Book 1/Chapter 15/Verse 1-67
On the dispassion of S’ûka and the instructions of Bhagavatî to Hari
1-67. Hearing
these words of Vyâsa Deva S’ûka Deva said :-- O Father! I do
not like at all to take to a householder's life; as I see clearly that it
fastens men, as a cord fastens animals, and is a source of incessant pain. O
Father! Where can you expect happiness from a
householder who is always loaded with anxiety how and whence to get wealth? Those,
who have greed for wealth, oppress their poor relatives, even; and extort money.
Even one who is the lord of the three
worlds, who is their Indra, he also is not so happy as a beggar, that has no
desires. See, then, who else can be happy in this world? Whenever
an ascetic is seen to practise severe asceticism, Indra, the lord of the Devas
becomes anxious and sorry, and raises various obstacles in his way. See
also that Brahmâ is not happy with his big samsâra (his creation which is his
house). Bhagavân Visnu, though He has got His
beautiful Kamalâ, the presiding Deity of all wealth and prosperity, is always
suffering, since He is incessantly engaged in fighting with the Asuras; and
though He is the husband of Laksmî and full of prosperity, He practises,
almost, every now and then, terrible asceticism with great care and earnestness. So who
else is there, who is possessed of constant happiness? I know
also Bhagavân S'ankara, too, suffers incessant troubles and has to fight
against the Daityâs.
So, then, O Father: how can a poor
householder be happy when the rich householder cannot sleep happily, with his
constant care for wealth. O highly fortunate one! Knowing
full well this truth of the world, why are you plunging me, your son, in this
terrible Samsâra, full of pains and agonies.
O Father!
What shall I say to you about the
miseries of the world! There is pain in birth, pain in old age, pain
in death, and pain in the life in the womb full of urines and faeces; but the
pain, arising from desire and greed, is more terrible than all the pains mentioned
above; and then, the pains experienced while asking for them are greater than the
pangs of death.
Alas!
There is no other way for the
Brahmâns to earn their livelihood than to accept gifts from others. Therefore
the Brahmâns have to suffer daily death-like pangs in having to wait in
expectation from others; can there be anything more regrettable than this? The
Brahmânas, studying all the Vedas and Dharma S'âstras and acquiring wisdom,
have got at last to go to the rich and praise them (in expectation of some
money) carefully.
O Father!
If one does not become a
householder, then what care is there to feed one's own belly? If
there be contentment in the mind, any how the belly can be filled with leaves,
roots and fruits; but if there be wife, sons and grandsons and many dependent
relatives, then to feed them all, much trouble and anxiety are experienced. So how
can you expect, O Father! perfect happiness in the world? So teach
me, O Father! the S’âstras on Yoga and eternal truth that
will give perfect happiness; no advice in karma kânda (the series of actions)
will bring me pleasure.
Now advise me how the karmas can be
exhausted; how the root of the three sorts of karmas, Sanchita, Prârabdha, and
Vartamâna, giving torments of birth, death, etc., the Avidyâ, the great
ignorance, can be destroyed?
The fools do not understand how the women
suck the blood out of persons like leeches, for they get themselves deluded by their
gestures and postures! The lady of the house, whom the people call
kântâ, the beautiful one, steal away the semen virile, the strength and energy
in the way of giving them happiness as sexual intercourse, and their minds and
wealth and everything by their crooked love conversations; so see what greater
thief can there be than a woman? In my
opinion, those that are ignorant are certainly deluded by the Creator; they
accept wife to destroy their own pleasure of happiness. They
can never understand that the women can never be the source of pleasure; they
are the source of all miseries.
Hearing these words of S’ûka, Vyâsa became
merged in the deep sea of
cares and anxieties, thinking what to do
then. The incessant tears of pain flowed from his
eyes; his whole body began to shiver and his mind became too much worried.
Seeing this distressed and sorrowful state
of his father, S'ûkdeva, with eyes full of wonder, said :-- Oh! What a
power has Mâyâ got? Oh!
He, whose words are accepted by
all, with great love and care as equivalent to the Vedas, who is the author of
the Vedânta Dars'ana, and before whom nothing is veiled in ignorance, Oh! that
greatest Pundit, the knower of all the Tattvas, is now deluded by Mâyâ? Oh! what
is that Mâyâ who has been able to delude Vyâsa Deva, the son of Satyavati, so
skilled in the knowledge of Brahmâ Vidyâ; I also do not know how, with what great care, one is to practise
Sâdhanâ towards Her.
Alas!
He who has composed eighteen Mahâ
Purânas and the great Mahâ Bhârata, who has divided the Vedas in four parts,
the same Veda Vyâs has today been deluded by the power of Mâyâ! What
to speak of other persons! Oh! Mâyâ has deluded Brahmâ, Visnu, Mahes'vara and
others and the whole universe; then who is there in the three worlds that is
not fascinated by Her influence!
I therefore, take refuge unto the Internal
Governess, the Devî Mahâ Mâyâ. Oh! What wonderful power She wields? By her
own Mâyic power, She has kept God even under Her control, who is omniscient and
the Controller of all. The Pundits, who know the Purânas say, that
Vyâsa Deva is born of the part of Visnu; but, see the wonder, that he is today
plunged in the sea of delusion like a merchant whose ship has been wrecked. Alas! How
great is the wonderful power of Mâyâ! The all-knowing Vyâsa is today under the
control of Mâyâ and is weeping like an ordinary man! So I
have come to the firm conclusion that the wise Pundits are incapable to surpass
the strength of Mâyâ. What a great error arises through the power of
Mâyâ!
See!
Indeed!! Who is
he and who am I? What for we have come
here? There is no certainty, nothing whatsoever,
about that. And, see, also, how he has got the nice idea
of “father” on his body and the idea of “his son” in my body, that are composed
of five elements.
This is now quite evident to me that, when
the Brâhmin Maharsi Krisna Dvaipâyan is weeping under the influence of Mâyâ,
She is the strongest of all; even those who are skilled in the great Mâyâ fall
under Her prey.
Then S’ûka Deva bowed down mentally to the
Devî, Mahâ Mâyâ, who is the Creatrix of Brahmâ and the other Devas and who is
the Controller of them all; and then began to speak the following auspicious
words pregnant with reason, to his father Vyâsa Deva, greatly distressed and
plunged in the sea of sorrows :-- “O Father!
You are exceedingly fortunate,
for you are the son of the high souled Parâs'ara and you yourself are the instructor
of real truth, the tattva jnâna, to all persons; so, O Lord! Why
are you giving vent to sorrows, like an ordinary bewildered man? O Mahâbhâga!
Why are you plunging yourself in this great error,
though you are a high souled personage! See, it is quite true that now I am born as
your son; but this I don't know what relation existed between you and me in my
previous birth?
So, O highly intelligent one! Open
your eyes of wisdom, and be patient; do not throw yourself, in vain, in the sea
of sorrows.
All this universe is like a net of
delusion; knowing this, abandon all your grief; why are you feeling yourself so
much weak and distressed, for your attachment towards your son? Hunger
is satisfied by eating something, and thirst is satisfied by the drinking of water;
hunger is not satisfied by seeing the son.
So the organ of scent is
satisfied by smelling sweet scents; and the organ of hearing is satisfied by
hearing sweet music; and when thirst arises to enjoy women, that is satisfied
only by sexual intercourse; but what satisfaction can a son give? So what shall I do to you by remaining as your
son? The son, in fact, is not the cause of any
satisfaction to one's self. For this reason, in ancient days, the poor
Brahmin Ajigarta gave his son to the king Harischandra, for necessary equivalent
price in money, who wanted a man for his sacrifice where human beings are to be
sacrificed as victims.
In fact, those things that are urgently
required as necessities give happiness; and all these articles can be obtained
by wealth; so if you want to enjoy happiness, then earn money; of what use
shall I be to you as your son? O Muni! You can
see subtle things and you are greatly intelligent; so I pray to you, to look
upon me as your son and open my eyes of wisdom, that I can be free for ever
from this womb of birth.
O Sinless one! To get
a human birth in this land of Karma (in India) is very difficult; again to get
a Brâhmin birth is extremely rare; so when I have got this so very rare birth,
why shall I spend my time in vain? O
Father! Though I have served many spiritual teachers,
fraught with wisdom, for many years, yet the firm idea “I am, as it were, bound
up in this net of Samsâra” the notion covered with dark darkness of ignorance, caused by desires, this
net of Samsâra does not leave me.
When the son S’ûka Deva of extraordinary
power and intelligence spoke thus, Vyâsa saw that his son was strongly inclined
to take to the four Âs'ram, that of Sannyâsa and spoke thus :-- O Son! If
your mind has become so, then read Bhâgavat Purâna, composed by me, highly
auspicious, voluminous, and the second Vedas.
In this you have the chapters on Creation
(Sarga) and secondary creation (upa sarga), etc., the five characteristics as
in other Purânas and it is sub-divided into twelve Skandhas. Hearing
of this Bhâgavata brings up to the mind that Brahmâ alone is real and all the
universe is unreal and knowledge both intuitive and indirect springs up. For this
very reason, the Bhâgavata treatise is considered as the ornament of the
Purânas.
Therefore, O highly intelligent one! you
better study the Purâna. O Child!
In days of yore, at the end of a
Kalpa, Bhagavân Hari was lying, as a small child on a floating leaf of a banyan
tree, and was thinking thus :-- “Who is the Intelligent One that has created me
a small child? What is His object? Of what stuff am I made of? And how am I created? Whence can I know all this?” At this moment
the Devî Bhagavatî Who is all chaitanya, seeing the high-souled Bhagavân Hari
musing thus, spoke out in the form of a celestial voice in the following
half-stanza:-- “All this that is seen is I Myself; there is
existent nothing other that is eternal.
Bhagavân Visnu, then, began to think
deeply the above celestial voice :-- “Who has uttered this word, pregnant of
truth, to me? How shall I come to know
the speaker, whether that is female, male or a hermaphrodite?”
Pondering over this for a long time, when
he could not come to a definite conclusion, he began to repeat (make japam)
frequently that word of Bhagavatî with a whole heart.
When Hari, lying on a banyan tree leaf,
became very anxious to know what the above words implied, then the
all-auspicious Devî Bhagavatî with a beautiful face, calm and quiet appearance,
appeared before Bhagavân Visnu, of unrivalled splendour, in the form of Mahâ
Laksmî, who is all of Sattva Guna, surrounded by Her Vibhûtis, Her manifestations
of attendents, Her smiling companions of the same age, decked with ornaments,
and wearing divine clothings, and holding each in their four divine hands, conch
shell, disc, club, and lotus.
The lotus eyed Visnu was very much
surprised to see that beautiful Devî, standing without anything to rest on that
water; He saw that on four sides of the Devî, were staying Rati, Bhûti, Buddhi,
Mati, Kîrti, Smriti, Dhriti, S'raddhâ, Medhâ, Svadhâ, Svâhâ, Kshudhâ, Nidrâ,
Dayâ, Gati, Tusti, Pusti, Ksamâ, Lajjâ, Jrimbhâ Tandrâ and other personified
forces, each possessing a clear distinct form, and endowed with a clear
distinct feeling. In the hands of them all were divine weapons;
on their necks, necklaces and garlands of Mandâra flowers; and all the limbs of
their bodies were decorated with divine ornaments. Seeing
in that one mass of ocean the Devî Laksmî and Her S'aktis, Bhagavân Janârdan,
the soul of all, became greatly astonished and thought within Himself thus :-- “What
is this? Is this Mâyâ that I am
witnessing? Whence have appeared these
women? and whence have I come here, lying
on this banyan leaf? How has the banyan
tree come to existence in this one mass of ocean? And who is it, that has placed me here in the form of a child? Is this my Mother? Or is this some Mâyâ that can create
impossible things? Why has She made
Herself manifest before me now? Or is
there some hidden motive that She has appeared thus? What ought I to do now? Or shall I go to some other place? Or shall I continue remaining here in this
form of the child, silent and with vigilance.
Thus ends the fifteenth chapter of the 1st
Skandha on the dispassion of S'ûka and the instructions of Bhagavatî to Hari in
the Mahâpurâna S’rî Mad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda Vyâsa.
Source: Translation of The Srimad Devi Bhagvatam by Swami Vijnanananda
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