Category: SrimadBhagavatam

Harayē namah.

Lord Brahma continued, “O Supreme Lord! As long as the person refuses to seek shelter in Your lotus feet he is always anxious and fearful. When he in possession of house, wealth, family, friends and power, he worries for their safety. When they are lost he laments a lot. Excessive greed, jealously and extreme self-centeredness do not leave him. Until he seeks shelter in Your lotus feet the false-ego and pride which cause feelings of ‘me and mine’ in him cannot be destroyed. These feelings are the root for all his fears and anxieties.

Chanting Your holy names and listening to Your divine glories drives away all forms of inauspiciousness. Yet, unfortunate persons who lack the right wisdom lead their lives controlled by their senses, which are opposed towards good deeds. A mind that is completely under the control of desires loses its freedom. Such piteous human beings will eternally strive only for those trivial joys that sensory, sensual pleasures bestow. They engage constantly in inauspicious deeds.

O Lord who possesses infinite energy! O Lord Achyuta! These human beings are eternally tormented by extreme hunger and thirst, diseases caused due to the imbalance of vata, pitta and other dośās in the body, the fire called extreme lustful desires, intense heat, severe cold, strong winds, rain and uncontrollable anger. To add to this, they inflict pain upon each other. My mind deeply grieves seeing them suffer.

O Ishwara! Your all-pervasive illusory power, which resides within human being in the form of his senses and within this external visible world in the form of the subtle sense perceptions such as sound, touch, form, taste and smell, entraps the living entity completely. The individual who is thus bound, while experiencing the consequences of his earlier fruitive deeds, continues to endlessly rotate in the wheel of repeated births and deaths.

This illusory unreal world brings untold suffering to the individual. These worldly bondages do not get destroyed in the person until he realizes his true Self, which is distinct from the body and the senses but which is not distinct from the Supreme Lord.

O Lord! Any person, including a sage, who is not desirous of listening to Your divine glories, engages his mind and senses in various activities during the day and suffers with resultant difficulties. Due to the force of the various desires that are filled in his mind and intellect, at night such person is unable to sleep. These desires trouble him in the form of dreams. Hence even for a second he are unable to go into deep sleep.

Such persons eternally put in efforts to earn wealth, vehicles, gold, house and other materialistic objects. Nevertheless, divine will creates obstacles in their path. Those devoid of devotion cannot be happy even in worldly matters. In this way they constantly rotate in this repeated cycle of re-births.

Tvaṁ bhakti-yoga-paribhāvita-hṛt-saroja

Āsse śrutekṣita-patho nanu nātha puṁsām

Yad-yad-dhiyā ta urugāya vibhāvayanti

Tat-tad-vapuḥ praṇayase sad-anugrahāya

O Lord of pure reputation! By listening to Your divine glories, the path to reach You will be known. When the devotee due to his devotion purifies his heart, You undoubtedly go and reside therein. In order to bless the saintly devotees, You manifest in those forms in which they eternally contemplate upon You. You, the non-dual Supreme Essence, reside within every being in the form of their inner Self and through this You cause their welfare.

Even if celestials, who seek fulfillment of their desires, worship You ostentatiously You are not pleased.  But You are quickly pleased when devotees display feelings of compassion towards all forms of life. Non devotees or evil minded persons can never develop feelings of love and compassion towards all forms of life.

For this reason, human beings should perform Yagna and other sacrificial Vedic rituals, intense austerities and participate in charitable deeds with the desire to obtain Your grace. This is the ultimate result of all good meritorious activities. This is because at no point of time dharma that belongs to You will go for a waste.

O Supreme form of knowledge! With your pure energy, you permanently remove feelings of duality that taint human minds. Creation, sustenance and annihilation which are the transcendental activities of illusory power are nothing but Your sports. You are the Lord of the universe. Again and again I offer my prayerful obeisance to You, O Lord!

yasyāvatāra-guṇa-karma-viḍambanāni nāmāni ye ’su-vigame vivaśā gṛṇanti

te ’naika-janma-śamalaṁ sahasaiva hitvā saṁyānty apāvṛtāmṛtaṁ tam ajaṁ prapadye

Sins of innumerable births get destroyed in the person who, although surviving on external support, at the time of death consciously or unconsciously recollects the divine names of the Lord that extol His supremacy, qualities and activities. Their veil of ignorance is totally shred and they attain supreme liberation. In such a Supreme Lord I seek refuge.

The Lord who is beyond comparison has divided the illusory power, which is dependent upon him, into traits of purity (sattva), action (rajas) and inertia (tamas). Using these traits as His carrier He has incarnated in three forms of Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra. In these three forms He handles the tasks of creation, sustenance and annihilation of the worlds.

This illusory power further undergoes transformation and becomes the basis (carrier) for existence of Marichi, Manu and other Prajapatis (leaders). In this way, with the Trinity as the trunk and Prajapatis as its various branches, the Supreme Lord has manifested in the form of the tree called the universe. To such a Lord I offer my obeisance.

The swadharma called ‘worshipping the Almighty’ brings auspiciousness to human beings. However in persons who, due to negligence towards this swadharama, indulge in sinful deeds, the powerful time truncates their plans and their desire for longevity. In other words, such persons will have a short lifespan. Time is supremely powerful. To the Lord who manifests as eternal time, I offer my obeisance.

Brahma-loka is that supreme plane which is revered by all the other planes of existence. This loka has a span of two parārthas. One parārtha is 1000 maha-yugas. One parārtha is the daytime for Brahma. I, who am the leader for this Brahma-loka, also fear this time”.

Haraye namah.

Upendrāya namah.

The Supreme Lord’s body was glowing luminously due to the radiance of His multi-coloured clothing and glittering jewellery. The toe-nails on His lotus feet were gleaming like Moon-rays. His toes appeared like tender lotus petals. In order to fulfill their varied desires, human beings worship this Supreme Lord in various methods as prescribed by the Vedas. These lotus feet fulfill the desires of all such beings.

His charming and pleasing face dispels grief. His pleasing face gleams brightly with its delicate nose, beautiful eyebrows and glittering earrings that delicately move. His red lower lip shines like the red bimba fruit. With such pleasant face He looks at devotees who reverentially worship Him.

Kadamba-kiñjalka-piśaṅga-vāsasā svalaṅkṛtaṁ mekhalayā nitambe

Hāreṇa cānanta-dhanena vatsa śrīvatsa-vakṣaḥsthala-vallabhena

His waist shines resplendently with yellow clothing that resembles the yellow dust of the Kadamba flowers and with His waist belt. The mark called śrivatsa decorates His chest. The beautiful garland that adorns His neck adds to His beauty.

This primordial cause of the universe is like the supreme sandalwood tree. He is like the tree called the universe. His long arms are like the long branches of that tree. The armlets and other jewels that adorn His arms are like fruits and flowers that adorn the branches. This tree is visible only due to supreme grace and it appears to contain the primary mother root. With arms that appear like the inter-twined hoods of serpent Adishesha, He appears like the sandalwood tree that is a shelter to snakes.

This Lord who is surrounded by the turbulent waters of dissolution, appeared like a mountain submerged in the water. Mountains are the refuge for trees, creepers, animals, birds and other entities. The Supreme Lord is the shelter for the entire universe consisting of moving and non-moving entities. Just as mountains offer shelter for the large snakes, this Lord appeared to be a relative of the eminent snake Adishesha.

On each of its hoods Adishesha has innumerable gems that glitter like golden mountain peaks. It is a well known fact that mountains are the storehouse of gems. As the Lord appears like a luminous golden mountain, on His waist the Kausthuba gem illumines exquisitely.

Just as bees encircle flowers, Vedas encircle the bright Vanamāla garland that adorns His neck and they render profusely His glories. The Sun, Moon, Fire and other luminous objects fade completely in front of His divine luster. Wind does not even dare to approach Him. Even Sudarshana and other weapons that encircle Him, and prevent even that being who has performed intense penance in all the three worlds and in all the three periods of time from seeing Him, are afraid to approach Him. There is nothing that approaches Him.

At that moment to Lord Brahma who had the intense desire to create the worlds and the knowledge necessary for the same, only the lotus which had emerged from the navel of that Supreme Lord, his own body, the gigantic waters, the devastating winds of dissolution and space were visible. Nothing apart from these five was visible.

Brahma’s mind was filled with the traits of action (rajo guna). He was determined to understand the playful transcendental activities of māya. He desired to create living beings through different methods. As he began to investigate the primary principles pertaining to creation, the above mentioned five elements were visible to him. He then prayed to Lord Srihari.

With this the eight chapter of the third canto comes to an end.

Third Canto Chapter Nine

In this chapter Brahma worshipping Lord Srihari and Srihari bestowing boons upon Brahma are covered.

Brahma prayed to Lord Srihari, “O Supreme Lord! After this very long period of time I have come to know You. The living beings, who consider that they are nothing but material body are truly unfortunate, for they cannot see You. There is nothing apart from You! That which appears to exist is not real. It is all an illusion. Due to the turbulence caused by Your illusory power consisting of the three attributes, You appear as many. You alone are real. You are the truth.

Rūpaṁ yad etad avabodha-rasodayena śaśvan-nivṛtta-tamasaḥ sad-anugrahāya

Ādau gṛhītam avatāra-śataika-bījaṁ yan-nābhi-padma-bhavanād aham āvirāsam

As You inherently illumine, spiritual ignorance which is in the form of darkness stays away from You. For the purpose of blessing noble beings, You have accepted this form. This form of Yours is the primary cause for the many hundreds and thousands of incarnations of Yours. From this form of Yours a lotus was born. From that lotus I emerged.

O Lord who is beyond Nature (Prakriti)! O form of the Self! The veil called ignorance cannot envelop Your power of illumination. Your bliss is beyond all forms of differentiation. I believe that this visible form of Yours is in no way different from it.

This form of Yours, which is beyond any form of comparison, eternally remains over and above the manifested worlds although it is the cause for the manifestation. I surrender to this form of Yours, which is superior and far more powerful than all the elements and the senses.

O well-wisher of the universe! In order to bless me, your ardent devotee, You have appeared to me in this form during my meditation. O Supreme Lord! Again and again I offer my obeisance to You.

The ignorant human beings have extreme attachment and desire towards this material world which is created by Your illusionary energy. They are dedicated towards wasteful speech. Wasting time in unnecessary arguments and debates, they fail to understand You. Due to negligence shown towards You they end up in hell.

O Lord! The Vedas extol the greatness of Your lotus feet in varied ways. Through the ear holes, ardent devotees smell the aroma of Your lotus feet, which is carried by the wind called the Vedas and relish them joyfully. With their devotion they tie down Your lotus feet. You will never distance from the lotus hearts of such devotees. You will never stay away from ardent devotees”.

Janārdhanāya namah.

Achyutāya namah

Vidura wanted to know how actions and traits arose in the Supreme Lord who inherently is devoid of action and traits.

In a very pleasing manner coupled with humility Vidura continued, “Children enthusiastically out of their free will play with toys. Together with their playmates and with toys scattered all around them, they are totally immersed in the game. The Lord on the other hand is ever-content. When nothing apart from him exists, how can it be said that he wants to play and hence put in efforts in that direction? To say that attributes arose in Him and that He created this world solely for his playful enjoyments is not logical. Therefore please clear this doubt of mine.

You had said that using His illusionary energy comprising of the trigunas as a tool, the Supreme Lord created this universe. With that same energy He sustains it and once again absorbs it back into Himself. This Lord, who is Pure Consciousness, is beyond our understanding. Such Pure Consciousness can have no deficiency either inherently or due to circumstance, place or time. How could such Lord associate with spiritual ignorance or illusion?

Bhagavān eka evaiṣa sarva-kṣetreṣv avasthitaḥ 

The Supreme Lord is non-dual. There is absolutely no object different from Him or equal to Him. Such a Lord resides within every heart as the ruler. What is the reason for this Lord, who is the ruler within every heart, to distance himself from His inherent blissful nature and get entangled in sorrows and actions?

O learned great saint! With your answers, please pacify my mind which having got entangled in difficulties is submerged in sorrows. Please dispel my grief”- said Vidura.

Hearing these questions put forth by Vidura, Maharishi Maitreya who was devoid of ahamkāra (sense of I-ness), prayed to the Lord and then with a tender smile replied, “O Vidura! The Supreme Lord, who is eternally free, appears as the bound individual entangled in sufferings. Please understand that this mutually exclusive situation is purely His illusion.

Just because a person sees his head being cut-off during a dream, it is not true. Likewise, even though the individual entity is not bound he considers himself to be bound. As such he sees himself as different from his original form. Such thinking itself is spiritual ignorance (ajnana).

Although the reflection of the Moon seen in the pond appears to move, in reality it is water that moves and not the Moon. Likewise although the Self is unconnected with the attributes of the body, senses and other non-Self objects, it appears as if they exist in it.

Sa vai nivṛtti-dharmeṇa vāsudevānukampayā

Bhagavad-bhakti-yogena tirodhatte śanair iha 

The person who, instead of walking on the path of worldly expansion (pravṛtti marga), decides to walk on the path of return (nivrtti marga) and significantly acquires the Yoga called ‘intense devotion towards Lord’ and through it obtains the grace of Lord Vasudeva, will step by step lose his spiritual ignorance and will attain Self-knowledge.

Spiritual ignorance (avidya), egoism (sense of I-ness), attachment (rāga), hatred (dweśa) and the desire to continue living (abhiniveśa, fear of death) are five kinds of afflictions that taint the human mind. At that moment when the person withdraws the senses (indriyas) from their worldly bondages and together with the mind merges them into the Supreme Lord, these afflictions will be washed away.

Aśeṣa-saṅkleśa-śamaṁ vidhatte guṇānuvāda-śravaṇaṁ murāreḥ

Kutah punas tac-caraṇāravinda- parāga-sevā-ratir ātma-labdhā

By singing the glories of the Supreme Lord Srihari or by listening to them, afflictions and impurities are totally washed away”.

Hearing this, Vidura further questioned, “O great saint! Like a sharp sword your answers have shred all my doubts. My mind has grasped matters pertaining to the Supreme Lord’s independence; individual being’s dependence; the imaginary bondages and the eternal-true liberation. O great saint! You have explained the subject wonderfully.

The Supreme Lord’s illusory power is responsible for the afflictions that taint human mind. Spiritual ignorance is the cause behind perceiving a non-existing world as existing. Only two categories of people are happy in this world – absolute fools and the Self-realized wise beings. All other beings that are trapped between these two states eternally grieve and suffer. This is my opinion.

That which is non-Self (anatma) can never be true and permanent. O Mahatma! Holding on to your feet I am obtaining the spiritual knowledge. Through this I will discard my spiritual ignorance. By serving your lotus feet, O Guru, I will develop intense love towards the lotus feet of Lord Srihari. Through this nectarous love towards Him, my afflictions will be driven away.

It is through the help of Mahatmas that one can reach Srihari. Through trivial penance performed one cannot obtain the chance to serve the holy feet of great saints. It is impossible. In the precincts of great saints, glories of the Supreme Lord Srihari are eternally sung.

At the beginning of creation, the Supreme Lord who pervades all the principles of creation, created the Mahat tattva (cosmic intelligence), the five basic elements and other principles. Through their fractional aspects He caused the Universal form to manifest. Thereafter, He entered this Universal form as intelligence and also resided within it.

This Universal Lord is the primordial being (ādi Puruśa). Mahatmas state that He has limitless legs, hands, heads, thighs etc. All the various vast universes exist within Him. The senses, sound and other qualities of these senses, their presiding deities as well as the 10 types of prāṇā (life-force) also exist within Him. Alphabets also emerged from Him.

In this manner You had kindly explained to me the Universal form. Now please be compassionate to explain His glories.

Innumerable forms of living beings together with their innumerably vast, extended families exist within this gigantic Universal Lord. This entire creation is filled with living beings. This Universal Lord is the leader for all Prajapatis such as Marichi and others.

How, when and in which order did this Lord create the Prajapatis? How did He create the Lords of the various periods known as Manvantaras? How did the smaller periods of creation emerge?”

Achyutāya namah.