Bhagavatapurana 4.7

English (machine translation) 4.7

Language: English

4.7.19 — 1 part
4.7.20 — 3 parts
4.7.21 — 1 part
4.7.24 — 1 part
4.7.25 — 1 part

4.7.1

Maitreya said:
Having thus been appeased by the unborn [Brahmā] and being thoroughly pleased, / Śiva said, O mighty-armed one, smiling, "Listen!"

Mahādeva said:
O lord of creatures, I neither recount nor brood over the offense of children / who are overwhelmed by the Lord's creative power; a punishment was merely administered by me in that regard.

4.7.3

Let the head of Prajāpati, whose head was burnt, become the head of a he-goat; / let Bhaga behold his share of the sacrifice through the eye of Mitra.

4.7.4

Pūṣan, however, eating flour, shall chew with the teeth of the sacrificer; / and may the gods who granted me the remainder have all their limbs restored as before.

4.7.5

Let those who have lost their arms have arms made with the arms of the Aśvins and the hands of Pūṣan; / let the other priests be healed, and let Bhṛgu have the beard of a goat.

4.7.6

Maitreya said:
Then, having heard the words spoken by the most bountiful [Śiva], all the beings, / with hearts completely satisfied, exclaimed, "Well done! Well done!", my dear.

4.7.7

Then, having invited the bountiful one, the gods headed by Indra along with the sages / went again to that sacrificial arena of the gods, accompanied by the bountiful one and Brahmā.

4.7.8

And having performed in its entirety all that the Lord Śiva had commanded, / they joined the head of the sacrificial animal to the trunk of Dakṣa.

4.7.9

As the head was being joined, Dakṣa, looked upon by Rudra, / stood up immediately like one awaking from sleep, and beheld Mṛḍa standing before him.

4.7.10

Then the Prajāpati, whose self had been soiled by hatred for the bull-bannered [Śiva], / became pure upon beholding Śiva, like a lake in autumn.

4.7.11

Though resolved to praise Bhava, he was unable because of love, / remembering his deceased daughter with a stream of tears from longing.

4.7.12

Having checked his mind with difficulty, overwhelmed with love, the wise Prajāpati / praised the Lord with sincere devotional emotion:

4.7.13

Dakṣa said: / Ah, a great favor has been done for me by you, in that punishment was inflicted upon me, although I had mocked you. / Even toward nominal brāhmaṇas, O Lord, you and Hari have no contempt; whence then toward those who maintain their vows?

4.7.14

You first created from your mouth the brāhmaṇas bearing learning, asceticism, and vows, to protect the truth of the self that is Brahman. / Therefore, O Supreme Lord, you protect the brāhmaṇas in all calamities, like a herdsman his cattle, O omnipresent one, holding a staff.

4.7.15

I, who lacked sight of the truth, pierced you in the assembly with arrows of abusive words; yet overlooking that, you have protected me, / who was falling into hell through censuring the most venerable, with your kindly glance. May that Lord be pleased by his own deed!

4.7.16

Maitreya said: / Having thus asked forgiveness of the bounteous [Rudra] and being authorized by Brahmā, / he resumed the sacrificial act with the preceptors, officiating priests, and the rest.

4.7.17

For the continuation of the sacrifice, the best of the twice-born offered a three-kapāla cake / sacred to Viṣṇu, for purification from contact with the heroes [of Śiva].

4.7.18

As the sacrificer meditated with a purified intellect while the adhvaryu priest took the offering, / O protector of men, Hari became manifest just then.

4.7.19

Robbing their splendor with his own radiance that illuminated the ten directions, / brought there by Tārkṣya, who is drawn by the horses of Vedic hymns,

4.7.19.p1

dark-complexioned, with a golden girdle, adorned with a crown radiant as the sun, his face with earrings ornamented by blue locks of hair like bees,

4.7.20

resembling a karṇikāra tree with golden arms busy with conch, lotus, discus, arrows, bow, mace, sword, and shield;

4.7.20.p1

[…]

4.7.20.p2

with his consort reposing on his chest, wearing a garland of forest flowers, delighting the universe with the play of his generous smiling glance;

4.7.20.p3

with his consort reposing on his chest, wearing a garland of forest flowers, delighting the universe with the play of his generous smiling glance;

4.7.21

with royal swans in the form of fly-whisks and fans waved at his flanks, made radiant above by a moon in the form of a white umbrella.

4.7.21.p1

[…]

4.7.22

Seeing that he had arrived, all the hosts of gods and others, / led by Brahmā, Indra, and the three-eyed [Śiva], rose up at once and bowed down.

4.7.23

With their radiance eclipsed by his splendor, their tongues faltering, and filled with awe, / with joined hands placed upon their heads, they stood near Adhokṣaja.

4.7.24

Even those whose vision is directed inward, such as Brahmā and others, / praised according to their intellect his form assumed to bestow grace.

4.7.24.p1

Dakṣa, taking the foremost vessels of worship, / to the Lord of sacrifice, the supreme guru of the creators of the universe,

4.7.25

surrounded with joy by Sunanda, Nanda, and other attendants, / surrendered himself with restraint, with joined hands, praising him:

4.7.25.p1

[…]

4.7.26

Dakṣa said: / You abide in your own abode, pure, all states of intellect ceased, pure consciousness alone, one, fearless, having set aside creative power; / yet by that very [creative power] you attain personhood and dwell within it as if impure, although self-reliant.

4.7.27

The officiating priests said: / Free from taint! Because of Rudra’s curse, with our minds fixated on ritual action, / we do not know your true nature, O Lord; this threefold sacrifice, which indicates dharma, is what we have known, for which purpose you have arranged that presiding deity.

4.7.28

The members of the assembly said: / On the path of worldly life, devoid of shelter, difficult to cross with great affliction, infested by the fierce serpent of death, with the mirage of sense objects, carrying the heavy burden of home and self, / with the abyss of dualities, fear of wicked beasts, and the forest fire of sorrow, when will the caravan of the ignorant, tormented by desire, reach the abode of your feet, O giver of refuge?

4.7.29

Rudra said: / O giver of boons! At your excellent feet, which are desired for all goals and are to be worshiped with reverence even by unattached sages, / if my mind has been placed, and the ignorant world censures me as outcast, I do not take that into account, through your supreme favor.

4.7.30

Bhṛgu said: / Brahmā and other embodied beings, their awareness of the self stolen away by your unfathomable creative power, sleeping in darkness, / do not know your truth residing within the self even today. May you, the kin of the self for those who bow down, be pleased!

4.7.31

Brahmā said: / This is not your true nature, so long as that person perceives differences among objects; / you are held to be the support of knowledge, meaning, and attributes, yet distinct from all that consists of creative power.

4.7.32

Indra said: / This form of yours, O Acyuta, which brings forth the universe and brings delight to the mind and eyes, / is equipped with eight mighty arms bearing raised weapons to destroy the enemies of the gods.

4.7.33

The wives said:
This sacrifice, instituted for worshiping you, was destroyed today by Paśupati out of anger at Dakṣa. / O Soul of the sacrifice, purify it for us with your lotus-bright glance, its slaughtered animals lying silent like a sleeping corpse.

4.7.34

The sages said:
Inscrutable is your conduct, O Lord, since you yourself perform action yet are not tainted by it. / Though all approach the goddess of fortune for prosperity, you do not even care for her, though she serves you of her own accord.

4.7.35

The Siddhas said:
Scorched by the forest fire of afflictions and tormented by thirst, this elephant of the mind / has plunged into the river of the pure nectar of your stories, has forgotten the forest fire, and does not come out, like one who has attained Brahman.

4.7.36

The sacrificer's wife said:
Welcome to you! Be pleased, O Lord! Reverence to you, O Śrīnivāsa! Protect us together with your beloved, Śrī! / Without you, O Sovereign, the sacrifice does not shine with its limbs, just like a headless torso without a head.

4.7.37

The guardians of the worlds said:
Have you been seen by our eyes that perceive only unreal objects, you who are the inner seer by whom the universe is seen? / For this is your creative power, O Infinite One, since you, the sixth principle, shine through the five material elements.

4.7.38

The masters of yoga said:
None is dearer to you than he who sees no distinction, O Lord, between himself and you, the Self of the universe. / Even so, O Ruler, be gracious to those who run to you with devotion and single-minded focus, O lover of your devotees!

4.7.39

Reverence to you, who by your own presence have dispelled the qualities of delusion from those whose minds were made to perceive diversity by your own creative power, / whose modes are divided into many by destiny during the creation, maintenance, and destruction of the universe.

4.7.40

Brahmā said:
Reverence to you, who take shelter of purity and are the source of dharma and the rest, / and who are beyond the modes, whose limit neither I nor others know.

4.7.41

Agni said:
By whose splendor my splendor is kindled so that in a good sacrifice I bear the oblation sprinkled with clarified butter, / to that sacrifice, fivefold and worshiped through the five Yajus verses, worthy of sacrifice, I bow down.

4.7.42

The gods said:
Formerly, at the end of a cosmic age, taking your transformed creation into your belly, / you, the primal Person, lay in that water upon the bed of the serpent king, your spiritual path contemplated in the heart by the Siddhas; / today, that very person, you move before the path of our eyes and protect us, your servants.

4.7.43

The Gandharvas said:
These Marīci and others, the hosts of gods headed by Brahmā, Indra, and Rudra, are parts of your parts, O God. / O Infinite One, to whom this universe is a toy, to you, O Lord, we perpetually offer our reverence.

4.7.44

The Vidyādharas said:
Obtaining this human body through your creative power, conceiving "mine" and "I" therein, a fool led astray by his own wrong paths / and tossed about, greedy for false objects of sense, can cast off his self-delusion if he attends upon the nectar of stories about you.

4.7.45

The brāhmaṇas said:
You are the sacrifice; you are the offering; you are the sacrificial fire; you are the sacred formula, the kindling wood, the kuśa grass, and the vessels; / you are the assembly members, the officiating priests, the sacrificer and his wife, the deity, the Agnihotra offering, the Svadhā call, the Soma, the clarified butter, and the victim.

4.7.46

Formerly, as the Great Boar, roaring as you were praised by yogins, you playfully lifted up the earth with your tusk from the netherworld, as an elephant-king lifts a lotus stalk, / O you whose limbs are the threefold Veda, who are the sacrifice and rite!

Translations (1)

The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English

Linked texts (1)

Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit

Bhagavatapurana 4.7

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Translations (1)

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