SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM: CANTO 4

(1) Nârada said: 'O King Prâcînabarhishat, all of them, the soldiers, the order carriers of death of Bhaya [that are like the troubles of old age] and Prajvâra and Kâlakanyâ, together roamed this earth. (2) When they once then laid siege on the city of Purañjana which, o King, was so full of sensual pleasure, they found it protected by the old serpent. (3) The daughter of Kâla then also by force took possession of the city of Purañjana; overwhelmed by her does a person immediately find his uselessness. (4) With her taking hold and the Yavanas from all sides entering the gates, was severe trouble caused all over the city. (5) The city being put in all kinds of difficulties made him Purañjana, as an all to eager, overly attached family man, run into a great variety of pains. (6) Embraced by the daughter of Time was he bereft of all beauty; of his addiction to sensual pleasure being a miser lacking in intelligence was he by force bereft of his opulence by the Gandharvas and Yavanas [the indwellers of heaven and the meat-eaters]. (7) He saw his own town scattered in opposing elements, that he had disrespectful sons and grandsons, servants and ministers, and that his wife had become indifferent. (8) With himself being taken by Kâlakanyâ and with Pañcâla infested with insurmountable enemies, he grew very anxious and so it was not possible for him, to take any counteraction. (9) The things he always lusted after became all stale to the poor man who also because of Kâlakanyâ had lost the real purpose of life in the affectionate defense of his attachment to his sons and wife. (10) The King, who had to give up the city that was smashed by the Daughter of Time and had been overrun by the Gandharvas and Yavanas, was against his will driven out of it. (11) Prajvâra, the elder brother of Bhaya present at the spot, set fire to that city [as fever to the body] for the sole purpose of pleasing his brother [called fear]. (12) When the city along with all the citizens, servants and followers was ablaze had he, Purañjana, the head of the big family along with his wife and descendants, to suffer from its heat.

(13) In his abode attacked by the Yavanas, being seized by Kâlakanyâ and now also thus being approached by Prajvâra, became also the guardian of the city [the snake] very aggrieved. (14) It was not able to do much for its protection and suffered great difficulties in its desire to get out of there; it was as if it had to escape from a hollow tree that is thrown into the flames. (15) Its parts were slackened as its bodily strength was defeated by the Gandharvas and the enemy Yavanas, o King, and frustrated it [by the voice of Purañjana] cried out aloud indeed: (16) 'O my daughters, sons, grandsons and daughters- and sons-in-law, o my associates, what has become of my property and my home with all its wealth and goods?'

(17) At his separation turned the householder his attention to the 'I' and 'mine' of his home and thus happened it to be that he, with a mind full of obnoxious thoughts, had a hard time with his wife. (18) 'When I have left for another life, how then will this woman, bereft of a husband, lamenting with all those children of the family around her, exist?' (19) Never I ate when she didn't eat, never I missed a bath when she would bathe; she always remained loyal fearfully keeping silent when I was angry, however afraid she was with me chastising her. (20) She gave me good counsel when I was a fool, she was saddened and put off when I was away. Will she, despite of being the mother of such great heroes, be able to hold on to the path of her household duties? (21) How indeed will my poor sons and daughters, who have no one else to depend on, live when I have disappeared from this world like a boat broken in the ocean?'

(22) Thus of his miserly intelligence lamenting what should not be lamented, drew the master of the show called Fear near to arrest him without delay. (23) Restrained like an animal was Purañjana by the Yavanas taken to their own abode followed by the stream of his attendants who deeply aggrieved were lamenting. (24) As soon as the serpent that had to give up had left and following him behind was arrested, was the city sure to fall apart. (25) Forcibly dragged by the Yavana that was so powerful, couldn't he, covered by the darkness of his ignorance, remember his friend and well-wisher that had been there from the beginning. (26) All the animals of sacrifice by him most unkind killed with axes and cut to pieces, very angrily remembered that sinful activity of him. (27) Contaminated by attachment to women, without an end living on in the midst of darkness and being bereft of all intelligence, one has to experience for many years, if not for an eternity, the pain. (28) With keeping her constantly in his mind became he, after his death, a well situated woman [a daughter] in the house of the most powerful King Vidarbha. (29) As the prize of valor was that daughter of Vidarbha married to Malayadhvaja ['as firm as the Malaya hill'] who as the best of the learned in the fight, after defeating many other princes, was the conqueror of the supreme city. (30) From her he got a daughter with dark eyes and seven younger mighty sons* who became the kings over the seven provinces of the South of India [Dravida]. (31) Of each of them, o King, there became millions and millions of descendants by whom the world up to the time of a Manu and longer was ruled [see 3.11: 24]. (32) Âgastya [the sage; 'he who was born from a pot'] married the avowed first daughter and from her was born a son called Dridhacyuta ['the infallible fortress'] who on his turn got the great sage Idhmavâha ['he who carries the sacrificial wood'] as a son.

(33) Having divided the entire world among his sons, went the pious king called Malayadhvaja to Kulâcala desiring to worship Lord Krishna. (34) Giving up his home, children and material happiness followed the daughter of Vidarbha with the enchanting eyes, her lord of wisdom like the moonshine accompanying the moon. (35-36) There at the rivers named the Candravasâ, the Tâmraparnî and the Vathodakâ he cleansed himself daily both inside and outside with the holy waters and feeding on bulbs, seeds, roots and fruits, flowers, leaves, grasses and water, became his body gradually lean undergoing the austerity. (37) Equipoised he thus conquered the dualities of cold and heat, wind and rain, hunger and thirst, the pleasant and the unpleasant and happiness and distress. (38) By austerity and discipline he burnt up all the impurities; through the regulative principles [niyama] and selfcontrol [yama] he, in complete control over the senses, his life and his consciousness, fixed himself in spiritual realization [compare: 4.22: 24, 3.29: 17]. (39) Remaining as immovable as having the same place for a hundred years of the demigods [see 3.11: 12] did he, steady unto Vâsudeva, the Supreme Lord, not know of anything else but to be of that attraction. (40) He, by the all-pervasiveness of the Supersoul could distinguish himself in perfect knowledge like being in a dream: as the deliberate witness that was sure to have become indifferent ['the glad hero']. (41) Under the direct prompting of the Supreme Lord, by the spiritual master Hari [the so called caitya guru or the guru from within], o King, he found the pure light of spiritual knowledge enlightening all perspectives. (42) Thus observing himself in the transcendental Absolute and the Supersoul of the Absolute also within himself, he, from this process, gave up his reservation and withdrew himself determined.

(43) Accepting her husband as her God, the supreme knower of the principles, served Vaidarbhî, the daughter of Vidarbha, her husband Malayadhvaja with love and devotion and gave she up on her sense enjoyment. (44) In old rags, lean and thin and with her hair matted, she shone next to her husband as peaceful as the flame of a fire. (45) She, as she was used to, went on serving him, who sat there fixed in his sitting posture, until she, with him having passed away, couldn't detect any sign of life anymore from her beloved husband. (46) When she no longer felt the warmth of his feet serving him, she became as anxious at heart as a deer on being separated from its partner. (47) Lamenting to herself how wretched it is to be without a friend she, brokenhearted, began to cry out aloud, wetting her breasts with her tears. (48) 'Get up, please, get up!, o saintly King. This world in the middle of the ocean so very much afraid of rogues and rulers full of attachment, you ought to protect!' (49) Thus lamenting fell the innocent woman in that solitary place down at the feet of her husband, shedding tears crying. (50) On top of her husband's body she built a funeral pyre of wood and after igniting it she, with her mind fixed in the lamentation, died [saha-marana] along with him.

(51) Before that happened there, pacified some friend, a brahmin, a very learned scholar, her very nicely with mitigating words, speaking to her about her master while she was crying. (52) The brahmin said: 'Who are you? To whom do you belong and who is this man lying here over whom you are lamenting? Don't you recognize Me as the friend that you in the past have consulted? (53) Do you remember how, o friend, unfamiliar with the Supersoul, you gave up on Me as being your friend, in attachment to a position of desiring material enjoyment? (54) You and I, o great soul, are two swans, two friends who, for thousands of years in succession living together in the Mânasa lake [a holy reservoir in the Himalayas representing the pure mind], became separated from their original home. (55) You as that swan having left me, o friend, moved as someone of a material consciousness toward the earth, going there to find yourself in positions created by some woman. (56) With five gardens, nine gates, one protector, three apartments, six families, five stores and five material elements does it [that material position of having a body] have one woman as its master. (57) The gardens are the five objects of the senses, the gates o protector are the nine apertures of the senses, the vital power [fire], water and food [earth] are the three apartments and the families are the five senses themselves and the mind. (58) The five stores make for the power of action [the five working senses] by which man is the [feminine] controller of the energy of the eternal of the five elements of gross matter to which having entered its domain one is devoid of knowledge. (59) You in that situation being in contact with the splendor are then, enjoying it in her association, without the remembrance of the inexhaustible [of your spiritual existence], and this way you have attained a state that is full of sin, my dear. (60) In fact you are not Vidarbha's daughter, nor is this hero of yours [Malayadhvaja] your well-wishing husband, nor were you Purañjana the husband; you've all that time in the body with its nine gates simply been captivated by the material energy. (61) Just see our factual position; from this illusory energy of Mine you no doubt found an existence thinking yourself to be a male, a female or a non-sexual one, but you forgot about the both of us as joined in the pure of the spiritual swanlike. (62) You and I are not different [in quality] because you, the way you are, are for sure as I am. My friend, the imaginary distinction between the two of us is by the advanced scholars not even in the smallest degree acknowledged whenever. (63) The way someone sees his one body in a mirror, or through the eyes of others, existing as two bodies, is similarly the difference between the two of us described [compare 3.28: 40]. (64) The individual soul thus like a swan living together in the heart is, being instructed by the other swan, situated in self-realization for then is the real memory regained that was lost in the being separated from the original self.'

(65) 'O Prâcînabarhi, I gave you this analogy of selfrealization, to raise your interest in the Supreme Lord our God, the cause of all causes, in an indirect manner.'