Book 1/Chapter 19/1:59
On the description of the marriage of S’ûka
1-4. S’rî S’ûka said :-- O king! This great doubt arises in my mind how a man
can be free from desires and the rewards of their actions, when he lives in the
midst of this Samsâra, that is all full of Mâyâ? When
even by the acquiring of wisdom of the S’âstras and the capability to judge
which is real and which is unreal, the delusion of the mind is not dispelled
until one resorts to the practice of Yoga, how then can freedom from desires
and liberation come to a householder?
The darkness of a room is not destroyed by
the mere mention of lamp, light; so the wisdom acquired by reading the S’âstras
can never dispel the darkness of delusion that reigns in the inside of a man.
O lion of kings! If one wants Moksa, one ought not to commit
any act of revenge or injury or killing any being; how can this be possible to
a householder?
5-17. Your desires to acquire wealth, to enjoy
royal pleasures and to get victory in battle have not yet subsided; how then
can you be a Jivan mukta? O king! You consider yet a thief, thief and a saint,
saint; you consider a man as your relative or other than that; these ideas have
not vanished from you; how then can you be called Videha? O king!
You feel the pungent, bitter, astringent, sour tastes and the like; you
feel good and bad rasas respectively; you become glad when success comes to you
and you feel sorrow when you happen to fail; and you experience the three states, waking, dreaming, and deep sleep as an
ordinary man does, how then can you be called to attain the Turîya (fourth)
state?
May I ask :-- Whether you cherish this
idea that all these infantries, cavalries, chariots, and that all these
elephants are mine; I am the lord of all the wealth and things? Or whether you do not cherish this idea? O king!
I think you eat sweet and good things, and, at times, feel pleasure and,
at other times, feel pain! So, O king!
How
can you look on the garland of flowers and the snake as one and the same?
O king!
He who is a Muktapurusa considers
a lump of earth, a piece of stone, and gold as of one and the same value; he
considers everything to be the same Âtmân and does good to all the beings. Whatever that may be, I do not find any
pleasure at present with houses, wife, etc., or with anything, in fact. What my heart’s desire is that I roam alone
always without any desires in my
heart.
Therefore I like not to have any companion; to be free from any
attachment and to be peaceful, and calm; I do not wish to accept anything from
anybody; I will forego all pleasures and pains from cold, warmth, etc., and I
will sustain my life on roots, fruits, and leaves, obtained without any effort
and will roam, as I like, like a deer. Then
I have not got the least attachment to the household life and when I am beyond all
the attributes, what necessity have I then of house, wealth or a suitable wife?
And when you think of various things with
loving heart, and yet say that you are a Jivanmukta, that is nothing but a mere
vanity of yours! O king! When you think and become anxious about your
enemies, about your wealth or sometimes about your army, how then can you be
said to be free from cares? What more can be said than the fact that many
Munis, eating moderately and controlling their senses, and leading an
anchorite's life, and knowing the unreality of the world, fall victims to the
Mâyâ!
18-27. Then what need there is to talk of you? O king!
know that the hereditary title “Videha” to your line of kings indicates
downright insincerity; nothing can be other than this as the name “Vidyâ Dhara”
(holder of knowledge) is applied to an illiterate man; as the name “Divâkara”
(sun) is given to a born-blind man, as the name
“Laksmîdhara” (holder of wealth) is given
to even a poor man, as these names are quite useless to me. I have heard that the kings of your family
who were your predecessors were called “Videha” in name only and not in deed.
O king!
In your family there reigned a king named “Nimi.” Once on a time that
royal sage invited his Guru Vas’istha to perform a sacrifice, when Vas'istha
said :-- “I am already invited by Indra, the lord of the Devas, to perform his
sacrifice; so O king! let me first
finish his work; I will then take up your work.
Better go on collecting the sacrificial materials till my that work is
complete.”
Thus saying, Vas'istha went away to
perform Indra's sacrifice; on the other hand, the royal sage Nimi selected
another priest and made him his Guru and began his sacrifice.
Hearing all this, Maharsi Vas’istha became
angry and cursed him thus :-- “O forsaker of your Guru! For the crime of forsaking your Guru, let thy
body be destroyed today!” At this, the royal sage, too, cursed Vas'istha in his
turn “Let your body fall off also.” Then the bodies of both the persons fell. But, O king!
this curiousity came to my mind, how the royal sage, whose body fell
before, cursed his own Guru afterwards.
28-35. Janaka said :-- O Lord of Brâhmins! what you have said is, in my opinion, all quite
true; nothing is false. Still hear. Know what my most worshipful Guru Deva has spoken
to me is, in fact, true (and nothing else).
You are now intending to quit the company
of your father and go to the forest; well and good! but even then you will undoubtedly have the
company of deer, etc.; see, also, that
when the five elements, earth, water, air, etc., are present, encompassing
everywhere, how, then, can you expect to be free from all companions?
So, O
Muni! when you will have to think always
of your food, how, then, can you be said to be free from all cares? Again, even if you go to the forest, you
will have to think there also for your staff, deer skin, etc.; so you can take
my case, too, of thinking of my kingdom, whether I think or not, as your
thinking of staff, deer skin, etc.
Your
heart is tainted with Vikalpa Jñân (knowledge of doubt, duality, etc.); and
therefore you have come here from a far-off country. But my heart is free from any such doubt and
I am remaining quite cheerful here.
O
best of Brâhmins! I have got no doubt
whatsoever on any point, and therefore I take my food and go to sleep with
great pleasure. “I am not bound up by
this world” this idea gives me constant happiness of the highest degree. But you consider that you are bound and therefore
you feel always constant pain.
So
leave off your idea that you are bound, and be happy. “This body is mine” this knowledge leads to
my bondage; and “This body is not mine” this knowledge leads to freedom so know
this verily that all this wealth,
kingdom,
etc., are not mine.
36-45. Sûta said :-- Hearing these words of the royal sage, S’ûka Deva became exceedingly
glad and pronounced “Sadhu” “Sâdhu” (true saint, indeed a true saint, well said)
and went away without any delay to the pleasant Âs’rama of Vyâsa. Vyâsa, too, seeing his son come back, became
very glad and embraced him and took the smell of his head and asked about his
welfare again and again. Then S’ûka
Deva, well conversant with the S’âstras and ever ready in studying the Vedas,
sat by the side of his father, with an enlightened mind, in his lovely Âs’rama
and thinking of the state of the highsouled Janaka in his kingdom, began to
feel the highest peace.
Though S’ûka adopted the path of Yoga, yet
he married the daughter of a Muni, named Pivarî, very beautiful, fortunate,
enhancing the glory of her father's family.
Then were born first the four sons named Krishna, Gauraprabha, Bhûri,
and Devas'ruta out of the sperm of S’ûka and the ovum of Pivari; and next a
daughter was born named Kîrti of them.
Vyâsa's son S’ûka, endowed with the fire
of asceticism gave the daughter Kîrti in marriage in due time with the
high-souled Anûha, the son of Vibhrâja. As
time passed on, a son was born of the womb of Kîrti and the sperm of Anûha, a
son who became the powerful king Brahmadatta, the knower of Brahmâ and endowed
with wealth and prosperity. Some time
elapsed when Anûha, the son-in-law of S’ûka Deva, getting from Nârada the
Mâyâvîja and highest knowledge of Yoga handed over his kingdom to his son and
went to the hermitage of Vadarikâ and became liberated. The Devarsî Nârada gave him the mantra, the
vîja of Mâyâ; and by the influence of that mantra and by the grace of the Devî,
the knowledge of the Supreme Brahmâ, arose in him without any obstacle and gave
him liberation.
46-51. On the other hand S’ûka Deva, always averse
to any company, left his father and went to the beautiful mountain Kailâs'a. He began to meditate on the unmoving Brahmâ
and thus remained there. After some time the highly energetic S’ûka
Deva attained Siddhi (supernatural powers) Animâ, Laghimâ, etc., rose up high
in the air from the top of the mountain and began to roam there, and then
he appeared like a second Sun. When S’ûka
arose from the peak, it severed into two and various ominous signs became
visible. When S’ûka Deva, appearing like
a second Sun by the dazzling brilliancy of his body, suddenly vanished away
like air and became diluted in the Paramâtman, entering into everything and
became invisible, then the Devarsis began to chant hymns to him. On the other hand, Vyâsa Deva became very
much distressed with the separation from his son and cried out frequently “Oh,
my son! Alas! my son Where are you gone?” and went to the
summit of the mountain where S’ûka did go and wept bitterly.
Then S’ûka Deva, who was then residing as
the Paramâtman, the Internal controller of all the beings and with all the
beings, knowing Vyâsa Deva as very much fatigued, distressed, and crying, spoke
out as an echo from the mountains and trees thus :-- “O Father! There is no difference between you and me,
considered in the light of Âtman; then why are you weeping for me?”
52-59. Even today the above echo is clearly heard
(almost daily). Seeing Vyâsa Deva grieved
very much for the separation from his son and always crying “Oh! my son!
Oh! my son!” Bhagavân Mahes'vara came there and consoled him saying “O
Vyâsa Deva! your son is the foremost of the Yogis; he has attained the highest
state, so very rare to the ordinary persons that are not self controlled. So do not be sorry any more. O Sinless One! when you have realised the Brahmâ-tattva,
then you ought not to express any sorrow for your S’ûka who is now stationed in
that Brâhman. Your fame is now unrivalled,
only on account of your having got a son like him.
Vyâsa Deva said :-- “O Lord of the Devâs! O Lord of the world! What am I to do now? My grief does not quit my heart anyhow or
other. My eyes are as yet satisfied in seeing my son; they like still to see
the son.” Hearing these sorrowful words of Vyâsa, Bhagâvan Mahâdeva said :-- “O
Muni Sârdula! I grant this boon to you
that you will see the form of your son abiding in shadow, very beautiful, by
the side of you. O Destroyer of enemies! Now abandon your grief by seeing that shadow
form of your son.” When Bhagavân Mahes'vara said so, Vyâsa began to see the
bright shade form of his son. Granting
thus the boon, Bhagavân Mahâdeva vanished then and there. When He vanished away, Vyâsa became very much
distressed with sorrow for the bereavement of his son and returned with heavy heart
to his own hermitage.
Thus ends the nineteenth chapter of the
first Skandha on the description of the marriage of S’ûka in the Mahâpurâna
S'rî Mad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses.
Source: Translation of The Srimad Devi Bhagvatam by Swami Vijnanananda
No comments:
Post a Comment