SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM: CANTO 3

(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'At the source of the celestial river [the Ganges], the best of the Kurus, Vidura who had come closer to the Infallible One, sat before Maitreya Muni, whose knowledge was fathomless, and with perfect respect he politely inquired from his satisfaction in transcendence. (2) Vidura said: 'For the sake of happiness everyone in this world engages in fruitive activities, but by those activities one never attains to happiness or another idea of contentment, on the contrary, one certainly finds misery that way. Please, o great one, kindly enlighten us on what would be the right course under which circumstances. (3) Because of their compassion towards the common man, who turned his face against Lord Krishna and who under the influence of the material world is always unhappy in neglect of his duties to God, the great souls of sacrifice wander around for the sake of the Lord of the three worlds. (4) Therefore o greatest among the saints, please instruct me on the path that is favorable for our serving perfectly the Supreme Lord who, residing in the heart of the living being, awards the unalloyed devotee the knowledge of the principal reality by which one learns from history [the Veda]. (5) How does the selfsufficient Supreme Lord and ruler of the three worlds, although desireless, by accepting incarnations arrange, through His transcendental activities in the created universe, the regulative principles for its maintenance? (6) How can He, turning back to His form in the universe, lie down within it without concerns about His existence as the Lord of Unification that is the one and only original proprietor after whom innumerable others enter existence likewise? (7) Why is it that, manifesting His pastimes for the welfare of the twiceborn, the cows and the devoted ones, and with His operating in different incarnations, the mind is never satisfied in spite of continuously hearing about the underlying auspicious characteristics of the Lord? (8) By the reality of which differentiation does the King of all kings and worlds from the lowest on, together with them, plan therein for certain the existence as it appears to be of the living entities in their different occupations? (9) And, please describe to us, o chief among the brahmins, how the Lord of man, Nârâyana, did settle, for those who are born, the differentiation of their engagements, their specific forms as also their dispersed cultures.

(10) O my Lord, I heard from the mouth of Vyâsadeva repeatedly about the higher and lower of these occupations, but I am little satisfied about the happiness derived from that without hearing the nectar of the talks about Krishna. (11) Who can find satisfaction [without the nectar]; from the talks entering one's ears about the journey for the feet, is, by the One who in human society is worshiped so by the great devotees, a man's bondage by the affection for his family cut off! (12) The sage Krishna-dvaipâyana Vyâsa, who is your friend too, has described the transcendental qualities of the Supreme Lord in the Mahâbhârata, which is just there to draw the attention of the people that take pleasure in attending to worldly topics towards the stories of the Lord. (13) That interest of belief will bring about indifference to other things; the one in constant remembrance of the Lord His feet has achieved the bliss that vanquishes all miseries without delay. (14) I pity all those ignorant pitiable of the pitiable who of their sins are in decay of vigilance towards God and who waste the length of their lives with useless philosophical exercises, imaginative ultimate goals and a diversity of rituals. (15) Therefore, o Maitreya, heartening the good fortune of everyone, please describe to us of all topics the essence: the talks about the Lord that like the nectar of flowers are the glorious of pilgrimaging. (16) Please recite all pertaining to the transcendental superhuman activities accomplished by the Lord who, through His acceptance of incarnations, centers on the maintenance of the created of His universe. '

(17) S'rî S'uka said: 'Thus did, as requested, the great sage His lordship Maitreya Vidura the great honor to expound on this to him for the ultimate welfare of all. (18) S'rî Maitreya said: 'All blessings to you, o good one, your questioning me for the sake of all is proof of the goodness of your mercy to broadcast the glories of the soul in the Transcendental of the mind in this world. (19) It does not astonish me to find you in this, without deviation of thought, in acceptance of the Supreme Personality our Lord, o Vidura, as you were born from the semen of Vyâsa. (20) You are the one born from the curse of the powerful sage Mândavya Muni as the incarnation of Yamarâja, the controller of death, from the maidservant of the brother [Vicitravîrya] and the son [Vyâsadeva] of Satyavatî [see family tree]. (21) You, your goodness, are recognized as one of the eternal associates of the Supreme Lord, who, on His return to His abode, has given me the knowledge and order to instruct you. (22) Therefore I shall describe to you systematically the pastimes pertaining to the Supreme Lord His greatly extended external energy for the maintenance, creation and dissolution of the cosmic reality.

(23) The one and Supreme Lord was there prior to the creation as the soul of the living entities mastering the self, and, being merged in its longing, He is seen as being different with different characteristics. (24) At that time was He, with all of these, not seen as the undisputed proprietor in the cosmic creation and was He thought to be nonexistent with His plenary portions unmanifested to the power of His manifest internal potency. (25) The external energy is of the perfection of the seer, that is the Lord, seen as the power of the operation of cause and effect and is called mâyâ [or the deluding influence of matter], o fortunate one, of which the Almighty has constructed this world. (26) The Supreme Living Being, by the incarnation of the Original Person, which is the plenary expansion of the original soul, impregnated through the seeds of the living entities, under the influence of time, the external energy in being the Transcendence to the modes of mâyâ. (27) Thereafter came about, by the interaction of time, from the unmanifested, the sum total of unalloyed goodness that could root in the embodied to manifest the supreme light of complete universes. (28) That sum total - which must as well be considered a plenary expansion of the soul to the mode and time - differentiated, as the reservoir of the becoming entities, into the many different forms of the range of sight of the Personality of Godhead, and of this one saw the desire to create come into being.

(29) The great of the causal truth [mahâtattva], transformed into the material reality of false ego, gave rise to effects, the material cause and the doer and thus sprouted, to the self its senses, the material ingredients of the three kinds of false ego known as the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance that one finds on the mental plane. (30) By the transformation of this reality was, in interaction with the mode of goodness, the mind generated and manifested itself through this interaction also the phenomenon of all the godly that are the source of material knowledge. (31) The senses are certainly of the mode of passion and so is that in most of the time also true for the applied knowledge and fruitive activities belonging to it. (32) From slowness then the subtle sense objects [of sound] were realized and from that may the ether be considered the symbolic representation of the Supreme Soul. (33) The Supreme Lord, as [cyclic] time mixing the external energy, glancing over the ether, created from the touch of contacting with the ether the air. (34) The air, also transformed by the extremely powerful ether then gave rise to the lightening [bio-electricity] of sense perception and thus the light of the world to see. (35) The interacting of the air and the glance of the Supreme with that electricity created, by the time mix of the material energy, the taste [of life] in water. (36) Electrified water subsequently, due to the transforming glancing over by the Supreme of the earth, achieved the quality of smell in the partial mixture of cyclic [eternal] time with the external energy.

(37) Understand that, beginning from the ether, all the material elements, and o gentle one, the great number of their superior and inferior qualities, are the finishing touch of the Supreme. (38) The godly of all these physical elements are part and parcel of Vishnu and are embodied as part and parcel of the cyclic of time to the external energy. Because of their different duties being not capable [of the complete] they utter fascinating prayers to the Lord. (39) The godly ones said: 'Our obeisances to Your lotus feet, o Lord, in distress we surrendered to them as they are the protecting umbrella offering the great sages shelter who, with force, completely do away with all the great miseries of material life. (40) O Father, because of the fact that in this material world, o Lord, the individual souls are always embarrassed by the three miseries [born from oneself, others and nature] they are never happy, but gaining to Your (Super-)soul, o Supreme One, to the shade of Your lotus feet, they are full of knowledge and find shelter. (41) At every step taking shelter of the feet of pilgrimage, they who search after Your lotuslike face find its protection carried by the wings of the vedic hymns of the sages at the best of rivers [the Ganges], whose clarity of mind liberates one from the reactions to sin. (42) The meditation that with belief and from simply hearing, and in devotion as well, is cleansing the heart by the strength of the knowledge of detachment, obliges the pacified to go for the sanctuary of Your feet. (43) For the birth in, the fortitude with and internalization to the paining material reality, let us all take shelter of the incarnations of Your lotus feet that are the refuge, o Lord, that awards the courage of the devotees with remembrance. (44) Because of getting entangled and thus being of the material body in the mind of I and mine, are we as persons immersed in undesirable eagerness and do we see You as being far from us although we are present in Your [Universal] body; let us therefore worship Your lotus feet, o Lord. (45) They [Your feet] are certainly there for the ones under the material influence who by their sense-perception are alienated from the internal vision, o Supreme One, and therefrom never see Your greatness, but to those who do see Your divine action there is the enjoyment of the transcendental. (46) O Lord, those who are of a serious attitude simply, by drinking the nectar of the talks, attain to enlightened devotional service, the full purport of renunciation and the intelligence in which they quickly achieve the spiritual sphere where there is no carelessness [Vaikunthha]. (47) For others of the transcendental realization of unifying by the strength of powerfully conquering over the material nature, You are also that one pacifying Original Person they enter into, but for them it is a lot of work whereas that is not so for the ones who serve You. (48) O Original One, therefore we are [now] all Yours; as for the sake of the creation of the world we were created one after another and in the past were separated by our own actions to the three modes and thus failed we, caught in the network of our own pleasures, to please You. (49) O Unborn One, direct us in our efforts of offering to You at the right time so that we can share as well the meals as the amenities for You and surely also all the ones we live with, and that we, with our sacrifices, therewith may enjoy the food in peace. (50) O Lord, You are of us, the God-conscious and our orders, the one and the same original founder; You o Lord, although You are unborn, are to the energy, the cause of the material modes and the activities indeed as the initiated seed for begetting the variety. (51) O Supreme Soul, tell us what we, who were all created from and for the totality of the cosmos, should do for You, and specifically grant us the vision of Your personal plan and the ability, o Lord, to work and act according our different departments [status-orientations and their transcendence].'

S'rî S'uka said: 'At the source of the celestial river [the Ganges], the best of the Kurus, Vidura who had come closer to the Infallible One, sat before Maitreya Muni, whose knowledge was fathomless, and with perfect respect he politely inquired from his satisfaction in transcendence.

S'ukadeva Gosvâmî 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. (Vedabase)

Text 2

Vidura said: 'For the sake of happiness everyone in this world engages in fruitive activities, but by those activities one never attains to happiness or another idea of contentment, on the contrary, one certainly finds misery that way. Please, o great one, kindly enlighten us on what would be the right course under which circumstances.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 3

Because of their compassion towards the common man, who turned his face against Lord Krishna and who under the influence of the material world is always unhappy in neglect of his duties to God, the great souls of sacrifice wander around for the sake of Lord of the three worlds.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 4

Therefore o greatest among the saints, please instruct me on the path that is favorable for our serving perfectly the Supreme Lord who, residing in the heart of the living being, awards the unalloyed devotee the knowledge of the principal reality by which one learns from history [the Veda].

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. (Vedabase)

Text 5

How does the selfsufficient Supreme Lord and ruler of the three worlds, although desireless, by accepting incarnations arrange, through His transcendental activities in the created universe, the regulative principles for its maintenance?

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. (Vedabase)

Text 6

How can He, turning back to His form in the universe, lie down within it without concerns about His existence as the Lord of Unification that is the one and only original proprietor after whom innumerable others enter existence likewise?

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. (Vedabase)

Text 7

Why is it that, manifesting His pastimes for the welfare of the twiceborn, the cows and the devoted ones, and with His operating in different incarnations, the mind is never satisfied in spite of continuously hearing about the underlying auspicious characteristics of the Lord?

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. (Vedabase)

Text 8

By the reality of which differentiation does the King of all kings and worlds from the lowest on, together with them, plan therein for certain the existence as it appears to be of the living entities in their different occupations?

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 rules. (Vedabase)

Text 9

And, please describe to us, o chief among the brahmins, how the Lord of man, Nârâyana, did settle, for those who are born, the differentiation of their engagements, their specific forms as also their dispersed cultures.

O chief amongst the brâhmanas, please also describe how Nârâyana, 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. (Vedabase)

Text 10

O my Lord, I heard from the mouth of Vyâsadeva repeatedly about the higher and lower of these occupations, but I am little satisfied about the happiness derived from that without hearing the nectar of the talks about Krishna.

O my lord, I have repeatedly heard about these higher and lower statuses of human society from the mouth of Vyâsadeva, 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. (Vedabase)

Text 11

Who can find satisfaction [without the nectar]; from the talks entering one's ears about the journey for the feet, is, by the One who in human society is worshiped so by the great devotees, a man's bondage by the affection for his family cut off!

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. (Vedabase)

Text 12

The sage Krishna-dvaipâyana Vyâsa, who is your friend too, has described the transcendental qualities of the Supreme Lord in the Mahâbhârata, which is just there to draw the attention of the people that take pleasure in attending to worldly topics towards the stories of the Lord.

Your friend the great sage Krishna-dvaipâyana Vyâsa has already described the transcendental qualities of the Lord in his great work the Mahâbhârata. But the whole idea is to draw the attention of the mass of people to krishna-kathâ [Bhagavad-gîtâ] through their strong affinity for hearing mundane topics. (Vedabase)

Text 13

That interest of belief will bring about indifference to other things; the one in constant remembrance of the Lord His feet has achieved the bliss that vanquishes all miseries without delay.

For one who is anxious to engage constantly in hearing such topics, krishna-kathâ 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. (Vedabase)

Text 14

I pity all those ignorant pitiable of the pitiable who of their sins are in decay of vigilance towards God and who waste the length of their lives with useless philosophical exercises, imaginative ultimate goals and a diversity of rituals.

O sage, persons who because of their sinful activities are averse to the topics of Transcendence and thus ignorant of the purpose of the Mahâbhârata [Bhagavad-gîtâ] 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. (Vedabase)

Text 15

Therefore, o Maitreya, heartening the good fortune of everyone, please describe to us of all topics the essence: the talks about the Lord that like the nectar of flowers are the glorious of pilgrimaging.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 16

Please recite all pertaining to the transcendental superhuman activities accomplished by the Lord who, through His acceptance of incarnations, centers on the maintenance of the created of His universe.'

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. (Vedabase)

Text 17

S'rî S'uka said: 'Thus did, as requested, the great sage His lordship Maitreya Vidura the great honor to expound on this to him for the ultimate welfare of all.

S'ukadeva Gosvâmî 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. (Vedabase)

Text 18:

S'rî Maitreya said: 'All blessings to you, o good one, your questioning me for the sake of all is proof of the goodness of your mercy to broadcast the glories of the soul in the Transcendental of the mind in this world.

S'rî 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. (Vedabase)

Text 19:

It does not astonish me to find you in this, without deviation of thought, in acceptance of the Supreme Personality our Lord, o Vidura, as you were born from the semen of Vyâsa.

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 Vyâsadeva. (Vedabase)

Text 20:

You are the one born from the curse of the powerful sage Mândavya Muni as the incarnation of Yamarâja, the controller of death, from the maidservant of the brother [Vicitravîrya] and the son [Vyâsadeva] of Satyavatî [see family tree]

I know that you are now Vidura due to the cursing of Mândavya Muni and that formerly you were King Yamarâja, the great controller of living entities after their death. You were begotten by the son of Satyavatî, Vyâsadeva, in the kept wife of his brother. (Vedabase)

Text 21:

You, your goodness, are recognized as one of the eternal associates of the Supreme Lord, who, on His return to His abode, has given me the knowledge and order to instruct you.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 22:

Therefore I shall describe to you systematically the pastimes pertaining to the Supreme Lord His greatly extended external energy for the maintenance, creation and dissolution of the cosmic reality.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 23:

The one and Supreme Lord was there prior to the creation as the soul of the living entities mastering the self, and, being merged in its longing, He is seen as being different with different characteristics.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 24:

At that time was He, with all of these, not seen as the undisputed proprietor in the cosmic creation and was He thought to be nonexistent with His plenary portions unmanifested to the power of His manifest internal potency.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 25:

The external energy is of the perfection of the seer, that is the Lord, seen as the power of the operation of cause and effect and is called mâyâ [or the deluding influence of matter], o fortunate one, of which the Almighty has constructed this world.

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 mâyâ or illusion, and through her agency only is the entire material manifestation made possible. (Vedabase)

Text 26:

The Supreme Living Being, by the incarnation of the Original Person, which is the plenary expansion of the original soul, impregnated through the seeds of the living entities, under the influence of time, the external energy in being the Transcendence to the modes of mâyâ.

The Supreme Living Being in His feature as the transcendental purusha 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. (Vedabase)

Text 27:

Thereafter came about, through the interaction of time, from the unmanifested, the sum total of unalloyed goodness that could root in the embodied to manifest the supreme light of complete universes.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 28:

That sum total - which must as well be considered a plenary expansion of the soul to the mode and time - differentiated, as the reservoir of the becoming entities, into the many different forms of the range of sight of the Personality of Godhead, and of this one saw the desire to create come into being.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 29:

The great of the causal truth [mahâtattva], transformed into the material reality of false ego, gave rise to effects, the material cause and the doer and thus sprouted, to the self its senses, the material ingredients of the three kinds of false ego known as the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance that one finds on the mental plane.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 30:

By the transformation of this reality was, in interaction with the mode of goodness, the mind generated and manifested itself through this interaction also the phenomenon of all the godly that are the source of material knowledge.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 31:

The senses are certainly of the mode of passion and so is that in most of the time also true for the applied knowledge and fruitive activities belonging to it.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 32:

From slowness then the subtle sense objects [of sound] were realized and from that may the ether be considered the symbolic representation of the Supreme Soul.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 33:

The Supreme Lord, as [cyclic] time mixing the external energy, glancing over the ether, created from the touch of contacting with the ether the air.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 34:

The air, also transformed by the extremely powerful ether then gave rise to the lightening [bio-electricity] of sense perception and thus the light of the world to see.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 35:

The interacting of the air and the glance of the Supreme with that electricity created, by the time mix of the material energy, the taste [of life] in water.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 36:

Electrified water subsequently, due to the transforming glancing over by the Supreme of the earth, achieved the quality of smell in the partial mixture of cyclic [eternal] time with the external energy.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 37:

Understand that, beginning from the ether, all the material elements, and o gentle one, the great number of their superior and inferior qualities, are the finishing touch of the Supreme.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 38:

The godly of all these physical elements are part and parcel of Vishnu and are embodied as part and parcel of the cyclic of time to the external energy. Because of their different duties being not capable [of the complete] they utter fascinating prayers to the Lord.

The controlling deities of all the above-mentioned physical elements are empowered expansions of Lord Vishnu. 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. (Ved a base)

Text 39:

The godly ones said: 'Our obeisances to Your lotus feet, o Lord, in distress we surrendered to them as they are the protecting umbrella offering the great sages shelter who, with force, completely do away with all the great miseries of material life.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 40:

O Father, because of the fact that in this material world, o Lord, the individual souls are always embarrassed by the three miseries [born from oneself, others and nature] they are never happy, but gaining to Your [Super-]soul, o Supreme One, to the shade of Your lotus feet, they are full of knowledge and find shelter.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 41:

At every step taking shelter of the feet of pilgrimage, they who search after Your lotuslike face find its protection carried by the wings of the vedic hymns of the sages at the best of rivers [the Ganges], whose clarity of mind liberates one from the reactions to sin.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 42:

The meditation that with belief and from simply hearing, and in devotion as well, is cleansing the heart by the strength of the knowledge of detachment, obliges the pacified to go for the sanctuary of Your feet.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 43:

For the birth in, the fortitude with and internalization to the paining material reality, let us all take shelter of the incarnations of Your lotus feet that are the refuge, o Lord, that awards the courage of the devotees with remembrance.

O Lord, You assume incarnation 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. (Vedabase)

Text 44:

Because of getting entangled and thus being of the material body in the mind of I and mine, are we as persons immersed in undesirable eagerness and do we see You as being far from us although we are present in Your [Universal] body; let us therefore worship Your lotus feet, o Lord.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 45:

They [Your feet] are certainly there for the ones under the material influence who by their sense perception are alienated from the internal vision, o Supreme One, and therefrom never see Your greatness, but to those who do see Your divine action there is the enjoyment of the transcendental.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 46:

O Lord, those who are of a serious attitude simply, by drinking the nectar of the talks, attain to enlightened devotional service, the full purport of renunciation and the intelligence in which they quickly achieve the spiritual sphere where there is no carelessness [Vaikunthha].

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 Vaikunthhaloka in the spiritual sky simply by drinking the nectar of Your topics. (Vedabase)

Text 47:

For others of the transcendental realization of unifying by the strength of powerfully conquering over the material nature, You are also that one pacifying Original Person they enter into, but for them it is a lot of work whereas that is not so for the ones who serve You.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 48:

O Original One, therefore we are [now] all Yours; as for the sake of the creation of the world we were created one after another and in the past were separated by our own actions to the three modes and thus, in the network of our own pleasures, failed to manage in respect of You.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 49:

O Unborn One, direct us in our efforts of offering to You at the right time so that we can share as well the meals as the amenities for You and surely also all the ones we live with, and that we, with our sacrifices, therewith may enjoy the food in peace.

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. (Vedabase)

Text 50:

O Lord, You are of us, the God-conscious and our orders, the one and the same original founder; You o Lord, although You are unborn, are to the energy the cause of the material modes and activities indeed as the initiated seed for begetting the variety,

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. (Vedabase)

Text 51:

O Supreme Soul, tell us what we, who were all created from and for the totality of the cosmos, should do for You, and specifically grant us the vision of Your personal plan and the ability, o Lord, to work and act according our different departments [status-orientations and their transcendence].'

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. (Vedabase)