Book 1/Chapter 4/Verse 1-66
On the excellency of the Devî
1-3. The Risis said :-- O Saumya! How was S’uka Deva born?
Who studied these Purâna Samhitâs; by which wife of Vyâsa Deva? And How? O
highly intelligent one!
You have just spoken that S’uka Deva was not born from womb, in
the natural way; he was born of the dry pieces of wood for Homa sacrifice.
But we heard before that the great ascetic was Yogi even in his
mother's womb, so a great doubt comes to our minds. You better remove
that to-day; how he studied also these Purânas, as vast in their nature; say
this.
4-5. Sûta said :-- In long-past days, Satyavati's son Vedas
Vyâs, while in his own hermitage on the banks of the river Sarasvati, was
greatly wondered to see a pair of Châtakas (Sparrows). He saw the pair
putting the beak of their young one, just born of the egg, of beautiful body, red
mouth, and greasy body. They do not care at all for their own hunger and
toil; all they are caring for is to nurture their young one. He said
also that the pair are rubbing their bodies over the body and kissing
lovingly the mouth of the young one and feeling the highest pleasure
Seeing this wonderful affection of the two sparrows towards their
young, Veda Vyâs became very anxious and thought over the following in his mind.
9-14. Oh! What wonder is there, when the birds have so much
filial affection towards their child, that men, who want services from their
sons, would show their affection towards their sons! This pair of
sparrows will not perform the happy marriage of their young one and will not
see the face of their son’s wife; nor when they will grow old, that their child
would become very religious and serve them to attain great merits
in Heaven. Nor do they expect that their child would earn money
and satisfy them nor the child would perform when they die, their funeral
obsequies duly and help them in their sojourn in the next world; nothing of all
these. Nor will the child perform the S’râdh ceremony at Gayâ; nor
will the child offer the oblation of a blue bull on the day of offering the
sacrifice to its ancestor (the bull is then let loose and held sacred); yet the
pair of sparrows have so much affection towards their young one!
Oh! in this world to touch the body of the son, especially to
nurture the sons, is the highest happiness in life.
15-27. There is no prospect in the after birth of the
sonless; never, never will Heaven be his. Without son, there is none other who
can be of help in the next world.
Thus in the Dharma S’âstras, Manu and other Munis declare that the
man who has sons goes to Heaven and the sonless one can never go to Heaven.
The man possessing a son is entitled to the Heavenly pleasures can be
vividly seen, rather than imagined. The man with son is freed from
sins; this is the word of the Vedas. The sonless man becomes very
much distressed even at the time of death and while lying on bed that is ground
at that time, mournfully thinks. “This all my vast wealth, various
things, this my beautiful house, who will enjoy all these?”
When the sonless man is thus perplexed in his mind at the time of
his death and becomes restless, then it is sure that his future career is full
misfortunes; unless one’s mind is calm and serene at the time of death, can
never attain a good goal. Thus thinking variously, the Satyavati's son
Veda Vyâs sighed heavily and became unmindful. He thought of various
plans and at last, coming to a definite conclusion, went to the Sumeru mountain
to perform Tapasyâ.
On reaching there, he thought which Deva he will worship!
Visnu, S’iva, Indra, Brahmâ, Surya, Ganes’a, Kârtikeya, Agni, or Varuna?
Who will grant him boon quickly and thus satisfy his desires. While
thus cogitating in his mind, came there the Muni Nârada, of one mind with lute
in hamd, accidentally in his course of travels. Seeing Nârada, the
Satyavati’s son Veda Vyâsa gave him a hearty welcome, with great gladness,
offering him Arghya and Âsan (seat) and asked about his welfare. Hearing
this question of welfare, Nârada Muni spoke :-- “O Dvaipâyan! Why do you look
so care worn! First speak this out to me”.
28-30. Veda Vyâsa said :-- “ The sonless man has no goal;
therefore there is no happiness in my mind; I am always anxious to get a son
and therefore I am very sorry.
Today my mind is sorely troubled with the one idea, which Deva I
may satisfy by my tapasyâ, who will grant me my desires; now I take your
refuge. O merciful Maharsi! You are omniscient; say this quickly;
which Deva I will take for my refuge, who will grant me a son”.
31-37. Sûta said :-- Thus questioned by Krisna Dvaipâyan Veda
Vyâsa, the high souled Nârada Muni, well versed in the Vedas, became very glad
and spoke thus :-- O highly fortunate Parâs'arâ’s son. The question that you
have asked me to-day was formerly asked by my father to Nârâyana. At this,
Nârâyana Vasudeva, the Deva of the Devas, the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer
of the Universe, the husband of Laksmî, the four armed, wearing yellow
garment, holding conchshell, discus, club and with the mark S’rîvatsa (a mark
or curl of hair on the heart of Visnu) adorning His breast and decorated with Kaustuvagem,
the Divinity Himself, became merged in great Yoga; at this my Father became
greatly surprised and said :-- “O Janârdana! Thou art the Deva of the Devas;
the Lord of the Present, the Past and the Future, the Lord of this Universe;
why art thou meditating in Yoga? And what is it that Thou art
meditating? O best of the Devas! Thou art the Lord of the entire
Universe and yet Thou art now merged in deep meditation. At this I am
greatly surprised (my surprise is not without foundation; Thou canst Thyself see). What
more wonderful than this can happen?
38-43. O Lord of Rama! I am sprung from the lotus from
thy navel and have become the Lord of this whole universe; who is there in this
universe that is superior to Thee; kindly say this to me. O Lord of the
world? Thou art the Origin of all, the Cause of all causes, the
Creator, Preserver and Destroyer and the capable Doer of all actions.
O Maharaja! at Thy will, I create this whole universe and Rudra destroys
iu due time this world. He is always under Thy command. O
Lord! By Thy command the Sun roams in the sky; the wind blows in
various auspicious or inauspicious ways and the fire is giving heat and the
cloud showers rain. I don’t see in the three Lokas any one superior
to Thee. Then whom art Thou meditating while being questioned by his
very intelligent son S’uka Deva! not born in the usual way from womb,
Dvaipâyana expounded all the secret excellent meanings of the Purâna and
thereby I also came to know them also.
O saintly persons! Thus S’uka Deva, sincerely earnest to
cross this endless bottomless ocean of S’amsara, tasted of the wonderful traits
of the Veda, the Kalpa tree, this S’rimad Bhâgavata with its numerous stories
and anecdotes with great eagerness and intense pleasure.
38-43. Oh! Who is there in this world that is not freed
from this terror of Kali, after he has heard this Bhâgavata. Even if the
greatest sinner, void of the right ways of living and Achara as ordained in the
Vedas, hears on a pretence this excellent Devî Bhâgavata, the chief of the
Purânas, he enjoys all the great enjoyments of this world and in the end
attains the eternal place occupied by the Yogis.
She who is rare, in Her Nirguna aspect, to even Hari and Hara, who
is very dear as Tattva Vidya to the Jñanins whose real nature can be realised
only in Samâdhi, She resides always in the cavity of the heart of the hearers
of the Bhâgavata Purâna. He who getting the all qualified human birth and
getting the reciter of this Purâna, the boat to cross, as it were, this world,
does not hear this blissful Purâna, he is certainly deprived by the Creator.
How is it that the way-ward dull-headed persons, getting the vicious
ears, can hear always the faults and calumnies of others, that are entirely
useless, and cannot hear this pure Purâna that contains the four Vargas :--
Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Mokhsa?
This is my main point of doubt. O One of good vows! I
am Thy devotee; be merciful to me and speak this to me. There is almost
nothing that is secret to Mahâpurusas; this is a well-known fact”.
44-50. Thus hearing Brahmâ's words, Bhagavan Nârâyana spoke
:-- “O Brahmân! I now speak out my mind to you; listen carefully.
Though the Devas, Dânavas and men and all the Lokas know that You are the
Creator, I am the Preserver and Rudra is the Destroyer, yet it is to be known
that the saints, versed in the Vedas, have come to this conclusion by inference
from the Vedas that the creation, preservation, and destruction are performed
by the creative force, preservative force and destructive force. The
Rajasik creative force residing in you, the Sattvik preservative force residing
in me, and the Tamasik destructive force residing in Rudra are the all-in-all.
When these Saktis become absent, you become inert and incapable to
create, I to preserve and Rudra to destroy.
O intelligent Suvrata! We all are always under that Force
directly or indirectly; hear instances that you can see and infer. At the
time of Pralaya, I lie down on the bed of Ananta, subservient to that Force;
again I wake up in the time of creation duly under the influence of Time.
51-54. I am always subservient to that Maha S’akti; (under
Her command) I am engaged in Tapasyâ for a long time; (By Her command) some
time I enjoy with Lakshmî; some time I fight battles, terrible to all the
Lokas, with the Dânavas, involving great bodily troubles.
O Know of Dharma! It was before Your presence that I fought
hand to hand fight for five thousand years before Your sight on that one great
ocean in long-past days with the two demons Madhu and Kaitabha, sprung from the
wax of my ear, maddened with pride; and by the grace of the Devî, successfully
killed the two Dânavas.
55-61. O highly fortunate one! you realised then the great
S’akti, higher than the highest and the cause of all causes; then why are you
asking again and again that question
By the will of that S’akti, I have got this idea of man and roam
on the great ocean; in yuga after yuga, I assume by Her will, the Tortoise,
Boar, Man-Lion, and Dwarf incarnations. No one likes to take birth in the
womb of inferior animals (especially birds). Do you think that I
willingly take unpleasant births as in the womb of boars, tortoise, i.e.,
certainly not. What independent man is there who abandons the pleasurable
enjoyment with Laksmi and takes birth in inferior animals as fish, etc. Or
leaves his seat on the seat of Gaduda and becomes engaged in great
war-conflicts. O Svayambhu! In ancient days you saw before your
eyes that my head was cut off when the bowstring suddenly gave way; and then
you, brought a horse's head and by that help, the divine artist Visvakarma,
stuck that on to my headless body. O Brahmâ! Since then I am known
amongst men by the name of “Hayagrîva”. This is well-known to you. Now
say, were I independent, would such an ignominy have happened to me?
Never. Therefore I am not independent; I am in every way
under that S’akti. O Lotus born!
I always meditate on that S’akti; and I do not know any other than
this S’akti”.
62-66. Nârada said :-- Thus spoke Visnu to Brahmâ. O Muni
Vedavyâs! Brahmâ spoke these to me.
So you, too, better meditate the lotus feet of Bhâgavati calmly in
the lotus of your heart for the success of your idea. That Devî will give you
all that you wish.
Sûta said :-- At these words of Nârada, Satyavati's son Veda Vyâsa
went out to the hills for Tapasyâ, trusting the lotus feet of the Devî as the
all-in-all in this world.
Thus ends the fourth chapter of the first Skandha on the
excellency of the Devî in the Mahapurâna S’rimad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000
verses.
Source: Translation of The Srimad Devi Bhagvatam by Swami Vijnanananda
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