by Bibek Debroy
734 Vaitalikas are bards and panegyrists, but is probably being used here to also mean the vetalas.
735 The story of the leader of a herd of elephants will be told in the Eighth Skandha.
736 Literally, a svapacha is someone who eats dogs or cooks for dogs. In most instances, it is used as a synonym for a chandala.
737 The twelve qualities are virtue, sattva, self-control, austerities, lack of jealousy, modesty, fortitude, tolerance, performance of sacrifices, charity, courage and studying.
738 Because the effects are only temporary.
739 This shloka has many complicated interpretations. So do the immediately succeeding ones.
740 The five senses, the five organs of action, the five subtle elements and the mind.
741 Bhava is Shiva and Rama is Lakshmi.
742 We have taken the rishi to mean Narada, but it might also mean Sanaka, Sananda, Sanatana or Sanatkumara.
743 The universe (the effect) is no different from you (the cause). The tree (the effect) is no different from the seed (the cause). The earth (the effect) is no different from its subtle element (the cause).
744 The universe.
745 That is, Shesha.
746 Brahma.
747 Because you only appear in three yugas.
748 The river Vaitarani flows in the nether regions and must be crossed before entering Yama’s world.
749 Meaning, ‘Oum! O illustrious one! I bow down before you. O great-souled being! O Hari! O one with this wonderful lion as your form! O brahman! O paramatman!’
750 There is an issue of interpretation. Hiranyakashipu was third in descent, from Brahma. Therefore, there aren’t twenty-one generations in his ancestral lineage. Thus, twenty-one generations are interpreted as the ancestors in twenty-one of Prahlada’s former lives.
751 Brahma.
752 Shukracharya.
753 Brahma.
754 Hari, or Rama.
755 Dantavakra, Dantavakra was the king of Karusha.
756 That is, they were killed in your presence.
757 As Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu.
758 Shiva.
759 Maya.
760 Vishnu.
761 There are thirty muhurtas in a span of twnty-four hours, fifteen during the day and fifteen during the night. Some muhurtas are auspicious, others are not, and Abhijit muhurta is the most auspicious of the fifteen muhurtas during the day. Literally, Abhijit is a muhurta that brings victory. Today, Abhijit muhurta, depending on the place, will be around noon.
762 Prahlada.
763 Narada.
764 As Nara, Daksha’s daughter being Murti.
765 There is no numbering in the text. We have numbered these for the sake of convenience.
766 This is service to Hari, the preceding one was service to creatures.
767 A dvija is a person born twice, the second birth usually referring to the upanayana ceremony. There are thirteen samskaras or sacraments. The list varies a bit. But one list is vivaha (marriage), garbhalambhana (conception), pumsavana (engendering a male child), simantonnayana (parting the hair, performed in the fourth month of pregnancy), jatakarma (birth rites), namakarana (naming), chudakarma (tonsure), annaprashana (first solid food), keshanta (first shaving of the head), upanayana (sacred thread), vidyarambha (commencement of studies), samavartana (graduation) and antyeshti (funeral rites). Thus, a dvija is not necessarily a brahmana.
768 Studying, teaching, sacrificing, officiating at sacrifices, receiving gifts and donating.
769 The other three varnas must not receive donations.
770 The other three varnas.
771 A king still can’t accept gifts.
772 That is, the husband has not committed a grave sin.
773 The father and the mother belong to different varnas.
774 Antyajas are those who belong to lower classes, such as chandalas. They live just outside habitations and have their own hereditary means of subsistence.
775 The varna of the signs, not the varna of birth.
776 Interpreted as the gayatri mantra.
777 The girdle is made out of munja grass.
778 Of brahmacharya.
779 This is a slight variation of Bhagavad Gita 2.60.
780 Such as between a man and a woman.
781 A householder may also take the vow of brahmacharya.
782 Vedanga means a branch of the Vedas and these are six kinds of learning that are essential to understand the Vedas—shiksha (phonetics), kalpa (rituals), vyakarana (grammar), nirukta (etymology), chhanda (metre) and jyotisha (astronomy). The Vedas have four parts—Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka and Upanishad. The Samhita and Brahmana sections are known as karma kanda, they prescribe rites and rituals. The Aranyaka and Upanishad sections are known as jnana kanda, they are the paths of knowledge.
783 The dakshina after the completion of studies.
784 In the vanaprastha stage.
785 Kept as a store.
786 He becomes a sannyasi.
787 He will merge his body (the aggregate) into the constituent five elements (the causes).
788 Solid components like flesh, muscles and bones.
789 That is, Varuna.
790 Brahma.
791 The text uses ‘the unmanifest’ for Prakriti.
792 The paramatman.
793 That is, he gives up his life.
794 Of becoming a sannyasi.
795 Like a kamandalu or water pot.
796 Any straitjacketed rules.
797 The sage’s name wasn’t Ajagara. From the third chapter of the First Skandha, we can deduce that this was Dattatreya. Ajagara (python) describes the sage’s conduct. A python lies down on the ground, waiting for food to come, and does not make any efforts.
798 Sahyadri.
799 Like the senses and the mind, ego and intelligence.
800 Relating to adhidaivika (destiny), adhibhoutika (nature) and adhyatmika (one’s own nature).
801 Just as the bee is killed when the honey is collected.
802 I am naked.
803 Between categories and people.
804 Hence, I have explained it to you.
805 Interpreted as—after performing the tasks of a householder.
806 Rain descends from heaven, resulting in crops that yield wealth. Ores and minerals also produce wealth and originate in the earth. The firmament is a reference to wealth that results from chance.
807 Dharma, artha and kama.
808 One must be careful in not misinterpreting this and taking it out of context, the idea being that one reduces attachment to the wife.
809 As mentioned earlier, depending on how the body is disposed of after death.
810 This is a reference to the five sacrifices recommended for householders. The five great sacrifices are brahma-yajna (sacrificing to the sages), pitri-yajna (offering oblations to ancestors), deva-yajna (offering oblations to gods), nri-yajna (offering food and shelter to humans/guests) and bhuta-yajna (offering food and shelter to non-human species).
811 Proshthapada is a nakshatra. More accurately, it is a collective name for two nakshatras, Purva Bhadrapada and Uttara Bhadrapada. This therefore means the month of Bhadra (August–September) and the rite takes place on the day of Mahalaya.
812 The two famous sankrantis.
813 Vyatipata is an inauspicious period that lasts for almost twenty-four hours during every lunar month.
814 This is not the third lunar day in any shukla paksha, but specifically that in the month of Vaishakha, known as akshaya tritiya.
815 During shukla paksha, known as akshaya navami.
816 The cold season is hemanta, between autumn and winter. Winter proper is shishira. Hemanta is the months of Margashirsha (also known as Agrahayana) and Pousha. Margashirsha is roughly mid-November to mid-December, while Pousha is mid-December to mid-January. Shishira is the months of Magha (mid-January to mid-February) and Phalguna (mid-February to mid-March). Ashtaka is the eighth lunar day, but
during krishna paksha.
817 Such as Krittika in the ascendant in the month of Kartika.
818 Uttara Phalguni, Uttara Bhadrapada and Uttarashadha.
819 The three Uttara nakshatras.
820 Donations to men and creatures in the name of ancestors and gods.
821 The worthy recipient.
822 Gaya.
823 Where the river Phalgu flows.
824 Setubandha, where Rama constructed the bridge, Rameshvara.
825 Dvaraka.
826 Mathura.
827 Badarikashrama.
828 Where the river Alakananda flows.
829 Chitrakuta.
830 At Yudhishthira’s royal sacrifice.
831 Implying this wasn’t necessary in satya yuga.
832 That is, they internalize the symbolism of sacrifices and give up the external rituals.
833 Such as animals.
834 Alternatively, recommended for a different varna.
835 Thus, chhala is apparent, but not real conformity with dharma. Upadharma is the same as upama.
836 Such as a dog.
837 Such as revenge.
838 It is useless, because the elephant immediately becomes dirty again.
839 Krishna.
840 The six vices, kama (desire), krodha (anger), lobha (avarice), moha (delusion), mada (pride) and matsarya (jealousy). Alternatively, the five senses and the mind.
841 Prana draws breath into the body, apana exhales it. Vyana distributes it through the body and samana assimilates it. Udana gives rise to sound. Ayama means control or restraint, so pranayama is control of the breath of life. Pranayama has three components—puraka, rechaka and kumbhaka. Puraka is when the inhaled apana air fills up the exhaled prana air and temporarily stops its exit. Rechaka is when the exhaled prana air stops the entry of the inhaled apana air. Kumbhaka is when prana and apana are both controlled and the air is restrained inside the body.
842 One in vanaprastha.
843 One in sannyasa.
844 Other than prana, apana, vyana, samana and udana, the other five components of the breath of life are naga, kurma, krikala, devadatta and dhananjaya. These five are sub-breaths of life, so to speak, and are respectively burping, blinking, sneezing, yawning and opening/closing of the valves in the hearts.
845 Give up the body.
846 Both ishta and purta are types of sacrifices and are instances of pravritti karma. Distribution of things required to sustain life means the distribution of food and drink. Agnihotra is a sacrifice where oblations are offered to the fire (every day), darsha is performed on the day of the new moon, purnamasa (or paurnimasya) is performed on the day of the full moon, chaturmasya is performed at the beginning of every four-month period, pashu involves the sacrifice of animals, suta is a soma sacrifice, huta is the symbolic offering of oblations to Vishvadevas before taking meals and prahuta is the symbolic offering of oblations to household divinities, humans and other creatures before taking meals.
847 These shlokas are difficult to understand and have been interpreted in different ways. One possible interpretation is the following. Pitri yana is the path of the ancestors. For a person who performs such sacrifices, the linga sharira, after death, follows the path of the ancestors, escorted by divinities associated with smoke, night, krishna paksha, dakshinayana and soma. Having gone to Yama’s world, it is born again, moving up the food chain.
848 The alphabet.
849 Omkara is the concise form of the sound ‘Oum’, Bindu is the centre of the forehead, Nada is the vibration of the sound and Prana is the breath of life.
850 Following the earlier progression, this is the path of deva yana, the path of the gods. Vishva is when the jivatman is identified with gross elements, taijasa is identification with subtle elements and prajna is when the difference between cause and effect ceases.
851 The body.
852 These shlokas are also difficult to understand and have been interpreted in different ways.
853 They are unreal.
854 Striving for the turiya state.
855 Monism, non-duality.
856 Krishna.
857 The Prajapatis.
858 Intoxicated, Narada sung inappropriate songs and was cursed by the Prajapatis.
859 Brahma.
860 Parikshit.
861 Svayambhuva Manu’s.
862 Shri-Shuka.
863 Svayambhuva Manu’s daughters were Akuti and Devahuti and Kapila was Devahuti’s son. Yajna, or Yajnapati or Yajnamurti, was Akuti’s son.
864 Svayambhuva Manu.
865 The shlokas in Manu’s saying occur in different Upanishads, in different forms and some are verbatim reproductions.
866 Suparna literally means one with excellent feathers. In Upanishads like Mundaka Upanishad (3.1.1) and Shvetashvatara Upanishad (4.6), Suparna is a metaphor for the paramatman, a companion and well-wisher of the jivatman.
867 Creation, preservation and destruction.
868 Preservation and destruction.
869 Without being driven by the fruits.
870 The Manus, the gods, Indra and the saptarshis vary from one manvantara to another. This was the first manvantara, when Svayambhuva was the Manu. Vishnu’s form as Yajna was Indra. The Yamas, Yajna’s sons, were the gods.
871 The names Tosha, Pratosha, Santosha, Bhadra, Shanti, Idaspati, Idhma, Kavi, Vibhu, Svahna, Sudeva and Rochana were given in Chapter 4(1).
872 Tushitaa.
873 Vishnu.
874 All three are collective categories.
875 Satyavratas were gods, probably the same category as Satyas.
876 Satyasena.
877 Lord of heaven, Indra.
878 Act of giving up one’s life by fasting to death.
879 Koyashti is lapwing and datyuha is gallinule.
880 Different reeds, flowers and trees.
881 Sharabha has many meanings—young elephant, camel. It is also a mythical animal with eight legs, believed to be stronger than a lion.
882 With a tail like that of a cow, langur. Also known as golangula.
883 The details of this earlier birth will follow later.
884 The universe is manifest during creation and not manifest during destruction.
885 This can be interpreted as nivritti, or equivalently, transcending the cycle of karma.
886 In different avataras.
887 At the time of creation.
888 A divine and spiritual one, not a physical one.
889 What is left after eliminating others through progressive ‘neti’, ‘not this’.
890 Through ignorance.
891 Sattva, rajas and tamas.
892 To save him, since he had not prayed to any of these gods.
893 Once, Huhu was bathing in a lake, with his wives. The sage Devala arrived and also started to bathe there. At this, Huhu tugged Devala by the leg. Devala cursed Huhu that he would become a crocodile and would only be freed by Hari, when he seized an elephant by the leg.
894 This kulachala is taken to be Malaya.
895 Agastya.
896 Airavata, Indra’s mount.
897 Using the prayers you used. This is left implicit, but can be deduced.
898 That is, these were three of the saptarshis.
899 Lakshmi.
900 The father was Chakshusha and the son was Chaakshusha.
901 Durvasa presented a garland to Indra. Showing disrespect, Indra carelessly flung the garland on his elephant’s (Airavata’s) head. It fell down on the ground from the elephant’s head and Airavata trampled it. Therefore, Durvasa cursed Indra.
902 Interpreted as the shadow of ignorance and the sunshine of knowledge. He is not affected by either. Alternatively, he provides the shade against the heat of ignorance.
903 The five senses of perception, the five organs of action and the five kinds of breath of life.
904 Sattva, rajas and tamas.
905 The eight fellies are interpreted either as the eight powers
of the illustrious one, or as the five gross elements, mind, intelligence and ego.
906 Of pure sattva.
907 Rajas and tamas.
908 Meaning Soma, the moon god. To make the meaning clear, we have taken some liberties in this shloka and the ones that immediately follow.
909 Agni exists as a subterranean fire and as a digestive fire.
910 Because all of it is maya.
911 Which moves everywhere, but is not attached to anything.
912 Shiva.
913 Or a blue gem or blue sapphire.
914 Brahma.
915 In different incarnations.
916 A pot is created from the earth, the earth exists in the pot and when the pot is destroyed, it returns to earth.
917 Not possessing an existence independent of the fire.
918 A snake and a mouse were caught and trapped in a basket. If the snake ate the mouse, it would continue to remain trapped. Therefore, it had an alliance with the mouse and the mouse gnawed a hole out of the basket. When both were free, the snake ate the mouse.
919 If the demons demand those objects.
920 Bali.
921 That is, he suffused the asuras with rajas, the gods with sattva and Vasuki with tamas.
922 Kind of pine.
923 Timingila is a fish that devours whales (timi).
924 Kailasa.
925 Oum—O, U and M.
926 Varuna.
927 The seven sheaths of the body are interpreted as earth, water, fire, air, space, ahamkara and Mahat. The seven Vedic metres are Ushnik, Gayatri, Trishtubh, Anushtubh, Jagati, Pankti and Brihati.
928 The five Upanishads mean the five mantras known as tatpurusha, aghora, sadyojata, vamadeva and ishana, being compared to Shiva’s five faces. Statement of these mantras will get into too much of detail, as will an explanation of how thirty-eight mantras are derived from these five.
929 Shiva burnt down Kama, the god of love, and destroyed Tripura and Daksha’s sacrifice. Though the past tense is used, deadly poison means halahala, which is about to be destroyed.
930 Known as kalakuta, in addition to halahala.