CANTO 5:
The Creative Impetus
Chapter 1 The Activities of Mahârâja Priyavrata
Chapter 2 The Activities of Mahârâja Âgnîdhra
Chapter 3 Rishabhadeva's Appearance in the Womb of Merudevî, the Wife of King Nâbhi.
Chapter 4 The Characteristics of Rishabhadeva
Chapter 5 Lord Rishabhadeva's Teachings to His Sons
Chapter 6 Lord Rishabhadeva's Activities
Chapter 7 The Activities of King Bharata
Chapter 8 The Rebirth of Bharata Mahârâja
Chapter 9 The Supreme Character of Jada Bharata
Chapter 10 Jada Bharata meets Mahârâja Rahûgana
Chapter 11 Jada Bharata Instructs King Rahûgana
Chapter 12 The Conversation Between Mahârâja Rahûgana and Jada Bharata
Chapter 13 Further talks Between Mahârâja Rahûgana and Jada Bharata
Chapter 14 The Material World as the Great Forest of Enjoyment
Chapter 15 The Glories of the Descendants of King Priyavrata
Chapter 16 How the Lord can be Comprehended as a Matter of Fact.
Chapter 17 The Descent of the River Ganges
Chapter 18 Prayers to the different Avatâras
Chapter 19 The Prayers of Hanumân and Nârada and the Glories of Bhârata-varsha
Chapter 20 The structure of the Different Dvîpas and the Prayers by their Different Peoples
Chapter 21 The Reality of the Sungod Sûrya
Chapter 22 The movement of the Planets and their Considered Effects
Chapter 23 Description of the Stars of S'is'umâra, our Coiling Galaxy
Chapter 24 The Nether Worlds
Chapter 25 The Glories of Lord Ananta
Chapter 26 The Hellish Worlds or the Karmic Rebound
The Activities of Mahârâja Priyavrata
(1) The King said: 'Why, o sage, was Priyavrata, the great devotee of contentment with the soul, so happy to stay at home, that place which is the root cause of bondage in karma and the betrayal of transcendence? (2) Such a thing as indulgence in family-affairs, o wisest of the twice-born, is for sure not possible with persons who are free from attachments. (3) It suffers no doubt that the consciousness of great souls that is satiated by the shade of the feet of the Lord praised in the verses, is there never in attachment to kith and kin. (4) This I greatly doubt, o brahmin: how can on account of the forces of wife, home, children and so on, perfection and an unfailing determination unto Krishna come about?'
(5) S'rî S'uka said: 'What you said about the nectarean honey of the glorification of the lotuslike feet of the Lord of the scriptures, the pleasing in which the hearts of liberated persons and the devotees are absorbed, is correct; even though they're sometimes checked by impediments, do they as good as never give up their most exalted position. (6) Because, indeed, o King, prince Priyavrata was a supreme devotee became he, in service of Nârada's feet, quickly aware of the complete truth of the transcendental subject matter, continuously discussing the spiritual in dedicated zeal without deviating from the sum total of the highest qualities as directed in the scriptures. He was asked by his father to rule over the surface of the earth, but because of having such a love for the with all his senses and actions in yoga being absorbed in the all-pervading of the Supreme Lord, did he not welcome it, although that post for no reason could be refused by him as surely deterioration could be foreseen if he would deal any other way with the untrue. (7) So it happened that the Lord and first among the demigods [Brahmâ] surrounded by all his personal associates and the Vedas, descended from his abode; he who is always thinking of the welfare of the whole of this universal creation of the three modes and of whom one knows the ultimate purpose of the Universe as being the Supreme Soul from which he himself found his existence. (8) When he reached the vicinity of the Gandhamâdana Mountains [where Priyavrata was meditating] was he, under the cover of the sky, alike the moon illumined by the stars, left and right flanked by the leaders of the demigods, who from their heavenly carriers worshiped him all the way, as also one after the other in groups did the perfect ones, the inhabitants of heaven, the refined, the singers and the sages [respectively the Siddhas, the Gandharvas, the Câranas, the Sâdhyas and the Munis]. (9) There rose the devarishi [Nârada], recognizing the swan-carrier of his almighty father Lord Hiranyagarbha [Brahmâ], together with Priyavrata and his father immediately to their feet to worship him with respect with their hands folded and with all the paraphernalia. (10) O son of Bhârata, as the Lord was confronted with all the articles of worship according the customs and as his qualities were praised in high language in gratitude for the glory of his descendent, adressed he, the original person of the universe, Priyavrata, with a compassionate smile looking at him.
(11) The great Lord said: 'Pay attention to the true I'm telling you, you should not be jealous with the Godhead who is beyond our powers of control; we, Lord S'iva, your father and this great Rishi [Nârada], all, not being able to deviate, carry out His orders. (12) No living entity in acceptance of a material body can escape His order; not by austerity, nor by education, not by yoga, nor by one's strength or intelligence and for sure never either by one's opulence, the virtue of one's duty, by an external power or by any personal endeavor. (13) Directed by the unseen, do the living entities accept it with a material body to be bound to birth, death, sadness, illusion, constant fear, happiness and distress and to whatever they should do according their karma. (14) In our being tied to the modes and the fruitive labor so difficult to avoid [within the varnâs'rama system], my son, are we, like the four-legged ones [like bulls] by the nose bound to the two-legged [driver], tied to the long rope of vedic instruction and all engaged in carrying out the orders meant to please the Controller. (15) Like blind men led by someone with eyes do we, my dearest, inevitably have to accept the distress or happiness associated with the qualities and the work that belong to the condition we are situated in with the body that our Protector gave us. (16) Even a liberated person must for the time of his life maintain his body that was obtained as a result of the past, accepting unmistaken that what he went through as one who has awakened from sleep; but for another material body [a repeated birth] he would never give in to the material qualities. (17) When even residing in the forest there must be the fear of being bewildered because of living with the six co-wives [of the mind and the five senses], what harm indeed could household life then do to such a self-satisfied, learned one who has conquered the senses? (18) Anyone who has entered a householder's life must first of all eagerly try to conquer the six adversaries so that, as soon as - as from a fortified place - he has decreased the very strong enemies of the lusty desires, he as a man of experience can go wherever he likes. (19) You then, having taken to the shelter of the stronghold of the cavity of the lotusfeet of Him whose navel is alike a lotus, and having conquered the six enemies, enjoy in this world everything there is to be enjoyed, finding yours in being liberated from attachments in your position, through these special orders of the Original Person.'
(20) S'rî S'uka said: 'The great devotee of the mighty Lord who is the spiritual master of the three worlds, thus fully instructed, as a subordinate soul bowed his head down upon his order and said: 'Yes sir, so will it, with all respect, be carried out'. (21) The great Lord, also by Manu duly respected as he deserves, with Priyavrata and Nârada in peace taking notice, then returned to his abode, departing for the place above all places which is indescribable and unfatomable. (22) Manu thus, also with his support, executed what he had in mind and with the permission of Nârada by his son establishing the maintenance of the protection of all worlds in the entire universe, found he personally relief from the desires of the so very dangerous, poisonous ocean of material affairs. (23) So indeed as ordered by the Controller, was he [Manu's son, Priyavrata], fully engaged in material affairs as the emperor of the universe, by constant meditation on the two lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, the Original Person of whom the influence of transcendence destroys all bondage, fully engaged in material affairs as the emperor of the universe completely pure with all dirt washed out of his heart and ruled he the material world just to honor the great ones. (24) He afterwards also married the daughter Barhishmatî of Vis'vakarmâ, one of the founding fathers and begot in her gloriously a daughter who as the youngest of all carried the name Ûrjasvatî, as well as ten sons, whose magnanimity was exactly alike his in character, qualities, course of action, beauty and prowess. (25) The sons all got the names of Agni, the god of fire: Âgnîdhra, Idhmajihva, Yajñabâhu, Mahâvîra, Hiranyaretâ, Ghritaprishthha, Savana, Medhâtithi, Vîtihotra and Kavi. (26) Three of them, Kavi, Mahâvîra and Savana were celibates from the inner drive who, living in transcendental knowledge right from the beginning of their childhood, were well conversant with the highest spiritual perfection, of wich they free from doubts kept the order [the paramahamsa-âs'rama]. (27) In that so confidently kept renounced order of life (*) resides the sum total of all great sages who are there for the individual souls who, anxious about their material existence, take to the lotusfeet of the Supreme Lord Vâsudeva who is the only shelter. In constant remembrance perceived they, by virtue of the supreme of the yoga of devotion, free from contaminations purified, within their hearts the Supreme Lord of all beings as situated within themselves, thereby directly realizing their souls as being qualitatively equal, as being non-different from the Supersoul. (28) It was in another wife that he also begot three sons named Uttama, Tâmasa and Raivata who so became rulers of the Manu period [that is 71 mahâyugas long]. (29) Endowed with powerful arms of prowess and strength who together pulled the bowstring loudly defeating all who opposed the righteous rule, became they, all his well qualified sons, masters of the universe and thus was there without interruption for a 110 million years the expansion of Priyavrata's rule as a great soul, a soul who of his wife Barhishmatî her amiability, femininity, shyness, coy, laughs and glances and exchanges of love [in his repeated births] enjoyed a life of pleasure; but in his true knowledge was he defeated by it like a less intelligent one. (30) Not appreciating that the sun-god, as long as he circumambulated Mount Meru, lit up one side of the earth and left the other half in the dark, said he who in his worship of the Fortunate One was of a superhuman power: 'I'll make the night as brilliant as the day', and to that he followed in a chariot the orbit of the sun, which he, like a second sun, performed ecactly seven times and with the same speed. (31) His proceeding that way with the wheels of his chariot was, making trenches with the rims, responsible for bringing about the seven oceans which divided the heavenly sphere around the earth [Bhû-mandala] in the seven islands [the cosmic planetary realms]. (32) Known as Jambû, Plaksha, S'âlmali, Kus'a, Krauñca, S'âka and Pushkara measures each of them twice the size of the preceding one and was there, all around outside of them, that what they produced. (33) The seven oceans that like trenches to the seven islands inside of them were filled with salt water, sugercane-juice, liquor, fluid butter, milk, fluid yogurt and sweet water, were of an equal proportion to the islands they enclosed at the outside, the separate islands that one after the other to the number of seven were situated in a row all around. To each of the islands installed the husband of Barhishmatî as their rulers one of his faithful sons of which there were also seven: Âgnîdhra, Idhmajihva, Yajñabâhu, Hiranyaretâ, Ghritaprishthha, Medhâtithi and Vîtihotra.
(34) What he also did was to give the daughter named Ûrjasvatî to the great sage Us'anâ [S'ukrâcârya] unto whom was born a daughter named Devayânî. (35) Of no surprise is to the devotees the personal influence of the One of the Great Steps [Urukrama, see 1.3: 20] by the lotusfeet of which the sixfold material whip [of hunger, thirst, lamentation, illusion, old age and death] is conquered, when a fifth-class person [an outcaste] only once uttering His holy name immediately gives up his material bondage. (36) He [Priyavrata] thus unparalleled in strength and influence, who once surrendered himself to the feet of the devarishi [Nârada] but thereafter fell down because of his concerns with the modes of matter not finding satisfaction [compare 1-5: 17], then, thinking about himself, in a spirit of renunciation said this: (37) 'Alas, I did wrong for I was completely absorbed by the nescience of a sensual life; the dark well of material pleasure made me guilty of a lot of distress making me look like a dancing monkey, insignificant and of no importance, in the hands of my wife; doomed and damned I am indeed!', thus he criticized himself. (38) By the self-realization obtained through the mercy of the God Beyond, handing over the earth to his sons who followed him exactly, dividing the inheritance he enjoyed in so many ways, with the queen and the great opulence giving up the deadness of his body and with himself in his heart in perfect surrender taking to the renunciation, he with that attitude was sure to again put himself on the right track in combination with the stories of the Lord at the feet of that greatest of saints Nârada. (39) To him apply all these verses: 'What was done by Priyavrata no one could have done except for the Supreme Controller', 'By the impressions of the rims of the wheels of his chariot he dissipated the darkness, creating the seven seas'. (40) 'To stop the fighting of the different nations on the various continents was it he who created the situation in the world of the separation by means of rivers, mountain ranges and forests [compare 4.14: 45-46] and such.' (41) 'He was the one most dear on the path after the Original Person; he was the one to whom all opulence of the lower worlds, the heavens or the earth, as acquired by fruitive action and the power of yoga, was just like hell.'
*: There are four stages in accepting the renounced order: 1) Kuthîcaka: one stays outside one's village in a cottage, and one's necessities, especially one's food, are supplied from home, 2) Bahûdaka: one no longer accepts anything from home: instead, one, mâdhukarî, with the "profession of the bumblebees", collects one's necessities, especially one's food, from many places 3) Parivrâjakâcârya: one travels all over the world to preach the glories of Lord Vâsudeva collecting one's necessities, especially one's food, from many places, and 4) Paramahamsa: he finishes his preaching work and sits down in one place, strictly for the sake of advancing in spiritual life.
The Activities of Mahârâja Âgnîdhra
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'When thus his father took to the path of liberation and Âgnîdhra according his order took his place, protected he, strictly observing the principles, the citizens, the inhabitants of Jambûdvîpa, as if they were his children. (2) Once, desiring a woman from the realm of the godly, became he at the foot of the mountains, to his forefathers having gathered all the necessities for the service, immersed in the mind of the repentant, engaged in austerities and was he of worship for the master, the highest power of creation in the universe [Lord Brahmâ].
(3) Understanding that sent the almighty Lord, the first person of the universe, down from his abode the celestial girl, the Apsara Pûrvacitti. (4) Strolling around in the woods could she thus be found in that place of meditation, which was very beautiful with its dense variety of trees with masses of high reaching, golden creepers attached to the branches. In the clear waters of the lotus-filled lake there, sang she along with the vibrations of the pleasant sounds of the communicating pairs of the land birds and water birds like ducks, swans and such. (5) The son of the god of men then, in the ecstasy of his yoga, heard the pleasant sounds of her ankle bells that tinkled with every step of her so very attractive way of moving playfully around and, with his half open lotusbud-shaped eyes looking up, he spotted her. (6) Nearby, like a honeybee indeed smelling the beautiful flowers, did she by the pleasure derived from her playful movements, shy glances and humility, her sweet voice and her limbs, to the eyes and mind of as well normal men as the men of heaven, pave the way for the flower-bearing god of love. The goddess was stunning with the pleasure of hearing the sweet nectar pouring out of her smiling and talking mouth, the sight of the hasty, stylish, little movements of her feet to the intoxicated bees surrounding her, the movements of her jug-like breasts, the weight of her hips, the braids of her hair and the belt around her waist. By the mere sight of the goddess brought fully under the control of the almighty Cupid, seized he the opportunity of addressing her.
(7) 'Who are you and what are you up to on this hill, o choice of the munis; are you some illusory appearance of the Supreme Lord, our God in the beyond, with your two bows without strings [her eyebrows] that you are carrying with you; is it for your own sake or for a friend that you are here, or are you trying to hunt down the mad animals in this forest? (8) These two arrows [these eyes] of you o magical one, that have feathers like lotus petals, have no shaft and are peaceful and very beautiful; who is it in this forest that you, loitering around, want to pierce with their sharp points; may your prowess be there for the welfare of all of us who, dull-headed, fail to understand! (9) These followers around you [the bees] o worshipable one, are, enjoying the resort of your tresses of hair and the lots of flowers falling from them, incessantly singing all reciting unto the Lord the Sâmaveda and the Upanishad, as if they're sages of respect for the branches of the Veda. (10) From the resounding vibration alone of your ankle bells I can very distinctly hear the tittiri birds, o one of Brahmâ, without seeing their form; did you dress at all, the way I see your beautiful round hips with the lovely color of kadamba flowers and around them a belt red as burning cinders. (11) What is it that fills the two horns, o heavenly appearance of beauty, that you carry to your slim waist? What do they contain that is so attractive to my eyes? And what is that fragrant red powder on the two of them with which you, o fortunate one, are perfuming my spiritual resort? (12) Please show me where you live, o dearest friend; where was a person like you with such wonderful limbs born? For a person like me are the many wonders of your lovely words and inviting gestures, that are as sweet as nectar to the mouth, something very arousing. (13) And what do you live on, chewing the betel of the sacrifices [a red palatable nut], my best? You must have originated as a part of Vishnu, with your two wide open brilliant sharks of eyes and your ears with their restless fish-shaped earrings, the rows of your beautiful teeth and your face alike a lake amidst the swarm of the bees around you. (14) My eyes are restlessly moving in all directions, distracted by the ball struck by your lotus palm. Don't you care about your curls of hair hanging loose? Is that lower garment of you not giving you trouble taken up by the wind like a man does interested in a woman? (15) O beauty, treasure of the sages, by what austerity managed you to unsettle so unfailing this way indeed the penance of all who retired? You should practice the forsaking with me, o friend, for maybe are you, with the creator of the created [Brahmâ] being pleased with me, there meant for me. (16) I won't give up on you, upon whom, being given by the god of spiritual rebirth, I have fixed my mind and eyes; I won't leave you and will keep you close to me, o beauty of the breasts; lead me as you wish, as I am your follower, wherever that your finest of friends might be following you.
(17) S'rî S'uka said: 'Thus very expert in winning over women catered he, with the intelligence of the gods, with flattery to the heavenly girl her appetite and gained he her favor. (18) She in her mind attracted to also the intelligence, manners, beauty, youth, opulence and magnanimity of him, that master among the heroes, enjoyed for an endless, countless number of years all earthly and heavenly pleasures, spending time with him being the king of Jambûdvîpa. (19) In her managed he, Âgnîdhra, the best of kings, to beget nine sons named Nâbhi, Kimpurusha, Harivarsha, Ilâvrita, Ramyaka, Hiranmaya, Kuru, Bhadras'va and Ketumâla. (20) After she year after year had given birth to her sons, left Pûrvacitti home to be sure that she would turn back to the god unborn. (21) By virtue of their mother obtained the sons of Âgnîdhra strong, well-built bodies and divided the father, to each his name, properly the different parts of Jambûdvîpa [probably the Eurasian continent] to be ruled by them. (22) Âgnîdhra, the king, not quite satisfied in his desires and thinking every day more and more about her, got by the Vedas promoted to that place of her, where the forefathers are living in delight. (23) After the departure of their father married the nine brothers the nine daughters of Meru named Merudevî, Pratirûpâ, Ugradamshthrî, Latâ, Ramyâ, S'yâmâ, Nârî, Bhadra and Devavîti.
Rishabhadeva's Appearance in the Womb of Merudevî, the Wife of King Nâbhi.
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'Nâbhi, the son of Âgnîdhra, desiring to have sons with Merudevî who was childless, with great attention offered prayers in worship of the Supreme Lord Vishnu, the enjoyer of all sacrifices. (2) When he assuredly with great faith and devotion and a pure mind was worshiping, manifested the Supreme Lord out of His love to fulfill the desires of His devotees, Himself in His most beautiful, unconquerable form that is pleasing to the mind and eyes with its captivating beautiful limbs, although that could not be achieved with the introductory pravargya ceremony as was initiated, and the ingredients, the right place and time, the hymns, the priests, the gifts to the priests and by means of the regulative principles themselves. (3) After He manifested Himself most obviously in His four-handed form very bright, as the topmost of all living beings, with a yellow silk garment and the beauty of the S'rîvatsa mark He has on His chest, His conchshell, lotus flower, disc, flower garland, the Kaustubha-jewel and His club and such as are characteristic for Him, and radiating brilliantly with the helmet, earrings, bracelets, girdle, necklace, armlets, ankle bells etc. that ornamented His body, felt king Nâbhi, the priests and the others themselves like poor people having obtained a great treasure and with great regards and everything of worship they reverentially bent their heads. (4-5) The priests said: 'Please accept again and again, o most exalted one, the offering in worship of our respects, the obeisances of us, Your servants. Thus we are able to act thus far being instructed by the exalted ones; what man, whose mind not in the least capable is absorbed in the transformations of material nature, is capable of ascertaining, of the Supreme Controller above the influence of the material world, all the names, forms and qualities belonging to His position here! By most auspiciously speaking of the excellence of Your transcendental qualities, which wipe out all the sinful actions of mankind, we may know You but partially. (6) It is by the worship indeed of Your servants, who in great ecstasy with faltering voices do their prayers, performing with water, fresh twigs of green, tulasî leaves and sprouts of grass, that You become satisfied. (7) Everything else of all the concern here about the things of use required in this, we acknowledge, is because of Your greatness not even needed. (8) All the spiritual virtues - Your actual identity - self-sufficiently, undoubtedly at every moment, directly and without ever stopping do increase endlessly; but, o Lord, the always desiring of us in this for the blessings of material pleasure, may only exist for the purpose of obtaining Your grace. (9) Although You, personally, by the abundance of Your causeless mercy and glory desiring to lay open the spiritual path [called apavarga], have come here and are presently seen like one can see any ordinary person, do we fall short in our worship for You for we, o Lord of lords, are as fools ignorant about that ultimate welfare of You. (10) This then, because of in this sacrifice of the saintly king Nâbhi having become, o Lordship, o best of the benefactors, the object of the vision of us Your devotees, is no doubt the greatest benediction indeed, o most worshipable One. (11) You are to them, of whom the endless impurity, having attained Your qualities, has been removed by the strength of detachment and the fire of knowledge, You are to those sages who self-satisfied, incessantly recounted all the good of You in telling Your stories, the supreme bliss produced. (12) Still we somehow or other stumble along, hungrily fall down and yawn because of feeling misplaced and so on, and also are we of ourselves unable to remember You in the fever of our deathstruggle; may it be possible that we utter Your names and speak of Your activities and attributes, for they have the potency to drive away all our sins. (13) Moreover aspires this pious king to be blessed by You with offspring, a son that he hopes to be exactly like You: a supreme controller of the benedictions of heaven and the path leading there; even though this king with You, the great love of the worship, with his idea of children as the ultimate goal of life, behaves like a poor man who asks a person of wealth and charity for a little grain. (14) Who, without respect for the feet of the great ones, is within this world of Yours not conquered by the unconquerable illusory energy of which one cannot find the path; who is in his intelligence not bewildered by the material enjoyment that is like poison; who is in his nature not checked by that stream? (15) Because of indeed Your again being invited in this arena of sacrifice as the performer of many wonders - please tolerate out of Your sameness to all and everything therefore us, the ignorant ones, who, not very intelligent of disrespect for the divinity of You as the God of Gods, are aspiring a material outcome.'
(16) S'rî S'uka said: 'The Supreme Lord, the lead of the wise, thus extolled by the unbound recitation performed by them to whose feet even the emperor of Bhâratavarsha [India] bowed down, then spoke. (17) The Supreme Lord said: 'Alas, pleased as I am by you o sages whose words are all true, is that benediction you have been asking for - that there may be a son of Nâbhi that is like Me -, a thing most difficult to achieve; being One without a second am I the only one equal to Me, but nevertheless, with the brahminical of what you said not being false, ought that of Me to come true, for it was voiced by the divinity of the class of the twice-born. (18) Since there's no one equal to Me to be found, shall I therefore by personal expansion into a plenary portion of Myself, advent in the wife of Âgnîdhra's son.'
(19) S'rî S'uka said: 'Thus having spoken to the husband in the presence of Merudevî, disappeared the Supreme Lord. (20) O grace of Vishnu [Parîkchit], in order to please King Nâbhi did the Supreme Lord, this way being propitiated by the best of the wise, appear in the original form of pure goodness of an avatâra in his wife Merudevî, in a desire to show the great of the renounced, the withdrawn and the studious order [the sannyâsîs, the vânaprasthas and the brahmacârîs] the ways of the principles of dharma [righteousness, the religion, the true nature].
The Characteristics of Rishabhadeva
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'From the beginning of His appearance distinguished He Himself [as the son of king Nâbhi, see previous chapter and 2.7: 10] in having all the characteristics of the Supreme Lord as being equalminded to all, being of perfect peace and renunciation and having all power and the great attributes, therewith day after day increasing in His effect in a great desire to rule over ministers, citizens, the brahmins, the godly and the whole surface of the earth. (2) Thus for certain most exalted in as well his bodily features as in having all the qualities as described by the poets, did the father thus give Him because of His prowess, strength, beauty, fame, influence and heroism, the name Rishabha, the best one. (3) King Indra who turned out to be very envious with His greatness did not permit any rain to fall down on the land below the Himâlaya's; the Supreme Lord Rishabhadeva who knew that, smiled over it as the master of yoga and made, by the power of His spiritual self, the waters fall down on His place that was called Ajanâbha. (4) By His independent will had He, the Supreme Lordship and oldest, Original Person through His deluding power bewildered the mind of King Nâbhi who to his desire no doubt had gotten the most beautiful son, and that made him, overwhelmed by an excess of great jubilation, from his ecstasy with a faltering voice with great affection say: 'my dear son, my darling', as he achieved transcendental bliss in raising Him. (5) Knowing well of the popularity of His serving the citizens and the state, enthroned King Nâbhi, in his desire to protect the people strictly to the principle, his son, entrusting him to the brahmins. With Merudevî performed he in Badarikâs'rama with great satisfaction and skill austerities, fully absorbed in yoga worshiping Nara-Nârâyana, the Supreme Lord Vâsudeva by which he in the course of time reached His glorious abode.
(6) O son of Pându [Parîkchit, see family tree], of him in fact are two verses recited: 'What man following the example of the pious king Nâbhi can do what he did and by the pure of his actions receive the Supreme Personality of God for his son?' and (7) 'Is there besides Nâbhi any other devotee of the brahmins who in worship satisfying them in the sacrificial arena, by dint of their devotional service was granted the presence of the Supreme Enjoyer of all sacrifices?'.
(8) The Supreme Lord Rishabha then, accepting His kingdom as His field of work, set an example in living with the spiritual master, giving gifts upon achieving and, as was demanded by the guru, took upon Him the duties of a householder. Thus, being married to Jayantî who had been offered to Him by Indra, He taught by example performing both the types of work as mentioned in the scriptures [of defending the religion and fighting injustice], begetting a hundred sons [with her and with co-wives or via his sons with daughters in law] that were exactly like Him. (9) Of them was indeed the eldest, Bharata, a great practitioner of yoga; he had the best qualities and it was he of whom this land was called Bhârata-varsha by the people. (10) After him followed Kus'âvarta, Ilâvarta, Brahmâvarta, Malaya, Ketu, Bhadrasena, Indrasprik, Vidarbha and Kîkatha who were the elder ones of the ninety-nine other sons. (11-12) Of the latter were Kavi, Havi, Antariksha, Prabuddha, Pippalâyana, Avirhotra, Drumila, Camasa and Karabhâjana nine highly advanced devotees who defended the truth of this Bhâgavatam; of their good characters evincing the glories of the Lord, I will later on [in Canto 11] give a colorful account in relating the conversation between Vâsudeva and Nârada which brings the mind the fullest satisfaction. (13) The eighty-one younger sons of Jayantî were, following the order of their father, well cultured with a great command of the scriptural truths and had a great expertise in the performance of sacrifices; very pure in their actions, they became great brahmins.
(14) The Supreme Lord named Rishabha was indeed a completely independent Controller full of transcendental bliss who personally was always free from the unwanted; by executing strict to the tradition, did He, teaching the ignorant of whom in the course of time just the opposite in neglect of the religion is found, equipoised and unperturbed, friendly and merciful, for the people in general regulate the eternal of righteousness and economy so that they could achieve reputation, offspring and pleasure in household life [compare B.G. 4: 13]. (15) Whatever is done by leading personalities is followed by the people in general [see also B.G 3: 21]. (16) Although He knew of the confidential purport of the different vedic duties on the path of the brahmins, ruled He [as a kshatriya] over the people by means of controlled senses, a controlled mind and by tolerance. (17) Along with the necessities according the place and the time ascertained He, aided by the good [tender] age and faith of the priests worshipping the different gods for different purposes, as is prescribed, Himself a hundred times of all kinds of ceremonial sacrifices. (18) Being protected by the Supreme Lordship of Rishabha fostered no one on this planet, not even the most common man, the smallest desire for whatever, whenever, nor for himself nor from anyone else, just as one would never think of something that doesn't exist; all one cared about was an innerly ever increasing, great affection for the one pulling the weight. (19) When He, the Supreme Lord, once toured around and reached the holy land of Brahmâvarta [between the rivers the Sarasvatî and Drishadvatî to the N. W. of Hastinâpura] did he, overheard by the citizens in a meeting of the best of the brahmins, say the following to his attentive and well-behaved sons, lecturing to them despite of the fact that they excelled in self-control and devotion.
Lord Rishabhadeva's Teachings to His Sons
(1) Lord Rishabha said: 'My dear sons: This body, carried by all within this material world, does not deserve the troublesome of the sense gratification of dogs and hogs, but is worth the trouble of the austerities and penances for the sake of the divine from which the heart finds its purification and then an unending spiritual happiness is achieved. (2) Serving the great ones, one says, is the way of liberation and to seek the association of the ones who are attached to women is the way of the dungeon, of darkness; the highly advanced are people who in the spiritual have an equal regard for all, they are situated in peace, do not feel offended, wish all the best and know how to behave. (3) Those who in relating to Me, their Lord, are eager to develop love* , and who to people, who interested in the maintenance of their body are fond of their home, wife, children, wealth or friends, are not so attached, they collect from and take to the world only as far as is needed. (4) Indeed, I think that the madly being engaged with the performance of unwanted deeds for the satisfaction of the senses, which, despite of the misery it gives, made this temporary existence of the body possible, does not befit the soul. (5) As long as there is the defeat resulting from ignorance, as long as one is not inquiring about the reality of the soul, as long as one's mind is absorbed in fruitive activities, is one factually caught in one's karma from which there is the bondage to this material body. (6) When the soul is thus covered by ignorance, acts the mind to the reign of fruitive activities for as long as unto Me, Vâsudeva, there is no love; as long as that is the case is one not delivered from one's being united with a physical frame. (7) Even when one as a man of learning does not see how useless the endeavor to satisfy the senses is, will one very soon get mad being forgetful in one's self-interest and become a fool finding nothing but material miseries in a life at home that is based on sexual intercourse. (8) Of the sexual attraction between man and woman are both their hearts tied to one another and thereafter do they call for a home, privacy, children, wealth and relatives; this is the illusion of the living being known as 'I' and 'mine'. (9) When the mind, the strong knot in the heart of such a person bound by the results of his deeds in the past, is slackened; turns at that time the conditioned one away from his misconception of "I", and does he, giving it up, liberated go to the transcendental world that is the original cause. (10-13) By following a spiritually advanced person, a guru; in devotional service unto Me, by not desiring, in being of tolerance with the dual world and as well by inquiring and by realizing the truth of the miseries of the living being everywhere; by practicing austerities and penances and giving up on sensual pleasures; by working for Me, listening to stories about Me as also by always keeping company with the devoted; by singing about My qualities; by being without enmity, by being equal to all, by subduing one's emotions, o sons; by desiring to give up on the identification with one's home and body, by studying the yoga literatures; by living solitary, by fully controlling the breath, the senses and the mind; by developing faith, by always observing celibacy, by being ever vigilant, by restraint of speech; by thinking of Me, seeing Me everywhere; by developing knowledge, wisdom and by being illumined by the practice of yoga; by patience, enthusiasm and endowed with goodness and benevolence, one can give up the false identification with the material world, the cause of material bondage. (14) Becoming completely free from desiring the profit, should one by this practice of yoga as I have told you taking care of the knot of bondage in the heart brought about by ignorance, [further] desist from the means of liberation. (15) The king or guru to his sons or disciples who, desiring My abode, thinks that reaching Me is the goal of life, should in this manner, free from anger, give instruction; when one misses the spiritual knowledge one should not engage for fruitive actions - for what can a man simply piously or impiously working for the profit achieve? In fact he will cause the ones whose vision is clouded, to fall down in the pit [compare B.G. 3: 26]. (16) People who personally have lost sight of the path of auspiciousness and who are obsessed in their desiring the goods, run envious of one another for the sake of temporary happiness into unlimited sufferings and have foolish enough no clue [see also B.G. 7: 25]. (17) What man of learning, who is personally well versed in the spiritual knowledge, would in his mercy engage someone else in looking for that again, after which that person, living in ignorance like a blind man addicted to material cunning, is following the wrong path? (18) Such a person may not be a relative, a father, a mother, a spouse, nor may he be the reality, the spiritual master, the deity of worship or the one who delivers from the repetition of birth and death. (19) It is in this embodiment of Mine, which, inconceivably, is of the eternal, that indeed My heart is set to the dharma, the devotional, and My back is turned away to the adharma, the non-devotional; therefore call the civilized Me truly the Best One, Rishabha. (20) Therefore must you all, born from My heart, try with a pure intelligence to be of service to the one most exalted, that brother Bharata of yours ruling over the people.
(21-22) Of the living and nonliving, are far superior to the plants those beings who move around; of them are those who developed intelligence better and better than them are the human beings of whom the ones of the spirit, the meditators of S'iva, are superior. Better than them are the singers of heaven [the Gandharvas] and superior to them are the perfected ones [the Siddhas], above whom are found the superhuman beings [the Kinnaras]. The godly ones are better than the unenlightened and of the direct sons of Brahmâ, like Daksha, led by Indra, is Lord S'iva the best; above him do we find him who originated from Lord Brahmâ, My devotee, [the brahmin], to whose divinity of being twice-born, I am the Lord. (23) No other entity compares to the brahmin nor do I see, o learned ones, anyone superior to him. Of him I eat with satisfaction from the food that by the people with faith and love in proper ceremony was offered [to the mouth of Me and those belonging to Me], not so much from the food which thus was offered in [the mouth of] the fire. (24) Of the [vedic] body, fed by the eternal of My spirit, that is free from material contamination, has one in this world the [eight brahminical qualities of the] mode of supreme goodness [sattva], the purification [pavitra], the control over the mind [s'ama] and the senses [dama], the truthfulness [satya], the mercy [anugraha], the penance [tapasya] and the tolerance [titikshâ], wherein the realization of God is found. (25) Oh, of what need could you [My sons] be for anyone else but for those who, without desires and possessions in devotional service unto Me, are able to bestow heaven, liberation and enjoyment from Me and even the unlimited of a strength and opulence higher than the highest? (26) My dear sons, with you having the clear vision that I reside in all of them, should you at all times be of respect for each and everything, knowing that with respecting them you indirectly are of respect for Me. (27) Engage all mind, words and sight of your active and receptive senses directly in My worship, because otherwise a person will never be able to free himself from the great illusion which is Yama's deathtrap.'
(28) S'rî S'uka said: 'After for the sake of the people personally instructing this way His sons in spite of their being highly cultured, did the great personality, the well-wisher and Supreme Lord of all who was celebrated as the Best One, Rishabha, place Bharata, the eldest of His hundred sons and topmost devotee and follower of the divine order, on the throne for ruling over the planet. Of the great wise, the best of human beings free from desire who no longer work for the profit and who are characterized by devotional service, spiritual knowledge and detachment, is this the instruction of the duties. Although He remained with what He was at home, accepted He, only physically, like a madman with his hair unkempt, the sky for His dress and roamed He, keeping the vedic fire within, far and wide from Brahmâvarta. (29) Even though He, idle, blind, deaf, dumb and like a ghost and a madman, to the people appeared like someone unconcerned about the world [an avadhûta], did He with the vow of silence keep Himself from speaking. (30) Here and there passing through cities, villages, mines, lands, gardens, valley-communities, military encampments, cowsheds, farms, resting places for pilgrims, hills and forests, hermitages and so on, was He surrounded by bad people and flies and was He, like an elephant appearing from the forest, beaten away and threatened, urinated and spit upon, thrown into the dust, with the stones and the stool, farted at and given bad names; but He didn't care about that because He, from His understanding how the body relates to the soul, knew that this dwelling place of a body that is called real, was not a dwelling fit for a gentleman; instead He remained situated in His personal glory in negation of the 'I' and 'mine' and wandered unperturbed alone all over the earth. (31) With His very delicate hands, feet, chest, long arms, shoulders, neck and face etc.; with the lovely nature of His well-proportioned limbs, His natural smile, beautiful lotus petal-like graceful mouth, the marvel of His reddish widespread eyes and the great beauty of His forehead, ears, neckline, nose and expressive lip, of which His face was like a festival to all household women in arousing all around Cupid in the heart, appeared He, with His great abundance of curly brown hair which was matted, dirty and neglected, in the body as someone haunted by a ghost. (32) When He, the Supreme Lord saw that the people in general were explicitly against his yoga practice, took He, to counteract that karma, to the behavior of a python in lying down, to which He, chewing His food and accepting His drinks, passing stool and urinating, smeared His body rolling in the excrement. (33) His smell of stool was of such a good fragrance indeed that the air of the countryside for ten yojanas around received a pleasant aroma. (34) Thus by His activities moving, standing, sitting and lying down with the cows, the crows and the deer, was He, exactly like the cows, crows and deer do, eating, drinking and passing urine. (35) Thus practicing the various ways of mystic yoga enjoyed the Supreme Lord, the Master of Enlightenment, Rishabha, incessantly the Supreme in great bliss. By His fundamental indifference He achieved in the Supreme Self, the complete perfection of the unlimited of the whole of the opulence and symptoms of loving emotions unto the Supreme Personality of Vâsudeva situated in the heart of all living beings; the full of the mystic powers like traveling through the air, moving with lightening speed, the ability to stay unseen, the ability to enter the bodies of others, the power to see without difficulty things from afar and other perfections [siddhis, see also 2.2: 22; 2.9: 17; 3.15: 45; 3.25: 37] thus achieved, o King Parîkchit, He in His heart never directly accepted.
* The five main loving relationships or rasas in which with the Lord's all higher human emotions are experienced are the neutral one (santa), the servant-master relation (dâsya), the relation of frienship (sakhya), the parent-child relation (vâtsalya) and the amorous relation (sringâra).
Lord Rishabhadeva's Activities
(1) The king said: 'O Supreme One, by those self-satisfied souls of whom the seed of fruitive action is burned by the spiritual knowledge that was won by the practice of yoga, are mystic powers automatically achieved; how can they possibly be of any future hindrance? '
(2) The sage said: 'You're quite right, but in this world does one, just like a cunning hunter, not directly put faith in the mind that [like game] always runs off. (3) And so, one says, one should at no time make friends with the so very restless mind; from the practice of for a long time placing too much faith in it was the austerity of even the greatest ones [like Lord S'iva or sage Saubhari] disturbed. (4) Like a husband with a wife charmed by competitors, will aspirants of yoga when they rely on the mind that is always open to the lust motive, be paving the way for the enemies following in its wake. (5) So, which man having learned his lesson, would indeed confide in the [undirected] mind that is the breeding ground for the lust, anger, pride, greed, lamentation, illusion and fear that all together bind one to one's karma? (6) Although He [Rishabha] was the head of all kings and rulers of this universe, acted He in terms of this logic in the dress, language and character of an avadhûta [5.5: 29] as if He was dumb, concealing the Supreme of His Lordship in teaching the yogic forsaking by His own personal vehicle of time; as if He was a normal mortal who tries to give up on the physical, kept He to Himself to the Supreme command of the Soul, unhindered by the illusory of matter, always the vision from within the love above all vice and ended He His royal pastimes. (7) Of Him we thus saw the apparent physical presence, the driven appearance in this illusory world, of the body of Him as the Supreme Lord Rishabhadeva who Himself was free from any vital interest. He on His own traveled the lands of South India: Konka, Venka and Kuthaka in the province of Karnâta, and reached a forest nearby Kuthakâcala. There with a handful of stones in His mouth, He just like a madman wandered around naked and with scatted hair. (8) With a fierce forest fire blazing all around that was caused by the friction of bamboos tossed by the force of the wind, was His body then in that forest burned to ashes. (9) Hearing of His pastimes of being free from all ritual and custom, took the king of Konka, Venka and Kuthaka who carried the name Arhat [the Jain, the venerable] to an imitation of them; bewildered by an increase of irreligious life forboding the arrival of the Kali-yuga Age of Quarrel he gave up on the safe path of the religion that would ward of all fear and adopted a wrong heretic view in defiance of the vedic injunctions introducing most foolishly a concoction of His own. (10) By such practices will the most pitiable among men in the age of Kali, bewildered by the external energy of God, void of character, cleanliness and the rules and regulations of the personal duty, sworn to impiety and in neglect of the divinity be holding on to their desires, with imaginary principles of austerity like staying unclean, not washing their mouth and plucking out their hair. From the Kali-age abundance of godlessness will they, whose pure consciousness is destroyed, become almost entirely blasphemous towards the strict brahmin and his vedic culture, the ceremonies of sacrifice and the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His devotees. (11) Those who are certain in deviating from the eternal principles of the religion with a practice based on their own speculations, feel themselves encouraged by blinded predecessors and are sure to fall down in the darkness of ignorance being blinded themselves [compare B.G. 16: 16, 16: 23]. (12) This descend of the Lord was there to teach the ones overwhelmed by passion the cause of enlightenment. (13) Of Him do the ones who are after liberation chant the following verses: 'O, of this earth with its seven seas and many lands on its continents, is this land [of Bhârata-varsha, India] the most meritorious; their people sing of the all-auspicious qualities of Murâri [Krishna as the enemy of the foolish one, Mura] in His many incarnations.' (14) 'O what to say about the dynasty of king Priyavrata wherein the Original Person, the Supreme Personality descended as an incarnation; He, the Unparalleled One executed the religious duty that leads to the end of profit-minded labor.' (15) 'What other yogi can be found who, but in the mind, is able to follow the example of Him, the unborn One, and who, as being insubstantial, renounced all desires for the perfections of yoga which by mystic yogis, so eager to serve, are aspired.'
(16) Thus I have expounded on the pure activities of the Supreme Lord named Rishabha, the highest spiritual teacher for the people in general, the godly, the brahmins and the cows; he who following the footsteps of the great, with a growing faith and devotion attentively listens to or speaks to others about this foremost and greatest shelter of auspiciousness who destroys all sins of every living being, will no doubt unto Him, the Supreme Lord Vâsudeva, factually with both the modes of listening and speaking have made a beginning with an unflinching devotion. (17) In that devotion does the soul of advancement incessantly bathe itself in order to constantly be freed from suffering the troublesome conditions in material existence; although on itself that so surely by happiness obtained uninterrupted liberation, that greatest of all achievements, certainly is not what one is after, because in relating to the Supreme Lord one is complete in all one has striven for. (18) Dear King, He, the worshipable deity of the Yadus, is no doubt, your dearest friend and master of the lineage; to be sure, He sometimes even acted as your servant and thus my best I ask you: isn't He indeed the Supreme Lord Mukunda of the yoga of devotion who at all times delivers by liberating all the ones engaged in the service? (19) Always after His real identity and complete in Himself with no further desires, was by His mercy of expanding His activities in the material field, the true meaning of a life of fearlessness with the real self communicated to the intelligence of man that had been asleep for so long; all respect unto Him, that Supreme Lord Rishabhadeva.
The Activities of King Bharata
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'When Bharata ['the one maintained'], being a most exalted devotee, on instigation of his father had made his mind up to rule over the surface of the globe, did he, as he took over the throne, marry the daughter of Vis'varûpa, Pañcajanî. (2) Indeed, like one, identified with the body does find the five objects of the senses, did he in her beget five sons, Sumati, Râshthrabhrita, Sudars'ana, Âvarana and Dhûmraketu, who were entirely alike himself. (3) This part of the world called Ajanâbha [referring to king Nâbhi, see 5: 3] was from the beginning of his rule by them thus celebrated as Bhârata-varsha [the land of Bharata, now India]. (4) He, being very advanced in knowledge, was, governing with a caring heart, as great a ruler as his father and grandfather were, keeping the citizens and himself to each his respective duty. (5) He also worshiped the Supreme Lord by great and small sacrifices with and without animals; with faith were in full or partially performed agni-hotra-, dars'a-, pûrnamâsa-, câturmâsya-, pas'u- and soma-rasa-yajña's, that according the regulative principles practically always stood under the direction of four priests (*). (6) Always thinking of Vâsudeva, the Supreme Lord, did he, when the expert priests with all supplementary rites began to perform the various sacrifices, by the vedic hymns in that mind freed from lust and anger, consider all the different demigods, the recipients of the results, the ingredients of the offering and himself as the sacrificer, as all being part of the Original Person, who is their Controller, Doer and Origin; and that irrespective what on the long term would be the result of such sacrifices that in the name of the religion were brought unto the Supreme Spirit in the beyond, the Enjoyer of all sacrifices who is responsible for all the divinities. (7) Thus in the purest of service was he of the purest of goodness unto the Supersoul within the heart of the body, unto the impersonal spirit of Brahman and unto Bhagavân, the Supreme Lord, Vâsudeva, the Supreme Person whose form is recognized by the S'rîvatsa mark on the chest, the Kaustubha gem, the flowergarland, the disc, the conchshell, the club and other symbols. On the highest level known by His shining personal form is He, once having appeared as an indelible image in the heart of the devotee, as powerful as to increase the devotion day after day. (8) Thus for a countless number of millennia was the wealth enjoyed that he, having it received from his forefathers, at the end of his rule according the laws of Manu had ascertained for his sons; having personally divided the diversity of the opulence among them, he left that abode of the ancestral home and went to the Pulaha-âs'rama in Hardwar. (9) It is there that even today one can be certain that the Supreme Lord Hari residing in that place, by His transcendental affection for His own devotees, becomes visible as is desired from one's devotion. (10) At that place are all hermitages everywhere sanctified by the river named the Cakra-nadî (the Gandakî) from which one sees the concentric circles that like a navel can be observed on top and below [of the black oval pebbles that serve as objects of worship, the so-called S'âlagrâma-s'ilâs]. (11) All alone in the fields of that meditation resort did he, by offerings of roots, bulbs and fruits with water, twigs, tulasî-leaves and all kinds of flowers, perform worship unto the Supreme Lord and was he freed from all desire for material enjoyment with a steady increase of the transcendental tranquility and satisfaction that he obtained. (12) By that constant practice of service to the original personality of the Supreme Lord melted the laxity of his heart by the load of the incessantly increasing attachment to Him; through the force of the transcendental bliss stood the hairs on his body on end and sprang of the intense longing tears of love to his eyes that blurred his vision. Thus meditating the reddish lotus feet of the Lord was there by dint of his bhakti-yoga, an increase spreading everywhere of the highest and deepest spiritual enrapture in the heart, the lake wherein immersed - although his intelligence was working for the Lord - he could no longer remember the regulated service. (13) In this way vowed to the Supreme Lord, did he, dressed in a deerskin and with his mass of brown, curly matted hair, wet of bathing three times a day, so beautiful in worship of the sun-god (**), honor the Original Personality, by paying homage at sunrise reciting the following: (14) 'Minding this created universe, beyond passion, illumining the entire world there is the self-effulgence, the grace of the divinity that fulfills the desires of all the devoted; time and again entering [as the sun, as the avatâra] is the living entity supervised that hankers after material pleasure - all this [my respects] to the intelligence that moves all!'
*: Such sacrifices are impossible in this age due to the scarcity of expert brahmins or ritvijah who are able to take the responsibility. In the absence of these, is the sankîrtana-yajña singing of the holy names recommended.
**: The deity of the sun is by the common Hindu nowadays worshiped by means of the Gâyatrî mantra, one of the most important mantras of purification and liberation kindred to the one expressed in this chapter by Bharata Mahârâj: om bhûr bhuvah svah, tat savitur varenyam, bhargo devasya dhîmahi, dhyo yonah prachodayat -, a prayer meaning:
The original
form of the body,
the lifeforce and the supreme abode;
that source of life most excellent,
that divine luster we meditate -
may this light illumine our intellect.
The Rebirth of Bharata Mahârâja
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'Once upon a time having taken a bath in the great Gandakî, having done his daily duties and chanted his mantras, sat he [Bharata] for a few minutes down at the bank of the river. (2) O King, there he saw a single doe that of its thirst was driven to the river. (3) Exactly at the time it to its great satisfaction drank of the water, arose from very nearby the tumultuous roar of the king of the jungle that is so fearful to all living beings. (4) Hearing that great noise was the she-deer, always fearful of her life looking about, very afraid of the intrusion of the lion, and upset with restless eyes without having quenched her thirst properly, took she terrified all of a sudden a leap over the river. (5) Of being pregnant slipped, of its out of fear forcefully jumping up, her baby out of her womb and fell it down in the flowing water. (6) From the miscarriage of jumping and being afraid, fell the black doe, separated from the flock and plagued by exhaustion, down in some cave, because of which it died. (7) Seeing that deer calf then, separated from its kind, helplessly floating away in the waves, took the wise King Bharata considering it orphaned, it as a friend to his âs'rama. (8) To this deer he grew greatly attached in accepting it as his own kid, every day feeding it, protecting it, raising it and petting it. Within a couple of days was indeed, giving up on his personal care for himself, his duties and worship of the Original Person, the complete of his practice of detachment lost. (9) 'Alas! [he thought to himself], is by the Controller turning the wheel of time, this one deprived of its kin, friends and relatives and has it, in finding me for its shelter, only me as its father, mother, brother and equal belonging to the herd. Surely having no one else it puts great faith in the person of me to rely on and is it fully dependent on me for its learning, sustenance, love and protection; I shouldn't look away but instead know what the fault is of neglecting someone who has taken shelter and thus also act accordingly. (10) Indeed is it surely of great importance that the civilized, the saintly, even though complete in their renunciation, as friends of the helpless are committed to the principles, even at the cost of their own self-interest.'
(11) Thus grown attached he sat, lied down, walked, bathed, ate etc. with the young animâl and became he in his heart captivated by affection. (12) When entering the forest for flowers, firewood, kus'a-grass, leaves, fruits and roots and going to collect water, took he, doubtful of wolves, dogs and other animals of prey, always the deer with him. (13) On his way carried he, with a mind and heart full of love, it on his shoulder here and there, and kept he, fond as he was of the young, it fondling it on his lap or on his chest when he slept, thus deriving great pleasure. (14) In worship, would he at times get up although not finished, just to look after the deer calf and to that derived the master of the domain great satisfaction from wishing it all his blessings saying: 'O my dear calf let there be unto you all the best'. (15) At times he was so concerned that he got upset like a piteous, miserly man who has lost his riches; with great anxiety in his heart, agitated from being separated from the deer-calf, had he no other thoughts anymore but these and was thus certain of running into the greatest illusion with considerations as: (16) 'Oh, alas! my dear child, that orphan of a deer, must be very distressed; it'll turn up again to put faith in me as being a perfectly gentle person and as one of its own kind - it will forget about me as being such an ill-behaved cheater, such a barbarian with a mind not good at all. (17) Will I be seeing it again unafraid walking around my âs'rama nibbling the grass under divine protection? (18) Or would the poor creature have met with one of the many wolves or dogs, or a group of hogs or a wandering tiger? (19) Alas, the Supreme Lord of the whole Universe, the vedic threefold to the prosperity of all, is [in the form of the sun] already setting; and still has this baby that the mother entrusted to me not returned! (20) Would that princely deer of mine really return and please me who gave up on the pious exercise; it was so cute to behold - pleasing it in a way befitting its kind drove away all unhappiness! (21) Playing with me when I with closed eyes feigned meditation, it would angry out of love, trembling and timidly approach to touch my body with the tips of its horns soft as waterdrops. (22) When I grumbled at it for polluting the things placed on kus'a grass for sacrifice, it immediately in great fear stopped its play, just like the son of a saint sitting in complete restraint of its senses. (23) Oh, what practice of penance by the most austere on this planet can bring the earth the wealth of the sweet, small, beautiful and most auspicious soft imprints of the hooves of this most unhappy creature in pain of being lost! For me they indicate the way to achieve the wealth of her lands that, on all sides adorned by them, are turned into places of sacrifice to the gods and the brahmins desirous on the path to heaven! (24) Could it be that the moon so very powerful and kind to the unhappy, out of compassion for the young its fear for the great beast of prey, is now protecting this motherless deer-child which strayed from its protective refuge? (25) Or, may it, by its rays, so peaceful and cool, out of love, be splashing nectarine water from its mouth, giving my heart, that red lotus flower unto which the deer was so submissive, comfort, for the heat of the separation is burning with the flames of a forest fire.'
(26) In this way was he, whose heart was aggrieved with a mind deriving from bad karma, carried away by the impossibility of a son that looked like a deer and had he fallen down from the exercises of yoga, the penance of yoga and the devotional service towards the Supreme Lord. What possible way could he, so attached to the body of a different species, a deer calf, directly achieve the goal of life with that kind of a hindrance - he who previously had given up his sons born from his heart, even though that was a thing difficult to do. Because of that obstacle of his thus being obstructed in the execution of his yoga, was King Bharata, thus absorbed in maintaining, pleasing, protecting and fondling a baby deer, neglecting his own soul and saw he that very rashly the inevitable of his time had come like a snake entering the hole of a mouse. (27) At that time giving up this world he indeed saw at his side lamenting like his own son the deer that occupied his mind; with his body dying with the deer present at his side, he thereafter got the body of a deer, but unlike with other births, was the remembrance of what had happened before at his death not destroyed. (28) In that birth, as a consequence of his past devotional activities, constantly remembering what the cause was of having gotten the body of a deer, he repenting said: (29) 'Oh what a misery! I have fallen from the way of life of the self-realized, although I had given up my sons and home, lived solitary in a sacred forest as one perfect to the soul who takes shelter of the Supersoul of all beings and although I was constantly listening to and thinking about Him, the Supreme Lord Vâsudeva, with chanting, worshiping and remembering being absorbed, filling all my hours; by time does a mind fixed in such a practice turn into a mind fully established to the eternal, but again, fallen in affection for a deer-young, I am a great fool far from that! '
(30) Thus being this way silent to itself did [he as] the deer unmotivated give up its mother and turned it from the Kâlañjara mountain where it was born, back again to the place, to the âs'rama of Pulastya and Pulaha in the village called S'âlagrâma, where he before had worshiped the Supreme Lord so dear to the great saints living there in complete detachment. (31) In that place, eating fallen leaves and herbs, he awaited his time in the eternal company of the Supersoul, and existed he, constantly alert to bad association, only in consideration of the end of the cause of his deer body, the body that he, bathing it in the water of that holy place, ultimately gave up.
The Supreme Character of Jada Bharata
(1-2) S'rî S'uka said: 'After having given up his life in the body of a deer obtained Bharata, the most exalted devotee and most honored of all saintly kings, his last body as a brahmin so is said. As the male child of a twin brother and sister was he born from the second wife of some brahmin of the line of saint Angirâ who was endowed with the qualities of a perfect control over the mind and the senses, of penance, vedic study and recitation, of renunciation, satisfaction, tolerance, kindness, knowledge, of no envy, and of spiritual happiness in the wisdom of the soul; with his first wife he had nine sons all equal to him in education, character, behavior, beauty and magnanimity. (3) Also in that birth by the special mercy of the Lord remembering his previous lives, was he, being greatly apprehensive not to fall down again, in association with his own kind always afraid of being obstructed on the path of devotional service and kept he his mind close to his soul by always thinking of the two lotusfeet of the Supreme Lord, hearing and remembering the descriptions of the qualities which vanquish the bondage to fruitive labor; but to the local people he showed himself as being of a mad, dull and blind character [of which he is called Jada]. (4) His brahmin father who for sure affectionately felt obliged to his son, thought that he, as a father to a son, should teach him, even though against his will, that indeed the regulative principles should be followed, so that, until the end of his student life, he again, as one of the sacred thread, would practice the duties of cleanliness of the purification process as prescribed by the s'âstras. (5) But also before his father he acted as if he couldn't understand a thing of what was instructed. For four months during the summer wishing to teach him the vedic mantras including the Gâyatrî preceded by Omkâra, did he, despite of the full study of them, not succeed in having him completely mastering them. (6) Thus thinking that his son, although he didn't like it, by himself should be fully instructed in all the cleanliness, vedic study, vows, principles, sacrifice and service to the guru that belongs to the celibate state [the brahmacarya-âs'rama], was the brahmin, in that considering his son to be his life and soul, himself heavily attached to his home indeed so that, in the course of the in its turn not so forgetful time, he had to take leave of the world as a man frustrated by the unfit obstinacy of his son. (7) After that did the youngest wife, of whose womb the twins were born, entrust the care for them to the first wife and followed she her husband to where he resided in his afterlife [Patiloka].
(8) After the death of the father did Jada Bharata's stepbrothers, who of the three Vedas were well settled in finding their ways with the rituals and with their dulled minds did not understand how high he stood, stop the endeavor to teach their brother. (9-10) When he was addressed as being mad, dull, deaf and dumb by the two-legged, animâl-like materialists, he used to use likewise words in reply as well. He did the things that he by force was summoned to do. He used to eat whatever small or large quantity of palatable or tasteless food that he got by begging, by wages or that came on its own accord. He never lived to please his senses as he had forever stopped to live for the material cause. By himself he had accomplished the transcendental blissful vision as one in knowledge of the true self who with the dual causes of happiness and distress, summer and winter, wind and rain, did not identify himself with the body. Firm of limbs did he, strong like a bull, never cover his body. Not bathing he was dirty from lying on the ground and he never massaged his body. With his loins covered by dirty cloth and with a of dirt darkened sacred thread, was he like a hidden gem in his spiritual splendor. He wandered around disrespected with ignorant folk calling him, as a brahmin of birth, a mere friend of them ['brahma-bandu']. (11) As he only looked for work to get in exchange food from others, did even his stepbrothers engage him in agricultural work in the fields - a job in which he had no idea of what should be leveled or be uneven or where he had to pile things up. Usually only eating broken rice, oil cakes, chaff, worm-eaten grains, or burned rice that stuck to the pot, was it nevertheless all nectar to him.
(12) Following, after a certain period of time, there came some plundering leader of the working class who was looking for a human son no better than an animâl to begin a sacrifice to the goddess Bhadra Kâlî. (13) The animâl-type he had, had by chance escaped and his followers on their way to find it could, in the midst of the night in the middle of the darkness, not catch the animâlistic one. As arranged by providence they stumbled upon the brahmin son from the line of Angirâ, who from an elevated position was guarding the fields against deer, wild pigs and such. (14) Finding out he had the right character did they next, with bright and shining faces understanding that they could help in the completion of their master's work, take him to the temple of the goddess, bound tightly with ropes. (15) Then did the followers of the dacoit, according their own customs bathe him, put him in new clothes, cover his body with ornaments, smear him with sandalwood pulp and garland him in making him, as the animâl-like man, ready for the sacrifice. Vibrating songs, prayers, drums and bugles, they seated him before the goddess Kâlî, fully dressed up and properly fed, with incense, lamps, strings of flowers, parched grains, twigs and sprouts, fruits and other articles of worship. (16) Next did the priest of that dacoit leader in preparation for offering a flow of blood from the animâl-man to the deity of Bhadra Kâlî, take up a fearful razor-sharp sword, consecrating it with the appropriate mantras. (17) Thus was by those contemptible types, who, of a passionate and ignorant nature, materialistically bewildered were driven by minds full of imagination, the heroic association of the Supreme Lord, the brahmins, disrespected, in following a wrong course having taken their own way. Proceeding with a lust for violence against others they acted cruelly directly against a born brahmin, a son of spiritual wisdom who had no enemies and was a well-wisher to all. At the last minute though indeed, did the goddess Bhadra Kâlî, seeing what was about to happen in defiance of the law and against the will of the Lord, break out of her statue with a burning physical appearance of an overly bright, unbearable, spiritual effulgence. (18) Infuriated in utter intolerance she displayed her features of raised eyebrows, crooked teeth, bloodshot eyes, an agitated fearful face as if she wanted to destroy the whole universe and a frightening laugh. Of the great anger released, severed she, coming forth from the altar, with the same blade as they wanted to use, the heads from the bodies of all the sinful offenders and drank she together with her associates, the blood oozing from the necks as a very hot intoxicating beverage. Overwhelmed by all the intoxicating drinking played she, with her following loudly singing and dancing, then ball, using the heads for a sport.
(19) When one this way in envy indeed is in offense with the great, will one consequently for oneself get this as a result. (20) Oh, Vishnudatta ['protected by Vishnu'; Parîkchit], this is not a great wonder to the ones not perplexed who, of no enmity and of goodness to all, by the Supreme Lord of the invincible time who carries the best of all weapons [the Sudars'ana disc], directly are fully liberated from the very strong and tight knot in the heart of a false bodily concept of life. Even though threatened by decapitation, have those liberated souls and devotees who are of full surrender and who are protected at His lotus feet, nothing to fear and are they never upset by these kinds of moods of the Divinity.
Jada Bharata meets Mahârâja Rahûgana
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'So it became that Rahûgana ['he who outshines the sun'], the ruler of Sindhu and Sauvîra, while he was on his way, on the bank of the river Ikshumatî needed another palanquin carrier and had sent out their chief to look for a suitable person. His search led by chance to the twice-born son Jada Bharata who, being such a stout young man who with his firm limbs was as strong as an ass, he chose deeming him capable of carrying the load. Although he was not fit for the job, carried he, the great soul, the palanquin, being forced to it as was the wont. (2) When doing this was the twice-born son, constantly looking three feet ahead [not to step on ants], all the time out of pace with the others and was thus the palanquin shaking. Rahûgana, realizing this then said to the men carrying: 'Oh carriers, please walk in pace! For what reason is this palanquin carried so uneven?'
(3) They, hearing their master speak with reproach, informed him apprehensively that that was due to the fourth carrier: (4) 'Oh, it is not, o god of man, that we, always obedient to your orders, are in neglect. We certainly do the best we can, but it is this new man that recently has been contracted to work with us with whom we aren't able to do our work of carrying: he is rather slow!'
(5) Although from the intimations certain that the problem had risen because of a fault of one of them, did king Rahûgana, hearing the fearful words of the servants, in spite of his political experience, from his kshatriya nature slightly give in to the violence of anger. To him whose spiritual effulgence, as a vedic fire covered by ashes, could not be clearly distinguished, he said in a mind full of passion: (6) 'What a trouble it is alas my brother! All alone on such a long journey you certainly must have gotten very tired. Nor is your cooperative, firm body very strong; you must be troubled by old age yourself my friend! For sure are these other coworkers of no avail to you'.
Thus he sarcastically criticized him severely, but no false belief of 'I' and 'mine' interposed with him carrying on in silence the palanquin as before; as someone on the spiritual platform was he of that particular disposition in physical matters as having a specific self-spirited body that is produced from a mix of the qualities and workload of ignorant matter. (7) Thereupon again being shaken of the uneven carrying of his palanquin said Rahûgana getting very angry: 'O fool, what nonsense is this! You, living corpse, ignore me overriding my reproach! Are you out of your mind? Like Yamarâja with the common man, I will teach you a lesson so that you'll know what your position is out here!'
(8) Though having poured over him such a load of nonsense by the out of passion and ignorance rebuking one who thought he could rule as a god of man, a dearmost votary of the Lord and a learned scholar, did that selfrealized brahmin who was the friend of all living beings with the poise of a master of yoga, slightly smile like being relieved of a burden and spoke he to the not so wise ruler as follows. (9) The brahmin said: 'What you so clearly stated, o great hero, is of no contradiction if I could say mine to that body and to that carrier of the load; if it would be that what one is supposed to obtain in being strong and stout to the path, then I must tell you that that, to the person of self-realization residing within the body, is no subject matter of discussion. (10) Being strong and stout, skinny or weak, in physical or mental pain, of hunger, thirsty, of fear, of quarrel, desire, old age and of sensual motivation; to be of anger, falsehood, illusion and lamentation are with this body things of the one born, but for what I am they are certainly not the reality. (11) To be a living soul bound to death [to be a 'living corpse'] is something settled by nature o King, everything has a beginning and an end; but, respected one, if one sees the unchangeable within the things of transformation - of which we see servants and masters - then one speaks of doing the right thing in yoga. (12) Discriminating to the person is a narrow vision and, apart from the convention, I do not see what other use it would have; who is that master and who is the one to be controlled? Nevertheless, o King, what may I do for you? (13) Of me being myself, o King, you gathered that I was a disheveled, mad ignoramus; of what use would it then be to receive punishment from you; how can one correct a crazy, stupid person - it is like grinding flour!'
(14) S'rî S'uka said: 'Consequently responding to all the words that had fallen, arrested the great sage so calm and peaceful his case - to the cause of matters strange to the soul he accepted that things happened as a consequence of what he had enjoyed before, and so again, to put the acquired karma to an end, carried he as he did the king his palanquin. (15) O best of the Pându-dynasty, he, the ruler of Sindhu and Sauvîra, was factually also of great faith concerning the matters of control in relation to the Absolute Truth; thus being qualified hearing what the twice-born one said of that which eradicates the falsehood in the heart and which is approved by all of yoga and its culture, he hastily got down and fell head-on flat on the ground at the lotus feet to be excused for his offense. Thus giving up his false claim of being the king to be respected he said: (16) 'Who of all the twice-born are you, moving around in this world under cover? I see you wear a sacred thread. Of which forsaker of the world are you the disciple? From where and for what purpose have you come here? Are you, as one of pure goodness, here for our benefit or maybe not? (17) I am not afraid of Indra's thunderbolt nor do I fear S'iva's trident or punishment from Yamarâja, nor do I fear the heat of the sun's rays, the moon, the wind or the weapons of Kuvera; what I fear most is offending the brahmin class. (18) Could you therefore, as someone fully detached concealing the power of wisdom, as someone moving around abiding in the beyond, please speak to us, because none of us, o saint, is able to comprehend to any extend the words of yogic meaning you uttered. (19) I thereto indeed ask you, master of yoga, o best preceptor of the saintly scholars of the reality of the soul, about that which in this world is the best engagement, the most secure shelter, o direct incarnation of the Lord of spiritual knowledge [see Kapila 3.25]. (20) As being Him indeed is your goodness traveling around on this globe, looking into the motives of the people here and that without showing your real identity; may I know how we, being bound to family affairs missing the intelligence, nevertheless can take to the goal of the masters of yoga? (21) One knows of fatigue acting a certain way to the soul indeed, like the way you move carrying the palanquin; I guess that, following in respect of the phenomenal, it is as much proof of something non-material, as having a container for water when there is no water at all. (22) Because of the heat under a cooking pot, becomes the milk put in it hot and because of the heated milk is the hard kernel of the rice in it cooked; so too is from being connected to the senses the experience there of fatigue and such by the soul complying with the matter. (23) The governor doing good to his subjects is, as a human ruler over the citizens, someone who indeed carries out orders; not grinding what is already ground, is one in one's own occupational duty of worship for the Infallible One, for whom performing one is released from all kinds of sin. (24) Therefore from your good self true in penance, unto me, this maddened and proud god of man, kindly show your causeless mercy as a friend, a friend of the distressed, so that I can find relief from the sin of being in contempt with a such great personality like you. (25) You, friend of the Friend of All, are, as someone removed from the bodily concept of life, not put off balance; but even though one is as powerful as Lord S'iva [S'ûlapâni], will a person like me, with my practice of being haughty with the great, certainly soon be destroyed.'
Jada Bharata Instructs King Rahûgana
(1) The brahmin [Jada Bharata] said: 'Lacking in experience do you, using the terms of the experienced ones, not speak of the most important; these matters of mundane and social behavior one should in fact discuss with the intelligent who do have such a refined sense of truth. (2) Because of this, o King, is indeed among those, who notably by the Vedas [veda-vâdî] take interest in the endlessly increasing concern with the rituals of a material household, as good as never the actual spiritual science [tattva-vâda] found that manifests itself so clearly with the advanced of purity. (3) Although sufficiently known with the words, is the very exalted vision of the real purpose of the Veda not directly theirs, because the happiness of a worldly life compares to a dream of which one naturally later on realizes that it is unreal. (4) As long as the mind of someone is under the control of the mode of passion, of goodness or of darkness, are actions, auspicious or otherwise, by the power of the senses of action and perception, automatically the result, just like it is with an elephant that is roaming unchecked. (5) That mind endowed with many a desire is, driven by the modes of nature, attached to material happiness; as the chief of the sixteen elements of a material existence [the physical, the active and the perceptual ones plus the mind] does the mind, estranged, wander around in names [in upâdhis - representations] and does it manifest with bodies of a higher or lower quality in different forms [compare B.G. 3: 27]. (6) With the unhappiness, happiness and severe immoderation obtained in the course of time as a consequence, creates the indwelling mind, by which the original living being embraces the created nature, for itself the vicious circle of material actions and reactions. (7) For that reason speak the learned ones of the mind as the cause of, the in higher or lower conditions of life, being absorbed in the natural modes to which one then misses the and of that are the for that time manifested outer symptoms of the living entity - of being fat or skinny e.g. - the proof. (8) The attraction to the modes makes for the conditionings to the material world, but when the mind of the living entity is there for the ultimate good of transcending them is it as a lamp; a wick enjoying clarified butter burning improperly no doubt leads to a flame with smoke, but doing so properly in bondage to the fuel of karma is the flaming, wayward mind to the contrary evidence of the clear reality.
(9) For sure there are the eleven of the mind of the five senses of action, the five senses of knowing and the insidiousness [or the falsehood of the ego, the identification with them]; of the different actions, the different objects of the senses and the places in town where they occur - of those eleven functions say the learned, o hero, that they are the fields of action [see B.G. 13: 1-4]. (10) Smell, form, touch, taste and hearing [the knowing senses]; evacuation, sexual intercourse, movement, speech and manual control [the senses of action] with the eleventh element of accepting the idea of 'mine', thus gives the 'I' to this body of which some have said that it is the twelfth element. (11) By the elements, by nature itself, by the culture, by the karma and by time are all these eleven of the mind modified into the hundreds, thousands and millions who do not follow from one another nor from themselves, but from the knower of the field. (12) The knower of the field purified sees all these different activities of the mind of the unpurified individual entity in action, that from time immemorial are created by the external energy; sometimes manifest [as in waking] and sometimes not manifested [as in dreams]. (13-14) The knower of the field is [then] the all-pervading, omnipresent, authentic person; the original one, who is seen and heard of as existing by His own light; He who is never born, who is the transcendental one, the One Nârâyana wherein all beings rest, the Supreme Lord, the One Vâsudeva harbour of consciousness; He who by His own potency in the soul exists as the controller, of just as well the air as the nonmoving and moving entities; He is the Supersoul of expansion that entered and thus controls as the One of Fortune in the beyond who is the shelter and knower of everyone in every field; He, the vital itself that appeared in this material world [see also B.G 9: 10 & 15: 15].
(15) As long as the embodied one, o King, is not free from this influence of the material world, by means of the, in freedom from attachments, being awakened to the order of knowing the spiritual truth and conquering the six enemies [the mind and the senses of perception], will he till that time wander around in this material world. (16) For as long as one has this mind, which, as the symptom of the soul its fixation, for the living entity is the breeding ground for all the worldy miseries of lamentation, illusion, disease, attachment, greed and enmity, has one the consequence of egotism. (17) This mind, that formidable enemy, is very powerful, growing so from neglect; he, who free from illusion, applies the weapon of worshiping the lotusfeet of the spiritual teacher and the Lord, will conquer the falsified personal that has covered the soul.'
The Conversation Between Mahârâja Rahûgana and Jada Bharata
(1) Rahûgana said: 'My respectful obeisances unto you as someone emanated from the embodiment [of Rishabhadeva, see 5.4] of the Original Cause, as someone who by his true self despises all the separateness; my respects for you who as a forsaker of the world, in the form of a friend of the twice-born, has hidden his realization of the eternal. (2) You are alike the antidote for someone feverishly distressed by disease, you are alike cool water for someone scorched by the sun, for someone like me, whose vision in this gross body has been bitten by the serpent of pride, are you the elixir of nectar. (3) Now, please explain to me, who's burning of curiosity, it again in simple words, so that I may clearly understand the yoga of self-realization; personal matters not clear in that I will submit to you later. (4) That which you've said, o Master of Yoga, concerning that what clearly can be distinguished as a result of fruitive action [the 'fatigue', see 5.10: 21], is in truth inherent to one's performing; it is factually not enough at all for an inquiry into the ultimate reality - your goodness explaining has bewildered my mind in this.'
(5-6) The brahmin said: 'This person, one thinks of as moving around on the earth and who himself is a transformation of that earth, o earthly one - for what reason would your Lordship, with these feet and above them these ankles, calves, knees, thighs, waist, neck, shoulders and upon those shoulders the wooden palanquin upon which the one sits who is thus known as the King of Sauvîra, impose this haughty insistence of 'I, the King of Sindhu' and thus be a captive of falsehood? (7) How lamentable are all these poor and suffering people who you by force seized without showing any mercy; boasting 'I am the protector' you make a bad presence in the society of the learned, simply being rude! (8) Because no doubt differently embodied as moving or unmoving entities, we know of annihilation, appearance and the regular of nature, as we simply move in different names; let us, from the stance of factually dealing with it, make sure what causes the material activities. (9) From that point of view is by the words for races and nations our existence falsely described; what one in one's mind imagines of the dissolution, aggregate and particulars of all that is composed of atomic particles, covers but a lesser intelligence of that existence. (10) Thus being meager, fat, tiny or big, existing as individual entities, inanimâte matter or whatever natural phenomenon else might be of concern, is all impermanence in the name of a certain disposition, time and activity, an impermanence which you should understand to be inherent to the operation of nature's duality. (11) The known in its pure existence constitutes the ultimate goal as the Oneness without an inside or an outside, as the Absolute Truth of the Supreme [Brahman], the inner peace that in a higher sense is known as Bhagavân, the Supreme Lord, who by the scholars is called Vâsudeva [the Soul of God within, Vishnu, or Lord Krishna as the son of Vasudeva].
(12) Dear King Rahûgana, by penance, by deity worship or by rounding up one's material activities; by one's household life, by celibacy and study or by keeping oneself in austerity to the water or the fire, is this not revealed - it is not realized without smearing the dust of the lotus feet of the great all over one's body! (13) There where one presents the qualities of the One praised in the scriptures, are worldly concerns put to an end; day after day seriously attending to the ones who are after liberation, is the meditation simply and pure turned to Vâsudeva. (14) In a previous birth I was known as a king named Bharata who found liberation through personal insight and association in worship of the Supreme Lord; thus always performing, I became a deer because I, intimately associated with one, had neglected my duties. (15) Despite of being a deer, o great hero, did the memory of my activities of worship unto Krishna [the Lord as the One known by His dark skin] not leave me; for that reason do I out of fear keep myself far from associating with ordinary folk and do I move about unseen. (16) Therefrom can every person, by means of the sword of knowledge detaching and associating with good company, even in this world, cut with the illusion; by listening and singing to the stories of the activities about the Lord is the lost consciousness regained and attains one the ultimate end of the superior abode.'
Further talks Between Mahârâja Rahûgana and Jada Bharata
(1) The brahmin said: 'Trying to get ahead in life, which is difficult being captivated by illusion, is the eager one, divided in looking after the workload of his passion, ignorance and goodness, wandering around in his worldly existence and is he, bent upon the profit, not able to find happiness. (2) O god of men, there do these six plunderers [of seeing, smelling, tasting, touching, hearing and minding] ransack the conditioned souls that are chasing the false; by force they in that position like foxes seize the maddened zealous one his heart, just like tigers seizing lambs. (3) In the bowers of many creepers, grasses and thickets he is cruelly disturbed by biting mosquitos, sometimes imagining himself to be with the Gandharvas and sometimes as fast as a meteor getting possessed. (4) Running here and there for their home, water and wealth, o King, they consider that their one and all, and sometimes, blinded by their infatuation, have they lost their way [in life] because of the smoky dust [of lust] raised by a whirlwind [of some outer attraction]. (5) By the noises of invisible crickets disturbed in his ear, by the vibrations of owls upset in his mind and heart, and suffering from hunger taking shelter of fruitless trees, he at times runs after the waters of a mirage. (6) One time going for rivers that ran dry and asking food from others who themselves ran out of stock, suffer they some other time from the forest fire of their material existence and worry they about what became of the cherished wealth seized by the rogues ruling the state. (7) Sometimes do they all, seeing themselves taxed by their ruling superiors, experience grief in their hearts and get they, wining, bewildered in losing their minds; and now and then, for a short while, they dream of having entered heavenly abodes where one enjoys like being happy. (8) Sometimes wandering are the feet of someone who wants to climb the hills hurt by thorns and small stones and is such a one depressed with each step he makes; and sometimes gets a family person, agitated with a hungry stomach, angry with his own family members. (9) Sometimes left to his own devices in the [material] forest [of life] is the conditioned soul swallowed by the python doesn't he understand a thing; attacked by poisonous snakes and bitten, he sometimes, fallen into an unseen well, then lies down blind in utter darkness. (10) Sometimes searching for some little sexual pleasure is he by the disquieted beehive of the family of the woman insulted; or, concerning these matters with much difficulty spending money to find his comfort, is thereafter by force the object of desire by someone else stolen away from him. (11) Sometimes also not able to fight the cold, the heat, the wind or the rains, he is put off; and sometimes selling along with others whatever little bit, he lands in mutual enmity so one says, because of cheating for the profit. (12) Now and then being destitute is he in that without bedding, a place to sit, a house and family comforts, and does he bereft beg from others; not getting what he needs he is after the property of others and then finds dishonor. (13) Because of financial transactions with one another there is a rise of enmity, and married to each other trying to progress materially is that resulting in great difficulties, because one, for want of money following the wrong course, will be completely embarrassed.
(14) All who are thus variously embarrassed, have at times to give up on the beings close to them and are then after newly born lives; being after one's own interest one wanders around here in this world and up to the present day is none of the ones in that position, o hero, able to reach the ultimate end of yoga [to devotional service]. (15) They who without much of a mind managed to conquer giants of other heroes, are all caught in this world in the concept of 'mine' and lay down their lives in battle with the enmity created - but they do not reach the reality of the staff of renunciation which, when one is free from enmity, does lead to the perfection. (16) More and more attached sometimes do they who enjoy in the arms of their wives, their creeper, sing an odd tune in desiring to hear the song of another bird; and sometimes hearing somewhere the roar of the lion he seeks friendship with cranes, herons and vultures. (17) Cheated by them but not finding satisfaction in contact with the devoted, approach they in their behavior the monkeys with whom associated they are quite at ease with their senses, and staring at each other's faces approach they forgetful their death. (18) Enjoying up their tree are they, attached to wife and children and poor of heart, unable to detach bound to the consequences of their own actions, and fall they at times, beset by fear for the elephant of death, into a cave in the mountains thus getting trapped there. (19) Somehow or other getting out of this danger they again, o killer of the enemies, take up the same life, that path of enjoyment travelled by the conditioned soul under the influence of mâyâ, in which he up to his death fails to understand a thing. (20) King Rahûgana, you, surely also walking this path of material existence, will, once you've given up the stick of chastising and are acting friendly towards all beings, by means of service to the Lord be someone who in his mind is no longer drawn to the untrue; taking up the sharpened sword of knowledge now cross over to the supreme of the other side!'
(21) The king said: 'Alas, o best one among the born, of what use is it, being born into the human form, to be but of a higher birth? Indeed there is nothing superior to it if we, in a new life, can't enjoy the abundance of associating with the truly great ones whose hearts are purified in the glory of Hrisîkes'a [the Lord and master of the senses]. (22) Isn't it wonderful indeed to be completely liberated by the dust of your lotusfeet of love and devotion unto Adhokshaja [the Lord in the Beyond], by the association of whom one in a moment is freed from all material contamination and as well the root of nondiscrimination of false arguing is completely vanquished? (23) Let there be my reverential homage unto the great personalities, whether they appear as boys, as young men or as total forsakers; let there, from all those selfrealized souls of transcendence who walk this earth under different guises, be the good of fortune over all the dynasties!'
(24) S'rî S'uka said: 'This way, o son of Uttarâ [Parîkchit], did he, that son of brahmin wisdom, though being insulted, from the quality of his kindness and the supreme of his spiritual realization, before the ruler of Sindhu expound on the actual reality of the soul; with Rahûgana so piteous, was he whose lotus feet were worshiped, of a heart in which, like in a full ocean, all the waves of the sensory were completely silenced as he continued to roam this earth [compare 3.25: 21]. (25) The king of Sauvîra sure of an elevated position, came to a full understanding of the truth of the oversoul; within himself he managed to completely give up on the conception of a bodily self that he erroneously in nescience had attributed to his person and thus, o King, followed he faithfully the path of disciplic succession since the Lord. '
(26) The king [Parîkchit] said: 'That which you described here so knowledgeable, o greatest of devotion, in figures of speech about the individual soul its path in material existence, is set in words comprehensible to the minds of the educated, not so much directly to locals of a lesser experience; therefore, for the sake of a full understanding of this matter so hard to grasp, could you please describe it telling us the exact meaning? '
The Material World as the Great Forest of Enjoyment
(1) The wise [S'ukadeva] said: 'Those who think the body to be the real self, depart, in particular reasoning to the modes of goodness and such, from the wrong basis; sometimes they obtain the favorable, sometimes the unfavorable and sometimes they have a mixture of both. On the basis of the six gateways of their senses and the mind, they are faced with a never ending process of transmigration that is characterized by the over and over giving up of one body and the again accepting of a new one. On that difficult path traversing the dense forest of material life it so happens that of Vishnu, the Supreme Lord who is the controller, the soul bound acting under the control of mâyâ, the illusory of matter, in this exactly is like a merchant with an object of desire who is after the money. With his body acting on behalf of the fruits, he experiences the material world he has landed in as if it were a burial place, since he up to that moment was of no success and of all kinds of trouble out here in not gaining on the road of following the devoted, the bumblebees, to the lotusfeet of the Lord and His representatives that would pacify the misery experienced. (2) By the certain activities of the senses it suffers no doubt that these, with whatever little wealth that a person so dutifully earned after so much hard labor, could be called his plunderers. They merciless plunder the desirous soul who is out of control and on the wrong path, the way he by his private home directly concludes to sense gratification in his determination to see, touch, hear, taste and smell all the acquired good; a matter to which the wise declare that it, religiously following the practice of the principles, only would serve a better life in the hereafter when one, with sacrifices, is faithfull in the worship of the Lord. (3) In this do also his family members, starting with his wife and children, act like tigers and jackals as surely, in the midst of the family that he above all tries to protect, he miserably trying not to waste his wealth, feels like a lamb that is seized by force. (4) As sure as a field that is every year plowed will still keep the seeds of the bushes, grasses and creepers that again, like in any garden, pop up with the plants sown, will this certainly also take place in the field of activities of family life, if one is not sure that all karma has been overcome; therefore is this world called the storehouse of fruitive desire. (5) Lost in that life, sometimes on this material path of existence wandering in the spheres of wealth, is he [the follower of falsehood] disturbed by low-class characters, that equal gadflies and mosquitos, and by thieves that are like rats, locusts and birds of prey. Because of a lusty mind ignorant in its fruitive motives, does he look at this human world, in which one never reaches one's goal, with a wrong vision: he sees castles in the air. (6) There [in that human world] is he also, sometimes like being after a fata morgana in his eagerness to drink and eat and to have sex and such, a debauchee addicted to his senses. (7) Sometimes, as someone obsessed by that particular type of yellowish rubbish that is also an unlimited source of faults, tries he to get hold of gold, just like someone who looking for fire follows a phosphorescent fathom light. (8) This way is a person in this material forest at times fully absorbed in running hither and thither for the various items of a dwelling place, water and wealth, that are deemed necessary for sustenance. (9) Sometimes does he also, in the dark of night, driven by a momentary whirlwind of passion, mount an alluring woman; in total neglect of the higher vision does he then, blinded by the strength of that passion, notwithstanding the divinities of sun and moon, lose all notion in being overcome by a mind full of lust. (10) Occasionally for an instant he wakes up to the meaninglessness of the bodily conception of his self that destroyed his remembrance and of which he surely to the objects of his senses was running like after the water of a mirage. (11) At times, exactly like with the penetrating, repeated, typical sounds of owls and crickets, is there directly or indirectly the agitation caused by enemies and state officials, who by their punitive actions bring grief to the ear and heart. (12) When the conditioned soul has exhausted [the merit of] his good deeds in his previous life(s) and at that time approaches the wealthy ones with their dead souls, is he then himself just as dead within, because they are like the kâraskara, kâkatunda and such [fruitless trees]; they are just as fouled wells, incapable of making one happy ever. (13) Once he, in defiance of the authority, is after the association with the untrue, acts he like someone jumping into shallow waters and does he, from whatever side he leaps, approach the atheistic path, even though it brings distress. (14) When he, in spite of other plans destitute, blind to himself can't get his share from his father or his sons, will he then surely trouble his kith and kin about things as insignificant as a blade of grass. (15) Sometimes experiencing the life at home as a forest fire that brings no good but only more and more sadness, does he, burnt by the flames of grief, land in the deepest disappointment. (16) Sometimes is, by a carnivorous government that grew corrupt over time, the wealth held dear plundered and remains he, bereft of all his good life, like a corpse with the life air expired. (17) It also happens that he imagines the no longer existing of his deceased father, grandfather or others to exist again, so that following that mind the one running after matter finds the happiness of pipe dreams. (18) Sometimes, as a householder following the codes of fruitive conduct, he wants to climb the steepest mountain and does he, with his mind in hot material pursuit, lament like having entered a field full of thorns and sharp stones. (19) Occasionally unable to bear the fire of hunger and thirst, he runs out of patience and gets angry with his family members. (20) The one who thus for sure repeatedly is devoured by the python of sleep is, absorbed by the ignorance in the deep of darkness, wasted like a corpse which, left behind in the forest lying there, doesn't know a thing any more. (21) So now and then with his teeth broken on the envy of his serpentlike enemies, he suffers from insomnia and then falls down in the blind well of illusion with a consciousness gradually deteriorating of a debilitating rumination. (22) And then it happens that, searching after the sweet drops of desire of another woman or another man's riches, he appropriates them, so that he severely is chastised by the government or the relatives involved and thus ends up in an incomparably hellish life.
(23) It is now for this reason that the vedic authority says that it suffers no doubt that the fruitive activity of a living entity is the reason for being stuck in this material ocean. (24) Liberated from that, if he managed to escape the punishment, does a trader such ['Devadatta'] take his money away and does on his turn take another friend of Vishnu so ['Vishnumitra'] on his turn take from him, and thus do the riches pass from one person to another. (25) It also happens that from the various causes of nature, like heat and cold, of other beings and of one's own body and mind [resp. adhidaivika, adhibhautika, adhyâtmika kles'as, see also 2.10: 8] one is unable to counter the conditions producing the misery, so that one remains severely troubled by anxieties and depressions. (26) Sometimes, trading with one another, does, for whatever little bit of money or farthing appropriated, however insignificant, there rise enmity because of cheating. (27) On that path of material existence finds one all these endless difficulties which one has with happiness, unhappiness, attachment, hate, fear, false prestige, illusion, madness, lamentation, bewilderment, greed, envy, enmity, insult, hunger, thirst, tribulations, disease, birth, old age, death, and so on. (28) Somewhere, under the influence of the illusory energy, mâyâ, is he, firmly embraced by the creepers of the arms of a female companion, deeply embarrassed in finding himself at a loss void of all intelligence and wisdom; in the wish to please her and find her a suitable place to live, gets his heart engrossed of that concern and is his consciousness seized by the talks and nice looks offered by the sons and daughters under the care of the wife. Having lost the command over himself is he hurled into the endless darkness of a life in ignorance.
(29) It so happens that of the Controller, the Supreme Lord Vishnu His cakra or disc of Time, stretching from the first expansion of atoms to the duration of the complete life of Brahmâ, one has to suffer the symptoms of its cycling, to which in due course, swiftly before one's eyes, without a blink, all lives of the entities, from Brahmâ to the simplest blade of grass, are spent. Directly of Him, the Controller whose personal weapon is the disc of Time, is one surely afraid at heart ['the lion']. Not caring for the Supreme Lord, the Original Person of Sacrifice, accepts he what misses any foundation as something worshipable, preoccupied as he is with his self-made gods who are denied by the scriptures of civilization and who are are like buzzards, vultures, herons and crows. (30) When the conditioned soul by the atheists who themselves are cheated is cheated even more, takes he to the school of the brahmins, but with them as difficult people not finding satisfaction in the good character of engaging with the sacred thread to principle and scripture, nor finding that in the certain culture of performing the duties in worship of the Supreme Lord and Original Person of Sacrifice, turns he to the association of employees who are not purified in behaving according the vedic injunctions, and of them in a materialistic sexlife maintaining the family finds he himself in the company of those who think they evolved from monkeys. (31) In that condition to their own judgment free from hesitation enjoying like dull-witted apes, forget they how short life is in their, only for the good looks of one another, hankering for gratification and material results. (32) Delighted in their houses in which they like in trees, exactly like monkeys aspire greater comfort, spend they their time caring about and frolicking with their wife and children. (33) Thus is the conditioned soul confined on the sensual path and abides he out of fear for the elephant of death in a darkness as deep as that of a mountain cave. (34-35) Sometimes is he [as said] from his inability to counteract the insurmountable of the many miseries of the heat and cold of nature, other beings and his own existence, caught in sadness because of the sense gratification - irrespective the in transactions, sometimes by cheating acquired, little bit of wealth. (36) Now and then running out of money and bereft of accommodations for sleeping, sitting and eating, must he, as long as he is unsuccessful, by what he in his determination by unfair means obtained, in his desire, accept the insults and punishments from the people as a consequence of that. (37) Even though one, because of financially determined relations, more and more relates in enmity, engages one nevertheless in marriages which, based on these false notions, consequently end in divorces. (38) On this path through the ocean of matter is one plagued by the miseries of existence, to which the conditioned soul himself or someone else sometimes thinks to have won and sometimes thinks to have lost, in giving up relatives and accepting newly born ones. In that is a lot of sorrow, illusion and fearing found to which one loudly cries at times and sometimes is singing in glee. Save for the saintly souls returns this entire world of self-interested human beings never even to the present day to the one [place of God] from where this material course came into being and of which the defenders of the peace declare that it is also the end. (39) Not following the instructions of yoga nor this path is [by them] this abode not obtained, which by the wise, who meek abiding by peace are in control of their mind and senses, is easily attained. (40) However victorious in all fields, however expert they were in sacrifices; all who verily where the wisest kings were but of the earth in laying down their own lives, giving them up in being killed indeed because of the created hostility with others and in considering things to be 'mine' [compare 1.2: 13]. (41) Taking to the shelter of the embrace of fruitive action does one, with that risky position somehow or other being freed from a hellish life, that way existing on the path of material interests, again land in the world of human self-interest, despite of having been promoted to the higher life.
(42) There is not a single king able to follow the path of this what is sung here of that great soul Jada Bharata who is the son of Rishabhadeva, the great saintly king; just as much as a fly can't follow Garuda, the carrier of Vishnu. (43) It was he who gave up the wealth of a family, friends and well-wishers and the royal realm; fond of Uttamas'loka, the Lord praised, he, only in his prime years, renounced, like it was stool, that what is in the center of the heart. (44) To those whose minds are attracted by the loving service unto the killer of Madhu [Krishna] performed by the greatest souls, is everything that is so difficult to give up, the earth, the children, relatives, riches and