S'rî
Parîkchit said: 'O brahmin, how can the sacred texts
[the s'ruti,
the Vedas], dealing with the different modes of nature,
express themselves about the inexpressible
[*]
Absolute Truth that is elevated above cause [the
subtle] and effect [the gross]?'
S'rî
Parîkshit said: O brâhmana, how can the Vedas
directly describe the Supreme Absolute Truth, who cannot be
described in words? The Vedas are limited to describing the
qualities of material nature, but the Supreme is devoid of
these qualities, being transcendental to all material
manifestations and their causes. (Vedabase)
Text
2
S'rî
S'uka said: 'The intelligence, senses, mind and life force of
the living beings were by their Lord and Master evolved for the
sake of the sensual, for the sake of getting a life and for the
sake of the [emancipation of the] soul and its ultimate
liberation.
S'ukadeva
Gosvâmî said: The Supreme Lord manifested the
material intelligence, senses, mind and vital air of the
living entities so that they could indulge their desires for
sense gratification, take repeated births to engage in
fruitive activities, become elevated in future lives and
ultimately attain liberation. (Vedabase)
Text
3
This
same philosophical exercise concerning the Absolute Truth was
observed by the predecessors
[like the Kumâras] of our predecessors [like
Nârada]. Whoever with faith concentrates upon it will
be free from material attachment and attain peace and
tranquility [see also 8.24:
38].
Those
who came before even our ancient predecessors meditated upon
this same confidential knowledge of the Absolute Truth.
Indeed, anyone who faithfully concentrates on this knowledge
will become free from material attachments and attain the
final goal of life. (Vedabase)
Text
4
For
this purpose will I relate to you an account concerning Lord
Nârâyana. It concerns a conversation between
Nârâyana Rishi and Nârada
Muni.
In
this connection I will relate to you a narration concerning
the Supreme Lord Nârâyana. It is about a
conversation that once occurred between S'rî
Nârâyana Rishi and Nârada Muni.
(Vedabase)
Text
5
Once
went the Supreme Lord's beloved Nârada as he was
traveling the worlds, for a visit to the âs'rama
of the Eternal Seer Nârâyana.
Once,
while traveling among the various planets of the universe,
the Lord's beloved devotee Nârada went to visit the
primeval sage Nârâyana at His âs'rama.
(Vedabase)
Text
6
From the
beginning of Brahmâ's day has He
[Nârâyana Rishi], just for the welfare in
this and the next life of the human beings who abide by
dharma,
jñâna
and self-control, in Bhârata-varsha been performing
penances [see kalpa].
From
the very beginning of Brahmâ's day Lord
Nârâyana Rishi has been undergoing austere
penances in this land of Bhârata while perfectly
performing religious duties and exemplifying spiritual
knowledge and self- control - all for the benefit of human
beings in both this world and the next. (Vedabase)
Text
7
Having
arrived there bowed he down to Him who sat there surrounded by
sages of Kalâpa, the village where He resided, and asked
he this very same question, o best of the Kurus.
There
Nârada approached Lord Nârâyana Rishi, who
was sitting amidst sages of the village of Kalâpa.
After bowing down to the Lord, O hero of the Kurus,
Nârada asked Him the very same question you have asked
me. (Vedabase)
Text
8
As
the seers were listening related the Supreme Lord this ancient
discussion about the Absolute Truth among the inhabitants of
the world of the mortals [Janaloka].
As
the sages listened, Lord Nârâyana Rishi related
to Nârada an ancient discussion about the Absolute
Truth that took place among the residents of Janaloka.
(Vedabase)
Text
9
The
Supreme Lord said: 'O son of the self-born Lord
[Brahmâ], in the past was there, among the ones
residing in the world of the mortals, a sacrifice held for the
sake of which the [ûrdhva-retah]
celibate sages who had found their life in Brahmâ [-
who were born from him -] exercised their
spirituality.
The
Personality of Godhead said: O son of self-born
Brahmâ, once long ago on Janaloka, wise sages who
resided there performed a great sacrifice to the Absolute
Truth by vibrating transcendental sounds. These sages,
mental sons of Brahmâ, were all perfect celibates.
(Vedabase)
Text
10
With
you having left for
S'vetadvîpa
to see the
Lord, ensued about Him [Vishnu in the function of
Aniruddha] in whom the Vedas lay down to rest [after
the dissolution of the material world], indeed a lively
exposition which brought up the question that you now again are
asking Me.
At
that time you happened to be visiting the Lord on
S'vetadvîpa - that Supreme Lord in whom the Vedas lie
down to rest during the period of universal annihilation. A
lively discussion arose among the sages on Janaloka as to
the nature of the Supreme Absolute Truth. Indeed, the same
question arose then that you are asking Me now.
(Vedabase)
Text
11
Even though
they were equally qualified from their penance and their study
of the s'ruti and equal to friends, foes and neutrals,
appointed they one of them as their speaker while the rest
eagerly listened.'
Although
these sages were all equally qualified in terms of Vedic
study and austerity, and although they all saw friends,
enemies and neutral parties equally, they chose one of their
number to be the speaker, and the rest became eager
listeners. (Vedabase)
Text
12-13
S'rî
Sanandana said: 'When He after having created this universe
relating to its disolution withdrew and was lying asleep,
awakened the Vedas in person the Supreme One with descriptions
of His characteristics,
the same way a sleeping king by his court poets is awakened as
they as his servants approach him at dawn with
[reciting] his heroic deeds.
S'rî
Sanandana, replied: After the Supreme Lord withdrew the
universe He had previously created, He lay for some time as
if asleep, and all His energies rested dormant within Him.
When the time came for the next creation, the personified
Vedas awakened Him by chanting His glories, just as the
poets serving a king approach him at dawn and awaken him by
reciting his heroic deeds. (Vedabase)
Text
14
The Vedas said:
'All glories, all glories to You, please o Unconquerable One
defeat the eternal illusion that assumed the form of the modes
and creates the detrimental. Because You at times engage
Yourself with the from Your inner self springing energies of
the embodied ones who move and not move about, can You by us,
the Vedas, be appreciated who in Your original status are
complete in all opulences [**].
The
s'rutis said: Victory, victory to You, O
unconquerable one! By Your very nature You are perfectly
full in all opulences; therefore please defeat the eternal
power of illusion, who assumes control over the modes of
nature to create difficulties for conditioned souls. O You
who awaken all the energies of the moving and nonmoving
embodied beings, sometimes the Vedas can recognize You as
You sport with Your material and spiritual potencies.
(Vedabase)
Text
15
This
world is by the seers regarded
as being the end product of a greater complete [of
brahman],
for it is like with clay that in transformation leads to forms
that dissolve again but itself doesn't change. For that reason
dedicated the seers their minds, words and actions to You.
Where else could the footsteps of men be placed than on the
ground they are walking [see also 6.16:
22,
11.24:
18 and B.G.
7:
20-25]?
This
perceivable world is identified with the Supreme because the
Supreme Brahman is the ultimate foundation of all existence,
remaining unchanged as all created things are generated from
it and at last dissolved into it, just as clay remains
unchanged by the products made from it and again merged with
it. Thus it is toward You alone that the Vedic sages direct
all their thoughts, words and acts. After all, how can the
footsteps of men fail to touch the earth on which they live?
(Vedabase)
Text
16
Thus do Your
people of enlightenment o Master of All the Three Worlds, rid
themselves of their troubles by diving deep into the ocean of
the nectar of the narrations [the kathâ]
that eradicates the contamination. No wonder then that they who
by the power of their own minds dispelled the qualities of the
temporal O Supreme One, in their worship experience the
uninterrupted happiness of Your abode.
Therefore,
O master of the three worlds, the wise get rid of all misery
by diving deep into the nectarean ocean of topics about You,
which washes away all the contamination of the universe.
Then what to speak of those who, having by spiritual
strength rid their minds of bad habits and freed themselves
from time, are able to worship Your true nature, O supreme
one, finding within it uninterrupted bliss?
(Vedabase)
Text
17
They who only
displace air as they breathe [see B.G. 18:
61] are
really alive when they are Your faithful followers, for You,
elevated above cause and effect, are the underlying reality
from Whose mercy the universal egg of the material complete,
the separate existence and the other aspects and material
elements of the person were produced [see
3.26:
51-53].
According the particular forms that furthermore were
manifested, You appear as the Ultimate Form among the more or
less material, physical coverings [the kos'as
and B.G. 18:
54].
Only
if they become Your faithful followers are those who breathe
actually alive, otherwise their breathing is like that of a
bellows. It is by Your mercy alone that the elements,
beginning with the mahat-tattva and false ego, created the
egg of this universe. Among the manifestations known as
anna-maya and so forth, You are the ultimate one, entering
within the material coverings along with the living entity
and assuming the same forms as those he takes. Distinct from
the gross and subtle material manifestations, You are the
reality underlying them all. (Vedabase)
Text
18
According
the standards of
the seers are they who are engrossed in their vision of worship
for the abdomen [the lower centers] and fix the
Ârunis
[the superior yogis] first of all their attention on
the prânic knot of the subtle energies [see
cakra]
of the heart, after which they, o Unlimited One, go upward to
the head which is Your abode and next go to the highest
destination from which they, once they reached it, never fall
down again into the mouth of death [see also B.G.
8:
16].
Among
the followers of the methods set forth by great sages, those
with less refined vision worship the Supreme as present in
the region of the abdomen, while the Ârunis worship
Him as present in the heart, in the subtle center from which
all the prânic channels emanate. From there, O
unlimited Lord, these worshipers raise their consciousness
upward to the top of the head, where they can perceive You
directly. Then, passing through the top of the head toward
the supreme destination, they reach that place from which
they will never again fall to this world, into the mouth of
death. (Vedabase)
Text
19
Apparently
as their motivator [pro or contra] entering the by You
differently created species of life, do You depending the
situation in Your own creation become visible about the way
fire manifests itself [depending the form ignited]. You
thus being among them as the real [equal to itself and
eternal] among the unreal [variegated expansion that is
temporal] are by the ones who are connected to Your
manifestation and
not being entangled have spotless minds, understood as being
one [unchanging, permanent] state of love [see also
B.G. 2:
12].
Apparently
entering among the variegated species of living beings You
have created, You inspire them to act, manifesting Yourself
according to their higher and lower positions, just as fire
manifests differently according to the shape of what it
burns. Therefore those of spotless intelligence, who are
altogether free from material attachments, realize Your
undifferentiated, unchanging Self to be the permanent
reality among all these impermanent life forms.
(Vedabase)
Text
20
The
person within the
bodies he owes to his own activities is in fact as an expansion
of You, the possessor of all energies so it is said [by the
Vedas], not of the external [the gross body, the
deha],
nor of the internal [the subtle body, the
linga]
but [by these bodies] enveloped. And so do, once they
have developed faith ascertaining the status of the living
entity as being manifested in this manner, the ones learned in
the sacred precepts worship Your feet as the source of
liberation and field in which all offerings are
sown.
The
individual living entity, while inhabiting the material
bodies he has created for himself by his karma, actually
remains uncovered by either gross or subtle matter. This is
so because, as the Vedas describe, he is part and parcel of
You, the possessor of all potencies. Having determined this
to be the status of the living entity, learned sages become
imbued with faith and worship Your lotus feet, to which all
Vedic sacrifices in this world are offered, and which are
the source of liberation. (Vedabase)
Text
21
By
diving deep into the vast ocean of nectar of the pastimes of
the forms You assumed in order to propagate the hard to grasp
principle of the soul, do the few who found relief from the
fatigue [of a material life] not even wish to be
liberated from this world, o Lord. This is so because they,
abandoning their homes, found association with the community of
the swans [the transcendental people] at Your lotus
feet [see e.g.
4.24:
58,
4.30:
33,
5.12:
16,
5.13:
21,
7.6:
17-18,
7.14:
3-4].
My
Lord, some fortunate souls have gotten relief from the
fatigue of material life by diving into the vast nectar
ocean of Your pastimes, which You enact when You manifest
Your personal forms to propagate the unfathomable science of
the self. These rare souls, indifferent even to liberation,
renounce the happiness of home and family because of their
association with devotees who are like flocks of swans
enjoying at the lotus of Your feet. (Vedabase)
Text
22
This body
useful for serving You acts as one's self, one's friend and
beloved. However, even though You, favorably disposed as their
very Self, are helpful and affectionate, do they who alas fail
to delight in You rather find the degradation of the physical
frame [in successive births], suicidal as they are in
their worship of the unreal when they time and again fail to
find their way with their existential fears [see also
B.G.
16: 19].
When
this human body is used for Your devotional service, it acts
as one's self, friend and beloved. But unfortunately,
although You always show mercy to the conditioned souls and
affectionately help them in every way, and although You are
their true Self, people in general fail to delight in You.
Instead they commit spiritual suicide by worshiping
illusion. Alas, because they persistently hope for success
in their devotion to the unreal, they continue to wander
about this greatly fearful world, assuming various degraded
bodies. (Vedabase)
Text
23
That
what by the sages with their breathing, mind and senses
brought under
control in steadfast yoga is worshiped in the heart, is also
attained by the ones who remember You in enmity [see also
3.2:
24 and
10.74:
46].
Similarly will we attain You and relish the same nectar of the
lotus feet as the women enjoy [the gopîs, the
wives] who in their mind and with their eyes are attracted
to Your arms that are as firm as mighty snake
bodies.
Simply
by constantly thinking of Him, the enemies of the Lord
attained the same Supreme Truth whom sages fixed in yoga
worship by controlling their breath, mind and senses.
Similarly, we s'rutis, who generally see You as
all-pervading, will achieve the same nectar from Your lotus
feet that Your consorts are able to relish because of their
loving attraction to Your mighty, serpentine arms, for You
look upon us and Your consorts in the same way.
(Vedabase)
Text
24
Ah,
who out here who but recently was born and soon will die has an
inkling who the first one would be from whom arose the seer
[Brahmâ]
after whom followed the two groups of demigods [to the
senses and the principles. See B.G.
7: 26]?
When He lies down to withdraw is there at that time neither the
gross, nor the subtle, nor that [the bodies] comprising
both; nor is there the flow of Time or are the
S'âstras
there [B.G.
9: 7].
Everyone
in this world has recently been born and will soon die. So
how can anyone here know Him who existed prior to everything
else and who gave rise to the first learned sage,
Brahmâ, and all subsequent demigods, both lesser and
greater? When He lies down and withdraws everything within
Himself, nothing else remains - no gross or subtle matter or
bodies composed of these, no force of time or revealed
scripture. (Vedabase)
Text
25
They
who teaching with authority declare that life springs from dead
matter and that there would be finality to the eternal
[see
B.G.
2: 16],
that the soul wouldn't be one [see 10.14:
9] and
that the duality of mundane business is something real [see
B.G.
17: 28],
are mistaken in their from ignorance born dualistic conception
that the living entity thus would be produced from the three
modes [only without You, their Oneness Beyond, see B.G.
14:
19 and
13:
28]; that
is what one gets when one concerning such transcendental
matters is not of [knowledge with] You, the Essence of
Full Perception [see also 5.6:
9-11].
Supposed
authorities who declare that matter is the origin of
existence, that the permanent qualities of the soul can be
destroyed, that the self is compounded of separate aspects
of spirit and matter, or that material transactions
constitute reality - all such authorities base their
teachings on mistaken ideas that hide the truth. The
dualistic conception that the living entity is produced from
the three modes of nature is simply a product of ignorance.
Such a conception has no real basis in You, for You are
transcendental to all illusion and always enjoy perfect,
total awareness. (Vedabase)
Text
26
The
[temporal of forms and thus the] untrue threefold and
its [mind-]phenomena up to the human beings, appear in
You as if they would be true, but they are nevertheless by the
knowers of the Soul who consider the entirety of this world as
something true
[viz. as Your living body] not rejected, because they
are transformations non-different from Him. They, created by
Him who enters [His creation] Himself, are as such
recognized as being of the True Self in the same sense as gold
is not different when it is assigned different forms [see
also 6.16:
22].
The
three modes of material nature comprise everything in this
world - from the simplest phenomena to the complex human
body. Although these phenomena appear real, they are only a
false reflection of the spiritual reality, being a
superimposition of the mind upon You. Still, those who know
the Supreme Self consider the entire material creation to be
real inasmuch as it is nondifferent from the Self. Just as
things made of gold are indeed not to be rejected, since
their substance is actual gold, so this world is undoubtedly
nondifferent from the Lord who created it and then entered
within it. (Vedabase)
Text
27
They
who worship You as the shelter of all created beings do not
worry about Death and simply put their feet on his head, but
even the sages [among them] are tied by Your words the
way animals are tied. It are they who consider themselves Your
friends who [thus] find purification, not so much they
who turned away from that.
The
devotees who worship You as the shelter of all beings
disregard Death and place their feet on his head. But with
the words of the Vedas You bind the nondevotees like
animals, though they be vastly learned scholars. It is Your
affectionate devotees who can purify themselves and others,
not those who are inimical to You. (Vedabase)
Text
28
You
who self-effulgent are free from labor are the sustainer of all
who are of karma [bound as they are to their senses].
The godly vigilant with the material of nature carry You
tribute and enjoy the same excercise of respect offered to
them, just like it is with the local rulers in a kingdom in
relation to the sovereign ruling the entire country - that is
how they who are of success in fear of You execute their
assigned duties.
Though
You have no material senses, You are the self-effulgent
sustainer of everyone's sensory powers. The demigods and
material nature herself offer You tribute, while also
enjoying the tribute offered them by their worshipers, just
as subordinate rulers of various districts in a kingdom
offer tribute to their lord, the ultimate proprietor of the
land, while also enjoying the tribute paid them by their own
subjects. In this way the universal creators faithfully
execute their assigned services out of fear of You.
(Vedabase)
Text
29
By Your
material energy are the species of life, that manifest
themselves as stationary and moving, motivated for action, but
that can happen only when You, the One aloof, o Eternally
Liberated one, cast Your brief glance by assuming Your forms to
have Your pastimes in the material world. To [You] the
Supreme can no one be a stranger or a friend, just like the
ether can have no perceptible qualities. In that sense are You
like the void of space.
O
eternally liberated, transcendental Lord, Your material
energy causes the various moving and nonmoving species of
life to appear by activating their material desires, but
only when and if You sport with her by briefly glancing at
her. You, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, see no one as
an intimate friend and no one as a stranger, just as the
ethereal sky has no connection with perceptible qualities.
In this sense You resemble a void. (Vedabase)
Text
30
If the
countless embodied beings wouldn't be time-bound, would the
omnipresent consequently not be such a sovereign rule, o
Unchanging One. Because the substance cannot be independent
from that from which it was generated [ -
pradhâna, timespace, primeval ether -] must
[You] the regulator [of Time] be known as being
equally present everywhere and not as being somewhere else. For
that reason is one mistaken supposing that one knows [the
complete of You], since one is of the imperfect [local
order] with what one is knowing [see
6.5:
19].
If
the countless living entities were all-pervading and
possessed forms that never changed, You could not possibly
be their absolute ruler, O immutable one. But since they are
Your localized expansions and their forms are subject to
change, You do control them. Indeed, that which supplies the
ingredients for the generation of something is necessarily
its controller because a product never exists apart from its
ingredient cause. It is simply illusion for someone to think
that he knows the Supreme Lord, who is equally present in
each of His expansions, since whatever knowledge one gains
by material means must be imperfect. (Vedabase)
Text
31
The generation
of the material world and its enjoyer [the male principle,
the person, the purusha] is not something that
happens; it is from the combination of these two unborn
elements that living bodies within You find their existence
like bubbles that appear in water [in combination with
air]. Just like rivers merge into the ocean and all flavors
of nectar merge into the honey, merge these living beings with
all their different names and qualities [in de end
again] into the Supreme [see also B.G.
9: 7].
Neither
material nature nor the soul who tries to enjoy her are ever
born, yet living bodies come into being when these two
combine, just as bubbles form where water meets the air. And
just as rivers merge into the ocean or the nectar from many
different flowers blends into honey, so all these
conditioned beings eventually merge back into You, the
Supreme, along with their various names and qualities.
(Vedabase)
Text
32
Those who are
of wisdom and properly understand how much Your
mâyâ bewilders the human beings render
potent loving service unto You, the source of liberation. How
would there for those who faithfully follow You, be any kind of
fear for a material existence, a fear which by the three rimmed
[wheel of Time of past, present and future] of Your
furrowing eyebrows repeatedly is created in those who do not
take shelter of You [see also B.G. 4:
10,
7:
14 &
14:
26]?
The
wise souls who understand how Your Mâyâ deludes
all human beings render potent loving service to You, who
are the source of liberation from birth and death. How,
indeed, can fear of material life affect Your faithful
servants? On the other hand, Your furrowing eyebrows - the
triple-rimmed wheel of time - repeatedly terrify those who
refuse to take shelter of You. (Vedabase)
Text
33
Conquered
by the senses and breath is the mind like a horse not brought
under control [B.G.
2:
60 and
5.11:
10]. Those
who out here endeavor to regulate but
abandon
the feet of the guru, meet with hundreds of obstacles in their
distress and unsteadiness with the various methods of control,
o Unborn One. They are like merchants who sailing the ocean
failed to employ a helmsman
[see 10.51:
60 & B.G.
4:
34].
The
mind is like an impetuous horse that even persons who have
regulated their senses and breath cannot control. Those in
this world who try to tame the uncontrolled mind, but who
abandon the feet of their spiritual master, encounter
hundreds of obstacles in their cultivation of various
distressful practices. O unborn Lord, they are like
merchants on a boat in the ocean who have failed to employ a
helmsman. (Vedabase)
Text
34
What
do servants, children, a body, a wife, money, a home, land,
vitality, and vehicles mean to human beings for whom You became
their very Self,
the Embodiment of All Pleasure. And what at all would to those
who carrying on with their indulgence in sexual matters fail to
appreciate the truth [of Him], bring [real]
happiness in this world subject to destruction that on itself
is void of any essence? [see also B.G. 13:
8-12]
To
those persons who take shelter of You, You reveal Yourself
as the Supersoul, the embodiment of all transcendental
pleasure. What further use have such devotees for their
servants, children or bodies, their wives, money or houses,
their land, good health or conveyances? And for those who
fail to appreciate the truth about You and go on pursuing
the pleasures of sex, what could there be in this entire
world - a place inherently doomed to destruction and devoid
of significance - that could give them real happiness?
(Vedabase)
Text
35
The
seers free from false pride who, with the greatest piety on
this earth direct themselves at the places of pilgrimage and
the sites of His pastimes, have installed Your feet in their
heart and destroy the sins themselves with the water of their
feet. They who but once turned their mind towards You, the
Supreme Soul of Eternal Happiness, will never again dedicate
themselves to the homely affair [of a family life] that
steals away a person's essential qualities.
Sages
free from false pride live on this earth by frequenting the
sacred pilgrimage sites and those places where the Supreme
Lord displayed His pastimes. Because such devotees keep Your
lotus feet within their hearts, the water that washes their
feet destroys all sins. Anyone who even once turns his mind
toward You, the ever-blissful Soul of all existence, no
longer dedicates himself to serving family life at home,
which simply robs a man of his good qualities.
(Vedabase)
Text
36
'From
the true manifested the true' so one may say, but that must be
refuted as being a specious argument. Just because it is true
in a number of cases is this connection not always found.
Because the conjunction is found at times are by a succession
of people groping in the dark the matters of every day life
differently presented and then do Your numerous words of wisdom
bewilder and loses one one's attentiveness with the
incantations one has with the rituals.
It
may be proposed that this world is permanently real because
it is generated from the permanent reality, but such an
argument is subject to logical refutation. Sometimes,
indeed, the apparent nondifference of a cause and its effect
fails to prove true, and at other times the product of
something real is illusory. Furthermore, this world cannot
be permanently real, for it partakes of the natures of not
only the absolute reality but also the illusion disguising
that reality. Actually, the visible forms of this world are
just an imaginary arrangement resorted to by a succession of
ignorant persons in order to facilitate their material
affairs. With their various meanings and implications, the
learned words of Your Vedas bewilder all persons whose minds
have been dulled by hearing the incantations of sacrificial
rituals. (Vedabase)
Text
37
Because
all of this didn't exist in the beginning and hence will not
exist after its annihilation, can be concluded that that what
in the interim appears within Your manifestation, is the
untruth to be
avoided. And thus is that [interim existence] to those
who are stable in their spirituality but a figment of
imagination, even though one can compare it all in categories
of material substance that appear in varieties of
transformations [see text
26],
transformations that by the unintelligent conversely are
considered something worshipable [see B.G.
6:
8].
Since
this universe did not exist prior to its creation and will
no longer exist after its annihilation, we conclude that in
the interim it is nothing more than a manifestation imagined
to be visible within You, whose spiritual enjoyment never
changes. We liken this universe to the transformation of
various material substances into diverse forms. Certainly
those who believe that this figment of the imagination is
substantially real are less intelligent. (Vedabase)
Text
38
He
[the living entity] reconciles himself, because of the
insurmountable of matter, to that energy and assumes, in taking
to her qualities, accordingly forms. In his attachment to those
forms is he deprived of His advantage and runs he into [the
facts of birth and] death. You on the other hand with the
grace You have leaves her aside like a snake that sheds its
skin and are in Your eightfold greatness
[see
siddhis]
glorified
as the One Unlimited in His Glory.
The
illusory material nature attracts the minute living entity
to embrace her, and as a result he assumes forms composed of
her qualities. Subsequently, he loses all his spiritual
qualities and must undergo repeated deaths. You, however,
avoid the material energy in the same way that a snake
abandons its old skin. Glorious in Your possession of eight
mystic perfections, You enjoy unlimited opulences.
(Vedabase)
Text
39
If
persons having entered
a renounced life do not uproot the traces of material desires
in their hearts and as yoga practitioners [just] live
to satisfy their animal needs, have they, being unhappy in not
having moved away from death, in both [this life and the
hereafter], missed Your heavenly kingdom. For the impure it
is impossible to attain when they have forgotten You with You
by them carried as a jewel around their neck [see also B.G.
6:
41-42].
Members
of the renounced order who fail to uproot the last traces of
material desire in their hearts remain impure, and thus You
do not allow them to understand You. Although You are
present within their hearts, for them You are like a jewel
worn around the neck of a mall who has totally forgotten it
is there. O Lord, those who pratice yoga only for sense
gratification must suffer punishment both in this life and
the next: from death, who will not release them, and from
You, whose kingdom they cannot reach. (Vedabase)
Text
40
Someone who
understands You takes no heed of the good and bad consequences
of the auspicious and inauspicious that in the moment rises
from You [in the here and now], nor takes he heed of
the words of other living beings. Every day, o You of All
qualities, is he of the song that in every age is heard through
the disciplic succession of the children of Manu [see
3.22:
34-39 and
5.13:
25]. And
thus are You by him considered the ultimate goal of
liberation.
When
a person realizes You, he no longer cares about his good and
bad fortune arising from past pious and sinful acts, since
it is You alone who control this good and bad fortune. Such
a realized devotee also disregards what ordinary living
beings say about him. Every day he fills his ears with Your
glories, which are recited in each age by the unbroken
succession of Manu's descendants, and thus You become his
ultimate salvation. (Vedabase)
Text
41
Neither the
masters of heaven can discern the end of the glories of You so
Unlimited, nor even You Yourself, You within whom the
multitudes of universes - each in their own shell - with the
Course of Time are blown about in the sky as particles of dust.
In You finding their ultimate conclusion bear the
s'rutis fruit by [neti
neti]
eliminating that what is not the Absolute of You [see
siddhânta]'
Because
You are unlimited, neither the lords of heaven nor even You
Yourself can ever reach the end of Your glories. The
countless universes, each enveloped in its shell, are
compelled by the wheel of time to wander within You, like
particles of dust blowing about in the sky. The
s'rutis, following their method of eliminating
everything separate from the Supreme, become successful by
revealing You as their final conclusion. (Vedabase)
Text
42
The Supreme
Lord said: 'Thus having heard this instruction about the True
Self, understood the sons of Brahmâ their final
destination and worshiped they following perfectly satisfied
sage Sanandana.
The
Supreme Lord, S'rî Nârâyana Rishi, said:
Having heard these instructions about the Supreme Self, the
Personality of Godhead, the sons of Brahmâ now
understood their final destination. They felt perfectly
satisfied and honored Sanandana with their worship.
(Vedabase)
Text
43
Thus was by the
classical sages who appeared in this world to roam in higher
spheres, of all the Vedas and Purânas the nectar of the
underlying mystery [of the Upanishad philosophy]
distilled.
Thus
the ancient saints who travel in the upper heavens distilled
this nectarean and confidential essence of all the Vedas and
Purânas. (Vedabase)
Text
44
O you heir of
Brahmâ [Nârada], wander the earth as you
wish, meditating with faith upon this instruction about the
Soul that turns to ashes the desires of man.'
And
as you wander the earth at will, My dear son of
Brahmâ, you should faithfully meditate on these
instructions concerning the science of the Self, which burn
up the material desires of all men. (Vedabase)
Text
45
S'ri S'uka
said: 'He, self-possessed, who this way was commanded by the
sage accepted that faithfully, o King, and spoke, now
completely being of success, the following after first, firm in
his belief, having meditated upon what he had
heard.
S'ukadeva
Gosvâmî said: When S'rî
Nârâyana Rishi ordered him in this way, the
self-possessed sage Nârada, whose vow is as heroic as
a warrior's, accepted the command with firm faith. Now
successful in all his purposes, he thought about what he had
heard, O King, and replied to the Lord as follows.
(Vedabase)
Text
46
S'rî
Nârada said: 'My obeisances to Him, the Supreme Lord
Krishna spotless in His glories, who manifests His
all-attractive expansions for the liberation of all living
beings [1.3:
28].'
S'rî
Nârada said: I offer My obeisances to Him of spotless
fame, the Supreme Lord Krishna, who manifests His
all-attractive personal expansions so that all living beings
can achieve liberation. (Vedabase)
Text
47
Thus having
spoken bowed he down to the Original Rishi
[Nârâyana] and to the great souls who were
His pupils, and went he from there to the hermitage of my
physical father, Dvaipâyana
Vedavyâsa.
[S'ukadeva
Gosvâmî continued:] After saying this,
Nârada bowed down to S'rî Nârâyana
Rishi, the foremost of sages, and also to His saintly
disciples. He then returned to the hermitage of my father,
Dvaipâyana Vyâsa. (Vedabase)
Text
48
After
by the great devotee having been honored and having accepted a
seat from him, described he to him what he had heard from the
mouth of S'rî Nârâyana.
Vyâsadeva,
the incarnation of the Personality of Godhead, respectfully
greeted Nârada Muni and offered him a seat, which he
accepted. Nârada then described to Vyâsa what he
had heard from the mouth of S'rî Nârâyana
Rishi. (Vedabase)
Text
49
Thus
has your question been answered o King, about how the mind
would find its way with the Absolute Truth, the truth which
having no material qualities is so hard to express in words.
Thus
I have replied to the question You asked me, O King,
concerning how the mind can have access to the Absolute
Truth, which is indescribable by material words and devoid
of material qualities. (Vedabase)
Text
50
He who watches
over this universe in the beginning, the middle and the end; He
who is the Lord of the unmanifested of the individual soul; He
who, sending forth this universe, entered it along with the
individual seer and [with him] producing bodies
regulates them; He unto whom surrendering the one
[illusioned] not being [re-]born forgets - as
if asleep - the body that he cherishes; He by the power of
whose pure spiritual status one is saved from a material birth,
is the Supreme Personality upon whom one relentlessly should
meditate to be freed from the fear [see B.G.
16:
11-12,
1.9:
39 and the
bhajan Sarvasva
Tomâra].'
He
is the Lord who eternally watches over this universe, who
exists before, during and after its manifestation. He is the
master of both the unmanifest material energy and the spirit
soul. After sending forth the creation He enters within it,
accompanying each living entity. There He creates the
material bodies and then remains as their regulator. By
surrendering to Him one can escape the embrace of illusion,
just as a dreaming person forgets his own body. One who
wants liberation from fear should constantly meditate upon
Him, Lord Hari, who is always on the platform of perfection
and thus never subject to material birth. (Vedabase)
*
S'rîla S'rîdhara Svâmî elaborately
analyzes this problem, of describing the inexpressible Truth in
definable terms, by means of the traditional discipline of
Sanskrit poetics that states that words have three kinds of
expressive capacities, called s'abda-vrittis. These are
the different ways a word refers to its meaning, distinguished
as mukhya-vritti - literal meaning (divided in
rudhi, conventional use and yoga, derived use as in
etymology), lakshanâ-vritti - metaphorical
meaning, and the closely related gauna-vritti, a similar
meaning; exemplified by: the word lion has the three expressive
forms of: it is a lion - literal, he is a lion - metaphorical
and he is like a lion - similar use. So in fact the question is
how the Absolute would be covered taken literal, in metaphor
and in simile.
**According
to S'rîla Jîva Gosvâmî, the
twenty-eight verses of the prayers of the personified Vedas
(Texts 14 - 41) represent the opinions of each of the
twenty-eight major s'rutis. These chief Upanishads and
other s'rutis are concerned with the various approaches
of the Absolute Truth. See the purports pp
10.87
of this chapter of the paramparâ for specific
quotes.