See for the online version with illustrations, music and links to the previous translation: http://bhagavata.org/
S'RÎMAD BHÂGAVATAM
"The Story of the Fortunate One"
CANTO 10 - part IV:
Summum Bonum
Chapter 69 Nârada Muni's Vision of Krishna in His Household Affairs
Chapter 70 Krishna's Routines, Troubles and Nârada Pays Another Visit
Chapter 71 The Lord Travels to Indraprastha on Advice of Uddhava
Chapter 72 Jarâsandha Killed by Bhîma and the Kings Freed
Chapter 73 Lord Krishna Blesses the Liberated Kings
Chapter 74 The Râjasûya: Krishna the First and S'is'upâla Killed
Chapter 75 Concluding the Râjasûya and Duryodhana Laughed at
Chapter 76 The Battle Between S'âlva and the Vrishnis
Chapter 77 S'âlva and the Saubha-fortress Finished
Chapter 78 Dantavakra Killed and Romaharshana Beaten with a Blade of Grass
Chapter 79 Lord Balarâma Slays Balvala and Visits the Holy Places
Chapter 80 An Old Brahmin Friend Visits Krishna
Chapter 81 The Brahmin Honored: Lord Krishna the Godhead of the Brahmins
Chapter 82 All Kings and the Inhabitants of Vrindâvana on Pilgrimage Reunite with Krishna
Chapter 83 Draupadî Meets the Queens of Krishna
Chapter 84 Vasudeva of Sacrifice to the Sages at Kurukshetra Explaining the Path of Success
Chapter 85 Lord Krishna Instructs Vasudeva and Retrieves Devakî's Sons
Chapter 86 Arjuna Kidnaps Subhadrâ, and Krishna Instructs Bahulas'va and S'rutadeva
Chapter 87 The Underlying Mystery: Prayers of the Personified Vedas
Chapter 88 Lord S'iva Saved from Vrikâsura
Chapter 89 Vishnu the Best of the Gods and the Krishnas Retrieve a Brâhmin's Sons
Chapter 90 The Queens Play and Speak and Lord Krishna's Glories Summarized
This book depicts the story of the Lord and His Incarnations since the earliest records of Vedic history. It is verily the Krishna Bible of the Hindu universe. The Bhâgavad Gîtâ relates to this book like the sermon on the mountain by Lord Jesus relates to the full Bible. It has 18.000 verses and consists of 12 books also called Cantos. These books tell the complete history of the Vedic culture with the essence of all its classical stories called Purânas and includes the cream of the Vedic knowledge compiled from all the literatures as well as the story of the life of Lord Krishna in full (Canto 10). It tells about His birth, His youth, all His wonderful proofs of His divine nature and His superhuman feats of defeating all kinds of demons up to the great Mahâbhârat war at Kurukshetra. It is a brilliant story that has been brought to the West by Swami Bhaktivedânta Prabhupâda, a Caitanya Vaishnava, a bhakti (devotional) monk of Lord Vishnu [the name for the transcendental form of Lord Krishna] who undertook the daring task of enlightening the materialist westerners as well as the advanced philosophers and theologians, in order to help them to overcome the perils and loneliness of impersonalism and the philosophy of emptiness.
For the translation the author of this internet version has consulted the translations of C.L Goswami. M.A., Sâstrî (from the Gîtâ Press, Gorakhpur) and the later version of this book by Swami Prabhupâda. The latter translator as an âcârya [guru teaching by example] from the age-old indian Vaishnava tradition represents the reformation of the devotion for God the way it has been practiced in India since the 16th century. This reformation contends that the false authority of the caste system and single dry book knowledge is to be rejected. Lord Krishna-Caitanya, the avatâra [an incarnation of the Lord] who heralded this reform, restored the original purpose of developing devotion to God and endeavored especially for the sacred scripture expounding on the devotion relating to Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This scripture is this Bhâgavata Purâna from which all the Vaishnava âcâryas derived their wisdom for the purpose of instruction and the shaping of their devotion. The word for word translations as well as the full text and commentaries of this book were studied within and without the Hare Krishna temples of learning in India, Europe and America. The purpose of the translation is first of all to make this glorious text available to a wider audience over the Internet. Since the Bible, the Koran and numerous other holy texts are readily available, the author meant that this book could not stay behind on the shelf of his own bookcase as a token of material possessiveness. Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost, and certainly this type of knowledge which stresses the yoga of non-possessiveness and devotion as one of its main values could not be left out. The version of Swami Prabhupâda is very extensive covering some 2400 pages of plain fine printed text including his commentaries. And that were only the first ten Cantos. The remaining two Cantos were posthumously published by his pupils in the full of his spirit. I thus was faced with two daring challenges: One was to make a readable running narrative of the book - that had been dissected to the single word - and second to put it into a language that would befit the 21th century with all its modern and postmodern experience and digital progress to the world order without losing anything of its original verses. Thus another verse to verse as-it-is translation came about in which Prabupâda's and Sâstrî's words were pruned, retranslated and set to the understanding and realization of today. This realization in my case originated directly from the disciplic line of succession of the Vaishnava line of âcâryas (teachers) as well as from a realization of the total field of indian philosophy of enlightenment and yoga discipline as was brought to the West by also non-Vaishnava gurus and maintained by their pupils. Therefore the author has to express his gratitude to all these great heroes who dared to face the adamantine of western philosophy with all its doubts, concreticism and skepticism. Especially the pupils of Prabhupâda, members of the renounced order (sannyâsîs) who instructed the author in the independence and maturity of the philosophy of the bhakti-yogis of Lord Caitanya need to be mentioned. I was already initiated in India by a non-Vaishnava guru and have been given the name of Swami Anand Aadhar ('teacher of the foundation of happiness'). That name the Krishna community converted into Anand Aadhar Prabhu ('master of the foundation of happiness') without further ceremonies of Vaishnava initiation (apart from a basic training). With the name Anand Aadhar I am a withdrawn devotee, a so-called vânaprashta, who does his devotional service independently in the silence and modesty of his local adaptations of the philosophy.
In most cases the word for word translations and grammatical directions of Prabhupâda/ISKCON (mainly taken from Sâstrî) have been followed as they were used in his translations and I have checked them with Sâstrî's original version and with the Monier-Williams Sanskrit Dictionary. In footnotes and between square brackets [ ] sometimes a little comment and extra info is given to accommodate the reader when the original text is drawing from a more experienced approach. On the internetsite bhagavata.org to this book the text of Prabhupâda is linked up at each verse together with my own previous version so that it is possible to retrace at any moment what I have done with the text. This is in accordance with the scientific tradition of the Vaishnava community.
For the copyright on this translation the so-called Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License has been chosen. This means that one is free to copy, distribute and alter the text on the condition of attribution (refer to name of Anand Aadhar and to my website address bhagavata.org), that the resulting work can only be distributed under the same or similar license to this one and that one cannot use the text for commercial purposes. For all other usage one will have to contact the author.
With love and devotion, Anand Aadhar Prabhu, Enschede, The Netherlands, August 2, 2010.
Nârada Muni's Vision of Krishna in His Household Affairs
(1-6) S'rî S'uka said: 'Hearing that Lord Krishna had killed Naraka [see 10.59] and that He alone had married so many women, wanted Nârada to see that with his own eyes [and thought he]: 'How wonderful it is that He with a single body is married to that many, at the same time in sixteen thousand separate residences being alone with each of the women.' Thus eager to take a look came the sage of the gods to Dvârakâ, the place flowery with its parks and pleasure gardens resounding with the noise of flocks of birds and swarms of bees. Blooming blue lotuses [indîvaras], day-blooming ones [ambhojas], white esculent ones [kahlâras], moonlight-blooming lotuses [kumudas] and water lilies [utpalas] filled the lakes where the sounds were heard of swans and cranes. There were, embellished with crystal glass, silver and great emeralds, nine hundred thousand palatial mansions splendorously furnished with gold and jewels. They were systematically arranged with many avenues, roads, intersections and squares. With its assembly houses and charming temples for the gods, were its paths and courtyards, shopping streets and patios, all sprinkled with water and was the sun warded off by banners that waved from the flagpoles. (7-8) In the city there was an opulent quarter favored by all the different authorities. There had Tvashthâ [the architect Vis'vakarmâ], for the Lord [who resided there], in full exhibited his talents making the sixteen thousand residences for S'auri's wives as beautiful as could be. Nârada entered one of the great palaces. (9-12) The building was supported by coral pillars that were excellently covered with vaidûrya ['cat-eye' gemstone]. The walls were bedecked with sapphires and the floors shone everywhere. It was built with canopies that by Tvashthâ were constructed with hangings of pearls and had seats and beds made of ivory that were decorated with the finest jewels. There were well-dressed, adorned maidservants with lockets around their necks and finely clad men with turbans and armor, jewels and earrings. Many gem-studded lamps dispelled with their light the darkness and on the carved eaves, my best, danced the peacocks crying loudly about the clouds of aguru smoke they saw curling upwards from the latticed windows. (13) Inside saw the man of learning the Lord of the Sâtvatas together with His wife who fanned Him with a yak-tail fan with a golden handle. She on her turn was at every moment supported by a thousand maidservants equal to her in personal qualities, beauty, youth and fine dress. (14) The Supreme Lord, the best of all who are subservient to the dharma, noticing him, immediately rose from S'rî her couch and offered him, as He bowed down with joined palms, His own seat. (15) Even though He was the Supreme Guru of the Living Being, washed He his feet and carried He that water on His head; [the water to which] He as the master of the saintly justly carries the name of 'the Well-wisher of the Brahmins' [Brâhmanya deva] because one from the holy shrine of His feet finds complete purification [see also the stories of the Ganges 5.17 & 9.9]. (16) As enjoined by the scriptures having been of full worship with the devarishi did the Greatest Sage, the Original Nârâyana, the friend of Nara, converse with him in weighed words that were as sweet as nectar and asked: 'O Master what may We do for the Fortunate One?'
(17) S'rî Nârada said: 'It is not that surprising at all for You to show friendship with the people, o Almighty Ruler of All the Worlds who subdues all the envious, for You, widely acclaimed, are well known out of Your own will to have descended for the highest good of the continuation and the protection of the Living Being [*]. (18) Having seen Your pair of feet, that for Your devotees are the path of liberation upon which Lord Brahmâ and the other gods with their unfathomable intelligence meditate in the heart and which for those who are fallen in the well of a material existence are the shelter for deliverance, I ask for Your blessing to remember You so that I in my travels can constantly think of You.'
(19) Next entered Nârada, my dear, another residence of a wife of Krishna, with the desire to know the mystical power of illusion [yogamâyâ] of the Master of All Masters of Yoga. (20-22) And there indeed he saw Him as well, with Uddhava playing a game of dice, being of worship with transcendental devotion and standing up in order to seat him and so on, asking him, as if He didn't know, 'When has your good self arrived? How can those [householders] who are not so complete, as We are, do what should be done for those [sannyâsîs] who are complete? Anyway, please tell Us, o brahmin, how to be a success in this birth', but Nârada, astonished, standing up said nothing and went to another palace. (23) And there he saw Govinda cuddling His small children. Then, in another house, he saw Him preparing for a bath. (24) Here he saw Him offering oblations and there worshiping the five sacrificial fires [see mahâ-yajñas] with the obligatory rituals; then He fed the twice-born and somewhere else He ate of what had remained from the sacrifices. (25) Somewhere of sunset-worship chanted He controlling His speech the mantra [see Gâyatrî and japa] and elsewhere moved He about with His sword and shield in the lanes of practice. (26) Here the Elder Brother of Gada, rode horses, elephants and chariots and there He was lying on His sofa being praised by bards. (27) This place He was consulting with advisers, Uddhava and others and that place was He engaged sporting in the water surrounded by dancing girls and other women. (28) Somewhere He donated excellent, well ornamented cows to the twice-born and elsewhere listened He to the auspicious classical stories [Purânas] and epic histories [Itihâsas]. (29) Laughing and joking with His beloved in this mansion, practiced He elsewhere the religion [dharma], the economy [artha] and the [kâma] physical lusts [to be regulated, see also purushârthas]. (30) Sitting alone in a place to meditate on the Original Person Transcendental to the Material Nature, rendered He in another place menial service to the elders being of worship with things they liked. (31) Planning for war with certain people here and elsewhere making peace, were Kes'ava together with Râma elsewhere heartening the welfare of the pious. (32) [He saw Him] arranging opulent weddings of daughters and sons at the right time according the vidhi with wives and husbands compatible to them. (33) [He saw how] with the people full of wonder about the celebrations with which the children of the Master of the Masters of Yoga were sent away from home and brought back. (34) With elaborate sacrifices in worship of all the gods being busy here was He there according the dharma in civil service arranging for wells, parks and monasteries and such. (35) For a hunting expedition He this place mounted His horse from Sindhî while He that place, surrounded by the most valorous Yadus, killed the animals to be offered in sacrifice [see **]. (36) Some place moved the Yogamaster about in disguise in the homes of His ministers, eager to find out with each of them what their mentality was. (37) Thereupon said Nârada to Hrishîkes'a, constraining his laughter to what he had seen unfolding of His yogamâyâ of assuming the human role: (38) 'From what we saw happening with the service at Your feet we [now] know of Your mystical potencies, potencies that even for the great mystics are hard to envision, o Lord of Yoga, o Supreme Soul. (39) Permit me to follow You in humility, o Godhead, I'll wander about Your places that are flooded with the fame and loudly sing about Your pastimes that purify all the worlds.'
(40) The Supreme Lord said: 'O brahmin, I am the speaker of it, the performer of it and the sanctioner teaching it to the world; situated in this spirit, o son, do not be disturbed.'
(41) S'rî S'uka said: 'Thus he saw [as no one else could see ***] Him present in one form in all the mansions where He performed the purifying spiritual duties for householders. (42) Having witnessed Krishna's unlimited prowess in the elaborate, manifold manifestation of His yogamâyâ, fell the seer filled with wonder in amazement. (43) With the artha, kâma and dharma [of household life, see also 7.14] thus by Lord Krishna's faithful heart thoroughly honored, went he satisfied away with Him in his mind all the time. (44) Thus following the path of human beings did Nârâyana, who for the welfare of everyone had manifested His potencies, my dear, enjoy, being satisfied by the shy affectionate glances and laughter of sixteen thousand of the finest consorts. (45) Whoever, my dear, but chants, listens or appreciates [reads about] the sensual activities which, inimitable in this world, are performed by Him who is the cause of the dissolution, generation and ongoing business of the universe, will develop devotion for the Supreme Lord, the path to liberation.'
Footnotes:
* The paramparâ adds here: 'As pointed out by S'rîla Vis'vanâtha Cakravartî, all living beings are in fact servants of the Lord. The âcârya quotes the following verse from the Padma Purâna to elucidate:
a-kârenocyate vishnuh
s'rîr u-kârena kathyate
ma-kâras tu tayor dâsah
pañca-vims'ah prakîrtitah"[In the mantra AUM] the letter a signifies Lord Vishnu, the letter u signifies the goddess S'rî, and the letter m refers to their servant, who is the twenty-fifth element." The twenty-fifth element is the jîva, the living being. Every living being is a servant of the Lord, and the Lord is the true friend of every living being. Thus even when the Lord chastises envious persons like Jarâsandha, such punishment amounts to real friendship, since both the Lord's chastisement and His blessing are for the benefit of the living being.'
** Though this activity by the vidhi rule of dayâ is forbidden to the common people and the brahmins, in order to basically be compassionate with all living beings, is it in certain cases allowed to kill animals in the vedic order. S'rîla Prabhupâda comments: "According to Vedic regulations, the kshatriyas were allowed to kill prescribed animals on certain occasions, either to maintain peace in the forests or to offer the animals in the sacrificial fire. Kshatriyas are allowed to practice this killing art because they have to kill their enemies mercilessly to maintain peace in society." [see also e.g. 4: 26, 7.15, 10.1: 4, 10.56: 13,10.58: 13-16 and 10.58: 13-16].
*** The paramparâ adds to this: 'As stated in text 2 of this chapter, all the Lord's activities in the many palaces were performed by the Lord's single spiritual form (ekena vapushâ), which manifested in many places at once. This vision was revealed to Nârada because of his desire to see it and the Lord's desire to show it to him. S'rîla Vis'vanâtha Cakravartî points out that the other residents of Dvârakâ could see Krishna only in the particular part of the city they themselves occupied, and not anywhere else, even if they would sometimes go to another precinct on some business. Thus the Lord gave a special view of His pastimes to His beloved devotee Nârada Muni.'
Krishna's Routines, Troubles and Nârada Pays Another Visit
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'Then, as dawn was approaching, were the roosters crowing cursed by the wives of the Sweet Lord who, with their heads being held by their husbands [the One Yogamâyâ Lord in Many], were disturbed over [the consequent] separation. (2) Birds roused from sleep by the breeze from the parijâta trees with their bees woke Krishna noisily singing like they were the poets at the court. (3) But Vaidarbhî [Rukminî] didn't like that most auspicious time of the day because it would deny her the arms of Krishna around her. (4-5) Rising during the brahma-muhûrta [the hour before sunrise] touched Mâdhava water and cleared He His mind to meditate upon the unequaled, exclusive, self-luminous Self beyond all dullness of matter. This True Self dispels, infallible as it is, by its [His] own nature perpetually the impurity and gives the joy of existence. It is known as the Brahman which with its [His] own energies constitutes the cause of creation and destruction in this universe [see also 3.29: 31 & 36-37, B.G. 7: 5 & 6 and *]. (6) Then, according the vidhi having bathed in pure water, performed He, the most truthful One, first dressing in lower and upper garments, the entire sequence of the worship at dawn and such and chanted He, after offering oblations in the fire, quietly controlling His speech the vedic mantra [the Gâyatrî, see also **]. (7-9) Consequently according His own nature propitiated He in worship of the rising sun His own expansions: with due respect for the gods, the sages and forefathers, His elders and the ones of learning, donated He day by day many, many good-natured cows with gold on their horns, silver on the front of their hooves and pearl necklaces, who were rich with milk and had only one calf born from them. They, nicely caparisoned were to the ones of learning presented with linen, deerskins, sesame seeds and ornaments [see also ***]. (10) Paying His respects to the cows, the men of learning, the godly, the elders, the spiritual teachers and to all living beings who were but expansions of Himself, touched He [giving darshan, all persons and] things auspicious. (11) He, the very ornament of society, decorated Himself with the clothes, divine garlands, colors and jewelry befitting Him. (12) Caring as well for the ghee [used in the sacrifices] as the mirror, attended He to the cows, the bulls, the twice-born, the gods and the objects of desire, in arranging for gifts to the satisfaction of all societal classes living in the city and the palace and greeted He His ministers answering in full to all their needs. (13) First distributing garlands, betel nut and sandalwood paste to the learned, [and then] to His friends, His ministers and His wives, would He next partake of them Himself. (14) His driver, by then having brought His supremely wonderful chariot yoked with the horses Sugrîva and so on [see 10.53: 5], stood bowing before Him. (15) Holding the charioteer his hands He then together with Sâtyaki and Uddhava mounted it like He was the sun rising over the mountains in the east. (16) With difficulty leaving the palace women behind who looked at Him with glances shy and loving, He left, showing a smile that seized their minds. (17) Awaited by all the Vrishnis He entered the assembly hall known as Sudharmâ [see also 10.50: 54] which for those who entered wards off the six waves, my dear [see shath-ûrmi]. (18) The Almighty One, the Best of the Yadus seated there high on His throne in the midst of the Yadus, the lions among men, illuminated all the quarters as He with His effulgence shone like the moon in the sky surrounded by the stars. (19) There the jesters, o King, served the Almighty One with various forms of amusement, just as professional entertainers [like magicians] and women dancing energetic dances did on their turn. (20) They danced to the sounds of vînâs, mridangas and muraja-drums, flutes, cymbals and conches while the bards, storytellers and panegyrists sang and offered praise. (21) There recited some brahmins sitting continually vedic mantras while others recounted stories about kings from the past famous for their piety.
(22) Some day was the arrival announced of a person, o King, who, given access to the Fortunate One by the doorkeepers, had never been seen there before. (23) After his reverence with joined palms before Krishna, the Supreme Lordship, submitted he the suffering of the kings held captive by Jarâsandha. (24) During a conquest by him of all directions were all those kings who did not accept him in complete subservience - about twenty thousand of them - by force detained in the fortress of Girivraja. (25) The kings relayed: 'Krishna, o Krishna, o immeasurable Soul, o You who takes away the fear of the surrendered; being so different in mentality do we, afraid as we are in our material existence, come to You for shelter! (26) The whole world prone to doing it wrong is bewildered about the duties out here that are beneficial in the worship of You to Your command that, in so far one is doing one's own in this, constitutes the power of existence in serving longevity and hope; may there be the obeisances to Him, the Ever Vigilant ['unblinking of Time'] who all of a sudden cuts this all off [at the time of one's death]. (27) You, the predominating authority of this universe, have descended with Your expansion [Balarâma] to protect the saintly and to subdue the wicked; we do not understand o Lord how any other person in transgression with Your law [like Jarâsandha] or else by dint of his own creativity [like us] would achieve that. (28) The conditional happiness of kings, o Lord, is like a dream, always being full of fear with the burden of this mortal frame; in rejecting that happiness of the soul that is obtained by selfless service unto You, do we, with Your bewildering material reality of mâyâ out here, suffer the greatest misery. (29) Therefore, o Goodness whose pair of feet remove the sorrow, please release us, the surrendered, who were bound in the fetters of karma by him carrying the name of Maghada who, like the king of the animals with sheep, alone wielding the prowess of a ten thousand mad elephants imprisoned us in His residence. (30) Eighteen times having raised Your cakra and crushed him defeated he only once in battle You, who confident in Your unlimited power were absorbed in human affairs [see 10.50: 41 & 10.52: 7]; and now, filled with pride, he torments us, Your subjects, o Unconquerable One; please rectify that!' (31) The messenger said: 'Thus do the ones held captive by Jarâsandha and who have surrendered to the base of Your feet hanker for the sight of You; please bestow Your welfare on these poor souls!'
(32) S'rî S'uka said: 'After the envoy of the kings thus had spoken, appeared the supreme rishi [Nârada] who with his yellowish mass of matted locks had an effulgence like that of the sun. (33) Seeing him offered the Supreme Lord Krishna, the Supreme Controller of the controllers of all the worlds, with His head His respects, gladly standing up along with His followers and the members of the assembly. (34) With him having been of worship according the rules and his acceptance of a seat, spoke He with truthful, pleasing words of reverence that pleased the sage: (35) 'It is a fact that today the three worlds are completely rid of all fear, for that is the quality of the great and fortunate one [of you] traveling the worlds. (36) With the three worlds the way they are arranged by their Controller is there nothing you don't know; so, therefore, let's hear from you what the plans of the Pândavas are.'
(37) S'rî Nârada said: 'I witnessed the many forms of Your inscrutable mâyâ, o Almighty One, Bewilderer of [even] the Creator of the Universe [see 10.14]; for me it is not that amazing, o All-encompassing One, that You covered by Your own energies move among the created beings like a fire of which the light is covered. (38) Who is able to properly understand the purpose of You who by Your own material energy creates and withdraws this universe which manifests [for its beings] to exist in relation to You; my obeisances for You inconceivable in Your nature. (39) He who for the individual soul in samsâra, not knowing liberation from the trouble that the material body brings, by His avatâras for His pastimes lights His own torch of fame; You, that Lord, I approach for shelter. (40) Nonetheless will I tell You, o Highest Truth imitating the human ways, what Your devotee the king [Yudhishthhira], the son of Your father's sister intends to do. (41) The king, the son of Pându, desiring the top position for Your sake wants to perform the greatest sacrifice known as Râjasûya, please give that Your blessing. (42) O Lord to that best of all sacrifices will all enlightened and likewise souls as well as the kings of glory eager as they are to see You attend. (43) When from hearing, chanting and meditating about You, the Full of the Absolute, even the dregs of society find purification, what then may one expect for those who see You and touch You? (44) The spotless fame of You is, expanding [like a canopy] in all directions, proclaimed in heaven, in the lower regions and on the earth, o Bringer of Good Fortune to All the Worlds. In the form of the water washing from Your feet that purifies the entire unverse, is that grace called the Mandâkinî in the divine spheres, the Bhogavatî in the lower worlds and the Ganges here on earth.'
(45) S'rî S'uka said: 'When His own supporters [the Yâdus] did not agree because they wanted to defeat [Jarâsandha] spoke Kes'ava smiling to His servant Uddhava with a charming use of words. (46) The Fortunate One said: 'You indeed as the apple of Our eye and Our well-wishing friend from that position perfectly know what expression would be of use in this regard, please tell Us what should be done, We have full faith in you and will carry that out.'
(47) Thus requested by his Maintainer who acted as if He, the all-knowing One, was puzzled, gave Uddhava humbly accepting the order on his head, a reply.'
Footnotes
* Concerning the matter of Brahman relating to the person of Krishna adds the paramparâ: 'One who is favored by the Lord's internal potency can understand the nature of the Absolute Truth [or Brahman]; this understanding is called Krishna consciousness'.
** According S'rîdhara Svâmî would Lord Krishna in this before sunrise first offering oblations and then doing the mantra follow to the disciplic succession from Kanva Muni [mentioned in 9.20].
*** With the M.W. dictionary confirming to the term badva used here the meaning of 'a great number' quotes S'rîdhara Svâmî several Vedic scriptures to show that in the context of Vedic ritual, a badva here refers to 13,084 cows and further gives evidence that the usual practice for great saintly kings in previous ages was to give 107 such badva, or groups of 13,084 cows. Thus the total number of cows given in this sacrifice, known as Mañcâra, could have amounted to 14 lakhs, or 1.400.000.
The Lord Travels to Indraprastha on Advice of Uddhava
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'Hearing thus what was stated by the devarishi, spoke the gifted Uddhava with understanding for the stance taken by the royal assembly and Krishna. (2) S'rî Uddhava said: 'O Lord, You should do what the rishi said, and be of assistance to him, Your father's son, who intends to perform sacrifice, and You should as well offer those [the kings] protection who seek their refuge. (3) Since the Râjasûya sacrifice should be performed by the one who gained the upper hand in all directions o Almighty One, will You, in my opinion, with conquering the son of Jarâ be serving both purposes. (4) By this there will be great gain for us and for You, o Govinda, and You will release the kings imprisoned; thus proceeding will it be Your glory. (5) He [Jarâsandha] is a king as strong as a thousand elephants and cannot be conquered by other men of power, save for Bhîma who is equally strong. (6) Only chariot-to-chariot can he be defeated, not when he is together with a hundred akshauhinîs; also will he, devoted as he is to the brahminical, never refuse what the learned ask from him. (7) Visiting him wearing the dress of a brahmin must Bhîma beg for charity and without hesitation kill him in Your presence in a one-to-one fight. (8) Hiranyagarbha ['the one of the golden light' or Brahmâ] and S'arva [he who kills by the arrow, viz. S'iva, see 7.10: 67], are of You, the Controller of the Universe, of Your formlessness of Time, but the instrument in creation and annihilation. (9) In their homes do the godly wives of the [imprisoned] kings sing about Your spotless deeds. They sing about You killing their enemy and delivering their husbands; just as the gopîs do [in missing You, see 10.31] and the lord of the elephants [Gajendra being captured see 8.3], just as the daughter of Janaka did [Râmacandra's Sîtâ, see 9.10] and Your parents [when in Kamsa's prison, see 10.3], and so too do the sages upon having obtained your shelter [see e.g. 9.5] as well as we sing about You. (10) The killing of Jarâsandha, o Krishna, surely will bring us an immense advantage, namely the consequent excellence [of the kings] ànd the sacrifice favored by You.'
(11) S'rî S'uka said: 'The words Uddhava thus stated, in every way auspicious and infallible o King, were by the devarishi, the Yadu elders and by Krishna as well praised in response. (12) The Almighty Supreme Lord, the son of Devakî, took leave from those He owed respect [following the human ways] and next ordered His servants Dâruka, Jaitra and others to prepare for His departure. (13) Sending away His wives and sons for the luggage and saying goodbye to Sankarshana [Balarâma] and the Yadu king [Ugrasena], o killer of the enemies, mounted He His chariot brought by His driver, from which the flag of Garuda waved. (14) Then, surrounded by His chiefs and fierce guards, chariots, elephants, infantry and cavalry - His personal army - moved He out with from all sides vibrating the sounds of mridangas, bherî horns, gomukha horns, kettledrums and conch shells. (15) In golden palanquins carried by men, came following in fine clothes, ornamented, with perfumed oils and garlands, Acyuta's wives along with their children well guarded by soldiers with shields and swords in their hands. (16) The well ornamented women of the household and the courtesans came along with human carriers, camels, bulls, buffalo, donkeys, mules, bullock carts and she-elephants fully loaded with grass-huts, blankets, clothing and more items like that. (17) The huge army with a choice of flagpoles, banners, sunshades, yak-tail fans, weapons, jewelry, helmets and armor appeared that day glittering and shining in the rays of the sun; with the rumour of its sounds was it like an ocean restless with timingilas and waves. (18) After having heard and approved His plan, bowed the muni [Nârada], being honored by the Lord of the Yadus and feeling happy over the meeting with Mukunda, down to Him and went he, placing Him in his heart, away through the sky. (19) The messenger of the kings was by the Supreme Lord, to please him with His word, addressed with: 'Do not fear, o envoy, all fortune to you [and your kings]. I'll arrange for the killing of the king of Mâgadha.'
(20) Thus being addressed departed the messenger who informed the kings in detail. They then, eager for their liberation, awaited the moment they would meet S'auri. (21) Crossing through Ânarta [the region of Dvârakâ], Sauvîra [eastern Gujarat], Marudes'a [the Rajasthan desert] and Vinas'ana [the district of Kurukshetra], passed the Lord through hills, rivers, cities, villages, cow pastures and quarries. (22) Mukunda first crossing the river Drishadvatî then crossed the Sarasvatî, then passed through the province of Pañcâla and Matsya and finally reached Indraprastha. (23) Hearing that He, so rarely seen by human beings, had arrived, marched he whose enemy never was born [king Yudhishthhira] out [of his city] surrounded by his priests and relatives [in order to welcome Him]. (24) With an abundance of sounds of songs and instrumental music and the vibration of hymns went he forth to Hrishîkes'a, being as reverential as the senses are tuned to life. (25) The heart of the Pândava seeing Lord Krishna after so long a time melted with affection whereupon he embraced Him, his dearmost friend, over and over. (26) The ruler of man closing in his arms the body of Mukunda, the shining abode of Ramâ, found all his ill-fortune destroyed and achieved the highest bliss, in his exhilaration with tears in his eyes forgetting the illusory affair of being embodied in the material world. (27) Bhîma filled with joy embracing Him, his maternal nephew, laughed out of love with eyes brimming with tears and also of the twins [Nakula and Sahadeva] and of Kirîtî ['he with the helmet' or Arjuna] flowed profusely the tears as they with pleasure embraced Acyuta, their dearmost friend. (28) After He was embraced by Arjuna and had received the twins their obeisances, bowed He, according the etiquette, before the brahmins, the elders and the honorable Kurus, Sriñjayas and Kaikayas. (29) The bards, the chroniclers, the singers of heaven, the eulogists and jesters with mridangas, conches, kettledrums, vînâs, small drums and gomukha horns, all sang, danced and glorified with hymns the Lotus-eyed one as also did the brahmins. (30) The Supreme Lord, the Crest Jewel of the Renown of Piety, thus being glorified by His well-wishers around Him, entered the decorated city. (31-32) In the city of the king of the Kurus He saw the roads sprinkled with water fragrant of the mada [the rut-liquid] of elephants, colorful flags, gateways decorated with golden pots full of water and young men and women all in new apparel with ornaments, flower garlands and sandalwood on their bodies. In each home lamps were lit and offerings of tribute displayed with the smoke of incense drifting from the latticed windows and banners waving from the roofs that were adorned with golden domes with large silver bases. (33) Hearing of the arrival of the Reservoir for the Eyes of Man to Drink from, went the young women, to look on, onto the king's road thereby immediately abandoning their households or their husbands in bed, with the knots still in their hair and their dresses loosened in their eagerness. (34) There, very crowded with elephants, horses, chariots and soldiers on foot, caught they the sight of Krishna with His wives, and while they embraced Him in their hearts, scattered the women who [because of the commotion] had climbed onto the rooftops, flowers while giving Him a heartfelt welcome with broad smiles to their glances. (35) Seeing Mukunda's wives on the road like stars around the moon, exclaimed the women: 'What did they do that the Diadem of Men with the small portion of His playful smiles and glances grants their eyes the honor of the [complete] festival?' (36) Here and there approached citizens with auspicious offerings in their hands and performed the masters of the guilds, who banned their sins, worship for Krishna. (37) As He entered the king's palace approached the members of the royal household all in a flurry to greet full of love and with blossoming eyes Mukunda. (38) When Prithâ [queen Kuntî] saw her brother's son, Krishna, the Controller of the Three Worlds, rose she with a heart full of love from her couch together with her daughter-in-law [Draupadî] in order to embrace Him. (39) The king bringing Govinda, the Supreme God of All Gods, to His quarters could, overwhelmed by his great joy, not remember anymore what all had to be done for the reverential display of worship. (40) Krishna performed an offering of obeisances in respect of His father's sister and the elderly women, o King, and so also did His sister [Subhadrâ] and Krishnâ [Draupadî] bow down to Him. (41-42) Prompted by her mother-in-law [Kuntî] worshiped Krishnâ [Draupadî] with clothing, flower garlands, jewelry and so on, all Krishna's wives: Rukminî, Satyabhâmâ, Bhadrâ, Jâmbavatî, Kâlindî, Mitravindâ the descendant of S'ibi, the chaste Nâgnajitî as well as the others who had come. (43) The king of dharma [Yudhishthhira] comfortably accommodating Janârdana with His army, His servants and ministers and His wives saw to it that they were provided each and every moment. (44-45) Staying several months according His desire to please the king, went He, sporting with Arjuna and surrounded by guards, out riding with His chariot. He, accompanied by Arjuna, satisfied the fire-god by offering him the Khândava forest. Maya [a demon] whom He had saved, then built a celestial assembly hall for the king [in Hastinâpura].'
Jarâsandha Killed by Bhîma and the Kings Freed
(1-2) S'rî S'uka said: 'Once seated in his court surrounded by the sages, the nobles, the popular personalities, the business men and his brothers, addressed Yudhishthhira Krishna in the midst of all the âcâryas, the family, the elders, his blood relatives, in-laws and friends listening, and said he the following. (3) S'rî Yudhishthhira said: 'O Govinda, I wish to honor the manifold glory of You with the purifying king of all fire sacrifices named Râjasûya; please allow us that to perform o Master. (4) They who constantly in full service meditate upon and glorify Your slippers, which cause the destruction of all things inauspicious, are purified; they, and not other persons, o You whose Navel is like a Lotus, manage to put an end to a material existence or obtain, if they desire something, that what they long for. (5) Therefore o God of Gods, let the populace see the power in this world of serving the lotus feet; please show, o All-powerful one, the status of those Kurus and Sriñjayas who worship You like this, relative to the status of those who do not worship. (6) In Your mind of Absolute Truth can there be no difference between what is Your own and what is of others, for You are the Soul of All Beings who equal in Your vision experience within Yourself the happiness. To those who properly serve You are You like the desire tree granting the desired results in accordance with the service delivered - in this [catering to desires of You] there is no contradiction.'
(7) The Supreme Lord said: 'There is nothing wrong with your plan o King, following it will all the world witness your auspicious fame, o tormentor of the enemies! (8) For the sages, the forefathers, the gods and the friends also, o master of Us, as well as for all living beings is this king of sacrifices [the literal meaning of Râjasûja] desirable. (9) Bringing the earth under control, conquering all the kings and collecting all the necessities, [you must next] perform the great sacrifice. (10) These brothers of yours o King, were born as individual parts of the demigods who rule the worlds [see family-tree], and I, unconquerable for those who are not in control of themselves, am won by you who are self-controlled. (11) No person, not even a demigod - not mentioning an earthly ruler -, can by his strength, beauty, fame or might subdue in this world someone who is dedicated to Me.'
(12) S'rî S'uka said: 'With a face blossoming like a lotus, pleased to hear the song [the Gîtâ] of the Supreme Lord, engaged he, invigorated by the potency of Vishnu, his brothers in the conquest of all the directions. (13) Sahadeva with the Sriñjayas he sent to the south, Nakula with the Matsyas in the western direction, Arjuna with the Kekayas to the north and Bhîma with the Madrakas to the east. (14) They, the heroes, with their personal strength subduing many kings brought from everywhere an abundance of riches to him of whom, intent upon performing the sacrifice, the enemy wasn't born, o King. (15) The king pondering over the news that Jarâsandha was not defeated, was by the Original Person of the Lord enlightened on the means which thereto had been mentioned by Uddhava [in 10.71: 2-10]. (16) And so went Bhîmasena, Arjuna and Krishna disguised as brahmins together to Girivraja, my dear, where the son of Brihadratha [Jarâsandha] resided. (17) Going to his residence at the hour appointed for receiving uninvited guests begged the nobles, appearing as brahmins, with the religious householder who was of respect for brahmins: (18) 'O King, know us to be guests who in their need have arrived from afar; wishing you all the best, please grant us all that we desire. (19) What would for a person of patience be intolerable, what would for the impious all be impossible, what wouldn't be donated by the generous, and who would exclude those who are equal in their vision? (20) He indeed is contemptible and pitiable who, very well being able, with the temporary existence of his body fails to acquire the lasting fame as sung by the saintly. (21) Many like Haris'candra, Rantideva, Uñchavritti Mudgala, S'ibi, Bali, and the legendary hunter and pigeon [see*], attained the permanent by departing from the impermanent.'
(22) S'rî S'uka said: 'However, from their voices, their physical stature and the marks of bowstrings on their arms even, recognized he [Jarâsandha] them as nobles, as members of the family he had seen before. (23) [he thought:] 'These relatives of the royal class wearing the insignia of brahmins I should give whatever they ask for, even something as difficult to forsake as my own body. (24-25) Isn't it known of Bali that his glories spread wide in all directions because of his spotless rule of state, even though he was brought down by Lord Vishnu [Vâmana] who, in the guise of a brahmin appearing as a twice-born one of Vishnu, wanted to take away Indra's opulence? Knowingly gave he away the entire earth, despite the advise against the daitya king [Bali] received [from his guru, see 8.19]. (26) What use at all is it for a fallen kshatriya to be alive but with his perishable body not to endeavor for the benefit, the greater glory, of the brahmins?' (27) Thus being a broad-minded person said he to Krishna, Arjuna and Vrikodara ['wolf-belly' or Bhîma]: 'O men of learning, ask me whatever you want, I'll even give my own head to you!'
(28) The Supreme Lord said: 'Please o high and mighty King, accept the challenge to give us battle in a one-to-one fight; we, members of the royalty, came here wishing a fight and don't want anything else. (29) That one is Bhîma the son of Prithâ and this other one is Arjuna in person and I, I am Krishna their maternal cousin, your enemy as you know [see 10.50].'
(30) Thus being invited had the king of Magadha to laugh out loud and said he contemptuously: 'In that case, I'll give you battle, you fools! (31) But I won't fight with You. Cowardly, You lacked in strength in battle when You abandoned Your own city Mathurâ to leave for a safe place in the ocean. (32) As for this one, Arjuna, he, not old enough nor very strong, is no match for me and shouldn't be the contender; Bhîma is the one equal in strength to me.'
(33) Thus having spoken gave he Bhîma a large club and went he outside the city, himself taking another one. (34) Then, engaged in the fighting area, stroke the two heroes each other with their lightning-bolt like clubs. The fight drove them to mad fury. (35) Skillfully circling left and right appeared the two thus moving around in the fight, as splendidly as a couple of actors on a stage. (36) When they swung their clubs against each other gave that a sound resembling a crash of lightning, o King, or the clattering of the tusks of elephants. (37) Infuriated vigorously fighting like a couple of elephants were the clubs that with the rapid force of their arms powerfully were swung against each other's shoulders, hips, feet, hands, thighs and collarbones, in the contact smashed to pieces like some arka branches. (38) With their clubs thus ruined pummeled the two great heroes among men angrily each other with their fists iron to the touch. The slapping of their hands sounded like elephants crashing into each other or as harsh claps of thunder. (39) With the two thus striking, equally trained, strong and of endurance as they were, remained the fight undecided and continued it unabated, o King. [**] (40) Knowing of the birth and death of the enemy and how he was brought to life by Jarâ [see 9.22: 8 and ***], empowered Krishna the son of Prithâ with His own power of thought. (41) Having determined the means to kill their enemy showed He whose Vision is Infallible it to Bhîma by tearing apart a twig as a sign. (42) Understanding that seized the immensely strong Bhîma, the best of fighters, his enemy by the feet and threw he him to the ground. (43) Standing with his foot on top of one leg took he with both hands hold of the other one and tore he, like a great elephant with the branch of a tree, him apart from the anus upward. (44) The king's subjects then saw him separated in two pieces with each one leg, thigh, testicle, hip, backside, shoulder, arm, eye, eyebrow and ear. (45) With the lord of Magadha being killed arose a great cry of lamentation, while Arjuna and Acyuta both congratulated Bhîma as they embraced him. (46) The Unfathomable One Supreme Lord and Sustainer of All Living Beings crowned his son Sahadeva to be the lord and master of the Magadhas and next freed the kings who were imprisoned by the king of Magadha.'
Footnotes
* The story goes that the pigeon and his mate gave their own flesh to a hunter to prove their hospitality, and thus they were taken to heaven in a celestial airplane. When the hunter understood their situation in the mode of goodness, he also became renounced, gave up hunting and went off to perform severe austerities. Because he was freed of all sins, was he, after his body burned to death in a forest fire, elevated to heaven.
** Some âcâryas include the following two verses in the text of this chapter, and S'rîla Prabhupâda has also translated them in 'Krishna':
evam tayor mahâ-râja
yudhyatoh sapta-vims'atih
dinâni niragams tatra
suhrid-van nis'i tishthhatoh
ekadâ mâtuleyam vai
prâha râjan vrikodarah
na s'akto 'ham jarâsandham
nirjetum yudhi mâdhava"Thus, O King, they continued to fight for twenty-seven days. At the end of each day's fighting, both lived at night as friends in Jarâsandha's palace. Then on the twenty-eighth day, O King, Vrikodara [Bhîma] told his maternal cousin, 'Mâdhava, I cannot defeat Jarâsandha in battle.' "
*** S'rîla Prabhupâda writes "Jarâsandha was born in two different parts from two different mothers. When his father saw that the baby was useless, he threw the two parts in the forest, where they were later found by a black-hearted witch named Jarâ. She managed to join the two parts of the baby from top to bottom. Knowing this, Lord Krishna therefore also knew how to kill him."
Lord Krishna Blesses the Liberated Kings
(1-6) S'rî S'uka said: 'The twenty thousand eight hundred [kings] who in battle were defeated [by Jarâsandha] came out of the fortress of Giridronî [the capital] being dirty and with dirty clothes. Emaciated of hunger, with dried up faces and because of their imprisonment being greatly weakened drank they Him in with their eyes and were they as if licking with their tongues, as if smelling Him with their nostrils and embracing Him with their arms. He the One dark gray like a cloud, in yellow clothing, marked by the S'rîvatsa, by four arms, charming eyes pinkish as the whorl of a lotus, a pleasant face, the gleaming makara [seamonster shaped] earrings; with a lotus, a club, a conch shell and a disc in His hands; a helmet, necklace, golden bracelets, a belt and armlets decorating Him and with the splendid brilliant jewel and a forest flower garland around His neck. They, whose sins were destroyed, bowed, with their heads down at His feet. (7) And while the kings with joined palms with their words praised the Master of the Senses was by the ecstasy of seeing Krishna the weariness of their imprisonment dispelled.
(8) The kings said: 'Obeisances to You, o God of the Gods, o Lord of the Surrendered and Remover of Distress, o Inexhaustible One; please o Krishna save us, the surrendered ones who are so despondent about the terrible of a material existence. (9) O Madhusûdana, we do not point our finger, o Master, at the ruler of Magadha since it is by Your furthering of the good, o Almighty One, that kings [in defiance] fall from their position. (10) Exhilarated and clamoring with the sovereignty and opulence does a king not obtain the real benefit in his being deluded by Your mâyâ thinking that the temporary assets would be permanent. (11) The same way as a child considers a mirage a reservoir of water, do those lacking in discrimination see the illusory subject to transformation as substantial. (12-13) We who before in our lusting about the wealth lost our sight and quarreling with each other about ruling this earth very mercilessly harassed our own citizens o Master, have with [You as] death standing before us arrogantly disregarded You. We o Krishna, have been forced to part from our opulence in our pride being hurt by Your mercy in the form of the irresistible power of the Time which moves so mysteriously. We beg You to allow us please to live in the remembrance of Your feet. (14) Henceforward we no longer hanker for a kingdom that appearing like a mirage must constantly be served by the material body that subjected to demise is a source of disease; nor do we, o Almighty One, hanker for the fruit of pious work in an hereafter so attractive to the ears [compare B.G. 1: 32-35]. (15) Please instruct us in the means by which we may remember Your lotus-like feet, even though we time and again keep returning to this world [see B.G. 8: 14]. (16) Over and over our obeisances for Krishna the son of Vasudeva, the Lord and Supersoul of the ones of salute; to Govinda, the Destroyer of the Distress.'
(17) S'rî S'uka said: 'The Supreme Lord, the Giver of Shelter, commendably praised by the kings freed from their bondage, my dear, mercifully spoke to them with gentle words. (18) The Supreme Lord said: 'I assure you, as from now, o Kings, as you wish will rise your very firm devotion to Me, the Self and Controller of All. (19) Your resolve is fortunate, o rulers, for I see you truthfully speak about the impudent infatuation one can have with the opulence and power that is so maddening to the human being. (20) Haihaya [or Kârtavîryârjuna 9.15: 25], Nahusha [9.18: 1-3], Vena [see 4.14], Râvana [9.10], Naraka [or Bhauma 10.59: 2-3] and others fell from their positions as gods, demons and men because of their being intoxicated by the opulence. (21) You, understanding that this material body and such is subject to birth and finality, should, in being connected to Me in worship with sacrifices, protect your citizens according the dharma. (22) Facing the facts of happiness and distress, birth and death, should you engage in begetting generations of progeny, while you in the spirit are fixed in accepting Me. (23) Neutral in relation to the body and all that and, steadfast in keeping to the vows, being satisfied within, will you, fully concentrating your minds upon Me, in the end reach Me, the Absolute of the Truth [compare B.G. 4: 9; 8: 7; 9: 28; 12: 3-4].'
(24) S'rî S'uka said: 'Krishna, the Supreme Lord and Controller of All the Worlds, who thus had instructed the kings, engaged menservants and women in bathing them. (25) O descendent of Bharata, He took care that Sahadeva [Jarâsandha's son] served them befittingly with clothing, ornaments, garlands and sandalwood paste. (26) Properly bathed and well decorated were they fed with excellent food and bestowed with various pleasures worthy of kings like bethelnut etc. (27) Honored by Mukunda shone the kings freed from their distress splendidly with their gleaming earrings like they were the planets at the end of the rainy season. (28) Having them mount chariots with fine horses adorned with gold and jewels sent He, gratifying them with pleasing words, off to their own kingdoms. (29) They, the greatest of personalities, who thus by Krishna were liberated from all difficulty went away thinking of nothing but the deeds of Him, the Lord of the Living Being that is the Universe. (30) To their ministers and other associates they spoke of the activities of the Supreme Personality and just as the Lord had instructed carried they out His orders diligently. (31) Having had Jarâsandha killed by Bhîmasena, departed, after being worshiped by Sahadeva, Kes'ava, accompanied by the two sons of Prithâ. (32) Arriving in Indraprastha blew they the conch shells that brought discomfiture to the enemies they defeated but now brought delight to their well-wishers. (33) The residents of Indraprastha pleased in their heart to hear that, understood that Jarâsandha was put to rest and that the king [Yudhishthhira] his objectives were met. (34) Arjuna, Bhîma and Janârdana then recounted, after having offered the king their obeisances, everything they had done. (35) The king of the dharma couldn't speak a word when he heard that. In ecstasy over Krishna's mercy shed he tears out of love.'
The Râjasûya: Krishna the First and S'is'upâla Killed
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'Yudhishthhira, the king, thus hearing of the death of Jarâsandha and the display of power of the almighty Krishna, pleased with that addressed Him. (2) S'rî Yudhishthhira said: 'All the spiritual masters, inhabitants, and great controllers there are of the three worlds, carry the indeed rarely obtained command [of You] on their heads. (3) That He, the Lotus-eyed Lord Yourself, takes directions of those to the day living people [like us] who presume themselves to be controllers, is, o All-pervading One, the greatest annoyance. (4) Like with the sun indeed, does of the One without a Second, the Absolute Truth, the Supersoul, the power not increase nor diminish by [His] activities [see B.G. 2: 40]. (5) O Mâdhava, the perverted mentality of setting apart 'you and yours' and 'I and mine', as if one is of the animals, is verily not Yours, o Unconquerable One, nor of your bhaktas.'
(6) S'rî S'uka said: 'Thus having spoken chose the son of Prithâ, at the right time for the sacrifice, with the permission of Krishna the priests who were suitable, the brahmins who were vedic experts: (7-9) Dvaipâyana [Vyâsa], Bharadvâja, Sumantu, Gotama, Asita, Vasishthha, Cyavana, Kanva, Maitreya, Kavasha, Trita, Vis'vâmitra, Vâmadeva, Sumati, Jaimini, Kratu, Paila, Parâs'ara, Garga, Vais'ampâyana as also Atharvâ, Kas'yapa, Dhaumya, Râma of the Bhârgavas [Pâras'urâma], Âsuri, Vîtihotra, Madhucchandâ, Vîrasena and Akritavrana. (10-11) Also invited were others like Drona, Bhîshma, Kripa and Dhritarâshthra with his sons, and the highly intelligent Vidura; kings with their royal entourages, brahmins, kshatriyas, vais'yas and s'ûdras, all came there eager to attend the sacrifice, o King. (12) Then furrowed the brahmins with plowshares of gold the place of worshiping the gods and inaugurated they there the king according the injunctions. (13-15) The utensils were of gold like it had been in the past when Varuna sacrificed [compare 9.2: 27]. The rulers of the worlds headed by Indra, including Brahmâ and S'iva; the perfected and heavenly singers with their entourage; the scholars, the great serpents [v.i.p.s, egos], the sages, the wealth keepers and wild men; the birds of heaven [see khaga], the mighty, the venerable and the earthly kings who were invited, as also the wives of the kings came from everywhere to the Râjasûya sacrifice which they, not being surpised, for a devotee of Krishna deemed quite appropriate. (16) The priests who were as powerful as the gods performed for the great king the Râjasûya sacrifice as was vedically prescribed, exactly the way the demigods had done it for Varuna. (17) On the day for extracting the soma-juice worshiped the king very attentively the sacrificers and the exalted personalities of the assembly. (18) The members seated in the assembly pondering over who of them deserved to be worshiped first could not arrive at a conclusion because there were many [who qualified]; then Sahadeva [the Pândava] spoke up: (19) 'Acyuta for sure deserves the supreme position, He is the Supreme Lord, the leader of the Sâtvatas, He doubtlessly covers all the demigods as well as the place, time and necessities and such. (20-21) This universe as well as the great sacrificial performances, the sacred fire, the oblations and the incantations are founded upon Him and the analytical perspective and the yoga are aiming at Him. He is the One alone without a second upon whom the Living Being builds, the Unborn One relying on Himself alone, o members of the assembly, who creates, maintains and destroys. (22) He generates the various activities out here; to His grace does the whole world endeavor and follow its ideals known as the religiosity and so on [the purusharthas]. (23) Therefore should the greatest honor be given to Krishna, the Supreme One; if we do it this way, will we be honoring all living beings as well as ourselves. (24) It is to be given to Krishna, the Soul of all beings who sees no one as separate from Himself; to the One of Peace Perfectly Complete who for one who wishes his love to be reciprocated, is the Unlimited [the Infinite of Return].'
(25) Sahadeva thus speaking fell silent and all the ones of excellence and truth who heard this and had awoken to the influence of Krishna said happily: 'This is excellent, very fine!'
(26) Hearing what the twice-born pronounced, worshiped the king overwhelmed by love Hrishîkes'a fully, glad to know that the members of the assembly were content. (27-28) Washing His feet and taking the water that purifies the world on his own head, carried he it with pleasure to his wife, his brothers, his ministers and family. And as he with precious yellow silken garments and jewelry was honoring Him, could he, with the tears filling his eyes, not look Him straight in His face. (29) Seeing Him honored this way exclaimed all the people with joined palms: 'Obeisances to You, all victory to You!' and to that they bowed down to Him and showered they Him with flowers.
(30) The son of Damaghosha [S'is'upâla, see 10.53] hearing this rose, aroused by the descriptions of Krishna's qualities, from his seat angrily waving with his arms and said, resolutely addressing the Fortunate One with harsh words, this in the middle of the assembly: (31) 'The vedic word of truth that Time is the unavoidable controller, has been proven true since even the intelligence of the elders could be led astray by the words of a boy! (32) All of you very well know who would be the most praiseworthy; please, all you leaders of the assembly, pay no attention to the statements of the boy that Krishna should be chosen for being honored. (33-34) You overlook the leaders in the assembly who are the best among the wise. They, dedicated to the Absolute Truth, are held high by the local authorities, they are men who by spiritual understanding, austerity, vedic knowledge and vows eradicated their impurities. How can a cowherd, who is a disgrace to His family, deserve it to be worshiped? He deserves it no more than a crow deserves the sacred rice cake! (35) How can He, acting on His own accord and devoid of kula [a proper upbringing] varna [vocational propriety] and âs'rama [sense of duty to one's age], thus missing the qualities, deserve it to be worshiped? (36) With their [Yadu-]dynasty cursed by Yayâti [see 9.18: 40-44], being ostracized by well-behaved persons [see 10.52: 9] and wantonly addicted to drinking [e.g. 10.67: 9-10], how can such a one deserve the worship? (37) Abandoning the lands [of Mathurâ] graced by the brahmin sages took these Ones to a fortress in the sea [10.50: 49] where the brahminical is not observed [10.57: 30], and where They as thieves give a lot of trouble to the people [e.g. 10.61].'
(38) Before him who, with speaking such and more harsh words, had lost all his chances, spoke the Supreme Lord not a word. He kept silent like a lion to a jackal's cry. (39) Hearing that intolerable criticism, covered the members of the assembly their ears and went they away cursing the king of Cedi angrily. (40) A person dedicated to Him who does not leave the place where criticism of the Supreme Lord is heard, will, having lost his pious credit, fall down. (41) The sons of Pându, the Matsyas, Kaikayas and Sriñjayas then, infuriated raising their weapons, stood prepared to kill S'is'upâla. (42) Thereupon, o scion of Bharata, took S'is'upâla undaunted up his sword and shield to challenge with insults the kings in the assembly who were the proponents of Krishna. (43) The Supreme Lord just then rising stopped His devotees and displeased attacked His enemy with His sharp-edged disc with which He severed his head. (44) With S'is'upâla killed there was a tumultuous uproar among the audience, which thus offered the kings who sided with him and feared for their lives the opportunity to flee. (45) Right before the eyes of all the living rose from the body of S'is'upâla a light that entered Krishna like it was a meteor from the sky falling to earth [see also 10.12: 33]. (46) Extending throughout three lifetimes had he been obsessed by a mentality of enmity and attained he thus meditating Oneness with Him [B.G. 4: 9]. It is really so that one's attitude is the cause of one's rebirth! [see B.G. 8: 6 & Jaya and Vijaya] (47) The emperor gave in gratitude the priests and the members of the assembly abundant gifts, respecting them all properly according the scriptural injunctions, and performed the avabhritha ceremony [of washing himself and the utensils to conclude the sacrifice]. (48) Krishna, the Controller of the Controllers of Yoga, seeing to it that the sacrifice of the king was performed, stayed a couple of months [in Indraprastha] on the request of His well-wishers. (49) Then asking permission with a reluctant king, went the son of Devakî, Îs'vara, with His wives and ministers away to His own city. (50) The tale of the two Vaikunthha residents that due to the curse of the learned ones had to be born again and again, has by me been related to you in detail [see 3.16]. (51) King Yudhishthhira in the midst of the brahmins and kshatriyas bathing at the avabhritha of the Râjasûja shone as brilliant as the king of the demigods. (52) All the gods, humans and beings in the sky [the lesser gods, the Pramathas] honored by the king happily returned to their own domains, full of praise for Krishna and the sacrifice. (53) [All were happy], except for the sinful Duryodhana, who was the pest of the Kuru dynasty and the personification of the Age of Quarrel. To face the flourishing opulence of the Pândavas was something he couldn't bear.
(54) He who recites these activities of Lord Vishnu, the deliverance of the kings, the sacrifice and the killing of the king of Cedi and such, is delivered from all sin.'
Concluding the Râjasûya and Duryodhana Laughed at
(1-2) The honorable king said: 'All the human divinity, o brahmin, that assembled at the Râjasûya sacrifice of Ajâtas'atru [he whose enemy was never born, or Yudhishthhira], were delighted with the great festiveness they saw: the kings, the sages and the godly, thus I heard my lord, except for Duryodhana; please enlighten us on the reason for that.'
(3) The son of Vyâsa said: 'At the Râjasûya sacrifice of the great soul of your grandfather were the family members who were bound in divine love, engaged in humbly serving him. (4-7) Bhîma was in charge of the kitchen, Duryodhana supervised the finances, Sahadeva did the reception and Nakula procured the needed items. Arjuna served the preceptors, Krishna washed the feet, the daughter of Drupada served the food and the magnanimous Karna handed out the gifts. Yuyudhâna, Vikarna, Hârdikya, Vidura and others like the sons of Bâhlîka headed by Bhûris'ravâ and Santardana, were, eager to please the king, willing to engage in the diversity of duties at the time of the elaborate sacrifice, o best of kings. (8) The priests, the prominent officials, the highly learned and all the best well-wishers, being well honored with pleasing words, auspicious offerings and gifts of gratitude, executed, after the king of Cedi had entered the feet of the master of the Sâtvatas, the avabhritha bathing in the river of heaven [the Yamunâ]. (9) To begin with the avabhritha celebration sounded the music of a variety of gomukha horns, kettledrums, large drums, mridangas, smaller drums and conch shells. (10) Women dancers danced and singers sang joyfully in groups as the loud sound of their vînâs, flutes and hand cymbals touched the heavens. (11) The kings with necklaces of gold took off [to the Yamunâ] with footsoldiers, flags and banners of different colors, excellent majestic elephants, chariots and horses that were finely caparisoned. (12) The Yadus, Sriñjayas, Kâmbojas, Kurus, Kekayas and Kos'alas with their armies, headed by [the king,] the performer of the sacrifice, made the earth tremble. (13) The ones officiating, the priests and the brahmins of excellence loudly vibrated the vedic mantras, while the gods and sages, the forefathers and singers of heaven recited praises and rained down flowers. (14) Men and women nicely adorned with sandalwood paste, garlands, jewelry and clothes, smeared and sprinkled each other playing with various liquids. (15) The courtesans were by the men playfully smeared with yogurt and perfumed water with plenty of turmeric and vermilion powder, and so smeared they in return [*]. (16) The queens guarded by soldiers went, just as did the wives of the gods in their celestial chariots in the sky, out to witness this firsthand and as they by their cousins and friends were sprinkled, was it a beautiful sight to see their faces blossoming with shy smiles. (17) They, their brothers-in-law, their friends and so on, all squirted with syringes to which their arms, breasts, thighs and waists due to the excitement became visible with their dresses drenched and loosened, and the braids of small flowers in their hair slipped; and so did they in the process of their charming play agitate the ones impure of mind. (18) He, the emperor mounted his chariot with excellent horses and shone, hung with gold, forth with his wives as the king of sacrifices, the Râjasûya with all its rituals, in person. (19) After having executed the patnî-samyâja- [**] and avabhritha ceremonies, made the priests him perform the âcamana of sipping water for purification, and bathe in the Ganges together with Draupadî. (20) The kettledrums of the gods resounded together with those of the human beings while the godly, the sages, the forefathers and the humans created a rain of flowers. (21) After this bathed all humans of all classes and orders in that place where even the greatest sinner can instantly be freed from all contamination. (22) The king next putting on a new set of silken garments, nicely ornamented honored the priests, the ones officiating and the brahmins with jewelry and clothing. (23) In diverse ways went the king, devoted to Nârâyana, at lengths in proving his respects to the kings, his friends, well-wishers, direct family, more distant relatives as also to others. (24) All the men, jeweled with earrings, wearing flowers and turbans, jackets and silks as well as the most precious pearl necklaces, shone like the demigods; just as did the women who with the beauty of their faces adorned with pairs of earrings and locks of hair wearing golden belts, radiated brilliantly. (25-26) Then, with his permission, did the priests highly respected, the officials, the vedic experts, the brahmins, the kshatriyas, vais'yas, s'ûdras and the kings who had come and, o king, along with their followers, the local rulers, the spirits, the forefathers and demigods had been worshiped, go back to their own abodes. (27) Like mortal men drinking the amrita had they never enough of glorifying the great celebration of the Râjasûya sacrifice of the saintly king, the servant of Lord Krishna. (28) In pain because of being separated from Krishna had king Yudhishthhira as said [in 10.74: 48] in his love for his family members and relatives difficulty letting them go. (29) My dear, in order to please him stayed the Supreme Lord there. The Yadu heroes who for that purpose were headed by Sâmba he sent off to Dvârakâ. (30) This way was the king, the son of Dharma [Yamarâja or Dharma, the lord of the duties] successfully crossing over the so difficult to overcome ocean of his desires, by Krishna freed from the fever [see also 10.63: 23].
(31) Duryodhana was pained when he saw within the palace the opulence of the Râjasûya and the greatness of him [Yudhishthhira] whose very soul was Acyuta. (32) In it were brought together all the different opulences of the kings of men, the kings of demons and the kings of the godly. Being provided by the cosmic architect [Maya Dânava], served that wealth the daughter of king Drupada with her husbands [the Pândavas]. Himself also attracted to her lamented the heart of the Kuru-prince. (33) The thousands of queens of the lord of Mathurâ were at the time there present, most attractive with their waists and heavy hips, moving around slowly with their feet charmingly tinkling, with their pearl necklaces reddened by the kunkuma from their breasts and with their beautiful faces richly adorned with earrings and locks of hair. (34-35) In the assembly hall constructed by Maya it so happened that the son of Dharma, the emperor in person, accompanied by his attendants, his family and also Krishna, his Very Eye, was seated on a throne of gold as if he, with the opulences of supreme rulership, was Indra, joined and being praised by the court poets. (36) There, o King, then entered Duryodhana surrounded by his brothers. Proud as a peacock wearing a crown and necklace, had he constantly his hand on his sword while angrily insulting [the doorkeepers]. (37) Bewildered by the magic of Maya taking the solid floor he saw for water, held he the end of his garment high, but further up fell he in water which he took for a solid floor. (38) Bhîma seeing it laughed out loadly as also did the women, the kings and the rest, who, my dear, even though they were checked by the king, had the approval of Krishna. (39) He [Duryodhana], burning with anger, embarrassed holding his face low, went hurt inside off to Hastinâpura. When that happened rose from the truthfull a very noisy 'Alas alas!' Ajâtas'atru [the king] felt somewhat disheartened while the Supreme Lord, from whose glance the bewilderment rose, kept silent, being prepared to remove the burden from the earth [see also 1.15: 25-26, 10.2: 38 and 10.63: 27].
(40) I've now spoken about what you've asked me, o King, regarding the depravity of Duryodhana during the great Râjasûya sacrifice.'
Footnotes:
*: Present day India knows the tradition of the Holi celebrations, the festival of colors once a year on the morning after the full moon in early March every year, where one plays this game. It celebrates the arrival of spring and the death of the demoness Holika. Holika was the sister of Hiranyakas'ipu who fighting Prahlâda couldn't succeed in killing him [see 7.5]. She, said to be fire resistant, sitting with him in a fire couldn't harm him. He remained unscathed, but she burned in the fire to ashes. Thus are with Holi the night before great bonfires lit to commemorate the story. Although Holi is observed all over the north, it's celebrated with special joy and zest at Mathurâ, Vrindâvana, Nandgaon, and Barsnar (the places where Lord Krishna and S'ri Râdhâ grew up). Lord Krishna, while growing up in Vraja, popularized the festival with His ingenious pranks. The gopîs of Vraja responded with equal enthusiasm and the festivities have continued ever since. Role reversal with travesty, feminism etc. are accepted customs for the duration of the festival. Men and women of Vraja clash in a colorful display of a mock battle of the sexes. A naturally occurring orange-red dye, Kesudo, is used to drench all participants.
**: The patnî-samyâja ritual is the ritual performed by the sponsor of the sacrifice and his wife, consisting of oblations to Soma, Tvashthâ, the wives of certain demigods, and Agni.
The Battle Between S'âlva and the Vrishnis
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'Please, o King, now hear how Krishna, in His body playing the human, in yet another wonderful deed of His killed the lord of Saubha. (2) He with the name of S'âlva, came as a friend of S'is'upâla to Rukminî's wedding and was by the Yadus defeated in battle together with Jarâsandha and others [see 10.54 and also 10.50]. (3) Before all the kings listening he made the pledge: 'Wait and see, I'll rid the earth of the Yâdavas with all I can.'
(4) The foolish king vowed thus ate only once a day a handful of dust in worshiping as his master the lord protecting the animallike [pictured as Pas'upati or S'iva with S'âlva praying as a boy together with Yama]. (5) At the end of a year gave the great lord who is quickly pleased [Âs'utosha], the master of Umâ, S'âlva, who had approached him for shelter, the choice of a benediction. (6) He chose a vehicle terrifying to the Vrishnis with which he could travel at will and which would be indestructible to the gods, the demons, the humans, the singers of heaven, the serpents and the wild men. (7) With the lord of the mountain saying 'so be it' was Maya Dânava, there for outdoing the cities of the enemies [see 7.10: 53], commissioned to construct for, and offer to S'âlva a [flying] fortress made of iron named Saubha. (8) When he obtained the vehicle that, as an abode of darkness, moving to his liking, was unassailable, went S'âlva to Dvârakâ, bearing in mind the enmity shown by the Vrishnis. (9-11) O best of the Bharatas, S'âlva, besieging the city with a large army, laid in ruins the parks, the gardens and all the towers, gateways, mansions, outer walls, outlook posts and recreational areas surrounding it. From that superior vimâna of his descended torrents of weapons, stones and trees as also thunderbolts, snakes and hailstones, while with the rise of a fierce whirlwind all the directions were covered with dust. (12) The city of Krishna thus terribly tormented by Saubha could, just as the earth with Tripura [see 7.10: 56], o King, find no peace.
(13) The Great Lord Pradyumna seeing how His subjects were being harassed then said to them: 'Do not fear!', after which the great hero who was of an untold glory mounted His chariot. (14-15) Sâtyaki, Cârudeshna, Sâmba, Akrûra and his younger brothers, Hârdikya, Bhânuvinda as also Gada, S'uka and Sârana and other leading warrior bowmen of eminence, went out [of the city] in armor and being protected by chariotry, elephantry, cavalry and infantry. (16) Then a hair-raising battle commenced between the Yadus and the followers of S'âlva, that was as tumultuous as the battle between the demons and the demigods [see 8.10]. (17) The way the warm rays of the sun dissipate the darkness of the night, were by the son of Rukminî in an instant with His divinely empowered weapons the magical tricks destroyed of the master of Saubha. (18-19) With twenty-five iron-tipped, in their joints perfectly smoothened arrows with golden shafts struck He S'âlva's commander-in-chief [Dyumân], with a hundred He pierced S'âlva, with one each his soldiers, with ten each his charioteers and with three each of the carriers [elephants, horses]. (20) Seeing that amazing, mighty feat of Pradyumna, the great personality, was He honored by all of His and the enemy soldiers. (21) Then seen in many forms, then seen as one only and then again not being seen at all, had that magical illusion created by Maya turned into something that with all its change could impossibly be located by the opponent. (22) Moving hither and thither like a whirling firebrand, from one moment to the next seen on the earth, then in the sky, on a mountain top and then in the water, remained that Saubha airship never in one place. (23) Wherever S'âlva with his soldiers appeared with his Saubha ship, were right at that spot the arrows aimed by the army commanders of the Yadus. (24) S'âlva lost because of the enemy his grip when his army and fortress unbearably had to suffer from the arrows that, hitting like fire and sun, worked like snake-venom. (25) Even though the heroes of Vrishni, eager for the victory in this world and the next, were extremely pained by the floods of weapons launched by the commanders of S'âlva, did they not leave their positions. (26) S'âlva's companion named Dyumân - previously hurt by Pradyumna - positioning himself before Him with a club of maura iron, stroke with a powerful roar. (27) Pradyumna, the subduer of the enemies, knocked unconscious by the mace, was then by His chariot driver, a son of Dâruka, faithful in his duty removed from the battlefield.
(28) Immediately regaining His consciousness, said the son of Krishna to His chariot driver: 'It was a wrong thing to do driver, to remove Me from the battlefield! (29) Except for Me, has no one born in the house of Yadu ever been known to have abandoned the battlefield; now My reputation is stained because of a driver who thinks like a eunuch! (30) What should I who fled from the battlefield say now when I meet My fathers Râma and Krishna? What should I say then in my defense?? (31) Certainly My sisters-in-law will deride Me saying: 'How o hero, could Your enemies succeed in turning You into a coward in battle?'
(32) The charioteer said: 'O Long-lived One, what I did have I done in faith to the rules of dharma, o Lord; a driver should protect the master who ran into danger, just as the master should protect the driver. (33) Since You factually were knocked out by the enemy, have I removed You with that in mind from the battlefield. As far as I was concerned had You been wounded!'
S'âlva and the Saubha-fortress Finished
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'Touching water, fastening His armor and picking up His bow He [Pradyumna] said to His charioteer: 'Take Me to where the warrior Dyumân is.' (2) With Dyumân devastating His troops struck the son of Rukminî back with a smile, counterattacking with eight nârâca arrows [iron types]. (3) He struck with four for the four horses, one for the driver, with two for the bow and flag and with one for his head. (4) Gada, Sâtyaki, Sâmba and others finished off the army of the master of Saubha; all inside Saubha fell into the ocean with their throats cut. (5) The fight between the Yadus and the followers of S'âlva striking one another, that was thus tumultuous and fearsome, went on for twenty-seven days and nights. (6-7) Krishna who upon the call of the son of Dharma had gone to Indraprastha [see 10.71] then, with the Râjasûya completed, with S'is'upâla being killed and with noticing very bad omens, took leave of the Kuru elders, the sages and Prithâ and her sons, and went to Dvârakâ. (8) He said to Himself: 'With Me accompanied by My illustrious elder brother coming to this place, may the kings siding with S'is'upâla well be attacking My city.'
(9) Kes'ava, when He saw king S'âlva's Saubha and the destruction going on of all that belonged to Him, arranged for the protection of the city and said to Dâruka: (10) 'Bring Me My chariot o driver, and quickly take Me near S'âlva; and mind not to be outsmarted by this lord of Saubha, he's a great magician.'
(11) Thus commanded taking control drove he forward the chariot, so that, with Him arriving there, all of His troops and the soldiers of the opposing party caught sight of the emblem [of Garuda]. (12) When S'âlva, as the master of a practically completely destroyed army, saw Lord Krishna on the battlefield, hurled he his spear with a scary roar at Krishna's charioteer. (13) In its flight illumining all directions like it was a great meteor, was it by Krishna midair swiftly cut in a hundred pieces. (14) Like the sun with its rays in the sky, pierced He him with six penetrating arrows and aimed He torrents of them at the Saubha-fortress that was moving about. (15) But when S'âlva struck S'auri's left arm, the arm with His bow, fell, most amazingly, the S'ârnga from the hand of S'ârngadhanvâ. (16) While there from all the living beings witnessing arose a great cry of dismay, roared the lord of Saubha and said he this to Janârdana: (17-18) 'Since by You, o fool, right from under our eyes the bride of Your brother [nephew factually], a friend [S'is'upâla], was stolen [10.53] and he, my friend thus, in his heedlessness by You within the assembly was killed [10.74], will You Yourself, who are so convinced of Your invincibility, today with my sharp arrows be sent to the land of no return, if You dare to stand in front of me!'
(19) The Supreme Lord said: 'You moron, boast in vain not seeing death impending; heroes rather demonstrate their prowess, they don't prattle!'
(20) Thus having spoken struck the Supreme Lord S'âlva him infuriated with frightening power and speed with His club on the collarbone so that he trembling had to vomit blood. (21) But when he lifted His club again had S'âlva disappeared and appeared a moment later a man bowing his head before Krishna who lamenting spoke the words: 'Mother Devakî has sent me! (22) Krishna, o Krishna, o Mighty-armed One so full of love for Your parents, Your father has been captured and led away by S'âlva like it was a butcher taking a domestic animal to the slaughterhouse.'
(23) Hearing these disturbing words spoke Krishna, having assumed the nature of a human being, out of love with compassion [acting] disconsolate, like He was a normal man: (24) 'With Balarâma who is never confounded and invincibly defeats Sura and Asura, how could that petty S'âlva abduct My father; how mighty fate is!'
(25) With Govinda speaking thus came the master of Saubha closer to Krishna as if he was leading Vasudeva before Him and said he the following: (26) 'This is the one who begot You and for whose sake You live in this world; I'll kill him right before Your eyes; save him if You can, You infant!'
(27) The magician thus mocking Him cut off the head of 'Ânakadundubhi' and climbed, taking the head, in the Saubha-vehicle that hovered in the sky. (28) Even though He knew all about it was He for a moment absorbed in His normal faith of love for the ones dear to Him, but then it dawned on Him, with His great powers of perception, that it had been a demoniac, magic trick that by S'âlva was used according the designs of Maya Dânava. (29) Alert on the battlefield as if He awoke from a dream seeing nor the messenger nor His father's body anywhere and noticing that His enemy sitting in his Saubha moved about in the sky, prepared Acyuta to kill him. (30) That is how some sages say it who don't reason correctly, o seer among the kings; they most certainly are contradicting themselves with what they say when they fail to remember the way it is [compare e.g. 10.3: 15-17; 10.11: 7; 10.12: 27; 10.31: *; 10.33: 37; 10.37: 23; 10.38: 10; 10.50: 29; 10.52: 7 and 10.60: 58]. (31) The lamentation, bewilderment, affection or fear that are all the product of ignorance, simply do not relate to the infinite perception, knowledge and opulence of the Infinite One, do they? (32) At His feet do those who encouraged by service in self-realization dispel the bodily concept of life that bewildered man since time immemorial and attain they in a personal relationship the eternal glory - how in the world can there be bewilderment for Him, the Supreme Destination of the Truthful? (33) And while S'âlva with great force was attacking Him with torrents of weapons, pierced Lord Krishna unerring in His prowess, with His arrows his armor, bow and crest-jewel and smashed He with His club the Saubha-vehicle of His enemy. (34) Shattered into thousands of pieces by the club wielded by Krishna's hand, fell it into the water. S'âlva thereupon abandoned, rose to his feet and rushed with his club in his hands forward to attack Acyuta. (35) Running toward Him carrying his club was his arm severed with a bhalla cutting arrow and held He, shining like a mountain against the rising sun, in order to kill S'âlva next up His disc-weapon that appeared exactly like the burst of light at the end of time. (36) With it severed the Lord the head of that master of great magic, complete with earrings and crown, just like lord Indra with his thunderbolt did with Vritrâsura [see 6.12]. From his men then rose a loudly voiced 'alas, alas!'
(37) With the sinner fallen and the Saubha-fortress destroyed by the club, sounded kettledrums in the sky, o King, played by groups of demigods. Next was it Dantavakra who furiously, in order to revenge his friends, ran forward.'
Dantavakra Killed and Romaharshana Beaten with a Blade of Grass
(1-2) S'rî S'uka said: 'As an act of friendship to the deceased, S'is'upâla, S'âlva and Paundraka who had passed on to the next world, was all by himself, on foot with a club in his hand, o great king, the wicked one [Dantavakra, see 9.24: 37] seen who infuriated in his sheer physical power made the earth tremble under his feet. (3) Seeing him coming His way took Lord Krishna quickly His club leaping down from His chariot and stopped He him in his tracks like the shore does with the sea. (4) Raising his club said the king of Karûsha besotted to Mukunda: 'What a luck, what a luck to have today the sight of You crossing my path. (5) You as our maternal cousin Krishna, having been of violence with my friends, wish to kill me; therefore, You nice guy, will I kill You with my thunderbolt club. (6) Only then, ignoramus, will I, who cares for his friends, with killing the enemy in the form of a family member that is like a disease in one's body, have paid my debt to my friends.'
(7) Thus with harsh words harassing Krishna like one does an elephant with goads, roared he like a lion and stroke he Him with his club on the head. (8) Despite of being hit by the club did Krishna, the deliverer of the Yadus, not move an inch on the battlefield and dealt He with His Kaumodakî [His club] him a heavy blow in the middle of his chest. (9) With his heart shattered by the club vomiting blood fell he lifeless to the ground with his hair, arms and legs spread wide. (10) Then, o king, entered before all living beings to see, just as with S'is'upâla [see 10.74: 45], an amazing, very subtle light Lord Krishna. (11) Next came Vidûratha, his brother, plunged in sorrow about his relative, with sword and shield forward, breathing heavily in his desire to kill Him. (12) Of him attacking was next by Krishna with the razor-sharp edge of His cakra, o king of kings, sliced off the head complete with its helmet and earrings. (13-15) Thus having killed the for others insurmountable S'âlva and his Saubha-fortress along with Dantavakra and his younger brother Vidûratha, was He praised by gods and men, sages and the perfected, heavenly singers and scientists, the great of excellence and the dancing girls, the forefathers and the keepers of the wealth as well as the venerable and the mighty who all sang His glory showering flowers the moment He with the most eminent Vrishnis around Him entered His decorated capital. (16) It is thus that the Controller of Yoga, Krishna the Supreme Lord and Master of the Living Being is victorious; it is to those whose vision is animalistic that He seems to suffer defeat [*].
(17) Lord Râma hearing of the preparations of the Kurus and Pândavas for battle, known as a neutral, departed saying He was going to bathe in holy places. (18) Having bathed at Prabhâsa and having honored the demigods and sages, forefathers and human beings, went He surrounded by brahmins to the Sarasvatî where she flows westward to the sea. (19-20) O son of Bharata, He visited the broad body of water of Bindu-saras, Tritakûpa, Sudars'ana, Vis'âla and Brahma-tîrtha, Cakra-tîrtha, the Sarasvatî where she flows eastward and all [the holy places] along the Yamunâ and the Ganges as well as the Naimisha forest where the rishis were involved in the performance of an elaborate sacrifice [see also 1.1: 4]. (21) Recognizing Him upon His arrival greeted they who were engaged in the sacrifice Him, properly standing up and bowing down to pay homage. (22) When He together with His entourage had been worshiped and had accepted a seat, noticed He that the disciple [Romaharshana, see also 1.4: 22] of the greatest of sages [Vyâsa] had remained seated. (23) Upon seeing that the sûta [a son of a mixed marriage of a brahmin father and kshatriya mother] who hadn't bowed down or joined his palms, was sitting higher than the rest of the learned, became the sweet Lord angry: (24) 'Because he, born a pratiloma, sits higher than these learned ones and also higher than Me, the Protector of the Religion, deserves he it to die, being so arrogant. (25-26) After as a disciple of the Lord among the sages [Vyâsa thus] in full having studied the many Itihâsas, Purânas and S'âstras about the religion, has he, not in control with himself, vainly missing the humble and not having subdued his mind thinking himself a scholarly authority, become like an actor not leading to good qualities in making a sham of them. (27) It is for this purpose indeed that I descended in this world: to annihilate those who pose as religious but factually are most sinful.'
(28) Saying this much, was he by the Supreme Lord, because He [being on a pilgrimage] also had stopped to kill the impious, inevitable as it was, beaten with the tip of a blade of grass that He as the Master held in His hand. (29) 'Ohhh, ohhh' said all the sages and said in distress to Sankarshana deva: 'You committed an irreligious act o Master. (30) Along with a long life and freedom from physical worries have we granted him the masters seat until the sacrifice is completed, o Darling of the Yadus. (31-32) Though of course, for You, Master of Mystic Power, scriptural injunctions do not lay down the law, have You unknowingly perpetrated something that equals the destruction of a brahmin; but if for this killing of a brahmin You atone, o Purifyer of the World, will the people in general, being inspired by no other, benefit by Your example.'
(33) The Supreme Lord said: 'I, desirous to show compassion to the common people, will perform the atonement for the damage done; please do tell Me what the prescribed ritual coming first would be. (34) Oh, please say the word, and by My mystic power I shall restore the long life, strength and sensory power you promised [him].'
(35) The sages said: 'Please, o Râma, arrange it so that as well the potency of killing by means of Your [grass] weapon as what we said remains intact.'
(36) The Supreme Lord said: 'The child born, so instruct the Vedas, is one's self indeed, therefore should his son [Sûta Gosvâmî, see 1.2: 1] be the speaker [of the Purâna, endowed] with a long life, strong senses and physical power [see also **]. (37) O best of sages, please tell Me what you desire, I shall do it, and again, please o intelligent ones think of what the proper atonement would be, for I have no idea.'
(38) The rishis said: 'The fearsome demon Balvala who is Ilvala's son gets here every new moon and contaminates our sacrifice. (39) The best service to us is to defeat that sinner, o descendant of Das'ârha, who pours upon us pus, blood, feces, urine, wine and meat. (40) Thereafter should You, for twelve months doing penance, serenely travel around the land of Bhârata [India] and find purification by bathing at the holy places.'
Footnotes
* It is in these verses that the Bhâgavatam says that one has the vision of an animal if one thinks that the Lord would ever suffer defeat as seemed to be the case with Krishna fleeing from Jarâsandha [10.52], Krishna acting impressed by S'âlva's tricks [10.77: 27-32], the Buddha being food-poisoned or Jesus Christ being crucified; in the end is there to His evanescence the victory, the enlightenment, the resurrection, the second birth in acceptance of the teaching.
** To illustrate the principle enunciated here by Lord Balarâma is by the paramparâ in the person of S'rîla S'rîdhara Svâmî quoted the following Vedic verse, appearing in as well the S'atapatha Brâhmana (14.9.8.4) as the Brihad-âranyaka Upanishad (6.4.8) :
angâd angât sambhavasi
hridayâd abhijâyase
âtmâ vai putra-nâmâsi
sañjîva s'aradah s'atam"You have taken birth from my various limbs and have arisen from my very heart. You are my own self in the form of my son. May you live through a hundred autumns."
Lord Balarâma Slays Balvala and Visits the Holy Places
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'Then, on de day of the new moon, arose a fierce wind scattering dust, o King, with the smell of pus everywhere. (2) Following came down upon the sacrificial arena a rain of abominable things produced by Balvala, after which he himself appeared carrying a trident. (3-4) The sight of that immense body looking like a heap of charcoal with a topknot and beard of burning copper, fearsome teeth and a face with contracted eyebrows, made Râma think of His club, which tears apart opposing armies, and His plow, which subdues the Daityas; they both stood forthwith at His side. (5) With the tip of His plow got He hold of Balvala who moved about in the sky, and with His club struck Balarâma angrily the harasser of the brahmins on the head. (6) He, releasing a cry of agony, fell with his forehead cracked open gushing blood to the ground like a red mountain struck by a thunderbolt. (7) The sages together being of praise awarded Râma with practical benedictions and ceremonially sprinkled Him with water, just like the great souls did with [Indra] the killer of Vritrâsura [Indra, see 6.13]. (8) They gave Râma a Vaijayantî flower garland of unfading lotuses in which S'rî resided and a divine pair of garments together with heavenly jewelry.
(9) Then given leave by them went He together with the brahmins to the Kaus'ikî river where they took a bath. Next He headed for the lake from which the Sarayû flows. (10) Following the course of the Sarayû arrived He in Prayâga where He bathed to propitiate the demigods and others. Thereafter He went to the hermitage of Pulaha Rishi [see also 5.7: 8-9]. (11-15) Having immersed Himself in the Gomatî, the Gandakî, the S'ona and Vipâs'â river, He went to Gayâ, to worship His forefathers and to the mouth of the Ganges for ritual ablutions. At Mount Mahendra seeing and honoring Lord Paras'urâma He next bathed in the Saptagodâvarî ['seven Godâvarîs'] as well as in the rivers the Venâ, the Pampâ and the Bhîmarathî. After seeing Lord Skanda [Kârttikeya] visited Râma S'rî-s'aila, the residence of the Lord Giris'a [S'iva], and saw the Master in Dravida-des'a [the southern provinces] the hill most sacred, the Venkatha [of Bâlajî]. After [seeing] the cities of Kâmakoshnî and Kâñcî went He to the river the Kâverî and to the greatest of them all, the most holy S'rî-ranga, where the Lord manifested [as Ranganâtha]. Going to the place of the Lord the mountain Rishabha, He went to southern Mathurâ [Madurai where the goddess Mînâkshî resides] and to Setubandha [Cape Comorin], where the gravest sins are destroyed. (16-17) There gave the Wielder of the Plow, Halâyudha, a great number of cows away to the brahmins. Going to the rivers the Kritamâlâ and Tâmraparnî and the Malaya mountain range, He bowed down paying respect to Âgastya Muni who sitting there in meditation gave Him his blessings. Leaving with his permission He went to the southern ocean to Kanyâkumârî ['chaste girl'] where he saw the goddess Durgâ [known as Kanyâ]. (18) Then reaching Phâlguna and taking a bath in the sacred lake of the five Apsaras where Lord Vishnu manifested, gave He again away a myriad of cows. (19-21) Next traveled the Supreme Lord through Kerala and Trigarta and came then to Gokarna [northern Karnataka], a place sacred because of the manifestation of Dhûrjathi ['he with a load of matted locks'], S'iva. Seeing the honored goddess [Pârvatî] residing on an island off the coast went Balarâma to S'ûrpâraka where He touched the waters of the Tâpî, the Payoshnî and the Nirvindhyâ. Next entering the Dandaka forest went He to the Revâ where the city of Mâhishmatî is found, touched He the water of Manu-tîrtha and returned He to Prabhâsa.
(22) From the brahmins He heard about the battle [at Kurukshetra] between the Kurus and the Pândavas where all the kings were annihilating each other. He concluded that the earth was being relieved of her burden [see also e.g. 10.50: 9]. (23) He, the beloved Son of the Yadus, then went to the battle where He tried to stop Bhîma and Duryodhana who with their maces were fighting each other on the field [see also 10.57: 26]. (24) But when Yudhishthhira, the twins Nakula and Sahadeva, Krishna and Arjuna saw Him, were they silent in offering their obeisances with the burning question: 'What does He, coming here, want to tell us?' (25) Seeing the two with clubs in their hands, skillfully moving in circles, furiously striving for the victory, said He this: (26) 'O King, o Great Eater, the two of you warriors are equal in prowess; one I think is of a greater physical power, while the other one is technically of a better training. (27) I do not see how from any of you here, equal in prowess, then a victory or the contrary could be seen; so stop this useless fighting.'
(28) The two, even though they were sensible people, did, fixed in their enmity keeping in mind each others harsh words and misdeeds, not take heed of His words, o King. (29) Deciding that it was their fate went Râma to Dvârakâ were He was greeted by a delighted family headed by Ugrasena. (30) With Him returning again to Naimishâranya engaged the sages Him, the Embodiment of All Sacrifice who had renounced all warfare, with pleasure in all the different sorts of rituals [*]. (31) The Almighty Supreme Lord bestowed upon them the perfectly pure spiritual knowledge by which they indeed could perceive this universe as residing within Him and also see Him as pervading the creation. (32) Together with His wife [Revatî: see 9.3: 29-33] having executed the concluding ritual avabhritha bath appeared He, well dressed, nicely adorned and surrounded by His family members and other relatives and friends, as splendid as the moon in its full glory [full and with the stars around].
(33) Of this sort [of pastimes] of the mighty, unlimited and unfathomable Balarâma, who by the power of His illusory energy appears as a human being, there sure are countless others. (34) Whoever regularly remembers at dawn and dusk the activities of Râma which are all amazing, will become dear to Lord Vishnu.'
Footnote
* S'rîla Prabhupâda writes here: 'Actually Lord Balarâma had no business performing the sacrifices recommended for ordinary human beings; He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore He Himself is the enjoyer of all such sacrifices. As such, His exemplary action in performing sacrifices was only to give a lesson to the common man, to show how one should abide by the injunctions of the Vedas'.
An Old Brahmin Friend Visits Krishna
(1) The honorable king said: 'My lord, I would like to hear some more about the valorous deeds, o master, of Lord Krishna, the Supreme Soul of Unlimited Powers. (2) How can anyone who is disgusted with running after material desires and knows the essence, o brahmin, desist from listening to the transcendental topics of the Lord Hailed in the Scriptures after repeatedly having heard them? (3) The actual power of speech is the one describing His qualities, the factual hands are the ones that do His work, the true mind is the mind remembering Him as dwelling with the moving and unmoving, and what really hears is the ear turned to His sanctifying topics [compare 2.3: 20-24]. (4) It is about the head that bows to both the manifestations [moving/nonmoving] of Him, the eye indeed that sees Him only and the limbs which regularly honor the water that washed the feet of Vishnu or His devotees'."
(5) Sûta [1.2: 1] said: "Well questioned by Vishnurâta [Parîkchit as being Vishnu-sent] spoke the powerful sage, the son of Vyâsa whose heart was fully absorbed in Vâsudeva. (6) S'rî S'uka said: 'There was a certain friend of Krishna [called Sudâmâ, not the same as mentioned in 10.41: 43], a brahmin well versed in the Vedas, who peaceful of mind and in control with the senses was detached from the sense objects. (7) Existing as a householder by what came on its own accord was his wife, just like him, poorly dressed and emaciated of hunger. (8) With her face dried up, distressed of the poverty trembling, approached she, faithful to her husband, him and said: (9) 'Isn't it, o brahmin, that your friend, o master of devotion, the Husband of S'rî who is compassionate with the brahmins, as the best of the Sâtvatas is willing to give shelter? (10) Approach Him, my most gracious, and He, the Ultimate Shelter of the Saintly, will give wealth in plenty to you who is suffering to maintain a family. (11) If the Lord of the Bhojas, Vrishnis and Andhakas who is now present in Dvârakâ, gives even Himself to the one who remembers the lotusfeet of Him, the Master of the Universe, what wouldn't He do then for he ones of worship who are not that eager for economic success and sensual gratification?'
(12-13) The brahmin this way repeatedly in various ways entreated by his wife thus thought: 'The sight of Uttamas'loka indeed is the highest attainment', and having made up his mind to go he asked her: 'Is there anything in the house I can take as a gift my good woman, please give it to me!' (14) She begged four fists of husked and parched rice from the other brahmins, wrapped them in a piece of cloth and gave that to her husband for a gift.
(15) He, the best of the learned, took it with him and wondered on his way to Dvârakâ: 'How will this audience with Krishna ever happen to me?' (16-17) Passing with a couple of local brahmins three gates and guard stations, walked he between the houses of Acyuta's faithful followers, the Andakas and Vrishnis. One normally couldn't go there and so felt he as if he had attained the bliss of the Pure Spirit. He then entered one of the opulent sixteen thousand residences of the Lord His queens [*]. (18) Acyuta sitting on His consort's bed, seeing him from a distance immediately rose and came forward to close him gladly in His arms. (19) The Lotus-eyed One, in contact with His dear friend's saintly and wise body, extremely ecstatic released affectionately some teardrops from His eyes. (20-22) Having him seated on the bed fetched He some items to honor His friend and wash his feet. The water took the Supreme Lord of All the Worlds on His head, o King. Then the Purifier anointed him with divinely fragrant sandalwood and aloe-wood [lignaloes or aguru] paste and kunkuma. Glad to worship His friend with aromatic incense and series of lamps, welcomed He him, offering bethel nut and a cow. (23) Carefully fanning with a yak's tail the dirty and poorly dressed emaciated twice-born, whose veins could be seen, was the goddess [Rukminî] personally of service. (24) The people in the palace seeing Krishna spotless in His glory, fell in amazement about the intense love with which the one who was so repudiate [the avadhûta] was honored: (25-26) 'What pious deeds performed he, this unclean, condemned and lowly mendicant deprived of all prosperity in the world, to be served with reverence by the Spiritual Master of the Three Worlds who is the abode of S'rî. Sitting on her bed embraced He him as an older brother leaving aside the goddess!'
(27) Taking hold of each other's hands, o King, they discussed the topics of the past in which they together lived in the school of their spiritual master [see 10.45: 31-32]. (28) The Supreme Lord said: 'O brahmin, after the guru received his remuneration from you and, o knower of the dharma, you returned, did you marry a suitable wife or not? (29) With your mind occupied by household matters were you not driven by desires, neither, so I know to be true, do you take much pleasure, o wise one, in the pursuit of material happiness. (30) Some people execute their worldly duties without in their minds being disturbed by desires; acting as I do to set an example, they shake off the propensities that naturally rise. (31) Do you, o brahmin, still remember our stay in the gurukula? It is there that a twice-born person learns to understand what needs to be known and thus may experience what is transcendent to the ignorance. (32) The first birth of someone twice-born, my friend, is this material life, that indeed under the direct supervision of a spiritual master, the bestower of spiritual knowledge who is as Myself, is sanctified [in a 'second birth'] by the duties he teaches for all spiritual orders [see âs'rama and 7.12]. (33) For sure are of those engaged in the varnâs'rama system [see also B.G. 4: 13] in this world they the expert knowers of the true welfare, o brahmin, who cross over the ocean of a material existence with the help of the words stemming from Me as the spiritual master. (34) I, the Soul of All Beings, am not as satisfied by ritual worship, brahminical initiation, austerity or self-control as I am by faithful service [compare 7.14: 17]. (35-36) O brahmin, do you remember what we, living with our spiritual master, did when we once by the wife of our guru were sent to fetch firewood? Having entered a big forest arose, o twice-born one, all out of season, a fierce harsh thundering wind and rain. (37) With the sun having set overcome by darkness could with all the water around us not the direction nor high or low areas be recognized. (38) We, constantly heavily besieged by the fierce wind and water there, were in the flooding unable to make out which way to go. We then wandering distressed in the forest, held each other's hands. (39) Knowing this set our guru Sândîpani at sunrise out to search for us, his disciples. So found the âcârya us then in distress: (40) 'Oh you children, how much have you suffered because of me; in your devotion for me have you disregarded the [comfort of your own] body that indeed to all living beings is most dear! (41) This now is the truth valid for disciples: to repay, perfectly pure in one's love, one's debt to the guru by offering the spiritual master one's self and one's property. (42) Satisfied I am, my dear ones, o best of brahmins, may your desires be fulfilled and may in this world as well as in the next that what evolves from your attraction [your words, your mantras] never fade [compare 10.45: 48].' (43) And many things like this happened when we were living in the home of the guru; simply by the mercy of the spiritual master is a person fulfilled in his quest for peace.'
(44) The brahmin said: 'What more is there for me to achieve in life, o God of Gods, o Guru of the Universe, than to have lived at the guru's house with You whose every desire is fulfilled? (45) O Almighty One in Your body, that is the fertile field of all welfare, is found the praise relating to the Absolute Truth [of the Vedas]; Your residing with spiritual masters is all roleplaying [see also e.g. 10.69: 44 and 10.77: 30]!'
Footnote
* S'rîla Vis'vanâtha Cakravartî quotes from the Padma Purâna, Uttara-khanda, which says that the brahmin actually entered the palace of Rukminî: 'sa tu rukminy-antah-pura- dvâri kshanam tûshnîm sthitah'; 'He stood for a moment in silence at the doorway of Queen Rukminî's palace'.
The Brahmin Honored: Lord Krishna the Godhead of the Brahmins
(1-2) S'rî S'uka said: 'He, Bhagavân Krishna, the True Goal of the Devotees, the Lord Knowing Perfectly the Minds of All Beings, in this manner conversing with this best one among the brahmins, then, in His dedication to the ones of learning, spoke to His dear friend, with a loving glance looking at him, smiling and laughing. (3) The Supreme Lord said: 'What gift have you brought for Me from home, o brahmin? Even the slightest thing offered by devotees in pure love turns into something immense for Me, whereas not even the greatest being presented by non-devotees may please Me. (4) Whoever offers Me a leaf, a flower, a fruit and water with devotion, that offer brought from the heart by a soul of good habits I accept [same as in B.G. 9: 26].'
(5) The one twice-born though, thus being addressed, was, bowing down his head, too embarrassed with Him, the Husband of the Goddess of Fortune, and didn't offer the few hands of rice grains, o King. (6-7) As the direct Witness in the heart of all living beings fully cognizant of the reason why he came thought He to Himselves: 'He worshiped Me in the past and never desired the opulence, but because he, My friend, to keep his chaste and devoted wife happy, now came to Me, will I give him riches that are [even] out of reach for the immortals [see also B.G. 9: 22].' (8) With this in mind snatched He Himself from the garment of the twice-born one away the ricegrains tied up in a bundle, and said He: 'What is this? (9) Have you brought this to My pleasure My dear friend? These ricegrains satiate Me and the whole universe [that I am]!'
(10) Thus speaking took He a handful to eat and a second one, whereupon S'rî [Rukminî devî] devoted to Him, the One Supreme, seized His hand [for the beaten grains were hard to digest]. (11) 'That, o Soul of the Universe, is enough to make a person who is after Your satisfaction prosper in this world and the next with all opulence available.'
(12) The brahmin the night thereafter residing in Acyuta's palace, having drunken and eaten to his fill felt as if he had attained heaven. (13) The next day went he who was honored by Him, the Self-satisfied Maintainer of the Universe, back to his own residence my dear, feeling delighted as he walked the road. (14) Even though he had received no wealth from Krishna and had been too embarrassed to beg for it on his own accord, was he on his way home filled with joy about the audience he had with the Great One. (15) 'Ah, what a privilege it is to have witnessed the extend of the devotion to the twice-born of the Godhead of the Brahmins; He who carries Lakshmî on His chest embraced the poorest man! (16) Who am I? Someone poor and sinful! And who is Krishna? The temple of S'rî! And He, this friend of the brahmins, closed me unblinking in His arms! (17) Like one of His brothers having me seated on the bed of His beloved, was I, tired as I was, by His queen fanned with a hair-fan she held. (18) With sincerity served and with my feet massaged and such was I like a demigod worshiped by the God of Gods, the Godhead of the Learned! (19) The worship of His feet is the root cause of all perfections and opulence a person may find in heaven, in his emancipation, in the lower regions and on earth. (20) 'If this poor one obtains riches will he, delighting in excess, not remember Me', He must have thought, in His grace not to grant me the slightest amount of wealth.'
(21-23) Thus innerly occupied with these thoughts arrived he in the vicinity of his home. There he found himself placed before high rising palaces, rivaling the sun, the fire and the moon, that on all sides were surrounded by wonderful courtyards and gardens swarming with hordes of cooing birds, ponds full of lilies and night and day blooming white lotuses and well adorned and ornamented men and women with deer-like eyes. 'What is this, whose place is this, how could this come about?' (24) That way paining his mind was he welcomed by the men and women with complexions effulgent like the demigods, who most fortunately loudly sang with instrumental music. (25) Hearing that her husband had arrived, came his excited wife extremely jubilant, quickly out of the house like it was the goddess of fortune manifesting herself from her abode. (26) Seeing the husband she was so devoted to, bowed she with her eyes, tearful with the spur of love, closed, solemnly her head down, embracing him within her heart. (27) Seeing his wife appearing as effulgent as a goddess in a vimana, shining in the midst of maidservants with golden lockets around their necks, was he stunned. (28) Pleased himself to be joined by her saw he, having entered his home, how it with its hundreds of gem-studded pillars looked like the palace of the great Indra. (29-32) There were ivory beds ornamented with gold [with bedding] white as foam and couches with golden legs, yaktail fans, golden chairs with soft cushions and canopies hung with strings of pearls. Seeing the sparkling clear quartz walls inlaid with precious emeralds as also the jeweled lamps and the women decorated with jewels, reasoned the brahmin therewith, free from agitation with all the flourishing opulence, about the cause of the unexpected prosperity: (33) 'It must be so that the cause of my prosperity here, of me who poverty stricken was always so unfortunate, can be nothing but the glance upon me of Him, the Best of the Yadus, the One of the Greatest Opulence. (34) After all, gave He, my Friend, the most exalted among the Das'arhas, with me being in the presence of Him, the Enjoyer of All Wealth, as plentiful as a cloud having said nothing when He took notice of my intention to beg. (35) Contrary to the little that He makes of the great that He Himself gives is the insignificant given by a well-wishing friend by Him turned into something great; that is how the Supreme Soul with pleasure accepted the palmful of ricegrains brought by me. (36) Let there indeed life after life repeatedly be my love [sauhrida], friendship [sakhya], sympathy [maitrî] and servitude [dâsya] with Him, the Supremely Compassionate Reservoir of Transcendental Qualities, and may I become firmly attached to the valuable association of His devotees. (37) Upon His devotee does the Supreme Lord not bestow the wonderful opulences - a kingdom and material assets - when he, not born again [see 10.80: 32], fails in understanding. In His wisdom He sees how the intoxication [the mada] leads to the downfall of the wealthy.'
(38) This way firmly fixed in intelligence was he most devoted to Janârdana and enjoyed he together with his wife free from inordinate desire. Therewith kept he aways in mind that he [time and again] had to renounce the objects of the senses. (39) Because of Him, the God of Gods, Hari, the Master and Lord of Sacrifice are the brahmins truly the masters; there is no higher deity to be found than them [see also 7.11: 14, 7.14: 17-18, 10.24: 25, 10.45: 32]. (40) Thus seeing the Unconquerable One as conquered by His own servants [see also 9.4: 63 and 10.9: 19] was he, the learned friend of the Supreme Lord, by the momentum of his meditation upon Him released from his bondage to the [material] self and attained he soon His abode, the destination of the truthful. (41) A man hearing of this sympathy for the twice-born of the Godhead of the Brahmins, finds love for the Supreme Lord and is freed from the bondage of fruitive labor [see also 7.11: 35].'
All Kings and the Inhabitants of Vrindâvana on Pilgrimage Reunite with Krishna
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'Then, as Râma and Krishna were living in Dvârakâ, was there one day [*] an eclipse of the sun as impressive as the end of the day of Brahmâ. (2) The people knowing that beforehand, o King, came from everywhere to the field of Samanta-pañcaka ['the five lakes' at Kurukshetra] in the hope to benefit therefrom. (3-6) It is the place where Lord Paras'urâma, the greatest wielder of weapons, having rid the earth of its rulers with the streams of blood of the kings created the great lakes [see 9.16: 18-19]. Bhagavân Paras'urâma to that was, even though He was unaffected by karmic reactions, as the Controller to instruct the world in general of worship there like he was another [a common] person wishing to dispel the sin. So came, o son of Bharata, for the occasion a great number of people of Bhârata there on a holy pilgrimage. The Vrishnis, including Akrûra, Vasudeva, Âhuka [Ugrasena] and others wishing to eradicate their sins, went all to that holy place while Gada, Pradyumna and others with Sucandra, S'uka and Sârana and the army commander Kritavarmâ, remained home to guard the city. (7-8) Like effulgent Vidyâdharas came they in their chariots which resembled the seats of the gods, moving in waves with horses and bellowing elephants and masses of foot soldiers. Resplendent with their wives, with golden necklaces, flower garlands, attire and armor, appeared they on the road as supremely divine and majestic as the ones traveling through the sky. (9) The greatly pious Yâdavas bathing and fasting there, with careful attention for the brahmins donated cows, garments, garlands, gold and necklaces. (10) In the lakes of Paras'urâma as prescribed once more taking a bath [the next day to conclude their fast], prayed the Vrishnis, to their feeding of the twice-born sumptuously with the finest food: 'Let there be our devotion for Krishna.' (11) Then ate the Vrishnis with the permission of Krishna as their exclusive deity, comfortably sitting down in the cool shade of the trees. (12-13) They, having arrived there, saw their friends and relatives, the kings of the Matsyas, Us'înaras, Kaus'alyas, Vidarbhas, Kurus, Sriñjayas, Kâmbojas, Kaikayas, Madras, Kuntîs, Ânartas, Keralas and others, as also hundreds of allies and adversaries o King. They also met their friends, the gopas and gopîs headed by Nanda who had been anxious for so long [to see them]. (14) Meeting again embraced they each other firmly experiencing the greatest delight with streams of tears, goose-pimpels and a choked-up voice, to which, because of the emotions, their hearts and faces bloomed as beautiful as lotuses. (15) The women seeing one another, with great eyes filled with tears of pure love, smiled with the greatest friendship and closed each other in their arms pressing breasts to breasts that were smeared with kunkuma paste. (16) Next proved they their respects to the elders and received they obeisances from their younger relatives. After they had inquired after their well-being and the comfort of their journey proceeded they with talking amongst each other about Krishna.
(17) Kuntî seeing her brothers and sisters and their children, as well as her parents, her sisters-in-law and Mukunda, gave up her sorrow as she talked to them. (18) Kuntî said: 'O respectable one, o brother, I feel frustrated in my desires because you, however saintly you are, didn't think of what happened to me in my misfortune [see also 1.8: 24]! (19) Friends, relatives - sons, brothers and parents even - easily forget the one among them who is faring less in life.'
(20) S'rî Vasudeva said: 'Dearest, don't be cross with us, men are the playthings of fate, because a person, whether he acts on his own accord or is directed by others, is always under the control of the Lord. (21) Severely troubled by Kamsa we scattered in all directions [see 10.2: 7 and 10.4]; only now have we by Divine Ordinance been restored to our proper positions, o sister.'
(22) S'rî S'uka said: 'All the kings there honored by Vasudeva, Ugrasena and the other Yâdavas, found peace in the supreme ecstacy of seeing Acyuta. (23-26) Bhîshma, Drona, the son of Ambikâ [Dhritarâshthra], Gândhârî with her sons as also the Pândavas and their wives, Kuntî, Sañjaya, Vidura and Kripa; Kuntîbhoja and Virâtha, Bhîshmaka, the great Nagnajit, Purujit, Drupada, S'alya, Dhrishthaketu, and he, the king of Kâs'i; Damaghosha, Vis'âlâksha, the kings of Maithila, Madra and Kekaya, Yudhâmanyu and Sus'armâ and Bâhlika and others with their sons, as also, o best of kings, many other kings resorting under Yudhishthhira, were all amazed to see the abode of S'rî, the personal form of S'âuri, along with His wives. (27) Duely from Râma and Krishna having received proof of respect, praised the kings on their turn filled with joy, enthusiastically the Vrishnis, the personal associates of Krishna: (28) 'O master of the Bhojas [Ugrasena], you've chosen a birth worthwile among men in this world, because you repeatedly see Krishna, who even by the yogis is rarely seen. (29-30) His fame as vibrated by the Vedas, the water washing from His feet and the words of the revealed scriptures thoroughly purify this universe [see also B.G. 15: 15]. By the touch of His lotus-like feet has, even though her good fortune was ravaged by Time, the vitality of the earth awakened and rains she in abundance rain down upon us all that we desire. With seeing Him, touching Him and walking, conversing, lying down, sitting, eating, being married to and being connected with Him as a blood-relative, have you traveling the [normally] hellish path of family life now found Vishnu, the liberation and heaven who constitutes the cessation [of one's search in life. See also 5.14 and 7.14 and B.G. 11: 41-42].'
(31) S'rî S'uka said: 'Nanda finding out that the Yadus with Krishna going first had arrived there, went to see Him, accompanied by the gopas with their belongings on their wagons. (32) Delighted to see Him sprung the Vrishnis to life as if awakened from death and embraced they Him firmly, all exited about His presence after so long a time. (33) Vasudeva, beside himself of love overenjoyed embracing, remembered the troubles created by Kamsa because of which he had to leave his sons in Gokula [see 10.3 & 10.5]. (34) Krishna and Râma embracing their [foster] parents offered Their respects and said, with throats filled with tears of love, nothing, o greatest hero of the Kurus. (35) Raising their sons on their laps and holding Them in their arms gave the so very fortunate two, he and Yas'odâ, up their sorrow [of being separated]. (36) Rohinî and Devakî next embraced the queen of Vraja and addressed her with their throats full of tears, remembering what she had done [for them] in her friendship: (37) 'What woman can forget the unceasing friendship of you and Nanda, o queen of Vraja; not even obtaining the wealth of Indra would do to repay you in this world. (38) Before these Two could see their parents received They, residing with the two of you as their [foster] parents, the education and affection, nourishment and protection, my good lady. In the custody of you saints, who are strange to no one and as good of protection as eyelids to the eyes, had They nothing to fear.'
(39) S'î S'uka said: 'The gopîs after so long a time seeing Krishna, their object of desire - for seeing whom they'd curse the maker of their eyelids [see 10.31: 15] - all took with their eyes Him into their hearts to embrace Him there to their satisfaction and attained the ecstatic absorbtion that even for the ones constantly engaged in meditation is difficult to attain. (40) The Supreme Lord approaching them more privately informed, embracing them, after their health and said with a smile the following: (41) 'Dear girlfriends, do you still remember Us, We who intent on destroying the enemy party because of that duty stayed away so long? (42) Maybe you think bad of Us being afraid that We've put you out of Our mind - but in fact is it the Supreme Lord who brings together and separates the living beings. (43) The way the wind brings together masses of clouds, grass, cotton and dust, and scatters them again, is the Creator of the living doing the same with His beings [compare 10.5: 24-25]. (44) By the love for Me that in good fortune developed on the part of your good selves, have you obtained Me; and indeed is it the devotional service to Me that leads the living beings to immortality [compare B.G. 9.33]. (45) Like the ether, the water, the earth, the air and the fire of material things, o ladies, am I verily inside present as well as outside, am I the beginning as well as the end of all created beings [see also e.g. 10.9: 13-14]. (46) These material entities, who this way exist within the elements of creation and as well exist as the âtmâ [the Soul, self and person] that according its own true nature pervades all, you should see as both being present within Me, within the Imperishable, Supreme Truth [see also e.g. 1.3: 1, 3.26: 51, 10.59: 29, B.G. 9: 15 and siddhânta].'
(47) S'rî S'uka said: 'The gopîs, who with this instruction about the âtmâ thus were instructed by Krishna, eradicated with the help of the constant meditation on Him the subtle covering of the soul [see linga, 7.2: 47 and 4.29] and arrived at the full understanding of Him. (48) They said: 'With that what You said o Lord with the Lotusnavel, we wish that our minds, however they are engaged in household affairs, are ever wakefull to Your lotusfeet which, by the great yogis and highly learned philosophers are kept in their hearts to meditate upon, for they are, for those who fell in the dark well of a material existence, the only shelter for reaching the other side [see also 7.5: 5, 10.51: 46, 7.9: 28, 7.15: 46].'
Footnote
* According S'rîla Sanâtana Gosvâmî in his Vaishnava-toshanî commentary would this event, described in retrospect, have occurred after Balarâma's visit to Vraja (10.65) and before Mahârâja Yudhishthhira's Râjasûya sacrifice (in 10.74) because the enmity within the Kuru family, the exile of the Pândavas and the ensuing war at Kurukshetra arose directly after the sacrifice.
Draupadî Meets the Queens of Krishna
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'The Supreme Lord, the spiritual master and goal of the gopîs, this way showing His favor, then met with Yudhishthhira and the rest of His relatives and inquired after their welfare. (2) They, who from seeing His feet were freed from their sinful reactions, felt thus questioned by the Lord of the World very honored and replied gladly: (3) 'How can inauspiciousness arise for those who of Your lotus-like feet ever drank the intoxicating nectar that is poured out by the minds and mouths of the great souls? How can they who with the drinking cups of their ears drank to their fill not experience the happiness, o Master, o Destroyer of the forgetfulness about the Creator of one's bodily existence? (4) Indeed are we by the light of Your personal form released from the bonds of the three states of material consciousness [wakefulness, dreaming and sleeping] and are we, totally immersed, of spiritual happiness in having bowed down to You, the goal of the perfected saints [the paramahamsas] who by the power of Your illusion has assumed this form for the protection of the unlimited and ever fresh vedic knowledge that is threatened by time.'
(5) The great sage said: 'As His people were thus glorifying the crest jewel of all personalities hailed by the scriptures, met the women of the Andhaka and Kaurava clans to discuss with each other the topics of Govinda sung in the three worlds; please listen as I describe them to you. (6-7) S'rî Draupadî said: 'O Vaidarbhî [Rukminî], Bhadrâ, Jâmbavatî and Kaus'alâ [Nâgnajitî]; o Satyabhâmâ, Kâlindî, S'aibyâ [Mitravindâ], Rohinî [see foonote* and 10.61*] and Lakshmanâ [Mâdrâ] and other wives of Krishna, please tell us how it came to pass that Acyuta, the Supreme Lord Himself, who by the grace of His mystic power lived the way one lives in the world, got married to you?'
(8) S'rî Rukminî said: 'Like a lion taking his share from a herd of goats and sheep, took He who puts the dust of His feet upon the heads of invincible fighters, me away when the kings with their bows were about to offer me to S'is'upâla; may the feet of Him, the abode of S'rî, be my object of worship [see 10.52-54].'
(9) S'rî Satyabhâmâ said: 'To my father whose heart was distressed with the death of his brother, gave He, being accused, to clear His name, the jewel back after defeating the king of the bears [Jâmbavân]; afraid because of this offered my father me to the Lord even though I was spoken for [see 10.56].'
(10) S'rî Jâmbavatî said: 'The maker of this body unaware of Him, the Husband of Sîtâ, as being his master and worshipable deity, fought for twenty-seven days with Him. Having come to his senses recognizing Him he presented me together with the jewel taking hold of His feet; I'm His maid-servant [see also 10.56].'
(11) S'rî Kâlindî said: 'Knowing that I with the desire of touching His feet was executing penances, came He together with His friend [Arjuna] and took He my hand; I am the one cleaning His residence [10.58: 12-23].'
(12) S'rî Mitravindâ said: 'During my svayamvara coming forward stole He me away the way the enemy of the elephants [a lion] claims his share from a pack of dogs; after defeating the kings and my brothers insulting Him, took He me to His capital where S'rî resides; may there for me, life after life, be the service of washing His feet [10.58: 31].'
(13-14) S'rî Satyâ said: 'Seven great bulls most strong and vital with the sharpest horns, by my father arranged to test the prowess of the kings, destroyed the pride of the heroes; but they were quickly subdued and tied up by Him with the ease of children playing with young goats. This way paying for me with His valor took He me, protected by maid-servants, with Him, with an army of four divisions along the road defeating the kings; may there be my servitude to Him [10.58: 32-55].'
(15-16) S'rî Bhadrâ said: 'With me in love with Him, o Krishnâ [Draupadî], invited my father on his own accord my maternal cousin Krishna and gave he me to Him together with a retinue of female companions and a military escort of one akshauhini; may there for me, birth after birth wandering because of my karma, be that betterment of myself in touching His feet [10.58: 56].'
(17) S'rî Lakshmanâ said: 'O Queen, time and again hearing Nârada glorifying Acyuta's births and activities became my heart fixed upon Mukunda, He who after due consideration in rejection of the rulers of the world, indeed was chosen by her [the goddess S'rî] holding the lotus. (18) My father known as Brihatsena, o saintly lady, knowing of my state of mind arranged out of his love for his daughter a means to this end. (19) Just as in your svayamvara, o Queen, was a fish used [hung high as a target] that had to be won by Arjuna. Hidden from sight however, could it only be seen as a reflection in water [in a pot below]. (20) Hearing about this came from everywhere all the kings expert in the art of shooting arrows and wielding other weapons to my father's city along with their thousands of teachers. (21) My father honored all of them in full, each according his strength and age, after which they who had set their minds upon me in the assembly took up their bow and arrow to take a shot. (22) Some of them after lifting [the bow] were unable to string it and some having pulled the bowstring failed because they were hit by it. (23) Other heroes, the kings of Magadha [Jarâsandha], Cedi [S'is'upâla] and Ambashthha as well as Bhîma, Duryodhana and Karna, managed to string the bow but couldn't determine the target's location. (24) Arjuna did manage to locate it and took, as he aimed carefully while looking at the reflection of the fish in the water, a shot, but the arrow didn't hit the target, it brushed it only. (25-26) When the kings defeated in their pride had given up, managed the Supreme Lord, playfully taking up the bow, stringing it and then fixing an arrow on it, to pierce with a single look in the water the fish with His arrow at the moment the sun was situated in Abhijit [in 'victory', or at noon]. (27) Kettledrums resounded in the sky together with the sounds of 'jaya' of the godly on earth who overwhelmed by joy released torrents of flowers. (28) Next did I, with a shy smile on my face and a wreath of flowers in my hair, enter the arena with gently tinkling ankle bells on my feet, a necklace of gold with brilliant jewels around my neck and a pair of fine silken, new garments held together by a belt. (29) Lifting my face with its many locks of hair all around and my cheeks effulgent of the earrings, looked I all around at the kings. With a cool smile casting sidelong glances placed I slowly my necklace around the neck of Murâri who had captured my heart. (30) At that moment resounded conch shells, mridangas, tabors, kettle drums and wardrums and such, and sang the singers while male and female dancers danced. (31) The choice I thus made for the Supreme Lord as my master was for the leading kings not acceptable o Draupadî, upset with a heart filled with abuse they became quarrelsome. (32) Faced with that situation lifted He me in the chariot with its four excellent horses and stood He, preparing His S'ârnga and donning His armor, firm to deliver battle with His four arms [displayed in full]. (33) Dâruka drove the chariot that was trimmed with gold o Queen, while the kings were looking on as if they were little animals daunted by the lion king. (34) The kings, like village dogs with a lion, went after Him. Some of them then tried to stop Him in His course by raising their bows against Him. (35) From the floods of arrows shot from S'ârnga fell some of them with their arms, legs and necks severed, while some others, gave it up and fled. (36) Then entered the Lord of the Yadus, like the sun reaching its abode [or the western horizon], Dvârakâ, His city that is glorified in heaven and on earth, and was profusely decorated with wonderful archways and banners on flagpoles that blocked the sun. (37) My father honored his friends, immediate relations and other family members with the most valuable clothing and jewelry and with beds, thrones and other furniture. (38) Out of devotion presented he the Lord of the Complete [Pûrnasya] the most valuable weapons, along with maidservants endowed with all riches, infantry, elephantry, chariotry and cavalry. (39) By doing penances with the abrupt breaking off of our material bonds have we all become the maidservants of His household, of Him the One Satisfied Within Himself.'
(40) The other queens said [through Rohinî]: 'He met us after He in battle had killed the demon Bhauma and his followers. We who have been defeated and imprisoned by the demon are the daughters of the kings Bhauma defeated during his conquest of the earth. After our release have we constantly remembered His lotus feet as the source of liberation from a material existence, and has He, the One Whose Wishes are All Fulfilled, married us. (41-42) O saintly lady, we do not desire rulership over the earth, a heavenly kingdom, unlimited pleasures even or mystic power, to be the supreme divinity, immortality or the abode of Hari, we desire to carry on our heads the dust of the divine feet of the Wielder of the Club that is enriched with the fragrance of the kunkuma from the bosom of S'rî [see also 10.47: 60, ** and the S'rî S'rî S'ikshâshthaka verse 4]. (43) We desire the same as what the Pulinda women [the gopîs] desire, as what the grass and the plants and the grazing cows and the gopas of Vraja desire: to be touched by the feet of the Supreme Soul.'
Footnotes
* The one called Rohinî here is not Rohinî, the mother of Balarâma, but the one queen representing the 16000 queens that Krishna wed next to His eight principal queens.
** The paramparâ points out that the S'rî referred to here is the supreme goddess of fortune as identified by the 'Brihad-gautamîya-tantra':
devî krishna-mayî proktâ
râdhikâ para-devatâ
sarva-lakshmî-mayî sarva
kântih sammohinî parâ"The transcendental goddess S'rîmatî Râdhârânî is the direct counterpart of Lord S'rî Krishna. She is the central figure for all the goddesses of fortune. She is endowed with the power to attract the all-attractive Personality of Godhead. She is the primeval internal potency of the Lord."
Vasudeva of Sacrifice to the Sages at Kurukshetra Explaining the Path of Success
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'When Prithâ, the daughter of the king of Subala [Gândhârî] and Draupadî, Subhadrâ and the wives of the kings as well as His gopîs, heard of the loving attachment [of the wives] to Krishna, Lord Hari, the Soul of All, were they all greatly amazed, with tears filling their eyes. (2-5) As the women were thus conversing with the women and the men with the men, arrived, eager to see Krishna and Râma at that place, the sages Dvaipâyana, Nârada, Cyavana, Devala and Asita; Vis'vâmitra, S'atânanda, Bharadvâja and Gautama; Lord Paras'urâma and his disciples, Vasishthha, Gâlava, Bhrigu, Pulastya and Kas'yapa; Atri, Mârkandeya and Brihaspati; Dvita, Trita, Ekata and the sons of Brahmâ [the four Kumâras] as also Angirâ, Âgastya, Yâjñavalkya and others headed by Vâmadeva. (6) Seeing them stood the Pândavas, Krishna, Râma, the kings and others who sat down, immediately up to bow down to those honored throughout the universe. (7) They all, including Râma and Acyuta, properly worshiped them with words of welcome, sitting places, water to wash their feet and to drink, flower garlands, incense and sandalwood paste. (8) The Supreme Lord who in His embodiment defends the dharma, addressed in the with rapt attention listening assembly the great souls who were comfortably seated there. (9) The Supreme Lord said: 'We who gained this birth have now altogether obtained its fruit: the audience of the masters of yoga that is rarely won even by the demigods. (10) How is it possible that human beings who not being very renounced see God in the form of the temple deity, now may enjoy your company and may touch you, ask you questions, bow down and be of worship at your feet and such? (11) By just seeing you, the saints, is one instantly purified, while that is not so with the holy places consisting of water or the deities made of clay that only gradually make that happen [1.13: 10]. (12) Not the fire, nor the sun, the moon nor the firmament, not the earth, the water, the ether, the breath, the speech nor the mind take, being worshiped, away the sins of the one caught in the material opposites; but they are wiped out by only a few moments of delivering service to the men of [brahminical] learning. (13) He with the idea of himself as being the body that can be so smelly with its three elements [of mucus, bile and air], with the notion of a wife and that all as being his property, with the view of clay as being something worshipable, with the thought of water as being a place of pilgrimage, is, [going for appearances but] never moved by the wisdom in men, indeed not much better than a cow or an ass.'
(14) S'rî S'uka said: 'Hearing this being said by the Supreme Lord Krishna Unlimited in His Wisdom, were the learned silent, confounded by the words that were hard to digest. (15) The sages for some time pondered over the Supreme Controller and the subordinate position [He had assumed]. They arrived at the conclusion that it was meant to enlighten the people and thus addressed they Him, the Spiritual Master of the Universe, with a smile on their faces. (16) The honorable sages said: 'Ah, we the best knowers of the truth and chief creators of the universe, are bewildered by the power of the material illusion created by the activities of the Supreme Lord, who so amazingly covert in His operations pretends to be the one controlled. (17) Effortlessly He creates, all by Himself, the variety of this universe and maintains He and destroys He without getting entangled Himself. He is in His actions just like the earth element with the many names and forms of its transformations; ah, what an actor the Almighty is in His activities [see also 8.6: 10]! (18) Nonetheless does Your good Self, the Original Personality of the Soul, at times, in order to protect Your people and to chastise the wicked, assume the mode of goodness, the mode in which You by means of Your pastimes maintain the eternal vedic path of the varnâs'rama status oriëntations [see also sanâtana dharma]. (19) The spiritual [the 'brahma'] is Your pure heart in which by austerities, study and turning inward in concentrated meditation the eternal manifest and unmanifest is realized as also the transcendental to that [see also B.G. 7: 5]. (20) For that reason do You, o Absolute Truth, prove Your respect for the community of the brahmins by the perfect of whom one may realize the truth of the revealed scriptures, and thus are You the leader of those who are of respect for the brahminical. (21) Today there is [indeed] the fruition of our birth, education, austerities and vision, for it is the goal of the saintly to have association with You, the Golden Mean, the Ultimate of all Welfare. (22) Our obeisances to Him, the Supreme Lord whose wisdom is ever fresh, [You] Krishna, the Supersoul who by His yogamâyâ covered His own greatness. (23) None of these kings enjoying with You, nor the Vrishnis know You, cloaked by the curtain of mâyâ, as the Supreme Soul, the Time and the Controller [B.G. 6: 26]. (24-25) The way a sleeping person, who envisions an alternate reality with names and forms, in what he manifests through his mind does not know of a separate reality beyond it, does one with You similarly having names and forms, have no clue because of the discontinuity of one's memory that is created by the activity of the senses which bewilder one's consciousness with Your mâyâ [compare B.G. 4: 5 and 4.29: 1b, 10.1: 41 and 7.7: 25]. (26) Today You granted us the vision of Your feet, the source of the Ganges which washes away floods of sins; [with them] well installed in the heart is by those whose yoga practice matured and the devotional service fully developed, the material mentality, the covering of their individual souls, destroyed and the destination of You attained - so please, show Your devotees Your mercy.'
(27) S'uka said: 'Having said this took the sages leave of Das'ârha [Krishna], Dhritarâshthra and Yudhishthhira, o sage among kings, and prepared they to return to their hermitages. (28) Seeing this approached the greatly renown Vasudeva them and took he bowing down hold of their feet expressing the following careful choice of words. (29) S'rî Vasudeva said: 'My obeisances to you who represent all the gods [*]. O seers, please listen, tell us this: how can we be freed from our karma by doing work?'
(30) S'rî Nârada said: 'O learned ones, this question Vasudeva asked in his eagerness to learn about his ultimate benefit is not that surprising considering the fact that he thinks of Krishna as being a child [of his, his son]. (31) When people are close in this world is that easily a cause of disregard, just as it is e.g. with someone living at the Ganges who leaves to seek purification elsewhere. (32-33) [The Lord] His awareness is for no reason, nor on its own nor due to some other agency, in its qualities ever disrupted by the destructive and creative that is caused by the time of this [universe, see B.G. 4: 14 and 10: 30]. He, the One Controller without a Second, whose consciousness is unaffected by hindrances, material activities and their consequences and the modes and their flow of changes [kles'a, karma and guna], is by someone else [ignorantly] considered as being covered by His own expansions of prâna and other elements, just like the sun is being covered by clouds, snow or eclipses.'
(34) Then, o King, said the sages, addressing Vasudeva with all the kings as also Acyuta and Râma listening: (35) 'As correct has been ascertained that karma is counteracted by this work: that one with faith with sacrifices [sprightly, as in a kirtan] worships Vishnu, the Lord of all Sacrifices. (36) This indeed is what the scholars through the eye of the S'âstras demonstrated as the easiest way to pacify the mind; it is the yoga-dharma which gives joy to the heart. (37) The one twice-born performing sacrifices at home should pure and selfless with the entrusted possessions be of worship for the Personality of Godhead; this is the path that brings success [**]. (38) An intelligent person should renounce the desire for wealth by means of sacrifices and charity, the desire for a wife and kids by engaging in household affairs and the desire to build a world for himself [or another life], o Vasudeva, by means of the Time [that constitutes the temporality of any world, see also 9.5 and B.G. 3: 16]. All the ones who are sober renounced their desires for a household life and went for penance into the forest [see also B.G. 2: 13]. (39) Prabhu, someone twice-born is born with three debts: the debt to the gods, the sages and the forefathers; not liquidating them by [respectively] sacrifice [celibacy e.g.], studying the scriptures and with byproducts [children, pupils or books see ***] will he, leaving the body, fall down [again into the material world]. (40) But you are in fact free from two of the debts, the debt to the sages and the debt to the forefathers, o magnanimous one. Be now free from debt by sacrificing to the gods and renouncing your homestead. (41) O Vasudeva since He took the role of your son must your good self [in a previous life] indeed with devotion thoroughly have been of worship for the Supreme Lord and Controller of All Worlds [see also 1o.3: 32-45 and 11.5: 41].'
(42) S'rî S'uka said: 'Having heard the words they spoke, chose Vasudeva for the sages as his priests and propitiated he them by bowing his head. (43) The rishis he chose for o King, helped him consequently with strictly to the principles at the holy field [of Kurukshetra] performing fire sacrifices with excellent ritual arrangements. (44-45) When he was about to be initiated, came joyfully the Vrishnis to the sacrificial pavilion, bathed and well-dressed, wearing garlands and being elaborately ornamented. They came together with their queens clad in the finest clothes and smeared with sandalwood paste o King, who carried the items of worship in their hands and wore lockets around their necks. (46) Clay tom-toms and tabors, kettle drums and drums, conch shells and other musical instruments sounded, male and female dancers danced and bards and panegyrists sang sweet voiced along with the female singers of heaven and their husbands. (47) According the scriptures by the priests sprinkled with sacred water [for his initiation], looked he with his eyes decorated with collyrium and his body smeared with fresh butter, with his eighteen wives [see 9.24: 21-23 & 45] as if [he was the moon] surrounded by the stars. (48) With them all finely decorated wearing silk sârîs and bangles, necklaces, ankle bells and earrings shone he, initiated and clad in deerskin, brilliantly. (49) O great King, his supervisors and priests radiated with their jewels and garments of silk as if they were standing in the sacrificial arena of the killer of Vritra [Indra, see 6.11]. (50) At that time stepped also the two Lords Râma and Krishna forward, shining just as splendid, with each of Them accompanied by His own might of wives, sons and family members as expansions of Themselves. (51) Vasudeva excercized respect according the rules with both kinds of sacrifices that are characterized as primary [to the s'ruti] and secondary [modified to other sources, see *4]. Thus he offered oblations in the fire and such in worship of the Lord of the Paraphernalia, the Mantras and the Rituals. (52) Next gave he, at the designated time, to the priests who were already richly decorated, gifts of gratitude that decorated them even more, as also marriageable girls, cows and land of great value. (53) Having executed the ritual performed by the sponsor [patni-samyâja] and the concluding ritual [avabhrithya] bathed the great sages, placing the learned and the sponsor of the yajña in front, in the lake of Lord Paras'urâma [9.16: 18-19]. (54) Having bathed gave he jewelry and clothing to the bards and the women and honored he next in his finest apparel all the classes of people and even the dogs with food. (55-56) With the wealth of gifts did his relatives and their wives and children, the leaders of the Vidarbhas, Kos'alas, Kurus, Kâs'îs, Kekayas and Sriñjayas; the supervisors, the priests, the different types of enlightened souls, the ordinary humans, the paranormal ['the ghostly'], the forefathers and the venerable ones, all take leave from the Abode of S'rî to depart filled with praise for the sacrifice performed. (57-58) The immediate family members Dhritarâshthra and his younger brother [Vidura], Prithâ and her sons [Arjuna, Bhîma and Yudhishthhira], Bhîshma, Drona, the twins [Nakula and Sahadeva], Nârada, and Bhagavân Vyâsadeva and other relatives embracing their friends and relatives, the Yadus, then, with hearts melting of affection on the separation, with difficulty returned to their respective places as did also the rest of the guests. (59) Nanda together with the cowherds stayed out of affection for his relatives and was by Krishna, Râma, Ugrasena and the rest in worship honored most generously. (60) Vasudeva with ease having crossed over the ocean of his great ambition [see also 10.3: 11-12], felt most pleased and addressed, surrounded by his well-wishers, Nanda, touching his hand as he spoke.
(61) S'rî Vasudeva said: 'The by God forged bond of men which is named affection is, I think, for warriors as difficult to relinquish as for yogis. (62) Even though the friendship offered by you so very saintly is not reciprocated by us who are so forgetful of what you did, does it never cease for it is beyond compare. (63) Formerly [sitting in Kamsa's prison] were we incapable to act on your behalf and now well-to-do, o brother, do we with you right in front of us fail to see you because our eyes are blind with our being intoxicated by the opulence. (64) Let there for a person who is after the real benefit of life never be the rise of the fortune of kings, o respectful one, for with his vision thus clouded is he blind to even the needs of his own kinsmen or friends [compare 10.10: 8].'
(65) S'rî S'uka said: 'Thus with tears filling his eyes remembering what he all had done in friendship, had Ânakadundubhi, with his heart softened by the intimacy, to weep. (66) Nanda also loved his most affectionate friend a lot and said: 'I'll go later, I'll go tomorrow', but out of his love for Govinda and Râma stayed he, being honored by the Yadus, for three months. (67-68) After having been offered a host of desirable like the most valuable ornaments, finest linen and various priceless pieces of furniture, he next, seen off by the Yadus, departed together with the people of Vraja and his family. The gifts that were given by Vasudeva, Ugrasena, Krishna, Uddhava and others they had accepted and taken along with them. (69) Nanda, the gopas and the gopîs being unable to put Govinda's lotus feet out of their minds, accordingly [many a time] looking back, returned to Mathurâ. (70) With their relatives departed went the Vrishnis who had Krishna as their Godhead back to Dvârakâ, seeing that the rainy season was about to begin. (71) To the people [there] they gave an account of the great festivity and of what in relation to the lord of the Yadus [Vasudeva] and to all the well-wishers they had seen during the pilgrimage had taken place [see 10.82].'
Footnotes
* This statement, reminds us the paramparâ, is confirmed in the authoritative s'ruti-mantras, which declare 'yâvatîr vai devatâs tâh sarvâ veda-vidi brâhmane vasanti': "Whatever demigods exist, all reside in a brâhmana who knows the Veda."
** The paramparâ adds: 'Both S'rîdhara Svâmî and S'rî Jîva Gosvâmî here agree that the ritual karma of Vedic sacrifices is particularly meant for attached householders. Those who are already renounced in Krishna consciousness, like Vasudeva himself, need only cultivate their faith in the Lord's devotees, His Deity form, His name, the remnants of His food and His teachings, as given in Bhagavad Gîtâ and S'rîmad Bhâgavatam.'
*** The word putra used here usually refers to a child, but also means doll or any other artificial thing to care for like a home, or works of art, a book or another byproduct as Prabhupâda and his pupils called it as e.g. in 3.28: 38 and 11.20: 27-28. It literally means 'preserving from the hell called Put', the place where the ones childless reside.
*4 The paramparâ explains: 'The Brâhmana portion of the Vedic s'ruti specifies the complete step-by-step procedure of only a few prototype sacrifices, such as the Jyotishthoma and Dars'a-pûrnamâsa. These are called the prâkrita, or original, yajñas; the details of other yajñas must be extrapolated from the patterns of these prâkrita injunctions according to the strict rules of the Mîmâmsâ-s'âstra. Since other yajñas are thus known by derivation from the prototype sacrifices, they are called vaikrita, or "changed".'
Lord Krishna Instructs Vasudeva and Retrieves Devakî's Sons
(1) The son of Vyâsa said: 'Then, one day, visited Sankarshana and Acyuta, the two sons of Vasudeva, Their father who, after They had honored his feet, welcomed Them affectionately and spoke to Them. (2) Having heard the words of the sages referring to the powers of his two sons, got he also in regard of their valorous deeds convinced of Them and said he, addressing Them by name: (3) 'Krishna, o Krishna, o greatest yogi, o eternal Sankarshana, I know You two are the direct representatives of the primary nature [or pradhâna] and male principle [the purusha or person] out here. (4) Whatever, however or whenever, in, by, from, of or unto this [universe] comes into existence, all represents directly the One Who Predominates, the Supreme Lord, the primary nature and person. (5) This variegated universe that You created from Yourself, o Lord of the Beyond, do You, o Unborn One, entering it by Yourself, maintain as the Supreme Soul and principle of vitality and individuality. (6) Of both [the animate, and inanimate] entities which, different as they are and all belonging to the Supreme, are thus dependent, are You the One who constitutes the creative potency of the life air and the other basic elements of the universe [see also 2.5: 32-33]. (7) The glow, brilliance, luminosity, the particular of the moon, the fire, the sun, the stars and the lightning [B.G. 15: 12], the permanence of the mountains and the fragrance and sustaining power of the earth, are all You in fact. (8) The quenching, the vitalizing capacity of water as also the water itself and its taste are You o Lord. O Controller, of You is there on the basis of the air [so one says] the body heat, the mental and physical vigor, the endeavor and the movement [see also B.G. 11: 39]. (9) You are the directions and the spaces they describe, the omnipresent ether and the elemental sound belonging thereto. You are the primeval vibration that is the syllable AUM and its differentiation in particular forms [of language, see also B.G. 7: 8]. (10) You are of the senses the power to perceive, You are their gods [see also 3.12: 26] and of them are You the mercy; You are of the intelligence the power to decide and of the living being the power to remember the things as they are [B.G. 7: 10 & 15: 15]. (11) You, the primeval Cause of all Causes, are the source of the physical elements [tamas], the passions of the senses [rajas] and the stream of consciousness of the creative gods [sattva, see also B.G. 14]. (12) Of the entities that are subject to destruction in this world are You the indestructible being, the way the substance itself is relative to its transformations. (13) The modes of goodness, passion and ignorance and their functions are this way within You, within the Supreme Absolute Truth, regulated by the internal potency [the yogamâyâ of Your pastimes]. (14) On that account are these entities not [really] destroyed when they - at other times indeed being nonmaterial - conditioned within You as products of creation, also have You within them [as a believer, as the life force or caitanya, as a nitya-mukta, an eternally liberated, conscious soul or a jîvâtmâ, see B.G 2: 12, 9: 4-5 & 8: 19]. (15) Those then in this world are ignorant who, failing in understanding the destination that is the Soul of Everything, by their karma are impelled to move around in the flow of the material ocean. (16) Somehow or other with this life having obtained the most desirable status of a human being - a status that is so difficult to achieve -, may someone deluded by the material energy [like me], o Controller, [still] have spent his entire life in confusion about his own best interest. (17) With You who in this world ties everyone together with the ropes of affection is there with the body and the progeny and other relations the 'this I am' and 'these are mine' to it [see also e.g. 2.9: 2, 4.28: 17, 4.29: 5, 5.5: 8 and 6.16: 41]. (18) The two of You are not our sons but evidently the Controllers of pradhâna and purusha that descended to remove the burden of rulers from the earth, as You Yourselves have said [10.50: 7-10]. (19) Therefore do I today seek Your shelter, Your lotusfeet which, with the surrendered, the distressed, take away the fear of being entangled, o Friend, and that is all. Enough, I have enough of that hankering for sense enjoyment which binds me to the mortal frame and makes me think of You, the One Supreme, as being my child. (20) In the maternity room You indeed said [see 10.3: 44] that You, taking birth with us, were the Unborn One who that way age after age operates in defense of Your dharma and as a cloud therewith assume and relinquish various bodies [see B.G. 4: 8]; o, who can understand the mystic potency and manifold of You, the all-pervading, most glorified Lord?'
(21) S'rî S'uka said: 'Having heard what His father thus said replied the Supreme Lord, the best of the Sâtvatas, broadly smiling with a gentle voice after with humility having bowed down. (22) The Supreme Lord said: 'I consider these words of you appropriate, o father, since by referring to Us, your Sons, you have expressed the complete of reality. (23) I, you, He, My brother, and these residents of Dvârakâ, must together with everything that moves and not moves, all be considered the same way [as expansions of Me], o best of the Yadus [B.G. 9: 5 & 15 and the siddhânta]. (24) The Supreme Soul indeed is one, self-luminous, eternal and distinct; being free from the modes is He seen as many, in His by the modes from Himself having created the material entities that belong to those modes. (25) It is as with the ether, the air, the fire, the water and the earth that, being single elements, depending their locations, in their products, whether they are manifest or unmanifest, small or large, appear as many [see also B.G. 13: 31].'
(26) S'rî S'uka said: 'Vasudeva who thus was addressed by the Supreme Lord, o King, was freed from his thinking in opposites and became silent, being satisfied within. (27-28) Then at that place, o best of the Kurus, asked loudly and clear Devakî, the worshipable goddess of all who to her utter amazement had heard of [the retrieval of] the son of Their guru [10.45], Krishna and Râma to bring back her own sons who were murdered by Kamsa; and looking back with that in mind she was sad and spoke she distraught with tears in her eyes. (29) S'rî Devakî said: 'Râma, o Râma, o Immeasurable Soul; o Krishna, Master of the Yoga Masters, I know You both are the Original Personalities, the Lords of the Creators of the Universe [see also catur-vyûha]. (30) You have now descended taking birth from me because of the kings who, living in defiance of the scriptures and with their good qualities destroyed by the time [of Kali-yuga], became a burden to the earth. (31) O Soul of All that Be, today came I for my shelter to Him, to You, who by a partial expansion [the modes] of an expansion [the material energy] of an expansion [Nârâyana] gives rise to the generation, prospering and dissolution of the universe [see also 2.5]. (32-33) One says that Your guru ordered You to retrieve his son wo had died a long time ago. You brought him from the place of the forefathers to Your spiritual master as a gift of gratitude to the teacher. Please, o You two Masters of the Yoga Masters, fulfill the same way my desire: I'd like to see my sons brought back who were killed by Kamsa [see 10.4].'
(34) The rishi [S'uka] said: 'Thus entreated by Their mother, o descendant of Bharata entered Râma and Krishna utilizing Their internal potency the nether world of Sutala [see 5.24: 18]. (35) Having entered there stood the daitya king [Bali] immediately up to bow to Them together with his entourage. He was overwhelmed with joy of seeing Them, the Supreme Soul and Godhead of the Universe who were his favorite divinity of worship. (36) Bringing Them royal seats, was he, as They sat, happy to wash the two Great Souls Their feet, and together with his followers took he the water [upon their heads] that purifies up to Brahmâ. (37) He, worshipping with all the wealth of himself and his family, thus offered Them the most valuable riches, garments, ornaments, fragrant pastes, bethel nut, lamps, nectarean food and so on [*]. (38) He who had conquered Indra [see 8.15] then spoke, over and over taking hold of the Supreme Lord's feet, with a heart melting of love, with tears in his eyes of ecstasy and with his hair standing on end o King, with a choked up voice. (39) Bali said: 'My respects for Ananta, the Greatest Being; my obeisances for Krishna, the Absolute Truth, the Supersoul, the Disseminator and Creator of the analytical knowledge [sânkhya, see 3.25-32] and science of [bhakti-] yoga. (40) The vision of You indeed is, though by the living beings rarely achieved, yet still for people like us, whose natures are in passion and ignorance, not difficult to obtain with You endeavoring to reach us on Your own accord [see B.G. 3: 21-23]. (41-43) The sons of Diti and Dâna, the singers of heaven, the perfected, the scientific, the venerable, the wealthkeepers, the wild, the carnivorous and the paranormal, the mystics, the politicians, we and others like them are attracted to You despite of constantly being fixed with a grudge against the Direct Embodiment of Pure Goodness in the divine form of the revealed scriptures; some are especially obstinate with hatred, some are of devotion with ulterior motives, but the enlightened and the rest of the ones lusting in goodness, are not that attracted at all [compare: the âtmârâma-verse 1.7: 10]. (44) O Controller when not even the masters of yoga know Your bewildering power of yoga that for the greater part is characterized in terms like this [svarûpa and vis'esha game of identity], what then of us? (45) Therefore o shelter of the lotus feet that are sought by the selfless, have mercy with me and lead me out of the blind well of a household life, so that I in peace may wander alone or else may wander with the friends of all, those [saints, devotees, Vaishnavas, desire trees] who are willing to help all in the world and at whose feet the subsistence [the 'vritti'] is obtained. (46) Please direct us o Controller of the ones controlled, make us sinless o Master, turn us into a person who executes with faith and thus is freed from [scriptural] fixations.'
(47) The Supreme Lord said: 'Once, during the first Manu, were there of Marîci six sons born from Ûrnâ, demigods, who laughed when they saw how the one of love ['kam', or Brahmâ in this case] wanted to copulate with his daughter [called Vâk, see 3.12: 28-35, compare 3.20: 23]. (48-49) Because of that offense entered they immediately a womb to be born to Hiranyakas'ipu. They were then by Yogamâyâ transferred to be born from the womb of Devakî, o King, and were murdered by Kamsa. She laments over them as being her own sons; they, these same sons are living here with you [see also ** and 10.2*]. (50) We want to take them from here in order to dispel their mother's sadness; when thereafter the curse is lifted will they being freed from the misery go back to their own world. (51) By My grace will these six - Smara [Kîrtimân, see 10.1: 57], Udgîtha, Parishvanga, Patanga, Kshudrabhrit and Ghrinî - return to the destination of the saintly.'
(52) Thus having spoken took They, both honored by Bali, them back to Dvârakâ and presented They the sons to their mother. (53) Seeing the boys made the breasts of the goddess out of her affection for her sons flow, and placing them on her lap embraced she them, over and over smelling their heads. (54) Bewildered by Vishnu's illusory energy because of which the creation comes into being, allowed she lovingly her sons to drink from her breasts that were wet the moment they touched them. (55-56) Having drunk her nectarean milk, the remnants of what the Wielder of the Club drank [before Vasudeva carried Him to Gokula], regained they, because they came in touch with the body of Nârâyana, the awareness of their original selves. Bowing down to Govinda, Devakî, their father and Balarâma went they, for everyone to see, to the abode where the gods live. (57) Seeing this return and departure of the dead, thought devine Devakî in great amazement about the magic that was arranged by Krishna, o King. (58) Of Krishna, the Supreme Soul unlimited in His valor, are there a countless number of feats like this, o descendant of Bharata.'
(59) S'rî Sûta [at Naimishâranya, 1.1: 4] said: "Whoever devoutly hears or recounts this pastime of Murâri whose glories are unlimited, the way it is described by Vyâsa's respected son, will, because this true delight for His devotees' ears fully annihilates the sins of the living being, with fixing his mind on the Supreme Lord, go to His all-auspicious heavenly abode."
Footnotes
* The paramparâ adds here that there are nine standard processes of devotional service as Prahlâda points out in 7.5: 23-24, and that the last, âtma-samarpanam, the handing over of one's wealth as modeled by Bali Mahârâja for the sake of the âtma-nivedanam of self communication with the Lord, is the culmination toward which every endeavor should aim. If one tries to impress the Lord with wealth, power, intelligence and so on but fails to humbly understand oneself to be His servant, one's so-called devotion is only a presumptuous show. The paramparâ thus warns here against the false religion of pompous ceremony without regard for the yogic retreat as of Daksha in 4.2. See also B.G 2: 42-43.
** The paramparâ explains with the âcâryas S'rîdhara Svâmî and Vis'vanâtha Cakravartî that after taking Marîci's six sons from Hiranyakas'ipu, Lord Krishna's Yogamâyâ first made them pass through one more life as children of another great demon, Kâlanemi [the previous incarnation of Kamsa, see 10.1: 68], and then she finally transferred them to the womb of Devakî. For the full story see footnote 10.1***.
Arjuna Kidnaps Subhadrâ, and Krishna Instructs Bahulas'va and S'rutadeva
(1) The honorable king (Parîkchit) said: 'O brahmin, we'd like to know how she who is my grandmother, the sister of Krishna and Râma [Subhadrâ, see 9.24: 53-55], got married to Arjuna.'
(2-3) S'rî S'uka said: 'Arjuna, the great lord, gone on a pilgrimage to Prabhâsa, heard as he wandered the earth that Râma intended to give his maternal cousin away to Duryodhana and to no one else, and so went he, desirous of her, to Dvârakâ disguised as a renunciate with a tridanda [*]. (4) Determined to fulfill his purpose, resided he there during the months of the rainy season and was he [according the custom] honored by the citizens and by Râma without them being aware who he was. (5) One day invited as a guest was he brought to Balarâma's house where He faithfully presented him a meal. (6) When he there, with eyes blossoming of happiness, saw the wonderful girl who enchanted heroes, put he, smitten, his mind on her. (7) She also seeing him who stole each woman's heart, fixed her heart and eyes upon him as she with desire gave him a bashful smile and look. (8) Thinking of nothing but her awaiting the right opportunity could Arjuna, with his heart trembling of the strongest desire, find no peace. (9) When during an important religious festival she rode out of the fortress in a chariot, seized the mighty warrior the girl who had stolen his heart. That took place with the consent of her parents [see 1o.1: 56] and Krishna. (10) Standing on the chariot raising his bow drove he, like the king of the animals claiming his share, back the heroes and guards who, while her relatives were shouting in anger, tried to stop him. (11) Hearing this was Râma as disturbed as the ocean is during a badly aspected moon [astrological conjunction or opposition]. Lord Krishna and His family had to grasp Him respectfully by His feet in order to pacify Him. (12) He thereupon was pleased to sent presents of great value, elephants and horses and male and female servants as a wedding gift for the groom and bride.'
(13) S'rî S'uka continued: 'Of Lord Krishna there was S'rutadeva, one of the best among the twice-born, known for his fullness of realization - his serenity, learning and freedom from sense gratification - in exclusive devotion to Krishna. (14) He, as a householder dwelling in Mithilâ in the kingdom of Videha, carried out his obligations unconcerned about what came to him for his sustenance. (15) Day by day doing his duties as required was he happy with just that - and nothing more - what he by providence acquired as his share for his sober maintenance. (16) The ruler of that kingdom from the line of King Mithilâ [Janaka] was known by the name of Bahulâs'va and was likewise selfless minded, my dearest. They were both equally dear to Acyuta. (17) Pleased with the two of them mounted the Supreme Lord His chariot that was brought by Dâruka, and mounting together with a group of sages went the Master to Videha. (18) Along came Nârada, Vâmadeva, Atri, Krishna Dvaipâyana Vyâsa, Paras'urâma, Asita, Aruni, I [S'uka], Brihaspati, Kanva, Maitreya and Cyavana and others. (19) Everywhere He came approached the citizens and villagers carrying arghya [offerings of water] to greet Him who was as the risen sun surrounded by the planets. (20) In Ânarta [where Dvârakâ is], Dhanva [the desert region], Kuru-jângala [Thaneswar and Kurukshetra], Kanka, Matsya [Jaipur and Aloyar], Pañcâla [the Ganges region], Kunti, Madhu, Kekaya [northeast Punjab], Kos'ala [from Kâs'î to the Himalayas], Arna [east of Mithilâ] and in many other kingdoms, drank the men and women with their eyes in the lotus face that was so generous with His smiles and affectionate glances, o King. (21) The Spiritual Master of the Three Worlds put an end to the blindness of their eyes by bestowing upon them the fearlessness of the spiritual vision. As He thus by and by reached Videha, heard He how by the God-conscious and the commoners His glories were sung, the glories that eradicate all misfortune and purify every corner of the universe. (22) The moment the villagers and citizens heard that Acyuta had arrived, o King, came they joyfully forward to greet Him with offerings in their hands. (23) Seeing Him Who is Praised in the Verses, bowed they with their faces and hearts blossoming of love down with their joined palms held to their heads, as they also did before the sages they only knew from hearsay. (24) Each of the kings of Mithilâ and S'rutadeva prostrated at the feet supposing that the Spiritual Master of the Universe had arrived to be of mercy for especially him. (25) Bahulâs'va and S'rutadeva simultaneously joining their palms, invited the Descendant of Das'ârha along with the twice-born to be their guest. (26) The Supreme Lord eager to please the two of them accepted their offer by entering each his house without them knowing that of each other [He did so at the same time in vaibhava-prakâs'a]. (27-29) The descendent of Janaka [Bahulas'va] who later that day saw them, fatigued, coming from a distance to his house, mindfully brought out fine seats for them so that they could comfortably sit. Overjoyed at heart with intense devotion and eyes clouded with tears bowed he down to wash those feet of which the water is able to purify the entire world. Together with his family taking it on his head, honored he the Lords [and sages] with sandalwood paste, garlands, clothing, jewelry, incense, lamps, arghya, cows and bulls. (30) When they had eaten their fill, said he while happily massaging the feet of Vishnu on his lap, in order to please them in a gentle voice slowly the following.
(31) S'rî Bahulâs'va said: 'You indeed the Self-illumined Witness and Soul of All Created Beings, o Almighty One, have now become visible to us who are remembering Your lotusfeet. (32) To be true to the statement You made that 'No one, not even Ananta, S'rî or the Unborn Brahmâ is as dear to Me as the unalloyed devotee', have You appeared before our eyes [see also 7.7: 51-52, 10.9: 20-21, 10.47: 58-63]. (33) What person knowing this would abandon Your lotusfeet with You giving Yourself to sages who are peaceful from not striving for possessions? (34) Descending in the Yadu dynasty for the sake of those who are caught in worldly love [samsâra] have You, to put a stop to it, disseminated Your fame which removes the sins of the three worlds. (35) All glories to You Krishna, the Supreme Lord ever fresh in His intelligence, to Nara-Nârâyana, the One perfect of peace in undergoing the austerities. (36) Please o Omnipresent One, dwell, joined by the twice-born, for a few days in our home and sanctify with the dust of Your feet this dynasty of Nimi.'
(37) S'rî S'uka said: 'Thus invited by the king stayed the Supreme Lord and Maintainer of the Entire World there and thus brought good fortune to the men and women of Mithilâ. (38) S'rutadeva, just as Bahulas'va receiving Krishna in his house, bowing down to the sages to the occasion of which he in delight danced with waving clothes. (39) He made them sit on mats of darbha grass which were brought, greeted them with words of welcome and washed next pleased together with his wife their feet. (40) With the water sprinkled he, overjoyed of having all his desires fulfilled, most piously himself, his house and his family. (41) With offerings of fruits, aromatic root [us'îra], pure nectarean sweet water, fragrant clay, tulsî leaves, kus'a grass and lotus flowers honored he them with all items of worship available and with food conducive to the mood of goodness [see B.G. 17: 8]. (42) He wondered: 'How could it happen that I who fell down in the blind well of family life, may enjoy this association with Krishna and these godly people in whom He resides; it is indeed the dust of their feet that constitutes the dignity of all holy places.' (43) With them comfortably seated and having proven the hospitality, spoke S'rutadeva, as his wife, relatives and children were sitting close, while he massaged His feet.
(44) S'rutadeva said: 'It is not for the first time that we see the Supreme Personality present before us; in fact is that happening ever since He, creating this universe with His energies, entered it in His own state of [transcendental] being [as an avatâra]. (45) He enters this world the way a sleeping person appears in his own dream: alone with his mind creates he by his own imagination a separate world. (46) You appear within the hearts of those people who with a pure mind again and again hear about You, speak of You, glorify You, worship You and converse about You. (47) Even though You're situated in the heart are You far removed from minds agitated by material affairs, and even though one can't get hold of You by one's own powers, are You near to those who appreciate Your qualities [see also B.G. 7: 25]. (48) Let there be my obeisances unto You, the Supersoul from whom we know the Absolute of the Truth, the One who [as the Time] calls for the death of the conditioned soul; the One who assumes forms that have a cause [the universe] and do not have a cause [the transcendental], and thus [respectively] obstructs matters and [then again descending for Your devotees] broadens the outlook by Your own deluding potency. (49) You as that Supersoul, please command us Your servants. What o God should we do? Oh, having this of You, Your good Self, visible before our eyes is what puts an end to the troubles of humanity!'
(50) S'rî S'uka said: 'Having heard what he thus said to Him, spoke the Supreme Lord, the Destroyer of the Distress of the Surrendered, to him with a broad smile taking his hand into His. (51) The Supreme Lord said: 'O brahmin, you should know that these sages came along for the purpose of blessing you; wandering with Me, they purify all the worlds with the dust of their feet. (52) The deities, pilgrimage sites and sacred rivers being visited, being touched and being worshiped purify gradually, but by the glance of the one who is the most worshipable is that all attained at the same time [see also 4.30: 37, 7.9: 44, 10.9: 21, 10.84: 11]. (53) A brahmin is by birth the best of all living beings, and what more wouldn't he mean to Me when he by his austerity, his learning and his contentment is endowed with a grip on the time [of this age of Kali, see also ** and kâla]! (54) This four-armed form is not as dear to Me as a brahmin is; a man of [brahminical] learning comprises all the Vedas indeed the way I comprise all the gods [see also 10.84: 12]. (55) Those who corrupted in their intelligence fail to understand it this way, behave in neglect enviously towards the man of [brahminical] learning, their guru, Me factually, their very self, while they do regard the visible form of an idol worthy of worship. (56) The moving and nonmoving of this universe as well as the elementary categories basic to it are by man of learning of respect for Me kept in mind as being My forms [see also B.G. 5: 18]. (57) Therefore o brahmin just worship, with the same faith you have in Me, these brahmin seers, and thus will you directly be of worship for Me, not by any other way as [e.g. offering] vast riches [and such].'
(58) S'rî S'ûka said: 'He as also the king of Mithilâ who were thus instructed by the Lord, attained by the single-minded devotion for Krishna and His company of the most exalted twice-born ones, the transcendental destination. (59) The Supreme Lord of Devotion for His Own Devotees, thus staying and teaching the two devotees the path of the truthful [***], o King, then returned to Dvârakâ.'
Footnotes
* The tridanda is a staff carried by vaishnava sannayâsîs symbolizing the threefold austerity of thought, speech and action. In all these three the renunciate is vowed to serve Vishnu. The staff consists of three sticks wrapped in saffron cloth with a small extra piece wrapped in at the top.
** Time is the Lord His impersonal feature. The paramparâ says: 'It is understood from the Vedic science of epistemology, the 'Nyâya-s'âstra', that knowledge of an object (prameya) depends on a valid means of knowing (pramâna)' (pp 10.86: 54). So would to know Krishna in the form of Time as-He-is (I am the Time, the light of the sun and the moon, as He says in the Gîtâ to be the objective of the universe) - by means of clocks managed validly to His nature, the Sun as with a sundial, and calendars managed validly to His order, the moon, like with its phases - constitute the proper brahminical conduct. With weeks to the moon and clocks to the sun, would standardtime with its mean time deadness, zone time arbitrary false oneness and summertime instability, constitute the time of ignorance in denial of Krishna, the father of Time, even though Krishna affirms the worship of Time with the pragmatical and thus karmic dictate of standardtime, to which He still calls that demigod (...) worship less attractive and wrong [see also cakra, kâla en 1.2: 26 B.G. 9: 23, 10: 21, 30 & 33, 7: 8 and the Bhâgavatam time quotes].
*** Prabhupâda adds here: "The instruction we receive from this incident is that King Bahulâs'va and S'rutadeva the brâhmana were accepted by the Lord on the same level because both were pure devotees. This is the real qualification for being recognized by the Supreme Personality of Godhead."
The Underlying Mystery: Prayers of the Personified Vedas
(1) 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]?'
(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. (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]. (4) For this purpose will I relate to you an account concerning Lord Nârâyana. It concerns a conversation between Nârâyana Rishi and Nârada Muni.
(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. (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]. (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. (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]. (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. (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. (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.'
(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. (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 [**]. (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]? (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. (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]. (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]. (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]. (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. (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]. (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]. (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 equally relishing the same nectar from the lotus-like feet, as do the women [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. (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]. (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]. (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]. (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. (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. (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. (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]. (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]. (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]? (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]. (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] (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. (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. (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]. (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. (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]. (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. (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]'.
(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. (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. (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.'
(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. (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].'
(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. (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. (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. (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].'
Footnotes
* 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.
Lord S'iva Saved from Vrikâsura
(1) The honorable king [Parîkchit] said: 'The godly, the ones of darkness and the humans who worship the austere Lord S'iva, are usually rich and enjoy the senses, but not so those of Lakshmî and her Husband the Lord Hari. (2) On our part indeed of great doubt in this, we wish to understand this matter of the destinations of the worshipers of the two Lords so opposite of character.'
(3) S'rî S'uka said: 'S'iva, always united with his s'akti, is prayed to in his three manifest features of guna: the emotion [his sattva], the authority [his rajas] and the inertia [his tamas], and is thus the [embodiment of the] threefold of ego. (4) From that have the sixteen transformations [lingas] manifested of which someone, pursuing any of these, enjoys the acquisition of material assets [see under S'iva]. (5) Lord Hari however is, indeed absolutely untouched by the modes, the Original Person transcendental to material nature; He is the witness seeing everything, by worshiping Him one becomes free from the gunas. (6) Your grandfather the king [Yudishthhira] asked Acyuta this as he was hearing from Him about the dharma. (7) He, the Supreme Lord, his Master, who for the sake of the ultimate benefit of all men had descended into the Yadu-family, then spoke pleased to him who was eagerly listening. (8) The Supreme Lord said: 'From the one I favor I gradually take away the wealth, after which then poor, suffering one distress after another, that person will be abandoned by his own [attached] people [see also 7.15: 15, 9.21: 12, 10.81: 14 & 20, 10.87: 40, B.G. 9: 22]. (9) When he futile in his attempts to serve the capital gets frustrated and makes friends with those devoted to Me, will I show My mercy. (10) Sober with the wisdom understanding that the subtle, pure, eternal spirit of the Supreme Brahman is one's true self, is one freed from samsâra. (11) Leaving aside Me because I am most difficult to worship, do people worship others from which they quickly find satisfaction in receiving royal opulence. Having become arrogant, proud and negligent do they, surprisingly, then insult those whom they owe the benedictions [see also B.G. 2: 42-44; 4: 12; 7: 20-25; 17: 22, 18: 28].'
(12) S'rî S'uka said: 'Brahmâ, S'iva and others are capable of cursing and showing favor. Brahmâ and S'iva are quick with their condemnations and blessings, my dear King, but the Infallible One [Vishnu] is not. (13) In this connection is as an example the following ancient story told of Giris'a running into danger by offering a choice of benedictions to the demon Vrikâsura. (14) An Asura named Vrika, a son of S'akuni [see 9.24: 5], meeting Nârada on the road, wickedly asked which of the three Lords was most quickly pleased. (15) He said: 'For quick success you better worship S'iva, he is as quickly satisfied by qualities as he is angered by faults. (16) Satisfied with Ten-head [Râvana] and with Bâna who like minstrels sang his glories, got he in great trouble [though] giving them unequaled power.'
(17) Thus informed worshiped the Asura him at Kedâra [in the Himalayas] by offering oblations of flesh from his own limbs into the fire that is S'iva's mouth. (18-19) Out of frustration to obtain the sight of the Lord, was he the seventh day with his hair wetted in the waters of that holy place, about to cut off his head with a hatchet. But then supremely merciful rising from the fire looking like Agni stopped he him seizing his arms and restored he his body on the touch, just like we would. (20) He told him: 'Enough, enough, dear man, please listen, choose a benediction from me, I'll bestow upon you whatever boon you desire. Ah, your greatly tormenting your body is useless, I am pleased by persons who with water approach me for shelter [see also B.G. 17: 5-6]!'
(21) With that offer of the god chose the sinner a boon that terrified all living beings as he said: 'May whomever die on whose head I place my hand!'
(22) O son of Bharata, Rudra hearing this, disgruntled vibrated om and granted it him with an ironic smile; it was like giving milk to a snake [see also 10.16: 37]. (23) To put the favor to a test tried the demon then to put his hand on the head of S'iva and made that way his flesh creep about what he had caused. (24) Pursued by him fled he trembling with fear from the north [of his residence] to as far as the limits of the earth and the sky in all directions. (25-26) Not knowing what to do against it remained the chief demigods silent. Thereupon he went to Vaikunthha, the place luminous beyond all darkness where Nârâyana, the Supreme Goal is manifest. That place is the destination from where the renunciates who in peace gave up the violence do not return [see also S'vetadvîpa]. (27-28) The Supreme Lord, the Eradicator of Distress, who from a distance saw the danger, came before him having turned Himself by the power of His yogamâyâ into a young brahmin student. Complete with a belt, deerskin, rod and prayer beads had He an effulgence that glowed like fire. He respectfully greeted him humbly with kus'a grass in His hands. (29) The Supreme Lord said: 'Dear son of S'akuni, you seem to be tired, for what reason have you come from so far? Please rest a while, shouldn't this personal body be the fulfillment of all desires? (30) If suitable to Our ear, o mighty one, please tell Us what you have in mind. One usually accomplishes one's purposes with the help of others isn't it?'
(31) S'rî S'uka said: 'Thus questioned by the Supreme Lord with words that rained like nectar, vanished all his fatigue and told he Him what he had done. (32) The Supreme Lord said [then to Vrika]: 'That being the case, We can't put faith in his statements. For he's the one cursed by Daksha to become diabolical as the king of the ghosts and devils [see 4.2: 9-16]. (33) If you put faith in him as the 'spiritual master of the universe', then dear friend, just see right now what happens if you place your hand on your own head! (34) If S'ambhu's words this way - or another - prove to be false, o best of the Dânavas, then please kill him who's been fooling you, so that he never lies again.'
(35) He this manner bewildered by the o so clever words of the Supreme Lord, thought no longer and foolishly placed his hand on his own head. (36) Like being hit by lightening was it instantly shattered. He fell down whereupon from the sky could be heard the sounds of 'Victory!', 'Hail!' and 'Right so!' (37) With S'iva freed from the danger now the sinful Asura Vrika was killed, released the celestial sages, the ancestors and the singers of heaven a rain of flowers. (38-39) Bhagavân, the Supreme Personality, then addressed the delivered Giris'a: 'Ah, dear Mahâdeva, see how this sinner was killed by his own sinfulness! What fortune indeed o master, can there be for a living being who was of offense with the elevated saints, not to mention having been in offense with the Lord of the Universe, the Spiritual Master of the Living Being [see also 1.18: 42, 7.4: 20 and B.G. 16: 23]. (40) Whoever hears of or recites this rescuing of lord S'iva by the Lord of the Supersoul, the Inconceivable Personal Manifestation of the Ocean of All Energies, is freed from as well enemies as from the repetition of birth and death.
Vishnu the Best of the Gods and the Krishnas Retrieve a Brâhmin's Sons
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'Among the sages performing a sacrifice at the bank of the Sarasvatî, o King, arose a controversy as to which of the three [Lords] there from the beginning would be the greatest. (2) Desirous to know this send they Bhrigu, the son of Brahmâ to find this out, o King, and so he went to the court of Brahmâ. (3) To make it a test of goodness he didn't bow down to him nor uttered he a prayer. That then kindled the great Lord his passion and he grew angry. (4) Even though in his heart anger was rising towards his son, managed the self-born one to control himself, just like with a fire that is put out by its own product, water [see also 3.12: 6-10]. (5) Next went he to Mount Kailâsa where S'iva happy to see him rose to his feet in order to embrace his brother. (6-7) But when Bhrigu denied this and said 'You are a transgressor of the path', became he angry and rose he with eyes shooting fire his trident against him ready to kill. The goddess fell at his feet and pacified him verbally. Bhrigu subsequently went to Vaikunthha were Lord Janârdana resides. (8-9) After he there had kicked Him in the chest as He was lying with His head on the lap of the goddess of fortune, rose the Supreme Lord, the Destination of the Devotees, up together with Lakshmî. Coming down from the bed He next with His head bowed down to the sage and said: 'Be welcome, o brahmin, take this seat, please forgive Us o master, for a second we didn't notice you'd arrived! (10-11) Please purify Me, My world and the rulers of all worlds devoted to Me, with the water washing from the feet of your good self that creates the sacredness of the sites of pilgrimage. Today, o My lord, I've become the exclusive shelter, because with your foot having freed My chest from all sin the goddess of fortune will consent to reside there.'
(12) S'rî S'uka said: 'Bhrigu delighted by the solemn words that the Lord of Vaikunthha thus spoke, gratified fell silent with tears in his eyes, overwhelmed as he was with devotion. (13) O King, having returned to the sacrifice of the sages defending the Veda, described Bhrigu in full what he personally had experienced. (14-17) Hearing this fell the sages in amazement, because they were freed from their troubles in putting their faith in Lord Vishnu as the greatest of whom there is peace and fearlessness, direct proof of dharma, spiritual knowledge, detachment, realization [of tat], the eight mystic powers [siddhis] and His fame that drives away the impurities of the mind. He's the Supreme Destination of the selfless and saintly sages who, giving up on the violence [of ruling by passion], have minds that are equipoised and peaceful. He's the embodiment of the mode of goodness of which the brahmins of spiritual peace, they who are so keenly and expertly of worship without ulterior motives, are the worshipable deities [see 1.2: 7; 3.25: 37 and 10.81]. (18) In accord with the gunas are there the three types of conditioned beings brought about by His material energy: the wild [the Râkshasas], the unenlightened [the Asuras] and the godly [the Suras]; among these three is it the mode of goodness [of the Suras] that leads the way [see B.G. 14: 6 & 14: 14].'
(19) S'rî S'uka said: 'It is through their service of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality [the Pure of Goodness] that the learned ones, who this way live at the Sarasvatî to dispel the doubts of the common people, attained His destination.' "
(20) S'rî Sûta [at Naimishâranya] said: "Thus flowed this nectar with the fragrance of a lotus from the mouth of the son of the sage [Vyâsa]. Dealing with the Supreme Personality shatters that nectar the fear of a material existence and makes it the traveler, who constantly drinks in the fine verses through the holes of his ears, forget the fatigue of his wandering the [worldly] road. (21) S'uka said: 'Once, in Dvârakâ, it happened that the infant son born from the wife of a brahmin died the moment it, so one says, touched the ground, o descendant of Bharata. (22) The learned one, in misery lamenting with an agitated mind, took the corpse to the gate of the king [Ugrasena] and said, presenting it, the following: (23) 'Because this unqualified avaricious kshatriya addicted to sense-gratification, with a mind deceitful and hostile to the brahmins, failed in his duties, has my son met his death. (24) Citizens serving a wicked peoples-lord who, out of control with his senses, takes pleasure in violence [like meat-eating], have to suffer poverty and constant misery.'
(25) And the same way it happened a second and a third time alike that the wise brahmin left [a dead child] at the gate and sang the same song. (26-27) Arjuna who some day because of Kes'ava was in the vicinity happened to hear about it when the ninth child of the brahmin died. He said: 'O brahmin, isn't there someone out here to wield the bow at the place where you are living? Truly these fallen nobles act as brahmins attending a sacrifice! (28) There where brahmins have to lament the loss of wives, children and wealth, are the ones dressed up as kings but actors living for their own material interest. (29) O great lord, I'll protect the offspring of the two of you so miserable in this matter. And if I fail to fulfill my promise will I enter the fire to put an end to my sins [compare B.G. 2: 34].'
(30-31) The brahmin said: 'Since neither Sankarshana, Vâsudeva, Pradyumna the greatest archer, nor Aniruddha the incomparable chariot fighter, were able to save [my sons], why for heaven's sake do you then so naively intend to do what is even impossible to the [catur-vyûha] lords of the universe? That sounds pretty incredible to us.'
(32) S'rî Arjuna said: 'I'm not Sankarshana o brahmin, nor Krishna or even a descendant. I for true am the one named Arjuna with the Gândîva as his bow! (33) Do not belittle my prowess o brahmin, it satisfied the three-eyed one [S'iva]. I, defeating death in battle, will bring back your children o master!'
(34) The learned one thus convinced by Arjuna, o tormentor of the enemies, went home, satisfied about what he heard about the prowess of the son of Prithâ. (35) The time his wife was about to deliver again, said the most elevated brahmin distraught to Arjuna: 'Please save my child from dying!'
(36) He, touching pure water offered the mighty Lord [S'iva] his obeisances and strung the bowstring of his Gândîva with [the mantras of] his weapons kept in mind. (37) He upwards, downwards and sideways fenced in the house of delivery with arrows charged with the mantras and thus created a cage of arrows. (38) When therafter the infant of the brahmin's wife was born, disappeared it, after crying for some time, suddenly into the sky complete with its body. (39) The learned one then with Krishna being present said to Arjuna in derision: 'Just see what a fool I am, I who trusted such a boasting impotent eunuch! (40) When nor Arjuna, nor Aniruddha, nor Râma, nor Krishna were able to prevent this, who else would then be capable to offer protection in a situation like this? (41) Damn that Arjuna with his false words, damn the bow of that braggart, who so dumb, delusioned thought to bring back those who were taken by fate!'
(42) As the wise brahmin was thus cursing him, resorted Arjuna to a mystic incantation and went he straight to the heavenly city of Samyamanî where the great Yamarâja lives. (43-44) Not finding the brahmin's child went he, with his weapons ready, from there to the cities of Indra, Agni, Nirriti [the god of death subordinate to Yamarâja], Soma [the moon-god], Vâyu and Varuna and then to other regions from the subterranean one up to the top of heaven. Failing to obtain from them the son of the twice-born one, was he, about to enter the fire as he had promised, opposed by Krishna who tried to stop him. (45) 'I'll show you the sons of the twice-born one, please do not deprecate yourself, men like this [now so critical with us] are going to bring the spotless fame of the both of us.'
(46) The Supreme Lord, the Divine Controller, thus conferring mounted together with Arjuna his chariot and set off in the western direction. (47) Passing over the seven continents with their seven seas and seven mountain ranges crossed he the border that separated the worlds from outer space and entered He the vast darkness [see also 5.1: 31-33]. (48-49) There in the darkness lost the horses S'aibya, Sugrîva, Meghapushpa and Balâhaka [see also 10.53*] their way, o best of the Bharatas, and thus was by the Supreme Lord, the Great Master of All Yoga Masters, considering their plight His personal cakra that shines like a thousand suns sent ahead to lead the chariot. (50) The Sudars'ana disc that with its extremely intensive effulgence as fast as the mind was speeding ahead, cut itself through the immense dense and fearsome darkness of the manifestation like an arrow of Lord Râmacandra shot away at an army. (51) Following the path of the cakra beyond that darkness beheld Arjuna the all-pervasive, endlessly expanding, transcendental light, that hurt so that he closed both his eyes [see also 10.28: 14-15]. (52) From there entered they a body of water that was moved by a mighty wind into a splendor of huge waves. Therein was situated a verily wondrous abode that supremely radiated with columns that shone bright with thousands of inlaid gems. (53) There resided the huge serpent of Ananta that, amazing with His thousands of heads that radiated with the gems upon the hoods and the twice as many frightening eyes, with His dark blue necks and tongues resembled the white mountain [of Kailâsa]. (54-56) On that serpent saw he comfortably seated the almighty, highest authority of the Personality Supreme to all Personalities of Godhead looking like a dense raincloud, with beautiful yellow garments, a pleasing attractive face and broad eyes. To His eight handsome long arms, the Kaustubha jewel, the S'rîvatsa mark and framed by a garland of forest flowers, reflected the thousands of scattered locks the brilliance of His earrings and the clusters of large jewels in His crown. As the Chief of the Rulers of the Universe was He served by His personal associates headed by Nanda and Sunanda, His cakra and His other weapons that manifested their personal forms, [the consorts of] His energies for prosperity, beauty, fame and material creation [resp. Pushthi, S'rî, Kîrti and Ajâ] and the complete of His mystic powers [siddhis]. (57) Acyuta paid homage to Himself in His Unlimited Form as did also Arjuna who was amazed by the sight [of Mahâ-Vishnu]. Then addressed the Almighty Lord and Master of the Rulers of the Universe with a smile and an invigorating voice the two of them who had their palms joined. (58) 'I brought the sons of the twice-born one over here with the desire to see the two of you, who as My expansions have descended. Turn, after killing the ones of darkness who burden the earth, quickly back to My presence [see 2.2: 24-27 and 2.6: 26]. (59) Even though of the two of you all desires are fulfilled, o best of all persons, should you, as the sages Nara and Nârâyana did, be engaged for the sake of the common man to uphold the dharma.'
(60-61) The two Krishnas [see also B.G. 10: 37] thus instructed by the Supreme Lord of the Highest Abode, said 'om' bowing down to the Almighty and took the sons of the twice-born to return elated to their own places, the same way as they came. They handed over to the brahmin the sons who had the same bodies and the same age [as they had when they were lost]. (62) Having seen the abode of Vishnu was Arjuna deeply moved. He concluded that whatever special powers living beings might have, were all manifestations of Krishna's mercy. (63) He, Krishna, performing many heroic acts like these in this world, enjoyed the sensual pleasures [see also 1.11: 35-39] and was of worship with the most invigorating sacrifices [e.g. in 10.24 and 10.74 & 75]. (64) Beginning with His brahmins, rained the Supreme Lord from within His Supremacy, just like Indra does, at the right time down upon His subjects all that was desired. (65) With His having killed all the kings who turned against the dharma and having engaged Arjuna and others therein, paved He the way for the son of Dharma [Yudhishthhira] to carry out the principles of religion [see also 1.14 & 15].'
The Queens Play and Speak and Lord Krishna's Glories Summarized
(1-7) S'rî S'uka said: 'The Master of the goddess of fortune resided happily in Dvârakâ, His own city opulent in all features and populated by the most prominent Vrishnis. When the finest of their women, dressed in new clothes, in the beauty of their youth were playing with balls and other toys on the rooftops, shone they like lightening. Its roads were always crowded with well ornamented elephants intoxicated dripping with mada, footsoldiers and horses and chariots brilliant with gold. The city was richly endowed with gardens and parks with rows of flowering trees everywhere filled with the sounds of the bees and birds frequenting them. Enjoying His sixteen thousand wives as their one and only love had He in their richly furnished residences expanded in as many different forms [see also 10.69: 41]. Diving in the pellucid waters where there was the cooing of flocks of birds and the aroma of the pollen of nightblooming and dayblooming lotuses and water lilies, sported the Great Appearance in the streams whereby His body, being embraced by the women, was smeared with the kunkuma of their breasts. (8-9) By the singers of heaven playing two-sided drums, kettledrums and tabors and by female and male praisers playing vînâs being glorified, was Acyuta with syringes by His wives laughing squirted with water and squirted He back, thus sporting like the lord of the treasurekeepers [Kuvera] does with his nymphs. (10) Sprinkling revealed they with wet clothes their thighs and breasts and tried they, with the flowers of their large braids scattered all over the place, with resplendent faces beaming wide smiles, to embrace Him in snatching away the syringe of their Consort. (11) As Krishna with on His garland the kunkuma from their breasts, and the order of His mass of hair disheveled from His absorption in the sport, enjoyed the being sprayed and spraying of the women, was He like the king of the elephants surrounded by she-elephants. (12) Done playing gave Krishna the male and female performers who earned their livelihoods by singing and playing music, the ornaments and garments of Him and His wives. (13) Thus were in the play of Krishna's sporting, His movements, His conversing, glancing and smiling; of His jokes, exchanges of love and embraces, the hearts of the wives stolen. (14) With their minds exclusively focussed on Mukunda spoke they stunned like they were mad. Now listen to me as I relate to you these words resulting from this thinking about the Lotus-eyed One.
(15) The queens said [see also 10.47: 12-21, 10.83: 8-40]: 'O kurari you are lamenting, deprived of sleep you cannot rest while the Controller somewhere in the world in an unknown place is sleeping this night. Is it that you, like us o friend, had your heart pierced to the core by the smiling, munificent, playful glance of His lotus eyes? (16) O cakravâkî, alas, having closed your eyes for the night, you're crying pitifully. Or do you, having attained the servitude, perhaps like us desire in your braided hair the garland honored by Acyuta's feet? (17) O dear, dear ocean, you're always making such a noise, never getting any sleep. Do you suffer insomnia? Or were maybe your personal qualities stolen by Mukunda and have you also reached the state from which there is no escape? (18) O moon are you, seized by the fell disease of consumption, so emaciated that you can't dispel the darkness with your rays? Or is it that you appear so stunned to us, o dear, because you, like us, can't remember the talks of Mukunda? (19) O wind from the Malaya mountains, what have we done that would have displeased you so that we are inspired with lust in our hearts, hearts that are already torn apart by Govinda's sidelong glances? (20) O you honorable cloud, you sure are a friend most dear to the Chief of the Yâdavas with the S'rîvatsa on His chest. We, just as your good self, are bound to Him in our meditation on the pure of love. Your most eager heart is as distraught as ours. The same way as you, do we remember Him over and over and results that in torrents of rain with you and gives that us streams of tears again and again. That is the pain one suffers in association with Him. (21) O sweet-throated cuckoo, please tell me what I should do to please you who, in this voice able to revive the dead, are uttering the vibrations of Him whose sounds are so dear. (22) O mountain so broad in your intelligence, you do not move or speak. Are you preoccupied with great matters, or do you maybe like us desire to hold the feet of the darling son of Vasudeva on your breasts? (23) O [rivers,] wives of the ocean, your lakes alas have lost their wealth of lotuses, now they just like us dried up emaciated of not obtaining the loving glance of our beloved husband, the Lord of Madhu, who so often cheated our hearts [see also 10.47: 41 and 10.48: 11]. (24) O swan, be welcome and sit down, please drink some milk, tell us o dear one the news, for we know you are a messenger of S'auri. Is the Unconquerable One all well? Does He who is so fickle in His friendship still remember that He talked to us so long ago? Why should we [run after Him to] be of worship, o servant of the campaka [a type of magnolia]? Tell Him who raises the desire that He must visit us without the goddess of fortune. Why would that woman have the exclusive right of devotion?'
(25) S'rî S'uka said: 'Speaking and acting with such ecstatic love for Krishna, the Master of the Yogamasters, attained the wives of Lord Mâdhava the ultimate goal. (26) He, in numerous songs glorified in numerous ways, attracts with force the mind of any woman who but heard about Him. And what then would that mean to those who directly see Him? (27) How ever can the abnegations be described of the women who with the idea of having Him, the Spiritual Master of the Universe, as their husband, with pure love served His feet perfectly with massages and so on? (28) This manner proceeding according the dharma as defended by the Vedas, demonstrated He, the Goal of the Saintly, how one's home is the place to regulate one's religiosity, economic development and sense gratification [the purushârthas]. (29) With Krishna answering to the higest standard of a householder's life, where there over sixteen thousand and one hundred queens [see also 10.59** and 7.14]. (30) Among them there were eight gems of women headed by Rukminî whom I along with their sons one after the other described previously [see 10.83 & 10.61: 8-19], o King. (31) In each of His many wives begot Krishna, the Supreme Lord Never Failing in His Effort, ten sons [and one daughter]. (32) Of these there were eighteen mahârathas of an unlimited prowess, whose fame spread wide; hear their names from me. (33-34) They were Pradyumna and [His grandson or other son] Aniruddha; Dîptimân and Bhânu as also Sâmba, Madhu and Brihadbhânu; Citrabhânu, Vrika and Aruna; Pushkara and Vedabâhu, S'rutadeva and Sunandana; Citrabâhu and Virûpa, Kavi and Nyagrodha. (35) O best of kings, of these sons of Krishna, the enemy of Madhu, was Pradyumna, the son of Rukminî, the most prominent one. He was just like His father. (36) He, the great chariot fighter, married the daughter of Rukmî [named Rukmavatî] from whom then was born Aniruddha who was endowed with the strength of a ten thousand elephants [see 10.61]. (37) Furthermore took He, as you know, next Rukmî's granddaughter [Rocana] for His wife and from her was His son Vajra born, the only one to remain after the battle with the clubs [see 3.4: 1 & 2]. (38) Pratibâhu came from him, of whom there was Subâhu and from Subâhu's son S'ântasena came S'atasena as his son. (39) Truly none of the offspring appearing in this family was poor in wealth or children, short-lived, small in prowess or neglecting the brahminical. (40) The deeds of fame of the men born in the Yadu-dynasty are innumerable, o King, not even in tens of thousands of years one could sum them up. (41) It was heard that for the children of the Yadu family there were thirty-eight million eight-hundred thousand teachers. (42) Who can keep count of the Yâdavas when Ugrasena alone was present among them with tens upon ten thousands upon hundreds of thousands [*] of great personalities? (43) The most pitiless Daityas who in wars between the enlightened and unenlightened souls were killed, took their birth among the human beings and arrogantly gave trouble to the populace. (44) To subdue them were the devas by the Lord told to descend in the one hundred-and-one clans of the family o King [see 10.1: 62-63]. (45) To them was Krishna on account of His mastery the authority of Lord Hari because of which all the Yâdavas who were His faithful followers prospered. (46) In their activities of sleeping, sitting, walking, conversing, playing, bathing and so on were the Vrishnis who always thought of Krishna not aware of the presence of their own bodies [and thus fearless, see also 10.89: 14-17]. (47) O King, taking birth among the Yadus outshone He the site of pilgrimage of the river of heaven [the Ganges] that washes from His feet. With His embodiment attained friends and foes their goal [7.1: 46-47]. His is the undefeated and supremely perfect goddess of S'rî for whom others are struggling. His name heard or chanted is what destroys the inauspiciousness. By Him was the dharma settled for the lines of descend [of the sages]. With Lord Krishna, whose weapon is the wheel of Time, is this removal of the earth's burden nothing wonderous [see also 3.2: 7-12]. (48) He glorious as the Ultimate Abode and known as the son of Devakî, He who as the devotion of the Yadu nobles with His arms [or devotees] puts an end to the unrighteous, He who is the Destroyer of the Distress of the Moving and Nonmoving Beings, is the One who always smiling with His beautiful face arouses Cupid with the damsels of Vraja [see 10.30-33, 10.35, 10.47]. (49) Proceeding this way with the Supreme has He with the desire to protect His own path for His lîlâ assumed various personal forms and has He imitating the [human] ways destroyed the karma. When one wants to follow His feet will one have to listen to the stories about the Best One of the Yadus. (50) At every sacrifice hearing, singing and meditating on the beautiful topics about Mukunda, does a mortal from his home head for His abode, where the inescapable push of death comes to a stop. Even the ones ruling the earth [like Dhruva and Priyavrata] went for the sake of this purpose into the forest.'
Footnote
* The paramparâ adds here that to the rules of Mîmâmsâ interpretation the number of three is taken as the default number when no specific number is given. So literally would strict to the rules be said here that Ugrasena would have had 30 trillion attendants.
Thus the third part of the tenth Canto of the S'rîmad Bhâgavatam ends named: 'Summum Bonum'.
Translation: Anand Aadhar Prabhu, http://bhagavata.org/c/8/AnandAadhar.html
Production: the Filognostic Association of The Order of Time, with special thanks to Sakhya Devi Dasi for proofreading and correcting the manuscript. http://theorderoftime.com/info/guests-friends.html
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For this original translation next to the Sanskrit dictionary and the version of the Gita Press, a one-volume printed copy has been used with an extensive commentary by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupâda. ISBN: o-91277-27-7.
See the S'rîmad Bhâgavatam treasury: http://bhagavata.org/treasury/links.html for links to other sites concerning the subject.