Bhagavatapurana 4.23
English (machine translation) 4.23
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Contents
4.23.1
Maitreya said:
Seeing himself advanced in age, the self-controlled son of Vena, the protector of subjects,
who had personally brought all creation under his care to prosperity,
4.23.2
giving sustenance to the moving and the unmoving, upholder of the dharma of the virtuous,
having fulfilled the order of the Lord for which he was born here,
4.23.3
entrusting the earth, his offspring, as if weeping from separation, unto his sons,
while the citizens were disheartened, departed alone with his wife to the penance forest.
4.23.4
Even there, strictly unyielding in vows approved for hermits (vaikhānasas),
he undertook severe austerities, just as in his former conquest of his own kingdom.
4.23.5
Eating tubers, roots, and fruits, sometimes subsisting on dry leaves,
consuming only water for some fortnights, and after that surviving on air alone;
4.23.6
in summer performing the five-fire penance, the heroic sage tolerating downpours in the rainy season,
submerged up to his neck in cold water in the dewy season, and sleeping on bare ground.
4.23.7
Forbearing, restrained of speech, self-controlled, chaste, with breath mastered,
desiring to worship Kṛṣṇa, he performed supreme ascetic penance.
4.23.8
By that [penance], perfected in due order, the impurities of karmic impressions were destroyed in his heart;
having restrained the group of six [senses and mind] by breath-controls, his bonds were severed.
4.23.9
That supreme spiritual yoga which the divine Sanatkumāra spoke of,
by that very [yoga] the bull among men worshipped the Supreme Person.
4.23.10
In that virtuous man who practiced the Lord's dharma and strove constantly with faith,
there arose exclusive devotion unto the Lord, Brahman.
4.23.10.p1
For him whose inner being was purified by devotion to the Lord, through that constant remembrance of Him,
4.23.11
there arose knowledge accompanied by dispassion, by which, sharp as it was,
he cut away the sheath of his individual soul, the seat of doubt.
4.23.11.p1
[…]
4.23.11.p2
Having cut away the thought of anything else, having attained his own true state, free from desire,
he relinquished that [knowledge] too, by which insight he had severed this [sheath of embodiment].
4.23.11.p3
Having cut away the thought of anything else, having attained his own true state, free from desire,
he relinquished that [knowledge] too, by which insight he had severed this [sheath of embodiment].
4.23.12
A renunciant, even if vigilant, should not [rely] only upon the attainments of yoga
so long as he does not develop loving attachment to the narrations of Gadāgraja [Kṛṣṇa].
4.23.12.p1
[…]
4.23.13
Thus, that best of heroes, having united the self with the Self,
having become one with Brahman, firmly relinquished his own body when the time came.
4.23.14
Pressing the anus with his heels and gradually raising the life-breath upward,
he held it in the navel, the abdomen, the heart, the chest, the throat, and the head.
4.23.15
Leading it gradually into the crown of the head, free of desire,
he merged the air [of the body] into air, the physical body into earth, and heat into heat.
4.23.16
The bodily spaces [he merged] into space, bodily fluids into water, each into its place according to division;
earth into water, that [water] into fire, that into air, and that [air] into ether.
4.23.17
The mind into the senses, these into the subtle elements according to their origin;
drawing these up by means of the ego, he united them with the great principle (mahat).
4.23.18
That [mahat-tattva], the repository of all the gunas, he placed in the individual soul constituted of māyā;
and that lingering subtle impression residing in the self, this master, who had harbored impressions, / cast off, established in his essential nature, by the power of knowledge and dispassion.
4.23.19
The great queen named Arcis, his wife, had followed him to the forest;
a delicate woman, unaccustomed even to touching the bare earth with her feet.
4.23.20
Through devotion to her husband's vows and dharma, through service and the bodily sustenance fitting a sage,
though severely emaciated, she felt no distress, rejoicing in the honor of touching her beloved.
4.23.21
Observing the body of her husband—the beloved of the earth and of herself—to have lost all life-signs,
and lamenting a little, that virtuous woman then erected a funeral pyre upon the mountain ridge.
4.23.22
Having performed the required rites and bathed in the river's water, offering water to her husband of noble deeds,
bowing to the gods dwelling in heaven and circumambulating [the pyre] three times, she entered the fire, meditating on her husband's feet.
4.23.23
Beholding the virtuous wife following Pṛthu, that foremost of heroes, her husband,
thousands of wives of the gods, together with the gods, bestowed boons and praised her.
4.23.24
Raining down a shower of flowers upon that Mandara ridge
as divine drums sounded, they spoke to one another:
4.23.25
The goddesses said:
"Oh, blessed is this woman who served her husband, the master of kings,
with all her being, just as the bride Śrī serves the Lord of sacrifice!
4.23.26
Surely, this chaste woman goes upward, following her husband, the son of Vena;
behold Arcis passing beyond us by her unfathomable deed!
4.23.27
What else could be hard to attain for those mortals—the realm of the Lord—
who, though having an unstable lifespan on earth, nevertheless achieve freedom from karmic reaction?
4.23.28
Deceived, alas, is that self-destroyer who, having obtained with great difficulty
human birth capable of liberation, becomes entangled in sense objects!"
4.23.29
Maitreya said:
While the divine women thus praised her, the wife went to the realm of her husband,
which the son of Vena, foremost of knowers of the Self, attained by taking shelter in Acyuta.
4.23.30
Such was the glory of Pṛthu, that greatest devotee of the Lord;
the deeds of that king of boundless actions have been narrated to you.
4.23.31
Whoever recites this most holy account with faith and attentiveness,
or recites it to others, or listens to it, will attain the path of Pṛthu.
4.23.32
A brāhmaṇa [becomes] possessed of spiritual luster, a kṣatriya becomes ruler of the earth,
a vaiśya reciting it becomes master of trades, and a śūdra attains the status of the most virtuous.
4.23.33
Hearing this three times with reverence, a man or a woman,
if childless, becomes blessed with excellent offspring; if impoverished, becomes most wealthy;
4.23.34
one whose fame is obscured achieves illustrious renown, and a fool becomes learned.
This is a source of well-being for men, removing all inauspiciousness.
4.23.35
Bestowing wealth, fame, long life, heaven, and removing the impurity of Kali,
it should be heard with faith by those desiring complete attainment
of dharma, wealth, pleasure, and liberation, for it is the supreme cause of all four.
4.23.36
A king intent upon victory who marches against [enemies] after hearing this,
kings will offer tribute before him, just as they did to Pṛthu.
4.23.37
Free from other attachments, carrying pure devotion to the Lord,
one should listen, cause others to hear, or recite the holy acts of the son of Vena.
4.23.38
Told to you, O son of Vicitravīrya [Vidura], it indicates great glory;
whoever accomplishes this superhuman narration reaches the destination attained by Pṛthu.
4.23.39
Daily hearing this with reverence, proclaiming the deeds of Pṛthu, freed from all attachments,
a human being obtains refined loving attachment to the Lord, whose feet are a boat on the ocean of worldly existence.
Translations (1)
- The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English
Linked texts (1)
- Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit