma—

4.22.38.p3

through devotion expressing love for the petals of whose lotus feet / the virtuous devotees untie the knot of accumulated karma—

4.22.39

not in like manner can ascetics whose minds are empty, though they have blocked / the torrent of the senses. Worship Him, Vāsudeva, as your refuge!

4.22.39.p1

[…]

4.22.39.p2

Great and painful here is the ocean of worldly existence for those without a boat;
with hardship do they attempt to cross it, infested by the crocodiles of the six faculties.

4.22.39.p3

Great and painful here is the ocean of worldly existence for those without a boat;
with hardship do they attempt to cross it, infested by the crocodiles of the six faculties.

4.22.40

Therefore, make the adorable feet of the Lord Hari your raft, / and cross over the calamity, the ocean difficult to cross.

4.22.40.p1

[…]

4.22.41

Maitreya said:
Having thus had the path of the self fully revealed by the Kumāra, the son of Brahmā, whose intellect rested in the self,
the king praised him and spoke to him.

4.22.42

The king said:
Grace was previously bestowed upon me by Hari, compassionate to the afflicted;
to fulfill that, O venerable sage, O holy lord, you have arrived.

4.22.43

And it has been accomplished in its entirety by your compassionate selves;
for all I possess, together with myself, is the remnant left by the virtuous; what then shall I offer?

4.22.44

Life breaths, wife, sons, O brāhmaṇa, houses together with their furnishings,
kingdom, army, the earth, and treasury: all this is thus dedicated [to you].

4.22.45

Command of the army, kingship, leadership in punishment,
and sovereignty over the whole world are indeed deserved by the knower of the Veda and sacred texts.

4.22.46

The brāhmaṇa eats only his own, wears his own, and gives his own;
it is only by his grace that kṣatriyas and others partake of food.

4.22.46.p1

By you, versed in the scriptures, by whom such a goal of the Lord, / the doctrine of the self, has been conclusively demonstrated to us—

4.22.47

may you of boundless mercy remain ever satisfied by your own deed; / for who indeed could repay that, [any return being merely] an object of amusement?

4.22.47.p1

[…]

4.22.48

Maitreya said:
Worshiped by the primal king, those masters of spiritual yoga,
praising his character, rose into the sky while men looked on.

4.22.49

The son of Vena, foremost among the great, established through instruction in the spiritual self,
abiding in the self, regarded himself as one who has achieved all desires.

4.22.50

And he performed actions according to time, according to place, according to ability,
according to propriety, and according to wealth, making them an offering to Brahman.

4.22.51

Surrendering the fruit to Brahman, detached and composed,
he regarded the self as overseer of actions and beyond material nature.

4.22.52

Though residing in household life, endowed with imperial fortune,
he did not cling to sense objects, free from egoism, like the sun.

4.22.53

Thus performing his duties in accordance with spiritual yoga,
he begot five sons upon Arcis who were equal to himself:

4.22.54

Vijitāśva, Dhūmrakeśa, Haryakṣa, Draviṇa, and Vṛka.
Pṛthu alone possessed the qualities of all the guardians of the world.

4.22.55

For the protection of the creation of the world, each in its proper time, his nature dedicated to Acyuta,
he delighted the subjects by gentle movements of mind and speech and through his qualities.

4.22.56

He bore the title 'king' (rājan) like a second king Soma (the moon),
and like the sun he gave, collected, and shone down upon the wealth of the earth.

4.22.57

Unassailable in brilliance like fire, invincible like Mahendra,
in endurance like the earth, and bestower of human desires like heaven;

4.22.58

he showered satisfaction according to desire like the rain-cloud,
unfathomable like the ocean, and like the king of mountains in firmness of being;

4.22.59

like the King of Justice (Dharmarāja) in discipline, like the Himālaya in wonders,
rich in store like Kubera, and with concealed purposes like Varuṇa;

4.22.60

the self of all through force, majesty, and vigor, like the wind (Mātariśvan);
in unendurableness like the divine Lord, the ruler of beings (Śiva);

4.22.61

like Kandarpa in beauty, high-spirited like the king of beasts (the lion),
in affection toward men like Manu, and in sovereignty like the unborn Lord (Brahmā);

4.22.62

a Bṛhaspati in discourse on Brahman, in self-mastery Hari Himself;
in devotion to cows, gurus, and brāhmaṇas, and to the followers of Viṣvaksena;
with modesty and humble disposition, matchless in exerting himself for others;

4.22.63

by fame sung on high by men everywhere throughout the three worlds,
he entered into the cavities of women's ears, as Rāma enters the ears of the virtuous.

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