rule

 

Vibhâvarî S'esha

 

 

 

Canto 10

 

Chapter 87

 

The Underlying Mystery: Prayers of the Personified Vedas

(1) S'rî Parîkchit said: 'O brahmin, how can the sacred texts [the s'ruti, the Vedas], covering the different modes of nature, be of direct reference to the inexpressible [*] Absolute Truth transcendental to cause [the subtle] and effect [the gross]?'

(2) S'rî S'uka said: 'The intelligence, senses, mind and life force of the living beings were by their Lord and Master evolved for the sake of sensuality, for the sake of getting a life and for the sake of the [emancipation of the] soul and its ultimate liberation. (3) Indeed was this same philosophical exercise about the absolute Truth observed by the predecessors [like the kumâras] of our predecessors [like Nârada]; whoever with faith concentrates upon it will attain peace and tranquility free from material attachment [see also 8.24: 38]. (4) To this I'll relate to you an account concerning Lord Nârâyana. It is a conversation between Nârâyana Rishi and Nârada Muni.

(5) Once did the Supreme Lord's beloved Nârada traveling the worlds go to visit the âs'rama of the Eternal Seer Nârâyana. (6) He just for the welfare, in this and the next life, of the human beings abiding in dharma, jnâna and self-control in Bhârata-varsha, has been performing penances from the beginning of Brahmâ's day [see kalpa]. (7) There bowed he down to Him sitting there surrounded by sages in Kalâpa, the village where He resided, and asked he this very same question, o best of the Kurus. (8) As the seers were listening related the Supreme Lord this ancient discussion among the inhabitants of the world of the mortals [janaloka] about the Absolute Truth. (9) The Supreme Lord said: 'O son of the selfborn lord [Brahmâ], in the past was there, among the ones residing in the world of the mortals, a sacrifice held to which the [ûrdhva-retah] celibate sages born from Brahmâ ['from the mind'] exercised the spiritual. (10) With you having gone to S'vetadvîpa to see its Controller, ensued about Him [Vishnu as Aniruddha] in whom the Vedas lay down to rest [after the dissolution of the material world], indeed a lively exposition, which brought up the question that you again are asking Me. (11) Though equal of character in their penance and their hearing from the s'ruti, though equal to friends, foes and neutrals, appointed they one of them as their speaker while the rest eagerly listened.'

(12-13) S'rî Sanandana said: 'When He having created this universe at its end withdrew and was lying asleep, awakened the Veda's in person the Supreme One with descriptions of His characteristics, the same way a sleeping king by his court poets is awakened as they as his servants approach him at dawn with [reciting] his heroic deeds. (14) The Vedas said: 'All glories, all glories to You, please o Unconquerable One who assumed the modes to create the detrimental, defeat the eternal illusion; because You in Your original status are complete in all opulences can You, at times engaging Yourself with the from Your inner self springing energies of the embodied ones moving and nonmoving, be appreciated by us, the Vedas, as the root [**]. (15) This world perceived as the great [as brahman] do the seers consider as being the all-pervading foundation, for it is like with clay that in transformation leading to forms and dissolving again itself does not change; therefore have they dedicated their minds, words and actions to You - how can it be else that the steps men take are placed on the ground [of their existence, see also 6.16: 22, 11.24: 18 and B.G. 7: 20-25]. (16) Thus do Your people of enlightenment o Master of the Three of All Worlds, rid themselves of their troubles by diving deep into the ocean of the nectar of kathâ that eradicates the contamination; what again to say about those who by the power of their own minds dispelled the qualities of the temporal, o Supreme One, and who in worship experience the uninterrupted happiness of Your abode. (17) They who bellow as if they are breathing [see B.G. 18.61] are really alive if they are Your faithful followers, for You, above cause and effect, are the underlying reality of Whose mercy the universal egg of the totality, the separateness and the other elements of the person was produced [see 3.26: 51-53]; with You, according to the particular forms they furthermore lead to, appearing among these as the Ultimate One in relation to the [mere] physical coverings and so on [the kos'as and B.G. 18: 54]. (18) According the standards of the seers are they with a gross vision of worship for the abdomen [the lower centers] and are the ârunis [the superior yogîs] of respect for the prânic knot of the subtle energies [see cakra] of the heart, after which they, o Unlimited One, go upward to the head which is Your abode and next go to the highest destination from reaching which they never fall down again into the mouth of death [see also B.G. 8: 16]. (19) Apparently entering within the by You variegated created species of life as their motivator [pro or con], do You in imitation of Your own creation become visible, like fire does, according their relative positions; You thus being among them as expanded [or real] and as not expanded [untrue or temporary] are by those connected with Your manifestation, who free from being entangled have minds that are spotless, understood as being one [unchanging, permanent] state of love [see also B.G. 2: 12]. (20) The person within the bodies he arranged for himself is in fact as the expansion of You, the possessor of all energies, so is said [by the Vedas], not of the external [the gross body, the deha], nor of the internal [the subtle body, the linga] but enveloped; and so do, once they have developed faith ascertaining the status of the living entity as being manifested in this manner, the ones learned in the sacred precepts worship Your feet as the source of liberation and field in which all offerings are sown. (21) The few that are tired of the trouble [of a material life] do, by diving into the vast ocean of nectar of the pastimes of the forms You assumed in order to propagate the hard to grasp principle of soul, not even wish to leave this world behind, o Lord, in abandoning their homes having found the association with the community of the swans at Your lotus feet [see e.g. 4.24: 58, 4.30: 33, 5.12: 16, 5.13: 21, 7.6: 17-18 , 7.14: 3-4]. (22) This body useful for serving You acts as one's self, one's friend and beloved; however, although You, favorably disposed as their very Self, are helpful and affectionate, do they who alas fail to delight in You rather find the degradation of the physical frame [in successive births], being of suicide in worship of the unreal as they persistently wander far and wide in the existential fear [see also B.G. 16: 19]. (23) That which the sages with the breathing, mind and senses brought under control in steadfast yoga worship in the heart, is also attained by the ones remembering in enmity [see also 3.2: 24 10.74: 46]; and so will we do, equally relishing the same nectar from the lotuslike feet, as do the women [the gopîs, the wives] who in their mind and vision are attracted to Your arms firm as mighty snake bodies. (24) Ah, who out here recently born and soon to die indeed knows who came first, from whom arose the seer [Brahmâ] and from whom followed the two groups of demigods [to the senses and the principles] [see B.G. 7: 26]? When He lies down to withdraw is there at that time neither the gross, nor the subtle, nor that [the bodies] comprising both; nor is there the flow of Time or are the s'âstras there [B.G. 9: 7]. (25) They who teaching with authority declare that life springs from dead matter and that there is cessation from the eternal [see B.G. 2: 16], that the soul wouldn't be one [see 10.14: 9] and that the duality of mundane business is something real [see B.G. 17: 28], are mistaken in their from ignorance born dualistic conception that the living entity thus would be produced from the three modes [only without You, their Oneness Beyond, see B.G. 14: 19 and 13: 28]; that is what one gets when one to such transcendental matters is not in [knowledge with] You, the Essence of Full Perception [see also 5.6: 9-11]. (26) The [temporal of form and thus] untrue threefold and its [mind-]phenomena up to the human beings, appear in You as if they are true, and are by the knowers of the Soul considering this entire world as true not rejected for being transformations non-different from Him; they, created by Himself entering, are as such indeed ascertained to be as much the True Self as gold is, not differing from its projections [see also 6.16: 22]. (27) They who worship You as the shelter of all created beings simply step with their feet upon the head of Death, while You with Your words even tie up the wise if they are of neglect; they who turned to friendship indeed purify themselves, not so they who turned their face away. (28) You self-effulgent not effecting are the sustainer of all that are effecting [with the sensory functions]; the godly vigilant with the material nature carry You tribute and do partake in that offering, as if they are the local rulers in a kingdom in relation to their lord ruling over the entire land - that is how they, the ones who make it indeed, in fear of You execute their assigned services. (29) With the material energy are the species of life, that manifest themselves as stationary and moving, awakened in their motives of action if You being aloof, o Eternally Liberated one, by Your brief glance assume [Your forms to] sport to her; to the Supreme indeed can no one be strange or a friend, just as it is with the ethereal sky having no perceptible qualities - in that You bear resemblance to a void. (30) If the countless embodied beings wouldn't be time-bound, would then the omnipresent not be such a sovereign rule, o Unchanging One; [because of You] not separating from the substance from which they were generated must [You] the regulator [of Time] be known as being equally present everywhere, not as being somewhere else; and thus is one having it wrong supposing that one knows [the complete of You] since one is of the imperfect [local order] of what is known [see 6.5: 19]. (31) The generation of material nature and its male principle, the person, does not really happen; by the combination of both being unborn come these living bodies in You into being like bubbles on the water [in touch with the air] and have they therefore different names and qualities [later again] merging in the Supreme as rivers merging into the ocean and all flavors of nectar merging into honey [see also B.G. 9: 7]. (32) The ones of wisdom fervent unto You understanding how Your mâyâ bewilders the human beings render potent loving service unto You, the source of liberation; how would for those who faithfully follow You, there be any of the fear of a material existence that the three rimmed [wheel of Time of past, present and future] of Your furrowing eyebrows repeatedly creates with those who do not take shelter of You? [see also B.G. 4: 10, 7:14 & 14:26]. (33) Conquered by the senses and breath is the mind like a horse not brought under control [B.G. 2: 60 and 5.11: 10]; those who out here endeavor to regulate but abandon the feet of the guru, meet with hundreds of obstacles being distressed and unsteady in the various methods of control as if they, o Unborn One, are merchants on the ocean not having taken a helmsman [see 10.51: 60 B.G. 4: 34]. (34) What do servants, children, a body, a wife, money, a home, land, vitality, and vehicles mean to human beings taking shelter of their very Self, the Embodiment of All Pleasure; what at all will to those who, carrying on with their indulgence in sexual matters and failing to appreciate the truth [of Him], bring [real] happiness in this world that of its own is subject to destruction and on itself is void of any essence? [see also B.G. 13: 8-12] (35) The seers free from false pride who, with the greatest piety on this earth [living] to the places of pilgrimage and the sites of His pastimes, have Your feet in their heart, destroy with the water of their feet indeed the sins; they who but once turn their mind towards You, the Supreme Soul Ever happy, are never again of worship for the homely affair that steals away a persons essential qualities. (36) 'From the true arose this true' so said may be refuted as a logical contradiction since it is inconsistent in some cases while in other cases it is not untrue; of the conjunction of both are by a succession of people groping in the dark alternations desired in common matters to which Your numerous words of wisdom do bewilder with them getting dulled by the incantations in ritual utterings. (37) As this all did not exist in the beginning and hence will not exist after its annihilation, can be concluded that it, in between appearing within You, is the untruth to be avoided; and thus is it to those stable in their spirituality, contrary to the fact that it may be compared to categories of material substance [or elements, appearing] in varieties of transformations [see text 26], but a figment of the imagination that the unintelligent think of as something suitable for worship [see B.G. 6: 8]. (38) He [the living entity] because of the insurmountable matter lies down next to the energy and, assuming her qualities, takes on forms accordingly, following which deprived of his assets he runs into [birth and] death; You on the other hand endowed with all Your grace leave her aside like a snake shedding its skin and are in Your eightfold greatness [see siddhis] glorified as the One Unlimited in His Glory. (39) If persons having entered a renounced life do not uproot the traces of material desires in their hearts and as yoga practitioners [just] satisfy their animal life, have they, not removed from death being unhappy in both [this life and the hereafter], missed Your heavenly kingdom impossible to realize for the impure and forgotten the jewel [of You] around their neck [see also B.G. 6: 41-42]. (40) Someone who understands You takes no heed of the good and bad consequences of the auspicious and inauspicious at the moment rising from You, nor of the words of other living beings; every day, o You of All qualities, is he of the song in every age heard through the disciplic succession of the children of Manu [see 3.22: 34-39 and 5.13: 25], because of which You are the ultimate goal of liberation. (41) Neither the masters of heaven can reach the end of the glories of You so Unlimited, nor even You Yourself, within whom the multitudes of universes - each in their own shell - with the Course of Time are blown about in the sky as particles of dust; indeed is it because the s'rutis in You bear fruit by [neti neti] eliminating what is not the Absolute, that they in You find their ultimate conclusion [see siddhânta]'.

(42) The Supreme Lord said: 'Thus having heard this instruction about the True Self, understood the sons of Brahmâ their final destination and worshiped they following perfectly satisfied the sage Sanandana. (43) Thus was by the ancient ones, the saintly souls born to roam the higher regions, of all the Vedas and Purânas the nectar of the underlying mystery [of the upanishad philosophy] distilled. (44) O you heir of Brahmâ [Nârada], wander the earth as you wish, meditating with faith upon this instruction about the Soul that burns up the desires of man.'

(45) S'ri S'uka said: 'He, the self-possessed, this manner commanded by the sage accepted it faithfully, o King, and spoke, now fully of success, heroic to his vow meditating upon what he had heard. (46) S'rî Nârada said: 'My obeisances to Him, the Supreme Lord Krishna spotless in His glories, who manifests His all-attractive expansions for the liberation of all living beings [1.3: 28].'

(47) Thus speaking bowing down to the Original Rishi [Nârâyana] and to the great souls that were His pupils, went he from there to the hermitage of my direct father, Dvaipâyana Vedavyâsa. (48) By the great devotee having been honored and having accepted a seat from him, described he to him that what he had heard from the mouth of S'rî Nârâyana. (49) Thus has been replied to the question you asked us, o King, on how in the Absolute Truth - that without material qualities so elusive to terms - the mind would find its way. (50) He who watches over this universe in the beginning, the middle and the end; He who is the Lord of the unmanifested of the individual soul; He who, sending forth this universe, entered it along with the individual seer and producing bodies regulates them; He unto whom surrendering the one [illusioned] not being [re-]born gives up the body he embraces as if asleep; by His pure spiritual status being kept away from a material birth, should one, to be freed from the fear [see B.G. 16: 11-12], incessantly meditate upon the Supreme Personality [see 1.9: 39 and the bhajan Sarvasva Tomar].

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Source Texts:

The Prayers of the Personified Vedas

 

Text 1

S'rî Parîkchit said: 'O brahmin, how can the sacred texts [the s'ruti, the Vedas], covering the different modes of nature, be of direct reference to the inexpressible [*] Absolute Truth transcendental to cause [the subtle] and effect [the gross]?'

S'rî Parîkchit said: O brâhmana, how can the Vedas directly describe the Supreme Absolute Truth, who cannot be described in words? The Vedas are limited to describing the qualities of material nature, but the Supreme is devoid of these qualities, being transcendental to all material manifestations and their causes.

 

Text 2

S'rî S'uka said: 'The intelligence, senses, mind and life force of the living beings were by their Lord and Master evolved for the sake of sensuality, for the sake of getting a life and for the sake of the [emancipation of the] soul and its ultimate liberation.

S'ukadeva Gosvamî said: The Supreme Lord manifested the material intelligence, senses, mind and vital air of the living entities so that they could indulge their desires for sense gratification, take repeated births to engage in fruitive activities, become elevated in future lives and ultimately attain liberation.

 

Text 3

Indeed was this same philosophical exercise about the absolute Truth observed by the predecessors [like the kumâras] of our predecessors [like Nârada]; whoever with faith concentrates upon it will attain peace and tranquility free from material attachment [see also 8.24: 38].

Those who came before even our ancient predecessors meditated upon this same confidential knowledge of the Absolute Truth. Indeed, anyone who faithfully concentrates on this knowledge will become free from material attachments and attain the final goal of life.

 

Text 4

To this I'll relate to you an account concerning Lord Nârâyana. It is a conversation between Nârâyana Rishi and Nârada Muni.

In this connection I will relate to you a narration concerning the Supreme Lord Nârâyana. It is about a conversation that once occurred between S'rî Nârâyana Rishi and Nârada Muni.

 

Text 5

Once did the Supreme Lord's beloved Nârada traveling the worlds go to visit the âs'rama of the Eternal Seer Nârâyana.

Once, while traveling among the various planets of the universe, the Lord's beloved devotee Nârada went to visit the primeval sage Nârâyana at His âs'rama.

 

Text 6

He just for the welfare, in this and the next life, of the human beings abiding in dharma, jnâna and self-control in Bhârata-varsha, has been performing penances from the beginning of Brahmâ's day [see kalpa].

From the very beginning of Brahmâ's day Lord Nârâyana Rishi has been undergoing austere penances in this land of Bhârata while perfectly performing religious duties and exemplifying spiritual knowledge and self- control - all for the benefit of human beings in both this world and the next.

  

Text 7

There bowed he down to Him sitting there surrounded by sages in Kalâpa, the village where He resided, and asked he this very same question, o best of the Kurus.

There Nârada approached Lord Nârâyana Rishi, who was sitting amidst sages of the village of Kalâpa. After bowing down to the Lord, O hero of the Kurus, Nârada asked Him the very same question you have asked me.

 

Text 8

As the seers were listening related the Supreme Lord this ancient discussion among the inhabitants of the world of the mortals [janaloka] about the Absolute Truth.

As the sages listened, Lord Nârâyana Rishi related to Nârada an ancient discussion about the Absolute Truth that took place among the residents of Janaloka.

 

Text 9

The Supreme Lord said: 'O son of the selfborn lord [Brahmâ], in the past was there, among the ones residing in the world of the mortals, a sacrifice held to which the [ûrdhva-retah] celibate sages born from Brahmâ ['from the mind'] exercised the spiritual.

The Personality of Godhead said: O son of self-born Brahmâ, once long ago on Janaloka, wise sages who resided there performed a great sacrifice to the Absolute Truth by vibrating transcendental sounds. These sages, mental sons of Brahmâ, were all perfect celibates.

      

Text 10

With you having gone to S'vetadvîpa to see its Controller, ensued about Him [Vishnu as Aniruddha] in whom the Vedas lay down to rest [after the dissolution of the material world], indeed a lively exposition, which brought up the question that you again are asking Me.

At that time you happened to be visiting the Lord on S'vetadvîpa - that Supreme Lord in whom the Vedas lie down to rest during the period of universal annihilation. A lively discussion arose among the sages on Janaloka as to the nature of the Supreme Absolute Truth. Indeed, the same question arose then that you are asking Me now.

 

 Text 11

Though equal of character in their penance and their hearing from the s'ruti, though equal to friends, foes and neutrals, appointed they one of them as their speaker while the rest eagerly listened.'

Although these sages were all equally qualified in terms of Vedic study and austerity, and although they all saw friends, enemies and neutral parties equally, they chose one of their number to be the speaker, and the rest became eager listeners.

 

Text 12-13

S'rî Sanandana said: 'When He having created this universe at its end withdrew and was lying asleep, awakened the Veda's in person the Supreme One with descriptions of His characteristics, the same way a sleeping king by his court poets is awakened as they as his servants approach him at dawn with [reciting] his heroic deeds.

S'rî Sanandana, replied: After the Supreme Lord withdrew the universe He had previously created, He lay for some time as if asleep, and all His energies rested dormant within Him. When the time came for the next creation, the personified Vedas awakened Him by chanting His glories, just as the poets serving a king approach him at dawn and awaken him by reciting his heroic deeds.

 

Text 14

The Vedas said: 'All glories, all glories to You, please o Unconquerable One who assumed the modes to create the detrimental, defeat the eternal illusion; because You in Your original status are complete in all opulences can You, at times engaging Yourself with the from Your inner self springing energies of the embodied ones moving and nonmoving, be appreciated by us, the Vedas, as the root [**].

The s'rutis said: Victory, victory to You, O unconquerable one! By Your very nature You are perfectly full in all opulences; therefore please defeat the eternal power of illusion, who assumes control over the modes of nature to create difficulties for conditioned souls. O You who awaken all the energies of the moving and nonmoving embodied beings, sometimes the Vedas can recognize You as You sport with Your material and spiritual potencies.

 

Text 15

This world perceived as the great [as brahman] do the seers consider as being the all-pervading foundation, for it is like with clay that in transformation leading to forms and dissolving again itself does not change; therefore have they dedicated their minds, words and actions to You - how can it be else that the steps men take are placed on the ground [of their existence, see also 6.16: 22, 11.24: 18 and B.G. 7: 20-25].

This perceivable world is identified with the Supreme because the Supreme Brahman is the ultimate foundation of all existence, remaining unchanged as all created things are generated from it and at last dissolved into it, just as clay remains unchanged by the products made from it and again merged with it. Thus it is toward You alone that the Vedic sages direct all their thoughts, words and acts. After all, how can the footsteps of men fail to touch the earth on which they live?

 

Text 16

Thus do Your people of enlightenment o Master of the Three of All Worlds, rid themselves of their troubles by diving deep into the ocean of the nectar of kathâ that eradicates the contamination; what again to say about those who by the power of their own minds dispelled the qualities of the temporal, O Supreme One, and who in worship experience the uninterrupted happiness of Your abode.

Therefore, O master of the three worlds, the wise get rid of all misery by diving deep into the nectarean ocean of topics about You, which washes away all the contamination of the universe. Then what to speak of those who, having by spiritual strength rid their minds of bad habits and freed themselves from time, are able to worship Your true nature, O supreme one, finding within it uninterrupted bliss?

 

Text 17

They who bellow as if they are breathing [see B.G. 18.61] are really alive if they are Your faithful followers, for You, above cause and effect, are the underlying reality of Whose mercy the universal egg of the totality, the separateness and the other elements of the person was produced [see 3.26: 51-53]; with You, according to the particular forms they furthermore lead to, appearing among these as the Ultimate One in relation to the [mere] physical coverings and so on [the kos'as and B.G. 18: 54].

Only if they become Your faithful followers are those who breathe actually alive, otherwise their breathing is like that of a bellows. It is by Your mercy alone that the elements, beginning with the mahat-tattva and false ego, created the egg of this universe. Among the manifestations known as anna-maya and so forth, You are the ultimate one, entering within the material coverings along with the living entity and assuming the same forms as those he takes. Distinct from the gross and subtle material manifestations, You are the reality underlying them all.

   

Text 18

According the standards of the seers are they with a gross vision of worship for the abdomen [the lower centers] and are the ârunis [the superior yogîs] of respect for the prânic knot of the subtle energies [see cakra] of the heart, after which they, o Unlimited One, go upward to the head which is Your abode and next go to the highest destination from reaching which they never fall down again into the mouth of death [see also B.G. 8: 16].

Among the followers of the methods set forth by great sages, those with less refined vision worship the Supreme as present in the region of the abdomen, while the Ârunis worship Him as present in the heart, in the subtle center from which all the prânic channels emanate. From there, O unlimited Lord, these worshipers raise their consciousness upward to the top of the head, where they can perceive You directly. Then, passing through the top of the head toward the supreme destination, they reach that place from which they will never again fall to this world, into the mouth of death.

 

 Text 19

Apparently entering within the by You variegated created species of life as their motivator [pro or con], do You in imitation of Your own creation become visible, like fire does, according their relative positions; You thus being among them as expanded [or real] and as not expanded [untrue or temporary] are by those connected with Your manifestation, who free from being entangled have minds that are spotless, understood as being one [unchanging, permanent] state of love [see also B.G. 2: 12].

Apparently entering among the variegated species of living beings You have created, You inspire them to act, manifesting Yourself according to their higher and lower positions, just as fire manifests differently according to the shape of what it burns. Therefore those of spotless intelligence, who are altogether free from material attachments, realize Your undifferentiated, unchanging Self to be the permanent reality among all these impermanent life forms.

 

 Text 20

The person within the bodies he arranged for himself is in fact as the expansion of You, the possessor of all energies, so is said [by the Vedas], not of the external [the gross body, the deha], nor of the internal [the subtle body, the linga] but enveloped; and so do, once they have developed faith ascertaining the status of the living entity as being manifested in this manner, the ones learned in the sacred precepts worship Your feet as the source of liberation and field in which all offerings are sown.

The individual living entity, while inhabiting the material bodies he has created for himself by his karma, actually remains uncovered by either gross or subtle matter. This is so because, as the Vedas describe, he is part and parcel of You, the possessor of all potencies. Having determined this to be the status of the living entity, learned sages become imbued with faith and worship Your lotus feet, to which all Vedic sacrifices in this world are offered, and which are the source of liberation.

 

 Text 21

The few that are tired of the trouble [of a material life] do, by diving into the vast ocean of nectar of the pastimes of the forms You assumed in order to propagate the hard to grasp principle of soul, not even wish to leave this world behind, o Lord, in abandoning their homes having found the association with the community of the swans at Your lotus feet [see e.g. 4.24: 58, 4.30: 33, 5.12: 16, 5.13: 21, 7.6: 17-18 , 7.14: 3-4]

My Lord, some fortunate souls have gotten relief from the fatigue of material life by diving into the vast nectar ocean of Your pastimes, which You enact when You manifest Your personal forms to propagate the unfathomable science of the self. These rare souls, indifferent even to liberation, renounce the happiness of home and family because of their association with devotees who are like flocks of swans enjoying at the lotus of Your feet.

  

 Text 22

This body useful for serving You acts as one's self, one's friend and beloved; however, although You, favorably disposed as their very Self, are helpful and affectionate, do they who alas fail to delight in You rather find the degradation of the physical frame [in successive births], being of suicide in worship of the unreal as they persistently wander far and wide in the existential fear [see also B.G. 16: 19].

When this human body is used for Your devotional service, it acts as one's self, friend and beloved. But unfortunately, although You always show mercy to the conditioned souls and affectionately help them in every way, and although You are their true Self, people in general fail to delight in You. Instead they commit spiritual suicide by worshiping illusion. Alas, because they persistently hope for success in their devotion to the unreal, they continue to wander about this greatly fearful world, assuming various degraded bodies.

 

 Text 23

That which the sages with the breathing, mind and senses brought under control in steadfast yoga worship in the heart, is also attained by the ones remembering in enmity [see also 3.2: 24 10.74: 46]; and so will we do, equally relishing the same nectar from the lotuslike feet, as do the women [the gopîs, the wives] who in their mind and vision are attracted to Your arms firm as mighty snake bodies.

Simply by constantly thinking of Him, the enemies of the Lord attained the same Supreme Truth whom sages fixed in yoga worship by controlling their breath, mind and senses. Similarly, we s'rutis, who generally see You as all- pervading, will achieve the same nectar from Your lotus feet that Your consorts are able to relish because of their loving attraction to Your mighty, serpentine arms, for You look upon us and Your consorts in the same way.

  

 Text 24

Ah, who out here recently born and soon to die indeed knows who came first, from whom arose the seer [Brahmâ] and from whom followed the two groups of demigods [to the senses and the principles] [see B.G. 7: 26]? When He lies down to withdraw is there at that time neither the gross, nor the subtle, nor that [the bodies] comprising both; nor is there the flow of Time or are the s'âstras there [B.G. 9: 7].

Everyone in this world has recently been born and will soon die. So how can anyone here know Him who existed prior to everything else and who gave rise to the first learned sage, Brahmâ, and all subsequent demigods, both lesser and greater? When He lies down and withdraws everything within Himself, nothing else remains - no gross or subtle matter or bodies composed of these, no force of time or revealed scripture.

  

 Text 25

They who teaching with authority declare that life springs from dead matter and that there is cessation from the eternal [see B.G. 2: 16], that the soul wouldn't be one [see 10.14: 9] and that the duality of mundane business is something real [see B.G. 17: 28], are mistaken in their from ignorance born dualistic conception that the living entity thus would be produced from the three modes [only without You, their Oneness Beyond, see B.G. 14: 19 and 13: 28]; that is what one gets when one to such transcendental matters is not in [knowledge with] You, the Essence of Full Perception [see also 5.6: 9-11].

Supposed authorities who declare that matter is the origin of existence, that the permanent qualities of the soul can be destroyed, that the self is compounded of separate aspects of spirit and matter, or that material transactions constitute reality - all such authorities base their teachings on mistaken ideas that hide the truth. The dualistic conception that the living entity is produced from the three modes of nature is simply a product of ignorance. Such a conception has no real basis in You, for You are transcendental to all illusion and always enjoy perfect, total awareness.

 

 Text 26

The [temporal of form and thus] untrue threefold and its [mind-]phenomena up to the human beings, appear in You as if they are true, and are by the knowers of the Soul considering this entire world as true not rejected for being transformations non-different from Him; they, created by Himself entering, are as such indeed ascertained to be as much the True Self as gold is, not differing from its projections [see also 6.16: 22].

The three modes of material nature comprise everything in this world - from the simplest phenomena to the complex human body. Although these phenomena appear real, they are only a false reflection of the spiritual reality, being a superimposition of the mind upon You. Still, those who know the Supreme Self consider the entire material creation to be real inasmuch as it is nondifferent from the Self. Just as things made of gold are indeed not to be rejected, since their substance is actual gold, so this world is undoubtedly nondifferent from the Lord who created it and then entered within it.

 

 Text 27

They who worship You as the shelter of all created beings simply step with their feet upon the head of Death, while You with Your words even tie up the wise if they are of neglect; they who turned to friendship indeed purify themselves, not so they who turned their face away.

The devotees who worship You as the shelter of all beings disregard Death and place their feet on his head. But with the words of the Vedas You bind the nondevotees like animals, though they be vastly learned scholars. It is Your affectionate devotees who can purify themselves and others, not those who are inimical to You.

  

 Text 28

You self-effulgent not effecting are the sustainer of all that are effecting [with the sensory functions]; the godly vigilant with the material nature carry You tribute and do partake in that offering, as if they are the local rulers in a kingdom in relation to their lord ruling over the entire land - that is how they, the ones who make it indeed, in fear of You execute their assigned services.

Though You have no material senses, You are the self-effulgent sustainer of everyone's sensory powers. The demigods and material nature herself offer You tribute, while also enjoying the tribute offered them by their worshipers, just as subordinate rulers of various districts in a kingdom offer tribute to their lord, the ultimate proprietor of the land, while also enjoying the tribute paid them by their own subjects. In this way the universal creators faithfully execute their assigned services out of fear of You.

 

 Text 29

With the material energy are the species of life, that manifest themselves as stationary and moving, awakened in their motives of action if You being aloof, o Eternally Liberated one, by Your brief glance assume [Your forms to] sport to her; to the Supreme indeed can no one be strange or a friend, just as it is with the ethereal sky having no perceptible qualities - in that You bear resemblance to a void.

O eternally liberated, transcendental Lord, Your material energy causes the various moving and nonmoving species of life to appear by activating their material desires, but only when and if You sport with her by briefly glancing at her. You, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, see no one as an intimate friend and no one as a stranger, just as the ethereal sky has no connection with perceptible qualities. In this sense You resemble a void.

 

 Text 30

If the countless embodied beings wouldn't be time-bound, would then the omnipresent not be such a sovereign rule, o Unchanging One; [because of You] not separating from the substance from which they were generated must [You] the regulator [of Time] be known as being equally present everywhere, not as being somewhere else; and thus is one having it wrong supposing that one knows [the complete of You] since one is of the imperfect [local order] of what is known [see 6.5: 19].

If the countless living entities were all-pervading and possessed forms that never changed, You could not possibly be their absolute ruler, O immutable one. But since they are Your localized expansions and their forms are subject to change, You do control them. Indeed, that which supplies the ingredients for the generation of something is necessarily its controller because a product never exists apart from its ingredient cause. It is simply illusion for someone to think that he knows the Supreme Lord, who is equally present in each of His expansions, since whatever knowledge one gains by material means must be imperfect.

 

 Text 31

The generation of material nature and its male principle, the person, does not really happen; by the combination of both being unborn come these living bodies in You into being like bubbles on the water [in touch with the air] and have they therefore different names and qualities [later again] merging in the Supreme as rivers merging into the ocean and all flavors of nectar merging into honey [see also B.G. 9: 7].

Neither material nature nor the soul who tries to enjoy her are ever born, yet living bodies come into being when these two combine, just as bubbles form where water meets the air. And just as rivers merge into the ocean or the nectar from many different flowers blends into honey, so all these conditioned beings eventually merge back into You, the Supreme, along with their various names and qualities.

 

 Text 32

The ones of wisdom fervent unto You understanding how Your mâyâ bewilders the human beings render potent loving service unto You, the source of liberation; how would for those who faithfully follow You, there be any of the fear of a material existence that the three rimmed [wheel of Time of past, present and future] of Your furrowing eyebrows repeatedly creates with those who do not take shelter of You? [see also B.G. 4: 10, 7:14 & 14:26]

The wise souls who understand how Your Mâyâ deludes all human beings render potent loving service to You, who are the source of liberation from birth and death. How, indeed, can fear of material life affect Your faithful servants? On the other hand, Your furrowing eyebrows - the triple-rimmed wheel of time - repeatedly terrify those who refuse to take shelter of You.

 

 Text 33

Conquered by the senses and breath is the mind like a horse not brought under control [B.G. 2: 60 and 5.11: 10]; those who out here endeavor to regulate but abandon the feet of the guru, meet with hundreds of obstacles being distressed and unsteady in the various methods of control as if they, o Unborn One, are merchants on the ocean not having taken a helmsman [see 10.51: 60 B.G. 4: 34].

The mind is like an impetuous horse that even persons who have regulated their senses and breath cannot control. Those in this world who try to tame the uncontrolled mind, but who abandon the feet of their spiritual master, encounter hundreds of obstacles in their cultivation of various distressful practices. O unborn Lord, they are like merchants on a boat in the ocean who have failed to employ a helmsman.

 

 Text 34

What do servants, children, a body, a wife, money, a home, land, vitality, and vehicles mean to human beings taking shelter of their very Self, the Embodiment of All Pleasure; what at all will to those who, carrying on with their indulgence in sexual matters and failing to appreciate the truth [of Him], bring [real] happiness in this world that of its own is subject to destruction and on itself is void of any essence? [see also B.G. 13: 8-12]

To those persons who take shelter of You, You reveal Yourself as the Supersoul, the embodiment of all transcendental pleasure. What further use have such devotees for their servants, children or bodies, their wives, money or houses, their land, good health or conveyances? And for those who fail to appreciate the truth about You and go on pursuing the pleasures of sex, what could there be in this entire world - a place inherently doomed to destruction and devoid of significance - that could give them real happiness?

 

 Text 35

The seers free from false pride who, with the greatest piety on this earth [living] to the places of pilgrimage and the sites of His pastimes, have Your feet in their heart, destroy with the water of their feet indeed the sins; they who but once turn their mind towards You, the Supreme Soul Ever happy, are never again of worship for the homely affair that steals away a persons essential qualities.

Sages free from false pride live on this earth by frequenting the sacred pilgrimage sites and those places where the Supreme Lord displayed His pastimes. Because such devotees keep Your lotus feet within their hearts, the water that washes their feet destroys all sins. Anyone who even once turns his mind toward You, the ever-blissful Soul of all existence, no longer dedicates himself to serving family life at home, which simply robs a man of his good qualities.

 

 Text 36

'From the true arose this true' so said may be refuted as a logical contradiction since it is inconsistent in some cases while in other cases it is not untrue; of the conjunction of both are by a succession of people groping in the dark alternations desired in common matters to which Your numerous words of wisdom do bewilder with them getting dulled by the incantations in ritual utterings.

It may be proposed that this world is permanently real because it is generated from the permanent reality, but such an argument is subject to logical refutation. Sometimes, indeed, the apparent nondifference of a cause and its effect fails to prove true, and at other times the product of something real is illusory. Furthermore, this world cannot be permanently real, for it partakes of the natures of not only the absolute reality but also the illusion disguising that reality. Actually, the visible forms of this world are just an imaginary arrangement resorted to by a succession of ignorant persons in order to facilitate their material affairs. With their various meanings and implications, the learned words of Your Vedas bewilder all persons whose minds have been dulled by hearing the incantations of sacrificial rituals.

 

 Text 37

As this all did not exist in the beginning and hence will not exist after its annihilation, can be concluded that it, in between appearing within You, is the untruth to be avoided; and thus is it to those stable in their spirituality, contrary to the fact that it may be compared to categories of material substance [or elements, appearing] in varieties of transformations [see text 26], but a figment of the imagination that the unintelligent think of as something suitable for worship [see B.G. 6: 8].

Since this universe did not exist prior to its creation and will no longer exist after its annihilation, we conclude that in the interim it is nothing more than a manifestation imagined to be visible within You, whose spiritual enjoyment never changes. We liken this universe to the transformation of various material substances into diverse forms. Certainly those who believe that this figment of the imagination is substantially real are less intelligent.

 

 Text 38

He [the living entity] because of the insurmountable matter lies down next to the energy and, assuming her qualities, takes on forms accordingly, following which deprived of his assets he runs into [birth and] death; You on the other hand endowed with all Your grace leave her aside like a snake shedding its skin and are in Your eightfold greatness [see siddhis] glorified as the One Unlimited in His Glory.

The illusory material nature attracts the minute living entity to embrace her, and as a result he assumes forms composed of her qualities. Subsequently, he loses all his spiritual qualities and must undergo repeated deaths. You, however, avoid the material energy in the same way that a snake abandons its old skin. Glorious in Your possession of eight mystic perfections, You enjoy unlimited opulences.

 

 Text 39

If persons having entered a renounced life do not uproot the traces of material desires in their hearts and as yoga practitioners [just] satisfy their animal life, have they, not removed from death being unhappy in both [this life and the hereafter], missed Your heavenly kingdom impossible to realize for the impure and forgotten the jewel [of You] around their neck [see also B.G. 6: 41-42].

Members of the renounced order who fail to uproot the last traces of material desire in their hearts remain impure, and thus You do not allow them to understand You. Although You are present within their hearts, for them You are like a jewel worn around the neck of a mall who has totally forgotten it is there. O Lord, those who pratice yoga only for sense gratification must suffer punishment both in this life and the next: from death, who will not release them, and from You, whose kingdom they cannot reach.

 

 Text 40

Someone who understands You takes no heed of the good and bad consequences of the auspicious and inauspicious at the moment rising from You, nor of the words of other living beings; every day, o You of All qualities, is he of the song in every age heard through the disciplic succession of the children of Manu [see 3.22: 34-39 and 5.13: 25], because of which You are the ultimate goal of liberation.

When a person realizes You, he no longer cares about his good and bad fortune arising from past pious and sinful acts, since it is You alone who control this good and bad fortune. Such a realized devotee also disregards what ordinary living beings say about him. Every day he fills his ears with Your glories, which are recited in each age by the unbroken succession of Manu's descendants, and thus You become his ultimate salvation.

 

 Text 41

Neither the masters of heaven can reach the end of the glories of You so Unlimited, nor even You Yourself, within whom the multitudes of universes - each in their own shell - with the Course of Time are blown about in the sky as particles of dust; indeed is it because the s'rutis in You bear fruit by [neti neti] eliminating what is not the Absolute, that they in You find their ultimate conclusion [see siddhânta]'

Because You are unlimited, neither the lords of heaven nor even You Yourself can ever reach the end of Your glories. The countless universes, each enveloped in its shell, are compelled by the wheel of time to wander within You, like particles of dust blowing about in the sky. The s'rutis, following their method of eliminating everything separate from the Supreme, become successful by revealing You as their final conclusion.

 

 Text 42

The Supreme Lord said: 'Thus having heard this instruction about the True Self, understood the sons of Brahmâ their final destination and worshiped they following perfectly satisfied the sage Sanandana.

The Supreme Lord, S'rî Nârâyana Rishi, said: Having heard these instructions about the Supreme Self, the Personality of Godhead, the sons of Brahmâ now understood their final destination. They felt perfectly satisfied and honored Sanandana with their worship.

 

 Text 43

Thus was by the ancient ones, the saintly souls born to roam the higher regions, of all the Vedas and Purânas the nectar of the underlying mystery [of the upanishad philosophy] distilled.

Thus the ancient saints who travel in the upper heavens distilled this nectarean and confidential essence of all the Vedas and Purânas.

 

 Text 44

O you heir of Brahmâ [Nârada], wander the earth as you wish, meditating with faith upon this instruction about the Soul that burns up the desires of man.'

And as you wander the earth at will, My dear son of Brahmâ, you should faithfully meditate on these instructions concerning the science of the Self, which burn up the material desires of all men.

 

 Text 45

S'ri S'uka said: 'He, the self-possessed, this manner commanded by the sage accepted it faithfully, o King, and spoke, now fully of success, heroic to his vow meditating upon what he had heard.

S'ukadeva Gosvâmî said: When S'rî Nârâyana Rishi ordered him in this way, the self-possessed sage Nârada, whose vow is as heroic as a warrior's, accepted the command with firm faith. Now successful in all his purposes, he thought about what he had heard, O King, and replied to the Lord as follows.

 

 Text 46

S'rî Nârada said: 'My obeisances to Him, the Supreme Lord Krishna spotless in His glories, who manifests His all-attractive expansions for the liberation of all living beings [1.3: 28].'

S'rî Nârada said: I offer My obeisances to Him of spotless fame, the Supreme Lord Krishna, who manifests His all-attractive personal expansions so that all living beings can achieve liberation.

  

 Text 47

Thus speaking bowing down to the Original Rishi [Nârâyana] and to the great souls that were His pupils, went he from there to the hermitage of my direct father, Dvaipâyana Vedavyâsa.

[S'ukadeva Gosvâmî continued:] After saying this, Nârada bowed down to S'rî Nârâyana Rishi, the foremost of sages, and also to His saintly disciples. He then returned to the hermitage of my father, Dvaipâyana Vyâsa.

 

 Text 48

By the great devotee having been honored and having accepted a seat from him, described he to him that what he had heard from the mouth of S'rî Nârâyana.

Vyâsadeva, the incarnation of the Personality of Godhead, respectfully greeted Nârada Muni and offered him a seat, which he accepted. Nârada then described to Vyâsa what he had heard from the mouth of S'rî Nârâyana Rishi.

 

 Text 49

Thus has been replied to the question you asked us, o King, on how in the Absolute Truth - that without material qualities so elusive to terms - the mind would find its way.

Thus I have replied to the question You asked me, O King, concerning how the mind can have access to the Absolute Truth, which is indescribable by material words and devoid of material qualities.

 

 Text 50

He who watches over this universe in the beginning, the middle and the end; He who is the Lord of the unmanifested of the individual soul; He who, sending forth this universe, entered it along with the individual seer and producing bodies regulates them; He unto whom surrendering the one [illusioned] not being [re-]born gives up the body he embraces as if asleep; by His pure spiritual status being kept away from a material birth, should one, to be freed from the fear [see B.G. 16: 11-12], incessantly meditate upon the Supreme Personality [see 1.9: 39 and the bhajan Sarvasva Tomar].

He is the Lord who eternally watches over this universe, who exists before, during and after its manifestation. He is the master of both the unmanifest material energy and the spirit soul. After sending forth the creation He enters within it, accompanying each living entity. There He creates the material bodies and then remains as their regulator. By surrendering to Him one can escape the embrace of illusion, just as a dreaming person forgets his own body. One who wants liberation from fear should constantly meditate upon Him, Lord Hari, who is always on the platform of perfection and thus never subject to material birth.

 

* S'rîla S'rîdhara Svâmî elaborately analyzes this problem, of describing the inexpressible Truth in definable terms, by means of the traditional discipline of Sanskrit poetics that states that words have three kinds of expressive capacities, called s'abda-vrittis. These are the different ways a word refers to its meaning, distinguished as mukhya-vritti - literal meaning (divided in rudhi, conventional use and yoga, derived use as in etymology), lakshanâ-vritti - metaphorical meaning, and the closely related gauna-vritti, a similar meaning; exemplified by: the word lion has the three expressive forms of: it is a lion - literal, he is a lion - metaphorical and he is like a lion - similar use. So in fact the question is how the Absolute would be covered taken literal, in metaphor and in simile.

**According to S'rîla Jîva Gosvâmî, the twenty-eight verses of the prayers of the personified Vedas (Texts 14 - 41) represent the opinions of each of the twenty-eight major s'rutis. These chief Upanishads and other s'rutis concern themselves with the various approaches to the Absolute Truth. See the purports pp 10.87 of this chapter of the paramparâ for specific quotes.

 

 

 

 

For this original translation was used the Vedabase of the BBT offering the work
that Svâmi Prabhupâda's pupils did to complete his translation of the Bhâgavatam.
See the
S'rîmad Bhâgavatam links-page
for this and more books of Prabhupâda.
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