Book 1/Chapter 16
On Janaka’s giving instructions on truth to S’ûka Deva
1-22. Sûta said :-- Mahârsis! When the king Janaka heard of the arrival of
S’ûka Deva, the son of his Guru, he took his priest before him and attended by
his ministers came before him in pure spirit.
Then he duly worshipped S’ûka, offering him Pâdya, Arghya and an
excellent seat, and a cow, yielding milk and then enquired about his welfare.
S’ûka Deva accepted duly all the things
offered by the king; and informed him of his well-being and asked the king in
return, of his welfare and took his seat at ease on the Âsana.
The king Janaka asked the son of Vyâsa, full
of peace :-- “O Mahâbhâga Muni Sattama! You
are devoid of any attachment and you have no desires. May I enquire why such a person as your
honoured self has come to me.”
S’ûka Deva said :-- O great king! my father told me thus :-- O child; take a
wife; for the house-holder's life is the best of all the âs'ramas but I thought
that will be the source of my bondage to this world and therefore did not obey
his word, though he was my highest Guru.
He then again said to me :-- If one takes a household life, it does not
at once follow that he will be held in bondage; yet I did not agree to that.
Then the Muni, thinking me still to be in some
doubt, spoke this word of advice to me :-- “O Son! Do not be sorry; go to Mithilâ and have your doubts solved. There my disciple the king Janaka, is
governing his kingdom without any source of danger. He is Jivanamukta (liberated while living)
and is free from the ideas of body, etc., so everybody knows. When that royal sage, Janaka, though
governing his kingdom, is not seen tied up by Mâyâ, then O Son! why are you afraid of this Samsâra, when you
are living this forest life.
Therefore, O Mahâbhâga! Trust me and marry; and in case you doubt
very much, then go and see the king Janaka; ask him and remove your doubts. He will certainly solve your doubts. But, O Son!
After hearing him, come again quickly to me.
O king!
When my father spoke thus, by his permission I have come now to your
capital. O king! I don't want any thing, save Moksa
(liberation); therefore O Sinless one! Kindly
advise what am I to do, so that I attain Moksa.
O Lord of kings! Practising
asceticism, going to the holy places of pilgrimage, holding vratas (vows),
performing sacrifices, studying the Vedas, or earning wisdom, whatever is the
cause of Moksa, kindly say that.
Hearing this, Janaka said :-- “O son of my
Guru! I am telling what ought to be done
by the Brâhmanas, following the path of Moksa; listen. After having the holy thread, a Brâhmin
should live in the house of his Guru to study the Vedas, the Vedântas and pay the
Dakshinâ (the fee) to the Guru according to rules; he will then return home and
marry and enter into the householder's life; he should lead a life of
contentment, be free from desires, sinless and truthful and earn his livelihood
with a pure heart and according to the sanction of justice and conscience. He is to perform the Agnihotra and other
sacrifices; and after getting sons and grandsons, he is to leave his wife under
the care of his son and then to take the life of a Vânaprastha (3rd stage of
life). That Brâhman, the knower of
Dharma, must practise tapasyâ and become master of his six passions (enemies);
and when he gets disgusted with the world and when the Vairâgyam (dispassion)
will arise within him, he would enter into the fourth Âs'rama.
For, the man is first to enter into the
householder's life and when he will be quite dispassionate towards the world,
he will then have a right to take the Âs’rama of Sannyâsa (Renunciation). A course contrary to this can never entitle
one to the Âs’rama of Sanyâsa. This is the beneficial word of the Vedas and it
must hold true; it cannot be false; this is my firm belief.
O S’ûka!
In the Vedas are mentioned forty-eight Samskâras (consecrations;
purificatory rites); out of which the learned Mahâtmas have reserved forty
Samskâras for the householders and the last eight Samskâras (S'ama, Dama,
etc.,) for the Sannyâsins. And this good
usage is heard to come down from very ancient times. A Brâhmana ought to complete his previous Âs’ramas
successively and then enter into the succeeding Âs’rama.
23-30. S’ûka said :-- If the pure Vairâgyam
(dispassion) arising out of knowledge and wisdom (jñân and Vijñân) already
arises (before taking to the grihasth Âs'ram), is it still necessary to pass
through house holder’s life, Vânaprastha life, etc., or is one entitled then to
take up at once the Sannyâsa Âs'rama, quit everything and reside in the forest?
Janaka said :-- O! One giving honour to the S’âstras and Gurus! Though the
powerful passions seem to be under control
in the period of unripened Yoga (the imperfect yogic state), yet one ought not
to trust them; for, it is generally seen, many imperfect Yogins find themselves
disturbed by one or other of the senses.
If the mind of one who has already entered
into the Sannyâsa Âs’ram gets perturbed in his course, then, how can he, you
can see this for yourself, satisfy desires of eating good things, sleeping
nicely, seeing his son, or wishing any other desires, knowing them to lead to his
degradation? He is then in a very
serious state.
The net of desires is very difficult to be
conquered by men; that can never die out.
Therefore, to put an end to them, the advise is to cut them slowly and
slowly.
He who sleeps on an elevated place has the
danger of tumbling down; but one who sleeps in a low place has no such danger. So any man who has once taken the highest
dharma Sannyâsa, and if he be fallen, then he never gets hold of the real track.
As an ant begins to get from the root of
tree, and, by and by, gets to the topmost part of the branches, so human beings
go by degrees from one Âs'rama to another till they go to the highest; then and
then only they are able to get easily their desired truth.
The birds without anticipating any danger,
get up to the skies very quickly and soon they get tired and cannot go to their
desired place but the ant goes with rest to its desired place.
This mind is very difficult to be
controlled; for this reason the men of unripened minds, cannot conquer it all
at once; and are advised to conquer it, by and by, observing the laws of one Âs’rama
after another.
31-37. See also if anybody, remaining in his
household life be of a quiet temper and of good intellect, and if he takes
success and failure in the same light, and be not elated in times of pleasure
and not depressed in times of pains and does his duty for duty’s sake without
troubling his mind with cares, and anxieties, then that householder acquires pure
happiness by the realisation of his self and acquires Moksha. There is no manner of doubt in this.
O Sinless One! See, I am liberated while living, though I am
engaged in preserving kingdom; if any source of pain or pleasure arises, I am
not in any way affected by them. As I
will attain in the end Videha Mukti (liberation from bodies) though I am always
wandering at my free will, enjoying various things as I like and do various
things as it pleases me, so you can do your duties and then be liberated in the
end.
O Son of my Guru! When this material world, the cause of all
error according to the Vedanta S’âstras, is simply an object of sight then how
can this material substance, an object of sight, be the source of bondage to
the Âtman, the Self? O Brâhman!
Though the five material elements can be
seen, their qualities or Gunas can be known only by inference, so the self is
to be inferred; it can never be an object of sight; and also this self, known
by inference, changeless and without any impurity or stain can never be bound
by the visible changeful material thing.
O Brâhman!
This impure heart is the source of all pleasure and pains; so when the
heart becomes pure and quiet, all the things then become fully pure, O
Brâhmana!
38-41. If going often and often to all Tiraths and
bathing there, do not make one's heart pure and holy, then all one's troubles
are taken in vain.
O Destroyer of enemies! It is the mind that is the cause of bondage
or freedom; and not the body, nor the Jivâtmâ (the embodied soul), nor the
senses.
The Self or Âtman is always pure
consciousness and is ever free so, truly speaking, it can never be bound.
Bondage and freedom reside on in the mind;
so when the Mind gets peace, the bondage of Samsâra is also at an end. He is an
enemy, he is a friend, he is neither an enemy nor friend, all these different thoughts
reside in the mind and arise out of duality; how can the ideas of differences exist,
when everything has become all one pervading self?
42-47. Jîva is Brahmâ; I am that Brahmâ and nothing
else; there is nothing to be discussed here.
It is owing to the dualities that monism appears not clear anddifferences between Jîva and Brahmâ arise.
O Mahâbhâga! This difference is due to Avidyâ and by which
this difference vanishes, that is termed Vidyâ.
This difference between Vidyâ and Avidyâ ought to be always kept in
view, by those that are clever.
How can the pleasure from the cooling
effect of the shadow, be felt, if the heating effect of the rays of the Sun be
not previously experienced?
So how Vidyâ is to be experienced if
Avidyâ be not felt before?
Sattva, Rajas and Tamo Gunas reside naturally
in things, made of Gunas; and the five principal elements reside naturally in substances
made up of elements; so the senses reside naturally in their own forms, etc.; so
how can there be any stain to the Âtman which is unattached?
Yet to teach humanity, the high souled
persons preserve always with greatest care the respect of the Vedas. If they do not do this, then, O Sinless One! the ignorant persons would act lawlessly
according to their wishes, like the Chârvâkas; and Dharma will become extinct. When Dharma will become extinct, the Varnâs’rama
will gradually die out; so the well-wishers should always follow the path of
the Vedas.
48-56. S’ûka said :-- “O King! I have now heard all that you have said;
still my doubt remains; it is not solved.
O King! In the Dharma of the
Vedas, there is Himsâ (act of killing and injuring); and we hear that there is
much of Adharma (sin) in the above Himsâ.
So how can the Dharma of the Vedas give Moksha?
O King!
One can see before one's eyes that the drinking of Soma rasa, the
killing of animals, the eating of fish and flesh and so are advised in the
Vedas; so much so that in the sacrificial ceremony named Sautrâmana the rule of
drinking wine and many other vratas are clearly mentioned; even gambling is
advised in the Vedas. So how can Mukti
be obtained by following the Veda Dharma?
It is heard that, in ancient times, there
was a great king, named
S'as'avindu, very religious, truthful, and
performing sacrifices, very liberal; he
protected the virtuous, and chastised
those that were wicked and going astray.
He performed many Yajñas, where many cows and sheep were sacrificed
according to the rules of the Vedas and abundant Dakshinâs (sacrificial fees)
were presented to every one that performed their parts in the sacrifices. In these sacrifices, the hides of the cows that
were sacrificed as victims, were heaped to such an enormous extent that they looked
liked a second Bindhyâchal mountain. Then
the rains fell and the dirty water coming out of that enormous heap of skins
flowed down and gave rise to a river which was thence called the Charmanvatî
river. And what a wonder? That cruel king left behind him an
ineffaceable fame and went to Heavens. Whatever
it may be, it can never come to my head that I should perform the Veda Dharma,
filled with so many acts of killing and cruelties.
Again, when the man find pleasure in
sexual intercourses and when they do not have that intercourse, they experience
pain, how can you expect such persons to attain liberation.”
57-61. Janaka said :-- “The killing of animals in a
sacrificial ceremony is not killing; it is known as Ahimsâ; for that himsâ is
not from any selfish attachment; therefore when there is no such sacrifice and
the animals are killed out of selfish attachment, then that is real himsâ;
there is no other opinion in this.
Smoke arises from a fire when fuels are placed
in it; and smoke is not seen when no fuel is added. So, O Munisattama! The himsâ, as prescribed in the Vedas, is
free from all blemishes, selfish attachment, etc., and therefore it is
unblameable.
So it follows the himsâ committed by
persons attached to objects, is the real himsâ; that can be blamed, but the
himsâ of those persons who have no desires is not that sort of himsâ.
Therefore the learned men that know the Vedas
declare that the himsâ done by the dispassionate persons, with their hearts
free from egoism, is no himsâ done at all.
O Dvija!
Really speaking, the killing of animals done by the house-holder
attached to senses and their objects, and done under their impulses can be
taken into account as a real act of killing;
but,
O Mahâbhâga of those whose hearts are not
attached to anything of those self controlled persons, desirous of moksa, if
they do an act of Himsâ out of a sense of duty, with no desires of fruits and with
their hearts free from egoism that can never be reckoned as a real act of
killing.”
Thus ends the 18th Chapter of the 1st
Skandha on Janaka's giving instructions on truth to S’ûka Deva in the
Mahâpurânam S’rîmad Devî Bhâgavatam.
Source: Translation of The Srimad Devi Bhagvatam by Swami Vijnanananda
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