The Bhagavata Purana 2

by Bibek Debroy

  Chapter 5(17)

  Shri-Shuka said, ‘At the place where the sacrifice was held, the illustrious Vishnu himself appeared in the form of Trivikrama. 214 The nails on the big toe of his left foot shattered the covering of the cosmic egg and entered inside. Through that opening, a flow of water emerged and covered it 215 externally. While washing his lotus feet, the water turned red from the dust. It washed away all the sins of the world. But despite touching these, it remained pure. Thus, words described it as Bhagavat-padi. 216 After a long period of time, measured in thousands of yugas, it descended on top of the celestial regions and is spoken of as Vishnu-pada. Uttanapada’s son 217 was brave in his vows and supremely devoted to the illustrious one. Even now, with great reverence, he bears it on his head there, 218 saying, “This is the water from the feet of our family deity.” Thus, his bhakti yoga towards the illustrious one is constantly increased and firmly saturates his heart. Because of the eagerness, he loses himself and tears spontaneously flow from his half-closed eyes, which are like the buds of lotuses. The unadulterated bliss is manifested in his body hair standing up. The saptarshis 219 who are there certainly know about its powers, regarding it as the ultimate end of their austerities. They are always engaged in bhakti yoga towards the illustrious Vasudeva, who is in all atmans. Having achieved this, they are indifferent towards all other objectives, even liberation. It is as if their desired liberation has been obtained. With a great deal of respect, they bear it on their matted hair. Thereafter, it descends along the path of the gods, characterized by many thousands of crores of vimanas, to the lunar circle. After flooding this, it descends on Brahma’s abode. 220 There, it is divided into four streams that flow in four directions, with four names—Sita, Alakananda, Chakshu and Bhadra. These flow towards the lord of the male and female rivers. From Brahma’s abode, Sita flows downwards, through the summits of mountains like Kesara and descends on the peak of Mount Gandhamadana. It flows eastwards through Bhadrashva-varsha and enters the Kshara ocean. Similarly, Chakshu descends from the summit of Malyavan and flowing with great speed through Ketumala, enters the lord of the rivers in a western direction. To the north, Bhadra descends from the summit of Meru and passing from the summit of one mountain to the summit of another mountain, descends from the peak of Shringavan. It flows through Uttara Kuru and enters the ocean in a northern direction. Similarly, from Brahma’s abode, Alakananda flows southwards and passes through the summits of many mountains. Having reached Hemakuta, it descends with great force on the peaks of Himalaya. Almost plundering Bharatavarsha, it flows southwards and enters the ocean there. At every step, men who go to it for the sake of bathing obtain fruits that are extremely difficult to get through horse and royal sacrifices. In each varsha, there are hundreds of other male and female rivers. They are the daughters of Meru and other mountains. It has been designated that Bharatavarsha is the arena for performing karma. The remaining eight varshas are like heavens on earth, meant as places of enjoyment for those who have come down from heaven. There, the lifespan is ten thousand human years and inhabitants are like gods. They possess the strength of ten thousand elephants and can withstand the vajra. Their strength and youth enables them to enjoy and they indulge in a great deal of sexual activity. Conception results in the wives at the end of this sexual activity, in the last year. Time proceeds as if one is in treta yuga. 221 In those places, the lords of the gods have their own respective designated followers and leaders and they worship them with extremely expensive gifts. There are bunches of flowers from all the seasons, fruits and an abundance of shoots. The trees and creepers bend down at the burden. There are beautiful groves, decorated with many trees. In those varshas, the valleys between the mountains have hermitages, mansions and waterbodies with sparkling water. There is the fragrance of many kinds of blooming lotuses. There are flocks of delighted swans, waterfowl, karandavas, chakravakas, cranes and other birds. There are echoes of bees buzzing. Beautiful divine women engaged in many kinds of water sports there, driven by desire. They freely engage in these pastimes, smiling and casting playful glances, enticing the mind and the eye. Even now, in each of the nine varshas, the great being, the illustrious Narayana, shows his favours to the residents by displaying himself to them in many different kinds of forms.

  ‘In Ilavrita, the illustrious Bhava is the only male. Because of a curse imposed by Bhavani, no one who knows about it enters there. A person who enters becomes female. I will tell you about the reason later. 222 Bhavani’s lord is tended to by a hundred million thousand of female attendants. The illustrious great being has four forms. 223 The fourth is a tamas form that flows from himself and is known as Samkarshana. Bhava meditates on this form and worships him with this chant. The illustrious one says, “I bow down to the illustrious great being, the reservoir of all the qualities. You are infinite and not manifest. I bow down to you. I worship you. I worship Narayana’s lotus feet. You possess all the opulence. You are the supreme refuge. For your devotees, you manifest yourself in many kinds of forms. You are the one who removes the miseries of earth. You are the lord who is the origin of creation. Maya, guna, mind and action do not affect you. You are the one who witnesses, but is not affected even slightly by that sight. You are the controller. If a person desires to conquer the force of anger and vanquish the senses, why will he not worship you? Your maya shows itself to a person whose vision is imperfect, coppery eyed, like a person who is inebriated with madhu or asava. 224 The wives of the nagas 225 desired to worship you, but their modesty prevented them. Their senses were agitated on touching your feet. The rishis speak of you as the source of creation, preservation and destruction. But you are infinite and beyond these. The earth resides on one of your thousand heads, 226 but you do not even feel it, as if it is but a trifling mustard seed. Mahat was the first of your forms, based on the gunas. It was the reservoir of knowledge and the illustrious Aja was born from this. I was generated from him and with my own energy, created vaikarika and tamasika ahamkara 227 and the senses. O great-souled one! We are under your subjugation, like birds controlled on a string. It is through your favours that all these, Mahat, vaikarika and tamasika ahamkara and the senses were created by us. A person is confounded by maya and the accumulation of the gunas and does not know who has fashioned this knot of karma. He does not know how to get over it easily. Therefore, I bow down before you, the source of creation and destruction.”’

  Chapter 5(18)

  Shri-Shuka said, ‘Dharma had a son named Bhadrashva and he was the chief of his lineage. All the residents of Bhadrasha-varsha were direct devotees of the illustrious one. They were supreme in their meditation of the beloved form of Vasudeva, full of dharma and also known as Hayashirsha. They worshipped him with a chant.

  ‘Bhadrashva said, “We bow down before the illustrious one, the source of all dharma. We bow down before the one who purifies. How wonderful are the exploits of the illustrious one! A person knows that death will come. But despite knowing, fails to recognize it. He thinks about what is impermanent and undertakes perverse deeds. Even after burning his father or his son, he wishes to remain alive. The wise speak of the world as destructible. The learned, who know about adhyatma, see it in this way. O one without origin! Nevertheless, they are confounded by your maya. O one without origin! This is extremely surprising. I bow down before what you have done. These deeds of yours are for creation, preservation and destruction. That is acknowledged, though you are not touched by any of this. It is not extraordinary that you should not be touched by cause and effect. You are in all atmans, but you are distinct from everything material. At the end of the yuga, the Vedas were robbed by darkness. You assumed a half-man half–horse form 228 and raised them up from rasatala. 229 You returned them to the wise one 230 who asked for them. I bow down before the one whose resolution never fails.”’

  Shri-Shuka continued, ‘In Hari-varsha, the illustrious one exists in the form of Narahari. 231 I will describe to you the reason for his adopting this form later. 232 That belove
d form is worshipped by the great person who possesses all the qualities. 233 He is a great devotee of the illustrious one and through his good conduct, brought salvation to all the daityas 234 and danavas 235 who were born in his lineage. Other than Prahlada, no one else indulges in such incessant bhakti yoga. With him, the residents of that varsha worship him and chant the following. “We bow down before the illustrious Narasimha. We bow down before the one who is the energy behind all energy. O one who possesses nails like a vajra! Please manifest yourself. O one whose teeth are like the vajra! Please destroy this reservoir of desire for karma. Devour it. Oum Svaha! Bring fearlessness to my heart. Oum Kshroum! 236 Let there be good fortune in the universe. Let the deceitful be pacified. Let creatures meditate on what will bring each other well-being. Let the mind be calm in the worship of Adhokshaja. Let our intelligence be immersed in him, without any motive. May we not be attached to homes, wives, sons, riches and relatives. If there is any attachment in us, let it be towards those who love the illustrious one. He who is content with whatever is necessary to sustain life becomes successful soon, but not a person who is addicted to the senses. Repeated association and ablutions in tirthas remove the dirt of the body. However, hearing about Mukunda’s valour has its own strength and power and listening to this cleanses the dirt of the mind. Who will not serve such devotees? If a person has motiveless devotion towards the illustrious one, all the qualities and all the divinities assemble in him. How can there be great qualities in a person who is not devoted to the illustrious one? His desires are running outwards, towards impermanent pursuits. Just as fish desire to live in water, the atmans of all embodied beings desire to directly reside in the illustrious Hari. If a great person abandons him and becomes attached to his house, that greatness is like the attachment of a young couple. 237 Rajas is the root cause of attachment, misery, anger, the desire for honour, fear and distress. Therefore, abandon the home and the cycle of samsara. Worship Narasimha’s feet, the source of freedom from fear.”’

  Shri-Shuka continued, ‘With a desire to bring pleasure to Lakshmi, the illustrious one exists in Ketumala in his form of Kamadeva. The sons and daughters of the lord of the subjects there, and the leaders in that varsha, possess a lifespan where a day and a night for them are equal to a human year. 238 The women are terrified of the great weapon 239 of the great being and discharge their embryos at the end of a year. His 240 gait is extremely charming. His smiling face has playful glances. His beautiful eyebrows are slightly raised. His charming and auspicious face is like a lotus and delights Shri, while he finds pleasure in his pleasing senses. In the night, the goddess Rama, 241 accompanied by the daughters of Prajapati Samvatsara, worships the form of the illustrious one, full of maya. She engages in the yoga of supreme meditation. During the day, accompanied by their husbands, she chants the following. “Oum. Hram. Hrim. Hrum. 242 I bow down before the illustrious Hrishikesha. You are distinguished by all the special qualities. You are the lord of activities, knowledge, functions of the mind and their objects. You are the sixteen kalas. 243 You are the hymns. You are food. You are amrita. You are the powerful one who is omnipresent. You are energy, strength, beauty and desire. I bow down before you. Let there be good fortune at both times. 244 You are yourself the lord Hrishikesha, and women worship vows for you. They worship you in this world and do not ask for any other protector. Because they are themselves dependent, their husbands are incapable of protecting their offspring, beloved riches and lifespans. If he himself becomes the protector, how can there be fear from any direction? He saves people who are afflicted by fear. Without you, there will be fear from each other. It is thought that there is nothing superior to realizing your atman. Even if a woman possesses all the material desires, when she worships your lotus feet, she accomplishes all her desires. However, if you are worshipped with a specific desire in mind, you only grant that. O illustrious one! When that desired objective is lost, she is tormented. With their minds on the senses, Aja, Isha, the gods, the asuras and others tormented themselves through fierce austerities, so that they might obtain my favours. But with the exception of those who seek refuge at your feet, no one obtains me. O unvanquished one! I only look at those whose hearts are in you. O Achyuta! Your revered hand is like a lotus and you place it on the heads of those who are devoted to you. O one who is worshipped! You sustain me as a mark. 245 Who can understand the maya of the lord, the controller?”’ 246

  Shri-Shuka continued, ‘In Ramyaka, the illustrious one manifests himself as the beloved matsya avatara. 247 This is the form in which he had shown himself earlier to the resident of that varsha, Manu. Even now, with great bhakti yoga, he chants the following. “I bow down before the illustrious one who is the foremost. I bow down to the one who is sattva. I bow down to the one who is the origin of life. I bow down to the source of strength. I bow down to the great matsya. You are the protector of all the worlds, inside and outside. Your form is not seen, but you roam around with a loud sound. You are the lord and you have brought everything under your subjugation. Men and women, known by different names, are like wooden puppets on a string. Indeed, the guardians of the world were filled with jealousy. Abandoning you, they strove, separately and collectively. But they were unable to save bipeds, quadrupeds, reptiles and everything immobile that can be seen. At the end of the yuga, there was an ocean with a garland of waves. This entire earth is the store of herbs and plants. With me, great in your energy, you roamed around. I bow down to you, the life of the universe. You are in all the atmans. I bow down before you.”’

  Shri-Shuka continued, ‘In Hiranmaya, the illustrious one resides in the form of a kurma. 248 He manifests himself in this beloved form before Aryama, the lord of the large number of ancestors, and the other residents of that varsha. He worships him with the chant of this mantra. “I bow down before the illustrious one who is in the form of a tortoise. You are full of the specific traits of sattva guna. I bow down before the one whose position cannot be discerned. I bow down before the one who is beyond time. I bow down before the one who goes everywhere. I bow down before the one who is the foundation of everything. Through your own maya, you have given form to everything that appears in many different kinds of forms. Since this perception is false, their number cannot be enumerated. I bow down before the one whose form cannot be ascertained. You are one, but your manifestations are known by different names—born from a womb, born from sweat, born from an egg, plants, mobile, immobile, gods, rishis, ancestors, bhutas, 249 senses, heaven, sky, earth, mountains, rivers, oceans, dvipas, planets and nakshatras. 250 In samkhya, wise people have thought of a specific number for you, 251 though your characteristics, names and forms are innumerable. When one knows the truth, such numbers vanish. I bow down before the one who reveals the truth behind these numbers.”’