Canto
3
Chapter 16: The Two Doorkeepers of Vaikunthha, Cursed by the Sages
(1) Brahmâ said: 'After having congratulated the four sages of yogic conscience for their words of praise, did the Almighty One from the abode of Vaikunthha speak. (2) The Supreme Lord said: 'These two attendants of Mine named Jaya and Vijaya certainly, because of ignoring Me, committed a great offense against you. (3) The punishment that you, devoted ones, awarded them, I certainly approve of, o great sages, since they turned against you in offense. (4) Just now I seek therefore your forgiveness because that offense to you the brahmins, who are the highest of God, is Mine; I consider Myself the one who did it for they, by whom you have been disrespected, are My own attendants. (5) In general when a servant does something wrong, one blames the one in whose name the offense has been committed; it harms the reputation of that person as much as leprosy does the skin. (6) The nectar of the uncontaminated glories that enter one's hearing, purifies the entire universe instantly including the lowest of the low; I am that person of the Freedom from Sloth and Foolishness, of Vaikunthha, and for you having attained to the glory of that superior place of pilgrimage, I would even cut off My own arm if it would be acting inimically towards you. (7) Of those whose sins are all wiped out immediately by serving in the dust of My sacred lotus feet, I have acquired such a disposition that even though I have no attachment to the Goddess of Fortune she, for whom others observe sacred vows to obtain the slightest favor, never leaves Me. (8) At the other hand, I do not as much relish the oblations in the fire by the sacrificer who offers the ghee that is abundantly mixed with the food into that mouth of Mine, as I do enjoy the bits of food that satisfy the mouths of the acting brahmins who dedicated the results of their actions to Me. (9) If I of them can bear, unbroken and unobstructed of My internal potency, the pure opulence of the dust of their feet on My head, then who of wisdom wouldn't carry the Ganges-water that washed the feet and at once, along with Lord S'iva, sanctifies the three worlds? (10) Those persons who consider the best of the twice-born, the cows and the defenseless creatures that make up My body, as different from Me, because their faculty of judgment is impaired by sin, will, themselves being as angry as a snake, be torn apart by the angry, vulturelike messengers of the master of punishment [Yamarâja]. (11) But those who with gladdened hearts and the nectar of their smiling lotuslike faces intelligently respect the brahmins of severe words, with loving words like a son would do pacifying in praise, are in Me as I am controlled by those brahmins. (12) Therefore let it be so that the exile of these two servants, who, not knowing of the intention of their master, where in offense towards you and who have to face the immediate consequence, may not be too long, so that they soon will retain the favor of being near to Me.'
(13) Lord Brahmâ said: 'Even though they now had heard His loving divine speech that was as one hymn of wisdom in a row, were their souls, being bitten by the snake of anger, not satiated. (14) With their ears wide open hearing the excellence of the carefully weighed words of momentous import, could they, pondering deeply over their gravity, not fathom the Lord His intention. (15) The great glory that The Supreme One had revealed from His internal potency made the four brahmins, in extreme delight and with folded hands, speak with their hairs standing on end. (16) The sages said: 'O Supreme Lord, we didn't know what You, o God wished us to do and still You spoke in our favor; thus, what as the Supreme Ruler are You telling us? (17) You are the supreme director of the spiritual world and of the highest position of the brahmins who teach the others; o Master, as such You are the Supreme Lord and Soul, the Deity, for the godly and the learned ones. (18) From You there is the protection of the eternal occupation by all Your manifestations and the supreme of the human principles; in our opinion You are the unchanging objective. (19) Because by Your mercy the transcendentalists easily overcome birth and death in putting an end to all material desires, it can never be so that You as such can be favored by others. (20) The Grace of Fortune [the goddess Lakshmî], the good of which others occasionally accept the dust of the feet on their heads, waits upon You, anxious to secure a place like that of the king of the bumblebees with the aroma of the wreath of fresh tulsîleaves that is offered by the devotees. (21) You, as the Highest of the pure of her devotional service, are never attached to the serving; then how can You, as the attachment of the devotees, be purified by the holy dust on the path or obtain the reservoir of all the good by the mark of S'rîvatsa [a few white hairs on His chest]? (22) Of You, the personification of religion, the Supreme Lord, are the feet manifest in all three yugas [see Ch 11] in this universe of the animate and inanimate. The twice-born and the godly however, protected by those feet, saw passion and ignorance destroyed by them; please, bannish [the evil] by Your transcendental form, bestow upon us all Your blessings of pure goodness. (23) If You as the protector of the twice-born, the highest class, factually do not think them worthy as the best for being respected and being addressed by mild words, then for sure will the auspicious path, of which the people in general would accept the authority of wisdom, o God, be lost. (24) And that is not wanted by You, who, as the reservoir of goodness wishing to do good for the people in general, by Your own potencies destroyed the opposition; from this o Lord, as the one of the threefold of nature and maintainer of the universe, remains Your potency undiminished and is that submissive attitude but Your pleasure. (25) Whatever punishment, o Lord, You think these two, that are of a better existence, deserve, we will wholeheartedly accept; do whatever You think to be a proper sanction; we understand that we have cursed the sinless.'
(26) The Supreme Lord said: 'The two of these will elsewhere soon obtain birth from a godless womb. Intensified by anger and concentrated of mind they will remain firmly united with Me and again retain My presence returning quickly; know that that curse of yours was ordained by Me alone, o learned ones.'
(27) Brâhma said: 'The sages now had seen the pleasure to the eye of the self-illumining realm of Vaikunthha, the abode of the Lord of Fearlessness. (28) After circumambulating and offering the Supreme Lord their respects, they returned in extreme delight about having learned about the all-peaceful glory of the Vaishnavas [the attendants of Lord Vishnu]. (29) The Supreme Lord then said to his two servants: 'Leave this place, let there be no fear, but live in togetherness; even though I'm able to nullify a brahmins curse, I do not wish to do so and even approve of it. (30) This departure was formerly foreseen by Lakshmî, who was furious before when you prevented her from entering the gate while I was resting. (31) By practicing mystic yoga in anger you will be liberated from the consequence of disrespecting the brahmins and in not too long a time return near to Me.'
(32) Thus having addressed the two doorkeepers, did the Supreme Lord, who is always found in the high of culture adorned with all wealth of the goddess Lakshmî, return back to His abode. (33) But the two who were unable to escape [the curse of] the best of wisdom, fell from Vaikunthha and lost, because of the curse of the brahmins, their beauty and luster becoming morose. (34) Then, as they were falling, rose from the abode of the Lord of Fearlessness, from the palaces of all the devoted a great uproar of disappointment. (35) These two men, this way having been addressed by the important associates of the Lord, entered the womb of Diti through the very powerful semen of Kas'yapa. (36) It is the prowess of them, these two godforsaken siblings, of whom all you godly ones are agitated now; no doubt is this to the will of the Supreme Lord. He desired this to happen. (37) Being the cause of the maintenance, creation and destruction of the universe, the most ancient one cannot be easily understood by even the masters of yoga; His bewildering union though will do good as He is our Supreme Lordship and master over the modes; of what purpose would our further deliberation on this thus be?'
Second Edition, loaded June 23, 2006.
Source texts:
The Two Doorkeepers of Vaikunthha, Jaya and Vijaya Cursed by the Sages
Brahmâ said: 'After having congratulated the four sages of yogic conscience for their words of praise, did the Almighty One from the abode of Vaikunthha speak.Lord Brahmâ said: After thus congratulating the sages for their nice words, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose abode is in the kingdom of God , spoke as follows. (Vedabase)
The Supreme Lord said: 'These two attendants of Mine named Jaya and Vijaya certainly, because of ignoring Me, committed a great offense against you.
The Personality of Godhead said: These attendants of Mine, Jaya and Vijaya by name, have committed a great offense against you because of ignoring Me. (Vedabase)
The punishment that you, devoted ones, awarded them, I certainly approve of, o great sages, since they turned against you in offense.
O great sages, I approve of the punishment that you who are devoted to Me have meted out to them. (Vedabase)
Just now I seek therefor your forgiveness because that offense to you the brahmins, who are the highest of God, is Mine; I consider Myself the one who did it for they, by whom you have been disrespected, are My own attendants
To Me , the brahmana is the highest and most beloved personality. The disrespect shown by My attendants has actually been displayed by Me because the doormen are My servitors. I take this to be an offense by Myself ; therefore I seek your forgiveness for the incident that has arisen. (Vedabase)
In general when a servant does something wrong, one blames the one in whose name the offense has been committed; it harms the reputation of that person as much as leprosy does the skin.
A wrong act committed by a servant leads people in general to blame his master, just as a spot of white leprosy on any part of the body pollutes all of the skin. (Vedabase)
The nectar of the uncontaminated glories that enter one's hearing, purifies the entire universe instantly including the lowest of the low; I am that person of the Freedom from Sloth and Foolishness, of Vaikunthha, and for you having attained to the glory of that superior place of pilgrimage, I would even cut off My own arm if it would be acting inimically towards you.
Anyone in the entire world, even down to the candâla, who lives by cooking and eating the flesh of the dog, is immediately purified if he takes bath in hearing through the ear the glorification of My name, fame, etc. Now you have realized Me without doubt; therefore I will not hesitate to lop off My own arm if its conduct is found hostile to you. (Vedabase)
Of those whose sins are all wiped out immediately by serving in the dust of My sacred lotus feet I have acquired such a disposition that even though I have no attachment to the Goddess of Fortune she, for whom others observe sacred vows to obtain the slightest favor, never leaves Me.
The Lord continued: Because I am the servitor of My devotees, My lotus feet have become so sacred that they immediately wipe out all sin, and I have acquired such a disposition that the goddess of fortune does not leave Me, even though I have no attachment for her and others praise her beauty and observe sacred vows to secure from her even a slight favor. (Vedabase)
At the other hand, I do not as much relish the oblations in the fire by the sacrificer who offers the ghee that is abundantly mixed with the food into that mouth of Mine, as I do enjoy the bits of food that satisfy the mouths of the acting brahmins who dedicated the results of their actions to Me.
I do not enjoy the oblations offered by the sacrificers in the sacrificial fire, which is one of My own mouths, with the same relish as I do the delicacies overflowing with ghee which are offered to the mouths of the brâhmanas who have dedicated to Me the results of their activities and who are ever satisfied with My prasâda. (Vedabase)
If I of them can bear, unbroken and unobstructed of My internal potency, the pure opulence of the dust of their feet on My head, then who of wisdom wouldn't carry the Ganges-water that washed the feet and at once, along with Lord S'iva, sanctifies the three worlds?
I am the master of My unobstructed internal energy, and the water of the Ganges is the remnant left after My feet are washed. That water sanctifies the three worlds, along with Lord S'iva, who bears it on his head. If I can take the dust of the feet of the Vaishnava on My head, who will refuse to do the same? (Vedabase)
Those persons who consider the best of the twice-born, the cows and the defenseless creatures that make up My body as different from Me, because their faculty of judgment is impaired by sin, will, themselves being as angry as a snake, be torn apart by the angry vulturelike messengers of the master of punishment [Yamarâja].
The brâhmanas, the cows and the defenseless creatures are My own body. Those whose faculty of judgment has been impaired by their own sin look upon these as distinct from Me . They are just like furious serpents, and they are angrily torn apart by the bills of the vulturelike messengers of Yamarâja, the superintendent of sinful persons. (Vedabase)
But those who with gladdened hearts and the nectar of their smiling lotuslike faces intelligently respect the brahmins of severe words, with loving words like a son would do pacifying in praise, are in Me as I am controlled by those brahmins.
On the other hand, they captivate My heart who are gladdened in heart and who, their lotus faces enlightened by nectarean smiles, respect the brâhmanas, even though the brâhmanas utter harsh words. They look upon the brâhmanas as My own Self and pacify them by praising them in loving words, even as a son would appease an angry father or as I am pacifying you. (Vedabase)
Therefore let it be so that the exile of these two servants, who, not knowing of the intention of their master, where in offense towards you and who have to face the immediate consequence, may not be too long, so that they soon will retain the favor of being near to Me.'
These servants of Mine have transgressed against you, not knowing the mind of their master. I shall therefore deem it a favor done to Me if you order that, although reaping the fruit of their transgression, they may return to My presence soon and the time of their exile from My abode may expire before long. (Vedabase)
Lord Brahmâ said: 'Even though they now had heard His loving divine speech that was as one hymn of wisdom in a row, were their souls, being bitten by the snake of anger, not satiated.
Brahmâ continued: Even though the sages had been bitten by the serpent of anger, their souls were not satiated with hearing the Lord's lovely and illuminating speech, which was like a series of Vedic hymns. (Vedabase)
With their ears wide open hearing the excellence of the carefully weighed words of momentous import, could they, pondering deeply over their gravity, not fathom the Lord His intention.
The Lord's excellent speech was difficult to comprehend because of its momentous import and its most profound significance. The sages heard it with wide-open ears and pondered it as well. But although hearing, they could not understand what He intended to do. (Vedabase)
The great glory that The Supreme One had revealed from His internal potency made the four brahmins, in extreme delight and with folded hands, speak with their hairs standing on end.
The four brâhmana sages were nevertheless extremely delighted to behold Him, and they experienced a thrill throughout their bodies. They then spoke as follows to the Lord, who had revealed the multiglories of the Supreme Personality through His internal potency, yogamâyâ. (Vedabase)
The sages said: 'O Supreme Lord, we didn't know what You, o God wished us to do and still You spoke in our favor; thus, what as the Supreme Ruler are You telling us?
The sages said: O Supreme Personality of Godhead, we are unable to know what You intend for us to do, for even though You are the supreme ruler of all, You speak in our favor as if we had done something good for You. (Vedabase)
You are the supreme director of the spiritual world and of the highest position of the brahmins who teach the others; o Master, as such You are the Supreme Lord and Soul, the Deity, for the godly and the learned ones.
O Lord, You are the supreme director of the brahminical culture. Your considering the brâhmanas to be in the highest position is Your example for teaching others. Actually You are the supreme worshipable Deity, not only for the gods but for the brâhmanas also. (Vedabase)
From You there is the protection of the eternal occupation by all Your manifestations and the supreme of the human principles; in our opinion You are the unchanging objective.
You are the source of the eternal occupation of all living entities, and by Your multimanifestations of Personalities of Godhead, You have always protected religion. You are the supreme objective of religious principles, and in our opinion You are inexhaustible and unchangeable eternally. (Vedabase)
Because by Your mercy the transcendentalists easily overcome birth and death in putting an end to all material desires, it can never be so that You as such can be favored by others.
Mystics and transcendentalists, by the mercy of the Lord, cross beyond nescience by ceasing all material desires. It is not possible, therefore, that the Supreme Lord can be favored by others. (Vedabase)
The Grace of Fortune [the goddess Lakshmî], the good of which others occasionally accept the dust of the feet on their heads, waits upon You, anxious to secure a place like that of the king of the bumblebees with the aroma of the wreath of fresh tulsîleaves that is offered by the devotees.
The goddess of fortune, Lakshmî, the dust of whose feet is worn on the head by others, waits upon You , as appointed, for she is anxious to secure a place in the abode of the king of bees, who hovers on the fresh wreath of tulasî leaves offered at Your feet by some blessed devotee. (Vedabase)
You, as the Highest of the pure of her devotional service, are never attached to the serving; then how can You, as the attachment of the devotees, be purified by the holy dust on the path or obtain the reservoir of all the good by the mark of S'rîvatsa [a few white hairs on His chest]?
O Lord, You are exceedingly attached to the activities of Your pure devotees, yet You are never attached to the goddesses of fortune who constantly engage in Your transcendental loving service. How can You be purified, therefore, by the dust of the path traversed by the brâhmanas, and how can You be glorified or made fortunate by the marks of S'rîvatsa on Your chest? (Vedabase)
Of You, the personification of religion, the Supreme Lord, are the feet manifest in all three yugas [see Ch 11] in this universe of the animate and inanimate. The twice-born and the godly however, protected by those feet, saw passion and ignorance destroyed by them; please, bannish [the evil] by Your transcendental form, bestow upon us all Your blessings of pure goodness.
O Lord, You are the personification of all religion. Therefore You manifest Yourself in three millenniums, and thus You protect this universe, which consists of animate and inanimate beings. By Your grace, which is of pure goodness and is the bestower of all blessings, kindly drive away the elements of rajas and tamas for the sake of the demigods and twice-born. (Vedabase)
If You as the protector of the twice-born, the highest class, factually do not think them worthy as the best for being respected and being addressed by mild words, then for sure will the auspicious path, of which the people in general would accept the authority of wisdom, o God, be lost.
O Lord, You are the protector of the highest of the twice-born. If You do not protect them by offering worship and mild words, then certainly the auspicious path of worship will be rejected by people in general, who act on the strength and authority of Your Lordship. (Vedabase)
And that is not wanted by You, who, as the reservoir of goodness wishing to do good for the people in general, by Your own potencies destroyed the opposition; from this o Lord, as the one of the threefold of nature and maintainer of the universe, remains Your potency undiminished and is that submissive attitude but Your pleasure.
Dear Lord, You never want the auspicious path to be destroyed, for You are the reservoir of all goodness. Just to benefit people in general, You destroy the evil element by Your mighty potency. You are the proprietor of the three creations and the maintainer of the entire universe. Therefore Your potency is not reduced by Your submissive behavior. Rather, by submission You exhibit Your transcendental pastimes. (Vedabase)
Text 25:
Whatever punishment, o Lord, You think these two, that are of a better existence, deserve, we will wholeheartedly accept; do whatever You think to be a proper sanction; we understand that we have cursed the sinless.'
O Lord, whatever punishment You wish to award to these two innocent persons or also to us we shall accept without duplicity. We understand that we have cursed two faultless persons. (Vedabase)
The Supreme Lord said: 'The two of these will elsewhere soon obtain birth from a godless womb. Intensified by anger and concentrated of mind they will remain firmly united with Me and again retain My presence returning quickly; know that that curse of yours was ordained by Me alone, o learned ones.'
The Lord replied: O brâhmanas, know that the punishment you inflicted on them was originally ordained by Me, and therefore they will fall to a birth in a demoniac family. But they will be firmly united with Me in thought through mental concentration intensified by anger, and they will return to My presence shortly. (Vedabase)
Brâhma said: 'The sages now had seen the pleasure to the eye of the self-illumining realm of Vaikunthha, the abode of the Lord of Fearlessness.
Lord Brahmâ said: After seeing the Lord of Vaikunthha, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in the self-illuminated Vaikunthha planet, the sages left that transcendental abode. (Vedabase)
After circumambulating and offering the Supreme Lord their respects, they returned in extreme delight about having learned about the all-peaceful glory of the Vaishnavas [the attendants of Lord Vishnu]
The sages circumambulated the Supreme Lord, offered their obeisances and returned, extremely delighted at learning of the divine opulences of the Vaishnava. (Vedabase)
The Supreme Lord then said to his two servants: 'Leave this place, let there be no fear, but live in togetherness; even though I'm able to nullify a brahmins curse, I do not wish to do so and even approve of it.
The Lord then said to His attendants, Jaya and Vijaya: Depart this place, but fear not. All glories unto you. Though I am capable of nullifying the brâhmanas' curse, I would not do so. On the contrary, it has My approval. (Vedabase)
This departure was formerly foreseen by Lakshmî, who was furious before when you prevented her from entering the gate while I was resting.
This departure from Vaikunthha was foretold by Lakshmî, the goddess of fortune. She was very angry because when she left My abode and then returned, you stopped her at the gate while I was sleeping. (Vedabase)
By practicing mystic yoga in anger you will be liberated from the consequence of disrespecting the brahmins and in not too long a time return near to Me.'
The Lord assured the two Vaikunthha inhabitants, Jaya and Vijaya: By practicing the mystic yoga system in anger, you will be cleansed of the sin of disobeying the brâhmanas and within a very short time return to Me. (Vedabase)
Thus having addressed the two doorkeepers, did the Supreme Lord, who is always found in the high of culture adorned with all wealth of the goddess Lakshmî, return back to His abode.
After thus speaking at the door of Vaikunthha, the Lord returned to His abode, where there are many celestial airplanes and all-surpassing wealth and splendor. (Vedabase)
But the two who were unable to escape [the curse of] the best of wisdom, fell from Vaikunthha and lost, because of the brahmins curse, their beauty and luster becoming morose.
But those two gatekeepers, the best of the demigods, their beauty and luster diminished by the curse of the brâhmanas, became morose and fell from Vaikunthha, the abode of the Supreme Lord. (Vedabase)
Then, as they were falling, rose from the abode of the Lord of Fearlessness from the palaces of all the devoted a great uproar of disappointment.
Then, as Jaya and Vijaya fell from the Lord's abode, a great roar of disappointment arose from all the demigods, who were sitting in their splendid airplanes. (Vedabase)
These two men, this way having been addressed by the important associates of the Lord, entered the womb of Diti through the very powerful semen of Kas'yapa.
Lord Brahmâ continued: Those two principal doorkeepers of the Personality of Godhead have now entered the womb of Diti, the powerful semen of Kas'yapa Muni having covered them. (Vedabase)
It is the prowess of them, these two godforsaken siblings, of whom all you godly ones are agitated now; no doubt is this to the will of the Supreme Lord. He desired this to happen.
It is the prowess of these twin asuras [demons] that has disturbed you, for it has minimized your power. There is no remedy within my power, however, for it is the Lord Himself who desires to do all this. (Vedabase)
Being the cause of the maintenance, creation and destruction of the universe, the most ancient one cannot be easily understood by even the masters of yoga; His bewildering union though will do good as He is our Supreme Lordship and master over the modes; of what purpose would our further deliberation on this thus be?
My dear sons, the Lord is the controller of the three modes of nature and is responsible for the creation, preservation and dissolution of the universe. His wonderful creative power, yogamâyâ, cannot be easily understood even by the masters of yoga. That most ancient person, the Personality of Godhead, will alone come to our rescue. What purpose can we serve on His behalf by deliberating on the subject? (Vedabase)
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ISBN: o-91277-27-7
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