Bhagavatapurana 6.15

English (machine translation) 6.15

Language: English

6.15.27 — 1 part
6.15.28 — 1 part

6.15.1

Śrī Śuka said:
They two spoke to the king, who had fallen near the corpse, resembling a corpse himself,
overcome by sorrow, awakening him with wise words:

6.15.2

“Who might this one be to you, O king of kings, whom you grieve for?
And which one are you to him in creation—formerly, now, or hereafter?

6.15.3

Just as grains of sand come together and part by the force of the current,
so embodied beings are joined and separated by time.

6.15.4

Just as from grains of corn indeed other grains arise or do not arise,
even so living beings are impelled among beings by the Lord’s creative power.

6.15.5

We, you, and these moving and unmoving beings who share this present time—
as it is after death and before birth, so it is not even now, sir.

6.15.6

By means of created beings, the Lord of beings creates, protects, and destroys beings,
through beings created by Himself, unfree though they are, while He remains desireless, like a child.

6.15.7

Through a body, O king, an embodied being is born from a body, a body from a body,
just as seed arises from seed; but the embodied self, like the true entity, is eternal.

6.15.8

This distinction between body and embodied self was forged by lack of discrimination long ago,
just as this distinction between genus and individual is imagined in a real entity.”

6.15.9

Śrī Śuka said:
Thus consoled by the words of the two brāhmaṇas, King Citraketu,
wiping his face with his hand, which was withered by anguish, spoke.

6.15.10

The king said:
“Who are you two, endowed with knowledge, the greatest among the great,
who have arrived here disguised in the garb of avadhūtas?

6.15.11

For brāhmaṇas beloved of the Lord wander the earth at will
in the guise of madmen, to enlighten those like me whose intellects are worldly.

6.15.12

Sanatkumāra, Nārada, Ṛbhu, Aṅgiras, Devala, Asita, / Apāntaratamas, Vyāsa, Mārkaṇḍeya, and Gautama;

6.15.13

Vasiṣṭha, the Lord Rāma, Kapila, the son of Bādarāyaṇa, / Durvāsas, Yājñavalkya, Jātukarṇa, and Āruṇi;

6.15.14

Romaśa, Cyavana, Datta, Āsuri along with Patañjali, / the seer Vedaśiras, Dhaumya, and the sage Pañcaśikha;

6.15.15

Hiraṇyanābha Kauśalya, Śrutadeva, and Ṛtadhvaja— / these and other lords of perfected beings wander about causing knowledge.

6.15.16

Therefore, you two masters, light the lamp of knowledge / for me, a village beast of dull intellect, sunken in blinding darkness.

6.15.17

The venerable Aṅgiras said:
I am that Aṅgiras who gave you a son when you desired a son, O king;
and this is the son of Brahmā in person, the divine sage Nārada.

6.15.18

Remembering that you, an object of grace for great persons, do not deserve
to be thus plunged into impassable darkness by grief for a son,

6.15.19

we two have come here to bestow favor upon you, O lord.
You are devoted to the brāhmaṇas and a devotee of the Lord; you should not sink into despair.

6.15.20

At that very time, having come to your home, I would have given you supreme knowledge;
knowing your intense attachment to another object, I gave you only a son.

6.15.21

Now the burning agony of those who have sons is experienced by your own self.
Likewise wives, homes, riches, diverse opulences and fortunes,

6.15.22

objects of sense such as sound, unsteady royal majesties,
the earth, kingdom, army, treasury, servants, ministers, and friendly folk—

6.15.23

all these, O ruler of the Śūrasenas, produce grief, delusion, fear, and pain;
they are like celestial cities in the clouds, dreams, illusions, and mental fancies.

6.15.24

Born of the mind, seen without real existence, they cease to be seen;
from desires born of past actions, various actions arise for the mind meditating [upon them].

6.15.25

For this body of the embodied soul, consisting of elements, sense organs, and action,
is declared to be the producer of various miseries and burning agonies for the embodied one.

6.15.26

Therefore, examining with a calm mind the destination of your self,
abandon faith in the permanence of duality and enter into peace.

6.15.27

The venerable Nārada said:
Receive with pure attention this secret Upanisadic mantra of mine,
retaining which you will, within seven nights, see the all-pervading Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa.