SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM: CANTO 6

(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'Of Vis'varûpa [see previous chapter], o son of Bharata, there are three heads for drinking the soma [doing sacrifice], drinking the wine [taking the seat of enlightenment], and eating the food [the material purpose]. (2) He, o ruler, factually offered the gods, to whom he was related by his fathers side, their proper share in publicly chanting aloud the mantras. (3) Compelled by the affection for his mother though did he, sacrificing for the godly, without their knowledge offer a share in sacrifice to the unenlightened too. (4) The king of the enlightened [Indra] seeing how by that offense to the godly he betrayed the dharma, in fear, greatly angered, quickly cut Vis'varûpa's heads off. (5) The head of him used for drinking the soma became a kapiñjala [a francolin partridge], the head for drinking the wine turned into a kalavinka [a sparrow] and the one used for taking food turned into a tittiri [common partridge]. (6) However powerful he was, to the reaction of killing a brahmin had Indra with folded hands for one year to assume the responsibility and distributed he therefore the burden over the four divisions of the earth, the waters, the trees and the women, in order to purify from that sin to these elements. (7) The earth taking one fourth of the burden of killing a brahmin, had, because of the benediction of having its holes filled with water, indeed the deserts as the visible sign of it on her surface. (8) The trees accepting one fourth of the burden of killing the brahmin had, with their benediction of having their branches and twigs growing back when cut, the visible consequence of sap flowing from them. (9) With the women accepting one fourth of the burden of sin, could from their benediction of an ever sexual appetite, as a reaction the form of the monthly period be seen. (10) Water took one fourth of the sin and had from its benediction to increase the volume of the material it soaks, the visible reaction of bubbling and foaming, a result that must be discarded when one collects water. (11) Tvashthâ [see 5.15: 14-15], having lost his son, thereafter performed a sacrifice for creating an enemy with the words: 'O enemy of Indra, flourish so that after not too long a time you can kill your adversary.'

(12) Thereupon appeared from the anvâhârya fire [the fire to the south] a most frightening character that looked like the destroyer of all the worlds at the end of the yuga. (13-17) Each day growing bigger he resembled a burnt mountain or clouds amassing in the evening with the sun shining from behind like arrows to all sides. To his hair, beard and mustache, that were as red as molten copper, had he eyes blazing like the sun at noon. He kicked up the dirt moving around dancing and shouting loudly with his blazing trident held high. With his mouth deep as a cave swallowing the three worlds, drank he the sky and licked he up the stars. Yawning over and over with his massive fierce teeth, fled the people who saw him in fear in all the ten directions. (18) He, that most fearful personification of sin, was in truth the form the son of Tvashthâ had taken. Now, by dint of his previous austerity, covered he all the worlds and was he thus called Vritra ['the encloser']. (19) Indra, together with the soldiers of all the defenders of wisdom, attacked him with the help of the complete of the divinity of their specific array of weapons, bows and arrows, but Vritra swallowed them all together. (20) Facing that, were they all struck with wonder and gathered they, having lost their courage, disheartened to pray to the Supersoul, the Original Person of God.

(21) The godly said: 'We, together with the gods, who from the beginning with Lord Brahmâ created the three worlds that are composed of air, fire, ether, water and earth, do all, trembling with fear, pay tribute to the lord of death; but since he himself fears Him [the Original Personality], should we acknowledge Him as our refuge. (22) One is a fool, when one wants to cross a sea holding on to a dog's tail; a fool if one wants to approach anyone else but Him who is never astound, always satisfied by His own achievements indeed, equipoised and very steady, and defies any material description. (23) Just like Manu [here: king Satyavrata] who bound his boat to the sturdy horn of Matsya [the fish-avatâra] to survive the flood, are we, dependents, sure to be delivered from the unending fear for the son of Tvashthâ, even though He in fact is there only in the form of a fish. (24) Formerly was the Independent One [Svayambhû or Lord Brahmâ], alone on the lotus, very afraid, by His grace narrowly escaping from a fall in the so very high waves of the waters of the flood blown up by the roaring wind [see 3.8]; let that deliverance there also be for us. (25) He, the one controller who by His transcendental potency created us and by whose mercy we also may create a world of matter, can, although He is in front of us as the actor, not in His form be recognized by us, who consider themselves separate controllers. (26-27) He who among us, who are always pestered by our enemies, and among the godly, the animals and men always is certain by His own internal potency to appear as an incarnation in different forms, protects in each millennium anyone dear and near to Him. Him indeed, the God and Lord of all of us and every other living being, is the transcendental original primary principle of nature, the Supreme Enjoyer whose energy is known in the form of the universe from which He Himself stands apart; He is the shelter that by all of us is approached; may He, the greatest of the Soul, bless with all good fortune us, His devotees who themselves serve as a shelter.'

(28) S'rî S'uka said: 'Because of that prayer of the enlightened souls, o King, became He, directing the vision inside, visible with His conchshell, disc and club.

(29-30) On all sides was He, with eyes blooming like lotuses in autumn, attended by sixteen servants that were alike Him except for the Kaustubha jewel and the S'rîvatsa mark. Seeing Him, o King, they all fell prostrating to the ground, overwhelmed with happiness of seeing Him directly. Then they slowly stood up and offered prayers. (31) The godly said: 'Unto You, o Lord of the Sacrifice, do we, although You are the one to put an end to it all, bring our obeisances, because You are indeed the one using the cakra [the disc, the cyclic, the order of time] as a weapon; all our respect for You who is known by so many transcendental names. (32) Of You as the controller of the three destinations [of going to hell, to heaven or the purgatory] there is the supreme abode [of Vaikunthha]; having appeared after You in the creation, o controller, is one not able to understand. (33) O Lord, let there be our obeisances unto You, o Bhagavân Nârâyana, o Vâsudeva, o Original Person, o Highest Personality, o Supreme One of Opulence, o Most Auspicious One, o Transcendental Benediction, o Greatness of Mercy, o Changeless Support of the Universe and Only Proprietor of all Worlds, Ruler over All and Husband of Lakshmî Devî; by the transcendental absorption in devotional yoga are the best of the completely detached who wander all around, fully purified and do they by their dutiful respect of being paramahamsas ['swans of the supreme'] push open the door of the illusory existence that gives access to the consciousness that is free from contaminations in the spiritual world; personally experiencing Your Lordship does each of them thus find Your bliss. (34) This engagement of Yours in pastimes about the union in which You, not depending on anything else, not on this or that embodiment, never wait for us to cooperate, is rather difficult to understand; although You are transcendental to the modes of matter are You, by Your own self always being without transformations, nevertheless of creation, annihilation and maintenance. (35) In that respect therefore we wonder whether Your Lordship is like an ordinary human being, bound to action in the material world, that has fallen under the influence of the modes in a dependence on time, space, activities and nature, and therewith is forced to accept the good and bad results of what he does himself; or whether You, completely self-satisfied and self-controlled of nature, are the unfailing spiritually potent and ever neutral witness. Here we are sure not to understand You. (36) Surely there is with You no contradiction in one's both being of the supreme, unlimited and Highest controller possessing all qualities that is of an unfathomable ability and glory, and one's being of an actually equivocal, opposing, judgmental, premature, argumentative, by scriptures agitated mind whose shelter is enjoyed by wicked obstinates and controversial philosophers out of line. With You withdrawn from all the illusory of matter, with the unparalleled of You, do You with soul and world form the inconceivable go-between of which indeed it is impossible to grasp the extend due to the absence of the nature of duplicity in You. (37) The way one perceiving a piece of rope sees a snake or not, does one the same way, when one is intelligent, conclude to the person of You, or else not. (38) With You, on closer scrutiny, being the substance, the controller of all in everything spiritual and material, who is there as the cause of all causes of the entire universe and who, up to the minutest atom, is present everywhere with all the quality, are You, of all the manifestations, indeed the only one to remain. (39) Therefore indeed are those, who relating to You but once have tasted a drop of the nectar of Your glories, in their minds of the incessant flow of bliss and are they, having forgotten the vague and limited portion of the sights and sounds of material happiness, as exalted devotees, solely of faith in You as the Supreme Personality, the only friend and dearmost one of all living entities. How can those devotees, whose minds are of a complete and continuous happiness, o Killer of Madhu, or those who are, as said, true experts in the matters of life in having accepted You as the dearmost lover and friend in their servicing Your lotus feet, then ever give up this life wherein there is never again the repetition of birth and death? (40) O loving Soul and shelter of the three worlds, o power and opulence of the three worlds, o maintainer and seer of the three worlds, o most beautiful one of attraction in the three worlds, because of Your expansions in the material energy are we sure that by Your own Self manifested in the different forms of the enlightened [Vâmana], the humans [Râmacandra and Krishna], the animals [Varâha], a mixture of them [Nrisimhadeva] and of the aquatics [Matsya and Kûrma], at the time of their collusion all the sons of Diti and Danu and such are awarded the right punishment according each his offense, o Supreme Chastiser; and may You likewise also kill this one, the son of Tvashthâ, if You deem it necessary. (41) With us in full surrender totally relying on You, o Father of Fathers, o Lord Hari, are our hearts chained in love by meditation on the two of Your feet that are alike two blue lotuses; by the manifestation of Your own form, by Your compassionate smile, colorful brightness and highest pleasing, by Your cool, do those You accepted as Your own, melt in compassion with the drops of nectar of the very sweet words emanating from Your mouth, and consider we You the one eligible to curb the great pain deep within us, o Purest One. (42) Therefore o Supreme Lord, what would for us, who are like sparks to the original fire, be the purport or special necessity of the fact that You, who are directly the Supreme Absolute Truth, are informed by us? You being the cause of all creation, maintenance, and destruction of the material world, are, in Your entertaining Yourself with the spiritual energy, as well present in the core of the hearts of all the hordes of living entities as outside of them, as well as of the Supersoul beyond them. By the external elements of Your forms and the particulars according the circumstance, time, sort of body and material position is there thanks to You, as the exhibitor of all material causes, as the witness of all that is going on, as the witnessing itself, the eternal memory of the whole universe [the âkâshic record]. (43) For that reason of being our Supreme Lord and Master of Transcendence, please arrange by the thousand-petaled lotus flowers that are Your feet, a position in their shadow in order to alleviate the pain resulting from the dangers and desires of this conditioned life which have led us to approach You. (44) Hence o Controller, put an end to this son of Tvashthâ, who is devouring the three worlds and has consumed, o Krishna [see: B.G. 4: 4-6], all our strength and power, arrows and other means of defense. (45) Unto You as the Purest One who has His abode in the kernel of the heart, where You supervise the individual its actions, unto that manifestation of Krishna whose reputation as a redeemer is so bright, unto Him without a beginning who is solely understood by the pure devotee, unto that ultimate end of finding a safe harbor within this material world, unto the ultimate goal and supreme success of life, unto that Lordship, we offer our obeisances.'

(46) S'rî S'uka said: 'After by all the servants of the three worlds this way with due respect having been worshiped o King, replied the Lord, pleased as he was to hear their glorifying. (47) The Supreme Lord said: 'I'm very pleased with you o best of the godly, by your knowledgeable prayers unto Me as the Original Self and ruler over the remembrance of man, have You done Me a great service in Your devotion. (48) When I am satisfied can one have whatever that is difficult to obtain; still o best of the intelligent, does he who knows the truth, having fixed his attention exclusively on Me, not desire for anything but Me. (49) A miser [kripana] does, under the attraction of the formative of nature, not know the ultimate end of the soul, and the one who awards the desire for such things is no better. (50) One who personally knows of the supreme goal of life will not teach an ignorant one to build up karma exactly like a physician of experience wouldn't prescribe a patient the wrong foodstuffs, not even if the patient would desire them. (51) O patron of sacrifice [Maghavan; Indra], good fortune to all of you, go and without delay ask with Dadhyañca [Dadhîci], the most exalted of saints in education, penance and the essence, for the physical means. (52) Dadhyañca is no doubt he who, having assimilated the purely spiritual, delivered it to the As'vins; by the teaching that is called 'the head of the horse' [As'vas'ira] is there of them the award of immortality [*]. (53) Dadhyañca, the son of Atharvâ, his invincible protection [in mantras] consisting of Myself [see previous chapter] was given to Tvashthâ, who gave it to Vis'varûpa and that which Tvashthâ delivered have you again received from him. (54) The limbs of that knower of the dharma [Dhadyañca], that for all of you have been asked for by the As'vins, will be given to you. From them will by Vis'vakarmâ be manufactured the most powerful of all weapons. With the help of that weapon invested with my power, can the head of Vritrâsura be taken. (55) When he is killed will all of you regain your wealth, power, arrows and other means of defense; all good fortune will be yours, because you, being My devotees, will not be hurt.

S'rî S'uka said: 'Of Vis'varûpa [see previous chapter], o son of Bharata, there are three heads for drinking the soma [doing sacrifice], drinking the wine [taking the seat of enlightenment], and eating the food [the material purpose].

S'rî S'ukadeva Gosvâmî continued: Vis'varûpa, who was engaged as the priest of the demigods, had three heads. He used one to drink the beverage soma-rasa, another to drink wine and the third to eat food. O King Parîkshit, thus I have heard from authorities. (Vedabase)

Text 2

He, o ruler, factually offered the gods, to whom he was related by his fathers side, their proper share in publicly chanting aloud the mantras.

O Mâhâraja Parîkshit, the demigods were related to Vis'varûpa from his father's side, and therefore he visibly offered clarified butter in the fire while chanting mantras such as indrâya idam svâhâ ["this is meant for King Indra"] and idam agnaye ["this is for the demigod of fire"]. He loudly chanted these mantras and offered each of the demigods his proper share. (Vedabase)

Text 3

Compelled by the affection for his mother though did he, sacrificing for the godly, without their knowledge offer a share in sacrifice to the unenlightened too.

Although offering clarified butter in the sacrificial fire in the name of the demigods, without the knowledge of the demigods he also offered oblations to the demons because they were his relatives through his mother. (Vedabase)

Text 4

The king of the enlightened [Indra] seeing how by that offense to the godly he betrayed the dharma, in fear, greatly angered, quickly cut Vis'varûpa's heads off.

Once upon a time, however, the King of heaven, Indra, understood that Vis'varûpa was secretly cheating the demigods by offering oblations on behalf of the demons. He became extremely afraid of being defeated by the demons, and in great anger at Vis'varûpa he cut Vis'varûpa's three heads from his shoulders. (Vedabase)

Text 5

The head of him used for drinking the soma became a kapiñjala [a francolin partridge], the head for drinking the wine turned into a kalavinka [a sparrow] and the third one used for taking food turned into a tittiri [common partridge].

Thereafter, the head meant for drinking soma-rasa was transformed into a kapiñjala [francolin partridge]. Similarly, the head meant for drinking wine was transformed into a kalavinka [sparrow], and the head meant for eating food became a tittiri [common partridge]. (Vedabase)

Text 6

However powerful he was, to the reaction of killing a brahmin had Indra with folded hands for one year to assume the responsibility and distributed he therefore the burden over the four divisions of the earth, the waters, the trees and the women, in order to purify from that sin to these elements.

Although Indra was so powerful that he could neutralize the sinful reactions for killing a brâhmana, he repentantly accepted the burden of these reactions with folded hands. He suffered for one year, and then to purify himself he distributed the reactions for this sinful killing among the earth, water, trees and women. (Vedabase)

Text 7

The earth taking one fourth of the burden of killing a brahmin, had, because of the benediction of having its holes filled with water, indeed the deserts as the visible sign of it on her surface.

In return for King Indra's benediction that ditches in the earth would be filled automatically, the land accepted one fourth of the sinful reactions for killing a brâhmana. Because of those sinful reactions, we find many deserts on the surface of the earth. (Vedabase)

Text 8

The trees accepting one fourth of the burden of killing the brahmin had, with their benediction of having their branches and twigs growing back when cut, the visible consequence of sap flowing from them.

In return for Indra's benediction that their branches and twigs would grow back when trimmed, the trees accepted one fourth of the reactions for killing a brâhmana. These reactions are visible in the flowing of sap from trees. [Therefore one is forbidden to drink this sap.]. (Vedabase)

Text 9

With the women accepting one fourth of the burden of sin, could from their benediction of an ever sexual appetite, as a reaction the form of the monthly period be seen.

In return for Lord Indra's benediction that they would be able to enjoy lusty desires continuously, even during pregnancy for as long as sex is not injurious to the embryo, women accepted one fourth of the sinful reactions. As a result of those reactions, women manifest the signs of menstruation every month. (Vedabase)

Text 10

Water took one fourth of the sin and had from its benediction to increase the volume of the material it soaks, the visible reaction of bubbling and foaming, a result that must be discarded when one collects water.

And in return for King Indra's benediction that water would increase the volume of other substances with which it was mixed, water accepted one fourth of the sinful reactions. Therefore there are bubbles and foam in water. When one collects water, these should be avoided. (Vedabase)

Text 11

Tvashthâ [see 5.15: 14-15], having lost his son, thereafter performed a sacrifice for creating an enemy with the words: 'O enemy of Indra, flourish so that after not too long a time you can kill your adversary.'

After Vis'varûpa was killed, his father, Tvashthâ, performed ritualistic ceremonies to kill Indra. He offered oblations in the sacrificial fire, saying, "O enemy of Indra, flourish to kill your enemy without delay." (Vedabase)

Text 12

Thereupon appeared from the anvâhârya fire [the fire to the south] a most frightening character that looked like the destroyer of all the worlds at the end of the yuga.

Thereafter, from the southern side of the sacrificial fire known as Anvâhârya came a fearful personality who looked like the destroyer of the entire creation at the end of the millennium. (Vedabase)

Text 13-17:

Each day growing bigger he resembled a burnt mountain or clouds amassing in the evening with the sun shining from behind like arrows to all sides. To his hair, beard and mustache, that were as red as molten copper, had he eyes blazing like the sun at noon. He kicked up the dirt moving around dancing and shouting loudly with his blazing trident held high. With his mouth deep as a cave swallowing the three worlds, drank he the sky and licked he up the stars. Yawning over and over with his massive fierce teeth, fled the people who saw him in fear in all the ten directions.

Like arrows released in the four directions, the demon's body grew, day after day. Tall and blackish, he appeared like a burnt hill and was as lustrous as a bright array of clouds in the evening. The hair on the demon's body and his beard and moustache were the color of melted copper, and his eyes were piercing like the midday sun. He appeared unconquerable, as if holding the three worlds on the points of his blazing trident. Dancing and shouting with a loud voice, he made the entire surface of the earth tremble as if from an earthquake. As he yawned again and again, he seemed to be trying to swallow the whole sky with his mouth, which was as deep as a cave. He seemed to be licking up all the stars in the sky with his tongue and eating the entire universe with his long, sharp teeth. Seeing this gigantic demon, everyone, in great fear, ran here and there in all directions. (Vedabase)

Text 18:

He, that most fearful personification of sin, was in truth the form the son of Tvashthâ had taken. Now, by dint of his previous austerity, covered he all the worlds and was he thus called Vritra ['the encloser'].

That very fearful demon, who was actually the son of Tvashthâ, covered all the planetary systems by dint of austerity. Therefore he was named Vritra, or one who covers everything. (Vedabase)