by Bibek Debroy
Chapter 12(5)
Shri-Shuka said, ‘The illustrious Hari is the atman of the universe. Brahma was created through his favours and Rudra arose out of his rage. He has been repeatedly described in this text. O king! Conquer this animal-like notion that you are going to die. Earlier, there never was a time when you did not exist. Unlike your physical body, you will not be destroyed. Like a sprout resulting from a seed, you will not be born in the form of your sons and grandsons. Like fire is distinct from kindling, you are more than your physical body. In a dream, one can see one’s head being severed and one’s own self dying as a consequence. The atman, which is without birth and is immortal, looks at the physical body in that way. When a pot is broken, the bit of sky that was inside the pot becomes the sky, as it used to be earlier. In that way, when the physical body dies, the jivatman again merges with the brahman. The mind creates the physical body, the qualities and the karma the atman must undertake. But maya creates the mind and this leads to the jivatman resorting to samsara. A lamp possesses the characteristics of being a lamp as long as there is a combination of oil, a vessel, a wick and fire. The material existence of the body is like that. 1355 Enveloped in sattva, rajas and tamas, it is born and is destroyed. But this is not true of the self-luminous atman, which is distinct from the gross and the subtle body. It is eternal and without an end. As a foundation, it can be compared to the sky. O lord! Use the base of your intelligence and reasoning to think about Vasudeva. Thus, consider the atman that is inside your own self. Urged by the words of the brahmana, Takshaka won’t be able to burn you. 1356 Death cannot burn the lord, who is Death to the agents of Death. “I am the brahman. I am the supreme abode. I am the brahman, the supreme destination.” Thinking in this way, immerse yourself in the atman, which is free from every possible limit. Your atman is distinct from your body and when Takshaka bites you in the feet with his flickering tongue and mouth full of poison, you will not even notice him, or the world. O son! O king! In accordance with everything that you asked me about the activities of Hari, the atman of the universe, I have told you. What else do you wish to hear?’
Chapter 12(6)
Suta said, ‘Vyasa’s son was impartial in vision and had insight about the one who is the atman of everything. Hearing what this sage had narrated, Parikshit Vishnurata approached him. He joined his hands in salution, bowing his head down and touching his feet. The king said, “Your soul is full of compassion and since I have obtained your favours, I am successful. I have heard from you about how I can directly obtain Hari, who is without beginning and without end. I do not think this is extraordinary. Great ones who have Achyuta in their hearts do show their favours to ignorant creatures who are tormented. We have heard about this Purana samhita from you and it describes the illustrious Uttamashloka. O illustrious one! I am not scared of death, because of Takshaka or because of anything else. You have shown me freedom from fear. I will enter the brahman, free of everything material. O brahmana! Grant me leave. I will control my speech 1357 and immerse myself in Adhokshaja. My mind is free of all wishes and desires. I will immerse myself and give up my breath of life. You have destroyed my ignorance and have shown me jnana, vijnana and devotion, and the illustrious, supreme and auspicious destination.” Thus addressed, Badarayana’s illustrious son granted him permission. Worshipped by the kings and the mendicants, he departed.
‘The royal sage, Parikshit, used his atman to immerse himself in the atman. He meditated on the supreme. He controlled his breath of life and was as motionless as a tree. He sat on a seat of barhi grass, with the tips of the blades facing the east. He was seated on the banks of the Ganga, with his face facing the north. Without attachment and with all his doubts dispelled, the great yogi immersed himself in the brahman. O brahmanas! Takshaka was sent by the angry son of the brahmana. Wishing to kill him, he headed towards the king. Along the way, he saw Kashyapa. He 1358 satisfied him with riches and made him return. Since he could assume any form at will, he disguised himself as a brahmana and went and bit the king. The royal sage was immersed in the brahman and the fiery poison from the snake instantly reduced his body to ashes, while all the embodied beings looked on. Great lamentations arose everywhere on earth, the sky and the directions. Everyone among gods, asuras, humans and others, was astonished. The drums of the gods were sounded. Gandharvas and apsaras sang. The gods uttered words of praise and showered down flowers. Janamejaya heard that his own father had been bitten by Takshaka. Along with brahmanas, he undertook a sacrifice and angrily offered nagas as oblations. In that snake sacrifice, giant serpents were offered as oblations into the fire and were burnt. Seeing this, Takshaka was scared and anxious and sought refuge with Indra. The king who was Parikshit’s son did not see Takshaka there. He asked the brahmanas, “Where is Takshaka, worst among serpents? Why is he not being burnt?” “O Indra among kings! He has gone to Shakra for refuge and is being protected by him. Since the snake has been held back there, he is not falling into the fire.” Extensive in his intelligence, Parikshit’s son heard this. He told the officiating priests, “O brahmanas! Along with Takshaka, why not make Indra fall down into the fire?” Hearing this, in that sacrifice, the brahmanas invoked Indra as an oblation, along with Takshaka. “O Takshaka! Along with Indra, the lord of the Maruts, quickly fall down.” The words spoken by the brahmanas dislodged Indra from his position, along with his vimana and along with Takshaka. His mind was agitated. Along with his vimana and Takshaka, he fell down from the sky. On seeing this, Brihaspati, of the Angiras lineage, spoke to the king. “O Indra among men! It is not appropriate that you should kill the king of the snakes. This one has drunk amrita. He is immortal and does not suffer from old age. A creature’s life, death and destination are determined by his own karma. O king! There is no one else who should bestow joy or misery on him. O king! When a living being experiences death through snakes, thieves, fire, lightning, hunger, thirst, physical disease or mental ailment, this is because of his own arabdha karma. 1359 O king! Therefore, you should stop this sacrifice. It is being undertaken with the objective of harming others. The snakes are innocent. Every being must enjoy its destiny.” Thus addressed, he honoured the maharshi’s words and agreed. He stopped the snake sacrifice and worshipped the lord of speech. 1360
‘This is Vishnu’s great maya. It is not discernible and cannot be countered. Though the atman is inside all creatures, creatures are confounded because of the working of the gunas. When one realizes the atman, the maya of insolence or fear is not visible. 1361 When one completely realizes the atman, there is no scope for many differing kinds of arguments, which are based on maya. The mind, which resorts to decisions and doubts, does not exist. Both created material objects and their causes do not exist. In that supreme state of bliss, the jivatman, along with its three attributes 1362 and ahamkara are non-existent. There is no obstruction and nothing that can create obstructions. With the waves 1363 contained, the sage is in a state of delight. This is described as Vishnu’s supreme state, which can only be described as “neti”, “neti”. Those who give up everything evil in their souls resort to nothing else. With love in their hearts, they control themselves and embrace him, and he dwells with them. Those who have given up notions of “I” and “mine” are the only ones who can go to Vishnu’s supreme state. These degradations arise from associations with the body and the house. A person must tolerate disparaging words and never show anyone disrespect. Avoiding any identification with the body, he must never harbour enmity towards anyone. I bow down before the illustrious Krishna, infinite in his intelligence. I have been able to assimilate this samhita by meditating on his lotus feet.’
Shounaka said, ‘O amiable one! Paila and the others 1364 were the disciples of the great-souled preceptor of the Vedas. Into how many branches did they, the expounders of the Vedas, divide them? Please tell us that.’
Suta continued, ‘O brahmana! Parameshthi Brahma controlled his atman. A sound arose from the space inside his heart. When the functioning of the ears
is stopped, 1365 it is this sound that can be heard. O brahmana! By meditating on this, yogis cleanse the impurities of their atmans. Having cleansed what is known as substances, activities and agents, 1366 they go to the place from which there is no return. The three syllables of omkara arose from the powers of the unmanifest, the self-ruling one. This is a sign of the illustrious brahman, the paramatman. He 1367 hears this subtle sound even when the sense of hearing is dormant and even when sight and the other senses are non-existent. It 1368 manifests itself inside the cavity of the atman and the Vedas are its elaboration. The brahman is its source and it directly expresses the paramatman. It is the eternal seed of all the mantras, Upanishads and Vedas. O extender of the Bhrigu lineage! It has the three sounds—“O”, “U” and “M”. These sustain the three states—gunas, names, objectives and consciousness. 1369 Using this, the illustrious Aja 1370 created the aggregate of the aksharas, the semi-vowels, the aspirants, the vowels and the consonants, classified into the short and the long. Using these, the illustrious one created the four Vedas out of his four mouths, the vyahritis 1371 and omkara. He desired to describe the tasks of the four kinds of officiating priests. 1372 He taught these to his sons, the brahmana rishis who were accomplished about the brahman. They became instructors of dharma and in turn, taught these to their own sons. In this way, from one generation to another, disciples who were firm in their vows obtained these. In the course of the four yugas, at the beginning of dvapara, maharshis classified them. 1373 With the passage of time, brahmana rishis saw that people were limited in lifespans, limited in spirit and evil in intelligence. Urged by the Achyuta in their hearts, they classified the Vedas.
‘O brahmana! In this manvantara too, Brahma, Isha and the other guardians of the worlds requested the illustrious creator of the worlds to protect dharma. Therefore, using a portion of his portion, the lord was born as the son of Parashara and Satyavati. O immensely fortunate one! Having descended, he divided the Vedas into four parts. Like heaps of jewels, he divided the mass of mantras into four categories of samhitas—Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva. The immensely intelligent one summoned four disciples. O brahmana! The lord gave each of them one samhita. He spoke about the first samhita, known as bahvrich, to Paila. 1374 To the one known as Vaishampayana, he imparted the collection known as Nigada or Yajur Veda. He spoke about Sama Veda, the samhita composed according to metres, to Jaimini. The one known as Atharva-Anigrasi 1375 was taught to Sumantu, his disciple. The sage Paila taught his own samhita to Indrapramiti and Bashkala. O Bhargava! Bashkala divided the samhita that he had received into four branches and taught one to each of his disciples—Bodhya, Yajnavalkya, Parashara and Agnimitra. Indrapramiti was in control of his atman. He taught his samhita to the wise rishi Mandukeya, his son. His disciple, Devamitra, taught it to Soubhari and others. Shakalya, Mandukeya’s son, divided his samhita into five parts and gave it to Vatsya, Mudgala, Shaliya, Gokhalya and Shishira. Shakalya’s disciple, the sage Jatukarna, divided his samhita into three parts and adding nirukta, 1376 gave it to Balaka, Paija, Vaitala and Viraja. Bashkali 1377 used all the sub-branches and reclassified them as Valakhilya samhita, taught to Balayani, Bhajya and Kashara. The brahmana rishis maintained bahvrich samhita in this way. If a person listens to the classification of these verses, he is freed from all sins.