Bhagavatapurana 5.3

English (machine translation) 5.3

Language: English

5.3.1

Śrī Śuka said: / Nābhi, desiring offspring, with concentrated mind worshipped the Lord, the sacrificial person, together with childless Merudevī.

As he sacrificed with faith and pure devotion while the pravargya rites were being performed, although the Lord is difficult to attain, because of the suitability of the arrangement of ingredients, place, time, mantras, priests, sacrificial gifts, and rituals, and out of affection for his devotee, he—of auspicious form, unconquered—his heart captured by the desire to bestow the desired object of his own servant, manifested himself, charming to the heart, pleasing to the mind and eyes in every limb.

5.3.3

Then, beholding that distinct supreme person, golden, with four manifest arms, wearing a tawny silk garment, with the mark of Śrīvatsa shining on his chest, characterized by an excellent conch, lotus, forest garland, sword, the Kaustubha jewel, and mace, adorned with ornaments on his limbs such as a foremost crown radiating clear beams of light, earrings, bracelets, a waist-chain, necklaces, armlets, and anklets—the priests, the assembly members, and the sacrificer, like poor men who have obtained supreme wealth, reverently approached him with offerings, their heads bowed low.

5.3.4

The sacrificial priests said: / You ought to accept our worship again and again, O most worthy of worship! We are Your followers, and thus far have we been instructed by the virtuous: 'Obeisance, obeisance unto You!' What man, whose intellect is disturbed by the transformations of the qualities of material nature, being powerless, is able to delineate the form of the supreme Lord—who is beyond material nature and the soul—through modern names, forms, and figures, except by recounting a mere portion of Your most auspicious and supreme multitude of qualities, which dispel the sins of all assemblies of beings?

5.3.5

For You are exceedingly pleased, O Supreme Lord, even with worship performed by Your attendants with love, consisting merely of indistinct sounds [of praise], water, and fresh shoots of tulasī and dūrvā grass.

5.3.6

And yet, by this sacrifice of great burden, we do not obtain any result worthy of You.

5.3.7

For You are Yourself the true nature of every human goal, continually, directly, and without distinction realized in Yourself at all times; yet, O Lord, this [sacrifice] can only be an act of worship on the part of those desiring blessings.

5.3.8

Thus, like children who do not know what is truly beneficial for themselves, O Supreme Supreme Person, out of Your intense compassion, desiring to grant us Your own glory known as liberation, You have appeared here as if ordinary, though You were not properly worshipped by us.

5.3.9

This indeed is our greatest boon, O most worthy of worship, best among givers of boons, that You have become visible to the eyes of Your own servants here in the sacrificial arena of the royal sage.

5.3.10

For the sages whose impurities have all been shaken off by the fire of knowledge sharpened through non-attachment, whose nature is attuned to Yours, and who delight in the self, You are the one whose multitude of qualities is unceasingly pondered, and the narration of Your multitude of qualities is the abode of supreme auspiciousness.

5.3.11

May Your names, born of Your divine qualities, which dispel all impurities, come within the range of our speech even when we are helpless in stumbling, hunger, falling, yawning, and distressed states, as well as in the condition of fever and death, so that we may remember You.

5.3.12

Furthermore, this royal sage, desiring offspring and longing for a son like You, runs after You, the Lord of blessings and even of heaven and liberation, for the sake of an ordinary child, like a pauper begging a wealthy person for chaff instead of wealth.

5.3.13

Who indeed in this world has not been conquered by Your unconquerable creative power, whose ways cannot be fathomed—whose mind is unclouded, whose nature is not inundated by the poisonous rush of sensual objects, unless he has worshipped the feet of the exalted devotees?

5.3.14

And because You, O performer of great deeds, have been summoned here by us, who are dull-witted and attached to petty ends—whatever disrespect we have shown toward the Deity, O God of gods, You ought, out of Your impartiality, to forgive all of it, since we are ignorant.

5.3.15

Śrī Śuka said: / Being thus praised in prose by them, the Lord, the foremost of the immortals, whose feet were saluted and venerated by the ruler of the realm, kindly spoke as follows.

5.3.16

The Lord said: / Ah, O sages, You whose words are never untrue have asked of Me a boon that is difficult to attain, saying, 'May his son be equal to Me.' I alone am equal to Myself, because of My absolute oneness; nevertheless, the word of a brāhmaṇa cannot be false, for the community of twice-born deities is My very mouth.

5.3.17

Therefore, not finding anyone equal to Myself, I shall descend in the wife of the son of Āgnīdhra with a portion of My plenary expansion.

5.3.18

Śrī Śuka said: / Having spoken thus to the husband while Merudevī was listening, the Lord disappeared.

Translations (1)

The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English

Linked texts (1)

Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit