|
Shreemad
Bhagavatam
Canto
3
Chapters 1 to 5
Chapter One Questions by Vidura
1. Sukadeva Gosvami said: After renouncing his prosperous home and entering the forest, King Vidura, the great devotee, asked this question of His Grace Maitreya Rsi.
2. What else is there to say about the residential house of the Pandavas? Sri Krishna, the Lord of everything, acted as your minister. He used to enter that house as if it were His own, and He did not take any care of Duryodhana’s house.
3. The King asked Sukadeva Gosvami: Where and when did the meeting and discussion take place between Saint Vidura and His Grace Maitreya Muni? Kindly oblige, my lord, and describe this to us.
4. Saint Vidura was a great and pure devotee of the Lord, and therefore his questions to His Grace Rsi Maitreya must have been very purposeful, on the highest level, and approved by learned circles.
5. Sri Suta Gosvami said: The great sage Sukadeva Gosvami was highly experienced and was pleased with the King. Thus being questioned by the King, he said to him, “Please hear the topics attentively.”
6. Sri Sukadeva Gosvami said: King Dhrtarastra became blind under the influence of impious desires to nourish his dishonest sons, and thus he set fire to the lacquer house to burn his fatherless nephews, the Pandavas.
7. The King did not forbid his son Duhsasana’s abominable action of grabbing the hair of Draupadi, the wife of the godly King Yudhisthira, even though her tears washed the red dust on her breast.
8. Yudhisthira, who was born without any enemy, was unfairly defeated in gambling. But because he had taken the vow of truthfulness, he went off to the forest. When he came back in due course and begged the return of his rightful share of the kingdom, he was refused by Dhrtarastra, who was overwhelmed by illusion.
9. Lord Krishna was sent by Arjuna into the assembly as the spiritual master of the whole world, and although His words were heard by some [like Bhisma] as pure nectar, it was not so for the others, who were completely bereft of the last farthing of past pious works. The King [Dhrtarastra or Duryodhana] did not take the words of Lord Krishna very seriously.
10. When Vidura was invited by his elder brother [Dhrtarastra] for consultation, he entered the house and gave instructions which were exactly to the point. His advice is well known, and instructions by Vidura are approved by expert ministers of state.
11. [Vidura said:] You must now return the legitimate share to Yudhisthira, who has no enemies and who has been forbearing through untold sufferings due to your offenses. He is waiting with his younger brothers, among whom is the revengeful Bhima, breathing heavily like a snake. Surely you are afraid of him.
12. Lord Krishna, the Personality of Godhead, has accepted the sons of Prtha as His kinsmen, and all the kings of the world are with Lord Sri Krishna. He is present in His home with all His family members, the kings and princes of the Yadu dynasty, who have conquered an unlimited number of rulers, and He is their Lord.
13. You are maintaining offense personified, Duryodhana, as your infallible son, but he is envious of Lord Krishna. And because you are thus maintaining a nondevotee of Krishna, you are devoid of all auspicious qualities. Relieve yourself of this ill fortune as soon as possible and do good to the whole family!
14. While speaking thus, Vidura, whose personal character was esteemed by respectable persons, was insulted by Duryodhana, who was swollen with anger and whose lips were trembling. Duryodhana was in company with Karna, his younger brothers and his maternal uncle Sakuni.
15. Who asked him to come here, this son of a kept mistress? He is so crooked that he spies in the interest of the enemy against those on whose support he has grown up. Toss him out of the palace immediately and leave him with only his breath.
16. Thus being pierced by arrows through his ears and afflicted to the core of his heart, Vidura placed his bow on the door and quit his brother’s palace. He was not sorry, for he considered the acts of the external energy to be supreme.
17. By his piety, Vidura achieved the advantages of the pious Kauravas. After leaving Hastinapura, he took shelter of many places of pilgrimages, which are the Lord’s lotus feet. With a desire to gain a high order of pious life, he traveled to holy places where thousands of transcendental forms of the Lord are situated.
18. He began to travel alone, thinking only of Krishna, through various holy places like Ayodhya, Dvaraka and Mathura. He traveled where the air, hill, orchard, river and lake are all pure and sinless and where the forms of the Unlimited decorate the temples. Thus he performed the pilgrim’s progress.
19. While so traversing the earth, he simply performed duties to please the Supreme Lord Hari. His occupation was pure and independent. He was constantly sanctified by taking his bath in holy places, although he was in the dress of a mendicant and had no hair dressing nor a bed on which to lie. Thus he was always unseen by his various relatives.
20. Thus, when he was in the land of Bharatavarsa traveling to all the places of pilgrimage, he visited Prabhasaksetra. At that time Maharaja Yudhisthira was the emperor and held the world under one military strength and one flag.
21. At the place of pilgrimage at Prabhasa, it came to his knowledge that all his relatives had died due to violent passion, just as an entire forest burns due to fire produced by the friction of bamboos. After this he proceeded west, where the River Sarasvati flows.
22. On the bank of the River Sarasvati there were eleven places of pilgrimage, namely, (1) Trita, (2) Usana, (3) Mahu, (4) Prthu, (5) Agni, (6) Asita, (7) Vayu, (8) Sudasa, (9) Go, (10) Guha and (11) Sraddhadeva. Vidura visited all of them and duly performed rituals.
23. There were also many other temples of various forms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Visnu, established by great sages and demigods. These temples were marked with the chief emblems of the Lord, and they reminded one always of the original Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna.
24. Thereafter he passed through very wealthy provinces like Surat, Sauvira and Matsya and through western India, known as Kurujangala. At last he reached the bank of the Yamuna, where he happened to meet Uddhava, the great devotee of Lord Krishna.
25. Then, due to his great love and feeling, Vidura embraced him [Uddhava], who was a constant companion of Lord Krishna and formerly a great student of Brhaspati’s. Vidura then asked him for news of the family of Lord Krishna, the Personality of Godhead.
26. [Please tell me] whether the original Personalities of Godhead, who incarnated Themselves at the request of Brahma [who is born out of the lotus flower from the Lord] and who have increased the prosperity of the world by elevating everyone, are doing well in the house of Surasena.
27. [Please tell me] whether the best friend of the Kurus, our brother-in-law Vasudeva, is doing well. He is very munificent. He is like a father to his sisters, and he is always pleasing to his wives.
28. O Uddhava, please tell me how is Pradyumna, the commander-in-chief of the Yadus, who was Cupid in a former life? Rukmini bore him as her son from Lord Krishna, by the grace of brahmanas whom she pleased.
29. O my friend, [tell me] whether Ugrasena, the King of the Satvatas, Vrsnis, Bhojas and Dasarhas, is now doing well. He went far away from his kingdom, leaving aside all hopes of his royal throne, but Lord Krishna again installed him.
30. O gentle one, does Samba fare well? He exactly resembles the son of the Personality of Godhead. In a previous birth he was born as Karttikeya in the womb of the wife of Lord Siva, and now he has been born in the womb of Jambavati, the most enriched wife of Krishna.
31. O Uddhava, does Yuyudhana fare well? He learned the intricacies of the military art from Arjuna and attained the transcendental destination which is very difficult to reach even for great renouncers.
32. Please tell me whether Akrura, the son of Svaphalka, is doing well. He is a faultless soul surrendered unto the Personality of Godhead. He once lost his mental equilibrium due to his ecstasy of transcendental love and fell down on the dust of a road which was marked with the footprints of Lord Krishna.
33. As the Vedas are the reservoir of sacrificial purposes, so the daughter of King Devaka-bhoja conceived the Supreme Personality of Godhead in her womb, as did the mother of the demigods. Is she [Devaki] doing well?
34. May I inquire whether Aniruddha is doing well? He is the fulfiller of all the desires of the pure devotees and has been considered from yore to be the cause of the Rg Veda, the creator of the mind and the fourth Plenary expansion of Visnu.
35. O sober one, others, such as Hrdika, Carudesna, Gada and the son of Satyabhama, who accept Lord Sri Krishna as the soul of the self and thus follow His path without deviation—are they well?
36. Also let me inquire whether Maharaja Yudhisthira is now maintaining the kingdom according to religious principles and with respect for the path of religion. Formerly Duryodhana was burning with envy because Yudhisthira was being protected by the arms of Krishna and Arjuna as if they were his own arms.
37. [Please tell me] whether the unconquerable Bhima, who is like a cobra, has released his long-cherished anger upon the sinners? The field of battle could not tolerate even the wonderful playing of his club when he stepped on the path.
38. [Please tell me] whether Arjuna, whose bow bears the name Gandiva and who is always famous amongst the chariot warriors for vanquishing his enemies, is doing well. He once satisfied Lord Siva by covering him with arrows when Siva came as an unidentified false hunter.
39. Are the twin brothers who are protected by their brothers doing well? Just as the eye is always protected by the eyelid, they are protected by the sons of Prtha, who snatched back their rightful kingdom from the hands of their enemy Duryodhana, just as Garuda snatched nectar from the mouth of Indra, the thunderbolt carrier.
40. O my lord, is Prtha still living? She lived only for the sake of her fatherless children; otherwise it was impossible for her to live without King Pandu, who was the greatest commander and who alone conquered the four directions simply with the help of a second bow.
41. O gentle one, I simply lament for he [Dhrtarastra] who rebelled against his brother after death. By him I was driven out of my own house, although I am his sincere well-wisher, because he accepted the line of action adopted by his own sons.
42. I am not astonished at this, having traveled over the world without being seen by others. The activities of the Personality of Godhead, which are like those of a man in this mortal world, are bewildering to others, but I know of His greatness by His grace, and thus I am happy in all respects.
43. Despite His being the Lord and being always willing to relieve the distress of sufferers, He [Krishna] refrained from killing the Kurus, although they committed all sorts of sins and although He saw other kings constantly agitating the earth by their strong military movements carried out under the dictation of three kinds of false pride.
44. The appearance of the Lord is manifested for the annihilation of the upstarts. His activities are transcendental and are enacted for the understanding of all persons. Otherwise, since the Lord is transcendental to all material modes, what purpose could He serve by coming to earth?
45. O my friend, please, therefore, chant the glories of the Lord, who is meant to be glorified in the places of pilgrimage. He is unborn, and yet He appears by His causeless mercy upon the surrendered rulers of all parts of the universe. Only for their interest did He appear in the family of His unalloyed devotees the Yadus.
Chapter Two Remembrance of Lord Krishna
1. Sri Sukadeva Gosvami said: When the great devotee Uddhava was asked by Vidura to speak on the messages of the dearest [Lord Krishna], Uddhava was unable to answer immediately due to excessive anxiety at the remembrance of the Lord.
2. He was one who even in his childhood, at the age of five years, was so absorbed in the service of Lord Krishna that when he was called by his mother for morning breakfast, he did not wish to have it.
3. Uddhava thus served the Lord continually from childhood, and in his old age that attitude of service never slackened. As soon as he was asked about the message of the Lord, he at once remembered all about Him.
4. For a moment he remained dead silent, and his body did not move. He became absorbed in the nectar of remembering the Lord’s lotus feet in devotional ecstasy, and he appeared to be going increasingly deeper into that ecstasy.
5. It was so observed by Vidura that Uddhava had all the transcendental bodily changes due to total ecstasy, and he was trying to wipe away tears of separation from his eyes. Thus Vidura could understand that Uddhava had completely assimilated extensive love for the Lord.
6. The great devotee Uddhava soon came back from the abode of the Lord to the human plane, and wiping his eyes, he awakened his reminiscence of the past and spoke to Vidura in a pleasing mood.
7. Sri Uddhava said: My dear Vidura, the sun of the world, Lord Krishna, has set, and our house has now been swallowed by the great snake of time. What can I say to you about our welfare?
8. This universe with all its planets is most unfortunate. And even more unfortunate are the members of the Yadu dynasty because they could not identify Lord Hari as the Personality of Godhead, any more than the fish could identify the moon.
9. The Yadus were all experienced devotees, learned and expert in psychic study. Over and above this, they were always with the Lord in all kinds of relaxations, and still they were only able to know Him as the one Supreme who dwells everywhere.
10. Under no circumstances can the words of persons bewildered by the illusory energy of the Lord deviate the intelligence of those who are completely surrendered souls.
11. Lord Sri Krishna, who manifested His eternal form before the vision of all on the earth, performed His disappearance by removing His form from the sight of those who were unable to see Him [as He is] due to not executing required penance.
12. The Lord appeared in the mortal world by His internal potency, yoga-maya. He came in His eternal form, which is just suitable for His pastimes. These pastimes were wonderful for everyone, even for those proud of their own opulence, including the Lord Himself in His form as the Lord of Vaikuntha. Thus His [Sri Krishna’s] transcendental body is the ornament of all ornaments.
13. All the demigods from the upper, lower and middle universal planetary systems assembled at the altar of the rajasuya sacrifice performed by Maharaja Yudhisthira. After seeing the beautiful bodily features of Lord Krishna, they all contemplated that He was the ultimate dexterous creation of Brahma, the creator of human beings.
14. The damsels of Vraja, after pastimes of laughter, humor and exchanges of glances, were anguished when Krishna left them. They used to follow Him with their eyes, and thus they sat down with stunned intelligence and could not finish their household duties.
15. The Personality of Godhead, the all-compassionate controller of both the spiritual and material creations, is unborn, but when there is friction between His peaceful devotees and persons who are in the material modes of nature, He takes birth just like fire, accompanied by the mahat-tattva.
16. When I think of Lord Krishna—how He was born in the prison house of Vasudeva although He is unborn, how He went away from His father’s protection to Vraja and lived there incognito out of fear of the enemy, and how, although unlimitedly powerful, He fled from Mathura in fear—all these bewildering incidents give me distress.
17. Lord Krishna begged pardon from His parents for Their [Krishna’s and Balarama’s] inability to serve their feet, due to being away from home because of great fear of Kamsa. He said, “O mother, O father, please excuse Us for this inability.” All this behavior of the Lord gives me pain at heart.
18. Who, after smelling the dust of His lotus feet even once, could ever forget it? Simply by expanding the leaves of His eyebrows, Krishna has given the deathblow to those who were burdening the earth.
19. You have personally seen how the King of Cedi [Sisupala] achieved success in yoga practice, although he hated Lord Krishna. Even the actual yogis aspire after such success with great interest by performance of their various practices. Who can tolerate separation from Him?
20. Certainly others who were fighters on the Battlefield of Kuruksetra were purified by the onslaught of Arjuna’s arrows, and while seeing the lotuslike face of Krishna, so pleasing to the eyes, they achieved the abode of the Lord.
21. Lord Sri Krishna is the Lord of all kinds of threes and is independently supreme by achievement of all kinds of fortune. He is worshiped by the eternal maintainers of the creation, who offer Him the paraphernalia of worship by touching their millions of helmets to His feet.
22. Therefore, O Vidura, does it not pain us, His servitors, when we remember that He [Lord Krishna] used to stand before King Ugrasena, who was sitting on the royal throne, and used to submit explanations before him, saying, “O My lord, please let it be known to you”?
23. Alas, how shall I take shelter of one more merciful than He who granted the position of mother to a she-demon [Putana] although she was unfaithful and she prepared deadly poison to be sucked from her breast?
24. I consider the demons, who are inimical toward the Lord, to be more than the devotees because while fighting with the Lord, absorbed in thoughts of enmity, they are able to see the Lord carried on the shoulder of Garuda, the son of Tarksya [Kasyapa], and carrying the wheel weapon in His hand.
25. The Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna, being prayed to by Brahma to bring welfare to the earth, was begotten by Vasudeva in the womb of his wife Devaki in the prison of the King of Bhoja.
26. Thereafter, His father, being afraid of Kamsa, brought Him to the cow pastures of Maharaja Nanda, and there He lived for eleven years like a covered flame with His elder brother, Baladeva.
27. In His childhood, the Almighty Lord was surrounded by cowherd boys and calves, and thus He traveled on the shore of the Yamuna River, through gardens densely covered with trees and filled with vibrations of chirping birds.
28. When the Lord displayed His activities just suitable for childhood, He was visible only to the residents of Vrndavana. Sometimes He would cry and sometimes laugh, just like a child, and while so doing He would appear like a lion cub.
29. While herding the very beautiful bulls, the Lord, who was the reservoir of all opulence and fortune, used to blow His flute, and thus He enlivened His faithful followers, the cowherd boys.
30. The great wizards who were able to assume any form were engaged by the King of Bhoja, Kamsa, to kill Krishna, but in the course of His pastimes the Lord killed them as easily as a child breaks dolls.
31. The inhabitants of Vrndavana were perplexed by great difficulties because a certain portion of the Yamuna was poisoned by the chief of the reptiles [Kaliya]. The Lord chastised the snake-king within the water and drove him away, and after coming out of the river, He caused the cows to drink the water and proved that the water was again in its natural state.
32. The Supreme Lord, Krishna, desired to utilize the opulent financial strength of Maharaja Nanda for worship of the cows, and also He wanted to give a lesson to Indra, the King of heaven. Thus He advised His father to perform worship of go, or the pasturing land and the cows, with the help of learned brahmanas.
33. O sober Vidura, King Indra, his honor having been insulted, poured water incessantly on Vrndavana, and thus the inhabitants of Vraja, the land of cows, were greatly distressed. But the compassionate Lord Krishna saved them from danger with His pastime umbrella, the Govardhana Hill.
34. In the third season of the year, the Lord enjoyed as the central beauty of the assembly of women by attracting them with His pleasing songs in an autumn night brightened by moonshine.
Chapter Three Remembrance of Lord Krishna
1. Sri Uddhava said: Thereafter Lord Krishna went to Mathura City with Sri Baladeva, and to please Their parents They dragged Kamsa, the leader of public enemies, down from his throne and killed him, pulling him along the ground with great strength.
2. The Lord learned all the Vedas with their different branches simply by hearing them once from His teacher, Sandipani Muni, whom He rewarded by bringing back his dead son from the region of Yamaloka.
3. Attracted by the beauty and fortune of Rukmini, the daughter of King Bhismaka, many great princes and kings assembled to marry her. But Lord Krishna, stepping over the other hopeful candidates, carried her away as His own share, as Garuda carried away nectar.
4. By subduing seven bulls whose noses were not pierced, the Lord achieved the hand of Princess Nagnijiti in the open competition to select her bridegroom. Although the Lord was victorious, His competitors asked the hand of the princess, and thus there was a fight. Well equipped with weapons, the Lord killed or wounded all of them, but He was not hurt Himself.
5. Just to please His dear wife, the Lord brought back the parijata tree from heaven, just as an ordinary husband would do. But Indra, the King of heaven, induced by his wives (henpecked as he was), ran after the Lord with full force to fight Him.
6. Narakasura, the son of Dharitri, the earth, tried to grasp the whole sky, and for this he was killed by the Lord in a fight. His mother then prayed to the Lord. This led to the return of the kingdom to the son of Narakasura, and thus the Lord entered the house of the demon.
7. There in the house of the demon, all the princesses kidnapped by Narakasura at once became alert upon seeing the Lord, the friend of the distressed. They looked upon Him with eagerness, joy and shyness and offered to be His wives.
8. All those princesses were lodged in different apartments, and the Lord simultaneously assumed different bodily expansions exactly matching each and every princess. He accepted their hands in perfect rituals by His internal potency.
9. Just to expand Himself according to His transcendental features, the Lord begot in each and every one of them ten offspring with exactly His own qualities.
10. Kalayavana, the King of Magadha and Salva attacked the city of Mathura, but when the city was encircled by their soldiers, the Lord refrained from killing them personally, just to show the power of His own men.
11. Of kings like Sambara, Dvivida, Bana, Mura, Balvala and many other demons, such as Dantavakra, some He killed Himself, and some He caused to be killed by others [Sri Baladeva, etc.].
12. Then, O Vidura, the Lord caused all the kings, both the enemies and those on the side of your fighting nephews, to be killed in the Battle of Kuruksetra. All those kings were so great and strong that the earth seemed to shake as they traversed the warfield.
13. Duryodhana was bereft of his fortune and duration of life because of the intricacy of ill advice given by Karna, Duhsasana and Saubala. When he lay on the ground with his followers, his thighs broken although he was powerful, the Lord was not happy to see the scene.
14. [After the end of the Battle of Kuruksetra, the Lord said:] The abatement of the earth’s great burden, eighteen aksauhinis, has now been effected with the help of Drona, Bhisma, Arjuna and Bhima. But what is this? There is still the great strength of the Yadu dynasty, born of Myself, which may be a more unbearable burden.
15. When they quarrel among themselves, influenced by intoxication, with their eyes red like copper because of drinking [madhu], then only will they disappear; otherwise, it will not be possible. On My disappearance, this incident will take place.
16. Lord Sri Krishna, thus thinking to Himself, established Maharaja Yudhisthira in the position of supreme control of the world in order to show the ideal of administration on the path of piety.
17. The embryo of Puru’s descendant begotten by the great hero Abhimanyu in the womb of Uttara, his wife, was burnt by the weapon of the son of Drona, but later he was again protected by the Lord.
18. The Supreme Lord induced the son of Dharma to perform three horse sacrifices, and Maharaja Yudhisthira, constantly following Krishna, the Personality of Godhead, protected and enjoyed the earth, assisted by his younger brothers.
19. Simultaneously, the Personality of Godhead enjoyed life in the city of Dvaraka, strictly in conformity with the Vedic customs of society. He was situated in detachment and knowledge, as enunciated by the Sankhya system of philosophy.
20. He was there in His transcendental body, the residence of the goddess of fortune, with His usual gentle and sweetly smiling face, His nectarean words and His flawless character.
21. The Lord enjoyed His pastimes, both in this world and in other worlds [higher planets], specifically in the association of the Yadu dynasty. At leisure hours offered by night, He enjoyed the friendship of conjugal love with women.
22. The Lord was thus engaged in household life for many, many years, but at last His detachment from ephemeral sex life was fully manifested.
23. Every living entity is controlled by a supernatural force, and thus his sense enjoyment is also under the control of that supernatural force. No one, therefore, can put his faith in Lord Krishna’s transcendental sense activities but one who has become a devotee of the Lord by rendering devotional service.
24. Once upon a time, great sages were made angry by the sporting activities of the princely descendants of the Yadu and Bhoja dynasties, and thus, as desired by the Lord, the sages cursed them.
25. A few months passed, and then, bewildered by Krishna, all the descendants of Vrsni, Bhoja and Andhaka who were incarnations of demigods went to Prabhasa, while those who were eternal devotees of the Lord did not leave but remained in Dvaraka.
26. After arriving there, all of them took bath, and with the water of this place of pilgrimage they offered their respects to the forefathers, demigods and great sages and thus satisfied them. They gave cows to the brahmanas in royal charity.
27. The brahmanas were not only given well-fed cows in charity, but also gold, gold coins, bedding, clothing, animal-skin seats, blankets, horses, elephants, girls and sufficient land for maintenance.
28. Thereafter they offered the brahmanas highly delicious foodstuffs first offered to the Personality of Godhead and offered their respectful obeisances by touching their heads to the ground. They lived perfectly by protecting the cows and the brahmanas.
Chapter Four Vidura Approaches Maitreya
1. Sri Uddhava said: Thereafter, all of them [the descendants of Vrsni and Bhoja], being permitted by the brahmanas, partook of the remnants of prasada and also drank liquor made of rice. By drinking they all became delirious, and, bereft of knowledge, they touched the cores of each other’s hearts with harsh words.
2. As by the friction of bamboos destruction takes place, so also, at sunset, by the interaction of the faults of intoxication, all their minds became unbalanced, and destruction took place.
3. The Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna, after foreseeing the end [of His family] by His internal potency, went to the bank of the River Sarasvati, sipped water, and sat down underneath a tree.
4. The Lord is the vanquisher of the distresses of one who is surrendered unto Him. Thus He who desired to destroy His family told me previously to go to Badarikasrama.
5. Yet in spite of my knowing His desire [to destroy the dynasty], O Arindama [Vidura], I followed Him because it was impossible for me to bear separation from the lotus feet of the master.
6. Thus following, I saw my patron and master [Lord Sri Krishna] sitting alone and deeply thinking, taking shelter on the bank of the River Sarasvati although He is the shelter of the goddess of fortune.
7. The Lord’s body is blackish, but is eternal, full of bliss and knowledge, and very, very beautiful. His eyes are always peaceful, and they are reddish like the rising morning sun. I could immediately recognize Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead by His four hands, different symbolic representations, and yellow silk garments.
8. The Lord was sitting, taking rest against a young banyan tree, with His right lotus foot on His left thigh, and although He had left all household comforts, He looked quite cheerful in that posture.
9. At that time, after traveling in many parts of the world, Maitreya, a great devotee of the Lord and a friend and well-wisher of the great sage Krishna-dvaipayana Vyasa, reached that spot out of his own perfect accord.
10. Maitreya Muni was greatly attached to Him [the Lord], and he was listening in a pleasing attitude, with his shoulder lowered. With a smile and a particular glance upon me, having allowed me to rest, the Lord spoke as follows.
11. O Vasu, I know from within your mind what you desired in the days of yore when the Vasus and other demigods responsible for expanding the universal affairs performed sacrifices. You particularly desired to achieve My association. This is very difficult to obtain for others, but I award it unto you.
12. O honest one, your present life is the last and the supermost because in this term of life you have been awarded My ultimate favor. Now you can go to My transcendental abode, Vaikuntha, by leaving this universe of conditioned living entities. Your visit to Me in this lonely place because of your pure and unflinching devotional service is a great boon for you.
13. O Uddhava, in the lotus millennium in the days of yore, at the beginning of the creation, I spoke unto Brahma, who is situated on the lotus that grows out of My navel, about My transcendental glories, which the great sages describe as Srimad-Bhagavatam.
14. Uddhava said: O Vidura, when I was thus favored at every moment by the Supreme Personality of Godhead and addressed by Him with great affection, my words failed in tears, and the hairs on my body erupted. After smearing my tears, I, with folded hands, spoke like this.
15. O my Lord, devotees who engage in the transcendental loving service of Your lotus feet have no difficulty in achieving anything within the realm of the four principles of religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation. But, O great one, as far as I am concerned, I have preferred only to engage in the loving service of Your lotus feet.
16. My Lord, even the learned sages become disturbed in their intelligence when they see that Your Greatness engages in fruitive work although You are free from all desires, that You take birth although You are unborn, that You flee out of fear of the enemy and take shelter in a fort although You are the controller of invincible time, and that You enjoy householder life surrounded by many women although You enjoy in Your Self.
17. O my Lord, Your eternal Self is never divided by the influence of time, and there is no limitation to Your perfect knowledge. Thus You were sufficiently able to consult with Yourself, yet You called upon me for consultation, as if bewildered, although You are never bewildered. And this act of Yours bewilders me.
18. My Lord, kindly explain to us, if You think us competent to receive it, that transcendental knowledge which gives enlightenment about Yourself and which You explained before to Brahmaji.
19. When I thus expressed my heartfelt desires unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the lotus-eyed Lord instructed me about His transcendental situation.
20. I have studied the path of understanding self-knowledge from my spiritual master, the Personality of Godhead, and thus after circumambulating Him I have come to this place, very much aggrieved due to separation.
21. My dear Vidura, now I am mad for want of the pleasure of seeing Him, and just to mitigate this I am now proceeding to Badarikasrama in the Himalayas for association, as I have been instructed by Him.
22. There in Badarikasrama the Personality of Godhead, in His incarnation as the sages Nara and Narayana, has been undergoing great penance since time immemorial for the welfare of all amiable living entities.
23. Sri Sukadeva Gosvami said: After hearing from Uddhava all about the annihilation of his friends and relatives, the learned Vidura pacified his overwhelming bereavement by dint of his transcendental knowledge.
24. While Uddhava, the chief and most confidential amongst the devotees of the Lord, was going away, Vidura, in affection and confidence, questioned him.
25. Vidura said: O Uddhava, because the servants of Visnu, the Lord, wander in the interest of serving others, it is quite fit that you kindly describe the self-knowledge with which you have been enlightened by the Lord Himself.
26. Sri Uddhava said: You may take lessons from the great learned sage Maitreya, who is nearby and who is worshipable for reception of transcendental knowledge. He was directly instructed by the Personality of Godhead while He was about to quit this mortal world.
27. Sukadeva Gosvami said: O King, after thus discussing with Vidura the transcendental name, fame, qualities, etc., on the bank of the Yamuna, Uddhava was overwhelmed with great affliction. He passed the night as if it were a moment, and thereafter he went away.
28. The King inquired: At the end of the pastimes of the Lord of the three worlds, Sri Krishna, and after the disappearance of the members of the Vrsni and Bhoja dynasties, who were the best of the great commanders, why did Uddhava alone remain?
29. Sukadeva Gosvami replied: My dear King, the cursing of the brahmanas was only a plea, but the actual fact was the supreme desire of the Lord. He wanted to disappear from the face of the earth after dispatching His excessively numerous family members. He thought to Himself as follows.
30. Now I shall leave the vision of this mundane world, and I see that Uddhava, the foremost of My devotees, is the only one who can be directly entrusted with knowledge about Me.
31. Uddhava is not inferior to Me in any way because he is never affected by the modes of material nature. Therefore he may remain in this world in order to disseminate specific knowledge of the Personality of Godhead.
32. Sukadeva Gosvami informed the King that Uddhava, being thus instructed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the source of all Vedic knowledge and the spiritual master of the three worlds, reached the pilgrimage site of Badarikasrama and engaged himself there in trance to satisfy the Lord.
33. Vidura also heard from Uddhava about the appearance and disappearance of Lord Krishna, the Supersoul, in the mortal world, which is a subject matter sought after with great perseverance by the great sages.
34. The Lord’s glorious acts and His acceptance of various transcendental forms for the performance of extraordinary pastimes in the mortal world are very difficult for anyone other than His devotees to understand, and for the beasts they are simply a mental disturbance.
35. Understanding that he was remembered by Lord Krishna [while quitting this world], Vidura began to cry loudly, overwhelmed by the ecstasy of love.
36. After passing a few days on the bank of the River Yamuna, Vidura, the self-realized soul, reached the bank of the Ganges, where the great sage Maitreya was situated.
Chapter Five Vidura’s Talks with Maitreya
1. Sukadeva Gosvami said: Vidura, the best amongst the Kuru dynasty, who was perfect in devotional service to the Lord, thus reached the source of the celestial Ganges River [Hardwar], where Maitreya, the great, fathomless learned sage of the world, was seated. Vidura, who was perfect in gentleness and satisfied in transcendence, inquired from him.
2. Vidura said: O great sage, everyone in this world engages in fruitive activities to attain happiness, but one finds neither satiation nor the mitigation of distress. On the contrary, one is only aggravated by such activities. Please, therefore, give us directions on how one should live for real happiness.
3. O my lord, great philanthropic souls travel on the earth on behalf of the Supreme Personality of Godhead to show compassion to the fallen souls who are averse to the sense of subordination to the Lord.
4. Therefore, O great sage, please give me instruction on the transcendental devotional service of the Lord, so that He who is situated in the heart of everyone can be pleased to impart, from within, knowledge of the Absolute Truth in terms of the ancient Vedic principles delivered only to those who are purified by the process of devotional service.
5. O great sage, kindly narrate how the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the independent, desireless Lord of the three worlds and the controller of all energies, accepts incarnations and creates the cosmic manifestation with perfectly arranged regulative principles for its maintenance.
6. He lies down on His own heart spread in the form of the sky, and thus placing the whole creation in that space, He expands Himself into many living entities, which are manifested as different species of life. He does not have to endeavor for His maintenance, because He is the master of all mystic powers and the proprietor of everything. Thus He is distinct from the living entities.
7. You may narrate also about the auspicious characteristics of the Lord in His different incarnations for the welfare of the twice-born, the cows and the demigods. Our minds are never satisfied completely, although we continuously hear of His transcendental activities.
8. The Supreme King of all kings has created different planets and places of habitation where living entities are situated in terms of the modes of nature and work, and He has created their different kings and rulers.
9. O chief amongst the brahmanas, please also describe how Narayana, the creator of the universe and the self-sufficient Lord, has differently created the natures, activities, forms, features and names of the different living creatures.
10. O my lord, I have repeatedly heard about these higher and lower statuses of human society from the mouth of Vyasadeva, and I am quite satiated with all these lesser subject matters and their happiness. They have not satisfied me with the nectar of topics about Krishna.
11. Who in human society can be satisfied without hearing sufficient talk of the Lord, whose lotus feet are the sum total of all places of pilgrimage and who is worshiped by great sages and devotees? Such topics can cut off one’s bondage to family affection simply by entering the holes of one’s ears.
12. Your friend the great sage Krishna-dvaipayana Vyasa has already described the transcendental qualities of the Lord in his great work the Mahabharata. But the whole idea is to draw the attention of the mass of people to Krishna-katha [Bhagavad-gita] through their strong affinity for hearing mundane topics.
13. For one who is anxious to engage constantly in hearing such topics, Krishna-katha gradually increases his indifference towards all other things. Such constant remembrance of the lotus feet of Lord Krishna by the devotee who has achieved transcendental bliss vanquishes all his miseries without delay.
14. O sage, persons who because of their sinful activities are averse to the topics of Transcendence and thus ignorant of the purpose of the Mahabharata [Bhagavad-gita] are pitied by the pitiable. I also pity them because I see how their duration of life is spoiled by eternal time while they involve themselves in presentations of philosophical speculation, theoretical ultimate goals of life, and different modes of ritual.
15. O Maitreya, O friend of the distressed, the glories of the Supreme Lord can alone do good for people all over the world. Therefore, just as bees collect honey from flowers, kindly describe the essence of all topics—the topics of the Lord.
16. Kindly chant all those superhuman transcendental activities of the supreme controller, the Personality of Godhead, who accepted incarnations fully equipped with all potency for the full manifestation and maintenance of the cosmic creation.
17. Sukadeva Gosvami said: The great sage Maitreya Muni, after honoring Vidura very greatly, began to speak, at Vidura’s request, for the greatest welfare of all people.
18. Sri Maitreya said: O Vidura, all glory unto you. You have inquired from me of the greatest of all goodness, and thus you have shown your mercy both to the world and to me because your mind is always absorbed in thoughts of the Transcendence.
19. O Vidura, it is not at all wonderful that you have so accepted the Lord without deviation of thought, for you were born from the semen of Vyasadeva.
20. I know that you are now Vidura due to the cursing of Mandavya Muni and that formerly you were King Yamaraja, the great controller of living entities after their death. You were begotten by the son of Satyavati, Vyasadeva, in the kept wife of his brother.
21. Your good self is one of the eternal associates of the Supreme Personality of Godhead for whose sake the Lord, while going back to His abode, left instructions with me.
22. I shall therefore describe to you the pastimes by which the Personality of Godhead extends His transcendental potency for the creation, maintenance and dissolution of the cosmic world as they occur one after another.
23. The Personality of Godhead, the master of all living entities, existed prior to the creation as one without a second. It is by His will only that creation is made possible and again everything merges in Him. This Supreme Self is symptomized by different names.
24. The Lord, the undisputed proprietor of everything, was the only seer. The cosmic manifestation was not present at that time, and thus He felt imperfect without His plenary and separated parts and parcels. The material energy was dormant, whereas the internal potency was manifested.
25. The Lord is the seer, and the external energy, which is seen, works as both cause and effect in the cosmic manifestation. O greatly fortunate Vidura, this external energy is known as maya or illusion, and through her agency only is the entire material manifestation made possible.
26. The Supreme Living Being in His feature as the transcendental purusa incarnation, who is the Lord’s plenary expansion, impregnates the material nature of three modes, and thus by the influence of eternal time the living entities appear.
27. Thereafter, influenced by the interactions of eternal time, the supreme sum total of matter called the mahat-tattva became manifested, and in this mahat-tattva the unalloyed goodness, the Supreme Lord, sowed the seeds of universal manifestation out of His own body.
28. Thereafter the mahat-tattva differentiated itself into many different forms as the reservoir of the would-be entities. The mahat-tattva is chiefly in the mode of ignorance, and it generates the false ego. It is a plenary expansion of the Personality of Godhead, with full consciousness of creative principles and time for fructification.
29. Mahat-tattva, or the great causal truth, transforms into false ego, which is manifested in three phases—cause, effect and the doer. All such activities are on the mental plane and are based on the material elements, gross senses and mental speculation. The false ego is represented in three different modes—goodness, passion and ignorance.
30. The false ego is transformed into mind by interaction with the mode of goodness. All the demigods who control the phenomenal world are also products of the same principle, namely the interaction of false ego and the mode of goodness.
31. The senses are certainly products of the mode of passion in false ego, and therefore philosophical speculative knowledge and fruitive activities are predominantly products of the mode of passion.
32. The sky is a product of sound, and sound is the transformation of egoistic passion. In other words, the sky is the symbolic representation of the Supreme Soul.
33. Thereafter the Personality of Godhead glanced over the sky, partly mixed with eternal time and external energy, and thus developed the touch sensation, from which the air in the sky was produced.
34. Thereafter the extremely powerful air, interacting with the sky, generated the form of sense perception, and the perception of form transformed into electricity, the light to see the world.
35. When electricity was surcharged in the air and was glanced over by the Supreme, at that time, by a mixture of eternal time and external energy, there occurred the creation of water and taste.
36. Thereafter the water produced from electricity was glanced over by the Supreme Personality of Godhead and mixed with eternal time and external energy. Thus it was transformed into the earth, which is qualified primarily by smell.
37. O gentle one, of all the physical elements, beginning from the sky down to the earth, all the inferior and superior qualities are due only to the final touch of the glance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
38. The controlling deities of all the above-mentioned physical elements are empowered expansions of Lord Visnu. They are embodied by eternal time under the external energy, and they are His parts and parcels. Because they were entrusted with different functions of universal duties and were unable to perform them, they offered fascinating prayers to the Lord as follows.
39. The demigods said: O Lord, Your lotus feet are like an umbrella for the surrendered souls, protecting them from all the miseries of material existence. All the sages under that shelter throw off all material miseries. We therefore offer our respectful obeisances unto Your lotus feet.
40. O Father, O Lord, O Personality of Godhead, the living entities in the material world can never have any happiness because they are overwhelmed by the three kinds of miseries. Therefore they take shelter of the shade of Your lotus feet, which are full of knowledge, and we also thus take shelter of them.
41. The lotus feet of the Lord are by themselves the shelter of all places of pilgrimage. The great clear-minded sages, carried by the wings of the Vedas, always search after the nest of Your lotuslike face. Some of them surrender to Your lotus feet at every step by taking shelter of the best of rivers [the Ganges], which can deliver one from all sinful reactions.
42. Simply by hearing about Your lotus feet with eagerness and devotion and by meditating upon them within the heart, one at once becomes enlightened with knowledge, and on the strength of detachment one becomes pacified. We must therefore take shelter of the sanctuary of Your lotus feet.
43. O Lord, You assume incarnations for the creation, maintenance and dissolution of the cosmic manifestation, and therefore we all take shelter of Your lotus feet because they always award remembrance and courage to Your devotees.
44. O Lord, persons who are entangled by undesirable eagerness for the temporary body and kinsmen, and who are bound by thoughts of “mine” and “I,” are unable to see Your lotus feet, although Your lotus feet are situated within their own bodies. But let us take shelter of Your lotus feet.
45. O great Supreme Lord, offensive persons whose internal vision has been too affected by external materialistic activities cannot see Your lotus feet, but they are seen by Your pure devotees, whose one and only aim is to transcendentally enjoy Your activities.
46. O Lord, persons who, because of their serious attitude, attain the stage of enlightened devotional service achieve the complete meaning of renunciation and knowledge and attain the Vaikunthaloka in the spiritual sky simply by drinking the nectar of Your topics.
47. Others, who are pacified by means of transcendental self-realization and have conquered over the modes of nature by dint of strong power and knowledge, also enter into You, but for them there is much pain, whereas the devotee simply discharges devotional service and thus feels no such pain.
48. O Original Person, we are therefore but Yours only. Although we are Your creatures, we are born one after another under the influence of the three modes of nature, and for this reason we are separated in action. Therefore, after the creation we could not act concertedly for Your transcendental pleasure.
49. O unborn one, please enlighten us regarding the ways and means by which we can offer You all enjoyable grains and commodities so that both we and all other living entities in this world can maintain ourselves without disturbance and can easily accumulate the necessities of life both for You and for ourselves.
50. You are the original personal founder of all the demigods and the orders of different gradations, yet You are the oldest and are unchanged. O Lord, You have no source or superior. You have impregnated the external energy with the semen of the total living entities, yet You are unborn.
51. O Supreme Self, please give us, who are created in the beginning from the mahat-tattva, the total cosmic energy, Your kind directions on how we shall act. Kindly award us Your perfect knowledge and potency so that we can render You service in the different departments of subsequent creation.
Canto 3 chapters 6 to 10 >
|
