Srimad Devi Bhagavatam - The Goddess Tantra - Part 1

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S´rîmad

Devî Bhâgavatam

 

Translated by Swami Vijñanananda

 

[1921-22]

Inscribed To The

sacred memory Of Rai Bahadur Srisa Chandra Vidayarnava By the

translator - Swami Vijñanananda

 

 

FOREWORD

What is S´rîmad Bhâgavat is to the Vaisnavas,

the Devî Bhâgavatam is to the S´âktas. The

question of the priority of the two Bhâgavatas has been often

discussed more in the spirit of partisans rather than that of sober

scholars. We reserve our opinion on the subject till the publication

of the complete translation of this work.

This translation has been inscribed to the sacred memory of my

friend the late Râi Bâhâdur S´rîs´

Chandra Vidyârnava who induced me to undertake the

translation of this work. He had thoroughly read the two Bhâgavatas

and it was his opinion that the priority of composition belonged to

the Devî Bhâgavatam. The other Bhâgavat, according

to him, is a modern compilation attributed to Bopadeva - the author

of Mugdhabodha Vyâkaranam.

 

 

 

 

THE

FIRST BOOK (SKANDHA)

Chapter I

On the questions by

S´aunaka and others

1. I meditate on the beginningless

Brahmâvidyâ who is Sarvachaitanyarûpâ, of the

nature of all-consciousness; May She stimulate our buddhi to the

realisation of That (or who stimulates our buddhi in different

directions).

2. S´aunaka said :-- "O highly

fortunate Sûta! O noble Sûta! You are the best of

persons; you are blessed inasmuch as you have thoroughly studied all

the auspicious Purânas.

3. O sinless one! you have gone

through all the eighteen Purânas composed by Krisna

Dvaipâyana; these are endowed with five excellent

characteristics and full of esoteric meanings.

Note :-- The characteristics

are to make the mantras reveal to one's own self, to realise, to

transfer to others the S´akti, force thereof, to prove the various

manifestations of the several effects thereof, etc.

4-5. O Sinless one! It is not that

you have read them like a parrot, but you have thoroughly grasped the

meaning of them all as you have learnt them from Vyâsa himself,

the son of Satyavati. Now it is our good merits that you have come at

this divine holy excellent Vis'vasan Ksettra (place), free from any

defects of the Kali age.

6-10. O Sûta! These Munis

assembled here are desirous to hear the holy Purâna

Samhitâ, that yields religious merits. So describe this to ns

with your mind concentrated. O all-knowing Sûta! Live long and

be free from the threefold sorrows of existence. O highly fortunate

one! Narrate to us the Purâna equivalent to the Vedas. O

Sûta! Those persons that do not hear the Purânas,

are certainly deprived by the Creator, though they have apparently

the organ of hearing, of the power of tasting the sweet essence of

words; because, the organ of hearing is gratified then and then only

when it hears the words of the wise men, just as the organ of taste

is satisfied then and then only when it tastes the six kinds of rasas

(flavour, taste) (sweet, sour, pungent, bitter, salty, and

astringent). This is known to all. The serpents that are void of the

organ of hearing are enchanted by sweet music; then why should not

those persons that have the organs of hearing and are averse to hear

the Purânas, be thrown under the category of the deaf?

11-18. O Saumya! Hence all these

Brâhmins, being distressed with the fear of this Kali,

have come here to this Naimisâranya, eager to hear

attentively the Purânas, and are staying here with this

one object. Time must be spent away anyhow or other; those that are

fools while away their times in sports and other evil practices and

those that are learned pass away their times in meditating on the

S´âstras; but these S´âstras are too vast and very

varied; they contain Jalpas (debates or wrangling discussions to win

over the opposite party), Vadas (sound doctrines to arrive at just

conclusions), and various Arthavâdas (explanations and

assertions, recommending Vidhis or precepts by stating the good

arising from its proper observance and evils arising from its

omission and also by adducing historical instances for its support;

praises and eulogies) and filled with many argumentations. And,

amongst these S´âstras again, the Vedânta is the

Sâttvik, the Mimâmsas are the Râjasik and the Nyâya

S´âstras with Hetuvâdas, are the Tâmasik; so the

S´âstras are varied. Similarly, the Purânas are

of three kinds :-- (1) S´attvik, (2) Râjasik and (3) Tâmasik.

O Saumya! (one of gentle appearance) you have recited those Purânas

endowed with five characteristics and full of many narratives; of

these, the fifth Purâna, equivalent to the Vedas and

with all the good qualities, the Bhâgavata yields Dharma and

Kâma (religion and desires), gives liberation to those who

desire for emancipation and is very wonderful; you mentioned this

before but ordinarily; you did not dwell on this specially. Now these

Brâhmanas are eager to hear gladly this divine

auspicious Bhâgavata, the best of the Purânas; so

kindly describe this in detail.

19-25. O knower of Dharma! By your

faith and devotion to your Guru, you have become Sâttvik and

thus have thoroughly known the Purâna Samhitâs

spoken by Veda Vyâs. O Omniscient one! Therefore it is that we

have heard many Purânas from your mouth; but we are not

satisfied as the Devas are not satisfied with the drinking of the

nectar. O Sûta! Fie to the nectar even as the drinking of

nectar is quite useless in giving Mukti. But hearing the Bhâgavata

gives instantaneous Mukti from this Samsâra or round of birth

and death. O Sûta! we performed thousands and thousands of

Yajñas for the drinking of the nectar (Amrita), but never we

got the full peace. The reason being that Yajñas lead to

heaven only; on the expiry of the period of punya (good merits, the

heavenly life ceases and one is expelled, as it were from the

Heavens. Thus incessant sojourns in this wheel of Samsâra, the

constant rounds of births and deaths never end. O Knower of every

thing! Thus, without Jñâna (knowledge, wisdom) Mukti

never comes to men, wandering in this wheel of Time (Kâlachakra)

composed of the three Gunas. So describe this holy Bhâgavata,

always beloved of the Mumuksas (those that desire Mukti), this

secret work yielding liberation, holy and full of all sentiments

(rasas).

Thus ends the first chapter of the

first Skandha on the questioning about the Purâna by

Saunaka and other Rishis in the Mahâpurâna S´rîmad

Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda

Vyâsa.

Here ends the First Chapter of the

First Skandha of S´rîmad Devi Bhâgavatam on the

questions by S´aunaka and other Risis.

 

 

Chapter II

On questions put by

S´aunaka and other Rsis

1-5. S'rî Sûta said :--

"I am highly fortunate; I consider myself blessed and I am purified

by the Mahâtmâs (high souled persons); inasmuch as I am

questioned by them about the highly meritorious Purâna,

famous in the Vedas. I will now speak in detail about this Purâna,

the best of the Âgamas, approved of by all the Vedas and the

secret of all the S´âstras.

O Brahmins! I bow down to the gentle

lotus feet, known in the three Lokas, of the Devî Bhagavatî,

praised by Brahmâ and the other devas Visnu, Mahes´a

and others, meditated always by the Munindras and which the Yogis

contemplate as their source of liberation. Today I will devotedly

describe, in detail and in plain language, that Purâna

which is the best of all the Purânas, which gives

prosperity and contains all the sentiments (Rasas) that a human being

can conceive, the S´rimad Devî Bhâgavatam.

May that Highest Primal S´akti who

is known as Vidyâ in the Vedas; who is omniscient, who controls

the innermost of all and who is skilled in cutting off the knot of

the world, who cannot be realised by the wicked and the vicious, but

who is visible to the Munis in their meditation, may that Bhagavatî

Devî give me always the buddhi fit to describe the Purâna!

I call to my mind the Mother of all

the worlds who creates this universe, whose nature is both real

(taking gross, practical point of view) and and unreal (taking a real

point of view), preserves and destroys by Her Râjasik, Sâttvik

and Tâmasik qualities and in the end resolves all these into

Herself and plays alone in the period of Dissolution - at this lime,

I remember my that Mother of all the worlds.

6-10. It is commonly known that

Brahmâ is the creator of this universe; and the knowers of the

Vedas and the Purânas say so; but they also say that

Brahmâ is born of the navel-lotus of Visnu. Thus it

appears that Brahmâ cannot create independently. Again Visnu,

from whose navel lotus Brahmâ is born, lies in Yoga sleep on

the bed of Ananta (the thousand headed serpent) in the time of

Pralaya; so how can we call Bhagavân Visnu who rests on

the thousand headed serpent Ananta as the creator of the universe?

Again the refuge of Ananta is the water of the ocean Ekârnava;

a liquid cannot rest without a vessel; so I take refuge of the Mother

of all beings, who resides as the S´akti of all and thus is the

supporter of all; I fly for refuge unto that Devî who was

praised by Brahmâ while resting on the navel lotus of Visnu

who was lying fast asleep in Yoga nidrâ. O Munis!

meditating on that Maya Devî who creates, preserves and

destroys the universe who is kuown as composed of the three gunas

and who grants mukti, I now describe the whole of the Purânas;

now you all better hear.

11-16. The Purâna

S´rimad Bhâgavat (Devî Bhâgavat) is excellent and

holy; eighteen thousand pure S´lokas are contained in it. Bhagavân

Krisna Dvaipâyan has divided this Purâna

into twelve auspicious Skandhas (Books) and three hundred and

eighteen chapters. Twenty chapters compose the first Skandha; twelve

chapters in the second Skandha; thirty chapters in the the third

Skandha; twenty-five chapters in the fourth Skandha, thirty-five, in

the fifth; thirty-one, in the sixth; forty, in the seventh;

twenty-four, in the eighth; fifty chapters in the ninth; thirteen, iu

the tenth; twenty-four in the eleventh and fourteen chapters are

contained in the twelfth Skandha, O Munis! Thus the Dvaipâyan

Muni has arranged his chapters in each Skandha.

17-20. Thus the Mahâtmâ

Veda Vyâs has divided this Bhâgavata Purâna.

into so many Skandhas and into so many chapters; and that the number

of verses is eighteen thousand is already stated. That is denominated

as Purâna which contains the following five

characteristics :-- (1) Creation of the universe, (2) Secondary

creation, (3) Dynasties (4) Manvantaras and (5) The description of

Manus and other kings.

S´iva is beyond Prâkritic

attributes, eternal and ever omnipresent; She is without any change,

immutable, unattainable but by yoga; She is the refuge of the

universe and Her nature is Turîya Chaitanya. Mahâ Lakshmi

is Her Sattvikî S´akti; Sarasvati is Her Râjasik S´akti

and Mahâ Kâlî is Her Tâmasik S´akti; these

are all of feminine forms.

21-25. The assuming of bodies by

these three S´aktis for the creation of this universe is

denominated as "Sarga" (creation) by the high souled

persona (Mahârpurusa), skilled in S´astras. And the

further resolution of these three S´aktis into Brahmâ, Visnu

and Mahes'a for the creation, preservation, and destruction of this

universe is denominated (in this Purâna) as Pratisarga

(secondary ereation.) The description of the kings of the solar and

lunar dynasties and the families of Hiranya Kasipu and others

is known as the description of the lineages of kings and their

dynasties. The description of Svâyambhûva and, other

Manus and their ruling periods is known as Manvantaras. And the

description of their descendants is known as the description of their

families. (Thus these are the five characteristics in the Purânas.)

O best of Munis! all the Purânas are endowed with these

five characteristics.

26-32. So is Mahâbhârata

writen by Vedavyâsa, characterised by these five things. This

is known as the fifth Veda and Itihâsa (history.) In this are

something more than one lakh slokas. S´aunaka said :-- "O Sûta!

What are those Purânas and how many verses are contained

in each? Speak all those in detail in this holy Ksettra; we,

the residents of Naimisâranya are all very eager to hear this.

(Why we call ourselves as the residents of Naimisâranya, hear;

you will realise then that no other place exists in this Kali age for

hearing the holy discourses on religion) :-- When we were afraid of

the Kali age, Brahmâ gave us a Manomaya Chakra (wheel) and I

said to all of us :-- Follow this wheel, go after it and the spot

where the felly of the wheel will become thin (so as to break) and

will not roll further, that country is the holy place; Kali will

never be able to enter there; you all better remain there until the

Satya age comes back. Thus, acording to the saying of Brahmâ,

we have got orders to stay here. On hearing the words of Brahmâ,

wo went out quickly keeping the wheel go on, our object being to

determine which place is best and holiest. When we came here, the

felly of the wheel become thin and shorn before my eyes; hence this

Ksettra is called Naimis; it is the most sanctifying place.

Kali cannot enter here; hence the

Mahatmas, Munis and Siddhas, terrified by the Kali age, have followed

me and resorted to this place. We have performed yajñas with

Purodâsa (clarified butter as is offered in oblations to fire)

where no animals are sacrificed; now we have no other important work

to do except to pass our time here until the arrival of Satyayuga. O

S´ûta! we are extremely fortunate in all respects that you

have come here; purify us to-day by narrating to us the names of the

Purânas equivalent to the Vedas. O S´ûta! you

are also a learned orator; we, too, are ardent listeners, with no

other works to bother our heads; narrate to us to-day the auspicious

holy Bhâgavata Purâna. O S´ûta! Long live

you; and no ailings, internal, external, or from the Devas torment

you. (this is our blessing to you). We have heard that in the most

sanctifying Purâna, narrated by Maharsi

Dvaipâyan, all about Dharma (religion), Artha (Wealth) and Kama

(desires) are duly described as well the acquiring of Tattvajñan

and liberation are also spoken of. O S´ûta! our desires are

not satisfied the more we hear of those beautiful holy words. Now

describe to us the highly pure S´rîmad Devî Bhâgavatam

where all the Lilas (the dramatic acts) of the Mother of the three

worlds purifying the sins, adorned with all the qualifications are

described as yielding all the desires like the Kalpa Vriksa

(the celestial tree yielding all desires).

Thus ends the second chapter of the

first Skandha on the description of the Purâna (the

text) in Mahâ Purâna S´rîmad Devî

Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda Vyâs.

Her ends the Second Chapter of

S´rîmad Devî Bhâgavatam on questions put by

Saunaka and other Risis.

 

 

Chapter III

On praising the

Purânas and on each Vyâsa of every Dvâpara

Yuga

1-11. Sûta said :-- "O best

of the Munis! I am now telling you the names of the Purânas,

etc., exactly as 1 have heard from Veda Vyâsa, the son of

Satyavati; listen.

The Purâna beginning

with "ma" are two in number; those beginning with "bha"

are two; those beginning with "bra" are three; those beginning

with "va" are four; those beginning respectively with "A",

"na", "pa", "Ling", "ga", "kû" and "Ska"

are one each and "ma" means Matsya Purâna, Mârkandeya

Purâna; "Bha" signifies Bhavisya, Bhâgavat

Purânas; "Bra" signifies Brahmâ, Brahmânda

and Brahmâvaivarta Purânas; "va" signifies

Vâman, Vayu, Visnu and Varaha Purânas; "A"

signifies Agni Purâna; "Na" signifies Narada Purâna;

"Pa" signifies Padma Purâna; "Ling" signifies Linga

Purânam; "Ga" signifies Govinda Purânam; Kû

signifies Kurma Purâna and "Ska" signifies Skanda Purânam.

These are the eighteen Purânas. O Saunaka! In the Matsya

Purâna there are fourteen thousand slokas; in the

wonderfully varied Markandeya Purânam there are nine thousand

slokas. In the Bhavisya Purâna fourteen thousand and

five hundred slokas are counted by the Munis, the seers of truth. In

the holy Bhâgavata there are eighteen thousand S´lokas; in

the Brahmâ Purâna there are Ajuta (ten thousand)

S´lokas. In the Brahmânda Purâna there

are twelve thousand one hundred S´lokas; in the Brahmâ

Vaivarta Purânam there are eighteen thousand S´lokas.

In the Vaman Purâna there are Ajuta (ten thousand)

S´lokas; in the Vayu Purânam there are twenty-four

thousand and six hundred S´lokas; in the greatly wonderful Visnu

Purâna there are twenty-three thousand S´lokas; in the Agni

Purânam there are sixteen thousand S´lokas; in the

Brihat Narada Purânam, there are twenty-five thousand

S´lokas, in the big Padma Purâna there are fifty-five

thousand s'lokas; in the voluminous Linga Purâna eleven

thousand s´lokas exist; in the Garuda Purânam

spoken by Hari nineteen thousand s'lokas exist; iu the Kurma Purâna,

seventeen thousand s'lokas exist and in the greatly wonderful Skanda

Purâna there are eighty-one thousand s'lokas, O sinless

Risis! Thus I have described to you the names of all the

Purânas and the number of verses contained in them. Now

hear about the Upa Purânas.

12-17. The first is the Upapurâna

narrated by Sanat Kumâra; next comes Narasimha Purâna;

then Naradiya Purâna, S´iva Purâna,

Purâna narrated by Durvasa, Kapila Purâna,

Manava Purâna, Aus´anasa Purâna, Varuna

Purâna. Kalika Purâna, Samva Purâna,

Nandi Kes´wara Purâna, Saura Purâna,

Purâna spoken by Parâs´ara, Âditya Purâna,

Mahesvara Purâna, Bhâgavata and Vasistha

Purâna. These Upa Purânas are described by

the Mahatmas.

After compiling the eighteen Purânas,

Veda Vyâsa, the son of Satyavati composed Mahabharata, that has

no rival, out of these Purânas.

18-24. At every Manvantara, in each

Dvâpara Yuga, Veda Vyâsa expounds the Purânas

duly to preserve the religion. Veda Vyâsa is no other person

than Visnu Himself; He, in the form of Veda Vyâsa,

divides the (one) Veda into four parts, in every Dvâpara Yuga,

for the good of the world. The Brahmânas of the Kali age

are shortlived and their intellect (Buddhi) is not sharp; they cannot

realise the meaning after studying the Vedas; knowing this in every

Dvâpara Yuga Bhagavân expounds the holy Purâna

Samhitas. The more so because women, S´udras, and the lower Dvijas

are not entitled to hear the Vedas; for their good, the Purânas

have been composed. Tne present auspicious Manvantara is Vaivasvata;

it is the seventh in due order; and the son of Satyavati, the best of

the knowers of Dharma, is the Veda Vyâsa of the 28th Dvâpara

Yuga of this seventh Manvantara. He is my Guru; in the next Dvâpara,

Yuga Asvatthama, the son of Drona will be the Veda Vyâsa.

Twenty-seven Veda Vyâsas had expired and they duly compiled

each their own Purâna Samhitas in their own Dvâpara

Yugas.

 

 

25-35. The Risis said :-- "O

highly fortunate Sûta! kindly describe to us the names of the

previous Veda Vyâsas, the reciters of the Purânas

in the Dvâpara Yugas.

Sûta said :-- In the first

Dvâpara, Brahmâ Himself divided the Vedas; in the second

Dvâpara, the first Prajapati Vyâsa did the same; so

S´akra, in the third, Brihaspati, in the fourth, Surya in the

fifth; Yama, in the sixth, Indra, in the seventh, Vasistha, in

the eighth; Sarasvata Risi in the ninth, Tridhama, in the

tenth; Trivrisa, in the eleventh, Bharadvâja, in the

twelfth; Antariksa, in the thirteenth; Dharma, in the fourteenth;

Evaruni in the fifteenth; Dhananjaya, in the sixteenth; Medhatithi in

tba seventeenth; Vrati, in the eighteenth; Atri, in the nineteenth;

Gautama in the twentieth, Uttama, whose soul was fixed on Hari, in

the twenty-first, Vâjasravâ Vena, in the twenty second;

his family descendant Soma in the twenty-third; Trinavindu, in

the twenty-fourth; Bhârgava, in the twenty-fifth; Sakti, in the

twenty-sixth, Jâtûkarnya in the twenty-seventh and

Krisna Dvaipâyana became the twenty-eighth Veda Vyâs

in the Dvâpara Yugas. Thus I have spoken of the 28 Veda Vyâsas,

as I heard. 1 have heard the holy S´rimad Bhâgavat from the

month of Krisna Dvaipayana. This removes all troubles, yields

all desires, and gives Moksa and is full of the meanings of the

Vedas. This treatise contains the essence of all the S´astras and

is dear always to the Mamuksas (those who want Moksa or liberation).

36-43. O best Munis! Thus, compiling

the Purânas Veda Vyâsa thought this Purâna

to be the best; so (without teaching it to other persons) he settled

that his own son the high-sould S´uka Deva born of the dry woods

used for kindling fire (excited by attrition), having no passion for

the worldly things, would be the fit student to be taught this Purâna

and therefore taught him; at that time I was a fellow student along

with S´aka Deva and I heard every thing from the mouth of Vyâsa

Deva and realised th« secret meanings thereof. This has

happened through the grace of the merciful Guru Veda Vyâsa.

Here ends the Third Chapter of

S´rimad Devi Bhâgavatam on praising the Purânas

and on each Vyâsa of every Dvâpara Yuga.

 

 

Chapter IV

On the excellency of

the Devî

1-3. The Risis said :-- O

Saumya! How was S´uka Deva born? Who studied these Purâna

Samhitâs; by which wife of Vyâsa Deva? And How? O highly

intelligent one! You have just spoken that S´uka Deva was not born

from womb, in the natural way; he was born of the dry pieces of wood

for Homa sacrifice. But we heard before that the great ascetic was

Yogi even in his mother's womb, so a great doubt comes to our minds.

You better remove that to-day; how he studied also these Purânas,

as vast in their nature; say this.

4-5. Sûta said :-- In long-past

days, Satyavati's son Vedas Vyâs, while in his own hermitage on

the banks of the river Sarasvati, was greatly wondered to see a pair

of Châtakas (Sparrows). He saw the pair putting the beak of

their young one, just born of the egg, of beautiful body, red mouth,

and greasy body. They do not care at all for their own hunger and

toil; all they are caring for is to nurture their young one. He said

also that the pair are rubbing their bodies over the body and kissing

lovingly the mouth of the young one and feeling the highest pleasure.

Seeing this wonderful affection of the two sparrows towards their

young, Veda Vyâs became very anxious and thought over the

following in his mind.

9-14. Oh! What wonder is there, when

the birds have so much filial affection towards their child, that

men, who want services from their sons, would show their affection

towards their sons! This pair of sparrows will not perform the happy

marriage of their young one and will not see the face of their son´s

wife; nor when they will grow old, that their child would become very

religious and serve them to attain great merits in Heaven. Nor do

they expect that their child would earn money and satisfy them nor

the child would perform when they die, their funeral obsequies duly

and help them in their sojourn in the next world; nothing of all

these. Nor will the child perform the S´râdh ceremony at

Gayâ; nor will the child offer the oblation of a blue bull on

the day of offering the sacrifice to its ancestor (the bull is then

let loose and held sacred); yet the pair of sparrows have so much

affection towards their young one! Oh! in this world to touch the

body of the son, especially to nurture the sons, is the highest

happiness in life.

15-27. There is no prospect in the

after birth of the sonless; never, never will Heaven be his. Without

son, there is none other who can be of help in the next world. Thus

in the Dharma S´âstras, Manu and other Munis declare that the

man who has sons goes to Heaven and the sonless one can never go to

Heaven. The man possessing a son is entitled to the Heavenly

pleasures can be vividly seen, rather than imagined. The man with son

is freed from sins; this is the word of the Vedas. The sonless man

becomes very much distressed even at the time of death and while

lying on bed that is ground at that time, mournfully thinks. "This

all my vast wealth, various things, this my beautiful house, who will

enjoy all these?"

When the sonless man is thus

perplexed in his mind at the time of his death and becomes restless,

then it is sure that his future career is full misfortunes; unless

one´s mind is calm and serene at the time of death, can never

attain a good goal. Thus thinking variously, the Satyavati's son Veda

Vyâs sighed heavily and became unmindful. He thought of various

plans and at last, coming to a definite conclusion, went to the

Sumeru mountain to perform Tapasyâ. On reaching there, he

thought which Deva he will worship! Visnu, S´iva, Indra,

Brahmâ, Surya, Ganes´a, Kârtikeya, Agni, or Varuna?

Who will grant him boon quickly and thus satisfy his desires. While

thus cogitating in his mind, came there the Muni Nârada, of one

mind with lute in hamd, accidentally in his course of travels. Seeing

Nârada, the Satyavati´s son Veda Vyâsa gave him a

hearty welcome, with great gladness, offering him Arghya and Âsan

(seat) and asked about his welfare. Hearing this question of welfare,

Nârada Muni spoke :-- "O Dvaipâyan! Why do you look so

care worn! First speak this out to me".

28-30. Veda Vyâsa said :-- "

The sonless man has no goal; therefore there is no happiness in my

mind; I am always anxious to get a son and therefore I am very sorry.

To-day my mind is sorely troubled with the one idea, which Deva I may

satisfy by my tapasyâ, who will grant me my desires; now I take

your refuge. O merciful Maharsi! You are omniscient; say this

quickly; which Deva I will take for my refuge, who will grant me a

son".

31-37. Sûta said :-- Thus

questioned by Krisna Dvaipâyan Veda Vyâsa, the

high souled Nârada Muni, well versed in the Vedas, became very

glad and spoke thus :-- O highly fortunate Parâs'arâ´s

son. The question that you have asked me to-day was formerly asked by

my father to Nârâyana. At this, Nârâyana

Vasudeva, the Deva of the Devas, the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer

of the Universe, the husband of Laksmî, the four armed,

wearing yellow garment, holding conchshell, discus, club and with the

mark S´rîvatsa (a mark or curl of hair on the heart of Visnu)

adorning His breast and decorated with Kaustuvagem, the Divinity

Himself, became merged in great Yoga; at this my Father became

greatly surprised and said :-- "O Janârdana! Thou art the

Deva of the Devas; the Lord of the Present, the Past and the Future,

the Lord of this Universe; why art thou meditating in Yoga? And what

is it that Thou art meditating? O best of the Devas! Thou art the

Lord of the entire Universe and yet Thou art now merged in deep

meditation. At this I am greatly surprised (my surprise is not

without foundation; Thou canst Thyself see). What more wonderful than

this can happen?

38-43. O Lord of Rama! I am sprung

from the lotus from thy navel and have become the Lord of this whole

universe; who is there in this universe that is superior to Thee;

kindly say this to me. O Lord of the world? Thou art the Origin of

all, the Cause of all causes, the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer

and the capable Doer of all actions. O Maharaja! at Thy will, I

create this whole universe and Rudra destroys iu due time this world.

He is always under Thy command. O Lord! By Thy command the Sun roams

in the sky; the wind blows in various auspicious or inauspicious ways

and the fire is giving heat and the cloud showers rain. I don´t see

in the three Lokas any one superior to Thee. Then whom art Thou

meditating while being questioned by his very intelligent son S´uka

Deva! not born in the usual way from womb, Dvaipâyana expounded

all the secret excellent meanings of the Purâna and

thereby I also came to know them also. O saintly persons! Thus S´uka

Deva, sincerely earnest to cross this endless bottomless ocean of

S´amsara, tasted of the wonderful traits of the Veda, the Kalpa

tree, this S´rimad Bhâgavata with its numerous stories and

anecdotes with great eagerness and intense pleasure.

38-43. Oh! Who is there in this world

that is not freed from this terror of Kali, after he has heard this

Bhâgavata. Even if the greatest sinner, void of the right ways

of living and Achara as ordained in the Vedas, hears on a pretence

this excellent Devî Bhâgavata, the chief of the Purânas,

he enjoys all the great enjoyments of this world and in the end

attains the eternal place occupied by the Yogis. She who is rare, in

Her Nirguna aspect, to even Hari and Hara, who is very dear as Tattva

Vidya to the Jñanins whose real nature can be realised only in

Samâdhi, She resides always in the cavity of the heart of the

hearers of the Bhâgavata Purâna. He who getting

the all qualified human birth and getting the reciter of this Purâna,

the boat to cross, as it were, this world, does not hear this

blissful Purâna, he is certainly deprived by the Creator. How

is it that the way-ward dull-headed persons, getting the vicious

ears, can hear always the faults and calumnies of others, that are

entirely useless, and cannot hear this pure Purâna that

contains the four Vargas :-- Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Mokhsa?

This is my main point of doubt. O One

of good vows! I am Thy devotee; be merciful to me and speak this to

me. There is almost nothing that is secret to Mahâpurusas;

this is a well-known fact".

44-50. Thus hearing Brahmâ's

words, Bhagavan Nârâyana spoke :-- "O Brahmân! I

now speak out my mind to you; listen carefully. Though the Devas,

Dânavas and men and all the Lokas know that You are the

Creator, I am the Preserver and Rudra is the Destroyer, yet it is to

be known that the saints, versed in the Vedas, have come to this

conclusion by inference from the Vedas that the creation,

preservation, and destruction are performed by the creative force,

preservative force and destructive force. The Rajasik creative force

residing in you, the Sattvik preservative force residing in me, and

the Tamasik destructive force residing in Rudra are the all-in-all.

When these Saktis become absent, you become inert and incapable to

create, I to preserve and Rudra to destroy.

O intelligent Suvrata! We all are

always under that Force directly or indirectly; hear instances that

you can see and infer. At the time of Pralaya, I lie down on the bed

of Ananta, subservient to that Force; again I wake up in the time of

creation duly under the influence of Time.

51-54. I am always subservient to

that Maha S´akti; (under Her command) I am engaged in Tapasyâ

for a long time; (By Her command) some time I enjoy with Lakshmî;

some time I fight battles, terrible to all the Lokas, with the

Dânavas, involving great bodily troubles. O Know of Dharma! It

was before Your presence that I fought hand to hand fight for five

thousand years before Your sight on that one great ocean in long-past

days with the two demons Madhu and Kaitabha, sprung from the wax of

my ear, maddened with pride; and by the grace of the Devî,

successfully killed the two Dânavas.

55-61. O highly fortunate one! you

realised then the great S´akti, higher than the highest and the

cause of all causes; then why are you asking again and again that

question. By the will of that S´akti, I have got this idea of man

and roam on the great ocean; in yuga after yuga, I assume by Her

will, the Tortoise, Boar, Man-Lion, and Dwarf incarnations. No one

likes to take birth in the womb of inferior animals (especially

birds). Do you think that I willingly take unpleasant births as in

the womb of boars, tortoise, i.e., certainly not. What independent

man is there who abandons the pleasurable enjoyment with Laksmi

and takes birth in inferior animals as fish, etc. or leaves his seat

on the seat of Gaduda and becomes engaged in great

war-conflicts. O Svayambhu! In ancient days you saw before your eyes

that my head was cut off when the bowstring suddenly gave way; and

then you, brought a horse's head and by that help, the divine artist

Visvakarma, stuck that on to my headless body. O Brahmâ! Since

then I am known amongst men by the name of "Hayagrîva".

This is well-known to you. Now say, were I independent, would such an

ignominy have happened to me? Never. Therefore I am not independent;

I am in every way under that S´akti. O Lotus-born! I always

meditate on that S´akti; and I do not know any other than this

S´akti".

62-66. Nârada said :-- Thus

spoke Visnu to Brahmâ. O Muni Vedavyâs! Brahmâ

spoke these to me. So you, too, better meditate the lotus feet of

Bhâgavati calmly in the lotus of your heart for the success of

your idea. That Devî will give you all that you wish. Sûta

said :-- At these words of Nârada, Satyavati's son Veda Vyâsa

went out to the hills for Tapasyâ, trusting the lotus feet of

the Devî as the all-in-all in this world.

Thus ends the fourth chapter of the

first Skandha on the excellency of the Devî in the Mahapurâna

S´rimad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses.

 

 

 

 

Chapter V

On the narrative of

Hayagrîva

1-4. The Risis said :-- "O

Sûta! Our minds are merged in the sea of doubt, hearing your

this most wonderful saying, surprising to the whole world. The head

of Janârdan Mâdhava, the Lord of all, was severed out of

His body! And He was afterwards known as Hayagrîva, the

horse-faced! Oh! what more wonder can there be than this? Whom the

Vedas even praise, all the Devas rest on Whom, Who is the Cause of

all causes, the Âdi Deva Jagannath (the Lord of the universe),

Oh! how is it that His head came to be severed! O highly intelligent

one! Describe all this to me in detail".

5-9. Sûta said :-- O Munis!

Hear all attentively the glorious deeds of the supremely energetic

Visnu, the Deva of the Devas. Once on a time the eternal Deva

Janârdana became tired after the terrible continuous battle for

ten thousand years. After this the Lord Nârâyana seated

Himself on Padmâsan (a kind of posture) in some lovely place on

a level plot of ground and placing his head on the front of his bow

with the bow strung and placed erect on the ground fell fast asleep.

Visnu, the Lord of Ramâ, was exceedingly tired and thus

he fell soon into deep sleep. At this time Indra and the other Devas,

with Brahmâ and Mahesâ began a sacrifice.

10-13. Then they, for the sake of

success in Deva's well, went to the region of Vaikuntha to

meet with the Deva Janârdana, the Lord of sacrifices. There the

Devas, not finding Visnu, came to know by their Dhyân

(meditation) where Bhagavân Visnu was staying and

thither they went. They saw that the Lord Visnu, the Deva of

the Devas was lying unconscious, being under the arms of Yoganidrâ

(the yogic sleep). Therefore they took their seats there. Seeing the

Lord of the universe asleep, Brahmâ, Rudra and the other Devas

became anxious.

14-18. Indra then addressed the Devas

:--"O best of the Suras! Now what is to be done! How shall we rouse

Bhagavân from His sleep? Now think of the means by which this

can be effected". Hearing Indra's words S´ambhu said :-- "O

good Devas! Now we must finish our sacrificial work. But if the sleep

of Bhagavân be disturbed, He would get angry." Hearing

S´ankara's words, Paramesthî Brahmâ created

Vamrî insects (a sort of white ants) so that they might eat up

the forepart of the bow that was lying on the ground causing the

other end rise up and thus break His sleep. Thus the Deva's purpose

will, no doubt, be fulfilled. Thus settling his mind, the eternal

Deva Brahmâ ordered the white ants Vamrîs to cut the bow

string.

19-22. Hearing this order of Brahmâ,

Vamrî spoke to Brahmâ, thus :-- "O Brahmân! How

can I disturb the sleep of the Devadeva, Lord of Laksmî,

the World Guru? To rouse one from one's deep sleep, to interrupt one

in one's speech, to sever the love between a couple husband and wife,

to separate a child from one's mother, all these are equivalent to

Brahmâhatyâ (murdering a Brahmân). Therefore, O

Deva! how can I interrupt the happiuess of sleep of the Devadeva? And

what benefit shall I derive by eating the bowstring, so that I may

incur this vicious act? But a man can commit a sin if there be any

interest of his; I am ready to eat this, if I get a personal

interest".

23-24. Brahmâ said :-- We will

give you, too, share in this our Yajña (sacrifice); so hear

me; do our work and rouse Visnu from His sleep. During the

time of performing Homa whatever ghee will fall outside the Homa-Kund

(the sacrificial pit) will fall to your share; so be quick and do

this.

25-30. Sûta said :-- Thus

ordered by Brahmâ, the Vamrî insect soon ate away the

fore end of the bow that rested on the ground. Immediately the string

gave way and the bow went up; the other end became free and a

terrible sound took place. The Devas bcame afraid; the whole universe

got agitated; the earth trembled. The sea became swollen; the aquatic

animals became startled; violent wind blew; the mountains shook;

ominous meteors fell. The quarters assumed a terrific aspect; the Sun

went down the horizon. In that time of distress the Devas became

anxious what evil might come down. O ascetics! while the Devas were

thus cogitating, the head with crown on it of the Devadeva Visnu

vanished away ; no body knew where it fell.

31-36. When the awful darkness

disappeared, Brahmâ and Mahâdeva saw the disfigured body

of Visnu with its head off. Seeing that headless figure of

Visnu they were greatly surprised; they were drowned in the

ocean of cares and, overwhelmed with grief, began to weep aloud. O

Lord! O Master! O Devadeva! O Eternal one! what unforeseen

extraordinary mishap occurred to us to-day! O Deva! Thou canst not be

pierced nor cut asunder, nor capable of being burnt; how is it then

that Thy head has been taken away! Is this the Mâyâ

(majic) of some. Deva? O all pervading one! The Devas cannot live

when Thy condition is thus; we do not know what affection dost Thou

have towards us. We are crying because of our selfish ends; perhaps

this therefore has occurred. The Daityas, Yaksas, or Râkhsasas

have not done this; O Lord of Laksmî! Whose fault will we

ascribe this to? The Devas themselves have committed this loss to

themselves?

37-41. O Lord of the Devas! The Devas

are. now dependent! They are under Thee. Now where are we to go? What

are we to do? There is none to save the dull stupid Devas!

At this juncture, seeing S´iva and

the other Devas crying, Brihaspati, supremely versed in the Vedas,

consoled them thus :-- "O highly fortunate one! what use there will

be in thus crying and repenting? it ought you now to consider the

means that you should adopt to redress your calamities. O Lord of the

Devas! Fate and one's own exertion and intelligence are equal; if the

success comes not through Fate (Luck or chance) one is certainly to

show one's prowess and merit".

42-46. Indra said :-- Fie to your

exertion when, before our eyes, the head of Bhagavân Visnu

Himself has been carried off! Fie, Fie to your prowess and

intelligence! Fate is in my opinion, the supreme.

Brahmâ said :-- Whatever,

auspicious or inauspicious, is ordained Daiva (Fate), every one must

bear that; no one can go beyond the Daiva. When one has taken up a

body, one must experience pleasure and pain; there is no manner of

doubt in this. See, in long-past days, by the irony of Fate, S´ambhu

severed my head; His generative organ, too, dropped down through

curse. Similarly Hari's head has, to-day, fallen into the salt ocean.

By the influence of time, Indra, the Lord of Sachi, had thousand

genital marks over his body, was expelled from Heaven and had to live

in the Mânas sarovar in the lotuses and had to suffer many

other miseries.

47-50. O Glorious ones! When such

personages have suffered pains, then who else is there in the world,

that dues not suffer! so you all cease sorrows and meditate on the

Eternal Mahâmâyâ; who is the Mother of all, who is

supporter of all, who is of the nature of Brahmâvidyâ

(the Supreme Knowledge) and who is beyond the Gunas, who is the Prime

Prâkriti, and who pervades the three Lokas, the whole universe,

moving and unmoving; She will dispense our welfare. Sûta said

:-- Thus saying to the Devas, Brahmâ ordered all the Vedas,

that were incarnate there in their forms, for the successful issue of

the Deva's work.

51-54. Brahmâ said :-- "OVedas!

Now go on and chant hymns to the Sacred Highest Devî Mahâmâyâ,

who is Brahmâvidyâ, who brings all issues to their

successful issues, who is hidden in all forms." Hearing His words,

the all-beautiful Vedas began to chant hymns to Mahâmâyâ

who can be comprehended by Jñân, and who pervades the

world.

The Vedas said :-- Obeisance to the

Devî! to the Mahâmâyâ! to the Auspicious One!

to the Creatrix of the Universe! We bow down to Thee, who is beyond

the Gunas, the Ruler of all the Beings! O Mother! Thou givest to

S´ankara even His desires. Thou art the receptacle of all the

things; Thou art the Prâna of all the living beings;

Thou art Buddhi, Laksmî (wealth), S´obhâ,

Ks'hamâ (forgiveness), S´ânti (peace), Sraddhâ

(faith), Medhâ (intellect), Dhriti (fortitude), and Smriti

(recollection).

55. Thou art the vindu (m)

over the Prânava (om) and thou art of the nature of

semi-moon; Thou art Gâyattri, Thou art Vyârhiti; Thou art

Jayâ, Vijayâ, Dhâtri (the supportress), Lajjâ

(modesty), Kîrti (fame), Ichchâ (will) and Dayâ

(mercy) in all beings.

56-57. O Mother! Thou art the

merciful Mother of the three worlds; Thou art the adorable auspicious

Vidyâ (knowledge) benefitting all the Lokas; Thou destroyest

the Universe and Thou skilfully residest (hidden) in the Vîja

mantras. Therefore we are praising Thee. O Mother! Brahmâ,

Visnu, Mahes´vara, Indra, Sûrya, Fire, Sarasvatî

and other Regents of the Universe are all Thy creation; so none of

them is superior to Thee. Thou art the Mother of all the things,

moving and non-moving.

58-61. O Mother ! When Thou dost will

to create this visible Universe, Thou createst first Brahmâ,

Visnu and Mahes'vara and makest them create, preserve and

destroy this universe; but Thou remainest quite unattached to the

world. Ever Thou remainest constant in Thy one form. No one in this

Universe is able to know Thy nature; nor there is any body who can

enumerate Thy names. How can he promise to jump across the

illimitable ocean, who cannot jump across an ordinary well.

O Bhagavatî! No one amongst the

Devas even knows particularly Thy endless power and glory. Thou art

alone the Lady of the Universe and the Mother of the world.

62-68. The Vedas all bear testimony

how thou alone hast created all this unreal and fleeting universe. O

Devî! Thou without any effort and having no desires hast become

the cause of this visible world, thyself remaining unchanged. This is

a great wonder. We cannot conceive this combination of contrary

varieties in one. O Mother! How can we understand thy power, unknown

to all the Vedas even, when thou thyself dost not know thy nature! We

are bewildered at this. O Mother! It is that thou dost know nothing

about the falling off of the Visnu's head! Or knowingly thou

wanted to examine Visnu's prowess. Is it that Hari incurred

any heinous sin. How can that be! Where is sin to thy followers who

serve Thee! O Mother! Why art Thou so much indifferent to the Devas!

It is a great wonder that the head of Visnu is severed!

Really, we are merged in great misfortunes. Thou art clever in

removing the sorrows of Thy devotees. Why art Thou delaying in fixing

again the head on Visnu's body.

O Devî! Is it that Thou taking

offence on the gods hast cast that on Visnu! or was it that

Visnu became proud and to curb that, Thou hast played thus! or

is it that the Daityas, having suffered defeat from Visnu went

and practised severe tapasya in some beautiful holy place, and have

got some boons; and so Visnu's head has thus fallen off!

Or is it, O Bhagavatî! that

Thou wert very eagerly interested to see Visnu's headless body

and therefore Thou hast seen thus! O Prime Force! Is it that Thou art

angry on the daughter of the Sindhu (ocean); Laksmî Devî!

Else, why hast Thou deprived Her of Her husband? Laksmî is born

as a part of Thine; So Thou oughtest to forgive Her offence.

Therefore dost Thou gladden Her by giving back Her husband's life.

The principal Devas, engaged in Thy

service, always make their Prânams (bow down) to Thee; O Devî!

Beest Thou kind enough and make alive the Deva Visnu, the Lord

of all and crossest us across this ocean of sorrows. O Mother! We

cannot make out anything whatsoever where Hari's head has gone. We

have no other protectress than Thee who canst give back His life? O

Devî! Dost Thou give life to the whole world as the nectar

gives life to all the Devas.

69-73. Sûta said :-- Thus

praised by the Vedas with their Angas, with Sâmagânas

(the songs from the Sâma Veda), the Nirgunâ

Mahes'vari Devî Mahâmâyâ became pleased. Then

the auspicious voice came to them from the Heavens, gladdening all,

and pleasing to the ears though no form was seen: "O Suras! Do not

care anything about it; you are immortal (what fear can you have?)

Come to your senses. I am very much pleased by the praise sung by the

Vedas. There is no doubt in this. Amongst men, whoever will read this

My stotra with devotion, will get all what he desires. Whoever will

hear this devotedly, during the three Sandhyas, will lie freed from

troubles and become happy. When this stotra has been sung by the

Vedas, it is equivalent to the Vedas.

74-75. Does anything take place in

this world without any cause? Now hear why Hari's head was cut off.

Once on a time, seeing the beautiful face of His dear wife Laksmî

Devî, Hari laughed in presence of Her.

76-82. At this Laksmî Devî

came to understand that "He has seen surely something ugly in my

face and therefore He laughed; otherwise why my Husband would laugh

at seeing me. But what reason can there be as to see ugliness in my

face after so long a time. And why shall He laugh without seeing

something ugly, without any cause. Or it may be, He has made some

other beautiful woman as my co-wife". Thus arguing variously in her

mind, Mahâ Laksmî gradually got angry and Tamo guna

slowly possessed Her. Then, by turn of Fate, in order that god´s

work might be completed, very fierce Tamas Sakti entered into Her

body. She got very angry and slowly said :-- "Let Thy head fall

off". Thus, owing to feminine nature and the destiny of Bhagvan,

Laksmî cursed without any thought of good or bad, causing Her

own suffering. By the Tâmasî S´akti possessing Her, she

thought that a co-wife would be more painful than Her widowhood and

thus She cursed Him.

83-86. Falsehood, vain boldness,

craftiness, stupidity, impatience, over-greediness, impurity, and

harshness are the natural qualities of women. Owing to that curse,

the head of Vasudeva has fallen into the salt ocean. Now I will fix

the head on His body as before. O Sura Sattamas! There is another

cause, also, regarding this affair. That will bring you great

success. In ancient days a famous Daitya, named Hayagrîva

practised severe tapasya on the bank of the Sarasvatî river.

87-92. Abandoning all sorts of

enjoyments, with control over his senses and without any food, the

Daitya did Japam of the (repeated) one syllabled Mâyâ-Vija-mantra

and, meditating the form of the Utmost Sakti of Mine, adorned with

all ornaments, practised very terrible austerities for one thousand

years. I, too, went to the place of austerities in My Tâmasî

form, meditated by the Daitya and appeared before him. There, seated

on the lion's back, feeling compassion for his tapasya I spoke to him

:-- "O glorious One! O one of good vows! I have come to grant boon

to Thee!" Hearing the words of the Devî, the Daitya instantly

got up and falling down with devotion at Her feet, circumambulated

Her. Looking at My form, his large eyes became cheerful with feelings

of love and filled with tears; shedding tears, then, he began to

chant hymns to Me.

93-95. Hayagrîva said :--

"Obeisance to the Devî Mahâmaye! I bow down to Thee,

the Creatrix, the Preserver, and the Destructrix of the universe!

Skilled in shewing favour to Thy devotees! Giver of the devotee's

desires! Obeisance to Thee! O Thou, the giver of liberation! O Thou!

The auspicious one! I bow down to Thee. Thou art the cause of the

five elements -- earth, water, fire, air, and Akasa! Thou art the

cause of form, taste, smell, sound and touch. O Mahes´vari! the

five jñânendriyas (organs of perception) eyes, ears,

nose, tongue, and skin and the five organs of action Karmendriyas :--

hands, feet, speech, arms, and the organ of generation are all

created by Thee.

96-100. The Devî said :-- "O

child! I am very much satisfied with your wonderful tapasya and

devotion. Now say what boon do you want. I will give you the boon

that you desire". Hayagrîva said ;-- "O Mother! grant me

that boon by which death will not come to me, and I be invincible by

the Suras and Asuras, I may be a Yogi and immortal".

The Devî said :-- " Death

brings in birth and birth brings in death; this is inevitable."

This order of things is extant in this world; never its violation

takes place. O best of the Râksasas! Thus knowing death

sure, think in your mind and ask another boon.

Hayagrîva said: -- "O Mother

of the universe! If it be that Thou art not willing at all to grant

me immortality, then grant me this boon that my death may not occur

from any other than from one who is horse-faced. Be merciful and

grant me this boon that I desire."

101-105. O highly fortunate one! "Go

home and govern your kingdom at your ease; death won't occur to you

from any other beings then from one who is horse-faced." Thus

granting the boon, the Devî vanished. Becoming very glad on

getting this boon, Hayagrîva went to his residence. Since then

the wicked Daitya is troubling very much all the Devas and Munis.

There is none in the three worlds to kill him. So let Visvakarmâ

take a horse's head and fix it on the headless body of Visnu. Then

Bhagavân Hayagrîva will slay the vicious wicked Asura,

for the good of the Devas".

106-112. Sûta said :-- Thus

speaking to the Devas, Bhagavatî S´arvânî

remained silent. The Devas became very glad and spoke this to

Visvakarmâ :-- "Kindly do this Deva work and fix Visnu's

head. He will become Hayagrîva and kill the indomitable

Dânava." Sûta said :-- Hearing these words, Visvakarmâ

quickly cut off with his axe, the head of a horse, brought it before

the Devas and fixed it on the headless body of Visnu. By the grace of

Mahâmâyâ, Bhagavân became horse-faced or

Hayagrîva. Then, a few days after, Bhagavân. Hayagrîva

killed that proud Dânava, the Deva's enemy, by sheer force. Any

man, hearing this excellent anecdote, becomes freed, certainly of all

sorts of difficulties. Hearing or reading Mahâmâyâ's

glorious deeds, pure and sin destroying, gives all sorts of wealth.

Thus ends the fifth chapter of the

first Skandha on the description of the narrative of Hayagrîva

in the Mahâ Purâna S´rimad Devî Bhâgavatam

of 18,000 verses.

 

 

 

 

Chapter VI

On the preparation

for war by Madhu Kaitabha

1-44. The Risis said :-- "O

Saumya! Just now you have spoken of the fight for five thousand

years, in that great ocean, between Bhagavân S´auri and Madhu

Kaitabha. How was it that the two greatly powerful Dânavas,

invincible of the Devas came to be born there? And why did Bhagavân

Hari kill them? O highly intelligent one! Kindly describe that

greatly wonderful event. We all are extremely eager to hear it, and

you are the great Pundit and speaker, present before us. It is our

good luck that we have come across you here. As the contact with the

illiterate is very painful, so the contact with the literate is very

happy like nectar. The animals in this world live like illiterates;

they eat, call for their nature, void urines and faeces, and know

wonderfully well the sexual intercourse. Only they want

discriminative knowledge of right and wrong, of the real and unreal,

and a knowledge of discrimination, leading to Moksa or final

liberation; this is the only point of difference. Therefore the

persons that have no liking to hear of Bhâgavata and books like

it, are like beasts; there is no doubt in this. Behold! Deer and some

other animals can enjoy well the sense of hearing like men; and the

serpents, though wanting in the organ of hearing, become charmed

quite like men, as if tasting the pleasure of hearing sweet sounds.

Verily out of the five organs of perception the organ of hearing and

the organ of sight are benefitting, for the knowledge of things

arises from hearing and the heart is pleased by seeing. Therefore the

Pundits divide in three classes, the objects of hearing, as :-- (1)

Sâttvik, (2) Râjasik and (3) Tâmasik. The Vedas and

other S´âstras are Sâttvik; the literature Sahitya is

the Râjasik and war news and finding fault with others is

Tâmasik. The wise persons again sub-divide the Sâttvik in

three sub-classes :-- good, middling and worst. That which gives

Moksa is good or excellent; that which gives Heavens is

middling and that which gives this worldly pleasure is worst. In the

same way, the literature Sahitya is of three kinds :-- That which

describes the people to live with their legitimate wives is the best;

which describes about prostitutes is the middling; and that which

makes people live with other's wives is the worst.

The seers of Sâstras, the

learned men divide the subjects of the Tâmasik hearing into

three classes :-- That in which fight with the enemies is described

is best; where the fight, as of the Pandavas, with the enemies out of

hatred, ill-feeling, is described is middling; and that where

fighting is described without any cause is worst. Therefore, O highly

intelligent one! Hearing the Purânas is far superior to

hearing other S´âstras, for thereby sins are destroyed,

intellect is increased and Punyam (good merits) is stored. So,

O intelligent one! Kindly describe to us, the Purânas,

fulfilling all the requirements of life, that you heard before from

the mouth of Krisna Dvaipâyana". Hearing these words

of the Risis, Sûta said :-- "O highly fortunate ones!

When you all are desirous to hear the Purânas and I am

ready to tell them, then both of us are blessed on the surface of the

earth".

In days of yore, in the time of

Pralaya (universal dissolution) when the three lokas and the entire

universe dissolved in water, when the Devadeva Janârdana was

lying asleep on the bed of Ananta, the thousand headed serpent, arose

from the was of the ear of Bhagavân Visnu, the two very

powerful Daityas Madhu and Kaitabha; they grew in the waters of the

ocean and played around in the waters and thus passed some of their

time. Once, on a time, when the two huge bodied Dânavas were

playing with each other like two brothers, they thought that the

general rule of the universe is that no effect takes place without a

cause and nothing can rest without the receptacle thereof. But we

cannot understand what is our receptacle or who is resting on us.

Whereon rests this pleasant expanse of wide ocean? Who was it that

created this? How was this created? Why are we living here merged

within the water? Who created us? and who are our father and mother.

Nothing of a these we know. Thus thinking, when they could not come

to any conclusion, Kaitabha spoke to Madhu, beside him, within the

waters :-- "O Brother! It seems to me the great immoveable force

that makes us rest in this water is the cause of all. This whole mass

of water, too, pervaded by that force, rests on that; that Highest

Devî must be the Cause of us".

When the two Asuras, merged in this

thought, understood this, they heard in the air the beautiful Vâgvîja

(the seed mantra of Vâk, the speech, the Devî Sarasvatî).

They then began to pronounce repeated the Vâgvîja mantra

and practised it with the great steadfastness. Next they saw, risen

high up in the air, the auspicious lightning and thought that

certainly our mantra that we are repeating has made Herself visible

in this form of light and thus we have seen certainly in the air, the

saguna form (form with attributes) of Sarasvatî, the

goddess of Speech. Thus thinking in their minds they, without any

food, with their minds controlled, constantly thought of that, with

their whole mind collected on that, and repeating and meditating the

mantra became one with that. Thus they passed one thousand years in

practising that great tapas; when the Highest Âdyâ S´akti

became pleased with them and seeing the two Dânavas, steadfast

in the practice of Tapas, tired, address them, invisibly in the way

of celestial voice thus :-- "O two Dânavas! I am exceedingly

pleased with your tapasyâ; so ask boon whatever you desire; I

will grant it." Hearing, then, the celestial voice, thus the two

Dânavas said :-- "O Devî! O Suvrate! Grant us that we

will die when we will." Hearing this, Vagdevî said :--

"O two Dânavas! Certain by My grace, you two will die when

you will and you two brothers will be invincible of all the Suras and

Asuras. There is no doubt in this".

Sûta said :-- When the Devî

granted them this boon, the two Dânavas, puffed up with pride,

began to play with the aquatic animals in the ocean. O Brâhmins!

Some days thus passed away when the two powerful Dânavas saw

the Brahmâ, the Prajâpati, seated on the lotus of navel

of Hari. Doubt came on their minds and they told him with a view to

fight :-- "O Suvrata! Either fight with us, or leave off this lotus

seat and go any where you like. If you be so weak, this auspicious

lotus seat not fit for you. For this should be enjoyed by the heroes.

So if you be a coward, leave it quickly". Hearing these words of

the Dânavas, Prajâpati, engaged in the practice of

Tapasyâ, saw the two great powerful heroes and began to think

anxiously "What should be done now" and waited there.

Thus ends the sixth chapter of the

first Skandha on the preparation for war by Madhu Kaitabha in the

Mahâpurâna S´rîmad Devî Bhâgavatam

by Maharsi Veda Vyâsa.

 

 

 

 

Chapter VII

On the praise of the

Devî

1-26. Sûta said :-- Seeing the

two Dânavas very powerful, Brahmâ, the knower of all the

S´âstras, thought of the means Sâma, Dâna, Bheda,

Danda (conciliation, gifts, bribe, or sowing dissensions and

war or punishment); which of these four he should apply. He thought

thus :-- "I do not know their strength and it is not advisable to

enter into war without knowing their strength. Again if I offer

praises to them puffed up with pride, it will be simply displaying my

own weakness; and when they will come to know this, only one of them

will be sufficient to kill me and this they will do certainly. To

offer bribes is not also advisable; and how can I sow dissensions.

Therefore it is best that I should rouse the four armed Janârdana

Visnu, who is very powerful, from his sleep on the thousand

headed Ananta serpent. He will remove my difficulties".

Thus thinking in his mind, Bhagavân

Brahmâ, the lotus-born remained in the tubular stalk of the

lotus from Visnu's navel and thence took refuge mentally of

Visnu, the remover of difficulties and began to chant

auspicious hymns composed of various metres to Jagannâth

Nârâyana, involved in deep Yoganidrâ (meditative

sleep). He said :-- "O Refuge of the poor! O Hari! O Visnu!

O Vâmana! O Mâdhava, Thou art the Lord of the universe

and omnipresent. O Hrisikes'a! Thou removest all the difficulties of

Thy devotees; therefore leave your Yoganidrâ and get up. O

Vâsudeva! O Lord of the Universe! Thou residest within the

hearts of all and knowest their desires.

O Thou, holder of the disc and club!

Thou always destroyest the enemies of Thy devotees; O Omniscient One!

Thou art the Lord of all the Lokas and all-powerful; no one can know

what is Thy form; O Lord of the Devas! Thou art the destroyer of all

pains and sufferings! So get up and protect me. O Protector of the

Universe! nothing is concealed from Thy eyes! Every one becomes pure

by hearing and chanting Thy name. Thou art Nirâkâra

(without any form); yet Thou createst, preservest and destroyest the

Universe. O Cause of the world! O Supporter of all! Thou art shining

as king of kings over all and yet Thou dost not understand that the

two Dânavas, puffed up with pride have become ready to kill me.

If thou dost neglect me, seeing me very much distressed and under

your protection then Thy name as Preserver will become quite useless.

Thus praised, when Visnu did not get up, Brahmâ thought

that "Bhagavân Visnu is now surely under the

influence of sleep of the Primal Force Âdyâ S´akti and

is not therefore getting up; what am I to do now, thus distressed!

These two Dânavas, elated with pride are ready to kill me; now

what am I to do and where shall I go? I don't find any body who can

protect me any where." Thus thinking, Brahmâ came to the

conclusion and decided to chant hymns to Yoga Nidrâ Herself

with one pointed heart. Discussing in his mind, He thought that that

Âdyâ S´akti (the Prime Force) which kept Bhagavân

Visnu, senseless and motionless would alone be able to save

him. As a dead man cannot hear any sound so Hari, merged in deep

sleep, knows not anything. When I have praised Him so much and when

He has not awakened, then it is certain that sleep is not under Hari,

but Hari is under sleep, and he who is under another becomes his

slave; so this Yoga Nidrâ is now exercising Her control over

Hari. Again she, too, who brought Hari under control, that daughter

of the Krsîra (milk) ocean is now under the control of

Yoga Nidrâ; so it seems that that Bhagavatî Mahâmâyâ

has brought the whole Universe under Her control.

Whether it be Myself, or Visnu

or S´ambhu, or Sâvitrî or Ramâ or Umâ, all

are under Her control; there is nothing to be doubted here? What to

speak of other high souled persons! Now I will chant hymns to Yoga

Nidrâ, under whose influence Bhagavân Hari even is lying,

under deep sleep, inert like an ordinary man. When the eternal

Vâsudeva Janârdana will be dispossessed by Her, He will

no doubt fight with the Dânavas. Thus deciding, Bhagavân

Brahmâ, seated on the tubular stalk of the lotus, began to

chant hymns to Yoga Nidrâ, residing on the body of Visnu,

thus :--

27-32. Brahmâ said :-- "O

Devî! I have come to understand on the authority of all the

words of the Vedas, that Thou art the only One Cause of this

Universal Brahmânda. The more so when Thou hast brought the

best Purusa Visnu, endowed with discrimination above

all beings, under the control of sleep, then the above remark is

self-evident.

O Thou, the Player in the minds of

all beings! O Mother! I am extremely ignorant of the knowledge of Thy

nature; when Bhagavân Hari is sleeping inert by Thy power, then

who is there amongst Kotis and Kotis of wise men, who

can understand completely the Pastime, Leelâ, full of Mâyâ

of Thine, who art beyond the Gunas. The Sânkhya

philosophers say (that the Purusa (the male aspect of S´akti)

is the pure, conscious being and that Thou art the Prakriti, without

any consciousness, material inert, Creatrix of the universe; but, O

Mother! art Thou really inert like that? Never like that; had it been

like that, how is it that Thou hast made Bhagavân Hari, the

receptable of the world quite unconscious like this? O Bhavâni!

Thou, being beyond the Gunas art displaying like a dramatic

performance these various dramatic plays by the conjunction with the

three Gunas. It is Thy three qualities, Sattva, Rajas and

Tamas that the Munis meditate every day in the morning mid-day, and

evening, the three Sandhyâs; but no one is aware of Thy ways of

doings. O Devî! Thou art of the nature of the judgment and

understanding giving rise to knowledge of all the beings in the

Universe; Thou art always the S´ri (wealth and prosperity) giving

pleasures to the Devas. O Mother! Thou art reigning in all as Kîrti

(fame), mati (intellect), Dhriti (fortitude). Kânti (beauty)

S´raddhâ (faith) and Rati (enjoyment). O Mother! Now I am put

to great difficulties and therefore I have got eye witness of Thy

nature; no need of further reasoning and discussing about it.

27-50. I have now known that verily,

verily Thou art the only Mother of all the worlds as Thou hast

brought Hari under the influence of sleep. O Devî! Now when it

is evident that all the worlds, etc., have come from Thee, then the

Vedas have also come from Thee; what doubt is there? So the Vedas,

too, do not know fully Thy nature; for the effect can never know its

cause. So, it is very true that Thou art incomprehensible of the

Vedas, O Mother! When I, Hari, Hara and the other Devas and my son

Nârada and other Munis have not able to realise Thy nature

fully, then who else can be so intelligent in this world that will

realise all Thy nature? So Thy glory is beyond the speech of all

beings. O Devî! If, in the place of sacrifice, the ritualists,

the knowers of the Vedas, do not utter Thy name Svâhâ,

then the Devas, participators of the offerings in Yajña, do

not get their share, however hundreds of oblations be offered; so

Thou art also the giver of sustenance allowances to the Devas. O

Bhagavatî! In previous Kalpas, Thou hadst saved me terrified

from the fear of the Dânavas. O Devî Varade! now, too, I

am terrified at the sight of the terrible forms of Madhu and Kaitabha

and take Thy refuge. O high-minded one! Now I thoroughly see that by

Thee, by Thy power Yoganidrâ the whole body of Bhagavân

Visnu is senseless; but how is it that Thou dost not realise

my sufferings. So, either dost Thou leave possession of this

Âdi-Deva, or destroy Thyself these two Danavendras -- lost do

either of the two as Thou likest. O Devî! Those that do not

know Thy extraordinary powers, those stupid ones meditate Hari, Hara,

etc. But, O Mother! By Thy grace, I realise to-day, as eye-witness,

that Visnu even is to-day lying unconscious in deep sleep,

totally senseless of anything outside by Thy force. O Bhagavatî!

Now, when Kamalâ, the daughter of Sindhu is unable to rouse Her

husband Hari, by her effort, or rather Thou hast made Her, too,

perforce, sleep unconsciously, it seems she is without any effort and

does not know anything of what is going on outside. O Devî!

Verily those are blessed who worship Thy lotus feet with their whole

heart full of devotion and without any hope of getting rewards,

abandoning the worship of other Devas and knowing Thee as the

Creatrix of the whole world and the giver of all desires. Alas! now

the intelligence, beauty, fame, and all good qualities have forsaken

Hari and fled away to some unknown quarters. O Bhagavatî! Thou

art really adorable in the three worlds for, by Thy power of

Yoganidrâ, Hari has been kept in prison, as it were, in this

way. O Mother! Thou art the S´akti of all this universe and endowed

with all prowess and energy; all other things are Thy creation. As a

dramatic player, though one, plays in the theatre, assuming many

forms, so Thou, too, being one, playest always in this charming

theatre of world, created by Thy Gunas, in various forms.

O Mother! Thou, in the beginning of

the Yugas, dost manifest first the Visnu form and givest him

the pure Sattrik Sakti, free from any obscuration and thereby madest

Him preserve the Universe; and now it is Thyself that hast kept Him

thus unconscious; therefore, it is an undoubted fact that Thou art

doing whatever Thou willest, O Bhagavatî! I am now in danger;

if it be Thy desire not to kill me, then dost break the silence, look

on me and show Thy mercy. O Bhavâni! If it be not Thy desire to

kill me, then why hast Thou created these two Dânavas, my death

incarnate; or is it that Thou wantedest to put me to ridicule. I have

come to know of Thy wonderful acts; Thou createst this whole

Universe, and Thyself remaining aloof, playest always and in the time

of Pralaya resolvest everything again into Thee. Therefore, O

Bhavâni, what wonder is there, that Thou wouldst want to kill

me in this way? But, O Mother! I won't feel any pain if Thou

willingly killest me but this is to my great dishonour that being

given power over these beings, I would then be made an object to be

killed by the Daityas; this, indeed, is hard to me. So, O Thou

Leelâmayî like a sportive girl! get up! O Devî!

assumest the wonderful form Thyself and killest me or the two

Daityas, as Thou willest; or rouse Hari who will then kill the

Daityas. All these are in Thy hands."

Sûta said :-- Thus praised by

Brahmâ, the Nidrâ Devî (the goddess of sleep), of

the nature of Tamo Gunas, quitted the body of Bhagavân Hari and

stood by him. When thus left completely by the Devî Yoga Nidrâ,

of unequalled brilliance and splendour, for the destruction of Madhu

Kaitabha, Visnu began to move his body and at this

Brahmâ became very glad.

Thus ends the seventh chapter of the

First Skandha on the praise of the Devî in the Mahâ

Purânam S´rimad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000

verses, by Maharsi Vedavyâs.

 

 

 

 

Chapter VIII

On deciding who is to

be worshipped

1-7. The Risis said :-- "O

highly fortunate one! A great doubt has arisen on your statement.

This is ascertained by all the wise men as written in the Vedas,

Purânas and other Sâstras that Brahmâ, Visnu

and Mahes'var, these three Devas are eternal. None is superior to

them in this Brahmânda. Brahmâ creates all the

beings, Visnu preserves and Mahes'var destroys all in due

time. These are the causes of creation, preservation and destruction.

The Trinity Brahmâ, Visnu and Mahes'a are really one

form, indeed, Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity.

Being endowed respectively with

Sattva, Raja and Tamo Gunas they do their respective works.

Amongst these, again, Purushottam Âdideva Jagannâth Hari,

the husband of Kamalâ is the best; for he is capable of doing

all the actions; no other than the Visnu, of unrivalled

prowess is so capable. How is it, then that Yogamâyâ has

overpowered Hari with sleep and made him altogether senseless? O

highly fortunate one! whither did, then, go that extraordinary self

knowledge and power, etc., of Hari while alive? This is our greatest

doubt; so kindly advise us that our this doubt be removed and our

well-being be thus ensured.

8-30. What is that S´aktî?

Which you mentioned to us before; as well by whom Visnu is

conquered? Whence is She born? What is the power of that S´aktî

and what is Her nature? O Suvrata! explain to us these fully.

How was it that Yogamâyâ

overpowered with sleep the Highest Deity Bhagavân Visnu

who is everlasting-intelligence bliss! who is the God of all, the

Guru of the whole world, the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer, who is

omni-present, an incarnate of purity and holiness and beyond

Rajoguna; how was such a personage brought under the control

of sleep? O Sûta! You are very intelligent and the pupil of

Vyasa Deva; destroy our this doubt by the sword of wisdom.

Hearing this, Sûta said :--"O

highly fortunate Munis! There is none in the three Lokas who can

clear your this doubt; the mind-born sons of Brahmâ, Nârada,

Kapila and other eternal sons get bewildered by these questions; what

can I, then, say on this very difficult point! See, some persons call

Bhagavân Visnu omnipresent, the preserver of all and the

best of all the Devas; according to them all this universe moving and

non-moving, is created by Visnu; they bow down before the

Highest Nârâyan Hrisikes'a Janârdana Vâsudeva

and worship Him, whereas others worship Mahâdeva S´ankara,

having Gauri for the other half of his body, endowed with all powers,

residing in Kailâs'a, surrounded by hosts of bhutas, that

destroyed the Daksha's sacrifice, who is mentioned in the Vedas as

S´as'is'ekhara (having moon on his forehead), with three eyes and

five faces and holding trident in his hand and known as Vrisadhaja

and Kaparddi. O highly intelligent ones! There are some other

persons, that know the Vedas and worship the Sun everyday in the

morning, mid-day and in the evening with various hymns.

In all the Vedas, it is stated that

the worship of the sun is excellent and they have named the

high-souled sun as Paramâtmâ (the Highest Deity). Whereas

there are other Vedavits (the knowers of the Vedas) who worship the

Devas, Fire, Indra, and Varuna. But the Maharsis say,

that as Gangâ Devi (the river Ganges), though one, is

expressing Herself by many channels, so the one Visnu is

expressing in all the Deva forms. Those who are big Pundits, declare

perception, inference, and verbal testimony as the three modes of

proofs. The Naiyâyik Pundits add to the above three, a fourth

proof which they call upamâ, resemblance, similitude and some

other intelligent Pundits add another fifth proof called Arthâpatti,

an. inference from circumstances, presumption, implication. It is

deduction of a matter from that which could not else be; it is

assumption of a thing, not itself perceived but necessarily implied

by another which is seen, heard or proved; whereas the authors of the

Purânas add two other, called Sâksî and

Aitijhya, thus advocating. seven modes of proofs. Now the Vedânta

S´âstra says that the supreme being (Param Brahmâ), the

Prime cause of the Universe, cannot be comprehended by the

above-mentioned seven proofs. Therefore, first of all, adopt the

reason leading to sure belief, the Buddhi, according to the words of

the Vedas and discriminate and discuss again and again and draw your

inference about Brahmâ. And the intelligent person should adopt

what is seen by perception as self-evident and what is inferred by

the observance of good conduct. The wise persons say, and it is also

stated in the Purânas, that the Prime Force is present

in Brahmâ as the Creative Force; is present in Hari as the

Preservative Force; is present in Hara as the Destructive Force; is

present in Kurma (tortoise) and in Ananta (the thousand headed Snake)

as the earth supporting Force; is present in fire as the Burning

Force, is present in air as the moving Force, and so is present

everywhere in various manifestations of forces.

31-51. In this whole Universe,

whoever he may be, all are incapable of any action if he be deprived

of his force; what more than this, if S´iva be deprived of Kula

Kundalinî S´aktî, He becomes a lifeless corpse; O great

ascetic Risis! She is present everywere thus in every thing in

this universe from the highest Brahmâ to the lowermost blade of

grass, all moving and non-moving things. Verily everything becomes

quite inert, if deprived of force; whether in conquering one's

enemies, or in going from one place to another or in eating -- one

finds oneself quite incapable, if deprived of force. Thus the

omnipresent S´aktî, the wise call by the name of Brahmâ.

Those who are verily intelligent should always worship Her in various

ways and determine thoroughly the reality of Her by every means. In

Visnu there is the Sattviki S´aktî; then He can

preserve; otherwise He is quite useless; so in Brahmâ there is

Rajasi S´aktî and He creates; otherwise He is quite useless;

in S´iva, there is Tamasi S´aktî and He destroys; else He

is quite useless. Thus, arguing again and again in one's mind,

everyone should come to know that the Highest Âdya S´aktî

by Her mere will creates and preserves this Universe and She it is

who destroys again in time the whole Brahmânda, moving and

non-moving; no one is capable to do his respective work be he Brahmâ,

Visnu, Mahes'var, Indra, Fire, Sun, Varuna or any other

person whatsoever; verily all the Devas perform the respective

actions by the use of this Âdya S´aktî. That She alone

is present in cause and effect and is doing every action, an be

witnessed vividly. The intelligent ones call that S´aktî

twofold; one is Sagunâ and the other is Nirgunâ.

The people, attached to the senses and the objects, worship the

Sagunâ aspect, and those who are not so attached worship

the Nirguna aspect. That conscious S´aktî is the Lady of the

fourfold aims of life, religion, wealth, desires, and liberation.

When She is worshipped according to due rules, She awards all sorts

of desires. The worldly persons, charmed by the Mâyâ of

this world, do not know Her at all; some persons know a little and

charm others; whereas some stupid and dull-deaded Pundits, impelled

by Kali, start sects of heretics, Pâsandas for

the sustenance of their own bellies. O highly fortunate Munis! In no

other Yugas were found acts as prevalent in this Kali Yuga, based on

various different opinions and altogether beyond the pale of the

Vedic injunctions. Behold again, if Brahmâ, Visnu and

Mahes´a be the supreme Deities, then why do these three Devas

meditate on another One beyond speech, beyond mind and practise, for

years, hard austerities; and why do they perform Yajñas

(sacrifices) for their success in creation, preservation, and

destruction? They know, verily, the Highest Supreme Being, Brahmâni

Devî S´aktî eternal, constant and therefore they

meditate Her always in their minds. Therefore the wise man, knowing

this firmly, should serve in every way the Highest S´aktî. O

Munis! This is the settled conclusion of all the Sâstras. I

have heard of this great hidden secret from Bhagavân Krisna

Dvaipâyan. He heard it from Nârada, and Nârada

heard it from his own father Brahmâ. Brahmâ heard this

from Visnu. O Munis it is well that the wise even should not

hear or think anything to the contrary from other sources; they

should with their concentrated heart serve the Brahmâ Sanâtanî

S´aktî. It is clearly witnessed in this world that if there

be any substance wherein this conscious S´aktî does not

exist, that becomes inert, quite useless for any purpose. So know

this fully that it is the Highest Divine Mother of the Universe that

is playing here, residing in every being.

Thus ends the eighth chapter of the

first Skandha on deciding who is to be worshipped in the Mahapurâna

Sri Mad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi

Vedavyâsa.

 

 

 

 

Chapter IX

On the killing of

Madhu Kaitabha

1-49. Sûta said:--O Munis! When

the excellent Tâmasi S´akti, the Goddess presiding over sleep

came out from the eyes, mouth, nose, heart, etc., of the body of the

World-Guru Visnu and rested in the celestial space, then the

powerful Lord Visnu began to yawn and got up. He saw the

Prajâpati Brahmâ, terrified and spoke to him in words,

deep like rumbling in the clouds :-- "O Bhagavân Padmayone!

What makes you come here, and leave your tapasyâ? Why do you

look so terrified and anxious?" Hearing this, Brahmâ said: "O

Deva! The two very powerful and very terrible Daityas, Madhu Kaitabha

sprung from the wax of Thy ears approached to kill me; terrified

thus, I have come to Thee. So, O Lord of the Universe! O Vâsudeva!

now I am quite out of senses and terrified; save me." Visnu,

then, said :-- "Now go and rest in peace, without any fear; let

those two stupids, whose life has been well nigh exhausted, come to

me for battle; I will certainly kill them."

Sûta said :-- While Bhagavân

Visnu, the Lord of all the Devas, was thus saying, those two

very powerful Dânavas, elated with pride, came up there, in

their search for Brahmâ. O Munis! The two proud Daityas stood

there in the midst of the Pralaya water without anything to stand on

and with calm attitude. They then spoke to Brahmâ as follows

:-- O You have fled and come here? You cannot escape. Go on and

fight. I will kill You before this one.

Then I will kill him also who sleeps

on this bed of serpent. Either give us battle or acknowledge yourself

as our servant. Hearing their words, Janârdan Visnu addressed

them as follows:-- "O two Dânavas, mad for war! Come and

fight with me as you like; I will surely curb your pride. O two

powerful ones! If you trust me, come and fight". Hearing this, the

two Dânavas in the midst of that mass of water resting without

any support, came up there to fight, with their eyes rolling with

anger. The Daitya, named Madhu, became very angry, came up quickly to

fight while Kaitabha remained where he stood. Then the

hand-to-hand fight ensued between the two mad athletes; Bhagavân

Hari and Madhu became tired; Kaitabha came up and began to

fight. After that Madhu and Kaitabha joined and, blind with

rage, began to fight again and again hand to hand with the very

powerful Visnu. And Bhagavân Brahmâ and the Prime

Force Âdyâ S´akti witnessed this from the celestial

Heavens. So the fight lasted for a long, long, time; yet the two

Dânavas did not feel a bit tired: rather Bhagavân Visnu

became tired. Thus five thousand years passed away; Hari then began

to ponder over their mode of death. He thought :-- "I fought for

five thousands of years but the two formidable Dânavas have not

been tired anything, rather I am tired; it is a matter of great

surprise. Where has gone my prowess? and what for the two Dânavas

were not tired; What is the cause? This is a matter, now, seriously

to be thought over". Seeing Bhagavân Hari thus sunk in cares,

the two haughty Dânavas spoke to him with great glee and with a

voice like that of the rumbling of cloud :-- "O Visnu ! If

you feel tired, if you have no sufficient strength to fight with us,

then raise your folded palms on your head and acknowledge that you

are our servant; or if you can, go on fighting. O intelligent one!

We will take away your life first;

and then slay this four-faced Brahmâ". Hearing the words of

the two Dânavas, resting there without any support in the vast

ocean, the high-minded Visnu spoke to them in sweet consoling

words :-- "See, O heroes! no one ever fights with one who is tired,

afraid, who is weaponless, who is fallen and who is a child; this is

the Dharma of the heroes. Both of you fought with me for five

thousands of years. But I am single handed; you are two, and both

equally powerful and both of you took rest at intervals. I will

therefore take rest for a while, and then fight with certainty. Both

of you are very powerful and very much elated in vanity. Therefore

rest a while. After taking rest for a while I will fight with you

according to the just rules of warfare." Hearing these words of

Hari, the two chief Dânavas trusted and remained far aloof,

ready to fight again.

Now the four-armed Vâsudeva,

seeing them at a sufficient distance, began to ponder in his mind

thus :-- "How their death can be effected? Thinking for a time, he

came to know that they have been granted, by the Supreme S´akti

Devî, death at their will (Ichchâmrityu); and therefore

they are not getting tired. I fought so long with them uselessly; my

labour went in vain. How then can I now fight, with this certain

knowledge. Again if I do not fight, how these two Dânavas,

elated with their boon and giving troubles to all, be destroyed? When

the boon is granted by the Devî their death is also well nigh

impracticable. Who wants his own death, even placed in very great

distressed circumstances. Attacked by terrible diseases, reduced to

indigent poverty no one wants to die; so how can it be expected that

these two haughty Dânavas would want their death themselves?

Therefore it is advisable me to take refuge of that Âdyâ

S´akti, the giver of the fruits of all desires. No desires can ever

be fructified unless She is thoroughly pleased. Thus thinking,

Bhagavân Visnu saw the beautiful Devî Yoga Nidra

S´iva, shining in the air. Then the supreme Yogi, Bhagavân

Visnu, of immeasurable spirit began to praise with folded

palms that great Bhuvanes'varî Mahâ Kâli, the giver

of boons for the destruction of the Dânavas. "O Devî! I

bow down to Thee O Mahâmâyâ, the Creatrix and

Destructrix! Thou beginningless and deathless! O auspicious Chandike!

The Bestower of enjoyment and liberation I do not know Thy Saguna

or Nirguna forms; how then can I know Thy glorious deeds,

innumerable as they are. To-day Thy undescribable prowess has been

experienced by me, I being made senseless and unconscious by Thy

power of sleep. Being tried again and again by Brahmâ with

great care to bring me back to my consciousness, I could not become

conscious, so much my senses were contracted down. O Mother! By Thy

power, Thou didst keep me unconscious and Thou again hast freed me

from sleep, and I also fought so many times. O giver of one's honour!

Now I am tired; but Thou hast granted boon to the two Dânavas

and therefore they are not getting tired. These two Dânavas,

puffed up with pride, were ready to kill Brahmâ; and therefore

I challenged them to fight with me and they too are fighting fiercely

with me in this vast ocean. But Thou hast granted them the wonderful

boon that they will die whenever they will; and therefore I have now

come to Thy refuge, as Thou protectest those that come under Thy

shelter. Therefore, O Mother, the remover of the Devas' troubles!

These two Dânavas are become exceedingly elated by Thy boon and

I, too, am tired. Therefore dost Thou help me now. See! those two

sinners are ready to kill me; without Thy grace, what can I do now?

and where to go?"

50-59. Thus praised by the eternal

Vâsudeva Jagannâtha Hari, with humility and pranams, the

Devî Mahâ Kâli, resting in the air, said smiling

:-- "O Deva deva Hari! Fight again; O Visnu! These two

heroes, when deluded by My Mâyâ, would be slain by you; I

will delude them certainly, by My side long glance; O Nârâyana!

then slay quickly the two Dânavas, when conjured by My mâyâ".

Sûta said :-- Hearing these

loving words of Bhagavatî, Bhagavân Visnu went to

the scene of battle in the middle of that ocean, when the two

powerful Dânavas of serene tempers and eager to light, became

very glad on seeing Visnu in the battle and said :-- "O

four-armed one! we see your desire is very lofty indeed; well stand!

Stand! now be ready for battle, knowing that victory or defeat is

surely dependent on Destiny. You should think now thus :-- Though it

is generally true that the more powerful one wins victory; but it

also happens sometimes that the weak gets the victory by queer turn

of Fate; so the high souled persons should not be glad at their

victories, nor should express their sorrows at their defeat; so don´t

be glad, thinking, that you on many former occasions fought with many

Dânavas who were your enemies, and got the victory; nor be

sorry that now you are defeated by the two Dânavas". Thus

saying, the powerful Madhu Kaitabha came up to fight. Seeing

this, Bhagavân Visnu struck them immediately by fist

with great violence; the two Dânavas, elated with their

strength, struck Hari in return with their fists. Thus fighting went

on vigorously.

60-87. Now seeing the two Dânavas

of great powers, fighting on incessantly, Nârâyana Hari

cast a glance expressive of great distress, towards the face of the

Devî Mahâkâli. Seeing Visnu thus distressed,

the Devî laughed loudly and began to look constantly with eyes

somewhat reddish and shot towards the two Asuras side-long glances,

of love and amorous feelings which were like arrows from the Cupid.

The two vicious Daityas became fascinated by the side-long glances of

the Devî and took great pleasures in them; being extremely

agitated by these amorous darts, looked with one steady gaze towards

the Devî, of spotless lustre. Bhagavân Hari, too, saw the

wonderful enchanting pastime of the Devî. Then Hari, perfectly

expert in adopting means to secure ends, began to speak smiling and

in voice like that of the rambling cloud, knowing the two Dânavas

enchanted by Mahâmâyâ, thus :--

O two heroes! I am very glad at the

mode of your fighting. So ask from me boons. I will grant that to

you. I saw many Dânavas before, fighting; but never I saw them

expert like you, nor I heard like this. I am therefore, very much

satisfied by your such unrivalled powers. Therefore, O greatly

powerful pair of Dânavas! I wish to grant both of you any boon

that you want. Seeing the Devî Mahâmâyâ, the

gladdener, of the Universe, the two Dânavas felt themselves

amorous; and therefore they became proud on hearing Visnu's

those words and told Visnu, with their lotus-like eyes wide

open, thus :--

O Hari! what do you like to give us?

We are not beggars; we do not want anything from you. O Lord of the

Devas! Rather we will give you whatever you desire; we are donors;

not receivers. So O Vâsudeva! Hrisi Kesa! We are

glad to see your- wonderful fight; so ask from us any boon that you

desire. Hearing their words, Bhagavân Janârdan said :-- "

If you both are so much pleased with me, then I want this that both

of you be killed by me." Hearing these words of Visnu, Madhu

Kaitabha became very much wondered and thinking "we are now

cheated" remained for some time merged in sorrow. Then reflecting

that there is water everywhere and solid earth nowhere, they said :--

"O Janârdana Hari! We know

that you are truthful; therefore now we want this desired boon from

you that you wanted to grant us before now grant us this desired boon

of ours. O Madhusûdana! We will be slain by you; but kill us, O

Mâdhava! on a solid earth, free from any water; and thus keep

your word.

S´ri Bhagavân Hari laughed

and remembering His Sudarsan disc said :-- "O two highly fortunate

ones! Verily, I will kill both of you on the vast solid spot without

any trace of water. Thus saying, the Devadeva Hari expanded His own

thighs and showed to those Dânavas the vast solid earth on the

surface of water and said :--

"O two Dânavas! See, here is

no water. Place your two heads here; thus I will keep my word and you

would keep your word." Hearing this, Madhu Kaitabha thought

over in their minds and expanded their bodies to ten thousand

Yojanas. Bhagavân Visnu Hari also extended his thighs to

twice that amount. Seeing this, they were greatly, suprised and laid

their heads on the thighs of Visnu. Visnu of wonderful

prowess, then cut off quickly with His Sudarsan disc the two very big

heads over His thighs. Thus the two Dânavas Madhu Kaitabha

passed away; and the marrow (meda) of them filled the ocean. O Munis!

For this reason, this earth is named Medinî and the earth is

unfit for eatable purpose.

Thus I have described to you all that

you asked. The sum and substance is this that the wise persons should

serve Mahâmâyâ with all thei hearts. The Supreme

S´akti is worshipped by all the Devas. Verily verily, I say unto

you that this is decided, in all the Vedas and other S´astras that

there is nothing higher than this Âdyâ S´akti.

Therefore this Supreme S´akti should be worshipped anyhow; either

in Her Saguna form or in Her Nirguna state.

Thus ends the ninth Chapter of the

first Skandha on the killing of Madhu Kaitabha in the

Mahâpurana S´rimad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000

verses by Maharsi Veda Vyâs.

 

 

 

 

Chapter X

On S´iva´s

granting boons

1-37. The Risis said :-- "O

Sûta! You told before, that Vyâsa Deva, unrivalled

spirit, composed all the Purânas and taught them to his

own S´uka Deva; but how did Vyâsadeva, who was incessantly

engaged in tapasyâ, procreate S´uka? Describe to us in detail

what you heard direct from Krisna Dvaipâyana Vyâsa".

Sûta said :-- "O Risis! Hear how S´uka Deva, the

best of the Munis and the foremost of the Yogis, was born of Vyâsa

Deva, the Satyavati's son.

On the very beautiful summit of Mount

Meru, Vyâsa, the son of Satyavati, firmly determined, practised

very severe austerities for the attainment of a son. Having heard

from Nârada, he, the great ascetic, repeated the one syllabled

mantra of Vâk and worshipped the Highest Mahâmayâ

with the object of getting a son. He asked, Let a son be born to me

as pure and as spirited and powerful as fire, air, earth, and Âkâs´a.

He thought over in his mind that the man possessed of S´akti is

worshipped in this world and the man devoid of S´akti is censured

here, and thus came to the conclusion that S´akti is therefore

worshipped every where; and, therefore,worshipped Bhagavân

Mahes'vara coupled with the auspicious Âdyâ S´akti and

spent away one hundred years without any food. He began his tapasyâ

on that mountain summit which was ornamented with the garden of

Karnikâr, where all the Devas play, and where live the Munis

highly ascetic, the Âdityas, Vasus, Rudras, Marut, the two

As'vîns, and the other mindful Risis, the knowers of

Brahmâ and where the Kinnaras always resound the air with their

songs of music, etc.; such a place Vyâsa Deva preferred for his

tapasyâ."

The whole universe was pervaded with

the spirit of asceticism of the intelligent Parâsara's son

Vyâsa Deva; and the hairs of his head were clotted and looked

tawny, of the colour of flames. Seeing the fire of his asceticism,

Indra, the lord of S´achi became exceedingly terrified. Bhagavân

Rudra, seeing Indra thus afraid, fatigued and morose, asked him :--

"O Indra, why do you look so fear-stricken to-day? O Lord of the

Devas! What is the cause of your grief? Never show your jealousy and

anger to the ascetics; for the mindful ascetics always practise

severe asceticism with a noble object and worship Me, knowing Me to

be possessed of the all powerful S´akti; they never want ill of any

body". When Bhagavân Rudra said this, Indra asked him :--

"What is his object?" At this S´ankara said :-- For the

attainment of a son, Prasâra's son is practising so severe

austerities; now one-hundred years is being completed; I will go to

him, and give him to-day the auspicious boon of a son. Thus speaking

to Indra, Bhagavân Rudra, the Guru of the world, went to Vyâsa

Deva and, with merciful eyes, said :-- "O sinless Vâsavi's

son! Get up; I grant to you the boon, that you will get a son very

fiery, luminous and spirited like the five elements fire, air, earth,

water and Âkâs'a, the supreme Jñânî,

the store of all auspicious qualities, of great renown, beloved to

all, ornamented with all Sattvik qualities, truthful and valorous.

Hearing these sweet words of Bhagavân

S´ûlapâni Maharsi Krisna

Dvaipâyana bowed down to Him and went back to his own

hermitage. Tired with the labour of penance for many years, he wanted

to kindle fire by rubbing two fuels (Aranî) with each

other. While doing this the high souled man suddenly began to think

strongly in his mind about procreating a son. He thought :-- "Will

it be that my son will be born as this fire is produced by the

friction of the two churning sticks? I have not got the wife, which

the Pundits designate a "Putrârani", the youthful wife

endowed with beauty, born of a noble family, the chaste one I have

not got with me. But the wife, though chaste and fit to beget a son,

is undoubtedly a chain to both the legs so how can I get such a one

for my wife? This is known to all that a chaste wife, though clever

in doing all household duties, beautiful and giving happiness to

one's desires, is yet always a sort of bondage. What more than this,

that the ever Bhagavân Mahes'vara is always under the bondage

of woman. How, then, knowing and hearing all these I can accept this

difficult householder's life? While he was thinking thus, the

extraordinarily beautiful Apsarâ Ghritâchi fell to his

sight close to him in the celestial air.

Though Vyâsa Deva was a

Brahmâchâri (holding in control the secret power of

generation) of a very high order, yet seeing suddenly the agile

Apsarâ (a celestial nymph) coming close to him and looking

askance at him, he became soon smitten with the arrows of cupid and

feeling himself distressed, began to think what shall I do in this

critical moment.

Unbearable amorous feelings now have

come over me; now if I take this celestial nymph, knowing that Dharma

is everywhere looking, and woman has come to take away my precious

fire of spirit acquired by my tapasyâ, then I will be laughed

at by the high souled ascetic Munis who will think that I have lost

my senses altogether. Alas! Why I who have practised for one hundred

years the most terrible ascetism, have become so powerless by the

mere sight of this Apsarâ! The Pundits declare the household

life as the source of getting son, one's heart´s desire and the

source of all happiness; so much so that it leads all the virtuous

souls to the pleasures of Heaven, and ordains Moksa

(liberation) to those who are Jñânins; and if I get such

unrivalled happiness from this householder's life, I can have this

Deva Kanyâ (the celestial nymph) though blameable. But again

that happiness will not occur to me through her; there is no doubt in

this. So how can I take her. I heard from Nârada how, in

ancient days, a king name Pururavâ fell under the clutches of

Urvas'î and ultimately felt great pain, being defeated by her.

Thus ends the tenth chapter on

S´iva's granting boon in the Mahapurâna S´rîmad

Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda

Vyâs.

 

 

 

 

Chapter XI

On the birth of Budha

1-86. The Risis said :-- "O

Sûta! Who is that King Pururavâ? and who is the Deva girl

Urvas'î? And how did that high-souled King Pururavâ come

into trouble? O son of Lomaharsana! Kindly describe now

all these to me. We are now desirous to hear sweet words from the

lotus of your mouth. O Sûta! Your words are sweeter and more

full of juice than nectar even; so we are not satiated by hearing

them as gods are not satiated with the drink of nectar."

Hearing this Sûta said :-- O

Munis! I am now telling you, as far as my intelligence goes, what I

heard from the mouth of S'rî Vyâsa. Now hear that

beautiful divine incident.

Once on a time the exceedingly

beautiful dear wife of Brihaspati, named Târâ, full of

youth and beauty, of the most beautiful limbs and intoxicated with

pride went to the house of Chandra Deva (the Moon), the yajamân

(Employer of priest Brihaspati at any sacrifice) of Brihaspati.

Seeing Târâ of beautiful face like Moon, the Moon became

very passionate; Târâ also fell amorous at the sight of

Moon. Thus both of them became very much passionately attached to

each other. Then they, the Moon and Târâ, being smitten

by the arrows of Cupid and intoxicated with amorous passions began

their sexual intercourse with reciprocal feelings of passionate love.

Some days passed in this state. Brihaspati, then, being distressed

with the pang of separation from his wife, sent his pupil to bring

back Târâ; but Târâ was then submissive of

Chandra and therefore refused to come. Brihaspati sent over and over

again his pupil and when Chandra Deva returned the messenger,

Brihaspati became very angry and went personally to Chandra's house

and spoke angrily to the Moon who was puffed up with arrogance and

somewhat smiling :-- "O Moon! Why are you committing this vicious

act, contrary to Dharma? Why are you keeping my beautiful wife in

your house? I am your Guru; you are my client; O stupid! why are you

enjoying your Guru's wife and keeping her in custody in your house?

Do you not know that he who kills a Brâhman, who steals gold,

who drinks, who goes to wife of one's Guru are Mahâpâtakis

(great sinners) and those who keep company of these are the fifth

Mahâpâtakis? Therefore if you had enjoyed my wife, you

are exceedingly vicious, blameable and a Mahâpâtaki

(great sinner); you are not fit to live amongst the Devas. O wicked

one! Now I say that even now you better forsake Târâ, who

is of a blue colour and whose look is askance; I won't go from here

without having Târâ. And if you do not give back Târâ,

then you are certainly with her and undoubtedly I will curse you.

When Brihaspati said so, Chandra, the husband of Rohinî,

spoke to his Guru Deva, who was very angry, sorry and afflicted at

the separation from his beloved wife, thus :-- In this world, the

Brâhmins that know the Dharma S'âstras, that are devoid

of anger, are fit to be worshipped; and those that are not so, they

are objects of disrespect and not to be worshipped by all for their

anger. O sinless one! The beautiful one will surely go to your house;

what harm is there to you, if she waits here for a few days?

She is staying here of her own accord

to enjoy pleasures and will go back of her own will. One word more

:-- You gave out before this opinion of the Dharma S'âstras

that as a Brâhman though guilty of committing vicious deeds,

becomes pure again by the practice of Karmas as enjoined in the

Vedas, so a woman, too, though guilty of adultery, becomes pure again

when she is again in the period of her menstruation. At these words

of Chandra Deva, Brihaspati, the Guru of the Devas, became

exceedingly sorry and anxious and went back immediately to his own

house, with a grievous heart, full of amorous feelings. After staying

in his own house for some days Brihaspati, worn out with anxiety,

came again quickly to the house of Chandra; but, no sooner he was to

enter the gate, he was stopped by the door-keepers; he became very

angry and stopped at the gate way. And when he saw that Chandra did

not make his appearance, he became exceedingly angry and thought :--

"Oh! What a wonder is this? this irreligious Chandra, being my

disciple, has done this vicious act and took by violence the wife of

his Guru, who is reckoned as the mother; and I will now teach him a

good lesson."

Standing on the entrance gate way

Brihaspati began to speak aloud :-- "O stupid, vicious, vilest of

the Devas! Why do you now sleep in your inner room? Do return quickly

my wife; else I will curse you at once. In case you do not bring me

back my wife at once, I will now reduce you to ashes." Hearing

these foul words of Brihaspati, Chandra Deva the king of the Dvijas,

quickly came out of the house and said smiling :-- "O Brâhmin!

Why are you spending your stock of words for nothing? That

all-auspicious lady, of a blue colour and looking askance, is not fit

for you; therefore take another comparatively uglier woman for your

use. Exceedingly youthful and lovely woman like her is not fit for a

beggar's house. O stupid one! I see, you don't know anything about

the Kâma S'âstra (the book that dwells on amorous

passion); those wise men who are skilled in this S'âstra assign

for the women, their lovers equivalent to their beauty in matters of

amorous dealings. So, O stupid man! go away wherever you like. I

won't give you back your wife. Do whatever lies in your power. I

won't return your wife. When you have become passionate, your curse

won't affect me in any way. This I say finally unto you :-- "O

Guru! I will not give you back your wife; do what you wish." Thus

spoken by Chandra, Brihaspati became vary anxious and angry; he then

went away quickly to the Indra's house.

Seeing Guru Deva morose and sorry,

the very liberal minded Indra Deva worshipped him duly with pâdya,

arghya, and Âchamanîya and asked :-- "O highly

fortunate one! Why do you look so anxious? O great Muni! Why are you

grievous and sorry? You are my Guru; is it that you are insulted by

any one in my kingdom; say freely. All the Regents of the several

quarters (the Lokapâlas) and all the Deva armies are under your

command. Brahmâ, Visnu, and Mahes'var and other Devas

are ready to lend you every assistance, no doubt. So say what is the

cause of your anxiety?" Hearing these words of Indra, Brihaspati

said :-- "Chandra has stolen my beautiful-eyed wife. I asked for

her, again and again, but that wicked soul is not returning me my

wife at all. O Lord of the Devas! What am I to do now? You are my

help and guide. O S'atakratu! You are the lord of the Devas;

therefore I pray to you with a very grievous heart, help me in this

matter." Hearing this, Indra said :-- "O knower of Dharma! Do not

be sorry. O Suvrata! I am your servant. O highly intelligent one!

Surely I will bring you back your wife. I will send a messenger and

even then if Chandra, mad with pride, do not return your wife, I will

wage war with him and fight against him, with all our Deva armies."

Thus consoling Brihaspati, Indra sent a very clever man, who was a

good speaker and wonderful in his capabilities, to Chandra. The

clever and wise messenger went to the Chandra Loka (the region of the

Moon) and spoke to Chandra, the husband of Rohinî, thus

:-- "O Mahâbhâga! Indra has sent me to you to

communicate his message to you. So O intelligent one! I will tell you

what he has ordered me; hear." He said :-- "O highly fortunate

one! You know well Dharma and Nîti S'âstra (the science

of morals); the more so, because the virtuous Maharsi Atri is

your father. Therefore, O Suvrata! You ought not to commit such

blameable act. See, all beings should protect their own wives always

without remaining idle to the best of their powers; therefore, no

doubt, quarrels would ensue necessarily on that point. O Sudhânidhi!

as far as this point of protecting one's wife is concerned, your Guru

Deva ought also to do his best. You ought to consider all persons

like your own self.

O Sudhâkara! You have got

twenty-eight exceedingly beautiful wives, who are the daughters of

Daksa; why then do you desire to enjoy the wife of your Guru?

The beautiful Apsarâs (celestial nymphs) Menakâ and

others are always residing in the Heavens; you can enjoy them to your

heart's content; leave off the wife of your Guru. In case any

powerful man commits an unworthy act out of egoism, the illiterate

ones would follow them; so the Dharma will decline. Therefore, O

highly lucky one! Do such as does not lead, for nothing, quarrels

amongst the gods and leave your Guru's wife, even beautiful."

Hearing these words from the messenger, the Moon (Chandra Deva)

became somewhat angry and, making gestures, replied to the messenger,

as if to Indra, thus :--

O mighty armed one! As you yourself

are the lord of the Devas and the knower of Dharma, so your priest,

too, has become like you; the head of both of you are the same. You

will find many that can show their learning and give advice to

others, but you will find always very rare such persons as will act

themselves to their own advices when occasion arises and wants them

to fulfil their own words. O Lord of the Devas! All the persons take

the opinion of the S'âstras framed by Brihaspati then why the

quarrel would ensue with me and the Devas when I an enjoying,

according to his dictates, a woman who is herself willing? See also,

that the rule in this world is might is right; all things go to the

powerful man who can take by force; nothing falls to the lot of the

weak; moreover this woman is mine and that woman is of another, this

false notion comes to those whose brains are weak. When Târâ,

is so much attached to me and is not at all attached to Brihaspati,

the above rule applicable to me all the more; how then can I quit the

lady so much attached to me, according to the laws of Dharma and the

morals? You can see also, that happiness reigns in that family where

the wife is according to the will of the husband; how, then, can the

household happiness exist when the lady of the house is always

dissatisfied? Therefore the household happiness of the Guru is

impossible as Târâ is dissatified with Brihaspati since

he enjoyed the wife of his younger brother Samvarta. Then the result

comes to this, O thousand eyed one! How have you come to be thousand

eyed! However that may be, you are the lord of the Devas; you can do

whatever you like. O messenger! go and tell your lord of the Devas

all that I have spoken; I will not return by any means that beautiful

Târâ.

When Chandra spoke thus, the

messenger went back to Indra and communicated to him all that Chandra

Deva had spoken. Hearing this, Indra became angry and ordered all the

Deva forces to be ready at once. Hearing this news of war,

S'ukrâchârya, out of enmity to Brihaspati, went to

Chandra and spoke thus :-- "O highly intelligent one! never return

Târâ; in case if war ensues between you and Indra, I will

help you by my Mantra-S'akti." On the other hand, Bhagavân

S'ankara, hearing of the vicious act of Chandra's, taking his Guru's

wife, and knowing that S'ukrachârya was the enemy of

Brihaspati, came to the assistance of the Devas. The great war, then,

ensued between the Devas like the terrific war of Târakâsura;

it continued for many years. Then the grandfather Brahma, seeing the

great havoc in the lives of the Devas and Asuras, came there on his

vâhan Hamsa, to secure peace and talked to Chandra :-- "Quit

the Guru's wife; if not, I will call Visnu and destroy all of

you party." He also desisted the son of Bhrigu, S'ukrâcharya,

saying :-- "O highly intelligent one! why has this wicked idea

possessed your mind? Is it due to the bad association?" Then

S'ukrâchârya also told Chandra, the lord of the medicinal

plants, not to wage war and said :-- "Better quit you now the

Guru's wife. Your father Maharsi Atri has sent me to you for

this purpose." Chandra, then, hearing the strange words of

S'ukrâchârya, returned to Brihaspati his wife Târâ,

though she was not satisfied with him and became herself pregnant.

Brihaspati returned with joy to his

house, accompanied by his wife; the Devas and Dânavas went away

to their respective places. Brahmâ went to Brahmaloka and

S'ankara went to Kailâs'a.

Brihaspati began to pass his time

happily with his beautiful wife; Some days went away when the wife of

Brihaspati, Târâ, gave birth to an all-auspicious son,

having all the qualities of Chandra, on an auspicious day and under

the influence of an auspicious star; seeing this new-born child,

Brihaspati gladly performed the natal ceremonies of the child.

Hearing that a son is born to him, Chandra sent a messenger to

Brihaspati saying that "That the child is not his; but it is born

out of the semen of mine; why, then, have you performed the natal

ceremonies out of your own will?" Hearing these words of Chandra's

messenger, Brihaspati said :-- "No, this child is mine, no doubt,

as he resembles quite like me." When Brihaspati said this, war

again ensued. The Devas and Dânavas met each other again in

battle field; and councils of war were held. Then, for the

preservation of peace, Prajâpati Brahmâ went there; and

before all desisted the Devas; and Dânavas, mad for war, and

ready to fight against each other. Brahmâ, then, asked Târâ

:-- "O auspicious one! say truly whose child is this? O beautiful

one! if you say truly, then this war resulting in the loss of so many

lives, will cease." The handsome Târâ, looking askance,

lowered her head with shame and gently spoke to Brahmâ :--

"This is the Chandra's child" and went inside. Chandra Deva,

then, became very glad and took the child, put down its name as Budha

and carried it, to his own house. Bhagavân Brahmâ, Indra

and the other Devas went back to their respective places. All the

spectators went also to their own places whence they came. O Munis! I

have now described the birth of Budha, as the son of Chandra and in

the womb of Brihaspati's wife, as I heard it from the mouth of Vyâsa

Deva, the son of Satyavatî.

Thus ends the eleventh chapter of the

1st Skandha on the birth of Budha in the Mahâpurâna

S'rî Mad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses by

Maharsi Veda Vyâs.

 

 

 

 

Chapter XII

On the birth of

Pururavâ

1-53. Sûta said :-- O Mahârsis!

The son of the above mentioned Budha is the greatly religious

Pururavâ, of a very charitable disposition, and always ready to

perform sacrificial acts; he was born of a kshattriya woman named

Ilâ; and I will now describe how this Pururavâ was born

of Ilâ and Budha, kindly listen.

In days of yore there was a king

named Sudyumna, very truthful and highly capable in keeping his

senses under control. Once on a time, wearing beautiful ear-rings,

with extraordinary bow named Âjagab and holding the arrow-case

full of arrows on his back, he went out on hunt to a forest, riding

on a horse, born of the country Sindhu, surrounded by a few of his

ministers. Going about in the regions of forest, the king got for his

shikâr, buck, hare, boar, rhinoceros, bison, buffalo, young

elephant, Srimar deer, wild fowl and various other animals fit for

sacrificial purposes; thus he went on deep into the interior of the

forest. This divine forest was adorned with rows of Mandâra

trees and situated at the bottom of the mount Sumeru. Various trees

and flowers were spreading the beauty of the forest all around; at

places were Asoka creepers, Vakula, Sâl, Tâl, Tamâl,

Champak, Panasa, mangoe, Nîp, Madhûka, pomegranate,

cocoanut, Yûthikâ, plantain, kunda creeper, and various

other trees and flowers; at some other places the bowers formed of

Mâdhavi creepers enhanced the beauty and shed the lustre all

around. There were tanks and reservoirs of water in the forest filled

with swans, kârandavas, and other aquatic birds. The

bamboo trees on their banks becoming filled with air were emitting

sweet musical sounds; and at many places of that all blissgiving

forest, there were bees humming sweetly and delighting the minds of

people there. Now the Râjarsî Pradyumna became

highly gladdened in his heart to see this interior of the forest,

resonated with the cooing of the cuckoos and beautified by various

lovely flowers; and no sooner he entered there than he was turned

into a female and his horse, also, turned into a mare; the king,

then, became seriously anxious. He began to think over and over again

"What is this? How has this come to pass?" and became very

ashamed and sorry and pondered over thus :--"What am I to do now?

How can I in this woman condition go back to my house and how shall I

govern my kingdom? Alas! Who has deceived me thus!" Hearing these

astounding words of Sûta, the Risis said :-- "O Sûta!

You have mentioned that the king Sudyumna equal to god has been

turned into a woman; this is very strange indeed! Therefore, O

Suvrata! What is the reason of his being turned into a mare? Kindly

describe fully what that beautiful king did in the forest?"

Sûta, said :-- Once on a time,

Sanaka and other Risis went to this forest to pay a visit to

S'ankara, illuminating the ten quarters by their holy aura. But then

Bhagavân S'ankara was in amorous dealings with S'ankarî.

The beautiful Devî Ambikâ was then naked and sitting on

the lap of S'ankara and therefore became very much ashamed at their

sight; She got up hurriedly, and putting on her cloth, remained there

shuddering, with great shame and sensitiveness. The Risis,

also, seeing them engaged in amorous dealings, went away quickly to

the hermitage of Nara Nârâyana.

Then Bhagavân S'ankara, seeing

S'ankari too much sensitive, said :-- "Why are you so much bashful

and shy? I am doing just now what will give you pleasure. O Beautiful

one! Whoever male will enter from to-day and hereafter, within the

precincts of this forest, will be instantly converted into a woman."

O Munis! Though the forest gave all delights to all, yet, having this

defect, all the persons that know of this curse, carefully avoid the

forest. No sooner did the King Sudyumna enter into the forest, out of

ignorance, than he, as well as his attendants, were instantly turned

into women; there could be no doubt in this. The king became

overpowered with great care and anxiety and did not go back, out of

shame, to his palace; but he began to wander to and fro on the outer

skirts of that forest. He became known afterwards as the woman Ilâ.

Now, once on an occasion, Budh, while he was wandering at his will,

came up there and seeing the beautiful Ilâ with gestures and

pastures and surrounded by women, became passionately attached

towards her; and Ilâ, too, seeing the beautiful Budh, the son

of Chandra deva, became desirous to have him as her husband. They

became so very much tied in love towards each other, that intercourse

took place there. Thus Bhagavân Budh generated, in the womb of

Ilâ, Pururavâ; and Ilâ gave birth, in due time, the

son Pururavâ in that forest. She then, with an anxious heart,

recollected, while in the forest, her (rather his), family priest

Vasistha Deva. Now then Vasistha Deva,

seeing the distressed condition of the king Sudyumna became affected

with pity and pleased Mahâdeva, S´ankara, the most auspicious

Deva of all, by hymns and praises. When Bhagavân S´ankara

wanted to grant him the boon that he desired, Vasistha

Deva wanted that the king would be turned again into man as before.

At this Bhagavân S´ankara said, in recognition of His

promise, that the king Sudyumna would be alternately one month a man

and the second month a woman and so on. Thus, by the favour of

Vasistha Deva, the king Sudyumna got this boon and

returned to his kingdom and began to govern it. When he used to be

turned into a woman, he used to remain in the interior, and when he

used to become a man, he governed his kingdom. At this the subjects

became very anxious and did not welcome the king as they used to do

before. Some days passed away in this way when the prince Pururavâ

grew up into manhood. Then the king Sudyumna gave over to him the

kingdom and made him the king of the new capital named Pratisthân;

and started out to an hermitage to perform tapasyâ. He went to

a beautiful forest, variegated with all sorts of trees, and got from

the Devarsi Nârada the excellent mantra of the Bhagavatî

Devî, consisting of nine letters. He began to repeat it

incessantly, with an heart filled with love. Thus some days passed

away when the all-auspicious Devî Bhagavatî, the Saviour

of the whole Universe, became pleased with the king and appeared

before the king, assuming the divine beautiful form, composed of

attributes, intoxicated with the drink, and with eyes rolling with

pride, and riding on vâhana, the lion. Seeing this divine form

of the Mother of the Universe, the king Ilâ (in this form)

bowed down before Her with eyes filled with love and gladly praised

Her with hymns thus :-- "O Bhagavatî! What a fortunate being

I am! That I have seen today the extraordinary world renowned

benignant form of Thine granting grace and benefit to all the Lokas,

I, therefore, bow down to Thy lotus-feet, granting desires and

liberation, and served by the whole host of the Devas. O Mother! What

mortal is there on this earth, who can fully comprehend Thy glories

when all the Devas and Munis get bewildered in trying to know of

them.

O Devî! I am thoroughly

astonished to see Thy glories and Thy compassion towards the

distressed and poor and helpless people. How can a human being, who

is devoid of attributes comprehend Thy attributes when Brahmâ,

Visnu, Mahes'vara, Indra, Chandra (moon), Pavana (wind),

Sûrya, Kuvera, and the eight Vasus know not Thy powers. O

Mother! Bhagavân Visnu, of unrivalled brilliancy, knows

Thee as a part of Thine only, as Kamalâ of Sattva Gunas

and giving one all one's desires; Bhagavân Brahmâ knows

Thy part only as the form made of Rajo guna and Bhagavân

S´ankara knows Thee as Umâ only made of Tamo Guna;

but, O Mother! none of them knows Thy turîya form, transcending

all the Gunas.

O Mother! where is my humble self,

that is of very dull intellect and powerless, and where is Thy

extremely propitious serenity and graciousness! Indeed such a

gracious favour on me is certainly beyond expectation. Therefore, O

Bhavâni! I have come to realise, in particular, that Thy heart

is full of unbounded mercy; for Thou dost certainly feel compassion

for these Bhaktas that are full of Bhakti towards Thee. O Mother!

what more shall I say than this, that Bhagavân Madhusûdan

Visnu, though married to Kamalâ, born from only a part

of Thine, considers Himself unfit of Her and is therefore not happy;

then the fact that He, the Âdi Purusa gets his feet

shampooed by Kamalâ merely corroborates the fact that He wants

His feet to become pure and all auspicious to the world by the holy

touch of Kamalâ's hands. O Mother! It seems to me that the

ancient Purusa Bhagavân Visnu wants gladly to be

kicked by Thee like As'oka tree, for his own improvement and

pleasure; and therefore it is that Thou dost want, as if Thou hast

become angry to kick (beat with one's legs) Thy husband, stricken by

Smara (cupid, love) and worshipped by all the Devas, who lies

prostrate below Thy feet.

O Devî; when Thou always

residest on the calm broad chest, as if on a great cot, adorned

beautifully of Bhagavân Visnu, as lightning in deep

dense blue clouds, then it is without doubt that He, becoming the

Lord of the Universe, has surely become Thy vâhan (vehicle) (on

account of carrying Thee on His breast), O Mother! If Thou forsakest

Madhusûdana, out of wrath, He becomes at once powerless and is

not worshipped by any body; for it is seen everywhere that persons,

though calm and serene, if devoid of S´rî (wealth and power)

are forsaken by their relatives as reduced to a state having no

qualities. O Mother! I am not to be ignored by Thee, on account of my

being a woman, for was it not the fact, that Brahmâ and the

other Devas who always take shelter of Thy lotus feet, had not all to

assume once youthful feminine forms, while in Manidvîpa, and I

know this surely that Thou again didst make them of male forms.

Therefore, O Thou of unbounded power! What shall I describe about Thy

power? Indeed, there is great doubt in my mind whether Thou art

masculine or feminine? O Devî! Whoever Thou mayst be, whether

with attributes on transcending the attributes, whether male or

female, I always bow down to Thee, with heart full of devotion

towards Thee. O Mother! I want that I may have one unflinching

devotion, towards Thee in my final state."

Sûta said :-- Thus praising the

Devî, the king Sudyumna, in the form of the feminine Ilâ,

took refuge of the World Mother; and the Devî, becoming greatly

pleased, gave to the king, then and there, union with Her own Self.

Thus the king got the highest steady place, so very rare even to the

Munis, by the grace of the Prime Force, the Devî Brahmâmayî.

Thus ends the Twelfth Chapter of the

first Skandha on the birth of Pururavâ, in the Mahâpurânam

S'rîmad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi

Veda Vyâs.

 

 

 

 

Chapter XIII

On Urvas´î

and Pururavâ

1-34. Sûta said :-- O Maharsis!

When the king Sudyumna had gone up to heavens, the religious king

Pururavâ, endowed with great beauty and many qualities, and

able to please the minds of his subjects began to govern his kingdom

well, according to Dharma, with his heart intent on governing his

people. No body knew what his counsel was, but he was very clever in

knowing others' counsels. He was always highly energetic and his

lordly power was great. The four methods of warfare, (1)

con-ciliation, (2) giving gifts, (3) sowing dissensions and (4) war,

were fully under his control. He saw that his subjects practised

religion according to Varnâs'ram (Colours and stages of life),

and thus he began to govern his kingdom. Pururavâ, the lord of

men, performed various sacrifices with abundance of Daksinâs

(sacrificial fees) and also gave away much in various charities,

causing great wonder and astonishment. His extra-ordinary beauty and

qualities, liberality and good nature, his unbounded wealth and

prowess made the Apsarâ Urvas´î (celestial nymph) think

of him often and she wanted him to satisfy her. Some time passed when

that procud Urvas'î had to descend on this earth, due to a

curse pronounced on her by a Brâhmin; and she chose the king

Pururavâ as her husband, thinking him to be endowed with all

the qualities. She then addressed the king and made the following

contract :-- "O king, giving honour due to every body! I keep these

two young sheep in trust and deposit with you; kindly look after

these and, then, my honour will be preserved by you. O king! I will

take ghee daily and nothing else for my food; and there is one word

more; O king! Let me not see you naked, except when you hold sexual

intercourse. O king I say this truly, that, in case there be any

breach in this contract I will instantly leave you and go away."

The king accepted this contract of Urvas´î. Urvas´î,

too, remained there according to the above contract and also with a

view to pass away the period of her curse. During this time the king

was fascinated with the love of Urvas´î and became so very

much attached to her, that he left all his duties and dharma and

remained long for many, many years in enjoying Urvas´î. The

king's mind was so deeply absorbed in her, that he could not remain

alone without her, even for a moment. Thus many years passed away,

when, once on a time, Indra, the lord of the Devas, not seeing

Urvas'î, asked the Gandarbhas and said :-- "O Gandarbhas!

Better go and steal away the two young sheep in a proper time from

the palace of Pururavâ, and then bring Urvas'î here. My

Nandana garden is now void of all beauty without Urvas´î; so

bring the lady here any how or other." Thus spoken by Indra,

Vis'vâvasu and other Devas went to Pururavâ's palace; and

when it was dark in the night, and when Pururavâ was holding

sexual intercourse with Urvas´î, stole away the two young

sheep. They, when being carried away in the sky, cried out so

piteously that Urvas´î came to hear that as if of her two

sons, and angrily spoke to the king :-- "O king! Now the contract

that I made with you is verily fulfilled! It is that I placed my

implicit confidence on you that this my misfortune has befallen on

me; See! the thieves are stealing away the two sheep, my sons as they

were! How then are you sleeping here like a woman? Alas! I am ruined

in having an impotent husband who vainly boasts of his prowess!

Where are my two young sheep to-day

that are dearer to me than my life?" Thus seeing Urvas´î

wailing, the king Pururavâ, the lord of the Universe, ran after

the Gandharvas instantly without any sense as it were, left in him,

naked. The Gandharvas, then, cast rays of lightning in that room, and

Urvas´î, willing to leave, saw the king naked when the

Gandharvas left the two young sheep there and went away. The tired

king brought the two sheep back to his house in that naked state.

Then Urvas´î, too, seeing the husband naked, went away

immediately to the Devî loka. Seeing Urvas´î going

away, the king wailed very much with a very grievous heart. Then,

being very much bewildered by the bereavement of Urvas´î,

with his senses beyond control, and deluded by passion, wandered

about in various countries, crying and giving vent to sorrow. Thus,

wandering all over the globe, he came once to Kuruksettra and

saw Urvas´î; then with a gladdened face said :-- "O

beloved! Wait, wait for a moment; my mind is all absorbed in you; it

is quite innocent and submissive to you. So you ought not to forsake

me in such a dire difficult time. O Devî! For the sake of you,

I have travelled very far. O Beautiful one! The body that you

embraced before, will now, forsaken by you, fall here and will be

devoured by crows and wolves, and other carnivorous animals."

Seeing the king, tired and passion stricken, greatly distressed and

with a very sorrowful heart and wailing, Urvas´î spoke out

:-- "O king! You are certainly a quite senseless man; whither has

gone your extraordinary knowledge now? O king! Do you not know that

the pure unalloyed love of women cannot take place with any other as

the love of a wolf cannot fall on any man. Therefore the earthly men

ought never to trust a bit to women and thieves. So go back to your

palace and enjoy the pleasures of the kingdom; do not drown your mind

further in sorrows." The king Pururavâ, though thus brought

to senses by Urvas´î, was so much fascinated by her love that

his heart did not feel any consolation; rather he felt indescribable

pain, being held up in bondage by the love of Urvas´î. O

Munis! Thus I have described to you the character of Urvas´î;

it is described, in detail, in the Vedas; I have stated this in

brief.

Thus ends the thirteenth chapter of

the 1st Skandha of the characters Urvas´î and Pururavâ;

in the Mahâpurânam S´rî Mad Devî Bhâgavatam

of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda Vyâsa.

 

 

 

 

Chapter XIV

On the birth of S´ûka

Deva and on the duties of householders

1-70. Sûta said :-- O Maharsis!

(Now hear the main topic). Seeing the dark-blue lady looking askance

at him, Vyâsa Deva thought :-- "Indeed! What is to be done

now? This Devakanyâ Apsarâ Ghritâchî is not

fit for my household." Then, seeing Vyâsa Deva thus

thoughtful, the Apsarâ thought that the Muni might curse her

and got terrified. Confounded by terror, she assumed the form of a

S´ûka bird and fled away; Vyâsa, too, became greatly

surprised to see her in the form of a bird. The moment Vyâsa

saw the extraordinary beautiful form of Ghritâchî, the

Cupid entered then, into his body, and his mind was filled with the

thought of sweet feminine form and was gladdened and all his body was

thrilled with pleasure so that the hairs of the body stood on their

ends. The Muni Vyâsa Deva tried his best and exerted his power

of patience to its utmost, but failed to control his restless mind to

enjoy the woman. Though he was very energetic, and he tried

repeatedly to control his heart, enchanted with the beautiful form of

Ghritâchî, yet he could not, as due to a state of things

pre-ordained by God, control his mind. At this state, when he was

rubbing the fire sticks to get the sacred fire, the two pieces of

wood used in kindling the fire, his seed (semen) fell upon the Aranî

(the two pieces of wood used in kindling the sacred fire). But he did

not take any notice of that, and he went on rubbing the firesticks

when arose from that Aranî the wonderfully beautiful

form of S´ûka deva, looking like a second Vyâsa. This

boy, born of Aranî fuel, looked there brilliant like the

blazing fire of the sacrificial place, whereon oblations of ghee are

poured. Seeing that son,Vyâsa Deva was struck with great wonder

and thought thus :-- "What is this? How is it that my son is born

without any woman." Thinking for a while, he came to the

conclusion, that this had certainly come to pass as the result of

boon granted to him by S'iva. No sooner the fiery S´ûka Deva,

was born of Aranî, he looked brilliant, like fire, by

his own tejas (spirit). At that time Vyâsa Deva began to look

with one steady gaze the blissful form of his son as a second

Gârhapatya Fire, brilliant with the Divine fire. O hermits! The

river Ganges came there from the Himalayas and washed all the inner

nerves of the child S´ûka Deva, by her holy waters and

showers of flowers were poured on his head.

Vyâsa Deva next performed all

the natal ceremonies of the high-souled child; the celestial drums

were sounded and the celestial nymphs began to dance and the lords of

the Gandharvas Visvâvasu, Nârada, Tumburu and others

began to sing with great joy for the sight of the son. All the Devas

and Vidyâ Dharas began to chant hymns with gladdened hearts at

the sight of the Divine form, the son of Vyâsa, born of aranî.

O twice born ones! Then were dropped down from the sky the divine rod

(Danda), Kamandalu, and the antelope skin. No sooner

the extraordinarily brilliant S´ûka Deva was born than he

grew up, and Vyâsadeva, who is master of endless learning and

how to impart them to others, performed the son's Upanayana ceremony.

No sooner the child was born than all the Vedas with all their

secrets and epitomes began to flash in the mind of S´ûka

Deva, as it reigned in Vyâsa Deva. O Munis! Bhagavân

Vyâsa Deva gave the name of the child as S´ûka as

during the moment of his birth he saw the form of Ghritâchî

in the form of the S´ûka bird. S´ûka then accepted

Brihaspati as his guru and began devotedly, with his whole head and

heart to perform duly the Brahmacharya vow (the life of studentship

and celebacy). The Muni S´ûka remained in the house of his

Guru and studied the four Vedas with their secrets and epitomes and

all the other Dharma S'âstras and gave Daksinâ to

the Guru duly according to proper rules, and returned home to his

father Krisna Dvaipâyan. Seeing his son S´ûka,

Vyâsadeva got up and received him with great love and honour

and embraced him and took the smell of his head. The holy Vyâsa

asked about his welfare and about his studies and requested him to

stay in that auspicious Âs'rama. Vyâsa then thought of

S´ûka's marriage and he became anxious and began to enquire

where a beautiful girl of a Muni can be found. And he spoke to his

son :-- "O highly intelligent one! You have now studied all the

Vedas and Dharma S'âstras. Therefore, O sinless one! better

marry now. O son! Take a beautiful wife, and leading a householder's

life, worship the Devas and Pitris, and free me from debt. There is

no other way of issueless persons; he can never go to heaven; so O

highly fortunate son of mine! Now enter into the life of a

householder and make me happy. O highly intelligent one! I have big

expectations from you; now try to fulfill them. O greatly wise S´ûka!

After a very severe asceticism, I have got you who are verily a Deva

born without any womb. I am, therefore, your father; save me." When

Vyâsa spoke thus to S´ûka, making him sit close by, the

highly dispassionate Sûka at once made out that his father was

terribly attached to the world and replied :-- "O knower of Dharma!

you have, by the power of your great intelligence, divided Veda into

four parts; why are you therefore advising me so now? I am your

disciple; so give me true advice. Certainly I will obey your order."

At this Vyâsa deva said :-- "O son! I have got you after I

had performed very severe tapasyâ, for one hundred years, and

worshipped Bhagavân S'ankara in the sole object of having you.

O highly wise one! I will ask some king and will give you sufficient

wealth for your family expenses. So that you, having attained this

much desired youth, enjoy the householder's life." Hearing these

words of the father, S´ûka Deva said :-- "O father! Kindly

say this to me what pleasure is there in this earth that is not mixed

with pain. The happiness, that is mixed with pain, is not called

happiness by the wise. O highly fortunate one! when I will marry, I

will become certainly submissive to that woman; see then how

happiness can be possible to one who is dependent; especially to one,

dependent on one's wife. Rather freedom can be obtained one day when

one is tied to an iron or wooden pillar; but never freedom will come

to that man who is tied by his wife and children. As the body of man

is full of urine and faeces, so is the body of the woman. The more

so, when I am born of no womb, how can I find happiness there; not

only in this birth, but in my previous birth, too, I had no desire to

be born of any womb. How can I desire now to enjoy the pleasure of

urine and faeces in the face of the bliss of self that has got no

other bliss equal to it? The high-souled persons, that find pleasure

in their selves, never go after the sensual pleasures of the objects

of enjoyments? When I studied first, the Veda in detail, it struck me

that the Vedas dealt with the S'âstra of Karma mârga (the

way of action); and it is all full of Himsâ (injury to others).

Then I took Brihaspati as my Guru to shew me the way to true wisdom;

but soon I found that he, too, was attacked with the dreadful disease

Avidyâ (ignorance) and plunged in the terrible ocean of world,

full of Mâyâ. So it became quite clear to my mind, how

could he save me? If the physician be diseased himself, how can he

effect cures to other diseases? When I am desirous of liberation, how

can I get it from a Guru who is himself deeply attached to the world;

how can such a one treat my case to free me, from the disease of

attachment to this world? It would be merely a farce. I bowed down to

the Guru and now I am come to you to save me, frightened by this

terrible serpent of Samsâra. Day and night the Jîvas

travel in this awful wheel of Samsâra, this constellation of

Zodiac; they are moving like the Sun and never get any rest. O

father! If we discuss about the truth of Âtman, we will at once

find that there is no trace of happiness in this Samsâra. As

the worms enjoy pleasures in the midst of faeces, so the ignorant

persons find pleasures in this Samsâra. Those who have studied

the Vedas and other S´âstras and yet are attached to the

world, are certainly deluded and blind like horses, pigs and dogs; no

one is more stupid and ignorant than those persons. Getting this

extremely rare human birth and studying the Vedanta and other

S´âstras, if they be attached to this world, then who are the

men that will attain freedom? What more wonder can you find in this

world than the fact that persons, attached to wives, sons and houses;

are denominated as Pundits? That man who is not bound by this

Samsâra, composed of the three Gunas of Mâyâ,

is Pundit; that man is intelligent and he has understood the real

import of the S´âstras. What use can there be in studying the

S´âstras, in vain, that teach how to bind men more firmly in

this Samsâra, full of Mâyâ.

That S´âstra ought to be

studied, which tells how a man would be liberated. The house is

called "Griha" because it catches hold of a man firmly. So

what happiness can you expect from the house which is like a prison?

O father! I am therefore afraid. Those Pundits are certainly stupid

and they are certainly deceived by the Creator, who having the birth

even of men, become again imprisoned." Hearing these words of

S´ûka, Vyâsa spoke as follows :-- "O Son! The house

is never a prison, nor is it the cause of any bondage; the

householder whose mind is unattached, can get Moksa, in spite

of his being such. Truthful, holy, earning wealth by just means and

performing, according to rules the rites and ceremonies, as stated in

the Vedas and doing S'râddhas duly, a householder can certainly

get Moksa. See a man who is a Brahmachâri, who is an

ascetic, who is a Vânaprasthî or follows any other method

or vow, all have got to worship the householder after mid-day. The

religious householder, too; welcomes them all, with sweet words, and

gives them food, with great love and respect, and thus does them an

amount of good. For this reason the householder's stage is the most

excellent of all; and I have not seen or heard of any other Âs'rama

superior to it. For this reason Vas'istha and other Âchâryas

resorted to householder's life, in spite of their being endowed with

great wisdom O highly fortunate one! If one performs duly the rites

and ceremonies of the Vedas, there is nothing that is impracticable

to him. Be it the birth in a good family, or the enjoyment of heavens

say, or be it Moksa, whatever desires, it is fructifled to

success. Also there is no such rule that one will have to remain in

one and in the same Âs'rama throughout his life. The Pundits

who know Dharma say that pupils can go from one Âsrama to

another, Therefore, O child! accept Agni (the householder's fire) and

try your best to do unremittingly your duties. O Son! Enter into a

householder's life and appease the Devas, Pitris and men; procreate

sons and enjoy the pleasures of household life. When old age will

come, quit the house and take up the Vânaprasthâshram

(the third stage) and go to a forest and perform the excellent vows

and then take up the dharma of the Sannyâsa (renunciation of

everything).

O Fortunate one! He who does not take

a wife, is certainly maddened by these indomitable five organs of

action, five organs of senses and mind. Therefore, the makers of the

S´âstras say, that to save one self from the pernicious

influences of these vicious senses, one is to take wife during his

youth time and then be engaged in performing tapasyâ during his

old age. O fortunate one! In days of yore, the fiery Râjarsi

Vis'vâmitra practised very severe tapasyâ without any

food for three thousand years, and thought he was very strong and

shining like fire, he was fascinated by the charm of the celestial

nymph Menakâ. And an auspicious daughter was born from the womb

of Menakâ by Vis'vâmitra. My father Parâs'ara,

though a great ascetic, was struck with Cupid's arrows at the sight

of the daughter of a fisherman, named Kâli and accepted her in

the boat. What more than this, that Brahmâ seeing his own

daughter Sandhyâ was struck by passion and ran after her, when

Bhagavân Rudra Deva made him unconscious by his Humkâr

sound and made Brahmâ desist from the attempt.

So, O fortunate one! Take my word

pregnant of good issues and marry a lady, born of a good family, and

follow the path presented in the Vedas."

Thus ends the fourteenth Chapter of

the 1st Skandha, on the birth of S´ûka Deva and the duties of

householders in the Mahâ Purâna S'rîmad Devî

Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Vedavyâs.

 

 

 

 

Chapter XV

On the dispassion of

S´ûka and the instructions of Bhagavatî to Hari

1-67. Hearing these words of Vyâsa

Deva S´ûka Deva said :-- O Father! I do not like at all to

take to a householder's life; as I see clearly that it fastens men,

as a cord fastens animals, and is a source of incessant pain. O

Father! Where can you expect happiness from a householder who is

always loaded with anxiety how and whence to get wealth? Those, who

have greed for wealth, oppress their poor relatives, even; and extort

money. Even one who is the lord of the three worlds, who is their

Indra, he also is not so happy as a beggar, that has no desires. See,

then, who else can be happy in this world? Whenever an ascetic is

seen to practise severe asceticism, Indra, the lord of the Devas

becomes anxious and sorry, and raises various obstacles in his way.

See also that Brahmâ is not happy with his big samsâra

(his creation which is his house). Bhagavân Visnu,

though He has got His beautiful Kamalâ, the presiding Deity of

all wealth and prosperity, is always suffering, since He is

incessantly engaged in fighting with the Asuras; and though He is the

husband of Laksmî and full of prosperity, He practises,

almost, every now and then, terrible asceticism with great care and

earnestness. So who else is there, who is possessed of constant

happiness? I know also Bhagavân S'ankara, too, suffers

incessant troubles and has to fight against the Daityâs. So,

then, O Father: how can a poor householder be happy when the rich

householder cannot sleep happily, with his constant care for wealth.

O highly fortunate one! Knowing full well this truth of the world,

why are you plunging me, your son, in this terrible Samsâra,

full of pains and agonies.

O Father! What shall I say to you

about the miseries of the world! There is pain in birth, pain in old

age, pain in death, and pain in the life in the womb full of urines

and faeces; but the pain, arising from desire and greed, is more

terrible than all the pains mentioned above; and then, the pains

experienced while asking for them are greater than the pangs of

death. Alas! There is no other way for the Brahmâns to earn

their livelihood than to accept gifts from others. Therefore the

Brahmâns have to suffer daily death-like pangs in having to

wait in expectation from others; can there be anything more

regrettable than this? The Brahmânas, studying all the

Vedas and Dharma S'âstras and acquiring wisdom, have got at

last to go to the rich and praise them (in expectation of some money)

carefully. O Father! if one does not become a householder, then what

care is there to feed one's own belly? If there be contentment in the

mind, any how the belly can be filled with leaves, roots and fruits;

but if there be wife, sons and grandsons and many dependent

relatives, then to feed them all, much trouble and anxiety are

experienced. So how can you expect, O Father! perfect happiness in

the world? So teach me, O Father! the S´âstras on Yoga and

eternal truth that will give perfect happiness; no advice in karma

kânda (the series of actions) will bring me pleasure.

Now advise me how the karmas can be exhausted; how the root of the

three sorts of karmas, Sanchita, Prârabdha, and Vartamâna,

giving torments of birth, death, etc., the Avidyâ, the great

ignorance, can be destroyed? The fools do not understand how the

women suck the blood out of persons like leeches, for they get

themselves deluded by their gestures and postures! The lady of the

house, whom the people call kântâ, the beautiful one,

steal away the semen virile, the strength and energy in the way of

giving them happiness as sexual intercourse, and their minds and

wealth and everything by their crooked love conversations; so see

what greater thief can there be than a woman? In my opinion, those

that are ignorant are certainly deluded by the Creator; they accept

wife to destroy their own pleasure of happiness. They can never

understand that the women can never be the source of pleasure; they

are the source of all miseries. Hearing these words of S´ûka,

Vyâsa became merged in the deep sea of cares and anxieties,

thinking what to do then. The incessant tears of pain flowed from his

eyes; his whole body began to shiver and his mind became too much

worried.

Seeing this distressed and sorrowful

state of his father, S'ûkdeva, with eyes full of wonder, said

:-- Oh! What a power has Mâyâ got?

Oh! He, whose words are accepted by

all, with great love and care as equivalent to the Vedas, who is the

author of the Vedânta Dars'ana, and before whom nothing is

veiled in ignorance, Oh! that greatest Pundit, the knower of all the

Tattvas, is now deluded by Mâyâ? Oh! what is that Mâyâ

who has been able to delude Vyâsa Deva, the son of Satyavati,

so skilled in the knowledge of Brahmâ Vidyâ; I also do

not know how, with what great care, one is to practise Sâdhanâ

towards Her.

Alas! He who has composed eighteen

Mahâ Purânas and the great Mahâ Bhârata,

who has divided the Vedas in four parts, the same Veda Vyâs has

today been deluded by the power of Mâyâ! What to speak of

other persons! Oh! Mâyâ has deluded Brahmâ, Visnu,

Mahes'vara and others and the whole universe; then who is there in

the three worlds that is not fascinated by Her influence! I

therefore, take refuge unto the Internal Governess, the Devî

Mahâ Mâyâ. Oh! what wonderful power She wields? By

her own Mâyic power, She has kept God even under Her control,

who is omniscient and the Controller of all. The Pundits, who know

the Purânas say, that Vyâsa Deva is born of the

part of Visnu; but, see the wonder, that he is today plunged

in the sea of delusion like a merchant whose ship has been wrecked.

Alas! How great is the wonderful power of Mâyâ! The

all-knowing Vyâsa is today under the control of Mâyâ

and is weeping like an ordinary man! So I have come to the firm

conclusion that the wise Pundits are incapable to surpass the

strength of Mâyâ. What a great error arises through the

power of Mâyâ! See! indeed!! who is he and who am I? What

for we have come here? There is no certainty, nothing whatsoever,

about that. And, see, also, how he has got the nice idea of "father"

on his body and the idea of "his son" in my body, that are

composed of five elements.

This is now quite evident to me that,

when the Brâhmin Maharsi Krisna Dvaipâyan

is weeping under the influence of Mâyâ, She is the

strongest of all; even those who are skilled in the great Mâyâ

fall under Her prey.

Then S´ûka Deva bowed down

mentally to the Devî, Mahâ Mâyâ, who is the

Creatrix of Brahmâ and the other Devas and who is the

Controller of them all; and then began to speak the following

auspicious words pregnant with reason, to his father Vyâsa

Deva, greatly distressed and plunged in the sea of sorrows :-- "O

Father! you are exceedingly fortunate, for you are the son of the

high souled Parâs'ara and you yourself are the instructor of

real truth, the tattva jnâna, to all persons; so, O Lord! why

are you giving vent to sorrows, like an ordinary bewildered man? O

Mahâbhâga! why are you plunging yourself in this great

error, though you are a high souled personage! See, it is quite true

that now I am born as your son; but this I don't know what relation

existed between you and me in my previous birth? So, O highly

intelligent one! Open your eyes of wisdom, and be patient; do not

throw yourself, in vain, in the sea of sorrows. All this universe is

like a net of delusion; knowing this, abandon all your grief; why are

you feeling yourself so much weak and distressed, for your attachment

towards your son? Hunger is satisfied by eating something, and thirst

is satisfied by the drinking of water; hunger is not satisfied by

seeing the son. So the organ of scent is satisfied by smelling sweet

scents; and the organ of hearing is satisfied by hearing sweet music;

and when thirst arises to enjoy women, that is satisfied only by

sexual intercourse; but what satisfaction can a son give? So what

shall I do to you by remaining as your son? The son, in fact, is not

the cause of any satisfaction to one's self. For this reason, in

ancient days, the poor Brahmin Ajigarta gave his son to the king

Harischandra, for necessary equivalent price in money, who wanted a

man for his sacrifice where human beings are to be sacrificed as

victims. In fact, those things that are urgently required as

necessities give happiness; and all these articles can be obtained by

wealth; so if you want to enjoy happiness, then earn money; of what

use shall I be to you as your son? O Muni! you can see subtle things

and you are greatly intelligent; so I pray to you, to look upon me as

your son and open my eyes of wisdom, that I can be free for ever from

this womb of birth. O Sinless one! To get a human birth in this land

of Karma (in India) is very difficult; again to get a Brâhmin

birth is extremely rare; so when I have got this so very rare birth,

why shall I spend my time in vain? O Father! Though I have served

many spiritual teachers, fraught with wisdom, for many years, yet the

firm idea "I am, as it were, bound up in this net of Samsâra"

the notion covered with dark darkness of ignorance, caused by

desires, this net of Samsâra does not leave me.

When the son S´ûka Deva of

extraordinary power and intelligence spoke thus, Vyâsa saw that

his son was strongly inclined to take to the four Âs'ram, that

of Sannyâsa and spoke thus :-- O Son! If your mind has become

so, then read Bhâgavat Purâna, composed by me,

highly auspicious, voluminous, and the second Vedas.

In this you have the chapters on

Creation (Sarga) and secondary creation (upa sarga), etc., the five

characteristics as in other Purânas and it is

sub-divided into twelve Skandhas. Hearing of this Bhâgavata

brings up to the mind that Brahmâ alone is real and all the

universe is unreal and knowledge both intuitive and indirect springs

up. For this very reason, the Bhâgavata treatise is considered

as the ornament of the Purânas. Therefore, O highly

intelligent one! you better study the Purâna. O Child!

In days of yore, at the end of a Kalpa, Bhagavân Hari was

lying, as a small child on a floating leaf of a banyan tree, and was

thinking thus :-- "Who is the Intelligent One that has created me a

small child? What is His object? Of what stuff am I made of? and how

am I created? whence can I know all this?" At this moment the Devî

Bhagavatî Who is all chaitanya, seeing the high-souled Bhagavân

Hari musing thus, spoke out in the form of a celestial voice in the

following half-stanza:-- "All this that is seen is I Myself; there

is existent nothing other that is eternal." Bhagavân Visnu,

then, began to think deeply the above celestial voice :-- "Who has

uttered this word, pregnant of truth, to me? How shall I come to know

the speaker, whether that is female, male or a hermaphrodite?"

Pondering over this for a long time, when he could not come to a

definite conclusion, he began to repeat (make japam) frequently that

word of Bhagavatî with a whole heart. When Hari, lying on a

banyan tree leaf, became very anxious to know what the above words

implied, then the all-auspicious Devî Bhagavatî with a

beautiful face, calm and quiet appearance, appeared before Bhagavân

Visnu, of unrivalled splendour, in the form of Mahâ

Laksmî, who is all of Sattva Guna, surrounded by

Her Vibhûtis, Her manifestations of attendents, Her smiling

companions of the same age, decked with ornaments, and wearing divine

clothings, and holding each in their four divine hands, conch shell,

disc, club, and lotus.

The lotus eyed Visnu was very

much surprised to see that beautiful Devî, standing without

anything to rest on that water; He saw that on four sides of the

Devî, were staying Rati, Bhûti, Buddhi, Mati, Kîrti,

Smriti, Dhriti, S'raddhâ, Medhâ, Svadhâ, Svâhâ,

Kshudhâ, Nidrâ, Dayâ, Gati, Tusti, Pusti,

Ksamâ, Lajjâ, Jrimbhâ Tandrâ and other

personified forces, each possessing a clear distinct form, and

endowed with a clear distinct feeling. In the hands of them all were

divine weapons; on their necks, necklaces and garlands of Mandâra

flowers; and all the limbs of their bodies were decorated with divine

ornaments. Seeing in that one mass of ocean the Devî Laksmî

and Her S'aktis, Bhagavân Janârdan, the soul of all,

became greatly astonished and thought within Himself thus :-- "What

is this? Is this Mâyâ that I am witnessing? Whence have

appeared these women? and whence have I come here, lying on this

banyan leaf? How has the banyan tree come to existence in this one

mass of ocean? And who is it, that has placed me here in the form of

a child? Is this my Mother? Or is this some Mâyâ that can

create impossible things?

Why has She made Herself manifest

before me now? Or is there some hidden motive that She has appeared

thus? What ought I to do now? Or shall I go to some other place? or

shall I continue remaining here in this form of the child, silent and

with vigilance.

Thus ends the fifteenth chapter of

the 1st Skandha on the dispassion of S'ûka and the instructions

of Bhagavatî to Hari in the Mahâpurâna S´rî

Mad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi

Veda Vyâsa.

 

 

 

 

Chapter XVI

On S´ûka´s

desiring to go to Mithilâ to see Janaka

Vyâsa spoke :-- Then the Devî

Mahâ Laksmî, seeing the Deva Janârdana lying

on a banyan leaf and surprised, spoke to him, smiling :-- O Visnu!

Why are you becoming so much astonished? Before this, since times

immemorial (without any beginning) there had been many dissolutions

(Pralayas); and many Sristis (creations); and at the beginning

of every creation You came first into existence and every time I was

united with You; but now You have forgotten me under the spell of

that Mahâ S'akti.

That Highest Mahâ S'akti is

transcendent of all the Gunas; but you and I are with Gunas.

Know me as the S´akti, all of Sattva Guna who is widely

known as Mahâ Laksmî. After this the Prajâpati

Brahmâ, full of Rajo Gunas, the creator of all the

Lokas, will come into existence from your navel lotus and will create

the three worlds. Then he will perform severe tapasyâ and

acquire the excellent power to create, and will create the three

worlds by his Rajo Guna. That highly intelligent Prajâpati

will create first, the five Mahâ bhûtas (great elements),

all endowed with Gunas and then create mind with sensory

organs and the presiding deities of the senses, and thus with all the

ingredients, fit for creation, will create all the worlds. Therefore

He is denominated by all as the Creator of Brahmânda. O

highly fortunate one! You will be the Preserver of this Universe.

When the Prajâpati Brahmâ will be angry at the beginning

of the creation on his four mind-born sons, Rudra Deva will appear.

He will appear then from the centre

of his eye brows. On being born this Rudra Deva will practise very

severe tapasyâ and will get the Samhâra S´akti, who is

all of Tamo Guna and at the end of the Kalpa will destroy all

this universe of five elements. O highly intelligent one! So I have

come to you for this work of creation, etc. So take me to you as your

Vaisnavî S´akti full of Sattva Guna. O

Madhusûdana! I will take refuge at your breast and will remain

always with you. Hearing all this, Bhagavân Visnu spoke

:-- "O beautiful Devî! The half stanza was ere long heard by

me, in clear words; by whom was that spoken? Kindly speak to me on

this great auspicious secret first. For a great doubt has come and

possessed my mind. What more shall I say than this that as a poor man

always thinks of wealth, so I am thinking of that again and again."

Hearing these words of Visnu, the Devî Mahâ Laksmî

smilingly said, with great affection :-- "O Strong and Energetic

one! I am now speaking in detail on this; listen. O Four-armed one!

It is because I have come to you with form and endowed with Gunas

that you have come to know me; but you have not known that Âdya

S´akti, the Prime force, transcending all the Gunas, though

She is the substratum of all the Gunas. O highly fortunate

one! That Devî Bhâgavatî, transcendant of all the

Gunas, uttered that all auspicious, highly sanctifying

semistanza, the essence of all the Vedas. O destroyer of the enemies!

I think that there is the highest grace of that Highest S´akti on

you, that She spoke the greatest secret to you for your benefit. O

one performing good vows! know those words uttered by Mahâvidyâ,

as the essence of all the S´âstra. So firmly retain them

within your heart; never forget them. There is no other thing, save

that, worth being known in earnest. Because you are most beloved by

the Devî! that She has spoken this to you." Hearing the words

of the Devî Mahâ Laksmî, the four-armed

Bhagavân took that semi stanza as a Mantra to be repeated in

right earnest within his mind and cherished that for ever within his

heart. After some time, Brahmâ born of the lotus of the navel

of Visnu, became afraid of the two Daityâs Madhu and

Kaitabha, took refuge of Bhagavân Visnu; Visnu

killed the two demons and began to do distinctly the japam of the

semi-stanza. Brahmâ, born of the lotus, then asked Visnu

with a gladdened heart :-- "O Lord of the Devas! what japam are you

doing? Lotus eyed! Is there any other body more powerful than you? O

Lord of the Universe! whom do you think and thus feel yourself so

happy?" Hearing Brahmâ, Bhagavân Hari said :-- "O

highly fortunate one! Think out yourself once of the Primordial

Force, the auspicious Bhâgavatî Âdya S´akti who

is reigning everywhere as the cause and effect and you will be able

to understand everything. My presiding Deity is that immeasurable

eternal Mahâ S´akti Brahmamyî; on whose S´akti, as a

receptacle with form on this ocean rests the whole Universe; I am

thinking of that, by which is created (often and often) this entire

Universe, moving and non-moving. When the Devî Bhâgavatî,

the giver of boons, become graciously pleased, the human beings

become freed of this bondage of Samsâra; and again that highest

Eternal Wisdom, the cause of Mukti, becomes the source of bondage to

this world, of those who are deluded by Her.

She is the Îs'varî of the

Îs'varas of this universe. O Brahmâ! You, I and all other

things of the entire Universe are born of the Chit S´akti (the

power of consciousness) of Her and Her alone; there is no manner of

doubt in this. The semi-stanza by which She has sown within me the

seed of Bhâgavata will get expanded by the beginning of the

Dvâpara Yuga. While Bhagavân Brahmâ was resting on

the navel lotus of Visnu, He got the seed of Bhâgavata.

Then He gave it to His own son Nârada, the best of the Munis.

Nârada gave it to me and I have expanded that into twelve

Skandhas. Therefore, O Mahâbhâga! You now study this

Bhâgavata Purâna, equal to the Vedas and endowed

with five characteristics. In this the wonderful glorious deeds and

life of the Devî Bhâgavatî, the hidden meanings of

the Vedas and the wisdom, the truth are all described; hence this is

the best of all the Purânas and sanctifying like the

Dharma S´âstra. It is the substratum of Brahmâ Vidyâ;

therefore if men study this, they will easily cross this sea of

world; and those that are stupid and deluded get pleasure in hearing

the death of Vritrâsura and many other narrations that are

interspersed in this book. Therefore, O Mahâbhâga! hear

this sanctifying Bhâgavata Purânam and retain it firmly

within your heart. O best of persons! You are the foremost of those

that are intelligent; so you are worthy to read this Purâna.

Eighteen thousand S'lokas are in that Purâna and you

better get them by heart; for if anybody reads or bears this Purâna,

fit to be praised in every way, all-auspicious, capable to increase

posterity by the addition of sons and grandsons, giving long life,

happiness and peace, he sees the Sun of Wisdom, resting in his breast

and dispelling all darkness of ignorance. Thus speaking to his son

S´ûka Deva, Krisna Dvaipâyan, my Guru, studied

us the Purâna and thought it was voluminous. I got the

whole of it by heart. S'ûka studied the Purâna and

stayed in Vyâsa's Âs'rama. But he was naturally

dispassionate like Sanat Kumâra, etc., the mind-born sons of

Brahmâ; therefore he could not get peace in studying the

contents of the Purâna which deal with Karma-Kânda

(actions) fit for the house-holders. He remained in a solitary place,

his heart being troubled very much. He appeared, as if, with his

heart void. He did not mind much for his food and he did not fast

also. Once Vyâsa Deva seeing his son S'ûkdeva so

thoughtful, said :-- "O Son! What do you think constantly? And why

are you troubling yourself so much? Like an impoverished man,

entangled in debt, you are always disturbed by your thoughts. O

child! When I your father is living, what for do you care? Leave

aside your inmost sorrows and be happy. Cast off all other thoughts

and think of the wisdom contained in the S´âstras and try

your best to acquire Vijñâna, the essence of wisdom. O

Suvrata! If you do not get peace by my words then go, at my word to

Mithilâ, the city of the King Janaka. O Mahâbhâga!

That king Janaka, who is liberated while living, whose soul is

religious and who is the ocean of truth will cut asunder the net of

your delusion. O Son! Go to the king and question him on Varnâs'ram

Dharma (Dharma relating to caste and stages of life) and remove your

doubts.

That royal sage Janaka, the greatest

Yogi, the knower of Brahmâ and liberated while living, is of

pure soul, truthspeaking, of a calm and quiet heart and always fond

of Yoga." Hearing these words of Vyâsa Deva, the highly

spirited S´ûka deva of unrivalled energy replied :-- "O

virtuous one! Your word can never turn out false; but when I hear

that the king Janaka is gladly governing his kingdom still he is

liberated while living, and disembodied while he has body -- this

your word appears to me quite contradictory like light and darkness

at one and the same place and time, and seems that these two epithets

simply indicate vanity and nothing else. O Father! This is my

greatest doubt how can the royal sage Janaka govern his kingdom,

being disembodied. It appears that your word about Janaka is quite

false as the son of a barren woman. O Father! I have now got a desire

to see the disembodied king Janaka; for my mind is plunged in great

doubt how can he remain in samsâra unattached like a lotus leaf

in water? O Greatest Orator! Is the liberation of Janaka according to

Buddhistic doctrines or like the opinions of the materialistic

Chârvâkas! O highly intelligent one! How can the royal

sage Janaka, in spite of his being a householder, quit the usages of

his senses? I cannot comprehend this. How can the things enjoyed by

him appear to him, as if, unenjoyed and and how can his doings be his

non-doings? How can the ideas of mother, wife, son, sister,

prostitutes and various persons having different relations, arising

within him vanish again altogether? And if that be not the case, how

can his Jivanmuktahood be possible? If his taste be present of

pungent, sour, astringent, bitter, and sweet things, then it is clear

that he is enjoying all the most excellent things, O Father! This is

my greatest wonder and doubt, that if he has got the sense of heat

and cold, pleasure and pain, how can he be a Jivanmukta? That king is

thoroughly expert in reigning his kingdom; how then the ideas of

enemy, friend, taste and distaste, remaining absent in him, he can

govern his state? How can he look with the same eyes a thief and an

ascetic? And if he makes any distinction, how then is his liberation

effected? I have never seen such a man, that is liberated while

living and at the same time an expert king in governing his subjects.

For these reasons, great doubt has arisen in me. I cannot understand

how can the king Janaka be liberated, while he is remaining in his

house? Whatever it be, I desire now greatly to see him after his

Jivanmuktahood; so I desire to go to Mithilâ to solve my

doubts."

Thus ends the Sixteenth Chapter of

the first Skandha on S´ûka's desiring to go to Mithilâ

to see Janaka, in the Mahâpurâna S´rîmad

Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses.

 

 

 

 

Chapter XVII

On S´ûka´s

displaying his self-control amidst the women of the palace of Mithilâ

Sûta said :-- Thus speaking to

his father about his intention to go to Mithilâ, the

high-souled S´ûka Deva fell prostrate at his feet and with

folded palms said :-- O highly fortunate one! Your word must be

obeyed by me; now I desire to see, as you say, the kingdom of Janaka;

kindly give me permission. O father! Again the doubt is coming within

me how the king Janaka is governing his kingdom without sentencing

any body? And if there be no punishment within his kingdom, no one

will remain in the path of virtue. It is for the sake of preserving

religion that Manu and the other sages have always prescribed for

punishment; how, then, religion can be preserved without inflicting

punishment. O Mahâbhâga! What you have spoken to me

appears to me true like the sentence "My mother is barren." So, O

destroyer of foes! Permit and I will start for Mithilâ.

Seeing the greatly wise son S´ûka, void of any desires,

earnestly anxious to go to Mithilâ, gave him a cordial

embrace and said :-- "O highly intelligent son S´ûka! Peace

be on you! Have a long life. O child! Speak truly before me and go. O

son! Say that after going to Mithilâ you will come back

again to this Âs'rama; never that you will go anywhere else. O

son! Seeing the lotus face of yours, I am passing my days happily; if

I do not see you, I will suffer extreme pain. What more than this,

that you are my life and soul. I am saying, therefore, after seeing

Janaka and clearing your doubts come here again and remain at peace,

and study on the Vedas."

Vyâsa having spoken thus, S´ûka

bowed down and circumambulated his most worshipful father, and went

out; he began to walk very fast like an arrow, leaving the bow, and

when it has left the bow. On his journey he saw various countries,

various classes of persons, earning money, various gardens and

forests, various trees; in some places he saw fields with green

grains and grains standing on them; at others he saw ascetics

practising asceticism, and initiated Yâjniks (performing

yajñas, or sacrifices); in some places he saw yogis practising

yoga, the high-souled Vânaprasthîs (in the third stage of

life) residing in the forest, and at others he saw devotees of S'iva,

S´akti, Ganes'a, Sûryâ and Visnu and many

others. Thus he went on in his journey, in great wonder, towards his

destination. In his passage he crossed Meru in two years and the

Mount Himâlayâs in one year and then reached the city

Mithilâ. Going there he found the place, full of wealth,

corn, grains, etc., and all prosperities and the people were all very

happy and they observed the rule of conduct as in the S'âstras.

When he was about to enter into the city the guard in front of the

gate stopped him, asking "Who are you? Sir. What for are you come

here?" When the guard asked him thus, he replied nothing and went

away to a distance and with great wonder could not help laughing in

his mind and remained motionless like a statue. At this the guard

said :-- "O Brâhman! Why have you remained silent? Kindly say

what for you have come here? I know this well that no body goes

anywhere without having something to do? The king has forbidden

strangers whose parentage and character are unknown. Therefore O

Brâhmin! Every one has to take the king's permission before he

goes into the city.

It seems that you are a very

energetic Brâhman and that you know the Vedas; so O giver of

honour! speak out to me your object-in-view and go into the city as

you like." Hearing these words of the guard, S´ûka Deva

began to say :-- "I have come to see the city of Videha Janaka; but

now I see that persons like me find great difficulty to enter here;

so O Gatekeeper! I have got the answer from you. I was a great fool

that I was so much deluded that to see the king I crossed many

countries and over topped the two mountains and have come here. O

Mahâbhâga! What blame can I put on others? It is my

father that has deluded me; or my karma done in my previous birth is

now making me wander about. Alas! In this world greed for money is

the sole cause to make a man knock about; but I have not got that

even; my erroneous idea has brought me so far. I now realise that a

man, having no desires, gets constant happiness if he be not plunged

in the net of delusion; else he cannot have any such. O Mahâbhâga!

Though I have no desire of anything, yet I am plunged in the sea of

Moha. Alas! Where is Meru? and where is Mithilâ (a great

distance intervenes) I have walked so great a distance on foot; alas!

this is this the result of my so long a journey! Therefore I am

thoroughly convinced that the Creator has deceived me. One must have

to suffer for his Prârabdha karma, be it auspicious or

inauspicious. One must make one´s effort, being always under the

control of this Law of Karma. Though there be no apparent desire or

cause, yet this Prârabdha Karma always puts a man into

different actions.

This place is not a Tîrath

(holy place) nor there are the Vedas personified here, that I have

taken so much pains and trouble to come here -- only there is one

thing here and that is the king Janaka; but there is no chance to see

him even; for I have not been able to enter even within his kingdom."

Thus saying, S´ûka remained silent and began to stay as one

who has taken the vow to remain silent. The guard then took him to be

a very wise Brâhman and spoke in sweet words :-- "O Brâhman!

Go to the place, as you like, where you have got your work. O

Brâhman! I stopped you; so please excuse me for any offence

incurred by me. Free persons like you have mercy alone as their

greatest strength." Hearing this S´ûka Deva said :--What is

your fault? you are dependent on another; the servant ought to obey

the words of his master and serve him by all means; and there is no

fault of the king, too, in your not allowing me to enter; for the

wise persons ought to ascertain by all means, whether the new comers

are enemies or thieves? Hence when I am quite a stranger suddenly

come to this place, that the fault is wholly mine. Every person knows

that it is lowering oneself to go to another's house. The guard then

said :-- "O great Brâhman! what is happiness? and what is

pain? what ought to be done to by your well wisher? who is your

enemy? and who is your benefactor? Now advise me on all these

points." Hearing this S´ûka Deva said :-- Everywhere men

are divided, as far as their internal natures are concerned, into two

classes; they are called attached or unattached. And the minds of

these two classes are again of two kinds. The "attached" man is

stupid and cunning and the "unattached" is sub-divided into three

classes knowing, unknowing and middling. The cunning man is divided

again into two classes :-- Whether his cunningness is according to

the dictates of S´âstras or arising from his intellect. Again

intellect is sub-divided into two whether it is Yukta (one-pointed)

or Ayukta (Diverted) The guard spoke :-- "O Learned one! I cannot

understand what you say; so explain them to me what they mean."

S´ûka Deva said :-- Those who are attached to this world are

said to be "attached" persons. These attached persons feel

frequently various pleasures and pains. When they get wives, sons,

wealth, honour, rise, etc., they get pleasures; and if they do not

get any of these they feel at every moment intense pain. Now the

attached person sought to take such means as will secure them the

pleasures of this world; so whoever acts against those means are

denominated as breakers of their happiness and so they are enemies;

and whoever aids in their acquiring pleasures are denominated as

their friends. Of these the attached but at the same time cunning man

does not get confounded and bewildered by them; whereas stupid

attached man gets always bewildered everywhere. The man that is

dispassionate and engaged in determining the "self" dwells in a

solitary place, meditates on "self", finds pleasure in studying

the Vedânta S´âstras and feels pain in all the topics

on worldly affairs. The wise man that wants his real welfare and is

averse to the worldly enjoyments finds that he has many enemies;

lust, anger, palaces, etc., are his so many enemies. Contentment is

his only friend in the three lokas and no one is his real self.

Hearing these words of S´ûka

Deva, the watchman considered S´ûka Deva a very wise man and

soon led him to a very beautiful compartment. S´ûka Deva then

began to see that the town was full of three sorts of men, good,

middling, and bad; and the shops were filled with various articles of

merchandise. The many things were being incessantly purchased and

sold there. Within that town, filled with many men, money and all

sorts wealth and prosperities, almost everywhere were seen instances

of attachment, hatred, lust, anger, greed, vanity and delusion; at

some parts there were seen persons quarrelling with each other.

Seeing thus the three sorts of persons, the highly energetic S´ûka,

blazing like a second Sun went to the royal palace when the gateman

stopped him. He stood there like a log of wood and began to meditate

on "Moksa" (Liberation). He began to think the light and darkness

as same; the greatly ascetic S´ûka became merged in Dhyâna

(meditation) and remained at one place motionless. In an instant, a

royal minister came out and saluting him with folded hands, took him

to a second compartment. Here the minister showed him beautiful

divine gardens adorned nicely with rows of divine trees bearing

fruits and gave him a good reception and took him to a very beautiful

palace. The minister next ordered the public women in royal service,

expert in music and playing with instruments, and skilled in

Kâma-S´âstra (the science of amorous dealings) to

attend on S´ûka Deva and went out of the palace. S´ûka,

the son of Vyâsa, remained there. Those prostitutes then

prepared various dishes, suited to the time and place, and sought the

satisfaction of S´ûka and then worshipped him duly with

greatest devotion. Those ladies, then, residing within the four walls

became enamoured to see the beauty of S´ûka Deva and showed

him the gardens that existed in the inner compound. S´ûka was

young and beautiful; over this he was extremely lovely, of nice

limbs; his speech was soft and gentle; so he looked like a second

Cupid (the god of love); all the ladies, struck with Cupid´s

arrows, lost their consciousness. Then recovering, they considered

S´ûka Deva to be the great controller of passions and began

to serve him with great care. The pure minded S´ûka, born of

Arani, looked on them like his mother. S´ûka, finding

pleasure in self and the controller of anger was not pleased or

displeased with anything; so though be saw that the ladies were

disturbed with amorous feelings, he remained quite undisturbed, calm

and quiet. The ladies, then prepared a very nice bed whereon S´ûka

Deva would sleep; it was spread over with nice clean bed sheet; many

nice pillows were placed. He, then, washed his feet and with

vigilance, put on his finger the ring prepared of Kus'a grass, and

completing his evening Sandhyâ, became merged in Dhyâna.

Meditating on Supreme Brahmâ for three hours (one Prahara),

slept for 6 hours and getting up, again became merged in Brahmâ

Dhyâna for the last three hours of the night. Then at the

Brahmâ mûhurta (one hour preceding the sunrise) he took

his bath and completing his morning duties, became immersed in

Samâdhi (inner enlightenment) and sat at ease.

Thus ends the 17th chapter of the 1st

Skandha on S´ûka's displaying his self-control amidst the

women of the palace of Mithilâ in the Mahâpurâna

S´rî Mad Devî Bhâgavatam.

 

 

 

 

Chapter XVIII

On Janaka´s giving

instructions on truth to S´ûka Deva

1-22. Sûta said :-- Mahârsis!

When the king Janaka heard of the arrival of S´ûka Deva, the

son of his Guru, he took his priest before him and attended by his

ministers came before him in pure spirit. Then he duly worshipped

S´ûka, offering him Pâdya, Arghya and an excellent

seat, and a cow, yielding milk and then enquired about his welfare.

S´ûka Deva accepted duly all the things offered by the king;

and informed him of his well-being and asked the king in return, of

his welfare and took his seat at ease on the Âsana. The king

Janaka asked the son of Vyâsa, full of peace :-- "O Mahâbhâga

Muni Sattama! You are devoid of any attachment and you have no

desires. May I enquire why such a person as your honoured self has

come to me." S´ûka Deva said :-- O great king! my father

told me thus :-- O child; take a wife; for the house-holder's life is

the best of all the âs'ramas but I thought that will be the

source of my bondage to this world and therefore did not obey his

word, though he was my highest Guru. He then again said to me :-- If

one takes a household life, it does not at once follow that he will

be held in bondage; yet I did not agree to that. Then the Muni,

thinking me still to be in some doubt, spoke this word of advice to

me :-- "O Son! Do not be sorry; go to Mithilâ and have

your doubts solved. There my disciple the king Janaka, is governing

his kingdom without any source of danger. He is Jivanamukta

(liberated while living) and is free from the ideas of body, etc., so

everybody knows. When that royal sage, Janaka, though governing his

kingdom, is not seen tied up by Mâyâ, then O Son! why are

you afraid of this Samsâra, when you are living this forest

life.

Therefore, O Mahâbhâga!

Trust me and marry; and in case you doubt very much, then go and see

the king Janaka; ask him and remove your doubts. He will certainly

solve your doubts. But, O Son! After hearing him, come again quickly

to me." O king! When my father spoke thus, by his permission I have

come now to your capital. O king! I don't want any thing, save Moksa

(liberation); therefore O Sinless one! Kindly advise what am I to do,

so that I attain Moksa. O Lord of kings! Practising

asceticism, going to the holy places of pilgrimage, holding vratas

(vows), performing sacrifices, studying the Vedas, or earning wisdom,

whatever is the cause of Moksa, kindly say that. Hearing this,

Janaka said :-- "O son of my Guru! I am telling what ought to be

done by the Brâhmanas, following the path of Moksa;

listen. After having the holy thread, a Brâhmin should live in

the house of his Guru to study the Vedas, the Vedântas and pay

the Dakshinâ (the fee) to the Guru according to rules;

he will then return home and marry and enter into the householder's

life; he should lead a life of contentment, be free from desires,

sinless and truthful and earn his livelihood with a pure heart and

according to the sanction of justice and conscience. He is to perform

the Agnihotra and other sacrifices; and after getting sons and

grandsons, he is to leave his wife under the care of his son and then

to take the life of a Vânaprastha (3rd stage of life). That

Brâhman, the knower of Dharma, must practise tapasyâ and

become master of his six passions (enemies); and when he gets

disgusted with the world and when the Vairâgyam (dispassion)

will arise within him, he would enter into the fourth Âs'rama.

For, the man is first to enter into the householder's life and when

he will be quite dispassionate towards the world, he will then have a

right to take the Âs´rama of Sannyâsa (Renunciation). A

course contrary to this can never entitle one to the Âs´rama

of Sanyâsa.

This is the beneficial word of the

Vedas and it must hold true; it cannot be false; this is my firm

belief. O S´ûka! In the Vedas are mentioned forty-eight

Samskâras (consecrations; purificatory rites); out of which the

learned Mahâtmas have reserved forty Samskâras for the

householders and the last eight Samskâras (S'ama, Dama, etc.,)

for the Sannyâsins. And this good usage is heard to come down

from very ancient times. A Brâhmana ought to complete

his previous Âs´ramas successively and then enter into the

succeeding Âs´rama.

23-30. S´ûka said :-- If the

pure Vairâgyam (dispassion) arising out of knowledge and wisdom

(jñân and Vijñân) already arises (before

taking to the grihasth Âs'ram), is it still necessary to pass

through house holder´s life, Vânaprastha life, etc., or is

one entitled then to take up at once the Sannyâsa Âs'rama,

quit everything and reside in the forest? Janaka said :-- O! One

giving honour to the S´âstras and Gurus! Though the powerful

passions seem to be under control in the period of unripened Yoga

(the imperfect yogic state), yet one ought not to trust them; for, it

is generally seen, many imperfect Yogins find themselves disturbed by

one or other of the senses. If the mind of one who has already

entered into the Sannyâsa Âs´ram gets perturbed in his

course, then, how can he, you can see this for yourself, satisfy

desires of eating good things, sleeping nicely, seeing his son, or

wishing any other desires, knowing them to lead to his degradation?

He is then in a very serious state. The net of desires is very

difficult to be conquered by men; that can never die out. Therefore,

to put an end to them, the advise is to cut them slowly and slowly.

He who sleeps on an elevated place has the danger of tumbling down;

but one who sleeps in a low place has no such danger. So any man who

has once taken the highest dharma Sannyâsa, and if he be

fallen, then he never gets hold of the real track. As an ant begins

to get from the root of tree, and, by and by, gets to the topmost

part of the branches, so human beings go by degrees from one Âs'rama

to another till they go to the highest; then and then only they are

able to get easily their desired truth. The birds without

anticipating any danger, get up to the skies very quickly and soon

they get tired and cannot go to their desired place but the ant goes

with rest to its desired place. This mind is very difficult to be

controlled; for this reason the men of unripened minds, cannot

conquer it all at once; and are advised to conquer it, by and by,

observing the laws of one Âs´rama after another.

31-37. See also if anybody, remaining

in his household life be of a quiet temper and of good intellect, and

if he takes success and failure in the same light, and be not elated

in times of pleasure and not depressed in times of pains and does his

duty for duty´s sake without troubling his mind with cares, and

anxieties, then that householder acquires pure happiness by the

realisation of his self and acquires Moksha. There is no

manner of doubt in this. O Sinless One! See, I am liberated while

living, though I am engaged in preserving kingdom; if any source of

pain or pleasure arises, I am not in any way affected by them. As I

will attain in the end Videha Mukti (liberation from bodies) though I

am always wandering at my free will, enjoying various things as I

like and do various things as it pleases me, so you can do your

duties and then be liberated in the end.

O Son of my Guru! When this material

world, the cause of all error according to the Vedanta S´âstras,

is simply an object of sight then how can this material substance, an

object of sight, be the source of bondage to the Âtman, the

Self? O Brâhman! Though the five material elements can be seen,

their qualities or Gunas can be known only by inference, so

the self is to be inferred; it can never be an object of sight; and

also this self, known by inference, changeless and without any

impurity or stain can never be bound by the visible changeful

material thing. O Brâhman! This impure heart is the source of

all pleasure and pains; so when the heart becomes pure and quiet, all

the things then become fully pure, O Brâhmana!

38-41. If going often and often to

all Tiraths and bathing there, do not make one's heart pure and holy,

then all one's troubles are taken in vain. O Destroyer of enemies! It

is the mind that is the cause of bondage or freedom; and not the

body, nor the Jivâtmâ (the embodied soul), nor the

senses. The Self or Âtman is always pure consciousness and is

ever free so, truly speaking, it can never be bound. Bondage and

freedom reside on in the mind; so when the Mind gets peace, the

bondage of Samsâra is also at an end. He is an enemy, he is a

friend, he is neither an enemy nor friend, all these different

thoughts reside in the mind and arise out of duality; how can the

ideas of differences exist, when everything has become all one

pervading self?

42-47. Jîva is Brahmâ; I

am that Brahmâ and nothing else; there is nothing to be

discussed here. It is owing to the dualities that monism appears not

clear and differences between Jîva and Brahmâ arise. O

Mahâbhâga! This difference is due to Avidyâ and by

which this difference vanishes, that is termed Vidyâ.

This difference between Vidyâ

and Avidyâ ought to be always kept in view, by those that are

clever.

How can the pleasure from the cooling

effect of the shadow, be felt, if the heating effect of the rays of

the Sun be not previously experienced? So how Vidyâ is to be

experienced if Avidyâ be not felt before? Sattva, Rajas and

Tamo Gunas reside naturally in things, made of Gunas;

and the five principal elements reside naturally in substances made

up of elements; so the senses reside naturally in their own forms,

etc.; so how can there be any stain to the Âtman which is

unattached? Yet to teach humanity, the high souled persons preserve

always with greatest care the respect of the Vedas. If they do not do

this, then, O Sinless One! the ignorant persons would act lawlessly

according to their wishes, like the Chârvâkas; and Dharma

will become extinct. When Dharma will become extinct, the Varnâs´rama

will gradually die out; so the well-wishers should always follow the

path of the Vedas.

48-56. S´ûka said :-- "O

King! I have now heard all that you have said; still my doubt

remains; it is not solved. O King! In the Dharma of the Vedas, there

is Himsâ (act of killing and injuring); and we hear that there

is much of Adharma (sin) in the above Himsâ.

So how can the Dharma of the Vedas

give Moksha? O King! One can see before one's eyes that the

drinking of Soma rasa, the killing of animals, the eating of fish and

flesh and so are advised in the Vedas; so much so that in the

sacrificial ceremony named Sautrâmana the rule of

drinking wine and many other vratas are clearly mentioned; even

gambling is advised in the Vedas. So how can Mukti be obtained by

following the Veda Dharma? It is heard that, in ancient times, there

was a great king, named S'as'avindu, very religious, truthful, and

performing sacrifices, very liberal; he protected the virtuous, and

chastised those that were wicked and going astray. He performed many

Yajñas, where many cows and sheep were sacrificed according to

the rules of the Vedas and abundant Dakshinâs

(sacrificial fees) were presented to every one that performed their

parts in the sacrifices. In these sacrifices, the hides of the cows

that were sacrificed as victims, were heaped to such an enormous

extent that they looked liked a second Bindhyâchal mountain.

Then the rains fell and the dirty water coming out of that enormous

heap of skins flowed down and gave rise to a river which was thence

called the Charmanvatî river. And what a wonder? That

cruel king left behind him an ineffaceable fame and went to Heavens.

Whatever it may be, it can never come to my head that I should

perform the Veda Dharma, filled with so many acts of killing and

cruelties. Again, when the man find pleasure in sexual intercourses

and when they do not have that intercourse, they experience pain, how

can you expect such persons to attain liberation."

57-61. Janaka said :-- "The killing

of animals in a sacrificial ceremony is not killing; it is known as

Ahimsâ; for that himsâ is not from any selfish

attachment; therefore when there is no such sacrifice and the animals

are killed out of selfish attachment, then that is real himsâ;

there is no other opinion in this. Smoke arises from a fire when

fuels are placed in it; and smoke is not seen when no fuel is added.

So, O Munisattama! The himsâ, as prescribed in the Vedas, is

free from all blemishes, selfish attachment, etc., and therefore it

is unblameable. So it follows the himsâ committed by persons

attached to objects, is the real himsâ; that can be blamed, but

the himsâ of those persons who have no desires is not that sort

of himsâ. Therefore the learned men that know the Vedas declare

that the himsâ done by the dispassionate persons, with their

hearts free from egoism, is no himsâ done at all. O Dvija!

Really speaking, the killing of animals done by the house-holder

attached to senses and their objects, and done under their impulses

can be taken into account as a real act of killing; but, O Mahâbhâga

of those whose hearts are not attached to anything of those self

controlled persons, desirous of moksa, if they do an act of

Himsâ out of a sense of duty, with no desires of fruits and

with their hearts free from egoism that can never be reckoned as a

real act of killing."

Thus ends the 18th Chapter of the 1st

Skandha on Janaka's giving instructions on truth to S´ûka

Deva in the Mahâpurânam S´rîmad Devî

Bhâgavatam.

 

 

 

 

Chapter XIX

On the description of

the marriage of S´ûka

1-4. S´rî S´ûka said

:-- O king! This great doubt arises in my mind how a man can be free

from desires and the rewards of their actions, when he lives in the

midst of this Samsâra, that is all full of Mâyâ?

When even by the acquiring of wisdom of the S´âstras and the

capability to judge which is real and which is unreal, the delusion

of the mind is not dispelled until one resorts to the practice of

Yoga, how then can freedom from desires and liberation come to a

householder? The darkness of a room is not destroyed by the mere

mention of lamp, light; so the wisdom acquired by reading the

S´âstras can never dispel the darkness of delusion that

reigns in the inside of a man. O lion of kings! If one wants Moksa,

one ought not to commit any act of revenge or injury or killing any

being; how can this be possible to a householder?

5-17. Your desires to acquire wealth,

to enjoy royal pleasures and to get victory in battle have not yet

subsided; how then can you be a Jivan mukta? O king! You consider yet

a thief, thief and a saint, saint; you consider a man as your

relative or other than that; these ideas have not vanished from you;

how then can you be called Videha? O king! You feel the pungent,

bitter, astringent, sour tastes and the like; you feel good and bad

rasas respectively; you become glad when success comes to you and you

feel sorrow when you happen to fail; and you experience the three

states, waking, dreaming, and deep sleep as an ordinary man does, how

then can you be called to attain the Turîya (fourth) state? May

I ask :-- Whether you cherish this idea that all these infantries,

cavalries, chariots, and that all these elephants are mine; I am the

lord of all the wealth and things? Or whether you do not cherish this

idea? O king! I think you eat sweet and good things, and, at times,

feel pleasure and, at other times, feel pain! So, O king! How can you

look on the garland of flowers and the snake as one and the same? O

king! He who is a Muktapurusa considers a lump of earth, a

piece of stone, and gold as of one and the same value; he considers

everything to be the same Âtmân and does good to all the

beings. Whatever that may be, I do not find any pleasure at present

with houses, wife, etc., or with anything, in fact. What my heart´s

desire is that I roam alone always without any desires in my heart.

Therefore I like not to have any companion; to be free from any

attachment and to be peaceful, and calm; I do not wish to accept

anything from anybody; I will forego all pleasures and pains from

cold, warmth, etc., and I will sustain my life on roots, fruits, and

leaves, obtained without any effort and will roam, as I like, like a

deer. When I have not got the least attachment to the household life

and when I am beyond all the attributes, what necessity have I then

of house, wealth or a suitable wife? And when you think of various

things with loving heart, and yet say that you are a Jivan mukta,

that is nothing but a mere vanity of yours! O king! When you think

and become anxious about your enemies, about your wealth or sometimes

about your army, how then can you be said to be free from cares? What

more can be said than the fact that many Munis, eating moderately and

controlling their senses, and leading an anchorite's life, and

knowing the unreality of the world, fall victims to the Mâyâ!

18-27. Then what need there is to

talk of you? O king! know that the hereditary title "Videha" to

your line of kings indicates downright insincerity; nothing can be

other than this as the name "Vidyâ Dhara" (holder of

knowledge) is applied to an illiterate man; as the name "Divâkara"

(sun) is given to a born-blind man, as the name "Laksmîdhara"

(holder of wealth) is given to even a poor man, as these names are

quite useless to me. I have heard that the kings of your family who

were your predecessors were called "Videha" in name only and not

in deed. O king! In your family there reigned a king named "Nimi."

Once on a time that royal sage invited his Guru Vas´istha

to perform a sacrifice, when Vas'istha said :-- "I am

already invited by Indra, the lord of the Devas, to perform his

sacrifice; so O king! let me first finish his work; I will then take

up your work. Better go on collecting the sacrificial materials till

my that work is complete." Thus saying, Vas'istha

went away to perform Indra's sacrifice; on the other hand, the royal

sage Nimi selected another priest and made him his Guru and began his

sacrifice. Hearing all this, Maharsi Vas´istha

became angry and cursed him thus :-- "O forsaker of your Guru! For

the crime of forsaking your Guru, let thy body be destroyed today!"

At this, the royal sage, too, cursed Vas'istha in his

turn "Let your body fall off also." Then the bodies of both the

persons fell. But, O king! this curiousity came to my mind, how the

royal sage, whose body fell before, cursed his own Guru afterwards.

28-35. Janaka said :-- O Lord of

Brâhmins! what you have said is, in my opinion, all quite true;

nothing is false. Still hear. Know what my most worshipful Guru Deva

has spoken to me is, in fact, true (and nothing else). You are now

intending to quit the company of your father and go to the forest;

well and good! but even then you will undoubtedly have the company of

deer, etc.; see, also, that when the five elements, earth, water,

air, etc., are present, encompassing everywhere, how, then, can you

expect to be free from all companions? So, O Muni! when you will have

to think always of your food, how, then, can you be said to be free

from all cares? Again, even if you go to the forest, you will have to

think there also for your staff, deer skin, etc.; so you can take my

case, too, of thinking of my kingdom, whether I think or not, as your

thinking of staff, deer skin, etc., your heart is tainted with

Vikalpa Jñân (knowledge of doubt, duality, etc.); and

therefore you have come here from a far-off country. But my heart is

free from any such doubt and I am remaining quite cheerful here. O

best of Brâhmins! I have got no doubt whatsoever on any point,

and therefore I take my food and go to sleep with great pleasure. "I

am not bound up by this world" this idea gives me constant

happiness of the highest degree. But you consider that you are bound

and therefore you feel always constant pain. So leave off your idea

that you are bound, and be happy. "This body is mine" this

knowledge leads to my bondage; and "This body is not mine" this

knowledge leads to freedom so know this verily that all this wealth,

kingdom, etc., are not mine.

36-45. Sûta said :-- Hearing

these words of the royal sage, S´ûka Deva became exceedingly

glad and pronounced "SadhuSâdhu" (true saint, indeed

a true saint, well said) and went away without any delay to the

pleasant Âs´rama of Vyâsa. Vyâsa, too, seeing his

son come back, became very glad and embraced him and took the smell

of his head and asked about his welfare again and again. Then S´ûka

Deva, well conversant with the S´âstras and ever ready in

studying the Vedas, sat by the side of his father, with an

enlightened mind, in his lovely Âs´rama and thinking of the

state of the highsouled Janaka in his kingdom, began to feel the

highest peace. Though S´ûka adopted the path of Yoga, yet he

married the daughter of a Muni, named Pivarî, very beautiful,

fortunate, enhancing the glory of her father's family. Then were born

first the four sons named Krishna, Gauraprabha, Bhûri, and

Devas'ruta out of the sperm of S´ûka and the ovum of Pivari;

and next a daughter was born named Kîrti of them. Vyâsa's

son S´ûka, endowed with the fire of asceticism gave the

daughter Kîrti in marriage in due time with the high-souled

Anûha, the son of Vibhrâja. As time passed on, a son was

born of the womb of Kîrti and the sperm of Anûha, a son

who became the powerful king Brahmadatta, the knower of Brahmâ

and endowed with wealth and prosperity. Some time elapsed when Anûha,

the son-in-law of S´ûka Deva, getting from Nârada the

Mâyâvîja and highest knowledge of Yoga handed over

his kingdom to his son and went to the hermitage of Vadarikâ

and became liberated.

The Devarsî Nârada

gave him the mantra, the vîja of Mâyâ; and by the

influence of that mantra and by the grace of the Devî, the

knowledge of the Supreme Brahmâ, arose in him without any

obstacle and gave him liberation.

46-51. On the other hand S´ûka

Deva, always averse to any company, left his father and went to the

beautiful mountain Kailâs'a. He began to meditate on the

unmoving Brahmâ and thus remained there. After some time the

highly energetic S´ûka Deva attained Siddhi (supernatural

powers) Animâ, Laghimâ, etc., rose up high in the air

from the top of the mountain and began to roam there, and then he

appeared like a second Sun. When S´ûka arose from the peak,

it severed into two and various ominous signs became visible. When

S´ûka Deva, appearing like a second Sun by the dazzling

brilliancy of his body, suddenly vanished away like air and became

diluted in the Paramâtman, entering into everything and became

invisible, then the Devarsis began to chant hymns to him. On

the other hand, Vyâsa Deva became very much distressed with the

separation from his son and cried out frequently "Oh, my son! Alas!

my son Where are you gone?" and went to the summit of the mountain

where S´ûka did go and wept bitterly. Then S´ûka

Deva, who was then residing as the Paramâtman, the Internal

controller of all the beings and with all the beings, knowing Vyâsa

Deva as very much fatigued, distressed, and crying, spoke out as an

echo from the mountains and trees thus :-- "O Father! There is no

difference between you and me, considered in the light of Âtman;

then why are you weeping for me?"

52-59. Even today the above echo is

clearly heard (almost daily). Seeing Vyâsa Deva grieved very

much for the separation from his son and always crying "Oh! my son!

Oh! my son!" Bhagavân Mahes'vara came there and consoled him

saying "O Vyâsa Deva! your son is the foremost of the Yogis;

he has attained the highest state, so very rare to the ordinary

persons that are not self controlled. So do not be sorry any more. O

Sinless One! when you have realised the Brahmâ-tattva, then you

ought not to express any sorrow for your S´ûka who is now

stationed in that Brâhman. Your fame is now unrivalled, only on

account of your having got a son like him." Vyâsa Deva said

:-- "O Lord of the Devâs! O Lord of the world! What am I to

do now? My grief does not quit my heart anyhow or other. My eyes are

as yet satisfied in seeing my son; they like still to see the son."

Hearing these sorrowful words of Vyâsa, Bhagâvan Mahâdeva

said :-- "O Muni Sârdula! I grant this boon to you that you

will see the form of your son abiding in shadow, very beautiful, by

the side of you. O Destroyer of enemies! Now abandon your grief by

seeing that shadow form of your son." When Bhagavân

Mahes'vara said so, Vyâsa began to see the bright shade form of

his son. Granting thus the boon, Bhagavân Mahâdeva

vanished then and there. When He vanished away, Vyâsa became

very much distressed with sorrow for the bereavement of his son and

returned with heavy heart to his own hermitage.

Thus ends the nineteenth chapter of

the first Skandha on the description of the marriage of S´ûka

in the Mahâpurâna S'rî Mad Devî

Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses.

 

 

 

 

Chapter XX

On Vyâsa doing

his duties

1-8. The Risis said :-- "O

Sûta! What did Veda Vyâsa do, when the highest Yogi

S´ûka, Deva-like, acquired all the excellent supernatural

powers? Kindly describe all these in detail."

Hearing this question, Sûta

spoke :-- O Rishis! Vyâsa already had with him many disciples

Asita, Devala, Vais'ampâyana, Jaimini, Sumantu and others, all

engaged in the study of the Vedas. After their studies were over,

they all went out to propagate Dharma on the earth. Then Vyâsa

, seeing that the disciples went to the earth and his son S´ûka

Deva had got to the next world, became very much distressed with

sorrow and wanted to go to some other place. He then decided to go to

his birth place and went to the banks of the Ganges and there

remembered his auspicious mother Satyavatî, forsaken by him

before, very sorrowful, and the daughter of a fisherman. He then

quitted that heaven-like mountain, the source of all happiness and

came to his own birth place. Reaching the island where he was born,

he enquired the whereabouts of the beautiful faced, the fisherman's

daughter as well the wife of a king. The fishermen replied that their

king had given her in marriage to the king S'antanu. Then the king of

fishermen, seeing Vyâsa there, gladly worshipped him and gave

him a cordial welcome and spoke with folded palms, thus :--

9-16. O Muni! When I have become so

fortunate as to see you, rare even to the Devas, then my birth has

been sanctified today and you have purified my family. O Brâhmin!

Kindly say what for have you come?

My wife, son and all my riches and

every other thing that I have are at your disposal. Thus hearing the

history of his mother Satyavatî, Vyâsa erected an Âs´rama

on the beautiful banks of the river Sarasvatî and remained

there in tapasyâ with an enlightened mind.

Some time elapsed when the highly

energetic S´antanu got through his wife Satyavatî two sons.

Vyâsa Deva considered them as his two brothers and became very

glad, though he himself used to live in the forest. The first son of

the king S´antanu was Chitrângada, endowed with all

auspicious qualities, exceedingly beautiful, and tormenting his foes;

the second son was Vichitra-vîrya; he was endowed with all

qualities. The king S´antanu became very happy to get these

children. S´antanu had one son before through his wife Gangâ;

he was a great hero and very powerful; and the two sons of Satyavatî

were equally powerful. The high souled S´antanu now seeing the

three sons, all endowed with all auspicious qualities, began to think

that the Devas were incapable to defeat him.

17-34. After some time, the religious

S´antanu quitted his worn-out body as a man quits his clothes worn

out in due time. After the king S´antanu had ascended the Heavens,

the energetic Bhîs'ma performed duly his funeral obsequies and

gave various things in charity to the Brâhmanas. He did

not accept the kingdom himself; but placed Chitrângada on the

throne and became known by the name of Devavrata (truthful in vow

like the Devas). The pure souled Chitrângada, born of Satyavatî

became so much powerful by sheer force of his arms, and became so

great a hero that the enemies felt endless troubles. Now once on an

occasion, the greatly powerful Chitrângada, surrounded by a

great army, went on an hunting excursion to the forest in quest of

rurû deer, etc., when the Gandarbha Chitrângada, seeing

the king on the way, alighted from his chariot.

O ascetics! A fierce battle then

ensued for three years on that sacred and wide expanse Kuruksettra

between the two heroes, both equally powerful. In the battle, the

king Chitrângada, the son of S´antanu was slain by the

Gandarbha Chitrângada and went up to Heavens. Bhîs´ma,

born of the womb of Gangâ, hearing the above news, expressed

his sorrows and, being surrounded by the ministers completed all the

funeral obsequies and installed Vichitravîrya on the throne.

The beautiful Satyavatî became very much agitated by the death

of her son; but when the ministers and the highsouled spiritual

teachers consoled her, she became glad when she saw that her youngest

son became king. Vyâsa Deva, too, felt himself glad to hear

that his youngest brother had been made king. After some time when

the all auspicious, Satyavatî's son Vichîtravîrya

attained his youth, Bhîs´ma began to think of his marriage.

At this time the king of Kâsî (Kâs'îrâj)

called an assembly Svayamvara (where the kings are invited and the

bride selects the bridegroom) for the marriage of her three

daughters, endowed with all auspicious qualities, at one and the same

time. Thousands and thousands of kings and princes from various

countries were invited there in the assembly; and, worshipped duly,

they went and decorated the hall. At that time the highly energetic

fiery Bhîs´ma alone, mounting on his chariot, attacked the

infantry and cavalry, and defeated all the kings assembled there, and

perforce carried away the three daughters of Kâs'îrâj

and took them to Hastinâpur. Bhîs´ma behaved towards

those three daughters as if they were mothers, sisters or daughters

and informed Satyavatî without any delay of everything that had

happened.

35-39. Then he called for the

astrologers and Brâhmins, versed in the Vedas and

enquired about the auspicious day for their marriage. When the day

was fixed and when every preparation was made, the religious Bhîs´ma

wanted Vichitravîrya to marry them. At this time, the eldest

daughter, beautiful-eyed spoke out modestly to the Gangâ's son

Bhîs´ma :-- "O Gangâ's son, the illustrious son of

your family and the best of the Kurus! You are the best knower of

Dharma; therefore what more shall I say to you. In the Svayamvara

assembly I mentally selected S'âlva and it struck me that he,

too, looked on me with a very loving heart towards me. So, O

tormentor of foes! Now do what is fit for that sacred family; O

Gangâ's son! Not only you are extraordinarily powerful but you

are also the foremost of the religious. Sâlva mentally wanted

to marry me; now do as you like."

40-44. When the eldest daughter spoke

thus, Bhîs´ma asked the aged Brâhmanas,

ministers and his mother "What ought to be done now" and, taking

the opinions of all, spoke to that daughter :-- "O beautiful one!

You can go wherever you like." Thus saying, Bhîs´ma

released her. Then the beautiful daughter of Kâsîrâj

went to the house of Sâlvarâj and expressed to him her

heart's desire :-- "O great king! Knowing me attached to yourself,

Bhîs´ma has quitted me according to the laws of Dharma; I

have therefore come to you now; marry me. O best of the kings! I will

be your legal wife, for already I used to think you as my husband and

you, too, must have thought me your wife."

45-47. S'âlva replied as

follows :-- "O beautiful one! When Bhîs´ma caught hold of

your arm before me and took you to his chariot, then I won't marry

you. You can say yourself what intelligent man can marry a woman

touched by another? Therefore I won't marry you, though Bhîs´ma

has quitted you, in the light of another." Hearing these words of

S´âlva, the daughter of Kâsîrâj wept

bitterly; yet S´âlva quitted her. Therefore, finding no other

way, she went back to Bhîs´ma weeping, and said as follows

:--

48-50. O great warrior! S´âlva

did not consent to marry me, as you first took me to the chariot and

afterwards left me. So, O Mahâbhâga! You better look to

Dharma and marry me, as you know best what is Dharma. If you do not

marry me, I will certainly quit my life. Hearing her words Bhîs´ma

said :-- O beautiful one! How can I accept you, when your mind has

become attached towards another. So, O fair one! You better go back

soon to your own father with a calm, clear mind. When Bhîs´ma

said thus, that daughter of Kâsîrâj did not go

back, out of sheer shame, to her father's house, but went to a forest

and in a greatly solitary place of pilgrimage began to practise

asceticism.

51-56. Now the other two daughters of

Kâsîrâj, beautiful and all auspicious Ambâlikâ

and Ambikâ became the wives of the king Vichîtravîrya.

Thus the powerful king Vichîtravîrya began to enjoy

various pleasures in the palace and in the gardens and thus passed

his time. For full nine years the king Vichîtravîrya

enjoyed the sexual pleasures and became attacked with consumption and

fell into the jaws of death. Hearing the death news of her son

Vichîtravîrya, Satyavatî became very sorry and

surrounded by her ministers, performed his funeral obsequies. Then

she spoke privately to Bhîs´ma with a grievous heart :-- "O

highly fortunately son! now you better govern your father's kingdom

and see that the family of Yayâti does not become extinct. So

better take your brother's wife and try your best to continue your

family line.

57-74. Bhîs´ma then said :--

"O Mother! Did you not hear of the promise that I already made

before my father? So I cannot ever marry and govern the kingdom."

Hearing these words of Bhîs´ma, Satyavatî became

anxious. She began to think as follows :-- "How now the continuity

of the family be kept! And it is not advisable to remain idle when

the kingdom has become kingless; no happiness can be derived in this

state." Thus thinking, she became exceedingly distressed; then the

Gangâ's son, Bhîs´ma spoke to her :-- "O respected

one! Do not worry your mind with cares; now take steps so as to

secure a son from Vichîtravîrya's wife. Call some best

Brâhmin, born of a good family and unite him with

Vichîtravîrya's wife. There is no fault, as far as I

know, in doing thus to keep up the family line. O sweet smiling one!

Thus having begotten the grandson, give him this kingdom; I will also

obey his commands." Hearing these reasonable words of Bhîs´ma,

Satyavatî remem bered her own son, the sinless Vyâsa

Deva, who was born to her during her virginity. As soon as Vyâsa

was remembered, he, the great ascetic and effulgent like the sun,

came there and bowed down to his mother. The highly energetic Vyâsa

was then worshipped duly by Bhîs´ma and welcome by Satyavatî

and began to rest there like a smokeless fire. The mother Satyavatî

then spoke to the chief Muni :-- "O son! Now procreate a beautiful

son from your sperm and the ovum of Vichîtravîrya's

wife." Hearing the mother's words, Vyâsa considered them as

Veda's injunction and thought they must be obeyed and promised before

her that he must obey and and fulfil her orders. He remained there,

waiting for the menstruation period. When the due period of

menstruation arrived, Ambikâ bathed and had a sexual

intercourse with Vyâsa and begot a very powerful son, but a

blind one (since she closed her eyes at the sight of Vyâsa

during her intercourse). Seeing the son born blind Satyavatî

became exceedingly sorry; she, then, asked her other son's wife :--

"Go soon and get a son born of you in the aforesaid manner." When

the menstruation period arrived, Ambâlikâ during the

night time went to Vyâsa and mixed and became pregnant. In due

time a son was born; that child became of a very pale colour; so

Satyavatî thought the new child, too, unfit for the kingdom;

therefore at the end of the year again asked her son's wife Ambâlikâ

to go to Vyâsa . She asked Vyâsa also for the same

purpose and sent Ambâlikâ to his bed room. But Ambâlikâ

became afraid, and could not go herself but sent her maid servant for

the purpose. Thus from the womb of the maid servant the high souled

Vidura was born, having Dharma's parts and the most auspicious

towards all. Thus Vyâsa begot three very powerful sons

Dhritarâstra, Pandu and Vidura for the continuity

of the family line. O sinless Maharsis! Thus I have described

to you how my Guru Vyâsa Deva, who knows well all the Dharmas,

kept up the continuity of his family and how he begot sons in the

womb of his brother Vichîtravîrya's wives, according to

the laws of Dharma, to keep up a family.

Thus ends the twentieth chapter of

the 1st Skandha as well as the first Skandha on Vyâsa

doing his duties in the Mahâpurânam S'rî

Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi

Veda Vyâsa ._________________There is 12 such Skandas (Chapters), and You may comments or discours little:)))The GroupOwner