Book 1/Chapter 7/Verse 1-50
On the praise of the
Devî
1-26. Sûta
said :-- Seeing the two Dânavas very powerful, Brahmâ, the knower of all the S’âstras,
thought of the means Sâma, Dâna, Bheda, Danda (conciliation, gifts, bribe, or
sowing dissensions and war or punishment); which of these four he should apply. He thought thus :-- “I do not know their
strength and it is not advisable to enter into war without knowing their
strength. Again if I offer praises to
them puffed up with pride, it will be simply displaying my own weakness; and
when they will come to know this, only one of them will be sufficient to kill
me and this they will do certainly.
To offer bribes is not also advisable; and
how can I sow dissensions. Therefore it
is best that I should rouse the four armed Janârdana Visnu, who is very
powerful, from his sleep on the thousand headed Ananta serpent. He will remove my difficulties”.
Thus thinking in his mind, Bhagavân
Brahmâ, the lotus-born remained in the tubular stalk of the lotus from Visnu's
navel and thence took refuge mentally of Visnu, the remover of difficulties and
began to chant auspicious hymns composed of various metres to Jagannâth
Nârâyana, involved in deep Yoganidrâ (meditative sleep). He said :-- “O Refuge of the poor! O Hari! O
Visnu! O Vâmana! O Mâdhava, Thou art the Lord of the universe and omnipresent. O Hrisikes'a! Thou removest all the
difficulties of Thy devotees; therefore leave your Yoganidrâ and get up. O Vâsudeva! O Lord of the Universe! Thou
residest within the hearts of all and knowest their desires.
O Thou, holder of the disc and club! Thou
always destroyest the enemies of Thy
devotees; O Omniscient One! Thou art the
Lord of all the Lokas and all-powerful; no one can know what is Thy form; O
Lord of the Devas! Thou art the destroyer of all pains and sufferings! So get
up and protect me. O Protector of the
Universe! nothing is concealed from Thy eyes! Every one becomes pure by hearing
and chanting Thy name.
Thou art Nirâkâra (without any form); yet
Thou createst, preservest and destroyest the Universe. O Cause of the world! O Supporter of all!
Thou art shining as king of kings over all and yet Thou dost not understand
that the two Dânavas, puffed up with pride have become ready to kill me. If thou dost neglect me, seeing me very much
distressed and under your protection then Thy name as Preserver will become quite
useless. Thus praised, when Visnu did
not get up, Brahmâ thought that "Bhagavân Visnu is now surely under the
influence of sleep of the Primal Force Âdyâ S’akti and is not therefore getting
up; what am I to do now, thus distressed! These two Dânavas, elated with pride are ready
to kill me; now what am I to do and where shall I go? I don't find any body who
can protect me any where.” Thus thinking, Brahmâ came
to the conclusion and decided to chant
hymns to Yoga Nidrâ Herself with one pointed heart. Discussing in his mind, He thought that that
Âdyâ S’akti (the Prime Force) which kept Bhagavân Visnu, senseless and
motionless would alone be able to save him.
As a dead man cannot hear any sound so Hari, merged in deep sleep, knows
not anything. When I have praised Him so
much and when He has not awakened, then it is certain that sleep is not under
Hari, but Hari is under sleep, and he who is under another becomes his slave;
so this Yoga Nidrâ is now exercising Her control over Hari.
Again she, too, who brought Hari under
control, that daughter of the Krsîra (milk) ocean is now under the control of
Yoga Nidrâ; so it seems that that Bhagavatî Mahâmâyâ has brought the whole
Universe under Her control.
Whether it be Myself, or Visnu or S’ambhu,
or Sâvitrî or Ramâ or Umâ, all are under Her control; there is nothing to be
doubted here? What to speak of other high souled persons! Now I will chant
hymns to Yoga Nidrâ, under whose influence Bhagavân Hari even is lying, under
deep sleep, inert like an ordinary man. When
the eternal Vâsudeva Janârdana will be dispossessed by Her, He will no doubt
fight with the Dânavas. Thus deciding,
Bhagavân Brahmâ, seated on the tubular stalk of the lotus, began to chant hymns
to Yoga Nidrâ, residing on the body of Visnu, thus :--
27-32. Brahmâ said :-- “O Devî! I have come to
understand on the authority of all the words of the Vedas, that Thou art the
only One Cause of this Universal Brahmânda.
The more so when Thou hast brought the
best Purusa Visnu, endowed with
discrimination above all beings, under the
control of sleep, then the above remark is self-evident.
O Thou, the Player in the minds of all
beings! O Mother! I am extremely ignorant of the knowledge of Thy nature; when
Bhagavân Hari is sleeping inert by Thy power, then who is there amongst Kotis
and Kotis of wise men, who can understand completely the Pastime, Leelâ, full
of Mâyâ of Thine, who art beyond the Gunas.
The Sânkhya philosophers say (that the Purusa (the male aspect of S’akti)
is the pure, conscious being and that Thou art the Prakriti, without any
consciousness, material inert, Creatrix of the universe; but, O Mother! art
Thou really inert like that?
Never like that; had it been like that,
how is it that Thou hast made Bhagavân Hari, the receptable of the world quite
unconscious like this? O Bhavâni! Thou, being beyond the Gunas art displaying
like a dramatic performance these various dramatic plays by the conjunction
with the three Gunas. It is Thy three
qualities, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas that the Munis meditate every day in the
morning mid-day, and evening, the three Sandhyâs; but no one is aware of Thy
ways of doings. O Devî! Thou art of the
nature of the judgment and understanding giving rise to knowledge of all the
beings in the Universe; Thou art always the S’ri (wealth and prosperity) giving
pleasures to the Devas. O Mother! Thou
art reigning in all as Kîrti (fame), mati (intellect), Dhriti
(fortitude). Kânti (beauty) S’raddhâ (faith) and Rati
(enjoyment). O Mother! Now I am put to
great difficulties and therefore I have got eye witness of Thy nature; no need
of further reasoning and discussing about it.
27-50. I have now known that verily, verily Thou art
the only Mother of all the worlds as Thou hast brought Hari under the influence
of sleep. O Devî! Now when it is evident
that all the worlds, etc., have come from Thee, then the Vedas have also come
from Thee; what doubt is there? So the Vedas, too, do not know fully Thy
nature; for the effect can never know its cause. So, it is very true that Thou art
incomprehensible of the Vedas, O Mother! When I, Hari, Hara and the other Devas
and my son Nârada and other Munis have not able to realise Thy nature fully,
then who else can be so intelligent in this world that will realise all Thy nature?
So Thy glory is beyond the speech of all beings. O Devî! If, in the place of sacrifice, the
ritualists, the knowers of the Vedas, do not utter Thy name Svâhâ, then the
Devas, participators of the offerings in Yajña, do not get their share, however
hundreds of oblations be offered; so Thou art also the giver of sustenance
allowances to the Devas.
O Bhagavatî! In previous Kalpas, Thou
hadst saved me terrified from the fear of the Dânavas. O Devî Varade! now, too, I am terrified at
the sight of the terrible forms of Madhu and Kaitabha and take Thy refuge. O high-minded one! Now I thoroughly see that
by Thee, by Thy power Yoganidrâ the whole body of Bhagavân Visnu is senseless;
but how is it that Thou dost not realise my sufferings. So, either dost Thou leave possession of this
Âdi-Deva, or destroy Thyself these two Danavendras -- lost do either of the two
as Thou likest. O
Devî! Those that do not know Thy
extraordinary powers, those stupid ones meditate Hari, Hara, etc. But, O Mother! By Thy grace, I realise
to-day, as eye-witness, that Visnu even is to-day lying unconscious in deep
sleep, totally senseless of anything outside by Thy force. O Bhagavatî! Now, when Kamalâ, the daughter
of Sindhu is unable to rouse Her husband Hari, by her effort, or rather Thou
hast made Her, too, perforce, sleep unconsciously, it seems she is without any
effort and does not know anything of what is going on outside. O Devî! Verily those are blessed who worship Thy lotus
feet with their whole heart full of devotion and without any hope of getting rewards,
abandoning the worship of other Devas and knowing Thee as the Creatrix of the
whole world and the giver of all desires.
Alas! now the intelligence, beauty, fame, and all good qualities have
forsaken Hari and fled away to some unknown quarters. O
Bhagavatî! Thou art really adorable in the
three worlds for, by Thy power of
Yoganidrâ, Hari has been kept in prison,
as it were, in this way.
O Mother! Thou art the S’akti of all this
universe and endowed with all prowess and energy; all other things are Thy
creation. As a dramatic player, though
one, plays in the theatre, assuming many forms, so Thou, too, being one,
playest always in this charming theatre of world, created by Thy Gunas, in
various forms.
O Mother! Thou, in the beginning of the
Yugas, dost manifest first the Visnu form and givest him the pure Sattrik
Sakti, free from any obscuration and thereby madest Him preserve the Universe;
and now it is Thyself that hast kept Him thus unconscious; therefore, it is an
undoubted fact that Thou art doing whatever Thou willest, O Bhagavatî! I am now
in danger; if it be Thy desire not to kill me, then dost break the silence,
look on me and show Thy mercy. O
Bhavâni! If it be not Thy desire to kill me, then why hast Thou created these
two Dânavas, my death incarnate; or is it that Thou wantedest to put me to
ridicule. I have come to know of Thy
wonderful acts; Thou createst this whole Universe, and Thyself remaining aloof,
playest always and in the time of Pralaya resolvest everything again into Thee. Therefore, O Bhavâni, what
wonder is there, that Thou wouldst want to
kill me in this way? But, O Mother! I won't feel any pain if Thou willingly
killest me but this is to my great dishonour that being given power over these
beings, I would then be made an object to be killed by the Daityas; this,
indeed, is hard to me. So, O Thou
Leelâmayî like a sportive girl! get up!
O Devî! assumest the wonderful form
Thyself and killest me or the two Daityas, as Thou willest; or rouse Hari who
will then kill the Daityas. All these
are in Thy hands.”
Sûta said :-- Thus praised by Brahmâ, the
Nidrâ Devî (the goddess of sleep), of the nature of Tamo Gunas, quitted the
body of Bhagavân Hari and stood by him. When
thus left completely by the Devî Yoga Nidrâ, of unequalled brilliance and
splendour, for the destruction of Madhu Kaitabha, Visnu began to move his body
and at this Brahmâ became very glad.
Thus ends the seventh chapter of the First
Skandha on the praise of the Devî in the Mahâ Purânam S’rimad Devî Bhâgavatam
of 18,000 verses, by Maharsi Vedavyâs.
Source: Translation of The Srimad Devi Bhagvatam by Swami Vijnanananda
No comments:
Post a Comment