Bhagavatapurana 6.2

English (machine translation) 6.2

Language: English

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:

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.

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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.

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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!

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My aged, helpless parents, who had no other kin, poor souls—
alas, have now been abandoned like a vile wretch by ungrateful me.

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Clearly, that very me will fall into a dreadful hell
where violators of dharma and lustful men suffer the torments of Yama.

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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?

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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.

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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’?

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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,

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Translations (1)

The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English

Commentaries (1)

Bhāgavatapurāṇaṭīkā — Vaṃśīdhara 1630, Sanskrit

Linked texts (1)

Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit