Bhagavatapurana 4.9
English (machine translation) 4.9
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4.9.1
Maitreya said: / With their fear thus removed, having bowed down to Urukrama, they departed for heaven; / and the Thousand-Headed One then went by Garuḍa to the forest of Madhu out of a desire to see His servant.
4.9.2
He indeed, with his intellect sharpened by the fruition of yoga, suddenly perceiving that the one / flashing like lightning in the lotus core of his heart had vanished, saw Him standing outside in that very form.
4.9.3
Overcome with awe at the sight of Him, bending his body like a staff, he bowed on the ground, / the boy gazing with his eyes as if drinking Him, as if kissing Him with his mouth, as if embracing Him with his arms.
4.9.4
Understanding that he wished to speak but did not know how, Hari, who dwells within the heart of everyone, / out of compassion touched the boy, who stood with folded hands, on the cheek with His conch, which embodies the Veda.
4.9.5
Right then, endowed with divine speech and having ascertained the truth of the Supreme Self, / full of devotional emotion, he whose realm would be fixed slowly praised Him of widely renowned fame.
4.9.6
Dhruva said: / He who, entering within me, awakens this dormant speech of mine by His own splendor, / the bearer of all powers, and also the other vital faculties—hands, feet, hearing, skin, and the rest— / to You, the Lord, the Supreme Person, I bow.
4.9.7
You alone, O Lord, having created by Your own potency called creative power, / possessed of great qualities, this entire universe beginning with the cosmic intellect, and having entered it as the Person, / shine forth as if manifold within its unreal qualities, like fire within pieces of wood.
4.9.8
By the knowledge bestowed by You, he who had surrendered to You perceived this universe like one awakened from sleep, O Lord; / how could Your footstool, which affords liberation, / be forgotten by one who knows what has been done [for him], O Friend of the distressed?
4.9.9
Truly, stolen of their wits by Your creative power are those who, for any other motive, / worship You, the deliverer from birth and destruction, like a wish-fulfilling tree, / seeking sense pleasure enjoyable only in a corpse, which is experienced by humans even in hell.
4.9.10
The bliss that belongs to embodied beings from meditating on Your lotus feet / or from hearing the narrations of Your devotees / is not found even in Brahman, Your own glory, O Lord; / how much less, then, for those falling from airplanes struck by the sword of Death?
4.9.11
May I continually enjoy the company of the exalted devotees of pure heart / who perpetually cultivate devotion to You, O Infinite One; / by which, intoxicated from drinking the nectar of the stories of Your virtues, / I shall easily cross the dreadful, terribly turbulent ocean of mundane existence.
4.9.12
They do not remember at all the mortal body so dear [to them], O Lord, / nor those who follow it—children, friends, home, wealth, and wives— / who have formed association with those whose hearts are greedy for the fragrance of Your lotus feet, O Lotus-naveled One.
4.9.13
This grossest form of Yours, O Unborn One, manifold, beginning with the cosmic intellect, / comprising the gross and the subtle, occupied by beasts, trees, birds, reptiles, gods, demons, humans, and others, / I know; but I do not know that which is beyond this, O Supreme One, where all debate ceases.
4.9.14
At the end of a cosmic age, taking all this within His belly, / the Person, the self-illuminated friend of Ananta, lies on his lap, / in the whorl of the golden world-lotus arisen from the ocean of whose navel the radiant [Brahmā appeared]—to that Lord I bow.
4.9.15
You are the eternally liberated, pure, enlightened Self, / the immutable, the primordial Person, the Lord, master of the three [qualities]; / You, the overseer of sacrifices, remain distinct during creation's maintenance, the witness who observes the states of the intellect with undivided vision.
4.9.16
In whom knowledge and its opposites, of contrary course, and various potencies constantly arise in succession— / that Brahman, the cause of the universe, one, infinite, primordial, consisting solely of bliss, immutable, I take refuge in.
4.9.17
Indeed, Your lotus foot yields genuine blessings, O Lord, / even to one who pursues it for desire, O embodiment of the goals of human life; / even so, like a cow toward her young calf, the Lord, eager to bestow grace, / protects us, the wretched, O Noble One.
4.9.18
Maitreya said: / Thus praised by the wise [child] of virtuous intent, / the Lord, affectionate toward His servants, pleased, spoke as follows.
4.9.19
The Lord said: / I know the resolve in your heart, O royal boy; / I grant it to you—may you be blessed—though it is difficult to attain, O you of noble vows.
4.9.20
A splendid, fixed realm never occupied by others, O gentle boy, / upon which the circle of luminous bodies—planets, lunar mansions, and stars—is fastened.
4.9.21
Stationary like an ox-pole, lasting beyond those who dwell for a cosmic age, / circumambulating which Dharma, Agni, Kaśyapa, Śukra, and the sages dwelling in the forest / revolve along with the stars.
4.9.22
When your father departs for the forest, having given you the earth, being the refuge of righteousness, / you will protect it for thirty-six thousand years, your senses unimpaired.
4.9.23
When your brother Uttama is lost during a hunt, his mind fixed on him, / his mother, searching the forest, will enter a forest fire.
4.9.24
Having worshipped Me, the heart of sacrifice, with sacrifices featuring generous fees, / and having enjoyed true blessings in this world, in the end you will remember Me.
4.9.25
Then you will go to My abode, worshipped by all the worlds, / above the sages, gone to which one does not return.
4.9.26
Maitreya said: / Having been thus worshipped, the Lord whose banner bears Garuḍa, / having assigned His own abode, departed to His realm while the boy watched.
4.9.27
Yet having obtained the fulfillment of his desires, born of ambition and secured through service to Viṣṇu’s feet, / he went to the city not entirely joyful.
4.9.28
Vidura said: / Having attained the supreme abode of Hari, so difficult to attain, won by worshipping the feet of the master of creative power, / why did he, a knower of what is truly valuable, consider himself in a single lifetime as if his aim were unfulfilled?
4.9.29
Maitreya said: / Pierced in his heart by the arrow-like words of his stepmother, remembering them, / he had not desired liberation from the Master of liberation; therefore he came to sorrow.
4.9.30
Dhruva said:
The state which Sananda and the other lifelong celibates realize through absorption over many births, / having attained the shadow of His feet within six months, I came away, divided in mind.
4.9.31
Alas, behold my foolishness, ill-fated as I am! / Having gone to the feet of the destroyer of worldly existence, I asked for that which has an end.
4.9.32
My intellect was corrupted by the gods, falling and intolerant [of others' rise], / so that I, lowest of the vile, did not accept the truthful words of Nārada.
4.9.33
Taking shelter in the divine creative power like one asleep, seeing duality, / I suffer with heartache over my brother, who is treated as a rival, though such duality is unreal.
4.9.34
This was requested by me in vain, like medical treatment for one whose life is gone. / Having propitiated through austerity the Self of the universe, who is difficult to propitiate, / I, devoid of good fortune, asked the destroyer of worldly existence for worldly existence [itself].
4.9.35
Alas, from the Lord who grants sovereign liberation, out of folly prestige was begged by me, / like a penniless beggar with exhausted merit asking for husks from a sovereign.
4.9.36
Maitreya said:
Indeed, people like you who take delight in the dust of Mukunda's lotus feet, dear child, / their desires fulfilled through receiving their mind's contentment by fate alone, desire nothing for themselves other than service to Him.
4.9.37
Hearing that his son was returning as if back from the dead, / the king could not believe it: 'How could good fortune come to an unfortunate person like me?'
4.9.38
Trusting the words of the divine seer, overwhelmed by the surge of joy, / exceedingly pleased, he gave a necklace of great value to the bearer of the news.
4.9.39
Mounting a chariot drawn by noble horses and adorned with gold, / surrounded by brāhmaṇas, family elders, ministers, and kinsmen,
4.9.40
with the sound of conches and kettledrums, the chanting of the Vedas, and flutes, / he quickly went out of the city, eager to see his son.
4.9.41
His two queens, Sunīti and Suruci, adorned with gold, / mounted a palanquin and went along with Uttama.
4.9.42
Seeing him approaching near a park, the king hastily / descended from the chariot, and approaching him, overcome with love,
4.9.43
breathing heavily with a heart long full of yearning, embraced his son with both arms, / whose every bond of sin had been destroyed by the touch of Viṣvaksena's feet.
4.9.44
Then, smelling his head again and again, with cool tears from his eyes / he bathed his son, his fervent desires now fulfilled.
4.9.45
Having saluted his father's feet and being addressed with blessings, / he, foremost among the virtuous, honored by them, bowed his head to both his mothers.
4.9.46
Suruci lifted up the boy bowed at her feet, / embraced him, and said, 'May you live long,' with a voice choked with tears.
4.9.47
To him with whom the Lord Hari is pleased on account of his virtues such as friendliness, / all beings bow down of their own accord, like waters flowing to a low place.
4.9.48
Both Uttama and Dhruva, overwhelmed with love for each other, / their hair standing on end from bodily contact, repeatedly shed streams of tears.
4.9.49
His mother Sunīti, embracing her son dearer than her own life's breaths, / cast away her anguish, overjoyed by the touch of his body.
4.9.50
O hero, milk flowed repeatedly from the breasts of the mother of heroes / as they were bathed then by the auspicious waters born from her eyes.
4.9.51
The people praised the queen: 'By good fortune your son, the dispeller of distress, / lost for so long, has been regained to protect the circle of the earth.
4.9.52
Surely you have worshiped the Lord, the dispeller of the distress of the surrendered, / contemplating whom the wise have conquered death, so hard to conquer.'
4.9.53
Having thus placed Dhruva, cherished by the people, along with his brother / upon an elephant, the king, delighted and praised [by the people], entered the city.
4.9.54
There the city was adorned here and there with fashioned arches bearing glittering makaras, / with banana trunks laden with fruit clusters, and similar betel nut saplings,
4.9.55
hanging with mango shoots, garments, garlands, and pearl strings, / every doorway decorated with water pots accompanied by lamps,
4.9.56
with ramparts, city gates, and palaces roofed with gold, / decorated all around with the splendor of roofs shaped like divine celestial chariots,
4.9.57
with squares, streets, and watchtower roads cleansed and sprinkled with sandalwood, / supplied with puffed grain, unbroken rice, flowers, fruits, husked grains, and offerings.
4.9.58
Seeing Dhruva on the road here and there, the city women / brought white mustard, unbroken rice, curd, water, dūrvā grass, flowers, and fruits;
4.9.59
bestowing auspicious blessings out of maternal affection / while he listened to their sweet songs, he entered his father's palace.
4.9.60
In that finest palace made of many precious jewels, / he lived, constantly pampered by his father, like a god in heaven.
4.9.61
There were beds like milk foam, made of ivory and framed with gold, / seats of great value, and utensils made of gold;
4.9.62
where on crystal and great emerald walls / gem lamps shone, attended by jewel-like women;
4.9.63
and delightful gardens with diverse celestial trees, / with pairs of chirping birds and singing, intoxicated bees;
4.9.64
ponds with steps of lapis lazuli, filled with red, blue, and white lotuses, / inhabited by flocks of swans, kāraṇḍavas, cakravākas, and cranes.
4.9.65
Hearing and seeing that most wonderful power of his son, / the royal sage Uttānapāda was filled with supreme amazement.
4.9.66
Seeing that he was of mature age, approved by the counselors, / and loved by the subjects, the king made Dhruva the lord of the earth.
4.9.67
Considering himself to be advanced in age, the lord of the people, / dispassionate, set out for the forest, contemplating his own destination.
Translations (1)
- The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English
Linked texts (1)
- Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit