rule



 

 
Canto 10

S'uddha Bhakata

   

 

Chapter 40: Akrūra's Prayers

(1) S'rī Akrūra said: 'I bow down to You, oh Lord Nārāyana, Cause of All Causes, oh Original Inexhaustible Person, oh You from whose navel the lotus sprouted on the whorl of which Lord Brahmā appeared who generated this world. (2) Earth, water, fire, air, the ether including its source [the false ego]; the totality of matter [see footnote 10.13: ***] and its origin [the Purusha]; the mind, the senses, the objects of all the senses and the demigods [belonging to them], together constitute the [secondary] causes of the universe that have generated from Your [transcendental] body. (3) They, under the [outer] direction of the material realm, have because of that lifelessness no knowledge about the true identity of the Supreme Self, Your Soul. Also the unborn one [Brahmā] being bound to the modes of material nature, cannot know Your form transcendental to these modes [see also 10.13: 40-56]. (4) It is to the honor of You that the yogis perform sacrifice, You, the Supreme Personality and Controller within each, within the material elements, and within the ruling gods and saints. (5) Some brahmins worship You, with respect for the three sacred [agni-traya] fires, by means of the mantras of the three Vedas elaborately with various rituals for deities of different names and forms. (6) Some who strive for spiritual knowledge, attain peace by renouncing all fruitive actions and worship the embodiment of knowledge [the guru, the Lord] by means of sacrifices in the field of spiritual knowledge [see e.g. B.G. 4: 28, 17: 11-13, 18: 70]. (7) Others, whose intelligence is purified by the principles [the vidhi] included by You, worship You, absorbed in You, as the one form assuming many forms. (8) Still others worship You, the Supreme Lord, in the form of Lord S'iva, by treading the path described by Lord S'iva that in different ways is presented by many teachers. (9) Even though they as devotees of other divinities are of a different attention, they all worship You who, as the Controller, comprises all the gods [see B.G. 9: 23]. (10) Just like the rivers that, filled by the rain and springing from the mountains, from all sides enter the ocean, oh master, similarly all these paths [of the demigods] finally lead to You [see B.G. 2: 70, 9: 23-25, 10: 24 and 11: 28]. (11) All the conditioned living beings, from the unmoving ones up to Lord Brahmā, are caught in the qualities [gunas] of goodness [sattva], passion [rajas] and ignorance [tamas] of Your material nature [see B.G. 14]. (12) I offer You, the Soul of All Souls my obeisances, You who, with a detached vision, are present as the witness and the consciousness of everyone, as He who, with this stream of the material modes which was created by Your lower energy, deals with the souls who identify themselves therewith as gods, human beings and animals. (13-14) One considers fire as Your face, the earth as Your feet, the sun as Your eye, the sky as Your navel, and the directions as Your sense of hearing. Heaven is Your head, the ruling demigods are Your arms, the ocean is Your abdomen and the wind is Your vital air and physical strength. The trees and the plants are the hairs on Your body, the clouds are the hair on Your head and the mountains are the bones and nails of Your Supreme Being. Day and night are the blinking of Your eye, the founding father is Your genitals and the rain is regarded as Your semen [see e.g. also 2.6: 1-11]. (15) Just like the aquatics that move about in the water or the small insects in an udumbara fig, in You all the worlds found their origin, including their rulers and the many souls that crowd them, in You, their Inexhaustible One Personality comprising all mind and senses.

(16) For the sake of Your pastimes You in this world manifest various forms, with which the people, to be purified from their unhappiness, full of joy sing Your glories. (17-18) My respects for You, the Original Cause who in the form of Matsya [the fish, see 8.24] moved about in the ocean of dissolution and for Hayagrīva [the Lord with the horsehead, see 5.18: 6]. My obeisances unto You, the slayer of Madhu and Kaithaba, unto the huge master tortoise [Kūrma, see 8.7 & 8] who held the mountain Mandara, and all glory to You in the form of the boar [Varāha, see 3.13] whose pleasure it was to lift the earth out of the ocean. (19) My obeisances to You, the amazing lion [Nrisimha, see 7.8 & 9] who removes the fear of every righteous soul, and to You who as the dwarf [Vāmana, see 8.18-21] covered the three worlds in one step. (20) All glories to You, the Lord of the descendants of Bhrigu [Paras'urāma, see 9.15 & 16] who cut down the forest of conceited nobles, and my obeisances to You, the best one of the Raghu dynasty [Lord Rāma, see 9.10 & 11] who put an end to Rāvana. (21) My obeisances to You, oh Lord of the Sātvatas, oh You who are Lord Vāsudeva [of His consciousness], Lord Sankarshana [of His ego], Lord Pradyumna [of His intelligence] and Lord Aniruddha [of His mind, see further 4.24: 35 & 36]. (22) My obeisances to Lord Buddha [He as the awakened One], the Pure One, the bewilderer of the demoniac descendants of Diti and Dānu. My respects for You in the form of Lord Kalki [the Lord descending 'for the wicked ones'], the annihilator of the meat-eaters [the mlecchas] who pose as kings [see also 2.7].

 (23) Oh Supreme Lord, the individual souls in this world are bewildered by Your deluding material energy [māyā], and are, because of the false conceptions of 'I' and 'mine' [asmitā], driven to wander along the paths of fruitive activities [karma]. (24) As for my own body, children, home, wife, wealth, followers and so on, I too am deluded in foolishly thinking that these would be true, oh Mighty One, while they are more like dream images [that come and go]. (25) Thus groping in the dark with a mentality of wishing to enjoy a world of opposites, I, in not being of the true self or what is eternal while taking misery for the contrary [of happiness], fail to know You who are my dearmost self and soul. (26) Like a fool overlooking water that is covered by plants, or like someone running after a mirage, I have turned away from You. (27) With a pitiable intelligence because of material desires and actions, I could not find the strength to check my disturbed mind which, by the so very powerful willful senses, was diverted from one thing to another [see B.G. 13: 1-4 & 5.11: 10].



(28) In this condition, I now approach Your feet that for any impure person, I think, are impossible to attain without Your mercy. Only by serving the truthful [of Your devotees, nature and culture, sat] a person can develop Your [Krishna] consciousness and put an end to the cycle of rebirth in this material world, oh Lord with the lotus navel. (29) I offer my obeisances to You, the Embodiment of Wisdom and the Source of All Forms of Knowledge, You, the Absolute Truth of unlimited potencies who rules over the forces in control of the [conditioned] person. (30) My reverence is there for You, the son of Vasudeva, in whom all living beings reside. You I prove my respect, oh Lord of the Senses, please protect me in my surrender, oh Master.'

 

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Third revised edition, loaded January 15, 2021.

 

 

 

 

 

Previous Aadhar edition and Vedabase links:

Text 1

S'rī Akrūra said: 'I bow down to You, oh Lord Nārāyana, Cause of All Causes, oh Original Inexhaustible Person, oh You from whose navel the lotus sprouted on the whorl of which Lord Brahmā appeared who generated this world.
S'rī Akrūra said: 'I bow down to You, o Cause of All Causes, Lord Nārāyana, o Original Inexhaustible Person from whose navel generated the lotus on the whorl of which Lord Brahmā appeared from whom came about this world. (Vedabase)

 

Text 2

Earth, water, fire, air, the ether including its source [the false ego]; the totality of matter [see footnote 10.13: ***] and its origin [the Purusha]; the mind, the senses, the objects of all the senses and the demigods [belonging to them], together constitute the [secondary] causes of the universe that have generated from Your [transcendental] body.

Earth, water, fire, air, ether and where that is from [the false ego]; the mystifying totality of matter [see footnote 10.13: ***] and her origin [the spirit], the mind, the senses, the objects of all the senses and the demigods are all the [separate secondary] causes of the universe that have generated from Your [transcendental] body. (Vedabase)

 

Text 3

They, under the [outer] direction of the material realm, have because of that lifelessness no knowledge about the true identity of the Supreme Self, Your Soul. Also the unborn one [Brahmā] being bound to the modes of material nature, cannot know Your form transcendental to these modes [see also 10.13: 40-56].

They, under the direction of the material realm, do because of its inertia not know the true identity of the Supreme Self, the Soul of You indeed; the unborn one [Brahmā] seized by the modes of material nature is bound to follow them; he does not know Your true form superior to the modes [see also 10.13: 40-56]. (Vedabase)

 

Text 4

It is to the honor of You that the yogis perform sacrifice, You, the Supreme Personality and Controller within each, within the material elements, and within the ruling gods and saints.

It is certainly for You, the Supreme Personality and Controller with oneself, with others, with the greater of nature and with the saints, that the yogis perform sacrifice. (Vedabase)

 

Text 5

Some brahmins worship You, with respect for the three sacred [agni-traya] fires, by means of the mantras of the three Vedas elaborately with various rituals for deities of different names and forms.

Some brahmins in respect of the three sacred [agni-traya] fires worship You by means of the mantras and the three Vedas elaborately with various rituals for demigods of different names and forms. (Vedabase)

 

Text 6

Some who strive for spiritual knowledge, attain peace by renouncing all fruitive actions and worship the embodiment of knowledge [the guru, the Lord] by means of sacrifices in the field of spiritual knowledge [see e.g. B.G. 4: 28, 17: 11-13, 18: 70].

Some in the pursuance of knowledge in resignation of all fruitive actions attain peace by the sacrifice of cultivating knowledge in worship of the embodiment of knowledge [the guru, the Lord; see e.g. B.G. 4: 28; 17: 11-13; 18: 70]. (Vedabase)


Text 7

Others, whose intelligence is purified by the principles [the vidhi] included by You, worship You, absorbed in You, as the one form assuming many forms.

And others, whose intelligence is purified through the principles [the vidhi] that You offer, worship You filled with thoughts about You as the one form that has many forms. (Vedabase)

 

Text 8

Still others worship You, the Supreme Lord, in the form of Lord S'iva, by treading the path described by Lord S'iva that in different ways is presented by many teachers.

Yet others worship also You, the Supreme Lord, by following the different presentations of many teachers to the form of S'iva in treading the path layed out by Lord S'iva. (Vedabase)

 

Text 9

Even though they as devotees of other divinities are of a different attention, they all worship You who, as the Controller, comprises all the gods [see B.G. 9: 23].

They all, even though they as devotees of other divinities have their attention elsewhere, do worship You who as the Controller comprises all the gods [see B.G. 9: 23]. (Vedabase)

 

Text 10

Just like the rivers that, filled by the rain and springing from the mountains, from all sides enter the ocean, oh master, similarly all these paths [of the demigods] finally lead to You [see B.G. 2: 70, 9: 23-25, 10: 24 and 11: 28].

Like the rivers that filled by the rain springing from the mountains from all sides enter the ocean, o master, do similarly all these paths [of the demigods] finally lead to You [see B.G. 2: 70; 9: 23-25, 10: 24 and 11: 28]. (Vedabase)

 

Text 11

All the conditioned living beings, from the unmoving ones up to Lord Brahmā, are caught in the qualities [gunas] of goodness [sattva], passion [rajas] and ignorance [tamas] of Your material nature [see B.G. 14].

All the conditioned living beings from the immobile up to Lord Brahmā are in this entangled in the qualities [gunas] of goodness [sattva], passion [rajas] and slowness [tamas] of Your material nature [see B.G. ch 14]. (Vedabase)

 

Text 12

I offer You, the Soul of All Souls my obeisances, You who, with a detached vision, are present as the witness and the consciousness of everyone, as He who, with this stream of the material modes which was created by Your lower energy, deals with the souls who identify themselves therewith as gods, human beings and animals.

My obeisances to You, aloof in Your vision, who as the consciousness and Soul of everyone and as the Witness to the flow of the material modes as constituted by Your lower energy, makes Your way among those presenting themselves as gods, humans and animals. (Vedabase)


Text 13-14

One considers fire as Your face, the earth as Your feet, the sun as Your eye, the sky as Your navel, and the directions as Your sense of hearing. Heaven is Your head, the ruling demigods are Your arms, the ocean is Your abdomen and the wind is Your vital air and physical strength. The trees and the plants are the hairs on Your body, the clouds are the hair on Your head and the mountains are the bones and nails of Your Supreme Being. Day and night are the blinking of Your eye, the founding father is Your genitals and the rain is regarded as Your semen [see e.g. also 2.6: 1-11].

One thinks of fire as Your face, earth as Your feet, the sun as Your eye, the sky as Your navel and the directions as Your sense of hearing; heaven is Your head, the ruling demigods are Your arms, the ocean is Your abdomen and the wind Your vital air and physical strength. The trees and the plants are the hairs on Your body, the clouds are the hair on Your head, the mountains are the bones and nails of the Supreme of You, day and night are the blinking of Your eye, the founding father is Your genitals and the rain is considered Your semen [see e.g. also 2.6: 1-11]. (Vedabase)

   

 Text 15

Just like the aquatics that move about in the water or the small insects in an udumbara fig, in You all the worlds found their origin, including their rulers and the many souls that crowd them, in You, their Inexhaustible One Personality comprising all mind and senses.

Within You, their Inexhaustible One Personality comprising all mind and senses, originated together with their rulers the worlds including the many souls that crowd them just like the aquatics that move about in the water or the small insects in an udumbara fig. (Vedabase)

 

Text 16

For the sake of Your pastimes You in this world manifest various forms, with which the people, to be purified from their unhappiness, full of joy sing Your glories.

For the sake of Your pastimes in this world You manifest various forms by whom the people, cleansed with them of their unhappiness, full of joy sing Your glories. (Vedabase)

 

Text 17-18

My respects for You, the Original Cause who in the form of Matsya [the fish, see 8.24] moved about in the ocean of dissolution and for Hayagrīva [the Lord with the horsehead, see 5.18: 6]. My obeisances unto You, the slayer of Madhu and Kaithaba, unto the huge master tortoise [Kūrma, see 8.7 & 8] who held the mountain Mandara, and all glory to You in the form of the boar [Varāha, see 3.13] whose pleasure it was to lift the earth out of the ocean.

My respects to You the Original Cause who in the form of Matsya [the fish, see 8.24] moved about in the ocean of dissolution and to Hayagrīva [the horsehead, see 5.18: 6]; my obeisances to You, the slayer of Madhu and Kaithaba; to the huge master tortoise [Kūrma, see 8.7 & 8] who held the mountain Mandara; my reverence and all hail to You in the form of the boar [Varāha, see 3.13] whose pleasure it was to lift up the earth from the ocean. (Vedabase)

 

Text 19

My obeisances to You, the amazing lion [Nrisimha, see 7.8 & 9] who removes the fear of every righteous soul, and to You who as the dwarf [Vāmana, see 8.18-21] covered the three worlds in one step.

Obeisances to You the amazing lion [Nrisimha, see 7.8 & 9], o Remover of the fear of the saintly wherever they are and to You who as the dwarf [Vāmana, see 8.18-21] stepped over the three worlds. (Vedabase)

  

Text 20

All glories to You, the Lord of the descendants of Bhrigu [Paras'urāma, see 9.15 & 16] who cut down the forest of conceited nobles, and my obeisances to You, the best one of the Raghu dynasty [Lord Rāma, see 9.10 & 11] who put an end to Rāvana.

All honor to You, the Lord of the descendants of Bhrigu [Paras'urāma, see 9.15 & 16] who cut down the forest of conceited nobles and my obesicances to You the best of the Raghu-dynasty [Lord Rāma, see 9.10 & 11] who has put an end to Rāvana. (Vedabase)

 

Text 21

My obeisances to You, oh Lord of the Sātvatas, oh You who are Lord Vāsudeva [of His consciousness], Lord Sankarshana [of His ego], Lord Pradyumna [of His intelligence] and Lord Aniruddha [of His mind, see further 4.24: 35 & 36].

My obeisances to You Lord Vāsudeva, my obeisances to the Lord of the Sātvatas and to Lord Sankarshana [His in ego], Pradyumna [His in intelligence] and Aniruddha [His in mind, see further 4.24: 35 & 36]. (Vedabase)

 

Text 22

My obeisances to Lord Buddha [He as the awakened One], the Pure One, the bewilderer of the demoniac descendants of Diti and Dānu. My respects for You in the form of Lord Kalki [the Lord descending 'for the wicked ones'], the annihilator of the meat-eaters [the mlecchas] who pose as kings [see also 2.7].

My obeisances to Lord Buddha [He as the awakened], the Pure One, the bewilderer of the demoniac descendants of Diti and Dānu and my respects for You in the form of Lord Kalki [the Lord to come 'for the foul'] the annihilator of the offensive meat-eaters [mlecchas] posing for kings [see also 2.7]. (Vedabase)

 

Text 23

Oh Supreme Lord, the individual souls in this world are bewildered by Your deluding material energy [māyā], and are, because of the false conceptions of 'I' and 'mine' [asmitā], driven to wander along the paths of fruitive activities [karma].

O Supreme Lord, the individual souls in this world are bewildered by Your deluding material energy [māyā] and are to the false conceptions of 'I' and 'mine' [asmitā] made to wander along the paths of fruitive activities [karma]. (Vedabase)

 

Text 24

As for my own body, children, home, wife, wealth, followers and so on, I too am deluded in foolishly thinking that these would be true, oh Mighty One, while they are more like dream images [that come and go].

Also I am, concerning my body, children, home, wife, wealth, followers and so on, deluded in foolishly thinking that they, being more like a dream, would be true, o Mighty One. (Vedabase)


Text 25

Thus groping in the dark with a mentality of wishing to enjoy a world of opposites, I, in not being of the true self or what is eternal while taking misery for the contrary [of happiness], fail to know You who are my dearmost self and soul.

Taking pleasure in the temporal that is not the real self and in [things that are factually] sources of misery have I with a mind of thinking to the contrary lusted in duality and have I, absorbed in ignorance, failed to recognize You as the One most dear to me. (Vedabase)


Text 26

Like a fool overlooking water that is covered by plants, or like someone running after a mirage, I have turned away from You.

Like a fool overlooking water covered by the plants growing in it and like someone running after a mirage, have I the same way turned away from You. (Vedabase)

 

Text 27

With a pitiable intelligence because of material desires and actions, I could not find the strength to check my disturbed mind which, by the so very powerful willful senses, was diverted from one thing to another [see B.G. 13: 1-4 & 5.11: 10].

I, with a of desires and profitminded labor pitiable intelligence, couldn't find the strength to check my disturbed mind that by the so very powerful, willfull senses was dragged from here to there [see B.G. B.G. 13: 1-4, picture & 5.11: 10]. (Vedabase)

 

Text 28

In this condition, I now approach Your feet that for any impure person, I think, are impossible to attain without Your mercy. Only by serving the truthful [of Your devotees, nature and culture, sat] a person can develop Your [Krishna-]consciousness and put an end to the cycle of rebirth in this material world, oh Lord with the lotus navel.

Being so am I approaching Your feet that - as also is the case with Your mercy - are impossible to attain for the ones impure, o Lord. And to that I keep in mind that, when it of a person happens that his wandering in the material world comes to a stop, the [stable] consciousness will develop by worship of the true [the devotees, association, teachers, scriptures and natural time] of You, whose navel is like a lotus. (Vedabase)

 

Text 29

I offer my obeisances to You, the Embodiment of Wisdom and the Source of All Forms of Knowledge, You, the Absolute Truth of unlimited potencies who rules over the forces in control of the [conditioned] person.

My obeisances to the Embodiment of Wisdom, the Source of All Forms of Knowledge, to Him, the Absolute Truth of unlimited potencies, who predominates over the forces that control the person. (Vedabase)

 

Text 30

My reverence is there for You, the son of Vasudeva, in whom all living beings reside. You I prove my respect, oh Lord of the Senses, please protect me in my surrender, oh Master.'

My reverence for You the son of Vasudeva, in whom all living beings reside and my homage o Lord of the Senses to You; please protect me, o Master, in my being surrendered.' (Vedabase)

 

 

 

 

 

Creative Commons
                License
The text and audio are offered under the conditions of the
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
The painting is Pahari (Himalaya) and titled: "Akrura is amazed by his visions of the Lord Vishnu being one
and the same as Krishna and Balarāma", 18th century. Courtesy by
Shri Nathji's Galleries.
Production:
Filognostic Association of The Order of Time.

 

 

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