Srimadbhagavatham-skandha4- chapter 9 to the end

[Guest guest]

Chapter 10 and 11- Utthama killed by yaksha and Dhruva fights with Kubera.

 

Utthama , the step brother of Dhruva remained unmarried and once when he went to

the forest for hunting he was killed by a yaksha and his mother also suffered

the similar fate .Hearing this Dhruva went to fight with the yakshas and

advanced against Kubera who is the master of the yakshas and would have

destroyed them completely but Svayambuva Manu, his grandfather prevented him

from doing so and he advised Dhruva to control anger telling him that the Lord

is the giver of karmaphala and everything happens according to His will only. So

he advised Dhruva to concentrate on bhakthimarga. SvayambhuvaManu also told

Dhruva to get reconciled with Kubera.

 

Chapter12- Dhruva attains Vishnupadha

 

Kubera, pleased with Dhruva wanted to give him a boon and Dhruva wished only for

an unbroken remembrance of Lord Hari. Dhruva returned to his kingdom and

propitiated the Lord through yajnas and ruled his land as a father to his

subjects for 20000 years. Then he gave the throne to his son and left for

Badarikasrama where he became engrossed in the contemplation of the Lord, giving

up all attachment to the body. Once he saw a divine vehicle descending from the

sky and two divine beings, the attendants of Lord Vishnu coming toward him

..Dhruva bowed down to them with folded hands chanting the name of the Lord. The

two were named Sunanda and Nanda and they told him that he had won the

vidhnupadha, which even the nithya suris and the saptharshis could only see but

not attain and around which all planets and the Sun and the stars are

revolving, attaining which there is no return. They requested Dhruva to ascend

the vimana and Yama came towards him and asked Dhruva to put the foot on his

head and ascend, which Dhruva did, showing that he had conquered death and to

the real devotees of the Lord even Yama is servile. When Dhruva was going up he

felt for a moment for his mother whom he was leaving but knowing his thought the

messengers of the Lord pointed out to him that his mother was already going to

heaven in another vimana before him.

 

Chapter 13, 14, 15 and 16- Descendents of Dhruva

 

The seventh descendent of Dhruva was Vena, son of Anga. The mother of Vena was

sunithi, the daughter of Mrthyu an asura. Vena had inherited the character of

his maternal grandfather and was cruel by nature He used to kill animals and

humans just for fun. Seeing his wickedness and not able to correct him, Anga,

disgusted, left for the forest one day during midnight. Then Vena was made

king. Vena was against religious acts of any kind and forbade all vedic rituals

and other religious ceremonies in his land telling the sages who were doing

yajna to worship him only. The sages angered by his behaviour cursed him to

die. But out of fear for committing the sin of causing anarchy in the land where

there is no ruler, and also because the clan of Anga, who was righteous,

should not end, they churned the thigh of the body of Vena. From that a short

man emerged who was the embodiment of the sin of Vena. He was Baahuka, whose

successors were hunting tribes who lived in the forests and mountains engaged in

plundering and killing. Then the sages churned the arms of Vena from which

Prthu and Archis, the amsa of Vishnu and Lakshmi emerged. Prthu became the king

who possessed various noble and great qualities and from whom the earth came to

be called PrThvee.

 

Chapter17to21-Prthu as king.

 

The earth had withheld food and other treasures of all the species due to anger

towards the adharmic rule of Vena and the land was in famine when Prthu took

over the throne and the people oppressed by hunger, resorted to him to solve the

problem. He threatened the earth goddess, wielding bow and arrow and the earth

took the form of a cow and fled from him. Prthu chased her and finally finding

him with bow and arrow wherever she went, the earth goddess tried to please him

and praised him because she recognized him as a form of Lord Hari. He said that

she hid all the treasure of the earth from men because the wicked people

following Vena abused it. Then she told Prthu to find a calf in each class of

beings and milk her for what they desired

 

Accordingly the different species of beings obtained what they wanted from the

earth in the form of a cow designating a milkman and a calf among themselves.

Then Prthu was pleased with the earth and adopted her as his daughter. Hence the

earth came to be called prthvee.

 

Prthu was the first king who designed villages towns etc according to a patterns

there was no formation of places into villages and towns before him. People were

happily under him and lived peacefully and with comfort.

 

Prthu started to perform 100asvamedha sacrifices and Indra tried to steal the

sacrificial horse several times as the one who has completed 100 asvamedha

yajnas will be entitled to become Indra. But every time his attempt was foiled

by the son of Prthu. Finally Brahma brought reconciliation between the two and

persuaded Prthu to stop with 99 yajnas. The Lord Vishnu appeared before Prthu

and told him to ask for boons but Prthu said that he wanted nothing else except

the lotus feet of the Lord.

 

Then Prthu performed a sathra yaga which usually lasts from 13 to 100days, and

addressed the gathering.

 

He said that a king who takes away the money from his subjects but does not

ensure their welfare is committing a sin as a result of which he will lose his

wealth. He advised hs subjects to do their duty as an offering to God. The

service to the feet of the Lord washed off all impurities like the Ganges that

sprang from His big toe. Hence all should propitiate Him with body, speech and

mind. All he sages pthrs and devas assembled there for the yajna approved his

words saying `saaDhu saaDhu,' well said,' and told him that he has saved his

father Vena from hell. The Brahmins bowed down to him knowing that he was an

amSa of Lord Vishnu

 

Chapters 22and 23

 

At that time the sanakaadhi sages came there and Prthu praised them saying that

he was blessed to have seen them who could not easily be seen. He said that the

service of such pure souls is the real wealth and the houses where the sadhus

are not worshipped are like the trees inhabited with poisonous snakes. Then

Prthu asked them to tell him the way in which the kshema,welfare could be

obtained while in samsara.

 

Sanathkumara ,one of the four, said:

 

Asnaga in anaathmaa, detachment towards all except the self, rathiH dhrDaa

brahmaNi, firm attachment to Brahman is the cause of kshema. This is achieved

through faith, Sraddhaa, becoming a devotee, bhaagavatha dharmanushTaana, real

knowledge, thathvajnana, meditation and contemplation on the Lord, yoganishTaa

and yogeSvara upaasana and listening to the stories of the Lord everyday,

nithyam puNyakaThaaSravanam.

 

Also one should dissociate himself from those who are after sensual pleasures

and enjoy the nectar of the qualities of the Lord, hariguNa peeyoosha and resort

to secluded spot away from the worldly.

 

The same idea is found in the Gita where Krishna says `vivikthadhesa sevithvm

arathih jana samsadhi,' resorting to a secluded spot and detachment from society

as one of the requisites for acquiring jnana.

 

There are five things that obstruct the rise of jnana. They are, avidhya,

ignorance of what is real what is not, asmithaa, egotism, raga, desire,

dhvesha, hatred and abhinivesa., attachment. These are removed by spiritual

discipline.

 

Then the sage departed after blessing all. Prthu reigned his kingdom without

ahamkara and became a stThithaprjana. He had five sons to whom he left the

kingdom and went to the forest with his wife and worshipped the Lord till his

last days.

 

Chapters 24 and 25- The allegory of Puranjana

 

Barhishad, a descendent of Prthu was performing sacrifices all through the year

and hence came to be called as praacheenabarhis, because the earth was covered

by dharbhagrass (barhis) pointing eastward, as it is done during sacrifices.

Narada took pity on him and advised him thus. The sage said that by karma

marga he could never get peace and the king asked Narada to instruct him on

jnanamarga. Then Narada started to relate to him the allegory of Puranjana.

 

There was a king named Puranjana who had a friend named Avijnaatha , whose

actions could not be easily understood. Puranjana is the human being who creates

his own sareera by his karma, that is, the jeeva and the friend who is avijnatha

, meaning not known by any one, is isvara, the true friend of all.

 

Puranjana moved away from his friend, was roaming around looking for a suitable

place to set up his kingdom and finally saw a place near Himalayas, a town with

nine gates and was desirable. The town with nine gates is the sareera

(vide:BG.navadhvaarepure dhehee) the nine gates being the sense organs. The town

with desirable qualities means the limbs being perfect, and the body itself

blemishless. The jeeva chooses the body according to its karma to be born in.

The town itself is described as being decorated with blue stones and a beautiful

mansion etc., denoting the nerves and the heart. It was like Bhogavathee, the

capital of nagas. The sareera is the means to enjoy the sensual pleasures

,bhogas and hence likened to bhogavathee the capital of nagaloka.

 

He found four halls of entertainment which are the four senses, the eye, tongue,

nose and ears through which one enjoys sensual pleasures. There were gardens

outside the city with trees and creepers , birds and bees. These are the close

relatives , trees signifying those who depend on him, creepers are women and the

birds are the children. The bees are the sweet-sounding talks of them which

pleases the man. There were wild beasts and tame beasts also which are the

relatives like the in -laws and they are classified as wild and tame because

some take away your wealth forcibly and some in a pacifying manner, by appealing

to the better nature of man. On the whole all take away his wealth like the

beast who take away one's life. The one traveling along the path of these

forests are called sweetly by the cuckoos. This means the temptations that

waylay a man and turn him away from nivrtthi marga even if he is desirous of

finding release from the samsara.

 

Then the story goes on about the downfall of man. Puranjana came across a damsel

with ten attendants each of them having 100 wives. The woman is the maya ,

delusion of the world and the ten attendants are the ten indhriyas which have

numerous objects of desire denoted by their 100 wives.

 

Then the lady is described . She was ypung and was protected by a five-headed

serpent. The serpents are the panchapranas. Puranjana fell in love with her and

asked her about her identity. She replied that she did not know it herself. No

one knew , she said, who she was and who had built the city. The serpent guards

the city while everyone sleeps. The maya of ignorance is anaadhi, timeless and

only the Lord knows about it because it is His maya. The pranas protect the

sareera , the town with nine gates, when the indhriyas and the mind are asleep.

She also was in love with him and the two lived in the city happily. Thus the

jeeva ensnared by maya, enjoys the sensual pleasures and lives in the body

happily, deluded into believing that it is real and everlasting.

 

Chapters 26 to 28-Allegory of Puranjana continued

 

Purajana went for hunting in his chariot, sareera,, drawn by five horses, the

senses, with two pairs of shafts, 'I'ness and `my'ness, two wheels , dharma and

adharma, one axle, prakrthi with three flagstaffs, the three gunas. Thee chariot

had one rein, mind and the charioteer was buddhi. The seat was the heart and

there were two yokes , joy and sorrow. Equipped thus he went on hunting

indiscriminately and got tired while causing much damage to the living beings in

the forest. Returning to his abode he saw his wife angry and lying on he floor

and pacified her and stated enjoying life with her.

 

Thus he found that he reached the old age. Then a gandharva named Chandavega,

time, with 360 powerful gandharvas, ailments of the body, attacked and destroyed

the city part by part. The guarding serpent fighting them for hundred years

became tired. The grey-haired daughters of Time, the gandharva married to

Yavnesvara, bhaya, and the army of Yavana, ailments of old age, destroyed the

whole city. the whole city. The serpent, prana, no longer able to protect the

city left and the city fell to pieces. Puranjana even when he was dragged by the

powerful yavana, did not think of his true friend , Isvara, but was only tinking

of his wife at the time of his death. As a result, he was born as a woman in

his next life in the palace of the king of vidharbha and malaydhavaja paandya

married her. Paandya means a bhaagavatha or devotee. Thus she was iin the

company of great devotees. They had one daughter and six sons the numerous off

springs of whom spread bhakthi. Then Malayadhvaja retired to the katachala with

his wife. When he died his wife grief-stricken wished to enter his funeral pyre

when a Brahmin came there and told her that she was neither the wife of the king

nor the husband of the lady in the city with nine gates. He said `Don't you

remember me your friend named Avijnaatha? You left me and went to enjoy the

worldly pleasures. Both of us are hamsas and not f different from each other.

The difference between us is that of bimba and prathibimba, the face and the

reflection. All was the maya created by Me. " Narada ended the allegory of

Puranjana thus and explained the characters to Praacheena Barhis and gave him

the advice of bhakthi.

 

Chapter 29 –Bhakthi as the antidote of the ills of samsara

 

Purusha , That is the jeeva without knowing at he is identical with pramathman

who is his innerself, gets attached to the gunas of prkrthi. According to the

karma which is done inflennced by the three gunas he is born in different

bodies, deava, human, man, woman or even animal. Like a dog which wanders from

house to house .seeking food or water and gets fed or beaten, the jeeva roams

around for several births experiencing joy and sorrow without rest continuously

and any measure undertaken for relief is like shifting the burden to shoulders

from head, that is , nothing except resorting to the Lord gives permanent

relief. Karma cannot destroy another karma as both are under the realm of

avidhya. Only jnana can destroy karma. That will arise from Bhakthi.

 

Narada said that the Lord can be attained only through bhakthi and not by any

other means sucha s thapas etc. the sanga or attachment that causes samsara can

only be removed by devotion to Vasudeva and lostening to the nectar of stories

about Him by which one becomes pure.

 

Narada advised Barhishman, who believed in karmakanda and hence was performing

yajnas continuously that karma even directed by Vedas is not the final goal as

they are under the realm of the three gunas.

 

The parallel idea is also found in the Bhagavatgita where Krishna says,

`thraiguNya vishayaa vedhaaH nisthraiguNyo bhava arjuna ,' " the Vedas pertain to

the three gunas and hence transcend the gunas, Arjuna. " Thus Narada showed

Barhishad the limitations of vedic karma and hearing that the king wanted to go

to forest and do penance and said that he will wait till his sons who had gone

to do penance return. Narada then told him an allegory of a deer roaming in a

forest eating grass with his female and listening to the music of the bees quite

oblivious of the hunter and the wolves who were fast approaching. The deer is

the man of the world enjoying the pleasures and the wolves are the time and the

hunter is the death. Barhishad got vairagya on hearing this and and asked the

sage to instruct him about the nature of jeeva

 

Narada spoke thus:

The physical body is only an instrument of the subtle body comprising of mind

and intellect which continues even after the physical body falls. The subtle

body keeps awake when the physical body is asleep which is why we get dreams.

All the impressions of earlier lives are embedded in the subtle body and the

event that happen in our dreams are the indication of this because nothing not

experienced could be seen in the dream. Like a carterpillar which holds on to a

blade of grass until it moves to another, the jiva also holds on to the

identification of the former body until it acquires another. Then Narada left

him and the king went to forest to do paenace And attained siddhi.

 

Chapter30 and 31- Narada advises the sons of Prachethas

 

The sons of Barhishad , also known as Rrachethas did penance as instructed by

their father chanting the japa instructed by Lord Siva on Lord hari who appeared

in front of them in all His glory on Garuda like a cloud on Mount Meru and

blessed them. The Lord told them that they will marry the daughter of an Apsaras

who was left in the care of the trees and when she cried as an infant the Moon

himself came and fed her with nectar.He also said that she will get a son who

will be illustrious as a prajapathi. Then they praised Lord Hari and went to

their country. There they saw that the trees were overgrown and covered the

whole earth and grown very tall so as to obstruct the planets. When the princes

treid to burn all the trees emitting fir from their mouth and nostrils due to

their power of penance lord Brahma came and pacified them and the trees gave

their daughter Marisha in marriage t them. She gave birth to Dhaksha who was the

son of Brahma in his previous birth and incurred the anger of Siva. Later the

sons of Prachethas were instructed by Narada on bhakthi an attained the feet of

Lord Hari.

 

Thus describing the clan of Utthanpadha to Vidura, who took leave of him and t

to see his people on Hasthinapura.

 

Thus the skandha four of Srimadbhagavatham ends.