by Bibek Debroy
Chapter 41
‘“Subahu said, ‘O tiger among kings! There was a reason why I sought refuge with you and that objective has been completely achieved. May you be happy. I will leave.’
‘“The king of Kashi asked, ‘O Subahu! Why did you seek refuge with me and what objective has been achieved? Tell me about this. I have great curiosity. Alarka was in possession of the great kingdom of your ancestors. You urged me to defeat him and hand over the kingdom to you. Therefore, I attacked your younger brother’s kingdom and conquered it by force. It is appropriate for your lineage. Enjoy it.’
‘“Subahu replied, ‘O king of Kashi! Hear about the reason why I made this effort and made you undertake the exertion. Though my brother knows about the truth, he became addicted to the enjoyment of carnal pleasures. I and my two elder brothers were foolish. When our mother suckled us at her breast, she awoke understanding in them and me. O lord of the earth! That understanding entered through our ears. She made us know everything that men should know about material objects. O king! However, our mother could not make this manifest in his mind. When people travel together, if any one of them suffers, all the other virtuous ones are also miserable. O lord of the earth! That is exactly what happened with us. O lord of men! Because he was deluded as a householder, he was suffering. He has been thought of as my brother. Therefore, I have a connection with his body. I decided that grief might lead to sentiments of non-attachment in him. Therefore, I sought refuge with you and made you undertake the effort. O lord of the earth! Because of the grief, non-attachment has been generated in him. I have accomplished my objective. O fortunate one! Therefore, I will leave. He has spent time in Madalasa’s womb and has drunk milk from her breast. He should not proceed along the path followed by the sons of other women. Thinking about all of this, I sought refuge with you earlier. Since I have accomplished my objective, I shall leave and strive for success in yoga again. O Indra among men! If a man sees his relatives, friends and well-wishers suffer and ignores them, I regard them as insensate, even though they may possess senses. If a man is capable and his well-wishers, relatives and kin suffer, then it is said that he does not achieve dharma, artha, kama or moksha. Through association with you, I have accomplished this great objective. May you be fortunate. O excellent one! I will now leave in search of jnana.’
‘“The king of Kashi said, ‘You have done an extremely great service to the virtuous Alarka. Why don’t you turn your mind towards doing a good deed for me? Association with the virtuous always brings fruits. It cannot be fruitless. Therefore, having been associated with you, it is appropriate that there should be some upliftment for me.’
‘“Subahu replied, ‘The four objectives of human existence are said to be dharma, artha, kama and moksha. You have already obtained dharma, artha and kama. What you lack is the remaining one. I will describe it to you briefly. Listen with single-minded attention. O king! After hearing and reflecting properly on what you have heard, you should strive for your benefit. O king! You must never harbour notions of “I” and “mine”. But you should properly consider dharma. The absence of dharma takes away all support. When one reflects, one obtains a proper understanding of—who am I? Towards the second half of the night, you must think about the external and the internal. One must reflect on the unmanifest, whose beginning, characteristics, end and transformations cannot be thought of. What is manifest and what is not manifest? What must be known! Who is the knower? Who am I? When one knows this, one knows everything. To think of what is not the atman as the atman and to consider it as “mine” is foolishness. O lord of the earth! I am present everywhere. According to the norms used in this world, I have described everything that you asked me about. I will leave now.’”
‘The dumb one continued, “Having said this to the king of Kashi, the intelligent Subahu departed. Worshipping Alarka, the king of Kashi left for his own city. Alarka instated his eldest son as the king and left for the forest. He cast aside all association and strove for his own success. He was without any possessions and devoid of the opposite pair of sentiments. After a long period of time elapsed, he achieved the unmatched objective of yoga and supreme nirvana. He saw the entire universe, with gods, asuras and humans. Bound by the nooses of the gunas, they were always in bondage because of sentiments like sons and other things, my possessions and the possessions of others. Attracted by such sentiments, they were miserable and afflicted and looked at everything with notions of differentiation. They were submerged in the mire of ignorance and were incapable of being saved. Since he had transcended this, the immensely intelligent one chanted this song. ‘Alas! This is great hardship. I used to rule over the kingdom earlier. However, I subsequently came to know that supreme bliss only comes through yoga.’ O father! For the sake of liberation, you should also resort to this excellent yoga. You will then obtain the brahman. Having gone there, one does not grieve. I will also go there. What will sacrifices and meditation achieve? For a person who has achieved everything, there is nothing other than thinking about the brahman. Therefore, I seek your permission. I will have no possessions and will be free of the opposite pair of sentiments. I will strive for liberation, so that there is no return.”’
The birds continued, ‘O brahmana! Having spoken to his father in this way, he obtained his permission. The intelligent one left, abandoning all association. The extremely intelligent father also resorted to vanaprastha and in the course of time, to the fourth ashrama. Casting aside all bondage resulting from the gunas, he met his son there. Since time developed this intelligence in his mind, he obtained supreme success. O brahmana! In detail, we have described everything that you asked us about. What else do you want to hear? If a person controls himself and reads this, or hears it, he obtains the fruits obtained from bathing after completing a horse sacrifice. O excellent sage! From hearing this, all those are obtained. If a man listens to this conversation between Alarka and Dattatreya, that is an excellent means of saving himself from being whirled around in samsara.’
Chapter 42
Jaimini said, ‘O excellent birds! You can properly describe to me the two kinds of acts mentioned in the Vedas—driven by pravritti and nivritti. How wonderful. Through the favours of your father, you have obtained this kind of jnana. Despite being born as inferior species, your delusion has been dispelled. Since you are based in the original state of success, you are blessed. Your minds are not agitated by the delusion that results from material objects. You are supreme ones who dispel all kinds of doubts. It is good fortune that the intelligent Markandeya told me about you. Men who wander around in this extremely difficult hardship of samsara do not come into contact with ascetics like you. You possess the insight of jnana. I have come into contact with you. If I do not accomplish success from this, where else can I achieve success? I do not think that anyone else possesses the unblemished intelligence and knowledge of distinguishing between acts of pravritti and nivritti as you do. O best among birds! If your minds are favourably inclined towards me, you should describe these to me completely. How did this universe, with its mobile and immobile objects, originate? O excellent ones! When the time for destruction presents itself, where will it go? How did the lineages of the gods, the rishis and the ancestors originate? What are the manvantaras? What are the royal dynasties? How did creation happen? How does it end at the time of destruction? What are the divisions into kalpas and manvantaras? What is the position and the size of the earth? What are the positions of the oceans, the mountains, the rivers and the forests? What are bhuloka and the other worlds? What are the different components of the nether regions? What is the movement of the sun, the moon, the planets, the nakshatras and the stellar bodies? I wish to hear everything, from origin to destruction. When the universe is drawn in at the time of destruction, what remains?’
The birds replied, ‘O excellent sage! O Jaimini! The burden of the questions that you have asked is great. We will tell you. Listen. Earlier, Markandeya spoke about this to Kroushtuki. The intell
igent and tranquil one was the son of a brahmana and had bathed after the completion of his vows. 500 O lord! When the great-souled Markandeya was seated in a circle of excellent brahmanas, Kroushtuki asked him this. Delighted, the sage, the descendant of the Bhrigu lineage, spoke to him. O excellent among brahmanas! We will repeat that to you. Listen. He bowed down to the protector of the universe. For the sake of creation, that origin of the universe is established in the form of the grandfather, who originated from the lotus. For the sake of preservation, he is in the form of Vishnu. And at the time of destruction, he is in the form of the terrible Rudra, the Destroyer.
‘Markandeya said, “In ancient times, the unmanifest Brahma came into being. As soon as he was born, the Puranas and the Vedas emerged from his mouths. The supreme rishis compiled many collections of the Puranas and classified the Vedas into thousands of branches. Dharma, jnana, non-attachment and lordship—these four cannot be accomplished without the great-souled one’s instructions. Therefore, the seven rishis born through his mental powers accepted the Vedas. Other original sages born through his mental powers accepted the Puranas. Chyavana accepted the Puranas from Bhrigu and revealed them to the brahmanas. Those great-souled rishis spoke about these to Daksha. At that time, it was Daksha who told me about these. I will now tell you about them. They destroy the sins of kali yuga. O immensely fortunate one! O sage! Listen attentively to everything I had earlier heard from Daksha. I bow down to Brahma, the supreme being, the creator of everything in this universe, mobile and immobile. He is the refuge and is the undecaying origin of this universe. He is the original being, the cause behind creation, preservation and destruction. I seek refuge with the one in whom everything is established. He is the intelligent Hiranyagarbha, who controls the worlds. I will bow down before him and tell you completely about the excellent creation of beings, beginning with Mahat and ending with the specific, all the forms and their characteristics, the five types of proof, 501 the six kinds of flow 502 and the eternal Purusha, because of whom, everything transient is established. O immensely fortunate one! With great attention, hear about all this. In Samkhya, the unmanifest Pradhana is spoken of as the cause. The maharshis speak of the subtle and eternal Prakriti, encompassing both cause and effect. O sage! In the beginning, there was the eternal brahman, without decay. It has no age and it cannot be measured. It does not need anything else for support. It has no smell, taste or form. It is not subject to sound or touch. It has no beginning and no end. It is the origin of the universe. It knows no creation or destruction and the three gunas originated in it. It is ancient and cannot be comprehended. Even after destruction, it pervades everything. The equilibrium of the three gunas is also based on it. At the time of creation, the gunas are created again. Pradhana is created and pervades Mahat. Just as a seed is covered in its skin, Mahat is covered by the unmanifest Pradhana. With the three gunas of sattva, rajas and tamas, three kinds of ahamkara are created—vaikarika, taijasa and tamasa. 503 The elements are also created in this way. Just as the manifest Mahat is surrounded by Pradhana, Mahat is surrounded by ahamkara and leads to the creation of the tanmatra known as sound. When the tanmatra known as sound was created, space, which has the attribute of sound, was created. Space is pervaded by the tanmatra of sound. There is no doubt that the tanmatra of touch was created from this. It is held that the powerful wind has the attribute of touch. Wind created the tanmatra of form. Form is said to be the attribute of fire and fire was thus created from the wind. The tanmatra of touch led to the wind. The tanmatra of form led to the fire. The tanmatra of taste was created after that. Water has taste as its essence and water was thus created. Water has the tanmatra of taste and it is covered by the tanmatra of form. Water again leads to the creation of the tanmatra of smell. It is held that the quality of smell results from interaction between these. In this way, the elements are known by their tanmatras. They are based in their respective tanmatras. There is nothing else to distinguish them, since they are undifferentiated. They are not distinguished by characteristics of being serene, agitated or confused. The tanmatras of the elements are created by tamasa ahamkara. Simultaneously, urged by sattva, vaikarika ahamkara leads to a vaikarika creation. These are the five senses of perception and the five organs of action. Though the senses are taijasa, there are ten vaikarika divinities who preside over these. The mind is the eleventh and these are said to be the vaikarika divinities. The ears, the skin, the eyes, the tongue and the fifth one, the nose, perceive sound and the other attributes and are spoken of as the senses of perception. The feet, the anus, the genital organs, the hands and the organ of speech are the organs of action. Movement, excretion, pleasure, artisanship and speech are achieved with these. The tanmatra of space is sound. The tanmatra of touch entered it. It is held that this led to the creation of the wind, which has two qualities, that of sound and touch. In this way, the tanmatras of sound and touch entered the tanmatra of form. This led to the creation of fire, which has three qualities, those of sound, touch and form. The tanmatra of taste entered the tanmatras of sound, touch and form. Water has the tanmatra of taste. It is thus known that this led to the creation of water, which has four qualities of sound, touch, form and taste. The tanmatras of sound, touch, form and taste entered the tanmatra of smell. The tanmatra of smell pervades the earth. Therefore, the gross element of earth is seen to possess five qualities of sound, touch, form, taste and smell. The elements are known as serene, agitated or confused because they enter each other and support each other. Everything, perceived or not perceived, is densely packed into the earth. As they are perceived by the specific senses, they are said to possess those specific characteristics. Each tanmatra accepts the characteristic of the preceding one and passes on its characteristic to the succeeding one.
‘“Without being united, these seven principles 504 have their own independent powers. However, unless they combine with each other, they are incapable of creation. They interact with each other and become dependent on each other. They unite with each other and obtain the signs of that specific union. This happens when Purusha pervades them and the unmanifest 505 shows its favours. Starting with Mahat and ending with the specific elements, an egg is created. Like a bubble in the water in the beginning, it increases in size. O immensely intelligent one! Created from the elements, this giant egg lies down in the water. The kshetrajna, known as Brahma, grows inside this natural egg. This is the first embodied form and is spoken of as Purusha. Brahma existed before everything else and is known as the original creator of beings. Everything in the three worlds, mobile and immobile, is pervaded by him. Meru was created from him. The mountains are the outer skin of the embryo. The oceans are the fluid in the womb, the egg from which the great-souled one was born. Everying in the universe, gods, asuras, humans, the dvipas, 506 the rivers, the mountains, the oceans, the stellar bodies, the collection of the worlds and the elements, water, air, fire, space and earth—was inside that egg. The outside of this egg was covered by the ten characteristics, 507 collectively and independently. In addition, that expanse was covered by Mahat. With Mahat, everything was also covered by the unmanifest. 508 Indeed, that egg was covered by seven forms of Prakriti. 509 They covered each other and existed there. In addition, there was the eighth form of Prakriti. 510 This is the eternal form of Prakriti. When this also ends, 511 it ends in Purusha. I will again briefly tell you about the one who has been referred to as Brahma. Listen. When a person immersed in water rises from the water, he flings aside some water and seems to be born in water. Brahma is Prakriti and he is also the lord. 512 The unmanifest is spoken of as kshetra. 513 Brahma is spoken of as kshetrajna. 514 Know that all these are the signs of kshetra and kshetrajna. This is the natural creation, presided over by kshetrajna. This first creation manifested itself like a flash of lightning, without thinking about it.”’
Chapter 43
‘Kroushtuki asked, “O illustrious one! You have spoken to me about the creation of the egg. You have also spoken to me about the great-souled Br
ahma’s birth from this cosmic egg. O descendant of the Bhrigu lineage! I wish to hear the truth about how all the beings were created after this. What happens at the end of universal destruction, when everything is drawn in? What exists then?”
‘Markandeya replied, “When this entire universe is dissolved into Prakriti, the learned refer to that withdrawal as prakrita pralaya. The unmanifest is then established within its own atman and all kinds of transformation are suspended. Following the same kind of dharma, Purusha and Prakriti exist. Sattva and tamas gunas are in equilibrium then, interwoven with each other. Neither is in excess then and neither is in deficit. Just as oil exists in sesamum and ghee exists in milk, rajas follows and exists within sattva and tamas. From birth, Brahma’s lifespan is for two half parardhas. 515 The supreme lord’s day has the same duration as his night, which is when he sleeps. Eight thousand mahayugas 516 are Prajapati’s day and night. According to this measure, Brahma lives for one hundred years. One hundred years for Brahma amount to one day for Vishnu. Fourteen thousand Vishnus are created and destroyed during a half nimesha 517 for Shambhu and innumerable grandfathers are created and destroyed during this period. At the beginning of the day, the lord of the universe, the origin of the universe, the one who is without beginning and without measurement, awakes. 518 He is the cause behind everything. He is immeasurable in his soul and cannot be reached through rites. The supreme lord quickly enters Purusha and Prakriti. Using supreme yoga, he agitates them, just as a spring breeze agitates and intoxicates young maidens. The embodiment of yoga enters and agitates in this way. As I have told you earlier, when Pradhana is agitated, the god known by the name of Brahma emerges from the sac of the egg. He is the one who agitated earlier. Having become Prakriti’s husband now, he is himself agitated. In this way, established in the state of Pradhana, he contracts and expands. The origin of the universe is devoid of gunas. However, to initiate the process of creation, he assumes the form of Brahma and adopts rajas guna. Once he has created subjects as Brahma, there is an excess of sattva and assuming the form of Vishnu, he follows dharma and preserves. Thereafter, when there is an excess of tamas guna, he assumes the form of Rudra and withdraws the entire universe and the three worlds. The one with the three gunas sleeps, devoid of gunas. He is the creator, preserver and destroyer of all fields and accordingly assumes the forms of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. As Brahma, he creates the worlds. As Rudra, he destroys them. As Vishnu, he preserves. Svayambhu 519 is indifferent to these three states. The lord of the universe is Brahma with rajas, Rudra with tamas and Vishnu with sattva. These are the three gods and these are the three gunas. Just as they base themselves on these gunas, they are united with each other too. They are not separated. Nor do they give each other up even for an instant.