Bhagavatapurana 4.6

English (machine translation) 4.6

Language: English

4.6.1

Maitreya said: / Then all the hosts of gods, defeated by Rudra’s armies / with tridents, spear-axes, swords, clubs, iron bludgeons, and hammers,

4.6.2

their whole bodies cut and torn, together with the priests and assembly members, bewildered with fear, / bowed down to the Self-born one and reported this entirely.

4.6.3

Knowing this beforehand, the glorious lotus-born lord [Brahmā] / and Nārāyaṇa, the Self of the universe, had not gone to the sacrifice of that Dakṣa.

4.6.4

Hearing that, the powerful lord said: “When an offense is committed against the more powerful, / that usually does not lead to well-being for those who desire to prosper.

Even so, you who committed an offense by depriving Bhava of his portion of the sacrificial offering / should propitiate him with a purified mind—him whose lotus feet are held in reverence, who is swiftly appeased.

4.6.6

Hoping for the revival of the sacrifice, quickly ask forgiveness of that god, / bereft of his beloved, whose heart was pierced by harsh words, and in whose wrath the world with its guardians cannot endure.

4.6.7

Neither I, nor the sacrifice personified, nor you, nor the other embodied beings and sages know the truth / or the measure of the strength and prowess of that autonomous one; who can devise an expedient against him?”

4.6.8

Having thus instructed the gods, the unborn one [Brahmā], accompanied by them, / the ancestors, and the lords of creatures, went from his own abode to Kailāsa, the best of mountains, dear to the master, the foe of the three cities.

4.6.9

It was inhabited by beings other than men who were perfected by birth, herbs, austerities, mantras, / and yoga, and was constantly surrounded by Kinnaras, Gandharvas, and Apsarases;

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with peaks made of various jewels, variegated with various minerals, / covered with diverse trees, creepers, and bushes, and filled with various herds of beasts;

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with various pristine waterfalls, and slopes with varied caves, / a delightful place for the women of the Siddhas sporting with their lovers;

4.6.12

resounding with the cries of peacocks, humming with bees blinded by rut, / inundated with the melodies and cooings of sweet-throated birds;

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as if beckoning the birds with wish-fulfilling trees whose branches were raised like arms, / as if walking by means of elephants, as if singing by means of waterfalls;

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beautified with Mandāras, Pārijātas, and Saralas, / Tamālas, Śālas, Tālas, Kovidāras, Asanas, and Arjunas;

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with mangoes, Kadambas, Nīpas, Nāgas, Punnāgas, and Campakas, / Pāṭalas, Aśokas, Bakulas, Kundas, and Kurabakas;

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adorned with golden hundred-petaled lotuses, excellent Reṇukas, Jātīs, / Kubjakas, Mallikās, and Mādhavī creepers;

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with jackfruit, Udumbara, Aśvattha, / Plakṣa, Nyagrodha, Hiṅgu, / Bhūrja, medicinal herbs, betel-nut palms, royal arecas, and Jambus;

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with dates, Āmrātakas, wild mangoes and others, Priyālas, Madhukas, Iṅgudas, / and other species of trees, and resplendent with common and whistling bamboos.

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[adorned] with the lush abundance of forests of white water lilies, blue lotuses, white esculent lilies, and red lotuses,
graced by flocks of birds softly chirping among the lotus ponds,

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with deer, monkeys, wild boars, lions, bears, porcupines,
gavayas, śarabhas, tigers, ruru deer, buffaloes, and other animals,

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frequented by Karṇāntras, Ekapadas, Aśvās规定yas, wolves, and musk deer,
its beauty characterized by the lotus-pond banks enclosed by groves of plantain trees,

4.6.22

Surrounded by the Nandā, whose waters are supremely purifying from the bathing of Satī, / the gods, beholding the mountain of the Lord of creatures, were filled with wonder.

4.6.23

There they saw the charming city named Alakā, / and also the Saugandhika forest, where the lotus of that name grows.

4.6.24

The two rivers outside the city, Nandā and Alakanandā, / are exceedingly purifying through the dust from the lotus feet of the Lord of holy shrines.

4.6.25

In them, O Vidura, the celestial women, descending from their aerial cars, / sport, splashing their men after plunging in, fatigued by love-making.

4.6.26

Though free of thirst, bull-elephants drink their waters, / yellowed by the fresh saffron washed down from their bathing, while offering it to their females.

4.6.27

Crowded with hundreds of celestial cars made of silver, gold, and magnificent jewels, / and frequented by the women of the Yakṣas, it was like the sky filled with lightning-bearing clouds.

4.6.28

Passing beyond the city of the lord of Yakṣas and that Saugandhika forest, / delightful with wish-fulfilling trees laden with manifold flowers, fruits, and foliage,

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with bees adorned by the melodies of flocks of sweet-throated birds, / possessing lakes of white lotuses most dear to flocks of royal swans,

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and with the wind scented by sandalwood rubbed by wild elephants / repeatedly churning the minds of the Yakṣa women,

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having seen pools lined with steps of lapis lazuli and crowned with blue lotuses, / visited by Kimpuruṣas, they saw a banyan tree nearby.

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It was one hundred yojanas in height, its branches spreading three-quarters of that distance, / casting its shadow everywhere without moving, having no birds' nests, and free from heat.

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Under it, which was full of great yoga and a refuge for those seeking liberation, the gods / saw Śiva seated, looking like the God of Death when he has relinquished his wrath.

4.6.34

His form profoundly peaceful, he was attended by peaceful great perfected beings such as Sanandana, / and by his friend, the master of the Guhyakas and Rākṣasas.

4.6.35

Established on the path of knowledge, austerity, and yoga, the supreme master, / moving as the friend of the universe, was the auspiciousness of the world out of tenderness.

4.6.36

Bearing the bodily marks dear to ascetics—ashes, a staff, matted hair, and a black antelope skin— / he wore a crescent moon upon his body, which had the luster of twilight clouds.

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Seated upon a grass mat of darbha, / he was expounding the eternal Brahman to Nārada, who questioned him while virtuous devotees listened.

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Placing his left lotus foot upon his right thigh and knee, / holding a rosary on his wrist, he sat displaying the gesture of exposition.

4.6.39

To him, absorbed in meditation upon the Brahman of absolute cessation, his knees bound with a yoga strap, / the sages along with the guardians of the world bowed with folded hands, [approaching] him, the foremost thinker among the wise.

4.6.40

Perceiving that the self-born [Brahmā] had arrived, he whose feet are revered by the chiefs of gods and demons / rose and made obeisance with his head, just as Viṣṇu, most worthy of worship, did to Ka.

4.6.41

Likewise, the other hosts of perfected beings and great sages who were all around Nīlalohita bowed down; / then the self-born [Brahmā], greeted with obeisance, addressed the moon-crested god as if smiling:

4.6.42

/0 Brahmā said:
I know you as the Lord of the entire universe, who are beyond the womb and the seed of the cosmos, / beyond Śakti and Śiva, that continuous, indivisible Brahman.

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Indeed, O Lord, you yourself, in the form of Śiva and Śakti, / create, maintain, and swallow this universe in play, like a spider with its woven web.

4.6.44

You alone created the sacrifice through Dakṣa as the instrument to secure the fruits of dharma and wealth; / and by you alone were the moral boundaries established in the world, which the steadfast brahmins faithfully observe.

4.6.45

O auspicious one, for the performer of auspicious deeds you bestow his own realm in heaven or beyond, / and for inauspicious deeds, the dreadful darkness of hell. How, then, can there be an inversion of this for someone?

4.6.46

Anger rarely overwhelms virtuous devotees whose minds are surrendered to your feet, / who see you in all beings, and who wish to see all beings as non-different from themselves, as it does a beast.

4.6.47

People of divided intellect, seeing only ritual action, ill-intentioned, their hearts ever burning at the rise of others, / torment others with harsh words, piercing their vitals; one like you should not slay those already slain by fate.

4.6.48

When and in whom people's intellects are touched by the insurmountable creative power of the Lotus-navel Lord so that they see division, / good men show compassion toward them out of pity; they do not take retaliatory steps against what is brought about by the power of fate.

Translations (1)

The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English

Linked texts (1)

Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit