SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM: CANTO 6

S'rî S'uka said: 'In order to instruct him on the factual that had to be stated, spoke they [the sages Nârada and Angirâ] to the king, who for dead lying at the side of the corpse was so very much aggrieved.

S'rî S'ukadeva Gosvâmî said: While King Citraketu, overcome by lamentation, lay like a dead body at the side of the dead body of his son, the two great sages Nârada and Angirâ instructed him about spiritual consciousness as follows. (Vedabase)

Text 2

O best of kings, who would this be to you o lordship, this person you are lamenting about; and who would he have been before he was born to you; who is he at present and who would he be in the future?

O King, what relationship does the dead body for which you lament have with you, and what relationship do you have with him? You may say that you are now related as father and son, but do you think this relationship existed before? Does it truly exist now? Will it continue in the future? (Vedabase)

Text 3

Just as grains of sand come together at the shore and move apart by the force of the waves of the ocean, are they, the embodied souls, similarly united and separated by time [compare B.G. 2: 13].

O King, as small particles of sand sometimes come together and are sometimes separated due to the force of the waves, the living entities who have accepted material bodies sometimes come together and are sometimes separated by the force of time. (Vedabase)

Text 4

Just as from seeds sown sometimes grains grow and sometimes not grow, so do likewise the living entities result in other living beings impelled by the potency of the Supreme Controller.

When seeds are sown in the ground, they sometimes grow into plants and sometimes do not. Sometimes the ground is not fertile, and the sowing of seeds is unproductive. Similarly, sometimes a prospective father, being impelled by the potency of the Supreme Lord, can beget a child, but sometimes conception does not take place. Therefore one should not lament over the artificial relationship of parenthood, which is ultimately controlled by the Supreme Lord. (Vedabase)

Text 5

We and you too o King, and also other creatures who move about or are fixed in one place, are, the way they all together exist with birth and death, as it were thus not really there before nor afterwards, even though one is there in the present.

O King, both you and us--your advisers, wives and ministers--as well as everything moving and not moving throughout the entire cosmos at this time, are in a temporary situation. Before our birth this situation did not exist, and after our death it will exist no longer. Therefore our situation now is temporary, although it is not false. (Vedabase)

Text 6

Through some living entities does the Controller of All create other living entities and maintains He and annihilates He them as well; the living beings do not exist independent of Him, even though He Himself is as indifferent as a boy in His having created them [compare B.G. 3: 27].

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master and proprietor of everything, is certainly not interested in the temporary cosmic manifestation. Nonetheless, just as a boy at the beach creates something in which he is not interested, the Lord, keeping everything under His control, causes creation, maintenance and annihilation. He creates by engaging a father to beget a son, He maintains by engaging a government or king to see to the public's welfare, and He annihilates through agents for killing, such as snakes. The agents for creation, maintenance and annihilation have no independent potency, but because of the spell of the illusory energy, one thinks himself the creator, maintainer and annihilator. (Vedabase)

Text 7

By the body of the one embodied is from one body another body created; just as indeed from one seed another seed is generated, is the one therewith embodied eternal, as are also the constituent elements of matter [see B.G. 8: 17-22].

As from one seed another seed is generated, O King, so from one body [the body of the father], through another body [the body of the mother], a third body is generated [the body of a son]. As the elements of the material body are eternal, the living entity who appears through these material elements is also eternal. (Vedabase)

Text 8

This division between the body and its indweller is there from not understanding that one has an existence of being generated from time immemorial, just as having a separate existence to the original substance is something as imaginary as having an individual element independent of its category.'

Divisions of generalization and specification, such as nationality and individuality, are the imaginations of persons who are not advanced in knowledge. (Vedabase)

Text 9

S'rî S'uka said: 'King Citraketu, thus supported by what the twice-born had told him, wiped his shriveled face with his hand and spoke intelligently.

S'rî S'ukadeva Gosvâmî continued: Thus enlightened by the instructions of Nârada and Angirâ, King Citraketu became hopeful with knowledge. Wiping his shriveled face with his hand, the King began to speak. (Vedabase)

Text 10

The honorable king said: 'The two of you who have arrived here disguised in the dress of total forsakers, are, considering the full of your knowledge, the greatest of the greatest.

King Citraketu said: You have both come here dressed like avadhutas, liberated persons, just to cover your identities, but I see that of all men, you are the most elevated in awareness. You know everything as it is. Therefore you are the greatest of all great personalities. (Vedabase)

Text 11

As desired indeed do you brahmins, who are so dear to the Lord, dressed like madmen wander over the surface of the earth in order to awaken those who, like me, are of a familial intelligence.

Brahmanas who are exalted to the position of Vaishnavas, the most dear servants of Krishna, sometimes dress like madmen. Just to benefit materialists like us, who are always attached to sense gratification, and just to dissipate our ignorance, these Vaishnavas wander on the surface of the globe according to their desire. (Vedabase)

Text 12-15:

Sanat-kumâra, Nârada, Ribhu, Angirâ, Devala, Asita, Apântaratamâ [an early name of Vyâsadeva], Mârkandeya and Gautama; Vasishthha, Bhagavân Paras'urâma, Kapila, S'ukadeva, Durvâsâ, Yâjñavalkya and Jâtukarna as well as Aruni, Romas'a, Cyavana, Dattâtreya, Âsuri, Patañjali, the sage Dhaumya head of the Vedas and the wise Pañcas'ikha, Hiranyanâbha, Kaus'alya, S'rutadeva and Ritadhvaja; all these and other masters of perfection are the wandering spiritual educators.

O great souls, I have heard that among the great and perfect persons wandering the surface of the earth to instruct knowledge to people covered by ignorance are Sanat-kumâra, Nârada, Ribhu, Angirâ, Devala, Asita, Apântaratamâ [Vyâsadeva], Mârkandeya, Gautama, Vasishthha, Bhagavân Paras'urâma, Kapila, S'ukadeva, Durvâsâ, Yajñavalkya, Jâtukarna and Aruni. Others are Romas'a, Cyavana, Dattâtreya, Asuri, Patañjali, the great sage Dhaumya who is like the head of the Vedas, the sage Pañcas'ikha, Hiranyanâbha, Kaus'alya, S'rutadeva and Ritadhvaja. You must certainly be among them. (Vedabase)

Text 16

Therefore let from you the torchlight of spiritual knowledge be ignited o masters, as I am but a village dog with a foolish vision that is blind in the midst of darkness [*].

Because you are great personalities, you can give me real knowledge. I am as foolish as a village animal like a pig or dog because I am merged in the darkness of ignorance. Therefore, please ignite the torch of knowledge to save me. (Vedabase)

Text 17

S'rî Angirâ said: 'I am the one Angirâ who granted you the son that you desired o King and that one son of Brahmâ here is the great Nârada in person.'

Angirâ said: My dear King, when you desired to have a son, I approached you. Indeed, I am the same Angirâ Rsi who gave you this son. As for this rishi, he is the great sage Nârada, the direct son of Lord Brahmâ. (Vedabase)

Text 18-19:

This way of being merged in a difficult to overcome darkness out of grieving over your son does not befit you who are supposed to remember the Supreme Personality. Just for your sake have the learned by the two of us arrived here at this place, o King, and to you, as someone anchored in Brahman and devoted to the Lord, we have to say that you don't deserve to come down like this.

My dear King, you are an advanced devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. To be absorbed in lamentation for the loss of something material is unsuitable for a person like you. Therefore we have both come to relieve you from this false lamentation, which is due to your being merged in the darkness of ignorance. For those who are advanced in spiritual knowledge to be affected by material loss and gain is not at all desirable. (Vedabase)

Text 20:

The first time I came to your home, I could have given you the spiritual knowledge of transcendence, but, since you were absorbed in something else, I could only grant you a son.

When I first came to your home, I could have given you the supreme transcendental knowledge, but when I saw that your mind was absorbed in material things, I gave you only a son, who caused you jubilation and lamentation. (Vedabase)

Text 21-23:

At present you indeed experience the tribulation of someone with children who as such has a nice wife, a home, riches and various assets and luxuries. All the objects of the senses thereto of meaning to you, like a kingdom, opulence, land and royalty, strength and a treasury with servants, ministers and allies, all belong to what is temporary. Indeed is this all o Ruler of S'ûrasena, a lamentable illusion giving rise to fears and distress; these are figments concocted by the mind, preoccupations in the form of castles in the air.

My dear King, now you are actually experiencing the misery of a person who has sons and daughters. O King, owner of the state of S'ûrasena, one's wife, his house, the opulence of his kingdom, and his various other opulences and objects of sense perception are all the same in that they are temporary. One's kingdom, military power, treasury, servants, ministers, friends and relatives are all causes of fear, illusion, lamentation and distress. They are like a gandharva-nagara, a nonexistent palace that one imagines to exist in the forest. Because they are impermanent, they are no better than illusions, dreams and mental concoctions. (Vedabase)

Text 24:

What you are looking after is without any substance, they are fabrications born of fruitive action that you meditate upon; it is from the mind that all sorts of karmic engagements find their existence.

These visible objects like wife, children and property are like dreams and mental concoctions. Actually what we see has no permanent existence. It is sometimes seen and sometimes not. Only because of our past actions do we create such mental concoctions, and because of these concoctions, we perform further activities. (Vedabase)

Text 25:

No doubt does this body of the living entity consist of material elements and senses of action and reception. These are declared to be the cause of the various sufferings and pains of the living entity [see also B.G 15: 7-11].

The living entity in the bodily conception of life is absorbed in the body, which is a combination of the physical elements, the five senses for gathering knowledge, and the five senses of action, along with the mind. Through the mind the living entity suffers three kinds of tribulations--adhibhautika, adhidaivika and adhyâtmika. Therefore this body is a source of all miseries. (Vedabase)

Text 26:

Therefore be careful with the things of the mind and consider your real position, give up your belief in the duality as a permanent object; take to the peaceful condition.'

Therefore, O King Citraketu, carefully consider the position of the âtmâ. In other words, try to understand who you are--whether body, mind or soul. Consider where you have come from, where you are going after giving up this body, and why you are under the control of material lamentation. Try to understand your real position in this way, and then you will be able to give up your unnecessary attachment. You will also be able to give up the belief that this material world, or anything not directly in touch with service to Krishna, is eternal. Thus you will obtain peace. (Vedabase)

Text 27:

S'rî Nârada said: 'Listen good and accept this mantra of philosophy from me, which, concentrating on it for seven nights, will give you the vision of the all-pervading Lord Sankarshana ['the one with the plough' see 5.25].

The great sage Nârada continued: My dear King, attentively receive from me a mantra, which is most auspicious. After accepting it from me, in seven nights you will be able to see the Lord face to face. (Vedabase)

Text 28:

From finding shelter at His lotus feet, o King, achieved formerly all the godly, giving up on this illusion of duality, immediately His unequaled and unsurpassed glories, and so will you too after not too long a time obtain the Transcendence.

My dear King, in former days Lord S'iva and other demigods took shelter of the lotus feet of Sankarshana. Thus they immediately got free from the illusion of duality and achieved unequaled and unsurpassed glories in spiritual life. You will very soon attain that very same position. (Vedabase)

* Before lecturing do Vaishnavas pray the following prayer in which they describe the role of the guru:

'om ajñâna-timirândhasya
jñânâñjana-s'alâkayâ
cakshur unmîlitam yena
tasmai s´rî-gurave namah'

"I was born in the darkest ignorance, and my spiritual master opened my eyes with the torch of knowledge. I offer my respectful obeisances unto him."