Bhagavatapurana 8

English (machine translation) 8

Language: English

8.1 — 33 parts
8.2 — 33 parts
8.3 — 33 parts
8.4 — 26 parts
8.5 — 50 parts
8.6 — 39 parts
8.7 — 45 parts
8.8 — 48 parts
8.9 — 29 parts
8.10 — 57 parts
8.11 — 48 parts
8.12 — 47 parts
8.13 — 36 parts
8.14 — 11 parts
8.15 — 37 parts
8.16 — 62 parts
8.17 — 28 parts
8.18 — 32 parts
8.19 — 43 parts
8.20 — 34 parts
8.21 — 34 parts
8.22 — 36 parts
8.23 — 31 parts
8.24 — 61 parts

8.1.1

The king said: / Here, O guru, this lineage of Svāyambhuva has been heard in detail, / wherein is the creation of the creators of the universe; tell us of the other Manus!

8.1.2

In each manvantara the birth of Hari and the deeds of that most exalted one / are praised by poets; O brahmin, tell those to us who are listening!

8.1.3

Whatever the Lord, the maker of the universe, / has done, is doing, or will do in this or that period, whether past, future, or today.

8.1.4

The sage said: / In this cosmic cycle, six Manus, beginning with Svāyambhuva, have passed; / the first has been told to you, wherein occurred the emergence of the gods and others.

8.1.5

In Ākūti and Devahūti, the two daughters of that Manu, / the Lord became a son in order to instruct in dharma and knowledge.

8.1.6

What was previously done by the Lord as Kapila has been described; / I shall relate what the Lord as Yajña did, O best of the Kurus.

8.1.7

Detached from sensual pleasures, the master, the husband of Śatarūpā, / abandoning his kingdom, entered the forest with his wife for asceticism.

8.1.8

Touching the earth with one foot on the bank of the Sunandā for a hundred years, / performing terrible asceticism, he recited this, O Bhārata:

8.1.9

Manu said: / By whom the universe is animated, but whom the universe does not animate, / who remains awake while this [universe] is asleep; this [universe] does not know him, but he knows.

8.1.10

All this is to be inhabited by the Self, whatever moving thing there is in the moving world; / enjoy through that renunciation; do not covet anyone's wealth!

8.1.11

Whom the eye does not see while he sees, [and] whose [sight] does not fail; / run toward that god, the dwelling-place of all beings, the well-winged one!

8.1.12

For whom there is no beginning, end, or middle, no self or other, no interior or exterior; / because of whom all these belong to the universe, and the universe is that vast truth.

He whose body is the universe, invoked by many, the Lord, the true, self-luminous, unborn, ancient, / sustains its creation and other [phases] through his unborn creative power, and dispelling that by knowledge, remains desireless.

8.1.14

Therefore, in the beginning sages undertake actions for the sake of non-action; / for an acting person generally attains desirelessness.

8.1.15

The Lord, the master, acts, but he is not attached to it; / his purpose is fulfilled by the attainment of his Self; those who follow him do not despond.

8.1.16

I take refuge in that Lord who acts, free from egoism, the wise, devoid of longing, complete, impelled by no other, / instructing men, established on his own path, the inspirer of all dharma.

8.1.17

Śrī Śuka said: / Seeing him thus concentrated, uttering the secret Upanisadic mantra, / the asuras and Yātudhānas ran forward in hunger to devour him.

8.1.18

Seeing them determined to do so, Yajña, the all-pervading Hari, / surrounded by the Yāma gods, killed them and ruled over heaven.

8.1.19

The second Manu was Svārociṣa, the son of Agni; / Dyumat, Suṣeṇa, Rociṣmat, and others were his sons.

8.1.20

There Rocana was Indra, and the gods were the Tuṣitas and others; / Ūrjastambha and others were the seven sages who spoke of Brahman.

8.1.21

The wife of the sage Vedaśiras was named Tuṣitā; / in her was born then the god well known as Vibhu.

8.1.22

Eighty-eight thousand sages, observing vows, / celibate from their youth, followed his discipline.

8.1.23

The third Manu was named Uttama, the son of Priyavrata; / Pavana, Sṛñjaya, Yajñahotra, and others were his sons, O king.

8.1.24

Pramada and others, sons of Vasiṣṭha, were the seven sages; / the Satyas, Vedaśrutas, and Bhadras were the gods, and Indra was Satyajit.

8.1.25

From Dharma, in Sūnṛtā, the Lord, the Supreme Person, / renowned as Satyasena, was born along with the Satyavratas.

8.1.26

He, as the ally of Satyajit, slew the Yakṣas, Rākṣasas, / and hordes of spirits who harmed living beings, whose vows were false, of wicked nature, and unrighteous.

8.1.27

The fourth Manu, brother of Uttama, was named Tāmasa; / Pṛthu, Khyāti, Nara, Ketu, and others were his ten sons.

8.1.28

The Satyakas, Haris, and Vīras were the gods; Triśikha was Indra; / Jyotirdhāman and others were the seven sages in the Tāmasa period.

8.1.29

The gods were called Vaidhṛtis, sons of Vidhṛti, O king, / by whom the Vedas, lost in time, were upheld by their own brilliance.

8.1.30

There also the Lord was born in Hariṇī from Harimedhas, / named Hari, by whom the king of elephants was freed from the crocodile.

8.1.31

The king said: / O Bādarāyaṇa, we wish to hear this from you, / how Hari released the lord of elephants who was seized by a crocodile.

8.1.32

Great merit, auspiciousness, blessing, and good fortune are in those tales / wherever the Lord Hari, He of highest renown, is sung.

8.1.33

Śrī Sūta said: / Thus urged concerning the tales by Parīkṣit, who was seated awaiting death, / he, the son of Bādarāyaṇa, O brahmins, applauding the king with joy, spoke in the assembly of sages who were listening.

8.2.1

Śrī Śuka said: / There was a best of mountains, O king, renowned as Trikūṭa, / surrounded by the Ocean of Milk, splendid, ten thousand yojanas high.

8.2.2

Equally broad all around, it stands illuminating the ocean of milk,
the directions, and the sky with its three peaks of silver, iron, and gold.

8.2.3

And with other peaks variegated with gems and minerals,
with diverse trees, creepers, and shrubs, and with the roaring sounds of cascade waters, [it illuminates] all the quarters.

8.2.4

Its base constantly washed all around by the waves of milk,
it makes the earth dark-green with emerald stones.

8.2.5

Its caves are frequented by sporting Siddhas, Cāraṇas, and Gandharvas,
by Vidyādharas, great serpents, Kinnaras, and Apsarases.

8.2.6

Where, when the caves echo with the resonant sounds of music,
lions, proud of their strength, roar aggressively in anger, suspecting a rival.

8.2.7

Adorned with valleys teeming with herds of various wild beasts,
it has celestial gardens of wondrous trees where sweet-voiced birds sing.

8.2.8

Endowed with rivers and lakes of clear water, sandbanks of jewel-like sands,
and breezes carrying the fragrant scent of waters stirred by the bathing of divine women.

8.2.9

In a valley of that mountain was a garden belonging to the glorious Varuṇa,
named Ṛtumat, a pleasure-ground for celestial women,

8.2.10

Adorned on all sides with divine trees bearing perpetual flowers and fruits:
mandāras, pārijātas, pāṭalas, aśokas, campakas,

8.2.11

Cūtas, piyālas, jackfruits, mangos, and amrātakas,
areca palms, coconuts, dates, and bījapūrakas,

8.2.12

Madhukas, śālas, palmyras, tamālas, asanas, arjunas,
ariṣṭas, uḍumbaras, plakṣas, banyans, kiṃśukas, and sandalwoods,

8.2.13

Picumardas, kovidāras, pines, devdars,
grapes, sugarcanes, plantains, jambus, jujubes, akṣas, abhayās, āmalakas,

8.2.14

Surrounded by bilvas, kapitthas, citrons, bhallātakas, and others.
In that [garden] was a vast lake with shining golden lotuses,

8.2.15

Abundant with the beauty of white water lilies, blue lotuses, red water lilies, and lotuses,
resounding with intoxicated six-legged bees and birds of sweet calls,

8.2.16

Filled with swans, kāraṇḍavas, cakravākas, and cranes,
and echoing with flocks of water-fowls, koyaṣṭis, and gallinules,

8.2.17

Its waters covered with lotus pollen stirred up by the movement of fish and turtles,
surrounded by kadambas, reeds, nalas, nīpas, and vañjulakas,

8.2.18

By kundas, kurubakas, aśokas, śirīṣas, kūṭajas, iṅgudas,
kubjakas, golden jasmine, nāgas, punnāgas, and jātīs,

8.2.19

And adorned with mallikās, lotuses, bower creepers,
and other trees growing on its banks, ever in flower and fruit throughout all seasons.

8.2.20

Once, dwelling in the forests of that mountain, a lord of an elephant herd wandered there with his female elephants,
breaking down trees and vast thickets filled with thorns, whispering bamboos, canebrakes, and reeds.

8.2.21

By whose mere scent lions, great elephants, and ferocious beasts like tigers and rhinoceroses flee in terror,
as do huge serpents, white and black antelopes, sarabhas, and yaks.

8.2.22

While wolves, boars, buffaloes, bears, porcupines, langurs, jackals, and monkeys,
as well as small deer, hares, and others roam elsewhere without fear, by his grace.

8.2.23

Tormented by the heat, surrounded by elephants and female elephants, followed by young calves dripping with temple secretions,
he made the mountain tremble all around by his massive weight, while attended by swarms of bees feeding on rut-juice.

8.2.24

Smelling from afar the breeze from the lake tinged with lotus pollen, his eyes bewildered with rut,
he, surrounded by his herd oppressed by thirst, quickly went near that lake.

8.2.25

Plunging into that pure, nectar-like water covered with the pollen of golden and blue lotuses,
he drank his fill using his trunk, and bathing himself with the water, his fatigue vanished.

8.2.26

Drawing up spray and water with his trunk, causing the female elephants and calves to drink and bathe, like a householder
affectionate [toward his family], intoxicated and pitiable, he did not foresee danger due to the creative power of the Unborn.

8.2.27

There, O King, impelled by fate, a powerful crocodile angrily seized him by the foot.
Having thus fallen into calamity by chance, that exceedingly strong elephant exerted all his might [to resist].

8.2.28

Seeing the leader of the herd thus afflicted, being dragged forcibly by the stronger [crocodile],
the female elephants cried out in distress, and the other elephants, seizing him from behind, were unable to pull him out.

8.2.29

As the lord of elephants and the crocodile thus fought, dragging each other back and forth inside and outside [the water],
a thousand years passed, O ruler of the earth, and the immortals marvelled at their endurance.

8.2.30

Then, over that long time, a great depletion took place in the mental energy, physical force, and vitality of the king of elephants
who was being dragged into the water and exhausted; while for the water-dweller, everything was the exact opposite.

8.2.31

Thus, when that king of elephants, an embodied soul, came into peril of his life, helpless by circumstance,
unable to free himself after so long a time, he reflected deeply and arrived at this resolve:

8.2.32

“These elephants, my kinsmen, are unable to deliver me in my distress; how then could the females?
Caught by the crocodile as if by the noose of Destiny, I shall take refuge in that supreme ultimate refuge.

8.2.33

Whoever is the Lord who protects one who is frightened and surrendered from the mighty serpent of Death running after him with terrible speed,
and through fear of whom Death himself flees away—we approach Him for protection.”

8.3.1

The son of Bādarāyaṇa said:
Having thus resolved with his intellect and focusing his mind within his heart,
he chanted the supreme prayer that he had learned in a previous birth.

8.3.2

The king of elephants said:
“Oṃ! Salutations to that Lord, by whom this universe is endowed with consciousness.
We meditate upon the Puruṣa, the original seed, the supreme Lord.

8.3.3

In whom this [universe exists], from whom this [comes], by whom this [is sustained], who is this [universe] Himself,
who is beyond both this [manifest effect] and the unmanifest cause—in Him, the Self-existent, I take refuge.

8.3.4

He who by His own creative power established this [universe] within Himself, which sometimes appears and sometimes remains hidden;
unobscured in vision, as the witness He observes both states—may that self-rooted Lord, higher than the highest, protect me!

8.3.5

When in time all the worlds, their guardians, and all causes have dissolved into nothingness,
there was dense and deep darkness; beyond that shines the all-pervading Lord.

8.3.6

Neither the gods nor the sages know His state; how then could any [ordinary] creature reach or describe it?
Like an actor disguised in various forms as he performs, He whose movements are unfathomable—may He protect me!

8.3.7

Desiring to see whose auspicious state, sages entirely free from attachment, supremely virtuous,
practise an unblemished, transcendental vow in the forest, identifying themselves with all beings and acting as their friends—He is my refuge.”

8.3.8

He has neither birth nor actions, neither names nor forms, nor indeed qualities or defects; / yet, for the creation and destruction of the worlds, he assumes them from time to time by his own creative power.

8.3.9

Salutations to him, the supreme sovereign, Brahman of infinite potency; / salutations to him of wondrous deeds, who is formless yet possesses countless forms!

8.3.10

Salutations to the inner lamp, to the witness, the Supreme Self; / salutations to him who lies far beyond words, beyond mind, and beyond thoughts.

8.3.11

To him who is attained through purity by the wise one endowed with freedom from karmic reaction; / salutations to the master of absolute liberation, the consciousness of the bliss of extinction!

8.3.12

Salutations to him who appears peaceful, terrifying, or stupefied, assuming the natures of the material qualities; / salutations to him who is without distinction, uniform, and a solid mass of knowledge!

8.3.13

Salutations to you, the knower of the field, the overseer of all, the witness; / salutations to the Puruṣa who is his own origin, and to original primordial nature!

8.3.14

Salutations to you, the observer of all the faculties of the senses, the cause of all perceptions, / spoken of as a shadow by what is unreal, yet appearing as the real!

8.3.15

Repeated salutations to you, the cause of all, uncaused, the marvelous cause; / the great ocean into which all scriptures and Vedic traditions flow, salutations to liberation, the supreme refuge!

8.3.16

To him who conceals the heat of consciousness like fire hidden in the kindling of the qualities, whose mind expands upon their agitation; / who is revealed to those who have abandoned Vedic rituals through the spirit of freedom from karmic reaction—salutations to the self-luminous one!

8.3.17

Salutations to him who frees an animal-like surrendered soul like me from bonds, who is ever free, boundless in compassion, and tireless; / salutations to you, the immense Lord, who perceive from within, manifest in the mind of every embodied being as your own portion!

8.3.18

To him who is difficult to reach for those attached to self, children, kin, house, wealth, and dependents, and who is devoid of contact with material qualities; / salutations to the Lord, the sovereign whose nature is knowledge, meditated upon in their own hearts by liberated souls!

8.3.19

Desiring dharma, desire, wealth, or total release, worshiping him, seekers attain their desired goal; / and he even grants an imperishable body and blessings: may he of abundant mercy bestow liberation upon me!

8.3.20

Whose exclusive devotees, fully surrendered to the Lord, truly desire no selfish purpose whatsoever, / immersed in the ocean of bliss as they sing his wondrous, all-auspicious pastimes!

8.3.21

I praise that imperishable, supreme Brahman, the supreme ruler, unmanifest, reachable by interior yoga, / beyond the senses, subtle, as if exceedingly remote, endless, primeval, and complete!

8.3.22

By whose mere fractional portion the gods headed by Brahmā, the Vedas, and the moving and unmoving worlds / are produced with differentiations of names and forms;

8.3.23

Just as sparks emerge from a fire, and rays constantly emanate from and return to the self-luminous sun, / so from him flows forth this stream of material qualities, intellect, mind, senses, and bodily creations;

8.3.24

He is indeed neither god nor demon, neither mortal nor animal, neither female, neuter, nor male, nor an ordinary creature; / he is not this quality, nor action, neither existent nor non-existent: may he, the complete remainder after all negation, be victorious!

8.3.25

Why should I wish to live in this world in this elephant body, enveloped inside and outside [by ignorance]? / I desire freedom from that covering over the self's realm, which is not destroyed by time.

8.3.26

Therefore, I bow down to the creator of the universe, who is the universe and yet not the universe, the omniscient knower of the universe, / the soul of the universe, the unborn Brahman, the supreme abode.

8.3.27

Whom the yogins, their karma burned away by yoga, behold in a heart purified by yoga—/ to that master of yoga I bow.

8.3.28

Repeated salutations to you of irresistible speed, possessing the three energies, possessing all intellectual faculties; / the protector of the surrendered, endowed with endless power, whose path is unattainable by the uncontrolled senses!

8.3.29

This [embodied being] does not know its own self, struck down by the ego-sense through your power; / to that Lord of insurmountable majesty I have approached for refuge.

8.3.30

Śrī Śuka said: / When Brahmā and the other gods, proud of their diverse particular identities, did not approach the king of elephants who had thus described [the Lord] devoid of particularities, / because he is the soul of all, Hari, consisting of all the immortals, manifested there.

8.3.31

Seeing him thus afflicted and hearing his hymn along with the gods praising him, the abode of the universe, / carried on the Vedas-bodied Garuḍa and armed with the disc, went swiftly to where the king of elephants was.

8.3.32

Caught within the lake by one of immense strength and deeply distressed, he saw Hari in the sky mounted on Garuḍa holding his disc; / raising his trunk holding a lotus, he uttered with difficulty the words: 'O Nārāyaṇa, teacher of all, O Lord, salutations to you!'

8.3.33

Seeing him tormented, the unborn Lord immediately descended, and swiftly pulled him out of the lake along with the crocodile out of compassion; / before the watching eyes of the celestials, Hari freed the king of elephants from the crocodile whose jaws were split open by the disc.

8.4.1

Śrī Śuka said: / Then the divine sages and Gandharvas, led by Brahmā and Īśāna, / showered flowers, praising that deed of Hari.

8.4.2

Celestial kettledrums resounded, Gandharvas danced and sang, / and the sages, Cāraṇas, and Siddhas praised the Supreme Person.

8.4.3

That crocodile immediately assumed a wondrous form: / released from Devala's curse, he was Hūhū, the foremost of Gandharvas.

8.4.4

Bowing his head to the immutable sovereign, He of highest renown, / he sang of the abode of glory, whose virtuous pastimes and qualities are worthy of glorification.

8.4.5

Favored by the Lord, he circumambulated him, bowed down, / and, freed from evil, went to his own realm before the eyes of the world.

8.4.6

By the touch of the Lord, the king of elephants was freed from the bondage of ignorance; / he obtained the form of the Lord, clad in yellow garments and four-armed.

8.4.7

In a previous life he was a Pāṇḍya king, the foremost among the Draviḍas, / known as Indradyumna, devoted to vows for Viṣṇu.

8.4.8

Once, at the time of worship, self-composed, having taken a vow of silence, an ascetic with matted hair who had bathed, / residing in his hermitage at Kulācala, he was worshiping the sovereign Hari, Acyuta.

8.4.9

By chance, the illustrious sage [Agastya], surrounded by his disciples, arrived there; / seeing him sitting silently in seclusion, without offering hospitality and honor, the sage grew angry.

8.4.10

He gave him this curse: 'This impious, wicked-minded fool, / who disrespects a brahmin today, shall enter dense darkness as an elephant, stupid-minded as he is!'

8.4.11

Śuka said:
Having cursed him thus, O king, the venerable Agastya departed along with his followers;
and Indradyumna, the royal sage, accepting that as his destiny,

8.4.12

entered an elephant's womb, which destroys remembrance of the self;
yet, through the power of his worship of Hari, memory persisted even in elephant form.

8.4.12.p1

Having thus delivered the leader of the elephant herd, the lotus-navel [Lord], joined by him who had also attained the state of an attendant,

8.4.13

while His wondrous deeds were praised in song by Gandharvas, Siddhas, and gods, went to His own abode seated upon Garuḍa.

8.4.13.p1

[…]

8.4.14

This glory of Kṛṣṇa, the liberation of the elephant king, has been related by me to you, O great king;
it brings heaven, brings fame, removes the impurities of Kali, and destroys bad dreams for those who hear it, O best of the Kurus.

8.4.15

Twice-born men desiring welfare chant this
when they rise pure in the morning, for the pacification of bad dreams and other ills.

8.4.16

Pleased, Hari, the pervasive Lord who comprises all beings, spoke this to the elephant king,
O best of the Kurus, as all beings listened:

8.4.17

The Lord said:
Those who [remember] Me and you, this lake, the mountain caves and forests,
the thickets of cane, bamboo, and reeds, the heavenly trees,

8.4.18

these peaks, the abodes of Brahmā, of Me, and of Śiva,
the Ocean of Milk, my beloved abode, and the luminous Śvetadvīpa,

8.4.19

the Śrīvatsa mark, the Kaustubha jewel, my garland, my Kaumodakī mace,
the Sudarśana disc, the Pāñcajanya conch, and Suparṇa, the king of birds,

8.4.20

Śeṣa, my subtle portion, the goddess Śrī who has taken refuge in Me,
Brahmā, the sage Nārada, Bhava, and Prahlāda,

8.4.21

the boundlessly purifying deeds performed by Me
through incarnations such as the Fish, Tortoise, and Boar, the sun, moon, and fire,

8.4.22

the syllable Om, truth, the unmanifest, cows and brāhmaṇas, the imperishable dharma,
the daughters of Dakṣa who are the wives of Dharma, as well as those of Soma and Kaśyapa,

8.4.23

the Gaṅgā, Sarasvatī, Nandā, Kālindī, the white elephant,
Dhruva, the seven divine sages, and pious men whose praise is purifying—

8.4.24

rising at the end of the last watch of the night, purified and well concentrated,
those who remember these forms of Mine are released from all sin.

8.4.25

Those who praise Me with this [hymn], my dear friend, upon awakening at the end of night,
to them I give an exalted destination at the departure of their life breaths.

8.4.26

Śuka said:
Having instructed thus, Hṛṣīkeśa, loudly blowing the finest of conches,
mounted the king of birds, gladdening the host of the gods.

8.5.1

Śuka said:
O king, this holy act of Hari that destroys sin, the liberation of the elephant king, has been related to you;
now hear of the Raivata epoch.

8.5.2

The fifth Manu, named Raivata, was the brother of Tāmasa;
his sons were Bali, Vindhya, and others, led by Arjuna.

8.5.3

Vibhu was the Indra; the hosts of gods, O king, were the Bhūtarayas and others;
the twice-born sages were Hiraṇyaroman, Vedaśiras, Ūrdhvabāhu, and others.

8.5.4

Vikuṇṭhā was the wife of Śubhra, along with the Vaikuṇṭhas, the best of gods;
of those two, the Lord Himself was born as Vaikuṇṭha through a portion of Himself,

8.5.5

by whom the realm of Vaikuṇṭha was fashioned, revered by all the worlds,
entreated by the goddess Ramā, out of a desire to do what pleased her.

8.5.6

His majesty and supremely exalted virtues have been recounted;
he who could count the virtues of Viṣṇu could count the dust particles of the earth.

8.5.7

The sixth was the Manu named Cākṣuṣa, the son of Cakṣus;
Pūru, Pūruṣa, Sudyumna, and others were Cākṣuṣa's sons.

8.5.8

Mantradruma was Indra there; the groups of gods were the Āpyas and others;
the sages there indeed, O king, were Haviṣmat, Vīraka, and others.

8.5.9

There also, in [the womb of] Devasambhūti, the Lord, the master of the universe,
was born as the son of Vairāja, named Ajita, through a portion [of Himself].

8.5.10

By him, churning the ocean, the nectar was procured for the gods,
and, assuming the form of a tortoise, Mount Mandara was held as it whirled in the water.

8.5.11

The king said:
O brāhmaṇa, how was the Ocean of Milk churned by the Lord,
and for what purpose, and why did He support the mountain in the form of an aquatic creature?

8.5.12

How was the nectar obtained by the gods, and what else took place thereafter?
Speak to me of this supremely wondrous deed of the Lord.

8.5.13

My mind, scorched for so long by affliction,
is never satiated by the greatness of the Lord of the Sātvatas being recounted by you.

8.5.14

Sūta said:
Thus questioned, O twice-born sages, the venerable son of Dvaipāyana,
praising the valor of Hari, began to recount it.

8.5.15

Śuka said:
When in battle the gods, struck down by the demons with sharp weapons,
fell lifeless and could not rise in great numbers,

8.5.16

when, through the curse of Durvāsas, the three worlds including Indra, O king,
became bereft of prosperity, and sacrifices and other rites perished there,

8.5.17

perceiving this, the hosts of gods, Mahendra, Varuṇa, and the others,
consulting among themselves in their deliberations, reached no resolution.

8.5.18

Then they all went to the assembly of Brahmā on the summit of Mount Meru;
bowing down, they made everything known to the Supreme Lord of Creatures.

8.5.19

Seeing Indra, Vāyu, and the others devoid of vitality and shorn of luster,
the worlds mostly inauspicious, and the asuras flourishing otherwise, the powerful Lord [Brahmā],

8.5.20

with a concentrated mind remembering the Supreme Person,
with radiant face spoke to the gods, he, the exalted Lord:

8.5.21

I, Bhava, you all, as well as the asuras and others, humans, animals, trees, and sweat-born creatures,
who are sent forth as portions and parts of His incarnations—let us all go for refuge to Him, the imperishable.

8.5.22

For Him there is no one to be slain and no one to be protected, no side to be neglected and none to be favored;
nevertheless, for the creation, maintenance, and destruction [of the universe], He assumes passion, purity, and darkness in their time.

8.5.23

And this is the moment of His protection of maintenance, when He takes up purity for the welfare of embodied beings;
therefore let us take refuge in the teacher of the universe; fond of the gods, He will bestow blessing upon His own.

8.5.24

Śuka said:
Having spoken thus to the gods, the creator, together with the gods, O subduer of enemies,
went directly to the realm of Ajita, which is beyond darkness.

8.5.25

There, to Him whose form had not been seen, but had indeed been heard of previously,
the master, with his senses well composed, uttered praise in divine words.

8.5.26

Brahmā said:
Unchanging, true, infinite, the primal one, residing in the secret cave [of the heart], partless, inconceivable,
moving swifter than the mind, unexpressed by speech—we bow to the choicest of gods, the most desirable.

8.5.27

He who is all-knowing, the manifest witness of life-breath, mind, intellect, self, sense objects, and senses, sleepless, without blemish,
in whom light and shade are not two vulture's wings—to that imperishable one, the void, Triyuga, we go [for refuge].

8.5.28

The wheel of the Unborn, driven by his birthless [creative power], consisting of the mind, having fifteen spokes, swift, / having three hubs, fluctuating like lightning, with eight rims, which wheel the wise call his axle—to that deathless one I surrender.

8.5.29

He who, having assumed this single form, beyond darkness, unmanifest, without darkness, endless, / made [his seat] upon Suparṇa—him the wise worship with the chariot of yoga.

8.5.30

He whose creative power no one overcomes, by which people are deluded and do not understand the goal, / him, who has mastered his own self-qualities, the supreme lord moving equally among all beings, we revere.

8.5.31

We here, though created by his favored body of purity, appearing inside and outside, / do not know his subtle course, nor do the sages; how then could the asuras and others dominated by other qualities know it?

8.5.32

This earth, created by him alone, is his feet, upon which rests the fourfold creation of living beings; / may that Supreme Person, self-reliant, Brahman of great majesty, be pleased with us.

8.5.33

The waters, indeed, are his semen of generous virility, by which all the worlds and world-protectors thrive, live, and prosper; / may he of great majesty be pleased with us.

8.5.34

Soma they consider to be his mind, which is the strength, food, and life-span of the gods, / the lord of trees and the procreator of living beings; may he of great majesty be pleased with us.

8.5.35

Fire is his mouth, Agni Jātavedas, who arose having for the cause of his birth the sacrificial rites, / who digests the bodily elements [of creatures] like fire within the ocean; may he of great majesty be pleased with us.

8.5.36

His eye was the sun, the path of the gods, consisting of the three Vedas, the abode of the sacred word, / the doorway to liberation, and both immortality and death; may he of great majesty be pleased with us.

8.5.37

From his vital breath arose the life-breath of moving and unmoving beings, their endurance, strength, vitality, and the wind; / we follow him like attendants following an emperor; may he of great majesty be pleased with us.

8.5.38

From his ears were born the directions, and from his heart the spaces [within], and the sky from the navel of the Person, / the resting place of life-breath, senses, mind, vital forces, and body; may he of great majesty be pleased with us.

8.5.39

From his strength came Mahendra, from his favor the gods, from his anger the Lord of the Mountain, from his intellect Viriñca; / from the bodily apertures the Vedic meters and sages, and from his organ of generation came Ka; may he of great majesty be pleased with us.

8.5.40

From his chest came Śrī, from his shadow the ancestors; dharma arose from his breast, and from his back came adharma; / from his head came the sky, and from his playful diversion the apsarases; may he of great majesty be pleased with us.

8.5.41

The brāhmaṇa and the secret sacred word came from his mouth; the rājanya was from his arms, along with strength; / from his thighs came the vaiśya and endurance; from his feet came the earth and the śūdra; may he of great majesty be pleased with us.

8.5.42

Greed arose from his lower lip, affection from his upper lip, bodily luster from his nose, passion related to animals through his touch; / from his brows came Yama, and from his eyelashes was born Time; may he of great majesty be pleased with us.

8.5.43

Substance, time, action, the qualities, and individual distinctions, which they declare to be ordained by his yogamāyā, / which is difficult to conceive and is dispelled by the enlightened; may he of great majesty be pleased with us.

8.5.44

Homage be to him whose powers are pacified, whose self is completely fulfilled in the attainment of his own sovereignty, / who does not cling through his activities to the qualities fashioned by creative power, having the wind for his course.

8.5.45

O Lord, show yourself to us, within the range of our senses, / to us who have surrendered and long to behold your smiling lotus-like face.

8.5.46

Through those various forms assumed by your own will from time to time, O all-pervading Lord, / the Lord himself performs that deed which is unbearable for us.

8.5.47

Actions of embodied beings tormented by sense objects involve great trouble, have little substance, or are fruitless; / not so is action dedicated to you.

8.5.48

Even the least manner of action dedicated to the Lord does not turn out to be in vain for a person; / for he indeed is the Self, beloved and benevolent.

8.5.49

Just as the watering of the root of a tree nourishes the trunk and branches, / so indeed does the worship of Viṣṇu benefit all living beings and oneself.

8.5.50

Homage to you, the infinite, whose self and activities are beyond contemplation, / devoid of material qualities, lord of the qualities, and currently situated in purity.

8.6.1

Śrī Śuka said:
Praised in this way by the hosts of gods, the Lord, Hari, the supreme controller, / appeared before them, O King, with the radiance of a thousand rising suns.

8.6.2

By that [brilliance] all the gods suddenly had their sight impaired, / and could not see the sky, the directions, the earth, or themselves, much less the all-pervading Lord.

8.6.3

Lord Viriñca, along with Śarva, saw that form, / pure, dark as an emerald, with eyes reddish like the interior of a lotus,

8.6.4

clad in shining silk garments bright as molten gold, / with all limbs charming and graceful, a pleasing face, and beautiful eyebrows,

8.6.5

adorned with a diadem of great jewels and with armlets, / with a lotus-like face whose cheeks were resplendent with ear-ornaments,

8.6.6

beautified with a girdle, bracelets, necklaces, and anklets, / bearing the Kaustubha jewel, [the mark of] Lakṣmī, and wearing a garland of forest flowers,

8.6.7

attended by his own weapons in personified form, such as the Sudarśana; / the foremost of the gods, accompanied by Śarva and all the hosts of immortals with all limbs cast upon the ground, praised the Supreme Person:

8.6.8

Śrī Brahmā said:
To him whose birth, preservation, and dissolution are unoriginated, who is devoid of material qualities, an ocean of the bliss of liberation, / subtler than the subtle, whose majesty is immeasurable, of great power, homage, repeated homage to you.

Translations (1)

The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English

Linked texts (1)

Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit

Bhagavatapurana 8

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