Bhagavatapurana 6
English (machine translation) 6
- Language
- English
Contents
- 6.1 — 68 parts
- 6.2 — 49 parts
- 6.3 — 35 parts
- 6.4 — 54 parts
- 6.5 — 44 parts
- 6.6 — 45 parts
- 6.7 — 40 parts
- 6.8 — 42 parts
- 6.9 — 55 parts
- 6.10 — 33 parts
- 6.11 — 27 parts
- 6.12 — 35 parts
- 6.13 — 23 parts
- 6.14 — 61 parts
- 6.15 — 28 parts
- 6.16 — 65 parts
- 6.17 — 41 parts
- 6.18 — 78 parts
- 6.19 — 28 parts
6.1.1
The auspicious Parīkṣit said: / The path of cessation has been described at the beginning by your lordship, / whereby there is freedom from transmigration through [attaining] Brahman by means of the progressive yoga.
6.1.2
And also [described was] the path of active engagement, O sage, which falls within the realm of the three qualities, / which is the repeated creation of the qualities for him whose material nature has not dissolved.
6.1.3
The various hells, which are the mark of unrighteousness, have been described, / and the first Manvantara, Svāyambhuva, from which all began, has been explained;
6.1.4
the lineage of Priyavrata and Uttānapāda and their deeds; / the continents, lands, oceans, mountains, rivers, gardens, and forest trees;
6.1.5
the structure of the earthly sphere according to its divisions, characteristics, and measurements; / and the celestial bodies and subterranean regions, as the all-pervading Lord created them.
6.1.6
Now, O fortunate one, explain to me how a person / might never enter those hells of diverse, fierce torments.
6.1.7
Śrī Śuka said: / If a person does not perform expiation right here for the sin he has committed with mind, speech, and body, / he surely enters after death the hells of fierce torments that I have described to you.
6.1.8
Therefore, even before death, while the self has not collapsed, one should quickly strive for atonement for sin right here, / perceiving the gravity or lightness of the fault, just as a physician who knows the cause treats illnesses.
6.1.9
The king said: / Knowing from what has been seen and heard that sin is harmful to oneself, / a person helplessly commits it again; then how does expiation avail?
6.1.10
Sometimes one refrains from evil, and sometimes one practices it again; / therefore I consider expiation futile, like an elephant’s bath.
6.1.11
The son of Bādarāyaṇa said: / The removal of action through action is not considered final, / because an action-remedy pertains only to the ignorant; discernment is true expiation.
6.1.12
Indeed, diseases do not overcome someone who eats only wholesome food; / thus, O King, one who observes discipline gradually becomes fit for welfare.
6.1.13
Through asceticism, celibacy, tranquility, self-control, / renunciation, truthfulness, purity, restraint, or observance,
6.1.14
the steadfast, who know dharma and are endowed with faith, / cast off even great sin born of body, speech, and intellect, like fire burns a clump of bamboo.
6.1.15
Some, however, devoted solely to Vāsudeva by pure devotion, / shake off sin entirely, as the sun dispels mist.
6.1.16
Indeed, a sinner would not be purified, O King, by austerities and the like, / as he is by the service of the Lord's servants, having dedicated his life to Kṛṣṇa.
6.1.17
For this path in the world is upright, safe, and free from fear, / where well-behaved, virtuous devotees are devoted entirely to Nārāyaṇa.
6.1.18
Expiations that have been performed do not purify one who has turned his back on Nārāyaṇa, / O king of kings, just as rivers cannot purify a jar of liquor.
6.1.19
Those who have once placed their mind upon Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, taking delight in His qualities in this world, / having performed the true atonement, do not see Yama or his noose-bearing attendants even in a dream.
6.1.20
Regarding this, they recount this ancient history, / the dialogue between the messengers of Viṣṇu and Yama; learn it from me.
6.1.21
In Kānyakubja there was a certain twice-born man, the keeper of a maidservant, named Ajāmila, / whose righteous conduct was ruined, corrupted by association with a maidservant.
6.1.22
Taking up a despicable livelihood through highway robbery, gambling, deceit, and theft, / impure, maintaining his family, he brought torment to living beings.
6.1.23
As he lived in this way, fondling her sons, / a great span of time passed, O King: eighty-eight years of his life.
6.1.24
To that aged man there were ten sons, and the youngest among them, / a child named Nārāyaṇa, was exceedingly dear to the parents.
6.1.25
His heart tied to that child who spoke babbling words, / watching his child's play, the old man rejoiced exceedingly.
6.1.26
Eating, drinking, and taking food, bound by affection for the boy, / feeding and giving drink to him, the foolish man did not notice death approaching.
6.1.27
Living in this manner, ignorant, when the time of death arrived, / he fixed his mind on his son, the child whose name was Nārāyaṇa.
6.1.28
Seeing three extremely terrifying persons with nooses in hand, / with crooked faces and erect hair, who had come to carry him off,
6.1.29
his senses bewildered, he called out loudly with a tearful voice / to his son named Nārāyaṇa, who was absorbed in play at a distance.
6.1.30
Hearing the glorification of Hari, the name of their master, / from the mouth of the dying man, O Great King, the attendants immediately arrived.
6.1.31
As they were pulling Ajāmila, the maidservant's husband, from within the heart, / the messengers of Viṣṇu forcibly stopped the servants of Yama.
6.1.32
Stopped by them, the heralds of Vaivasvata said: / 'Who are you to obstruct the command of the King of Dharma?
6.1.33
Whose servants are you, or from where have you come, and why do you obstruct this? / Are you gods, demigods, or the best of perfected beings?
6.1.34
All of you have eyes like lotus petals and wear yellow silk garments, / adorned with diadems, earrings, and radiant lotus garlands;
6.1.35
all of you are of youthful age, and all have handsome four-armed forms, / possessing the splendor of bows, quivers, swords, clubs, conches, discs, and lotuses;
6.1.36
rendering the directions dispelled of darkness by your own radiance— / for what purpose do you obstruct us, the servants of the guardian of dharma?'
6.1.37
Śrī Śuka said: / When thus addressed by those messengers of Yama, they who execute the words of Vāsudeva / laughed and answered them in a voice echoing like thunder:
6.1.38
The messengers of Viṣṇu said: / 'If you are indeed the executors of the orders of the King of Dharma, / then speak to us the truth of dharma and the characteristic of unrighteousness.
6.1.39
How, indeed, is punishment administered, or what is its designated object? / Are all agents among men punishable, or only some?'
6.1.40
The messengers of Yama said: / 'Dharma is that which is enjoined by the Veda, and unrighteousness is its opposite; / the Veda is Nārāyaṇa Himself, self-born—so we have heard.
6.1.41
By Him, within His own abode, all these entities composed of passion, purity, and darkness / are manifested just as they are through qualities, names, activities, and forms.
6.1.42
The sun, fire, sky, wind, the deity of the moon, evening, day, the directions, / water, earth, the self, and dharma—these indeed are witnesses to the embodied being.
6.1.43
When unrighteousness is perceived by these, punishment is suitably applied; / all agents deserve punishment according to their actions.
6.1.44
For good actions as well as their opposites arise, O sinless ones; / agents have connection with the qualities of nature, for no embodied being is without action.
6.1.45
To the extent, and in the manner, that unrighteousness or dharma is performed by anyone here, / he alone experiences its fruit in that same manner and to that same extent in the hereafter.
6.1.46
Just as a threefold division among living beings is observed here, O best of gods, / owing to the diversity of the qualities of nature, so too it is inferred elsewhere.
6.1.47
Just as the present time indicates the qualities of the other two, / so this birth indicates the dharma and unrighteousness of the other two births.
6.1.48
The unborn, glorious Lord perceives the prior form by the mind alone in his city, / and by the mind he reflects upon that which has not yet occurred.'
6.1.49
Just as an ignorant person, enveloped in darkness, perceives only the manifest [body] / and knows neither the preceding nor the subsequent, so too one whose memory of past births is lost.
6.1.50
Through five [organs of action] he carries out his pursuits, through five [organs of perception] he cognises five [objects]; / but the one [spirit], as the seventeenth, himself experiences three [states] through the sixteenth, [the mind].
6.1.51
This subtle body of sixteen constituents, bearing the three powers and vast, / maintains in the person continuous transmigration, which brings joy, sorrow, fear, and pain.
6.1.52
The embodied soul, ignorant and failing to subdue the group of six [senses], is compelled to perform actions against his will; / covering himself with action like a silkworm [in its cocoon], he is bewildered.
6.1.53
For no one ever remains without performing action even for a moment; / helpless indeed, one is forced to act by the qualities inherent to nature.
6.1.54
Having obtained a cause, the unmanifest becomes both manifest and unmanifest, / according to the womb and according to the seed, through the overpowering force of nature.
6.1.55
This error of the person arose through association with material nature; / and that very [error] dissolves before long through association with the Lord.
6.1.56
This [brahmin] indeed was endowed with sacred learning, an abode of good character, conduct, and virtues, / observant of vows, gentle, self-controlled, truthful in speech, knowing the mantras, and pure;
6.1.57
attentive to teachers, the sacred fires, guests, and elders, free from pride, / a friend to all beings, virtuous, restrained in speech, and free from malice.
6.1.58
Once this twice-born, having gone to the forest to carry out his father's bidding, / returned from there bearing fruits, flowers, sacrificial firewood, and kuśa grass.
6.1.59
He saw a certain lustful Śūdra with a maidservant, / who, having drunk maireya wine, had eyes rolling with intoxication,
6.1.60
drunk, her waistcloth slipping off, shameless and unrestrained, / sporting, singing along, and laughing with him near at hand.
6.1.61
Seeing her embraced by [the Śūdra's] arm smeared with lust, / he fell immediately under the sway of desire, completely bewildered.
6.1.62
Restraining himself by his own resolve, as far as his strength and learning permitted, / he was unable to steady his mind, which was shaken by love.
6.1.63
Seized by the illusion of desire caused by her, deprived of his senses, / meditating on her alone in his mind, he indeed abandoned his own dharma.
6.1.64
He gratified her with all the wealth inherited from his father, / so that she would be pleased by delightful, sensual pleasures.
6.1.65
The wicked man soon abandoned his youthful brahmin wife, / obtained from a noble family, his mind pierced by the glances of that unchaste woman.
6.1.66
Bringing wealth from wherever he could, by fair means or foul, / this foolish-minded man maintained the household of this mistress.
6.1.67
Because he transgressed the sacred texts, lived unrestrained, and was utterly condemned, / he passed a long time, his life full of sins, impure through defilement.
6.1.68
Therefore, we shall lead this perpetrator of sins, who has made no atonement, / to the presence of the Staff-Bearer [Yama], where he will be purified by punishment."
6.2.1
Śrī Bādarāyaṇi said:
Having thus heard what was spoken by the messengers of Yama, O King, / the messengers of the Lord, skilled in reasoning, replied to them:
6.2.2
The messengers of Viṣṇu said:
"Alas, how dreadful that adharma touches the assembly of the seers of dharma, / wherein punishment is vainly inflicted by them upon the guiltless who do not deserve punishment!
6.2.3
Those who are the fathers of the people, their rulers, virtuous, and impartial— / if there should be partiality among them, to whom do the people go for refuge?
6.2.4
Whatever a superior person practices, that very thing other people perform; / whatever standard he sets, the world follows that.
6.2.5
On whose lap the world places its head and sleeps in peace, / not knowing by itself what is dharma or adharma, just like an animal—
6.2.6
how can that [ruler], trustworthy to all creatures and compassionate, / bring ruin upon one who has surrendered himself, placed his trust, and is senseless?
6.2.7
This man has indeed atoned for the sins of ten million lifetimes, / because, helpless, he uttered the auspicious name of Hari.
6.2.8
Indeed, by this alone the expiation for the sins of this sinner was accomplished: / when he spoke the four syllables 'Nārāyaṇāya'.
6.2.9
A thief, a drinker of liquor, a betrayer of a friend, a slayer of a brahmin, a violator of the guru's bed, / a slayer of women, kings, fathers, or cows, and whichever other sinners there may be—
6.2.10
even for all these sinful persons, this very utterance of the name of Viṣṇu / is the complete atonement, since their mind is directed toward Him.
6.2.11
A sinner is not so completely purified by the penances, vows, and other rites proclaimed by the teachers of the Veda, / as by the words consisting of the names of Hari being uttered, which reveal the virtues of Him of highest renown.
6.2.12
For even after an atonement is performed, it is not ultimate if the mind runs again to the path of unrighteousness; / therefore, for those wishing the eradication of karma, the recitation of Hari's virtues is indeed that which purifies the heart.
6.2.13
Therefore, do not take this man away, who has accomplished the complete atonement for all his sins, / because while dying he uttered the name of the Lord.
6.2.14
Whether intended to signify something else, spoken in jest, for musical filler, or even in contempt, / the utterance of the name of Vaikuṇṭha is known to destroy all sins.
6.2.15
A person who has fallen, slipped, fractured a bone, been bitten, burned, or struck, / who helplessly cries out 'Hari!', does not deserve torments.
6.2.16
For grave and light sins, / grave and light penances have been declared by the great sages after careful consideration.
6.2.17
By those austerities, gifts, vows, and other means, those sins are cleansed, / but not that heart born of adharma; that too is cleansed only by service to the feet of the Lord.
6.2.18
The name of Him of highest renown, whether chanted / in ignorance or in knowledge, burns away a man's sin as fire burns fuel.
6.2.19
Just as a most potent medicine, when taken by chance, / produces its effect even for one who does not know it, so too does a mantra when uttered."
6.2.20
Śrī Śuka said:
Having thus clearly determined the dharma of the Bhāgavatas, O King, / they released that brahmin from the nooses of Yama and rescued him from death.
6.2.21
Thus addressed, the messengers of Yama, having gone to Yama's presence, / recounted everything exactly as it occurred to King Yama, O vanquisher of foes.
6.2.22
The twice-born, released from the noose, freed from fear and returned to his natural state, / bowed with his head to the servants of Viṣṇu, rejoicing at their sight.
6.2.23
Perceiving that he wished to speak, the servants of the Supreme Person, / suddenly vanished right there before his eyes, O sinless one.
6.2.24
Then Ajāmila, having heard the pure dharma of the Bhāgavatas / and the triple Vedic path based on the qualities of nature from the messengers of Yama and Kṛṣṇa,
6.2.25
“Alas! Great misery has befallen me, uncontrolled in self,
by whom my brahminhood was ruined as I begot children on a Śūdra woman.
6.2.26
Fie on me, despised by virtuous devotees, an evildoer, the disgrace of my lineage,
who, abandoning my young, chaste wife, went to an unchaste wine-drinker!
6.2.27
My aged, helpless parents, who had no other kin, poor souls—
alas, have now been abandoned like a vile wretch by ungrateful me.
6.2.28
Clearly, that very me will fall into a dreadful hell
where violators of dharma and lustful men suffer the torments of Yama.
6.2.29
Was this a dream, or was it directly seen here, a wonder?
Where have they gone today, those who dragged me with nooses in hand?
6.2.30
And where have those four perfected beings of beautiful appearance gone,
who released me as I was being led, bound by nooses, beneath the earth?
6.2.31
Even so, for unfortunate me, in the sight of the best of immortals,
there must be some good fortune by which my mind is pleased.
6.2.32
Otherwise, for an impure man who is the husband of a Śūdra woman and dying,
how could the tongue here be fit to utter the taking of Vaikuṇṭha’s name?
6.2.33
Where am I, a cheat, a sinner, a slayer of a brahmin, shameless—
and where is this auspicious name of the Lord, ‘Nārāyaṇa’?
6.2.34
Therefore I shall make such effort, subduing my mind, senses, and breath,
that I may not plunge my self again into blind darkness.
6.2.35
Having released this bond born of ignorance, desire, and action,
a friend to all beings, tranquil, friendly, compassionate, self-possessed,
6.2.36
I will deliver my self seized by the Lord’s creative power consisting of woman,
by which very power I, a base man, was played with like a toy animal.
6.2.37
Giving up the false notion of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ in the body and so forth,
I shall fix my mind, purified through His glorification and the like, upon the Lord.”
6.2.38
Śrī Śuka said:
Having thus attained complete disgust with worldly life through a moment’s contact with the virtuous,
he went to Gaṅgādvāra, freed from all attachments.
6.2.39
Seated in that temple of the gods, taking up yoga,
with the multitude of senses withdrawn, he fixed his mind on the self.
6.2.40
Then, detaching the self from the qualities by absorption in the self,
he joined it to the Lord’s abode, Brahman, whose nature is direct realization.
6.2.41
When his intellect had ceased [from activity], the twice-born saw those persons before him;
recognizing them as the ones perceived before, he bowed his head to them.
6.2.42
Abandoning his body at the sacred ford on the Gaṅgā after the vision,
he at once assumed the form of the Lord’s attendants.
6.2.43
Together with the servants of the Supreme Person through the sky,
the brahmin mounted a golden aerial chariot and went to where the Lord of Śrī resides.
6.2.44
Thus he, who had wrecked all dharma, husband of a servant woman, fallen through reprehensible action,
being thrown into hell, his vows broken, was at once liberated by uttering the Lord’s name.
6.2.45
For those who desire liberation there is no better cutting of the bonds of action than repeated glorification of Him whose feet are a sacred ford;
for the mind does not cling again to actions, whereas otherwise it remains turbid with passion and darkness.
6.2.46
Whoever listens with faith to this supreme, secret narrative that destroys sin,
and whoever repeatedly glorifies it with devotion—
6.2.47
he surely does not go to hell, nor is he seen by the servants of Yama;
even if inauspicious, that mortal is honored in the realm of Viṣṇu.
6.2.48
Dying, even Ajāmila went to the abode by uttering the name of Hari addressed to his son;
what then of one who utters it with faith?
6.2.49
The king said:
Having heard what was described by his soldiers, what did the god, Dharmarāja, say in reply to them,
whose command was thus thwarted, frustrated as they were by the emissaries of Murāri, [he] under whose control this mankind lies?
6.3.1
Nowhere before was any breaking of the rod of punishment of the god Yama ever heard of, O seer;
this doubt of the world, O sage, no one other than you can sever; such is my firm conviction.
6.3.2
Śrī Śuka said:
O King, with their effort frustrated by the Lord’s persons, the servants of Yama
informed their master, Yama, the lord of Saṃyamanī.
6.3.3
The messengers of Yama said:
How many rulers are there here in the world of living beings, O lord,
who cause the manifestation of results for one performing threefold action?
6.3.4
If there should be many rulers wielding the staff of punishment in the world,
for whom would there be death, or for whom not, or immortality itself?
6.3.5
Moreover, if there are many rulers for the many performers of action here,
rulership would be merely a figurative title, like that of local governors.
6.3.6
Therefore, you alone are the supreme master of all beings, along with their lords,
the ruler, the wielder of the staff of punishment for men, the judge of good and evil.
6.3.7
The punishment ordained by you does not hold good in the world now:
your command has been deceived by four wondrous perfected beings!
6.3.8
Severing your nooses by force, they released the sinner
as he was being led by us by your order to the chambers of torment.
6.3.9
We wish to know about them from you, if you deem it proper for us;
when ‘Nārāyaṇa’ was uttered, they arrived swiftly, saying, ‘Do not fear!’”
6.3.10
The son of Bādarāyaṇa said:
Thus questioned, that god Yama, the restrainer of creatures,
pleased, replied to his messengers, remembering the lotus foot of Hari:
6.3.11
Yama said:
“There is another, higher than me, of the moving and unmoving world, in whom the universe is woven warp and woof like cloth,
by a fraction of whom are its preservation, birth, and destruction, and under whose control is the world, like a bull woven through the nose.
6.3.12
He who binds mankind with names in His Vedic speech as [one binds] cattle with ropes to a main cord;
to Him these [beings], bound by the bonds of name and action, offer tribute in awe.
6.3.13
I, Mahendra, Nirṛti, Pracetas, Soma, Agni, Īśa, Pavana, Viriñci,
the Ādityas, the Viśvedevas, the Vasus, then the Sādhyas, the hosts of Maruts, the hosts of Rudras with the Siddhas,
6.3.14
and those other creators of the universe, chiefs of immortals, Bhṛgu and the rest, untouched by passion and darkness—
even they, though predominated by purity, do not know His intention, touched as they are by creative power; how much less can others?
6.3.15
Him indeed living beings do not perceive with the senses, mind, vital breaths,
heart, or speech—He who is the Self abiding within the heart of selves, just as forms do not see the eye, which is beyond them.
6.3.16
Of that self-dependent Hari, the supreme sovereign, the high master of creative power, the Great Self,
messengers mostly wander here, handsome, possessing His form, virtues, and nature.
6.3.17
The attendants of Viṣṇu, worshiped by the gods, of marks difficult to perceive, greatly wondrous,
protect mortals who possess devotion to Him from enemies, from me, and from all sides.”
6.3.18
The beings of Viṣṇu, worshiped by the gods, whose forms are difficult to see, exceedingly wondrous, / protect those devoted to Him from enemies, from me, and from mortals on every side.
6.3.19
Dharma, however, instituted directly by the Lord, the sages do not know, nor do the gods, / nor the foremost Siddhas, Asuras, or humans; how then the Vidyādharas, Cāraṇas, and the rest?
6.3.20
Svayambhū, Nārada, Śambhu, Kumāra, Kapila, Manu,
Prahlāda, Janaka, Bhīṣma, Bali, the son of Vyāsa, and we ourselves:
6.3.21
these twelve know the dharma of the Bhāgavatas, O soldiers—
secret, pure, and difficult to comprehend, knowing which one attains immortality.
6.3.22
Only this much in this world is considered supreme dharma for human beings:
the yoga of devotion to the Lord, beginning with the chanting of his name.
6.3.23
Behold the majesty of uttering the name of Hari, my sons,
by which alone even Ajāmila was released from the noose of death!
6.3.23.p1
Communal chanting of the names, qualities, and deeds of the Lord is quite sufficient to wipe away the sins of human beings,
6.3.24
since even the sinful Ajāmila, crying out to his son 'Nārāyaṇa!' as he died, attained liberation.
6.3.24.p1
[…]
6.3.24.p2
Generally, ordinary folk do not know this, their minds thoroughly deluded by the divine creative power, alas!
6.3.24.p3
Generally, ordinary folk do not know this, their minds thoroughly deluded by the divine creative power, alas!
6.3.25
Stupefied in their intelligence by the threefold Veda with its flowery promises of sweet reward, they engage in vast sacrificial rites.
6.3.25.p1
[…]
6.3.25.p2
Considering this, the wise surely direct the yoga of devotional emotion with their whole being toward the infinite Lord;
6.3.25.p3
Considering this, the wise surely direct the yoga of devotional emotion with their whole being toward the infinite Lord;
6.3.26
they do not deserve punishment from me, and even if they incur a sin, uttering the name of Him of wide renown destroys it.
6.3.26.p1
[…]
6.3.26.p2
Those virtuous devotees who have surrendered to the Lord, viewing all equally, whose purifying stories are sung by gods and Siddhas,
6.3.26.p3
Those virtuous devotees who have surrendered to the Lord, viewing all equally, whose purifying stories are sung by gods and Siddhas,
6.3.27
do not approach them, who are protected by Hari's mace; neither we nor time have the power to punish them.
6.3.27.p1
[…]
6.3.27.p2
Bring those wicked ones who have turned their faces away from the nectar of Mukunda’s lotus feet,
6.3.27.p3
Bring those wicked ones who have turned their faces away from the nectar of Mukunda’s lotus feet,
6.3.28
relished continually by detached supreme ascetics who possess nothing, and who remain bound by thirst to household life, which is the path to hell.
6.3.28.p1
[…]
6.3.28.p2
The tongue that does not speak the Lord's names and qualities, the mind that does not remember his lotus feet,
6.3.28.p3
The tongue that does not speak the Lord's names and qualities, the mind that does not remember his lotus feet,
6.3.29
and the head that does not bow even once to Kṛṣṇa—bring those wicked ones, who have never performed an act of worship to Viṣṇu!
6.3.29.p1
[…]
6.3.29.p2
Therefore, may that Lord, the ancient person Nārāyaṇa, forgive the improper act committed by us through our servants.
6.3.29.p3
Therefore, may that Lord, the ancient person Nārāyaṇa, forgive the improper act committed by us through our servants.
6.3.30
Ah, for one's own people who do not know and who fold their hands, there is forbearance in the supreme one. Homage to the infinite Person!
6.3.30.p1
[…]
6.3.31
Therefore, O Kauravya, know that the communal chanting of Viṣṇu's [names], which brings blessings to the world, is the absolute atonement
even for the greatest sins.
6.3.32
The self is not purified by vows and the like as it is by well-developed devotion,
for those who continually hear and recite the boundless heroic exploits of Hari.
6.3.32.p1
A bee drinking the nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet takes no delight in the qualities produced by creative power that bring sorrow;
6.3.33
but another person, smitten by desire, may endeavor by karmic action to cleanse his own passion, from which passion arises once again.
6.3.33.p1
[…]
6.3.33.p2
Recalling thus the Lord’s greatness spoken by their master, their minds filled with astonishment, those servants of Yama,
6.3.33.p3
Recalling thus the Lord’s greatness spoken by their master, their minds filled with astonishment, those servants of Yama,
6.3.34
never again harbored suspicion toward those who take refuge in Acyuta, and from then on, O King, they feared even to look upon them.
6.3.34.p1
[…]
6.3.35
The venerable pot-born [sage Agastya], seated on Mount Malaya and worshiping Hari,
related this secret narrative.
6.4.1
The king said:
The creation of gods, asuras, humans, serpents, beasts, and birds
in the reign of Svāyambhuva Manu was spoken of by you in brief.
6.4.2
I wish to know its detailed account from you, venerable sir:
by what power the supreme Lord produced the secondary creation.
6.4.3
Sūta said:
Having heard this thorough inquiry of the royal sage, Bādarāyaṇi,
the great yogin, praised it and spoke, O best of sages.
6.4.4
Śrī Śuka said:
When the Pracetases, the ten sons of Prācīnabarhis,
emerged from the depths of the ocean, they saw the earth covered with trees.
6.4.5
Becoming enraged at the trees, their anger inflamed by ascetic practice,
they emitted wind and fire from their mouths in their desire to burn them up.
6.4.6
Observing that they were being incinerated by the two, O best of Kurus,
the great King Soma spoke, as if pacifying their wrath:
6.4.7
'O fortunate ones, you ought not to harm the miserable trees;
desiring their flourishing, you have been designated lords of living beings.
6.4.8
Ah, the Lord Hari, the imperishable sovereign of the progenitors of beings,
the all-pervading master, created trees and plants as nourishment and sustenance.
6.4.9
The immobile are food for moving creatures, the footless for footed beings,
the handless for those endowed with hands, and the four-footed for the two-footed.
6.4.10
And you, sinless ones, were instructed by your father and the God of gods
for the creation of living beings. Why then do you burn down the trees?
6.4.11
Take up the path of the virtuous; restrain your ignited anger,
a path favored by your father, grandfather, and great-grandfathers!
6.4.12
Parents are the protectors of children; the eyelid is [the protector] of the eye; the husband of the wife;
the ruler of the subjects; the householder of mendicants; and the wise man is the friend of the ignorant.
6.4.13
Within the bodies of living beings dwells Hari, the Lord and Self.
Behold all things as his abode, and thus he will indeed be pleased with you.
6.4.14
He who, through the desire to know the self, curbs the fierce anger
that arises in the body like a storm from the sky, transcends the gunas.
6.4.15
Enough with burning the wretched trees! May there be welfare for the remainder of them.
Accept this excellent maiden born of the trees as your wife.'
6.4.16
Having thus addressed them and given the slender-waisted maiden born of an apsaras, O King,
King Soma departed, and they married her according to dharma.
6.4.17
From them, through her, Dakṣa the son of the Pracetases was indeed born,
by whose emission of progeny the three worlds were filled.
6.4.18
How Dakṣa, affectionate toward his daughters, generated beings
by seed and by mind—listen attentively to that from me.
6.4.19
Formerly, the progenitor of beings created these creatures by mind alone:
gods, asuras, humans, and others dwelling in the sky, on land, and in water.
6.4.20
Seeing that creation of progeny unmultiplied, the Prajāpati
went to the foothills of the Vindhyas and performed severe ascetic penance.
6.4.21
Bathing at each of the three daily ablutions in the supreme sacred ford named Aghamarṣaṇa, which wipes away sins,
he pleased Hari through ascetic penance.
6.4.22
He praised the Lord, Adhokṣaja, with the Haṃsaguhya prayer.
I shall recite to you that by which Hari was pleased.
6.4.23
The venerable Prajāpati said:
Obeisance to the Supreme, whose realization is unerring, the relative of [all, who is] the cause for the appearance of the three modes of nature,
whose abode cannot be seen by minds fixed on material elements and modes, who is free from pride, the self-born!
First 200 of 908 passages. Read on
Translations (1)
- The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English
Commentaries (1)
- Bhāgavatapurāṇaṭīkā — Vaṃśīdhara 1630, Sanskrit
Linked texts (1)
- Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit