Bhagavatapurana 6.4
English (machine translation) 6.4
- Language
- English
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!
6.4.24
The person living in this city [of the body] does not know the friendship of his friend dwelling alongside him,
just as a quality does not know the possessor of qualities whose sight is clear; to that Supreme Lord I bow.
6.4.25
The body, the vital breaths, the senses, the mental faculties, and the elements do not know
the self, another, or what is beyond; the person knows all, and knowing them, he knows the modes;
I praise the omniscient, endless Lord, whom [the person] does not know.
6.4.26
When there is cessation of the mind that consists of name and form, through the loss of perception and memory,
He who is realized by pristine resting in oneself—obeisance to that Haṃsa, who resides in the pure abode!
6.4.27
Wise men, by their wisdom, draw out Him who is deposited within the heart
with His nine threefold powers, hidden like fire in the fifteen kinds of kindling wood.
6.4.28
May He be pleased with me—He whose nature is the bliss of liberation resulting from the cessation of all differentiated creative power,
He who possesses all names, He who has all forms, whose own power is ineffable.
6.4.29
Whatever of His is expressed in speech, determined by intellect, senses, or mind,
let that not be His true form, for that is a form made of the modes; He is indeed characterized by the disappearance and manifestation of the modes.
6.4.30
In whom, from whom, by whom, whose, to whom, what, who, how, [one] acts and is made to act—
that is Brahman, the highest, known before all higher and lower beings, the cause of that, one without another.
6.4.31
His powers become the grounds for dispute and agreement among debating disputants,
and repeatedly cause delusion about the self to them; obeisance to Him, of boundless qualities, the infinite!
6.4.32
Concerning the single entity that is maintained as 'it is' and 'it is not,'
possessing distinct and contradictory attributes, what is perceived in Yoga and Sāṅkhya alike is the transcendent, favorable, great [Brahman].
6.4.33
Though devoid of name and form, the infinite Lord, out of grace toward those who worship the base of His feet,
assumed names and forms through His births and deeds; may that Supreme Lord be gracious to me!
6.4.34
He who shines, seated in the bodies of people, through ordinary paths of knowledge according to their mental disposition,
just as wind partakes of the qualities of the earth it relies upon—may that Lord fulfill my desire!
6.4.35
Śrī Śuka said:
Thus praised by him who was singing his hymns at that Aghamarṣaṇa ford, O best of the Kurus,
the Lord, affectionate to devotees, appeared.
6.4.36
Placing His feet on the shoulders of Suparṇa, with eight long, mighty arms,
holding a discus, conch, sword, shield, bow, arrows, noose, and mace;
6.4.37
Dressed in yellow garments, dark like a raincloud, with a gracious face and eyes,
His body draped with a forest garland, adorned with the glittering Śrīvatsa and Kaustubha;
6.4.38
Wearing a grand diadem and bracelets, with flashing shark-shaped earrings,
adorned with a girdle, rings, bangles, anklets, and armlets;
6.4.39
Bearing a form that enchants the three worlds, the Lord of the three realms
was surrounded by attendants such as Nārada and Nanda, and by the leaders of the hosts of gods.
6.4.40
Being praised by the Siddhas, Gandharvas, and Cāraṇas who sang in accompaniment,
[the Prajāpati,] seeing that wondrous, magnificent form, was overcome with awe.
6.4.41
Delighted in heart, the Prajāpati bowed down like a staff upon the ground;
he was unable to utter anything because of intense joy,
as pools are filled to the brim by cascading torrents [flooding] the portals of the mind.
6.4.42
To that devotee, the Prajāpati who desired offspring, bowed down in that manner,
Janārdana, who knows the heart of all beings, spoke this:
6.4.43
The Lord said:
O Prācetasa, highly fortunate one, you have attained perfection through ascetic penance,
because with supreme faith directed toward Me you have reached highest devotional emotion toward Me.
6.4.44
I am pleased with you, O lord of progeny, because your ascetic penance is for the increase of this [creation];
this is My desire: that there should be opulences of living beings.
6.4.45
Brahmā, Bhava, yourselves, the Manus, and the rulers of the gods
are indeed My opulences, the causes for the prosperity of beings.
6.4.46
Ascetic penance is My heart, O priest; sacred learning is My body; ritual action is My form;
the sacrifices are born as My limbs; dharma is My self; the gods are My vital breaths.
6.4.47
I alone existed in the beginning, and nothing else, inside or outside,
only pure consciousness, unmanifest, as if asleep everywhere.
6.4.48
When in Me, possessing endless qualities and boundless, the embodiment of the modes appeared through the modes,
then from that arose the first, the unborn Svayambhū.
6.4.49
When that Mahādeva [Brahmā], strengthened by My power,
undertook the work of creation, he considered himself as if incapacitated.
6.4.50
Then, instructed by Me, that deity performed dreadful ascetic penance,
by which that mighty one created at first the nine creators of the universe, you all.
6.4.51
Here, dear one, is the daughter of Prajāpati Pañcajana,
named Asiknī; O ruler of progeny, accept her as your wife!
6.4.52
Having the duty of sexual union as a couple, you shall bring forth this creation of offspring
in abundant measure once again through her, who also has the duty of sexual union as a couple.
6.4.53
After you, all creatures, uniting in pairs through My creative power,
shall come to be and shall offer tribute to Me.
6.4.54
Śrī Śuka said:
Having spoken thus, while he was looking on, the Lord, the originator of the universe,
Hari, vanished right there like an object perceived in a dream.
Translations (1)
- The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English
Commentaries (1)
- Bhāgavatapurāṇaṭīkā — Vaṃśīdhara 1630, Sanskrit
Linked texts (1)
- Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit