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MAHĀKĀLI DHYANAM
Meditation on Mahākāli
From the Devī Mahātmyam [Mārkendeya Purana]
Om Namaś Chaṇḍikāyai.
Om khaḍgaṁ chakra-gadeṣu-chāpa-parighāñ
chūlaṃ bhuśuṇḍīṁ śiraḥ
śaṅkhaṁ saṃda-dhatīṁ karai-stri-nayanāṁ
sarvāṅga-bhūṣāvṛitām
Nīlāśma-dyutimāsya pāda-daśakāṁ
seve Mahākālikāṁ
yāmastaut-svapite harau kamalajo
hantuṁ madhuṁ kaiṭabham.
Om Namaś Chaṇḍikāyai.
Om, I bow to the Goddess Chaṇḍikā.
Om, holding a scimitar, disk, mace, arrows and bow, lance, club, a skull and a conch shell in Her ten hands. The three-eyed goddess, Her body covered with ornaments, Her countenance with the brilliance of blue diamonds, with ten limbs. We offer our service to Mahākāli, She who Brahma praised for protection from the demons Madhu and Kaitava, when Vishnu was in sleep.
Om, I bow to the Goddess Chaṇḍikā.
Book
4/Chapter 21/1:54
On the killing of the sons of Devakî
1. Vyâsa said :-- O King! Thus, in due course, Devakî, the goddess
incarnate, being united according to rules with Vâsudeva, became pregnant.
2-4. When full ten months were over, a good-looking
and beautiful child (male) was first born to Devakî. Then
the good-natured Vâsudeva remembered his promise, and also what is ordained by
Heaven; and he spoke to Devakî, the part incarnate of Aditi “O fair-looking! You know that I saved your life at your
marriage by swearing on oath to deliver all your fresh-born children to Kamsa. Now
has come the time to hand over your child to Kamsa. ”
5. O good-haired woman! Now I will hand your this son to Kamsa. Know
Kamsa is very cruel and wicked. I cannot say what step he will take, urged on
by Fate, to kill your child. O Sweet One!
We have no hands in the matter. The effects of Karma are exceedingly puzzling. Ordinary persons cannot know them.
6. All persons are subject to Time, the
Destroyer, and enjoy the merits or demerits of their past deeds. The
effects of past Karma are fashioned by the Creator; knowing this, allow me to
take away your child.
7. Devakî said :-- O Lord! Certainly men have to suffer fully the
effects of their past Karmas. But can that not be upset by residing in holy
places, practising penances andasceticism or by making generous gifts?
8-9. The high minded Maharsis have fixed rules and
penances for destroying the sins of past deeds; twelve years’ vow to observe
penances can purify one from sins, e. g. , Brâhminicide, stealing gold, drinking or
stealing the wife of one’s preceptor and many others.
10-11. O Sinless one!
Will not any one be freed from their sinful effects, if they
observe practices and
penances as are ordained by Manu or other Munis? If you don’t accept penances
to be sufficiently purificatory, do you mean to say, then, that what the Maharsis,
seers, Yâjñavalkya and other promulgators of religious doctrines have uttered,
they did so, as an act of dire falsehood and villainy?
12. O My husband!
“What is in the womb of Fate will surely come to pass,” if this be taken
as granted, then the whole Ayurveda (medicinal books) and Mantra vâdas, the science
and recitation of mantras or sacred formulae turn out utterly fruitless and
false!
13-16. If all the actions are under the control of
Fate, then no effect can come out of any effort; so all efforts are reduced to
no effect. If what is ordained by Heaven is to come to
pass then what is the use of taking recourse to any action and Agnistoma sacrifices,
etc. , that are declared to lead to
Heavens. Judge! If
Heaven or Fate you consider all-in-all, then the whole Vedas, the revelations
from God’s mouth turn out false; if the Vedas be false, then there is no reason
why the whole Dharma will not be destroyed.
N. B. :-- Fate is here denounced.
17. Now when it is seen that effects do come out
whenever any exertion is made, then you ought to think out carefully and find
out some means to avert danger. Therefore do you judge and find out a good way
of preserving the life of this new born baby.
The learned people say that to
tell a lie is not a sin, if you can thereby save a life, and have an honest
motive for the welfare of all.
Note :-- Here is a
diplomatic statement!
18. Vâsudeva said :-- O blessed one! I now tell you what is truth and the matters connected with truth.
19-20. Effort, application and manifestation of energy
are certainly the duties of man; but their effects are all under the Great
Destiny or Fate.
The Pundits knowing
the ancient lore say that there are three kinds of Karma
mentioned in the
Purânas and Âgamas :-- First, the Sanchita Karma (done in past births); the
Prârabdha Karma, the Karma already done; and the Vartamân Karma (Karma in hand).
21. The Karma, auspicious and inauspicious, done
in many previous lives and
preserved in seed
forms, remains always inherent in a human soul.
Urged on by this Karma, the Jîvas
quitting their previous bodies, enjoy Heaven or Hell as effects of these, their
own acts.
22-23. According to their good or bad works, the
Jîvas acquire the higher happy body and enjoy various pleasures in the Heavens,
or they take up very painful vicious bodies and suffer various pains in hell.
24-25. At the expiry of the above period in Heaven or
Hell, when there comes the time of his assuming another body, the Jîva becomes
conscious of the subtle body (Linga Deha) and takes his birth again. When
the Linga Deha comes into existence, the part of the Karma done in various
previous births that are ripe and ready to yield their fruits, gets attached to
the Jîva by God (or Destiny).
26. Therefore the collective effect of Karma done
in previous births always exists in a Jîva’s body. O
Fair-eyed One! The effects of Prârabdha
Karma, ripened and ready to yield their fruits must have to be experienced by a
Jîva, whether happy or unhappy.
27. O
beautiful young woman! Penances,
performed according to rules, destroy the effect of Karmas that are in hand and
are weak (i. e. , not yet accumulated strongly as to remain
in seed forms).
28. The Prârabdha Karma, those acts out of all the
previous acts done in previous births that are fully mature and ready to yield
their fruits, cannot be averted; their effects must have to be experienced and
then they can die away; they cannot be expiated by penances or any other
remedial measures. Therefore you must hand over unconditionally
your new born babe unto the hands of Kamsa.
29-30. O Goddess!
I have never done any blameable action, nor have I told any lie. Therefore
do you fulfill your truth and hand over your baby. O
Devakî! Dharma is the only thing
permanent and real in this fleeting world.
Even the births and deaths of
high souled persons are subject to the great Destiny. Therefore the Jîvas ought not to be sorry when
there is no help for it.
31. O dear one!
What shall I say to you! Know
this much that his life is spent in vain who is lost to Truth. O
beautiful one! Whose this life is
destroyed, what can he expect in the life to come!
32. Therefore, O Goddess! Give me your baby and I will hand it over to
Kamsa. If we can observe this truth, we will meet
with ample rewards afterwards; there is no doubt in it.
33. Where there are pains and pleasures for the
Jîvas, there it is highly incumbent on us to do good and meritorious deeds. If we
can act according to Truth, we will certainly get good fruits.
34. Vyâsa said :-- Thus addressed by Vâsudeva, the
husband of Devakî, who was very much grieved and intelligent, gave over the
newly born baby, her whole body
trembling, to the
hands of Vâsudeva.
35. The virtuous Vâsudeva took that baby and went
out to the Kamsa’s palace. On the way, the people, seeing him thus, were
very much astonished and began to praise him.
36-37. The people said :-- “O people! See how Vâsudeva is sensible to keep his words! He is taking his son to hand over to Kamsa. This
truthful and high souled man, free from malice, is going to give up his son to
the hands of Kamsa who is the Death Personified. See
his wonderful patience; this man’s life is really high, noble and true. ”
38. Vyâsa said :-- O King! Vâsudeva, thus praised, reached at last the
Kamsa’s palace and handed over his newly-born son to Kamsa.
39-41. The King Kamsa, too, was very much astonished
to see this wonderful patience of Vâsudeva.
Then he held aloft the child and
laughed and said :-- “O son of S’ûrasena, you have been blessed today by giving
me your son just now. But the voice from Heaven said that your
eighth son will be the cause of my death; this your first son is not my cause
of death. Therefore I will not kill this baby; you can
take your baby back to your home.
O High-minded One! Let me have your eighth son brought here,
when he will be born; I hope you will positively do it. ”
42. The cruel and wicked Kamsa returned the child
and said :-- “Let this child go back safely to his home. ”
43-44. When the king Kamsa said thus, Vâsudeva, the
son of S’ûrasena gladly took his child back and came home. Then
the King Kamsa told his ministers that the Heavenly voice told that the eighth
son would he the cause of his death; and so there was no necessity to kill that
child. There was no need to incur sin by killing the
first child.
45. The ministers, hearing the king Kamsa’s those
words, began to praise him very much and exclaimed repeatedly “Well done” “Well
done. ” They went away to their respective
homes, when ordered to do so by Kamsa.
46-49. Now Nârada, the best of the Munis, arrived to
Kamsa. The king Kamsa, the son of Ugrasena, stood up
at once and offered him water to wash his mouth and with
green grass and rice worshipped him devotedly and enquired of his welfare. He
then asked the Muni about the cause of his untimely arrival there. The Maharsi
Nârada then smilingly and with sweet words repeatedly uttered “Kamsa,” “Kamsa”
and then said, O blessed one! I went
perchance to Sumeru Mountain. There Brahmâ and other gods formed an assembly
and were thus thinking out plans that Visnu, the Supreme God, would take His
birth in the womb of Devakî, the wife of Vâsudeva to kill Kamsa.
50. Now I ask you, you are very expert as a
politician; then why have you not killed the son of Vâsudeva? Kamsa said :-- “I
will kill the eighth son according to the Heavenly Voice. ”
51. Nârada said :-- O King! Now I understand that you do not understand
anything of politics, leading to auspicious or inauspicious results; especially
when you are quite ignorant of the Mâyâ of the Devas, then what shall I say to
you!
52-53. The truth
is this :-- The warriors, looking after their own welfare, never
overlook the weakest
of their foes. What have you understood when the Heavenly
Voice uttered “the
eighth son. ” It means the children
counted from the first and then finished upto eighth; it may mean first,
second, third or upto eighth. Never forego your enemies; then why have you
desisted in killing your enemy when you got that enemy in your possession. Nothing is shewn of you in this act save dire
foolishness, and ignorance.
54. Thus saying, the Maharsi Nârada vanished
quickly. Kamsa, of little understanding brought back
the son of Vâsudeva and killed him by dashing him against a stone and was
relieved.
Note :-- This human
body is a microcosm; the universe is the macrocosm. God
resides in the centre and controls the two.
In this human body also live the
Devas and the Dânavas. The left half of the body, the Îdâ side, is
the seat of the Devas. The right half, the Pingalâ side, is the seat
of the Dânavas. In this body war is always going on between
the Devas and Dânavas. Sometimes the Devas get victory; sometimes the
Dânavas win. God is in the centre, the heart and controls
the two.
Here ends the 21st
Chapter of S’rî Mad Devî Bhâgavatam, the Mahâ Purânam of
18,000 verses
composed by Veda Vyâsa, on the killing of the sons of Devakî.
Source: Translation of The Srimad Devi Bhagvatam by Swami Vijnanananda
