S'RÎMAD BHÂGAVATAM

'The story of the fortunate one'

CANTO 3a   -  The Status Quo

Chapter 1  Questions by Vidura

Chapter 2 Remembrance of Lord Krishna.

Chapter 3  The Lord's Pastimes Outside of Vrindâvana

Chapter 4  Vidura Approaches Maitreya

Chapter 5  Vidura Talks with Maitreya

Chapter 6  The generating of the Universal Form

Chapter 7  Further Inquiries by Vidura.

Chapter 8  Manifestation of Brahmâ from Garbhodakas'âyî Vishnu.

Chapter 9 Brahmâ's Prayers for Creative Energy.

Chapter 10  Divisions of the Creation.

Chapter 11  Division of time expanding from the atom.

Chapter 12 Creation of the Kumâras and Others

Chapter 13 The Appearance of Lord Varâha

Chapter 14 The Impregnation of Diti in the Evening

Chapter 15 Description of the Kingdom of God

Chapter 16 The Two Doorkeepers of Vaikunthha, Cursed by the Sages

Chapter 17 Victory of Hiranyâksha over All the Directions of the Universe

Chapter 18 The Battle Between Lord Boar and the Demon Hiranyâksha 

Chapter 19 The Killing of the Demon Hiranyâksha

Chapter 1 

Questions by Vidura

(1) S'uka said: 'This is what formerly Vidura asked His Grace Maitreya Rishi when he entered the forest after renouncing his prosperous home: (2) 'What to say of the house [of the Pândava's] I am identified with? S'rî Krishna, the Supreme Lord and master of all, was accepted as the minister of its people and had given up entering the house of Duryodhana.'

(3) The king said: 'Please tell us master, where and when did Vidura meet with His Grace Maitreya Muni to discuss this? (4) Certainly the questions Vidura asked the holy man cannot have been unimportant, they must have been full of the highest purpose as approved by the seekers of truth.'

(5) Sûta said: "He, the great sage S'ukadevathus being questioned by King Parîkchit, fully satisfied replied him from his great expertise: 'Please listen to this'.

(6) S'rî S'ukadevasaid: 'At the time when King Dhritarâshthra was nourishing his dishonest sons he, never being on the right path, had lost his sight with the sons of his younger brother [the deceased Pându, see family tree] in being their guardian. He made them enter the laquer house which he set on fire [see Mah. I 139-148]. (7) When in the assembly the wife of the saintly Kuru's [Draupadî] was insulted by his son [Duhs'âsana] who grabbed her by her hair, the king did not forbid this although his daughter-in-law shed tears that washed the red dust of her breast [see Mah. II 58-73]. (8) When by unfair means he who was without an enemy [Yudhishthhira] was defeated in a game of gambling and as one loyal to the truth went to the forest, he upon returning in due course never was given his right share by him who was overcome by illusion [Dhritharâshthra]. (9) Also Lord Krishna, when He on the plea of Arjuna came for them into the assembly as the teacher of the world, was, with His words as good as nectar, of all men of sense by the king not taken seriously in the dwindling of the last of their piety.

(10) When [formerly] called to the palace Vidura entered there for consultation upon the request of of course the elder brother [Dhritarâshthra] and the advice that he then gave was exactly suitable for what the ministers of state with his instructions knew to appreciate: (11) 'Return now the legitimate share to the one who has no enemy [Yudhishthhira] and who was so forbearing to your unbearable offenses. Of him together with his younger brothers, among which Bhîma wrathful like a snake of anger, you should verily be afraid. (12) The sons of Prithâ have now been taken up by the Supreme Lord of Liberation who with the brahmins and the godly is now here along with His family, the worshipful Yadu dynasty, that conquered with Him an unlimited amount of kings. (13) He [Duryodhana], this offense in person, envious of the Original One, has by his existence entered your household thinking he is your son maintaining opposition to Krishna while being bereft of all goodness - that inauspiciousness you must for the sake of the family give up as soon as you can.'

(14) After Vidura spoke thus he was there addressed by Duryodhana who swollen with anger and with trembling lips insulted the respectable one of good qualities in the company of Karna, his younger brothers and S'akuni [a maternal uncle]: (15) 'Who asked him to be here, the crooked son of a mistress, who grew up living on the subsistence of those with whom he's taking the position of an enemy spy? Throw him immediately out of the palace to be left with his breath only!' (16) Vidura himself consequently put his bow at the door and left the palace of his brother being afflicted in the core of his heart with the external energy, but despite of these severe arrows to the ear, about which he didn't feel sorry, he felt great.

(17) After having quit the Kaurava's, going from Hastinâpura, he achieved the piety of the Supreme Lord in taking shelter in pilgrimages, desiring only the high grade of devotion as established by all those thousands of idols. (18) He traveled to holy places of devotion where the air, the hills and the orchards, waters, rivers and lakes are pure with temples decorated with the forms of the Unlimited. Thus he proceeded alone through the holy lands. (19) Traversing the earth pure and independent, he was sanctified by the ground he slept on and without his familiar dress one could not recognize him being dressed like a mendicant performing to the vows to please the Lord. (20) Traveling this way through India only, he came to the holy land of Prabhâsa, which at the time was under the reign of King Yudhishthhira who by the mercy of the Invincible Lord ruled the world under one military flag [see C.1-13]. (21) There he heard how all his kinsmen had perished [at Kurukshetra] in violent passion like a bamboo forest burnt of igniting through its own friction, upon which he, silently thinking to himself, went westward towards the river Sarasvati. (22) There at the bank of the river he visited and duly worshiped the holy places called Trita, Us'anâ, Manu, Prithu, Agni, Asita, Vâyu, Sudâsa, Go, Guha and S'râddhadeva. (23) There were also other places there established by the godly twice-born and devotees of the various forms of Lord Vishnu, who as the chief marked each and every part of the temples - which already seen from a distance reminded one of Lord Krishna. (24) From there passing through the wealthy kingdom of Surat, Sauvira and Kurujângala (west of India), did he, as he after some time reached the Yamunâ river, also happen to see Uddhava, the Supreme Lord His greatest devotee [see Canto11].

(25) He embraced the sober and gentle constant companion of Vâsudeva who was formerly a student of Brihaspati, the master of all ritual, and with great love and feeling he questioned him about the family of the Supreme Lord: (26) 'Are the original personalities of Godhead [Krishna & Balarâma], who, on the request of the Creator who was born from the lotus, descended in the world for the elevation and well-being of every one, all well in the house of S'ûrasena [the father of Queen Kunti, aunt Prithâ ]? (27) And, o Uddhava, is our greatest Kuru and brother-in -law, Vasudeva [father of Lord Krishna], who is truly like a father to his sisters and so generous in providing his wives to their pleasure with everything they desire, happy? (28) Please, tell me whether the military commander-in-chief of the Yadus, Pradyumna, is all happy, o Uddhava - he was in his previous life the God of Love and is now the great hero whom Rukminî bore as prince from the Supreme Lord after pleasing the brahmins. (29) And is Ugrasena all well, the king of the Sâtvatas of the Vrishni family from the Dâs'ârha race in the Bhoja-dynasty? He is the one to whom Lord Krishna restored the hope of the throne after he had to give it up being put at a distance [because of Uncle Kamsa's reign]. (30) O grave one, is the similar son of the Lord faring well that is the foremost and best behaved among the warriors, Sâmba, whom Jâmbavatî [another wife of Krishna] so rich in her vows gave birth to after his previous life as the godly Kârttikeya who was born unto the wife of S'iva? (31) And how is Yuyudhâna [Sâtyaki], he who learned from Arjuna and achieved as one understanding the intricacies of the military art and as well surely of service attained to the destination of the Transcendental that even by the great renouncers is so difficult to achieve? (32) And the well learned faultless son of S'vaphalka, Akrûra, how is he - he is the one who in his surrender on the path of Krishna's lotus feet fell in the dust showing symptoms of transcendental love having lost his equilibrium. (33) Is everything well with the daughter of King Devaka-Bhoja; the way from the Veda's came about the purpose of sacrifice did she [Devakî], just like the mother of the demi-gods [Aditi] who gave birth to the Godhead, give birth to Vishnu. (34) And is also He, the Personality of Godhead all happy who of you all is the one devotee that is the source of all desires, Aniruddha, who from a long time past is accepted as the birth channel of the Rig-Veda, the creator of mind and the transcendental fourth plenary expansion of the Reality Principle [Vishnu-tattva]? (35) And o sober one, are others like Hridîka, Cârudeshna, Gada and the son of Satyabhâmâ, who accept the Divine of their own self as the soul in following with absolute faith, also all well passing their time?

(36) Does Yudhishthhira, heartening the principles of humanity, maintain the respect of religion under the protection of the arms of Arjuna and the Infallible One, which, with the opulence of his royal entourage and the service of Arjuna, so envied Duryodana? (37) And did the unconquerable Bhîma, who is like a cobra, release his long-cherished anger upon the sinners? The battlefield could not bear his stepping up on the path of the wonderful play of his club. (38) Arjuna, the famous one among the chariot warriors with his bow the Gândîva who vanquished so many enemies, is he doing well? Once he satisfied Lord S'ivacovering him with arrows when S'ivaunrecognizable presented himself as a false hunter. (39) And do the twin sons of Prithâ [Nakula and Sahadeva] play carelessly who protected as they are by their brothers as the eyelids do the eyes in their snatching back their own property in the fight with the enemy like Garuda [the carrier of Vishnu] did [with the nectar] from the mouth of Indra? (40) O dear one, is Prithâ still alive; she dedicated her life to the care for the fatherless children, living without King Pându, who alone as a commanding warrior could conquer the four directions with a second bow only.

(41) O gentle one, I am just lamenting him [Dhritarâshthra] who gliding down on his brothers [Pându's] death revolted and drove me, his well-wisher, out of my own house in adopting the same line of action as his sons. (42) Therefore I travel without being recognized by the eyes of the common man through this world of the Lord, which is so bewildering for others to manage, to the grace of His feet, which I never missed to see being doubtless in this matter. (43) Of course, to the kings going astray out of the three kinds of false pride [from the hindrances of the self, others and the wordly influence] who constantly agitated the earth through the movement of their troops, He, being the Supreme Lord of the Kuru's and willing to relieve the distress of the surrendered, waited to kill them despite of their offenses. (44) As the appearance of the unborn He operates for the annihilation of the upstarts without another motive than to make all understand; who otherwise than Him is the deserve of the body united in transcendence to the three modes or what to say of [the command of] the law of karma. (45) O my friend, sing the glories of the Lord of all the sacred places who for the interest of the unborn was born in the family of the Yadus and to whom all rulers of the universe surrendered in the control of His own Self.

Chapter 2

Remembrance of Lord Krishna.

(1) S'uka said: 'The great devotee [Uddhava] questioned by Vidura about what could be said regarding the dearest, at first, eager as he was, could not reply because of his great anxiety at the remembrance of the Lord. (2) He was one who in his childhood at five years old, being called by his mother for breakfast, did not like to have it because he was in the play of service [of Lord Krishna]. (3) That way Uddhava grew up in service and in the course of time it had never slackened; when he was just asked to tell about Him, he remembered all of the Lord His lotusfeet. (4) For a moment he fell in deadly silence by the nectar of the Lord His feet; strong as he was and well matured in the union of devotion, he became fully absorbed in the love of its goodness. (5) Every part of his body showed the signs of transcendental ecstasy and with his checking the tears from his eyes out of missing Him, Vidura came to see that he had fully assimilated His extensive love. (6) Slowly He came back down to earth from the abode of the Lord and wiping his tears away Uddhava spoke affectionately to Vidura from all those recollections.'

(7) Uddhava said: 'The sun of Krishna has set being swallowed by the great snake of what is the past. What else can I say about our wellbeing with the disappearance of the house of my family? (8) How unfortunate is this world and especially the Yadu-dynasty who living together didn't recognize the Lord any more than the fishes do recognize the moon. (9) Well acquainted with the knowledge and highly experienced, His own men were His devotees who relaxed with Him as the head of the family and could [only] think of Him as He who was behind everything. (10) The outer illusion of the Godhead infected all those and others who took to the untrue with the bewilderment of their intelligence - but the words of those never do work that way in the souls of the ones in full surrender to the Lord. (11) By exhibiting Himself to persons that went without penance and the fulfillment of ideals he took to the feat of His disappearance, withdrawing His own form from public vision. (12) His perishable was just suitable for His pastimes showing the power of His inner magic leading to the discovery of His wonders, His supreme opulence and the ultimate ornament of ornaments of His feet.

(13) It is the form which certainly of King Yudhishthhira's royal sacrifice [râjasûya] became the sight pleasing the sum total of the three worlds by which He thus today in the world has surpassed the contemplated intelligence [Brahmâ], taking the position of the people in the material world. (14) After having obtained the attachment to Him, that was powered by laughter, funny games and glances, the anguished damsels of Vraja who had followed Him with their eyes, indeed sat in silent contemplation without completing their household duties. (15) For the devotees harassed by others who live to the material conception, the all-compassionate Lord and controller of the spiritual and material, accompanied by the complete of His association, certainly as the Unborn One appears as the Supreme Lord like being fire.

(16) With this bewildering birth of the unborn I am distressed about how from the home of Vasudeva he lived in Vraja as if He feared the enemy [uncle Kamsa] and how He, the unlimitedly powerful one, fled from Mathurâ city [the capital Krishna resided in after defeating Kamsa]. (17) It hurts me in the heart thinking of how He just like Baladeva [Balarâma] had to worship the feet of his parents saying: ' O father, o mother, please excuse us for not doing our duties to you out of our great fear for Kamsa'. (18) Who, once having smelled the dust of His lotusfeet, is able to forget Him who by the mere raising of His eyebrows gave the deathblow to the burden of the earth? (19) Of course, you from your own good self could see how during Yudhishira's royal sacrifice the king of Cedi [S'is'upâla] despite of being envious of Krishna, attained to the perfection which to its full is verily desired by the yogîs who by their yoga can tolerate being separated from Him. (20) And also others who certainly were fighters in the human society and who saw Krishna's very pleasing lotus-like face and eyes on the battlefield that was purified by Arjuna's arrows, have achieved His heavenly abode. (21) He is but the unique and greater Lord of the threefold reality by whose independence supreme fortune is achieved and to whose feet all desires with their millions of helmets bow in the worship of paraphernalia as led by the eternal maintainers of order. (22) Therefore being servitors in His service it of course gives us pain, o Vidura, how He before King Ugrasena [the one ruled out by Kamsa], who was sitting on his throne awaiting, submitted Himself saying: 'O my Lord, please see it this way'.

(23) Alas to the shelter of whom else shall I take that is assuredly more merciful than He who despite of the unfaithful of the she-demon [Putânâ], who out of envy poisoned her breast deadly for nourishing, granted her the position of a mother. (24) I think that the opponents, who maintain enmity towards the Lord of the threefold, are great devotees, the way they are absorbed in thought in the fight, as they could see Him on His carrier [Garuda, the son of Târkshya - Kas'yapa] coming forth with His wheel. (25) Born of Devakî in the prison house of the king of Bhoja [Kamsa], the Supreme Lord came to bring welfare on earth as being prayed for [by the Creator]. (26) Thereafter He was brought up on the cow-pastures of His [foster] father Nanda, where He out of fear for Kamsa, together with Baladeva [Balarâma] was kept eleven years like one covers a flame. (27) Surrounded by cowherd boys and herding calves the Almighty roamed the shores of the Yamunâ through gardens that vibrated the chirping of heavenly birds in its many trees. (28) While showing of His youth His activities could only be appreciated by the inhabitants of Vraja, the land of Vrindâvana, where He just like other kids cried and laughed and was struck with wonder looking like a lion cub. (29) Certainly being the love of the wealth of cows and the reservoir of beauty, He, while tending them beauties, enlivened the cowherdboys by playing His flute. (30) The great wizards who were engaged by the King of Bhoja to take any form they liked were in the course of His pastimes killed as they came there, just like a child does with dolls. (31) [To help the inhabitants of Vrindâvana] being perplexed by the great trouble of drinking poison [from the snake Kâliya in the Yamunâ], He subdued the chief of the reptiles and after coming out of the water He caused the cows to drink it to prove it natural again. (32) Desiring the proper use of the wealth of Nanda, the king of the cowherds his opulence, He with the help of the brahmins made them to perform the worship of the cows and the land [instead of that of Indra]. (33) Indra angry on being insulted highly perturbed made heavy rains pour down on Vraja from which the cowherds were protected by the merciful Lord with His pastime of the [Govardhana] hill that served as an umbrella, o sober Vidura. (34) In autumn He in the night brightened by moonshine thought it to sing pleasing songs to enjoy the women, being the beauty in their midst.'

Chapter 3 

The Lord's Pastimes Outside of Vrindâvana

(1) Uddhava said: 'After that time when the Lord came to the city of Mathurâ, He wished His parents all well [freeing them from imprisonment], after together with Baladeva having dragged down from the throne the leader of public enmity [Kamsa] and having killed him by pulling him to the ground with great strength. (2) He learned all of the Veda's after only once having heard about them, having studied them in detail under the instruction of His teacher Sândîpani Muni, whom He rewarded the benediction of bringing back his own deceased son from the region of the departed souls [Yamaloka] that is within. (3) Invited by the daughter of the king of Bhîshmaka [Rukminî], all those who according custom were candidates to marry her and likewise had come expecting that fortune, Lord Krishna took away His own share by carrying her away like Garuda does with the feet of the Lord on his head. (4) In an open competition for the selection of the bridegroom for Princess Nâgnajitî He subdued seven wild bulls and won her hand, but the fools who nevertheless wanted her in their disappointment, He killed and wounded without getting hurt Himself well equipped as He was with all weapons. (5) Because of the fact that He, like an ordinary living being just tried to please His dear wife, who wished that He brought the Pârijâta flower shrub [from heaven], went Indra the King of Heaven with all his strength against Him, being blind of anger, henpecked of course by his own wives.

(6) The son of Narakâsura who physically wanted to rule the sky was killed by His Sudars'ana Cakra [the disc], but being prayed for by mother earth, He returned what was taken from him to his son and then entered his house. (7) There all the princesses that were kidnapped by the demon, upon seeing the Lord, the friend of the distressed, at once got up from there and accepted Him joyfully and shy in the attachment of their eager glances. (8) He accepted the hands of all women at the same time, although they lived in different apartments, with perfect ritual matching with them exactly through His internal potency. (9) Desiring to expand Himself, from each and every one of them He begot about ten children that were all alike Himself in all respects.

(10) Kâlayavana, the king of Magadha [Jarâsandha], King S'âlva and others who with their soldiers had encircled Mathurâ, He, personally proving the power of His kind, did not kill. (11) Of S'ambara, Dvivida, Bâna, Mura, Balvala and others like Dantavakra and assorted as well, He killed some, while others He caused to be killed [by Balarâma e.g.].

(12)  Thereafter were of both parties of the nephews in the battle of Kurukshetra the kings killed of whom the earth shook by the strength of their traversing. (13) He did not take pleasure in the sight of seeing Karna, Duhs'âsana and Saubala, who were bereft of fortune and lifespan by the ill advice of Duryodhana, with their followers and all of their power lying down with broken limbs. (14) 'What is this', the Lord said when with the help of Bhîshma, Drona, Arjuna and Bhîma and eighteen akshauhinî's [an army consisting of ten anikinis, or 21,870 elephants, 21,870 chariots, 65,610 horse, and 109,350 foot.] He had abated the earth's enormous burden,'There is still the unbearable of the great strength of the Yadu-dynasty. (15) They will disappear when intoxicated from drinking a quarrel among them will take place which turns their eyes red like copper; there is no other alternative to ensure this on My disappearance.' (16) Thus thinking to Himself the Supreme Lord installed Yudhishthhira to his own kingdom, gladdening His friends by indicating the path of the saints.

(17) The descendant of Pûru [Parîkchit] conceived from the womb of Uttarâ by the hero Abhimanyu, surely would have been burnt by the weapon of the son of Drona if the Supreme Lord wouldn't be protecting against it for the second time [see S.B. C.1-ch 7 & 8]. (18) The Almighty induced the son of Dharma [Yudhishthhira] to perform also three horse-sacrifices and with that assisted by his brothers he protected and enjoyed the earth as a constant follower of Krishna.

(19) The Supreme Lord and Supersoul of the Universe customary following the path of vedic principles, enjoyed the lusts of life in the city of Dvârakâ, without getting attached deriving from the analytical of yoga [Sânkhya]. (20) Gentle and with His sweet glances and words compared to nectar, He, with His flawless character, resided there in fortune by His transcendental body. (21) He, pleasing the Yadus, enjoyed this earth and certainly also the other worlds, in the leisure of the night giving friendship in conjugal love with the women. (22) Thus, for many many years, He enjoyed household life to the [sensual] union of which His detachment awakened. (23) Like with Himself, is the enjoyment of the senses of whatever living entity controlled by the divine, in which one can have faith through joining oneself in the service of the Lord of Yoga.

(24) In the city of Dvârakâ once the princely descendants of Yadu and Bhoja had been sporting and thus had angered the wise who then cursed them as was desired by the Supreme Lord. (25) A few month's later the descendants of Vrishni, Bhoja and others like the sons of Andhaka went, bewildered by Krishna, to the place of pilgrimage called Prabhâsa with great pleasure. (26) There they took a bath and also were sure to offer by that water their respects to their forefathers, the gods and the great sages. Then they gave in royal charity cows to the brahmins. (27) For their livelihood they also provided them with gold, gold coins, bedding, clothing, seatcovers, blankets, horses, chariots, elephants, girls and land. (28) After supplying the brahmins with highly delicious food that was first offered to the Supreme Lord, the valiant representatives offered, for the sake of their good life, the cows and the brahmins their obeisances by touching the ground with their heads.

Chapter 4 

Vidura Approaches Maitreya

(1) Uddhava said: 'After, with the permission of the brahmins, partaking of the offerings they [the Yadus] drank liquor of which they spoilt their minds and touched each others hearts with harsh words. (2) At sunset, they who lost their balance of mind because of the faults of that intoxication, saw the destruction of the bamboo's [with which they started fighting oneother] take place. (3) The Supreme Lord, who from His internal potency foresaw the end, went to the river the Sarasvatî and after sipping water He sat down underneath a tree. (4) I was told by the Lord of the Surrendered who vanquishes all distress, that indeed I should to go to Badarikâs'rama to see you about Him who desired to destroy His own family. (5) Yet in spite of His wish I, o subduer of the enemy [Vidura], followed behind the master not able to bear separation from His lotus feet. (6) I saw Him, my patron and master, sitting alone thinking deeply taking shelter of the goddess at that riverbank, while He doesn't have to take shelter. (7) Beautiful with His blackish color, of pure goodness and peaceful with His reddish eyes, He could be recognized as having four arms and yellow silken garments [Vishnu]. (8) Resting with His right foot on His thigh against the young Banyan tree He looked quite cheerful having left His household comforts.

(9) At that time [Maitreya,] a great devotee and follower of Krishna-dvaipâyana Vyâsa [Vyâsadeva], a well-wisher and friend traveling the three worlds, on his own accord [also] arrived at that place. (10) Although attached to the Lord of Salvation was the sage in a pleasing attitude attending with a lowered shoulder, while He, kindly smiling particularly seeing me, allowed me to rest and spoke to me. (11) The Supreme Lord said: 'I know from within what you desired in the days of yore when the wealthy ones who built this world were sacrificing. I give you that which is so difficult to achieve by the others, o wealthy one: the association with Me you desire as the ultimate goal of life. (12) This life now is of all your incarnations, o honest one, the ultimate one because you achieved My mercy; as it is because of Me that in the seclusion of quitting the worlds of man you came to see what you saw in your unflinching devotion [:Vaikunthha]. (13) Long ago, in the beginning of creation, I told Brahmâ on the lotus that came out of My navel of the knowledge of the supreme of My transcendental glories, clarifying that which the theists call the Bhâgavatam.'

(14) Thus being favored by His addressing me, I at each instant being the object of the Supreme Personality His mercy, out of my own affection saw my hairs standing on end and with my eyes hazy of smearing my tears, I with folded hands said: (15) 'O my Lord, for those who live to Your feet, which are so difficult to obtain, it is in this world all a matter of the four goals of life [dharma, artha, kâma, moksha; religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation], but yet I have no preference for them, o Great One, as I am anxious to serve Your lotusfeet only. (16) Although without desires You engage in all kinds of activities, although unborn You still take birth, although the controller of eternal time, You take shelter of the fortress out of fear for Your enemies and although You enjoy in Yourself You lead a household life in the association of women; this bewilders the intelligence of the learned in this world. (17) Although You are never divided under the influence of time, You call me in for consultation asking me in Your eternal intelligence o master, as if You are bewildered while that is never so; that is boggling my mind, o Lord. (18) If You think my competence sufficient, then please, my Lord, tell me in detail about the sum total of the knowledge, the mystery and supreme enlightening of Your own Self, the way You told it Brahmâji, as the Supreme Lord for crossing over the ocean of miseries.'

(19) Thus being prayed to by me from the core of my heart, He, the lotus-eyed Supreme Lord of the beyond, instructed me on His transcendental situation. (20) So I thus worshiped under the instruction of the master and studied the reality of the soul, understanding the path by respecting His lotusfeet and reached, after circumambulating Him, this place with sadness in my heart due to being separated. (21) Thus, my best one [Vidura], I am now in pain without the pleasure of seeing Him and will go as instructed by Him to Badarikâs'rama [in the Himalaya s] for association. (22) There Narâyana in the incarnation of His humanity and Supreme Lordship [Nara and Narâyana] as a sage amiable to everyone did severe penance for a long time for the welfare of all living beings.

(23) S'rî S'uka said: 'Hearing from Uddhava about the unbearable of the annihilation of his friends and relatives, the learned Vidura pacified, by means of transcendental knowledge, his rising bereavement. (24) As the great devotee of the Lord and best among the Kaurava's was leaving, Vidura in confidence submitted the following to the chief in the devotional service of Krishna. (25) Vidura said: 'The Lord of Yoga enlightened you on the mystery of the transcendental knowledge of one's own soul - now of your own good self please tell it to me for the reason of being worth of Vishnu and the servants who wander for the interest of others.' (26) Uddhava then said: 'Turn yourself to the worshipable sage, the son of Kushâru [Maitreya] who stays nearby and who was directly instructed by the Supreme Lord while quitting the mortal world.

(27) S'rî S'uka said: 'Thus discussing with Vidura the nectar of the Universal Person His qualities, he was greatly overwhelmed thereof at the bank of the Sarasvatî river and after passing the night that way as in a moment, the son of Aupagava went away.'

(28) The king [Parîkchit] asked: 'How could it be that after the destruction that came over the Vrishni and Bhoja dynasty, the great leader in command among them, the prominent Uddhava was the only one to remain after the Lord completed His pastimes as the Master over the three worlds?

(29) S'rî S'uka said: 'The cursing of the brahmins [of the Yadu-dynasty] was only a plea, factually it was the [Lord His] unfailing desire to end the excess of His own family after which He gave up His universal appearance and thought to Himself: (30) 'Having disappeared from this world the knowledge of Myself and My shelter will certainly befall Uddhava directly, who is at present the foremost of the devotees. (31) Uddhava is not in the least inferior to Me as he is never affected by the material modes and therefore as the master of the knowledge of Me may remain to disseminate it in this world'. (32) Thus being perfectly taught by the spiritual master and source of all vedic knowledge of the three worlds he [Uddhava] reached Badarikâs'rama and was fulfilled in being absorbed in the Lord. (33) Vidura also heard from Uddhava about how Krishna, the Supersoul, extraordinarily assumed a form for the ways of the world and also most gloriously worked Himself above it. (34) His entering the body is for as well the persevering great sages as for others very difficult to understand and for the beastly ones simply a mental disturbance. (35) This was also true for Uddhava himself, o best amongst the Kuru's, when he thought of how Krishna had remembered him, and having left, the devotee cried out loud overwhelmed by the joy of ecstasy.

(36) O best of the Bharata's, Vidura thus having passed his days on the bank of the Yamunâ [see 3:1.24], thereafter reached the holy waters of the Ganges where he, the son of Mitra [in the sense of being the incarnation of Yamarâja as the son of a s'ûdra, see 1.13:15], met the sage Maitreya. 

Chapter 5 

Vidura Talks with Maitreya

(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'At the source of the celestial river [the Ganges], the best of the Kuru's, Vidura who had come closer to the Infallible One, sat before Maitreya Muni, whose knowledge was fathomless, and with perfect respect he politely inquired from his satisfaction in transcendence. (2) Vidura said: 'For the sake of happiness everyone in this world engages in fruitive activities, but by those activities one never attains to happiness or another idea of contentment, on the contrary, one certainly finds misery that way. Please, o great one, kindly enlighten us on what would be the right course under which circumstances. (3) Because of their compassion towards the common man, who turned his face against Lord Krishna and who under the influence of the material world is always unhappy in neglect of his duties to God, the great souls of sacrifice wander around for the sake of the Lord of the three worlds. (4) Therefore o greatest among the saints, please instruct me on the path that is favorable for our serving perfectly the Supreme Lord who, residing in the heart of the living being, awards the unalloyed devotee the knowledge of the principal reality by which one learns from history [the Veda]. (5) How does the selfsufficient Supreme Lord and ruler of the three worlds, although desireless, by accepting incarnations arrange, through His transcendental activities in the created universe, the regulative principles for its maintenance? (6) How can He, returning back to His form in the universe, lie down within it without concerns about His existence as the Lord of Unification that is the one and only original proprietor after whom innumerable others enter existence likewise? (7) Why is it that, manifesting His pastimes for the welfare of the twiceborn, the cows and the devoted ones, and with His operating in different incarnations, the mind is never satisfied in spite of continuously hearing about the underlying auspicious characteristics of the Lord? (8) By the reality of which differentiation does the King of all kings and worlds from the lowest on together with them plan therein for certain the existence as it appears to be of the living entities in their different occupations? (9) And, please describe us o chief among the brahmins, how the Lord of man, Nârâyana, did settle, for those who are born, the differentiation of their engagements, their specific forms as also their dispersed cultures.

(10) O my Lord, I heard from the mouth of Vyâsadeva repeatedly about the higher and lower of these occupations, but I am little satisfied about the happiness derived from that without hearing the nectar of the talks about Krishna. (11) Who can find satisfaction [without the nectar]; from the talks entering one's ears about the journey for the feet, is, by the One who in human society is worshiped so by the great devotees, a man's bondage by the affection for his family cut off! (12) The sage Krishna-dvaipâyana Vyâsa, who is your friend too, has described the transcendental qualities of the Supreme Lord in the Mahâbhârata which is just there to draw the attention of the people that take pleasure in attending to worldly topics towards the stories of the Lord. (13) That interest of belief will bring about indifference to other things; the one in constant remembrance of the Lord His feet has achieved the bliss that vanquishes all miseries without delay. (14) I pity all those ignorant pitiable of the pitiable who of their sins are in decay of vigilance towards God and who waste the length of their lives with useless philosophical exercises, imaginative ultimate goals and a diversity of rituals. (15) Therefore, o Maitreya, heartening the good fortune of everyone, please describe us of all topics the essence: the talks about the Lord that like the nectar of flowers are the glorious of pilgrimaging. (16) Please recite all pertaining to the transcendental superhuman activities accomplished by the Lord through His acceptance of incarnations centering on the maintenance of the created of His universe. '

(17) S'rî S'uka said: 'Thus the great sage His lordship Maitreya as requested did Vidura the great honor to expound on this to him for the ultimate welfare of all. (18) S'rî Maitreya said: ' All blessings to you, o good one, your asking me for the sake of all is proof of the goodness of your mercy to broadcast the glories of the soul in the Transcendental of the mind in this world. (19) It does not astonish me to find you in this, without deviation of thought, in acceptance of the Supreme Personality our Lord, o Vidura, as you were born from the semen of Vyâsa. (20) You are the one born from the curse of the powerful sage Mândavya Muni as the incarnation of Yamarâja, the controller of death, from the maidservant of the brother [Vicitravîrya] and the son [Vyâsadeva] of Satyavatî [see family tree]. (21) You, your goodness, are recognized as one of the eternal associates of the Supreme Lord, who, on His return to His abode, has given me the knowledge and order to instruct you. (22) Therefore I shall describe to you systematically the pastimes pertaining to the Supreme Lord His greatly extended external energy for the maintenance, creation and dissolution of the cosmic reality.

(23) The one and Supreme Lord was there prior to the creation as the soul of the living entities mastering the self and being merged in its longing He is seen as being different with different characteristics. (24) At that time He was with all of these not seen as the undisputed proprietor in the cosmic creation and was thought to be nonexistent with His plenary portions unmanifested to the power of His manifest internal potency. (25) The external energy is of the perfection of the seer, that is the Lord, seen as the power of the operation of cause and effect and is called mâyâ [or the deluding influence of matter], o fortunate one, of which the Almighty has constructed this world. (26) The Supreme Living Being, by the incarnation of the Original Person, which is the plenary expansion of the original soul, impregnated through the seeds of the living entities, under the influence of time, the external energy in being the Transcendence to the modes of mâyâ. (27) Thereafter came about, by the interaction of time, from the unmanifested, the sum total of unalloyed goodness that could root in the embodied to manifest the supreme light of complete universes. (28) That sum total, which must as well be considered a plenary expansion of the soul to the mode and time, differentiated as the reservoir of the becoming entities into the many different forms of the range of sight of the Personality of Godhead and of this one saw the generation of its falsification.

(29) The great of the causal truth [mahâtattva], transformed into the material reality of false ego, gave rise to effects, the material cause and the doer and thus sprouted to the self its senses the material ingredients of the three kinds of false ego known as the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance that one finds on the mental plane. (30) By transformation from this reality, through interaction with the mode of goodness, the mind generated and also through this interaction the phenomenon of all the godly came about that are the source of material knowledge. (31) The senses are certainly of the mode of passion and thus are its predominating knowledge and fruitive activities likewise. (32) From slowness then the subtle sense objects [of sound] were realized and from that the sky can be considered the symbolic representation of the Supreme Soul. (33) The Supreme Lord glancing over the sky as [cyclic] time mixing the external energy, created from the touch of contacting with the sky the air. (34) The air, also transformed by the extremely powerful sky then gave rise to the lightening [bio-electricity] of sense perception and thus the light of the world to see. (35) The interacting of the air and the glance of the Supreme with that electricity created of the time mix of the material energy the taste [of life] in water. (36) Electrified water subsequently, due to the transforming glancing over by the Supreme of the earth, achieved the quality of smell in the partial mixture of cyclic [eternal] time with the external energy.

(37) Beginning from the sky, all the material elements, and o gentle one, the great number of their superior and inferior qualities, you may see as [due to] the final touch of the Supreme. (38) The godly of all these physical elements are part and parcel of Vishnu and are embodied as part and parcel of the cyclic of time to the external energy. Because of their different duties being not capable [of the complete] they utter fascinating prayers to the Lord. (39) The godly ones said: 'Our obeisances to your lotusfeet, o Lord, in distress we surrendered us to them as they are the protecting umbrella giving shelter to the great sages that forcibly throw out all the great miseries of material life completely. (40) O Father, because of the fact that in this material world, o Lord, the individual souls are always embarrassed by the three miseries [born from oneself, others and nature] they are never happy, but gaining to your (Super-)soul, o Supreme One, to the shade of your lotusfeet, they are full of knowledge and find shelter. (41) At every step taking shelter of the feet of pilgrimage, they who search after Your lotuslike face find its protection carried by the wings of the vedic hymns of the sages at the best of rivers [the Ganges], whose clarity of mind liberates one from the reactions to sin. (42) The meditation that with belief and from simply hearing and in devotion as well is cleansing the heart by the strength of the knowledge of detachment, obliges the pacified to go for the sanctuary of Your feet. (43) For the birth in, the fortitude with and internalization to the paining material reality, let us all take shelter of the incarnations of Your lotusfeet that are the refuge, o Lord, that awards the courage of the devotees with remembrance. (44) Because of getting entangled and thus being of the material body in the mind of I and mine, we as persons are immersed in undesirable eagerness and see You as being far from us although we are present in Your [Universal] body; let us therefore worship Your lotusfeet, o Lord.(45) They [Your feet] are certainly there for the ones under the material influence who from their sense-perception are alienated from the internal vision, o Supreme One, and therefore can never see Your greatness, but to those who do see your divine action there is the enjoyment of the transcendental. (46) O Lord, those who are of a serious attitude simply by drinking of the nectar of the talks attain to enlightened devotional service, the full purport of renunciation and the intelligence in which they quickly achieve the spiritual sphere where there is no fear [Vaikunthha]. (47) For others of the transcendental realization of unifying by the strength of powerfully conquering over the material nature, You are also that one pacifying original person they enter into, but for them it is a lot of work whereas that is not so for the ones who serve You. (48) O Original One, therefore we are [now] all Yours; as for the sake of the creation of the world we were created one after another and in the past were separated by our own actions to the three modes and thus, in the network of our own pleasures, couldn't manage in respect of You. (49) O Unborn One, direct us in our efforts of offering to You at the right time so that we can share as well the meals as the amenities for You and surely also all the ones we live with, and that we, with our sacrifices, therewith may enjoy the food in peace. (50) O Lord, You are of us, the god-conscious and our orders, the one and the same original founder; You o Lord, although You are unborn, are to the energy, the cause of the material modes and the activities indeed as the initiated seed for begetting the variety. (51) O Supreme Soul, tell us what we, who were all created from and for the totality of the cosmos, should do for You, and specifically grant us the vision of Your personal plan and the ability to work, o Lord, and act according our different departments [statusorientations and their transcendence].'

Chapter 6 

The generating of the Universal Form

(1)The wise [Maitreya] said: 'Thus the Lord came to know that in the progress of the universal creations His own potency was in suspension due to non-combination. [see 3.5.24] (2) At that time the supremely powerful potency all at once entered the twenty three elements [the five elements and their qualities, the five organs of action and the senses and the three forms of individual consciousness: mind, intelligence and ego; compare 2.4:23] and was known as Kâlî, the goddess of destruction. (3) That entering later on of the Supreme Lord in the form of the force of matter, Kâlî, separately engaged all the living beings in work awakening them from their unconscious state to their karma. (4) Induced by the combination of the twenty-three principal ingredients the will of the Supreme thus awakened the activities by His personal plenary expansion of the Universal Form. (5) The Lord entering by a plenary portion of His own self [Kâlî] all the elements of creation, transformed that way into the forms that He came to in combination, in which all the moveable and immovable [of the creations] of the worlds finds its peace. (6) He, this Vishnu Hiranmaya, the original person, so spread Himself for a thousand celestial years [one such day is a year to man] within the world residing in the water with all that was of His goodness.

(7) From the active soul full of potency that totality of the living energy of the gigantic form certainly divided the divine self to itself as the oneness that relates to the three- and tenfold. (8) This certainly unlimited of the living entities their souls that are part of the Supersoul, is the first incarnation whereupon the aggregate of all those beings flourishes. (9) To the complete of the self, the divine and all the rest about it [body, mind and senses] thus the threefold of the gigantic moving force of the living energy was seen as being in ten as also as being of one kind only. (10) The remembrance of the entrusted beings of the Lord who prayed for Him as the Transcendence thus considered of the gigantic form the splendor that was there for their understanding. (11) Now just hear of my describing you how many embodiments of demigods therefore there were as the separated parts in this contemplation of His.

(12) From the mouth of His fire [Agni] thus were separated the local directors of material life and in their relating to the ideas of their own department the speech originated by which they express themselves. (13) Varuna, the godly one controlling the air separated himself as the palate from these worldly directors and entered of the Lord [His potency] the portion of the tongue and gave the living entity the expression in taste. (14) The two As'vinî Kumâra's were separated as the two nostrils of Vishnu and by entering that position the respective experience of odors thereupon came into being [see also 2.1:29 and 2.5:30]. (15) As His eyes, the sun, the local ruler of light entered the gigantic of which to the forms the experience of the part of the eyesight came into being. (16) The skin separated of the gigantic form, as the local ruler of the air [Anila] and so entered as the part of the breathing of which the living entity is able to experience touch. (17) From the ears of the gigantic form then were separated the controllers to the original directions that entered with the principles of hearing by which the perfection of sound is experienced. (18) With the separate manifestation of the skin of the universal form the rulers of sensation and their departments entered of which by the hairs on the body [or the vegetation] the living entity experiences itching. (19) When the genitals of the gigantic form were being separated the first One [Brahmâ, the Prajâpati] came to his position and thus the part of the semen entered existence by which the beings experience the pleasure [of sex]. (20) The evacuation outlet separately manifested by which its local ruler with the name of Mitra entered with the part of the evacuation process [death] and thereof the living entity performs his passing of excrements. (21) To the separate manifestation of the hands of the gigantic form, Indra the ruler of the authentic [of heaven] came in existence with the part of the mercantile principles of which the living entity is transacting his business. (22) With the legs of the form that then came separately into being, the local rule of Vishnu entered with his own part of the power of movement by which the living being moves towards its destination. (23) With the separating of the intelligence of the universal, the Lord of the spoken word [the Veda] came into being as the controlling power that entered as that part of the intelligence by which the experience of understanding things could be realized. (24) Also the heart of the Universal Being was manifested separately as Candra, the rule of the moon, which entered as the controlling power over the part of the mental activity by which the living entity decides and transacts. (25) The ego of identifying with the [matter of the] universal form also separately manifested entering the position [as Rudra, Lord S'iva] with the part of the activities by which the living entity undertakes in objective actions. (26) When also the goodness separately manifested itself from the gigantic form, the control over the complete of the energy entered existence as the part of His consciousness by which the living entity cultivates specific knowledge.

(27) Of the head of the Universal Form with the heavenly worlds, the earth worlds as His legs and the interest of the sky from His abdomen, the reactions to the three modes came about by which the demigods and others manifest themselves. (28) In the excess of the mode of goodness the godly have been situated in the higher places whereas all those human beings who live by the nature of their passion are subordinated to them on earth. (29) All those who, in the excess to the third mode, of the nature [of slowness] are situated in between the two [of heaven and earth], belong by the sky of His navel to the population as associates of Rudra.

(30) The leaders to the vedic wisdom, which generated from the mouth of the Universal Form, o chief of the Kuru-dynasty, in their inclination towards the orders of society [the vocations] became the so-called brahmins, the recognized teachers or spiritual spokesmen. (31) Those who then manifested from the arms [of the gigantic form] were the followers [of the brahmins] in relation to the power of protection [the kshatriyas or rulers] who, as representatives of the Supreme Personality, deliver the other occupations from the mischief of disturbing societal elements. (32) From His thighs the Almighty, for the production and distribution of the means of livelihood, generated the mercantile community [the vais'ya's] whose occupation it is to take charge of the provision of all men. (33) For perfecting the duties from the legs of the Supreme Lord was manifested the service to which the prime interest of the occupation of the laborers [s'ûdra's] was generated by which the Lord is satisfied. (34) All these orders of society to the individual duties worship with the teachers themselves the Lord by whom with faith and devotion a soul along with its occupational duty gets purified.

(35) Who can estimate, o Vidura, the totality of this form of the divine operating soul of the Supreme Lord that manifested by the strength of the deluding material oneness [of His internal potency]? (36) Therefore I do describe, o brother, despite of this fact the intelligence as far as gathered from hearing about the glories of the Lord in talks of purity, otherwise the mind will turn to the untrue. (37) The Incomparable One is won by discussions about the Supreme Person His pious activities, which in their glorification are said to be as nectarine transcendence to the ear and which, being put in writing by the learned, also serve the real purpose of bringing one nearer. (38) The glories of the Supreme Soul are, my son, by the original poet [Brahmâ] after a thousand celestial years of meditation [still] known as a fruit of magic. (39) Therefore is that which is even for the manipulative an enchanting godly potency, also by the self-sufficient soul not known; and what to say of others? (40) Of whom we, unable to measure, have ceased to try with words and the mind, ego and all these other gods; unto Him, the Supreme Lord, we offer our respectful obeisances.

Chapter 7 

Further Inquiries by Vidura.  

(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'Thus speaking with Maitreya Muni, the learned son of Dvaipâyana Vyâsa,Vidura, respectfully expressed a request. (2) Vidura said: 'O brahmin, how can of the Supreme Lord, although He is of the complete whole and the unchangeable, his pastimes take place of acting with the modes of nature while He himself is outside of them? (3) Boys willing to play with other boys are enthused in the matter of playing, but how is that different for one who is self-satisfied and at all times detached? (4) The Supreme Lord gave rise to the universe endowed with its three modes; by the potency of her soul are all these maintained and again conversely dissolved as well. (5) How can it be that that pure self under the circumstances of time in the position of a living entity, being of dreams and others, devoid of consciousness can be engaged in nescience? (6) The One Supreme Lord is situated in all these living entities; by what kind of actions is there either the misfortune or the obstruction of the living beings? (7) On this, o learned one, is, in distress of nescience, my mind causing me trouble and therefore, o great one, please clear the great illusion of my thinking.'

(8) S'rî S'uka said: "He, this way urged by Vidura so anxious to find out about the reality, as a great sage acted as if wondered and then without hesitation God-consciously replied. (9) Maitreya said: 'Saying that of the Supreme Lord one is of illusion, that of the ever liberated of His Lordship there would be insufficiency or the idea of bondage, one becomes logically contradictory. (10) Of that kind of confusion of the identifying self of people one is thus bereft of meaning, which superficiality looks like if one's own head is being cut off. (11) As because of the quality of water the moon reflected in it is trembling, so the self is seen by the seer to the [material] qualities that are other than of the soul. (12) To that there is also detachment being engaged by the mercy of Vâsudeva in relating to the Supreme in bhakti[devotional]-yoga, which gradually diminishes this [delusion] in existence. (13) When the senses are satisfied thus to the observing soul that is becoming engaged in transcendence to the Lord, then miseries are done with completely as if one has enjoyed sound sleep. (14) If one can put an end to an unlimited number of miserable conditions by following to the transcendent of hearing and chanting about Murarî [Krishna as the enemy of Mura], then what again to say of the serving [itself] of His lotusfeet in the attraction of the selfrealized?

(15) Vidura said: 'O powerful one, you have cut down my doubts with the weapon of your convincing words my Lord, now my mind on both [God and the living being], o Supreme one, has perfectly merged. (16) All these explanations you gave are as good as they should be, o learned one, the self is not without the apparent meaning in being moved by the external of the Lord, as outside the origin of the Supreme there is no basis. (17) In this world the one slowest of understanding and the one of transcendental intelligence both enjoy in happiness while the persons in between do suffer. (18) I am obliged by the service to your feet in being ascertained that to the apparent values there is nothing material although its self seems to be so, and thus I am able to give up [the misconception]. (19) In serving the personality of Godhead who is the unchangeable enemy of the demon Madhu, one develops in different relationships [râsa's] to the feet the highly ecstatic that vanquishes distress. (20) Of those who are meager in their austerity it is certainly rarely seen that they are on the path of service towards the Kingdom of God [Vaikunthha] in which the Lord by the godly is always glorified as the controller of all living beings.

(21) After the creation of first the complete of the material energy, in a gradual process of differentiation [evolution] the universal form manifested along with its senses and organs in which later the Almighty entered [for His incarnations]. (22) He who is called the original person has thousands of limbs, legs and hands living in all the worlds of the universe according the evolution of each. (23) You explained how there are three kinds of life [to the modes] in which one has ten kinds of life-force with the [five] senses and their [fivefold] interest, please describe now to me what the specific prowess of the societal divisions are. (24) In them, that prowess along with the sons, grandsons and family-members of the different generations has spread itself in the form of all the different varieties. (25) What were all the Manus [heads of the age], and the generations following surely too, to which was He decided as the leader or the father of the living beings [the prajâpati, or Brahmâ] of the generations, and what was their descend? (26) What worlds are there at the head and which earthly worlds are lying beneath, o son of Mitrâ; please describe what their situation is and what the extend of their worldly locations is. (27) Describe me the infrahuman, the human and the superhuman, as born from the reptiles or the birds and the generations and subdivisions of the ones born from wombs, who are toiling or twice-born or of the plants and vegetables. (28) Kindly describe the incarnations to the modes of material nature for the creation, maintenance and destruction of the universe and the magnanimous activities of the one Personality of Godhead who forms the ultimate shelter.

(29) What are to the respective divisions of the statusorientations to age and vocation in society the embodiments, the character and the birth's of the sages and their activities and the divisions of the Veda in categories? (30) And of what sacrifices and ways are the expansions of the yogîc capacity, o master, and what is the path of devotional service in the nonmaterial interest and analytical study as well of relating to the Personality of God with regulative principles? (31) The paths of the faithless, crossbreeding in the imperfect of their contradiction, and the situation and movements of the individual souls as many as there are to the modes and the types of work, what are they? (32) The causes of religiosity, economic development, sense-gratification and salvation that do not contradict to the means of livelihood to law and order and the scriptural injunctions; what are also their different regulations? (33) How are the periodical offerings of respect regulated, o brahmin, to the created of the forefathers and how are the timedurations settled to the planets, the stars and luminaries? (34) What is the practical outcome of charity, penance and the endeavoring for reservoirs of water and how are the duties described of one who is away from home and of a man in danger? (35) Please describe to me, o sinless one, how He as either the Supreme Person, the Father of the Religion, or the controller of all, or as all of these can be satisfied completely. (36) O best among the brahmins, please describe the spiritual masters so kind to the needy, the followers, the disciples and their sons without being asked for it. (37) O great sage, how many dissolutions are there to the chief elements of nature and then who are they, who being saved for the Lord may be of His service in His slumber? (38) And what, to the existence of the different identities of the Supreme, is of Vedic knowledge the same as a necessity to the spiritual master and his disciple? (39) Spotless devotees also have mentioned the source of such knowledge; how does the devotion and certainly also the detachment of the living entity lead to selfsufficient knowledge?

(40) All these questions I asked in the desire to know about the pastimes of the Lord; please answer them to me as a friend for those ignorant ones who lost their vision by the external energy. (41) All divisions of the Veda, all sacrifices and all penances and charities surely do not even partially compare, o spotless one, to the security the living entity is offered by one who gives such assurance.

(42) S'rî S'uka said: 'He [Maitreya], the chief among the sages so well known with the stories [Purânas], thus being questioned by the chief of the Kuru's felt sufficiently enriched and satisfied and thus being stimulated on the topics about the Supreme Lord, he smilingly replied Vidura.'

Chapter 8 

Manifestation of Brahmâ from Garbhodakas'âyî Vishnu.  

(1) S'rî Maitreya said: 'The descendants of King Pûru are certainly worthy to serve the true because their kings are chiefly devoted to the Supreme Personality; and also with you who are born in this chain of devotional activity to the Invincible One, step by step there is constant renewal. (2) To that I will speak this Bhâgavatam, this vedic supplement which was directly spoken to the wise by the Supreme Lord for the mitigation of the great distress of the human beings who experience so little happiness.

(3) The son of Brahmâ [Sanat-Kumâra] inquired, heading the great sages [the four boy-saints, the Kumâra's], just like you for the truth about the original Personality with Lord Sankarshana [the first plenary portion and companion of the Lord] who undeterred of knowledge resides at the basis of the Universe. (4) Himself thus situated for the mediation of He who is greatly esteemed by the name of Vâsudeva had turned His vision inward, but for the advancement of the greatly learned sages He slightly opened his lotuslike eyes. (5) With the hairs on their heads wet from the water of the Ganges they touched the shelter of His lotusfeet that are worshiped by the daughters of the serpent-king with great devotion and various paraphernalia in the desire for a good husband. (6) With words and great affection in rhythmic accord repeatedly glorifying the activities of the Lord, from the thousands of raised hoods [of Ananta, the serpent king] emanated the glowing effulgence of the valuable stones of their thousands of helmets. (7) Of the purport of the Bhâgavatam He then certainly spoke to Sanat-Kumâra who had taken the vow of yoga and it was also told [on his turn by him], o Vidura, on request to Sânkhyâyana who had also taken to the vow. (8) When the great sage Sânkhyâyana as the chief of the transcendentalists reciting this Bhâgavatam [thereafter] gave explanation, he was heard by the spiritual master Parâs'ara I followed as also by Brihaspati. (9) He [Parâs'ara] kindhearted told me, as was told him by the sage Pulastya, the foremost of the purânas that also I shall speak to you, my dear son, as you are a follower that is always faithful.

(10) At the time the trhee worlds were submerged in the water was He therein laying down with nearly closed eyes on the snakebed Ananta and was He without any interest in the external actively enjoying His internal potency. (11) He, from within the body of transcendence kept the subtle of the material elements as the soul of time [kâla], giving life and energy from His own position of residing in the water, the way the power of fire is contained in firewood. (12) For a thousand times four yugas [4.32 billion years], He was [before this] asleep with His internal potency for the sake of the further development by His own force called kâla [time], of the whole world bound in fruitive action that made Him in His own body look bluish [as the resort of lifegiving water]. (13) To the purpose of His internal attention on the subtle subject matter, there was in due course of time by the material activity of the modes of nature, the agitated [of the primal substance] that then generated very subtly [with organic forms] the piecing through of His abdomen. (14) That bud of the lotusflower, generated from within, by time suddenly appeared, awakening the fruitive activities and by its own effulgence illuminating the vast waters of devastation like the sun.

(15) In that lotusflower that is the world Vishnu for sure factually entered as the reservoir of all the qualities of which one says that He in the past generated the person of vedic wisdom, the controller of the universe or the self-born one. (16) And in that water situated on the whorl of the lotus the [Brahmâ of the] world was not able to see and wandered around with spying eyes in the four directions thus achieving his heads ['the four heads' of Brahmâ]. (17) From there at the end of the Yuga because of the air of devastation [thunder and lightening] from the whirl of the water, the mystery of creation situated on and sheltered by the lotusflower in its astonishment could not understand itself perfectly as being the first demigod [Brahmâ]. (18) 'Who am I, this one on top of the lotus? Where did this lotus come from? Surely there is something in the water below. Whether it sprouted of its own or not, it must belong to something else!' (19) He [Brahmâ] contemplating this way the lotusstem, by that channel of the water he entered into, could not, despite of turning inward and thinking extensively about that stemming from the navel [of Vishnu], understand how it took birth of its own. (20) Because of looking in ignorance, o Vidura, contemplating the cause of the creation, thus it came to the dominance of three-dimensional [material or linear] time which to the embodied generates fearfulness and the diminishing of the lifespan to a hundred years in relating to the self-born and the wheel [s'is'umâra cakra or galactic] of eternal time [compare 2.2.: 24-25].

(21) Thereafter retiring from that endeavor without achieving what he desired, he came back to his own seat [or material position] where he as the demigod immediately sat down and withdrew his intelligence controlling the breath, self-assured absorbed in yoga. (22) In due course of time, he, the selfborn for his lifetime [a 'hundred years of Brahmâ', of which one day of 4.32 billion solar years has 1000 mahâyugas ], developed in his meditation the intelligence that manifested out of its own in the heart, of which he saw what he couldn't see before. (23) On the bed of the completely white gigantic S'esha-nâga [snake] lotusflower the Original person was lying alone under the umbrella of the serpent hood that was bedecked with head jewels of which by its rays the darkness in the water of devastation [the primal soup] dissipated. (24) The panorama derided the [ensuing] green and coral of the evening splendor of the sun and the great and golden of the mountain summits with their jewels of waterfalls and herbs and so was the scenery of flowers and trees [but] the adornment of His hands and legs. (25) The length and breadth of the measurement of His transcendental presence covered the totality of the three worlds in all its variety with the beauty of the divine radiance of the ornaments that dressed His body.

(26) To the desire of the human being on the path of devotional service in worship of the lotusfeet that reward with all what is longed for, He showed of those feet in His causeless mercy the moonlike shine of His toe- and fingernails that reveal the most beautiful [flowerlike] division. (27) From his facial expression, the vanquisher of the worldly distress, by His smiles dazzles, being decorated with earrings, the witnessing with the rays reflected from His lips in the reciprocation of His pleasing nose and eyebrows. (28) My dear Vidura, the waist was well decorated with a belt and cloth of a saffron color of kadamaba flowers; there was a priceless necklace and on the chest there was the attractive S'rîvatsa mark [a few white hairs]. (29) The way trees in the world are self-situated and disseminate with thousands of branches their high value [of flowers and fruits] as if ornamented with precious jewels, so the Lord, the ruler of Ananta, [Garbhodakas'âyî Vishnu] is ornamented with the hoods over His shoulders. (30) The Supreme Lord as the mountain range forms the abode for what moves around and does not move with the friendship of Ananatadeva who, from within the water bedecked with thousands of golden helmets, manifests as the peak of those mountains the Kaustubha [priceless jewel] in the ocean. (31) In the midst of that with the sweet sound of the beauty and the flowergarlands of Vedic wisdom of His own glories [saw Brahmâ that] the Lord of the sun, the moon, the air and the fire was very difficult to reach, unapproachable as He was in His wandering around in the three worlds fighting for the duty. (32) So could it be that the godhead of the universe, the creator of destiny, was sure of seeing the navel of Him, the lake, the lotusflower, the soul its waters of destruction, its drying air and the sky; but he could not glance beyond the created of the cosmic manifestation. (33) He as the seed of worldly activities invigorated by the mode of passion with that vision thus prayed, with the [sensual] fivefold of the entities eager to procreate, to be creative after the worshipable transcendental on the path of the steadfast soul.

Chapter 9

Brahmâ's Prayers for Creative Energy.

(1) Brahmâ said: 'Today, after a long time, I may know that the embodied beings that do not know You of Your ways as the Supreme Lord are not safe in this life. There is none beyond You, o my Lord, and anything that appears to be so can never be the absolute; You are the power because of which there is the mixture of the material energy. (2) That form, which is always free from material ignorance, advented with the manifestation of Your internal potency for the sake of the devotees as the original incarnation in hundreds of forms and is the source of the lotusflower from which I myself originated. (3) O my Lord, beyond You I see no form that is superior to your eternal form of bliss, that is without changes and deterioration of potency; You are the one and only Creator of the cosmic manifestation and the nonmaterial Supreme Soul itself; I who takes pride in the identification with the body and senses am surrendered to You. (4) That form, or however You make Your presence, is all-auspicious for the entire universe and benefits our meditation, and to You, Supreme Lord, who are the manifested for us devotees, I offer my obeisances; unto You I perform that which is neglected by persons who are heading for hell in their concern with material topics. (5) Those who inside only smell the aroma of Your lotusfeet, through their ears hearing the sounds of devotional service, are in acceptance of the school of transcendence and for them, Your own devotees, there is never the separation of You from the lotus of their hearts, o Lord. (6) Until then there will be the immense fear, lamentation and also avarice about wealth, the body, relatives and paraphernalia, in which till that time, as long as the people of the word do not take to the shelter of the safety of Your lotusfeet, one will be full of anxieties in undertaking to the perishable of the possessive. (7) How unfortunate are they who are bereft of the memory of Your topics; tied down by inauspiciousness and their senses turned against, they act to their desires finding happiness for only a brief moment: they are poor fellows who's minds are overwhelmed by greed and whose activities are full of stress. (8) Their always being troubled by [neurotic] hunger, thirst and their three humors [mucus, bile and wind], winter and summer, wind and rain and many other disturbances as also by a strong sexdrive and an inevitable anger, I see all together as most unbearable, o great actor - it aggrieves me a lot. (9) As long as the people in the separatism of the body are set to sense-gratification that continues under the influence of the illusive energy, they cannot overcome the material of existence, although on itself the many miseries brought by fruitive activities bear no factual meaning [to the soul]. (10) During the day they are engaged in stressful labor and at night they suffer insomnia because of their ruminations that break their intelligence and sleep constantly; the divine order frustrates their plans and also the wise, o my Lord, who turned against Your topics, stay around in this world. (11) Unto You cent percent united in devotion, with You residing on the lotus of their hearts, the devotees who are on the path of hearing, o my Lord, see You in the here and now in Your causeless mercy manifesting Your very same transcendental form, according whatever they specifically think of You as the multiglorious One in their mediations. (12) You are never very satisfied by the pompous arrangement of worship with all the paraphernalia of the godly attendants whose hearts are full of desire about that which you show the living beings as a causeless mercy, but which for the non-devoted is unavailable: that You are the one and only that is perceived differently by all who is the wellwishing friend and the soul within. (13) But of the people therefore who worship You as the Supreme Person with various fruitive activities, vedic rituals, charities, severe austerities and transcendental service, simply for pleasing You with their dutiful offerings at any time, one can never say that they go in vain.

(14) Let me bring my obeisances unto You, who are this Supreme, who in enjoying pastimes in the matter of the cosmic creation, maintenance and destruction, for sure is distinguished by the glories of the eternal original form: all glory to the intelligence of the selfknowledge after Your Transcendence of the illusory conception. (15) I take shelter of the Unborn one whose incarnations, transcendental qualities and activities are all mysterious; of Him whose names invoked at the time of leaving this life, even unconsciously, immediately for sure take away the accumulated sins of many many lives and open up immortality. (16) The one who indeed with me and S'ivaas the Almighty personality and the cause of maintenance, creation and dissolution rooting in the soul, penetrated [this world] growing three trunks as the one and only to the many branches; unto Him, the Personality of Godhead, this tree of the planetary systems, my obeisances. (17) As long as the people in general are engaged in unwanted activities and are negligent of your beneficial activities in the fixed acts of their own business, will the struggle for existence of these people be very tough and all run into shambles; let there be My obeisances unto Him who operates as the eternal of time. (18) To You whom I also fear, although I exist in a place that lasts for two parârdha's [2 x 50 years, with one day and night being two times 4.32 billion earthly years: 311.04 trillion years] and are respected in all the worlds having undergone severe penances for many years for selfrealization, I nevertheless offer My respectful obeisances my Lord, Supreme Personality and enjoyer of all sacrifices. (19) By the power of your own will You project yourself among the lower and the human beings, among the empowered ones and in the different species, performing transcendental pastimes in the desire to fulfill your obligations to which you are never under the material influence but for sure are manifesting your divine form; my obeisances to that primeval Lord, the Supreme Personality. (20) In spite of having accepted the influence of the fivefold interaction of the senses you remain unaffected and sleep lying down on the snakebed happy to be in touch within the waters of devastation with its violent waves - and that You do so for the maintenance of the different entities in your abdomen, showing the chain of the intelligent Your happiness. (21) Unto Him of whom I, from the lotus house sprouting from the navel, manifested to assist Him, the worshipable one, in the creation of the three worlds; unto Him who has the universe in His abdomen and unto Him whose eyes are blossoming like lotuses after the end of the union of His sleep, my obeisances.

(22) Let He, the Lord of all universes, the one friend and philosopher, the Supersoul who by the mode of goodness gives happiness as the Supreme Lord of the six opulences [beauty, intelligence, penance, power, fame and wealth], for sure give Me the power of introspection so that I will be able to create as before this universe in surrender and love with Him. (23) To this benefactor of the surrendered soul, who [as Râma] enjoys with the goddess of fortune [Lakshmî] in whatever He may enact from His internal potency with the accepting of incarnations of goodness, I pray that I may create gifted with His omnipotency and that in spite of the material affection of my heart engaged in the work, I will also be able to stop with all of it. (24) I pray that I, who was born from the lake of the Supreme Person His navel as the energy of the total universe to the manifestation of the variegatedness of the unlimitedly powerful of Him, that I may not lose sight of the soundvibrations of the Vedic truth. (25) And may He, the Supreme Lord who is unlimitedly merciful in his ultimate love and His smiles in opening His lotuseyes for the flourishing and glory of the cosmic creation, with His sweet words as the oldest and Original Person lovingly remove our dejection.'

(26) Maitreya said: 'After thus regarding the source of His appearance in penance, knowledge and concentration of mind, as far as possible giving thought to the words of his prayer, he felt silent as if tired. (27-28) Madhusûdana [Krishna as the killer of Madhu] saw the sincerity of Brahmâ and his being depressed at heart about the devastating waters of the age. Seeing him sufficiently anxious about His science to the situation of the planet, He in deep thoughtful words spoke to him removing that way his anxiety.

(29) The Supreme Lord said: 'You who has the depth of all vedic wisdom: do not despair on the endeavor of creation. What you have set yourselves to and pray for, I for sure have already granted before. (30) As before set yourself to penance and the principles of knowledge to be sure of my support and from those qualifications you will see all the worlds disclosed within your heart, o brahmin. (31) Then, when to the universe you are fully absorbed connected in devotion, you shall see Me as spread throughout, o Brahmâ, and that you, all the worlds and all beings, are part of Me. (32) The time that you see Me in all living entities and the universe the way fire is present in wood, then without doubt you'll be able to abandon the weakness. (33) When you have freed your soul from the material ideas of your senses under the influence of the modes, you will, thus seeing, find your pure in relating to Me and will enjoy the spiritual kingdom. (34) With all the variety of service and the desire to expand the population innumerably, your soul will never be saddened; concerning you My causeless mercy will be forever. (35) You are the original sage; the vicious mode of passion will never encroach upon you because, despite of your generating progeny, your mind is always narrowed down to Me. (36) Although for the conditioned soul I am difficult to be known, I Myself am known today by you because you understand Me as not being made of matter, senses, modes and the bewilderment of the self. (37) To you, when you tried to figure Me out contemplating the source of the lotus through its stem in the water, I showed myself from within. (38) The prayers you did for Me, o Brahmâ, put into My words, enumerating My glories or the penance and your faith; consider all these as the result of My causeless mercy. (39) Let with all this that pleased Me, all benediction rest upon you, who in your desire prayed for the conquest of all the worlds by nicely describing My qualities and My being above them. (40) May whatever person, who regularly prays this way with these verses, of his worship very soon see all his desires fulfilled, for I am the Lord of all benediction. (41) By the good works, penances, sacrifices, charities and the absorbtion in yoga that are done in love for me Me, will the human being find its ultimate success, so is the opinion of they who know the reality. (42) I am the Supersoul, the director of all other souls, the dearest being of all that is dear and certainly one should therefore direct all the attachment in which one 's body and mind are so dear, towards Me. (43) With the command of your knowledge of the Veda and with your body that directly found its life from the Soul, now generate the lives, which also lie in Me, as it was done here before.

(44) Maitreya said: 'After thus instructing him, the creator of the universe, did the primeval original Lord in His personal form of Nârâyana disappear.'

Chapter 10 

Divisions of the Creation.

(1) Vidura said: 'How many sorts did the grandfather of all creatures on this planet create to the body and mind of the Almighty after the disappearance of the Supreme Personality? (2) For the purpose of all that I asked you about, o powerful one, kindly describe all of them, o greatly learned one, from the beginning to the end and be so kind to remove all my doubts'."

(3) Sûta said [see Canto 1]: "O son of Bhrigu [Saunaka], the great sage, the son of Kusara [Maitreya] thus enlivened by Vidura felt pleased and thus replied the questions from the core of his heart.

(4) Maitreya said: 'And so did Brahmâ perform for a hundred celestial years penances for the sake of the soul, engaging Himself as was told him by the unborn One, the Supreme Lord. (5) In that saw he, who was born from the lotus, that by the inherent power of the natural forces [eternal time] the wind separated the waters on which the lotus was situated. (6) By his penance he surely had won in transcendental knowledge and had matured in his self-awareness and practical knowledge, and with that power he took in the wind along with the water. (7) Then he saw how widespread the lotus was on which he was situated; from the action all the world that was previously submerged had now separated and was open to his creation, so he found. (8) Entering into that whorl of the lotus, in his activities encouraged by the Supreme Lord, he divided the one into three worlds and from that He could create the fourteen of them [see also 2.5.42]. (9) Concerning these the highest person in the universe had no other motivation than setting the duties all round to the mature stage of the interest of the individual localities where the souls had their living.

(10) Vidura said: 'You spoke to the variety of different forms of the Lord, the wonderful actor, of the eternal of time, o brahmin; can you please describe us what the factual appearance of it is, o Lord?'

(11) Maitreya said: 'It is the source of the interactions to the modes of nature, it is undivided and unlimited and the instrument of the Original Person who created the material life of the soul through His pastimes. (12) The phenomenal which for sure is there as the same energy of Vishnu, separated itself from the Spirit by the Supreme Lord in the form of time [kâla], which is considered His unmanifest [impersonal] feature. (13) As it is at present, so it was in the beginning and to the end it will also continue to be the same.

(14) Of the creation there are nine different kinds to the eternal of time according the three material modes of nature [goodness, passion, and ignorance], the three qualities of matter [material knowledge, movement and inertia] and the three kinds of annihilation [that of the plants, who end with the universe, that of the lower animals who go extinct and that of the higher beings that end in the Lord]. (15) The first one [the mahatattva, of the goodness] is nothing but the total of creation that emanated from the Lord with the interacting of its three modes. The second one [of passion] is but the false ego of the awakened activities of the material ingredients and their interrelating [their 'knowledge']. (16) The created of matter itself is the third kind [that of ignorance] that is only of sense perception to which fourth there is to the matter of the senses the practical basic of material knowledge. (17) The interaction to the mode of goodness gives the godly [of movement] to the material creation which with the sum total of mind forms the fifth kind to which sixth there is the darkness of creation [the inert of matter] that makes fools of masters. (18) Next to the first six creations of the material energy [of nature or the Lord] there are the secondary creations; just hear concerning those from me about the the powerful one that is the incarnation of the mode of passion [Brahmâ] and about the pastimes of that brain of the Supreme Lord.

(19) The seventh principle of creation concerns six kinds of beings that do not move themselves: trees bearing fruit without flowers, plants and bushes that exist until the fruit has ripened, the creepers, the pipe-plants, creepers without support and fruit trees that do blossom. (20) Those [unmoving] beings seek their subsistence upwards, are almost unconscious with a mere feeling within and are of many varieties. (21) The eight creation are the species of lower animals, they are of twenty-eight different kinds and are considered to be without knowledge of destiny, of an extreme ignorance, of a discrimination by smell and of a poor memory of heart [conscience]. (22) O purest one, the cow, the goat, the buffalo, the antelope, the hog, the gavaya [a type of oxen], the deer, the sheep and the camel all have split hooves. (23) The ass, the horse, the mule, the gaura, the sarabha-bison and the wild cow so have only one toe, o Vidura and just let me tell you now of the animals with five nails. (24) They are the dog, the jackal, the fox, the tiger, the cat, the rabbit, the sajâru-porcupine, the lion, the monkey, the elephant, the tortoise, the iguana ['four legged snake'], the alligator and others. (25) The heron, the vulture, the crane, the hawk, the bhâsa [another kind of vulture], the bhallûka, the peacock, the swan, the sârasa [indian crane],the cakravâka, the crow, the owl and others are the birds. (26) The ninth kind that [also] stocks its belly, o Vidura, is of one species: the humans; in them the mode of passion is very prominent, they are very busy to their misery but think themselves always happy.

(27) Surely to the latter three kinds of creatures the devoted incarnates [as the tenth kind, the godly ones], o good one, which is different for the previously mentioned kinds of creations from the divine of nature. The sons of Brahmâ [the Kumâras, the brahmins] are of both kinds [named the vaikrita, incarnations of devotion and prâkrita, of nature only]. (28-29) The creation of the devoted ones is of eight kinds: (1) the demigods, (2) the forefathers, (3) the atheists, (4) the celestial beings, angels and the saints (5) the protectors and the giants (6) the celestial singers (7) the spirits guiding to the good and bad and the ones dwelling in heaven and (8) the superhuman beings and others. All the ten types of creation I described you, o Vidura, are created by Brahmâ, the creator of the universe. (30) Hereafter I will explain the different descendants of the Manu's and that way how the Creator infused with the mode of passion in the different ages creates with an unfailing determination to the Lord who from Himself as Himself came by His own energy.

Chapter 11 

Division of time expanding from the atom.

(1) Maitreya said: 'The ultimate truth of what shows itself in the many as the indivisible, should always be seen as the atomic from which the oneness of men is misunderstood. (2) Surely is, of the truth of physical bodies [of atoms] that keep the same form till the end of time, that which emancipates to the Supreme ever composed into unlimited forms. (3) And thus, to the subtle as well as the gross forms, can time be measured, my best, by the motion of the combination of atoms of which the Supreme unmanifest Lord is the great force controlling all physical action. (4) That eternal time of the atoms is ascertained by means of the entire aggregate of the space taken by the atoms in their non-dual existence [their expansion], which is the supreme or great of [cosmic] time.

(5) Three times the double of two atoms becomes a hexatom of which one is reminded by what can be known to lighten up in the fluid of one's eye [as a dust-particle], seeing it go up when one looks in the sky. (6) The time formed by the combination of three hexatoms [in their expanding to the space they take] is called a truthi [calculated as 1/1687.5 of a second] of which one hundred are called a vedha; the three of them happen to be called but a lava. (7) The duration of three lava's is to be known as one nimesha [± 0.53 second] and the time of three of them is called a kshana [± 1.6 seconds], five of those should be known as a kâshthhâ [± 8 seconds] of which a laghu is the fifteen of them [± 2 minutes]. (8) The exact of fifteen of those laghus is called a nâdikâ [or danda, ± 30 minutes] and two of them make a muhurta [about an hour] while six to seven of them form one yâma [a quarter of a lightday or night] depending on human calculation [the season, the latitude]. (9) The measuring pot (water-clock) has the weight of six palas [14 ounces] and has a four mâsha[17 karats] golden probe four fingers long covering a hole through which it fills with water till next sunrise. (10) Four yâma's form the duration of both the day and the night of the human being and fifteen days [of eight yâma's each] make one pakshah [fortnight] which measured is known as being either black or white [depending on whether there is a full moon or new moon in it]. (11) The aggregate of such a 'day' and 'night' is called an ancestral [traditional and solar] month with two of them forming a season of which there are six [resp. 'cold' or hentanta, 'dew' or shirshira, 'spring' or vasanta, 'warm' or grishma, 'rainy' or varsha and 'autumn' or sarad, counted from the 22 of dec.] according the movement of the sun going through the southern and the northern sky. (12) This movement of the sun is said to form one day of the demigods and is called a vatsara [a tropical year] of twelve months. The duration of life of the human being is estimated to be of a great many of those years [see also the 'full calendar of order'].

(13) The planets, the heavenly bodies [like the moon] and the stars all rotate along with the atoms in the universe completing their orbits as a conclusion of years in the Almighty [or cyclic] of the eternal of time. (14) The orbiting around the sun of the earth and of the other planets as well, the orbiting of our stars [in our galaxy around Sagittarius A in the sky] and also the orbiting moon is, o Vidura, thus spoken of as being of one [and the same cakra- or scheduled calendar-]year. (15) Unto the one [the sun] who in various ways gives life to the seeds of creation by His own energy and which, dissipating the darkness during the day, is moving distinct from all other material forms in the name of cyclic time - to which one's offers there is an increase of material outcome - one should by all means exercise respect once in a five years [like one does with leaping every four years].

(16) Vidura said: 'Given the traditional, divine and human of the final calculation in the measurement of the timeperiods of the lives of all the supreme living entities, what would be the calculation of the periods that take more than a millennium, o greatly learned one? (17) O mighty one of the Spirit, by dint of the eyes of your yogîc vision you are the one that in your self-realization does see of eternal time the movements of the Supreme Lord in the form of the entire universe.'

(18) Maitreya said: 'The four yugas [ages or millennia] called Satya, Tretâ, Dvâpara and Kali take together approximately 12000 years [or one mahâyuga] of the demigods [which are assigned360 vatsara's each]; . (19) The subsequent yugas starting with satya-yuga each are respectively four, three, two and one time 1200 demigod years long. (20) Experts say that the transitional periods at the beginning and end of each yuga cover several hundreds of demigod years and that they are the millennia [like the millennia we live in now] wherein all kinds of religious activities take place. (21) The complete sense of duty of mankind in its four principles of religion [of satya, dayâ, tapas, s'auca; truth, compassion, penance and cleanliness] was during Sathya-yuga properly maintained, but certainly in the other yugas the principles gradually declined one by one with irreligion proportionately being more and more admitted. (22) Apart from the one thousand [maha-]yugas for the three worlds [the heavenly, svarga; earthly, martya and lower, pâtâla ones] in the realm of the Absolute [Brahmaloka] that for sure make one day of Brâhma [of 4.32 billion years], o dear one, there is also a night just as long wherein the Creator of the universe goes asleep. (23) Following the end of the night with the beginning of another day of Lord Brahmâ the creation of the three worlds begins again in its totality covering the lives of fourteen Manus. (24) Each Manu enjoys a time of living of a little more than seventy-one [maha- that is a set of four] yugas.

(25) With the ending of each Manu, the next one follows along with the flourishing of his descendants, the seven sages, the god-conscious and the demigods with all of the following after them. (26) All these creations of the lower animals, the human beings, the ancestors and the demigods belonging to the one creation of a day of Brahmâ, are revolving through the three worlds appearing therein in the cycles of their own fruitive activities. (27) In the change of each Manu, the Supreme Lord manifests His goodness in His different incarnations as the Manu Himself that maintains this universe for the unfolding of the divine potencies. (28) Towards the darkness only the relatively small portion of physical interest facing the suspension of all manifestation merges by the eternal of time and of that do the innumerable living entities remain silent at the end of the day. (29) For sure after that are all the realities of the three worlds that entered into the night of Brahmâ, just as it is with an ordinary night, without the glare of the sun and the moon. (30) When the life-spheres of the three worlds are being set afire by the potency of the fire that emanates from the mouth of Lord Sankarshana [see 3-8:3], then the sage Bhrigu and others who are agitated by the heat move from the world of the saints [maharloka, the fourth world] to the world of men [janaloka, the next world]. (31) Immediately after the beginning of the devastation of the three worlds all the seas overflow with the agitation of violent winds and hurricanes that are blowing the waves. (32) In the water there is on the seat of Ananta the Lord in His mystic slumber with His eyes closed being glorified by the inhabitants of the worlds of men.

(33) Thus in the course of time there is decline through these days and nights of ending His [Brahmâ's] life just like it is with our lives, although it takes a hundred years [to him: two parârdha's or 2 times155.5 trillion years, see also 3-9:18] (34) The first half of the duration of His life called one parârdha has now passed and surely in this age we have begun with the second half. (35) In the beginning of the superior first half there was a millennium named the Brahmâ-kalpa in which the great was manifested whereupon Lord Brahmâ and the known sounds of the Veda appeared. (36) And thereafter at the end of the Brahmâ-millennium came into being what is called the Pâdma-kalpa in which from the Lord His navel the lotus of the universe sprouted. (37) This current millennium at the beginning of the second half is factually celebrated, o descendant of Bharata, as the one of Vârâha in which the Lord appeared in the form alike that of a hog [see also 1-3:7] (38) This eternal time of the two halves of Brahmâ's life is but a second compared to the unchanging, unlimited and surely beginningless Soul of the universe. (39) This eternal time beginning from the atom up to the final duration of two parârdha's, for sure is never the [real] controller; it is only capable to exercise control as Lord of the earth over those who are of body-consciousness. (40) Along with the transformation of the elements the henceforth united manifestations expanded outside covering with a universe of half a billion. (41) Enlarged up to ten times these units [or the secondary elements] that like atoms entered into it evidently came together and clustered with oneother into huge universes [or galaxies]. (42) That is said to be the infallible supreme cause of all causes, the supreme abode of the Maintainer and without doubt the original incarnation of the person of the Universal Mind [Mahâ-Vishnu].'

Chapter 12 

Creation of the Kumâras and Others

(1) Maitreya said: 'Thus far I described to you, o Vidura, the glories of the Supersoul under the name of kâla, now just try to understand from me how the reservoir of the Veda's came into existence.

(2) First came about the sense of death, then anger upon frustration, next all the false sense of ownership with the sense objects and then there was the illusory conception of darkness as well as the nescience in one's engagements. (3) Seeing such a troublesome creation he [Brahmâ] did not feel much pleasure; he then, purified by meditating the Supreme Lord, found the mind for another term of creation. (4) To that the great self-born sages Sanaka, Sananda, Sanâtana and Sanat-kumâra found their existence who are free from all fruitive action and who are of the celibate ['whose seed goes upwards']. (5) He commissioned them, his sons, from within: 'O my sons, do procreate', but they did not desire that, pledged as they were to the principles of liberation in devotion for the Personality of Godhead. (6) He, thus disrespected by the sons who refused to follow the order, developed an anger which he could not show and to his best tried to put to an end. (7) In spite of controlling it by meditation, from between the eyebrows of the original father his anger, instanty a child was born of a color mixed of red [for passion] and blue [for ignorance]. (8) That child loudly cried out to the father of all the gods: 'O Powerful one, o ruler of destiny, assign me my names and places of commitment, o teacher of the universe.'

(9) Being requested as the all-powerful one born from the lotus, he accepted the plea and gently pacified it with the words: 'Do not cry, I shall do as you desire. (10) O boy, chief of the demigods, because you were so anxiously crying out aloud, the people will address you by the name of Rudra. (11) The heart, the senses, the life air, the sky, the air, fire and water, earth and the sun, the moon and also austerity for sure are all the places that are already selected for you. (12) All your names are: Manyu, Manu, Mahinasa, Mahan, S'iva, Ritadhvaja, Ugraretâ, Bhava, Kâla, Vâmadeva and Dhritavrata. (13) Dhî, Dhriti, Rasalâ, Umâ, Niyut, Sarpi, Ilâ, Ambikâ, Irâvatî, Svadhâ and Dîkshâ are, o Rudra, your eleven wives. (14) Accept these different names and places and the wives belonging to them; generate progeny with them on a large scale, since you are the master of the living beings.' (15) Thus being ordered by his own spiritual master, the most powerful one of the mix of blue and red brought forth the generations who like himself were of the same strength, features and furious nature. (16) Seeing from the activities of the sons that were generated by Rudra that the unlimited number of them all together devoured the entire universe, the father of the living beings became afraid: (17) 'O best of the demigods' he said, 'It is not necessary, all that happens from your kind. The flames of their fiery eyes are burning from all sides and as well affect me. (18) Be situated in penance, that is auspicious for you. By penance only will the living entities find happiness and will you create a world to your liking as it was before. (19) Only by penance can a person fully know the supreme light of respect for the Supreme Lord beyond the senses who resides in the heart of everyone.'

(20) Maitreya said: 'Thus on the request of the self-born one, he [Rudra] circumambulated the master of the Veda's, that way confirming Him with mantra's, and entered for the sake of penance into the forest. (21) From these considerations about the creation, ten sons were begotten who regarding the Lord were empowered with the potency to cause the extend of the world population. (22) Thus Marîci, Atri, Angirâ, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Bhrigu, Vasishthha, Daksha and the tenth son, Nârada, were born. (23) Deliberating on transcendence Nârada came into being, Daksha came from the thumb, from the life-air Vasishthha saw the light, while Bhrigu came from his touch and the sage Kratu from his hand. (24) Pulaha generated from the navel, Pulastya from his ears, the great sage Angirâ from the mouth, from the eyes the sage Atri came forth and the sage Marîci appeared from the mind. (25) From the right side of the breast, where Nârâyana resides, religion manifested while irreligion, from which the world fears the horrors of death, appeared from his back. (26) From the heart lust manifested, from the eyebrows anger, from between his lips greed, from the mouth originated the drive to speak while from his penis the flood came and from the anus, the reservoir of all vices, the lowest activities. (27) From his shadow Kardama Muni, the husband of Devahuti, manifested. Thus this master of the body and the mind of the universe who dances the cosmic manifestation developed.

(28) O Vidura, we have heard that the daughter Vak that was born from his body distracted the mind of Brahmâ and brought him desire and although he wasn't sexually inclined, he thus developed a sexual preference. (29) The sons, the sages headed by Marîci, who thus saw that the mind to him had lost its sense of duty, with due respect submitted themselves as follows: (30) 'Never before such a thing was done by you, nor would that be done by anyone else what you entertain towards your daughter, without controlling the sexual urge, o master. (31) Certainly such an attitude does not befit the most powerful one whose good behavior and character, o master of the universe, the world surely is following in its choice of prosperity. (32) Let us offer our obeisances to the Supreme Lord who situated in Himself from His own effulgence has the goodness to manifest the proper sense of duty for our protection.' (33) Thus seeing all the sons before him addressing him, the father of all fathers of mankind, at that moment ashamed quitted the body accepting the blame about the fog that in all directions is [still] known as darkness. (34) When there was once the contemplation on how he would create himself all these worlds as they were composed in the past, from the four mouths of Brahmâ the vedic literature manifested. (35) Thus the four functions of action [the offer, the performer, the fire and the offering itself] and the supplements of the Veda with their logical conclusions along with the four principles of religion [truth, purity, austerity and compassion] came about and following that also the social orders and the divisions of vocation became manifest.'

(36) Vidura said: 'Please explain to me, o wealth of renunciation, how and with the help of what divinity the Veda's which came from the mouth were established by Him who is the controller of the universe that was created.'

(37) Maitreya said: 'The four Vedas named Rig, Yajur, Sâma and Atharva, came from the mouth beginning from the front, one after another establishing the scriptural discussions, the rituals, the recitation material and the prayers of transcendental activity. (38) Also beginning from the front were the science of medicine, military science, the art of music and the know-how of building, all from the Veda's respectively created from the mouths. (39) The histories, the purânas or the fifth Veda came for sure all of them forth from the mouths of him who can see all of time all around. (40) The various types of fire-sacrifice called sodasî, uktha, purîsh, agnishthoma, âptoryamâ, atirâtra, vâjapeya and gosava manifested from the eastern mouth[s]. (41) Education, charity, penance and truth are the four legs of religion as is also true for the number of the orders of life [students, married people, withdrawn people and the renuciates] and the vocations [the laborers, the traders, the rulers and the intellectuals]. (42) Then there was the initiation [the ceremony of the sacred thread] for the twice-born, the rule of loyalty for one year, the culture of sexual abstinence and the subsistence according the rules and duties of maintaining a livelihood by taking what is left over without asking further even though one is of a householders life. (43) Those who retired and cook modestly, those who gave up keeping stock, those who accept what they find on their way, and those who live in retreat on what falls in their lap, are the ones who live withdrawn, while the renounced order consists of those who from the beginning lived unattached within a family, those who gave up all material interest always being engaged in transcendental activities, those who are complete in their absorption in transcendental knowledge and those who gave up acting all together. (44) From his heart thus logic, the three goals of life [religion, economy and liberation and the regulation of sense-gratification], law and order and the moral codes, came into existence along with the hymns of earth, mind and heaven as surely also the pranava [aum-mantra]. (45) From the hair of his body ushnik [a meter of poetry] was generated, from the skin of the mighty one came the gâyatrî [the great purification mantra], trishthup [another metre] came from his flesh, from the veins came anushthu and from the bones of the father of the living beings was jagatî generated [two other meters]. (46) From the marrow of his bones was manifested pankti itself while brihatî, generated from the life breath [two types of verse]. (47) The individual soul of the father of beings manifested itself as the touch alphabets [ka to ma], his body expressed the vowels [a, a, i, i, u, u, r, r, l, e, ai, o, au], the sibilant alphabets [sa-types and ha] are called his senses, his strength was manifested as the intermediate alphabets [ya , ra, la and va] and the activities of his senses as the seven notes of music. [*] (48) The transcendental sound of His Soul, that is beyond the conception of manifestation or the unmanifest, is the source from which the Absolute [of Brahmâ] completely manifested that is invested with multifarious energies.

(49) Having accepted another body he thereafter paid attention to the matter of procreation. (50) O son of the Kuru's, knowing that in spite of the earthly potential of the great sages the population did not extend, he again in his heart started to consider this: (51) 'Alas, how surprising is it that although one is always very busy for me, the generation of life is uncertain; this drawback must be destined.' (52) While contemplating and observing his divinity thus, at that time after his image two others manifested of which one says that they are his body. (53) His form with them being divided then perfectly engaged in a sexual relation. (54) The one of them who was the male became the fully independent father of manhood [the Manu] called Svâyambhuva and the one who was the woman was known as S'atarûpâ; she was the queen to the great soul that he was. (55) From that time, from the sexual life according the rules of religion, for sure the increase of the generations took place. (56) In due course of time he begot from S'atarûpâ five children: Priyavrata and Uttânapâda and three daughters, o son of Bharata, Âkûti, Devahûti and Prasûti, o best of all. (57) The one named Âkûti he handed over to the sage Ruci, the sage Kardama he gave the middle one [Devahûti] and Daksha was handed over Prasûti. From this the whole world became populated.

*: The seven vedic notes are: sa, ri, ga, ma, pa, dha and ni,   [resp. c, d, e, f, g, a, bes]  

Chapter 13 

The Appearance of Lord Varâha

(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'After hearing Maitreya Muni talk about the most virtuous, o king, the best of the Kuru's who so adores the talks about Vâsudeva, further inquired. (2) Vidura said: 'O great sage, what did Svâyambhuva Manu, the king of all kings and dear son of Brahmâ do after obtaining his most loving wife so easily? (3) Be so good to tell me about the character of this saintly original king, o most pious one, as I am so eager to hear about that king who must have taken to the shelter of the harbor of Vishnu. (4) Persons who for a long time do their best to listen to that what is elaborately explained in the statements of the pure devotees will in their heart find the thought for the lotus feet of the Lord of Liberation'.'

(5) S'rî S'uka said: 'Speaking thus very modest he found the lotusfeet of the marvel of energies and intelligence [the Lord] on his lap and had his hairs standing on end in the realization. Then the sage, inspired by the spirit of the words relating to the Lord, tried to speak. (6) Maitreya said: 'When Svâyambhuva Manu along with his wife had appeared, the father of mankind with folded hands and obeisances addressed the reservoir of vedic wisdom: (7) 'You are the one progenitor of all living entities, the father and source of subsistence, yet how can we, of all who are born from you, be of your service as well? (8) Give us, with all respect, to that directions about the duties unto you, o worshipful one, to our capacities of acting in this world as should be done for spreading the fame all around and the progress to the next world.'

(9) Brahmâ said: 'I am very pleased with you, my son, let there be all my blessings for the both of you, o lord of the world, because without any reservation of heart you surrendered your soul to me. (10) Precisely this way should offspring, o hero, for sure exercise respect unto its teachers; the sane of mind should to the full of their capacity, with great delight and free from envy, take instruction. (11) You therefore beget children of her that are alike yourself in quality, so that once born they can rule the world with the principles of humanity, sacrificing for and honoring the Original Personality. (12) Protecting the living entities you should see as the best way to be of my service, o king; with you as the guardian of their lives is Hrishîkes'a, the Supreme Lord of the senses, most satisfied. (13) The work of those who never satisfied the Supreme Lord Janardana [Krishna as the drive of man and], the object of all sacrifice, is certainly of no avail as they did not respect the Supreme Soul as their own self.'

(14) Manu said: 'By the order of your powerful self I will abide, o killer of all sin, please tell me what my place, and the place of the ones born from me, is in this world. (15) Because this earth immersed in the great waters [the Garbhodhaka ocean] is the dwelling place of all beings, o God of this planet, please let it be so that you try to lift it up.'

(16) Maitreya said: 'The one beyond [Brahmâ] who also saw that the earth was within the waters thought: 'How shall I lift it up?' and thus gave it attention mediating for a long time: (17) 'While I was engaged in its creation, the earth has been deeply inundated going down in a flood. What would be the right course of action for us who are engaged in this matter of creating? May the one from whose heart I was born be the Lord that directs me.' (18) While thinking thus from his nostril all of a sudden, o sinless one, a minute boar [Varâha], came forth no bigger than the top of a thumb. (19) Seeing Him in the sky suddenly that form verily, o son of Bharata, expanded into a wonderful gigantic body with the size of an elephant. (20) Seeing the form of that boarlike appearance, he with all the learned sons headed by Marîci and with Manu began to argue among himselves in various ways: (21) 'What is this extraordinary being that pretends to be a boar? Oh how wondrous the fact that it came from my nose! (22) One moment He is just the size of the tip of a thumb and in no time he is as big as a monolith! Would this be the Supreme Lord of sacrifice Vishnu? I am baffled!' (23) While Brahmâ was thus deliberating with his sons, the Supreme Lord of sacrifice, the original person, made an enormous tumult. (24) Enlivening Brahmâ and the best of the brahmins, the omnipotent Lord with an heretofore unknown voice echoed from all directions. (25) When the great sages and thinkers as the inhabitants of the worlds of men, the saints and the truth heard the loud roaring with which the all-merciful Lord as a Boar destroyed all the lamentation, they all chanted from the three Veda's the all-auspicious mantras.

(26) Knowing Himself well as the expanded form of the vedic sound of all the knowledge of the great ones of truth, He again roared in response to the transcendental glorifications of the wise and intelligent and entered the water playing like an elephant to their benefit. (27) Slashing His tail in the sky and quivering with the sharp and hard hairs of His skin, He scattered the clouds with His hooves and with His glittering white tusks He radiated as the Supreme Lord and maintainer of the world. (28) Smelling after the earth, He who had assumed the transcendental body of a hog, was searching and showing His frightening tusks, although in spite of that all the brahmins engaged in prayer did not fear seeing His glancing them over while He entered the water. (29) That enormous mountain of a body from the force of the diving drove, creating two high waves, apart the ocean which, as with two arms in distress, cried out in prayer: 'O master of all sacrifices, please protect me from this!'. (30) Penetrating with His arrow-sharp hooves the water He found the limit of the unlimited and saw as the master of sacrifice lying there the earth, the resting place of the living beings, as from the beginning and personally lifted it up. (31) Getting up from the water raising the submerged earth with His tusks He appeared in his full splendor and held there glowing with a fierce anger His cakra [His disc-weapon or wheel] against the demon [Hiranyâksha - the golden-eyed one] that had rushed towards Him with a club. (32) He then in the water with his inimitable prowess easily killed the obstructive enemy just like an elephant does with a lion and had his cheeks and tongue smeared with blood the way an elephant looks from digging in the [reddish] earth. (33) Bluish as a tamâla tree while upholding the earth on His curved tusks like a playing elephant, o Vidura, the ones headed by Brahmâ could understand Him to be the Supreme Lord and consequently with folded hands offered Him prayers.

(34) The wise uttered: 'All glories and victory to You, o unconquerable one, who is loved by sacrifice and is the embodiment of the Veda's in person, all obeisances unto Him in whose pores of His body the sunken oceans undulate; our respects to the one who was motivated to assume the form of a hog! (35) O lord, for the miscreants this form of Yours is but difficult to see; that what is worshipable by sacrifice, the gâyatrî and other mantra's, is your touch; the hairs on Your body are the Kus'a-grass [on which one sits mediating]; the clarified butter [used in sacrifices] is as Your eyes and Your four legs are the four functions of sacrifice [see 3.12:35]. (36) Your tongue is the offering plate and your nostrils are another one, o Lord; in your belly we see the plate of eating and the holes of your ears are also such a plate; your mouth is the plate of the spiritual sacrifice and your throat is the plate for soma [a ritual drink], but that which is of Your chewing, o Supreme Lord, is what you eat though the sacrificial fire [agni-hotra]. (37) Your repeated incarnation is how you initiate, Your neck stands for the three desires [for relationship, activities and the ultimate goal] and Your tusks are the begin of You and end of all desire; Your tongue is the preparation, Your head the fire with as well as without sacrifice and for sure is Your life-breath the aggregate of all desires. (38) Your semen is the soma of sacrifice, Your stages of growth are the morning rituals, o Lord, Your flesh and bones are the seven types of sacrifice [see 3.12:40], the joints of your body are the different sacrifices one performs in twelve days; o Lord, You are the object of desire of all the soma and non-soma-sacrifices that bind. (39) Our obeisances unto You, who are worshipable by the universal prayers as the Supreme Lord for all the ingredients and types of sacrifice; You can be realized as the supreme of sacrifice by conquering the mind in devotion. You as the spiritual master of such knowledge, we again and again offer our obeisances. (40) With the earth and its mountains so beautifully situated on the tips of Your protruding teeth, o Supreme Lord of the uplifting, you came out of the water like an infuriated elephant that has captured a lotusflower with leaves by its tusk. (41) This form of a boar and the Veda personified, that now sustains the planet earth on its tusks, for sure is glowing like the peaks of great mountains that are beautified by the decoration of clouds. (42) For the residence of as well the moving as the nonmoving, You as a father uplift this mother earth as Your wife; along unto You, we also offer our respects unto this mother earth in whom You invested Your potency, like the sacrificial fire that is put in the arani-wood. (43) Who else but You, o master, could, from within the water deliver the earth. For You such acts are nothing wondrous as the wonder of the miraculous universe that You created from Your potencies surpasses all others. (44) When you as the Veda's in person was shaking your body, we as the inhabitants of the worlds of men, the saints and the truth were sprinkled by the drops of water that remained in the hairs of your shoulders and were purified, o Supreme Lord. (45) He who desires to know the limit of Your activities is certainly nonsensical; the oneness and potency of He who is of unlimited activities bewilders with its mystical power the total universe of the material modes; o Supreme Personality of Godhead, just grant us Your causeless mercy.'

(46) Maitreya said: 'Thus being praised by the great sages and transcendentalists did Lord Boar, the maintainer, place the earth on the water touched by his hooves. (47) He, the Personality of Godhead, lifted this way as the Supreme Lord and Vishnu, the earth and its creatures as a pastime from below on top of the water and then returned to His abode. (48) With the one who in a devotional attitude narrates to others this auspicious and worthwhile tale about Him who destroys the material motive, is the Lord either very pleased or will very soon in the heart become pleased. (49) The Lord pleased is of all benediction unto him and will give, of what is so difficult to obtain, all that, which standing apart from the service in devotion shows itself as insignificant gains; in the hearts of those who are of devotion He personally elevates to the supreme transcendental of His own abode. (50) Who in the world else than indeed the non-human being can, alas, go without the knowledge of the essence of the goal of life from all the histories of the past of the Supreme Lord; by drinking the nectar of these narrations through one's ears they put an end to all material pangs.

Chapter 14 

The Impregnation of Diti in the Evening

(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'After hearing from the sage the description of the story about the Supreme Personality who for lifting up the world appeared as a boar, did Vidura, vowed as he was, request him with folded hands for more, since he didn't feel completely satisfied. (2) Vidura said: 'O chief among the sages, I heard in my own following that the demon Hiranyâksha for sure was slain by the Supreme Person, the original object of sacrifices. (3) For what reason had He in His pastimes, while He was lifting the planet earth up on His tusks, o brahmin, a fight with the king of the demons? (4) Please narrate to this faithful person, this devotee, about His appearance in detail, o great sage, as I did not get satisfied with my certainly very inquisitive mind.

(5) Maitreya said: 'Dear devotee, great hero, that what you, from your good self, ask me about the topics of the Supreme Personality is the source of liberation from birth and death for those who are destined to die. (6) From these being sung by Nârada, the son of King Uttânapâda [Dhruva] as a child of mortality for sure placed his head under the feet and ascended to the abode of the Lord. (7) The history about these happenings I heard being described long ago by Brahmâ, the god of gods, upon questions from the demigods.

(8) O Vidura, one evening Diti, the daughter of Daksha, in distress of sex-desire begged her husband Kas'yapa, the son of Marîci, in order to have a child. (9) After worshiping the Original Personality of all sacrifices with oblations to the tongue of the sacrificial fire, he sat fully absorbed in the templeroom while the sun was setting.

(10) Diti said: 'O learned one, Cupid unto me has for you taken all his arrows distressing My poor self like a mad elephant attacking a bananatree. (11) Be therefore so good to me, I am upset seeing how well-to-do your other wives are; favor me completely with all the prosperity unto you. (12) The fame of the husband who loves his woman will spread in the world as from the children of a good husband like yourself, the society surely does expand. (13) Long ago our father, the most opulent Daksha, affectionately asked each of his daughters: 'Who do you prefer for your husband, my child?' (14) Daksha understanding our intentions as the well-wisher of his children, handed all the thirteen of them over; they are all faithful now in their behavior to you. (15) Therefore be so kind to fulfill my wishes, o lotus-eyed one; the pleas of the distressed who approach a great person, o great one, won't surely be in vain!'

(16) Thus, o hero, replied the son of Marîci the poor and talkative one with pacifying words as she was highly agitated from the contamination of lust: (17) 'Whatever you ask of me I shall do, my dearest who is so afflicted. From whom else but you would the three perfections of liberation [dharma, artha, kâma: the settling of religion, economy and sensegratification] be achieved? (18) Living with a wife a person completing all stages of life and following his own vocation can cross over the dangerous ocean of material existence like one crosses over an ocean with seagoing vessels. (19) The wife, thus said to be the better half of one's body to all the good, in whom one, o respectful one, entrusts all responsibilities, will make a man move without anxieties. (20) The senses are, for other orders of life than the householders, difficult to conquer enemies; we who thus take shelter can easily conquer them like a fort commander can with invading plunderers. (21) Never will we be able to return what you have done for us, o queen of the home, not in all our life nor in the next, nor will others appreciative of your qualities. (22) Even though, let me forthwith take care of this interest of yours; just wait a few seconds so that I may not be reproached for it. (23) This very time is most unsuitable, it is the horrid time in which the ghastly ghosts and their master are one's constant companion indeed. (24) At this time of the day, o chaste one, at dusk, the Lord and well-wisher of the ghostly ones [S'iva], who is surrounded by them is traveling as their king on the back of the bull. (25) From the dust and smoke that blew from the burning of the dead, the beauty of the stainless reddish body of the demigod has been smeared and has his matted hair been covered by ashes while looking on with his triple vision [of sun moon and fire] as the younger brother[-in law] of this husband of yours [Diti's younger sister married Lord S'iva]. (26) He regards none in the world as his relative nor is one unconnected to him; he sees no one as greater nor does he regard anyone as criminal either; vowed we duly worship his feet assuring us of the remnants of what he rejected of the sacrificed food. (27) Although to his unimpeachable character, that is followed by the sages in their desire to dismantle the nescience of the masses, there is no one of an equal greatness, nevertheless he personally like a devil performs for the attainment of the devotees. (28) The unfortunate ones who in their activities indeed laugh at him, not knowing about his purpose of engagement in the self, caress their bodies, that are ultimately only dogfood, like the soul itself with luxuries as clothing, garlands and ointments. (29) Gods like Brahmâ act according the rites he observes as the controller of the material energy under whose order the creation finds its existence; the devilish actions are of this great character, by God, simply an imitation.

(30) Maitreya said: 'In spite of thus being informed by her husband, she with her senses pressed by Cupid, caught hold of the clothing of the great brahmin sage like a shameless public woman. (31) He then, understanding his wifes obstinacy to the forbidden act, offered his obeisances unto the worshipable fate and in a secluded place no doubt thus lay with her. (32) Thereafter touching water he took a bath and practiced trance, controlling his speech, meditating the light of the eternal by chanting the hymns of purity. (33) O son of Bharata, Diti, ashamed of the faulty act approached the learned sage with her face looking down and spoke politely to him. (34) Diti said: 'Let this pregnancy of mine, o brahmin, noblest of all, not be ended by Rudra, as surely I have committed an offense against the master of beings. (35) All my obeisances unto Rudra, the ferocious great demigod who fulfills all desires, the all-auspicious and forgiving one, who immediately angrily chastises. (36) May he, the supreme, great and merciful person, be pleased with us being the brother-in-law married to Satî [the chaste one and sister of Diti] who is even with the hunter the object of mercy and God of all women.'

(37) Maitreya said: 'Desiring the welfare in the world for her own children and trembling from having turned away from the rules and regulations of the evening, the wife was addressed by this father of mankind. (38) Kas'yapa said: 'Because of your polluted mind, your defiling the holiness of the moment and also your being too negligent about my directions, you were too inattentive towards the gods. (39) O unlucky one, from your condemned womb two contemptuous sons will take birth, that will cause constant lamentation with the rulers of all the three worlds, o haughty one. (40) They will kill poor and innocent living entities, torment women and enrage the great souls. (41) When that happens the Supreme Personality and Lord of the Universe in great anger of desiring the welfare of the people in general, will kill them descending in person as if He were the smasher of mountains with the thunderbolt [Indra] himselves.'

(42) Diti said: 'The killing by the hand of the Supreme Lord directly with the help of His Sudars'ana Cakra [His disc] is very magnanimous; I wish that my sons may never come to an end from the rage of the brahmins, o my husband. (43) A person condemned by the chastisement of a brahmin and he who is always fearful to other living beings is nor favored by the hellish nor by whatever species of life the offender reaches.'

(44-45) Kas'yapa said: 'Having lamented and being penitent in an immediate proper confession and of your great adoration for the Supreme Personality, Lord S'ivaand your respect for me, there for sure will of one of the two sons [Hiranyakas'ipu] be born a son [Prahlâda] that will carry the approval of the devotees; his fame will as being equal with that of the transcendence of the Supreme Lord be broadcast. (46) Like the way gold of an inferior quality is rectified, will saintly persons, who seek purification in striving for freedom from animosity, follow the footsteps of the character of this soul. (47) He, the Supreme Lord, by whose mercy this universe finds happiness because of His omnipotency in taking special care of His devotees, will be very pleased by his unwavering intelligence. (48) He will certainly be the topmost devotee, the greatest soul with the greatest influence and well matured by devotional service [*]; with his mind in ecstatic love, he will no doubt reach Vaikunthha [the place of no fear, heaven] quitting this material world. (49) He will be a virtuous and qualified reservoir of all good qualities; he will rejoice on the happiness of others and be distressed when others are unhappy; he will be without enemies and he will put and end to all lamentation in the world like the moon does after the distress of the summer sun. (50) Spotless within and without, your grandson will out of his own accept the desired form with the lotuseyes whose beautiful wife is the goddess of fortune and whose body and face will be seen decorated with brilliant earrings.'

(51) Maitreya said: 'From hearing that her grandson was to be a great devotee did Diti take great pleasure and also knowing of the killing of her two sons by Krishna she became highly pleased in mind.

Chapter 15

Description of the Kingdom of God

(1) Maitreya said: 'Diti understood that of the powerful semen of the great Prajâpati, others in power would be in trouble and thus she bore it in doubt about how it for a hundred years would affect the godly. (2) The world was deprived of light from it and the diverse local divinities who saw their power diminished, turned to God [Brahmâ] wondering about where the darkness expanding in all directions came from. (3) The godly said: 'Of this darkness you know of, o mighty one, we are very afraid because we are not unmanifest as you are; your supreme divine ways are unaffected by the touch of time. (4) O god of gods, sustainer of the universe, you as the crownjewel of the spiritual and material worlds of all local divinities, know of all intentions of all living beings. (5) Our respects, o original source of strength and objective knowledge. Having obtained this body of external energy and accepting the differentiated of your mode of passion, we offer our obeisances to you as you are the original unmanifest source. (6) Those with unswerving devotion meditate upon you as the origin of all beings; all the worlds are linked by your self which is the supreme generator of cause and effect. (7) Of them who are mature in the practice of yoga and attained to your mercy controlling the senses and the mind by the breath, there is no defeat anywhere. (8) Of whose directions all living entities are led like a bull by the rope, of him whose force of control cannot be undone, to that chief, to you, we offer our obeisances. (9) Him, you, we ask to act to our good fortune, o great Lord, as from the darkness all our prescribed duties have been suspended. By the magnanimous mercy of your glance, we, the surrendered, are able to see. (10) O god, this semen of Kas'yapa deposited in the womb of Diti, causes complete darkness in all directions like a fire that is overloaded with fuel.'

(11) Maitreya said: 'Smilingly he the self-born, o mighty armed one, who by the prayers is understood as the original possessor of all opulence, replied the godly satisfying them with sweet words. (12) Brahmâ said: 'Those headed by Sanaka [Sanâtana, Sanandana en Sanat-kumâra] where, before you, born from my mind and traveled the peoples of the spiritual and material worlds without any desire. (13) Once upon a time did they, by the Supreme Personality of Lord Vishnu freed from all contamination, enter Vaikunthha, the heavenly abode worshiped by people everywhere. (14) All the persons living there have the same form as the Lord of Vaikunthha and live without desire because of their devotional service of continuous worship of the Supreme Personality. (15) There the original person is the Supreme Lord Himself who is understood by scripture in accepting, in the mode of goodness, the uncontaminated of His own associates, which increases our happiness about the personification of the religious principles. (16) At Vaikunthha, where everything is spiritual and personal, there are forests in the name of happiness that yield to all desires with trees that throughout all seasons are filled with splendid flowers and fruits. (17) Highly elevated they along with their wives are always singing there, free from all inauspicious qualities, of the Supreme Lord, deriding even the mind expanding fragrance of the mâdhavi flowers full of nectar blossoming in the midst of the water. (18) The tumult of pigeons, cuckoos, cranes, cakravâka's, and gallinules, swans, parrots, partridges and peacocks but for a moment is stopped by the loud humming of the king of the bumblebees as he sings the glories of the Lord. (19) The fragrance of the mandâra, kunda, kurabaka, utpala, campaka, arna, punnâga, nâgakes'ara, bakula, lily and pârijâtâ, being worshiped in the good mindedness of the austerity of Vaikunthha, finds there its full glory in a garland of tulsî-leaves. (20) Simply by obeisance to the Lord His feet the devotees attained to palaces, made of lapis lazuli with emeralds and gold, of which the inhabitants have large hips and beautiful smiling faces. But with their minds absorbed in Krishna this does not give rise to any lust with their friendly laughing and joking. (21) Assuming the beautiful body of the goddess of fortune do their leg bangles tinkle as they are playing with lotusflowers in the house of the Lord where they, free from all faults, see to it that its gold decorated walls are wiped crystal clear in the care for others to be worthy of the grace. (22) In the ponds with banks of coral they offer in their gardens surrounded by their maidservants the Lord tulsî leaves, seeing in the clear nectarine water the tilaka high on their noses, thinking their faces thus kissed by the Lord as being part of His beauty. (23) Alas, how unfortunate are the ones who never get near to this Vaikunthha creation of the vanquisher of all sin, but rather hear of other subject matter in bad words that kill the intelligence. Such persons, away from the values of life, are, devoid of all shelter, thrown into the darkness. (24) Those and us who so desired certainly attained to the human form of life and knowledge of the subject matter of the Absolute with the religious principles. Where one is not in such respect of the Supreme Lord, one is alas performing in the bewilderment of His all-pervading illusory energy. (25) Although in association [of Vaikunthha] one refrains from strict austerity and the following in the footsteps of the important wise, one certainly desires there to hear, above hearing from us, about the good qualities from His associates. Discussing amongst one other the glories, in ecstasy of the attraction they are with tears in their eyes and have their bodies shivering.'

(26) The sages [led by Sanaka] upon reaching that place by dint of their spiritual potency attained to an unprecedented supreme happiness seeing it illumined by the highly elevated of the best of devotees and predominated by the Teacher of the Universe, who of all the world is the only one worthy of worship. (27) After passing there through six gates without feeling much attraction, they at the seventh gate then found two doorkeepers equal of age carrying valuable maces, bracelets, earrings, helmets and beautiful garments. (28) There were intoxicated bees about the garlands of fresh flowers around their necks in between their arms and with their arched eyebrows, snorting breathing and reddish eyes they looked somewhat agitated. (29) Seeing the both of them standing at the gate the sons of Brahmâ, as they did before, passed without asking through the gold and diamond doors; open-minded they were the great sages who of their own will had moved everywhere without being checked and doubted. (30) Seeing them, four naked boys who were aged and had realized the truth of the self but who looked as if they were only five years old, the two porters blocked them with their staffs, disregarding the glory and the etiquette in an offensive attitude towards the Lord. (31) Being refused by the two under the eyes of the inhabitants of Vaikunthha, although they were by far the fittest of the Lord, did their eyes to the slight hindrance of the doorkeepers suddenly turn red from anger in their eagerness to see their most beloved.

(32) The sages said: 'Who are the two of you that from your past pious deeds attained to the service of the Supreme Lord? Being in discord with the mentality of the devotees that are without anxiety and enmity in Him, can whoever, like you both are doing, maintain such duplicity losing the trust? (33) Like there is harmony between the little air that one keeps and the air outside, there is of the soul harmony contained between the Supreme Personality and the living beings. How can the learned who see the two of you in the dress of Vaikunthha regard you as awakened and as having developed a certain distinction to body and soul? From where by God this fearfulness? (34) Let us therefore consider, for bestowing the benefit of the Lord of Vaikunthha, how to deal with this offense of antipathy. From this place you may, because of seeing it in duality, go to the material world where one lives with the threefold sin that is the enemy [desire, lust and anger].'

(35) The two understood the terrible of what was said and became afraid of the devotees as the curse of a brahmin cannot be counteracted. Immediately they fell in great anxiety to the ground and grasped for their feet: (36) 'Let it be so for our sins that you have punished us. Disrespect for such great devotees as you, should be destroyed. But surely of your compassion and our repentance by time we pray not to suffer the illusion of forgetting the Supreme Lord, when more and more we have to descend to the level of the common mortal.'

(37) At that very moment the Supreme Lord, of whose navel sprouted the lotus, learned about the insult against the righteous sages and walked, accompanied by His goddess of fortune, over there with the very same lotusfeet that are sought by the hermits and the wise. (38) Seeing Him coming forward with all the paraphernalia and His associates, the great sages who now saw the one whom they always were looking for, fell into ecstasy seeing how as beautiful swans, the câmara's [fans of yak-tail] were waving a cool breeze moving the pearls of His white umbrella, making them look like drops of water to a reflected moon. (39) Blessing all with His auspicious face as the desirable shelter He affectionately looked upon them and touched them expanding in their hearts; with His blackish skin and with His broad chest decorated by the goddess of fortune, He spread the good fortune as the summit of the spiritual worlds and the abode of the soul. (40) Covered by yellow cloth he had a brightly shining girdle around his hips and humming bees to his garland of fresh flowers. His wrists carried lovely bracelets and one of His hands rested on the shoulder of the son of Vinatâ [Garuda] while another waved a lotusflower. (41) Outshining lightening the decoration of His alligator shaped earrings completed the countenance of His cheeks and straight nose showing a gem-studded crown, a charming most precious necklace between his stout arms and the Kaustubha [His jewel] that adorned his neck. (42) There He thus curbed down the pride of the Goddess of beauty by the intelligence of His own meditating devotees; the very beautiful figure worshipable for me as well as for S'ivaas for all of you, seen by the sages, could not satisfy their eyes and made them joyously bow down. (43) When the breeze carrying the fragrance of tulsî leaves from the toes of the lotusfeet entered their nostrils, their agitation changed, even though they were in both body and mind attached to the impersonal. (44) After looking up they surely saw the face of Him to be like the inside of a blue lotus and saw the even more beautiful jasmine flower lips smiling. Thus having achieved their lives aim they again looked down at the ruby-red nails of his lotus feet and meditated their shelter. (45) For those people who seek liberation in this world by the path's of yoga He is the object of meditation approved by the great ones; pleasing to the eyes displaying His human form He, eternally present as the Connecting One, is praised as the perfection of the eight achievements that is not attainable for others [the socalled eight perfections or siddhi's are: animâ: smallness, mahimâ: greatness, garimâ: weight, laghimâ: lightness, prâpti: free access, prâkâmya: doing at wish, vas'itva, control over the elements and îs'itvam: lordship over all]..

(46) The Kumâra's said: 'He who is seated in our hearts is not manifest to the ones far from the soul. You, who certainly are Him face to face to us today, o Unlimited One, can be attained when sure of hearing the intelligence by our father [Brahmâ] has uncovered the mysteries posed by Your appearance. (47) Him, You, we know, o Supreme Lord, as the supreme reality of the soul that is of pure goodness. Now You can be understood by us sages as the mercy and love of God that shapes each and all unflinching in the union of devotion, free from bondage in the heart and without interest in a material life. (48) One does not even care for the grace of worldly success or whatever material happiness; fearful by the raising of Your eyebrows we as devotees, o Supreme One, take to the shelter of Your Lotusfeet and the stories about You of which the pure glories are worth the chanting of the very expert knowers of Your rasa's [individual relations to Him]. (49) As we deserved from our sins we may be of low births and have minds busy like bees; if we may be engaged at Your lotusfeet and have our words like the tulsî leaves at Your mercy, they will find beauty with the filling of our ears with Your transcendental qualities. (50) By this eternal form of You that You manifested, o Greatly Worshiped, o Lord, we obtained so much satisfaction in our vision about You as the Supreme Lord. Let us therefore offer our obeisances to You only; You who by the estranged cannot be seen as the Supreme Lord the way You are seen by us.

Chapter 16 

The Two Doorkeepers of Vaikunthha, Cursed by the Sages

(1) Brahmâ said: 'Congratulating the four sages of yogîc conscience for their words of praise, did the Almighty One from the abode of Vaikunthha speak. (2) The Supreme Lord said: 'These two attendants of Mine named Jaya and Vijaya certainly, because of ignoring Me, committed a great offense against You. (3) The punishment that you, devoted ones, gave them, I certainly approve of, o great sages, as they turned against you in offense. (4) Just now I seek therefore your forgiveness because that offense to you brahmins, who are the highest of God, is mine; I consider Myself the one who did it as they, by which you have been disrespected, are My own attendants. (5) In general when a servant does something wrong, one blames the one in whose name the offense has been committed; it harms the reputation of that person as much as leprosy does the skin. (6) The nectar of the uncontaminated glories that enter one's hearing, purifies the entire universe instantly including the lowest of the low; I am that person of the freedom from anxiety, of Vaikunthha, and for you having attained to the glory of that superior place of pilgrimage, I would even cut off my arm if it would be acting inimically towards you. (7) Of those whose sins are all wiped out immediately by serving in the dust of My sacred lotusfeet, I have acquired such a disposition that even though I have no attachment to the goddess of fortune she, for whom others observe sacred vows to obtain the slightest favor, never leaves Me. (8) At the other hand, I do not relish the oblations in the fire by the sacrificer who offers the ghee that is abundantly mixed with the food into that mouth of Mine, as much as I do enjoy the bits of food that satisfy the mouths of the acting brahmins who dedicated the results of their actions to Me. (9) If I of them can bear, unbroken and unobstructed of My internal potency, the pure opulence of the dust of their feet on My head, then who of the learned ones wouldn't carry the Ganges-water that washed the feet and at once, along with Lord S'iva, sanctifies the three worlds? (10) Those persons who consider the best of the twice-born, the cows and the defenseless creatures that make up My body, as different from Me, because their faculty of judgment is impaired by sin, will, themselves being angry like a snake, be torn apart by the angry, vulturelike messengers of the master of punishment [Yamarâja]. (11) But those who with gladdened hearts and the nectar of their smiling lotuslike faces intelligently respect the brahmins of severe words, with loving words like a son would do pacifying in praise, are in Me as I am controlled by those brahmins. (12) Therefore let it be so that the exile of these two servants, who, not knowing of the intention of their master, where in offense towards you and who have to face the immediate consequence, may not be too long, so that they soon will retain the favor of being near to Me.'

(13) Lord Brahmâ said: 'Even though they now had heard His loving divine speech that was as one hymn of wisdom in a row, were their souls, being bitten by the snake of anger, not satiated. (14) With their ears wide open hearing the excellence of the properly composed of momentous import, could they, pondering deeply over its gravity, not fathom the Lord His intention. (15) The great glory that The Supreme One had revealed through His internal potency made the four brahmins, in extreme delight and with folded hands, speak with their hairs standing on end. (16) The sages said: 'O Supreme Lord, we didn't know what You, o God wished us to do and still You spoke in our favor; thus, what as the Supreme Ruler are You telling us? (17) You are the supreme director of the spiritual world and of the highest position with the brahmins that teach the others; o Master, as such You are the Supreme Lord and soul of the worshipable Deity for the godly and the learned ones. (18) From You there is the protection of the eternal occupation by all Your manifestations and the supreme of the human principles; in our opinion You are the unchanging objective. (19) Because by Your mercy the transcendentalists easily overcome birth and death ceasing all material desires, it can never be so that You as such can be favored by others. (20) The grace of fortune [the goddess Lakshmî], the good of which others occasionally accept the dust of the feet on their heads, waits upon You, anxious to secure a place like that of the king of the bumblebees with the aroma of the wreath of fresh tulsîleaves that is offered by the devotees. (21) You, as the Highest of the pure of her devotional service, are never attached to the serving; then how can You as the attachment of the devotees be purified by the holy dust on the path or obtain the reservoir of all the good by the mark of S'rîvatsa [a few white hairs on His chest]? (22) Of You, the personification of religion, the Supreme Lord, are the feet manifest in all three yugas [see Ch 11] in this universe of the animate and inanimate. The twice-born and the godly however, protected by those feet, saw passion and ignorance destroyed by them; please, bannish by Your transcendental form, bestow upon us all Your blessings of pure goodness. (23) If You as the protector of the twice-born, the highest class, factually do not think them worthy as the best for being respected and being addressed by mild words, then for sure will the auspicious path, of which the people in general would accept the authority of wisdom, o God, be lost. (24) And that is not wanted by You, who, as the reservoir of goodness wishing to do good for the people in general, by Your own potencies destroyed the opposition; from this o Lord, as the one of the threefold of nature and maintainer of the universe, remains Your potency undiminished and is that submissive attitude but Your pleasure. (25) Whatever punishment, o Lord, You think these two, that are of a better existence, deserve, we will wholeheartedly accept; do whatever You think to be a proper sanction; we understand that we have cursed the sinless.'

(26) The Supreme Lord said: 'The two of these will elsewhere soon obtain birth from a godless womb. Intensified by anger and concentrated of mind they will remain firmly united with Me and again retain My presence returning quickly; know that that curse of yours was ordained by Me alone, o learned ones.'

(27) Brâhma said: 'Now the sages had seen the pleasure to the eye of the self-illuminating realm of Vaikunthha, the abode of the Lord of Fearlessness. (28) After circumambulating and offering the Supreme Lord their respects they returned in extreme delight about having learned about the all-peaceful glory of the Vaishnava's [the attendants of Lord Vishnu]. (29) The Supreme Lord then said to his two servants: 'Go from this place, let there be no fear, but live in togetherness; yet able to nullify a brahmins curse, I do not wish to do so and even approve of it. (30) This departure was formerly foreseen by Lakshmî, who was furious before when you prevented her from entering the gate while I was resting. (31) By practicing mystic yoga in anger you will be liberated from the consequence of disrespecting the brahmins and very rapidly return near to Me in due course of time.'

(32) Thus having addressed the two doorkeepers, did the Supreme Lord, who is always found in the high of culture adorned with all wealth of the goddess Lakshmî, return back to His abode. (33) But the two who were unable to avoid the best of wisdom, fell from Vaikunthha and lost, because of the curse of the brahmins, their beauty and luster becoming morose. (34) Then, as they were falling, rose from the abode of the Lord of Fearlessness, from the palaces from all the devoted a great uproar of disappointment. (35) These two men, this way for sure addressed by the important associates of the Lord, entered the womb of Diti through the very powerful semen of Kas'yapa. (36) It is the prowess of them, these two godforsaken siblings, of which all you godly ones are agitated now; for sure this is the will of the Supreme Lord. He desired this to happen. (37) Being the cause of the maintenance, creation and destruction of the universe, the most ancient one cannot be easily understood by even the masters of yoga; His bewildering union though will do good as He is our Supreme Lordship and master over the modes; of what purpose would our further deliberation on this thus be?'  

Chapter 17 

Victory of Hiranyâksha over All the Directions of the Universe

(1) Maitreya said: 'Hearing the explanation of Brahmâ about the cause of the fear, freed the ones who were of the transcendental. Then all of them returned to the threefold of their worlds. (2) Diti the virtuous lady, apprehensive about the trouble for a lifetime her husband had spoken of in relation to her children, begot two twin sons. (3) When they were born, there were many natural disturbances in the divine, the earthly and in outer space which caused great fear to the world. (4) The mountains and the earth shook with earthquakes and there seemed to be coming fire from all directions with meteors falling, thunderbolts, comets and inauspicious constellations. (5) Sharp winds blew constantly making hissing sounds and armies of cyclons uprooted the greatest trees with dustclouds for their ensigns. (6) Amassing clouds obscured the luminaries with lightning laughing aloud in the sky; everything was enveloped in darkness and nothing could be seen. (7) Stricken with sorrow, the ocean wailed with high waves and agitated creatures and the drinking places and the rivers were disturbed with the lotusses withering. (8) All the time misty halo's appeared around the sun and moon that had eclipses, claps of thunder were heard and ratling sounds of chariots resounded from the mountain caves. (9) Inside the villages fearful jackhals vomited fire from their mouths with cries of owls and the ominous howling along of she-jackhals. (10) As if singing at times and then like wailing did the dogs raise their necks uttering various cries. (11) The asses, o Vidura, where striking the earth hard with their hooves braying wildly running mad hither and thither in herds. (12) Shrieking from the stir birds flew frightened up from their nests and the cattle passed dung and urine in the cowsheds and the woods. (13) The cows afraid yielded blood and clouds rained pus; the idols shed tears and trees fell down without a blast of wind. (14) The most auspicious planets and the others where in conjunction with the luminaries, had retrogade courses or took conflicting positions. (15) Seeing more of this, not knowing the secret of all these great omens of evil, were all the people, except for the sons of Brahmâ, afraid and thought that the world was about to end. (16) The two god-forsaken souls born from the original source grew quickly manifesting uncommon bodies that were like steel with the size of mountains. (17) The crests of their helmets touched the sky as they blocked all directions with their brilliant bracelets on their arms and the earth shook at every step of their feet while the beauty of the decorated belts around their waist outshone the sun.

(18) Kas'yapa gave the two their names: the one of the twin from his flesh and blood that was delivered first he indeed called Hiranyakas'ipu ['the one feeding on gold'] and the one Diti gave birth to who was the first to be known by the people he called Hiranyâksha ['the one with the spirit for gold']. (19) From a blessing by Lord Brahmâ did Hiranyakas'ipu manage to seize control over the three worlds and their protectors, being puffed up of fearing death from no one. (20) Hiranyâksha, his beloved younger brother always willing to do him a favor, was, with a club in his hands and ready to fight, traversing the higher spheres seeking violent opposition. (21) He had a temper difficult to control, tinkling anklets of gold and the adornment of a very large garland over his shoulders upon which rested his huge mace. (22) Proud of his physical and mental strength and the boon conferred upon him, he could not be checked, as he feared no one. The godly afraid hid themselves for Him as if they were snakes frightened of Garuda. (23) He, the instrument of the ones of Diti [the Daitya's], discovering that Indra and the power-intoxicated multitude of the godly had vanished so that he couldn't find them, roared loudly. (24) Giving up his search, just for the sport producing that terrible sound, did the mighty being dive into the ocean, in wrath like an elephant.

(25) As he entered the ocean, were the defenders of Varuna, the ones who lived under water, depressed with fear and not being hit yet they, stricken by his splendor, fled hurried away as far as they could. (26) He, roaming the ocean for many years, with great force time and again struck the mighy waves tossed by the wind with his mace and thus reached Vibhâvarî, o Vidura, the capital of Varuna. (27) There having reached the region of the unenlightened, he smiling, just to make fun, like a low-born one bowed down before Varuna, the Lord and guardian of the ones living submerged and said: 'O great Lord, give me battle ! (28) You are the guardian of this place, a renown ruler. Of your power, that diminished the pride of the conceited heroes and by which you conquered all Daithyas and Danavas [the sons of Diti and Daksha's daughter Danu, considered as demons] in the world, you once performed a grand royal [râjasûya] sacrifice, o Master.' (29) Thus being deeply mocked by an enemy of a boundless vanity, did the respectable Lord of the waters grew angry, but checking it by reason he replied: ' O my best, we have now left the path of warfare. (30) I can think of no other than the most ancient person who in battle with you will be that skilled in the tactics of war that it will satisfy you, o king of the world; approach Him who even is praised by heroes like you. (31) Reaching Him you will, o great hero , quickly get rid of your pride and go down on the battlefield to join the dogs. It is for exterminating the false that you are and to show the virtuous His grace, that He desires to assume His forms.'

Chapter 18 

The Battle Between Lord Boar and the Demon Hiranyâksha 

(1) Maitreya continued: 'Having heard the proud words of the Lord of the seas, did the vainglorious one take little heed of them. From Nârada having learned about the whereabouts of the Lord, o dear Vidura, he hurried to find himselves at the place of punishment. (2) There he saw how the Victorious One, bearing the earth high on the tips of his tusks, was robbing him of his light with His radiant reddish eyes. He laughed out: 'O beast of the wilderness!', (3) and told the Lord: 'Come and fight, o fool, leave the earth to us, inhabitants of the lower worlds; the creator of the universe entrusted us this earth - my seeing You here will not be to Your wellbeing, o summit of divinity that took the form of a boar. (4) It is You that deceptively maintained Himself for finishing us by means of our enemies, killing the worldly ones, while remaining out of view Yourself; of Your bewildering power there will be little left after I killed You, o fool, and have wiped out the grief of my kinsmen! (5) When You are killed by my mace smashing Your skull, all those sages and godly ones who where presenting their offerings to You, will be released and automatically cease to exist without that root.'

(6) When He, being pained by the assailing abuse of words of the enemy, saw that the earth He was bearing on his tusks end was frightened, did He come out of the water like an elephant in the company of his female under the attack of a crocodile. (7) Meanwhile did He, with his golden hair, chase Him, coming out of the water, like the crocodile would do with the elephant and with his fearfull teeth roaring like thunder he said: 'What a shame indeed to be so scandalous in fleeing for the truth'. (8) With the enemy looking on He placed the earth within His sight on the water investing her with the power of His own existence, as He was the One who was praised by the Creator of the universe and pleased with flowers by the ones in charge. (9) Following Him closely behind with his wealth of golden ornaments, his huge mace and his beautiful golden armor, did Hiranyâksha constantly pierce the core of His heart with terribly angry abuses. But He addressed him laughing. (10) The Supreme Lord said: 'We are indeed creatures from the jungle, as I am searching to kill dogs just like You, o mischievous one. Heroes who are free from the bondage of death take no notice of the loose talk of one who is bound. (11) We both are shameless thieves of what was entrusted to the inhabitants of the lower world. Roaming shamelessly with the mace, we nevertheless will somehow have to stay on the battlefield - where else can we go having raised enmity with such a powerful enemy? (12) Being the commander of the leaders of footsoldiers one has to take steps to defeat promptly, without further consideration - and having killed, are us the tears wiped away of kith and kin. He who does not fulfill his words of promise deserves no place in an assembly'.'

(13) Maitreya said: 'The attacker, thus being insulted and ridiculed by the Supreme One of Devotion got seriously agitated and very angry like a challenged cobra. (14) Hissing of anger and with his senses infuriated of wrath the Daithya quickly attacked and threw his mace at the Lord. (15) The Lord however evaded the blow of the thrown mace stepping aside, eluding death like an accomplished yogî. (16) Again, having picked up his mace, he, repeatedly brandishing it about and biting his lip in the rage of his anger, rushed towards the Lord. (17) But then did the Lord with His mace struck the enemy on his right side, o gentle one [Vidura], and did He as an expert with this weapon thus with His mace save Himself. (18) In this manner were Hiranyâksha and the Lord, both surely desiring the victory, furiously striking each other with their huge maces. (19) The two combatants with their bodies injured by the pointed maces, smelled the oozing blood, which increased their vigour to perform diverse manouvers trying to win and it looked like an encounter of two bulls fighting about their dominion.

(20) O descendant of Kuru, Brahmâ, the one selfborn in the universe, desired to witness what was happening for the sake of the world and came, accompanied by the sages, for the Daithya and the Greatest Soul that is approached by sacrifice who by His potency had taken the form of a boar. (21) Upon seeing the power the Daithya had attained to and how he, devoid of fear, had formed opposition with the unopposable, did the respectable Lord Brahmâ, the leader of the thousands of sages, address the original Lord Nârâyana in His boar-form. (22-23) Brahmâ said: 'This one, o God, is to the godly ones that obtained Your feet, the brahmnis, the cows, the normal living beings and the innocent an offender and source of fear doing wrong from a boon obtained from Me; he has as a demon been searching all over the universe missing a proper adversary, wandering about as a pain to everyone. (24) Do not play with Him like a child, o God, he is full of tricks, arrogant, selfsatisfied, most wicked and like a snake once he's aroused. (25) Before he gets the chance to increase on this bad time that he realized to so formidably, please forthwith kill the sinful one, o Infallible one, by means of your own mystical potency. (26) This encroaching darkest evening is destroying the world, o Soul of souls, bring victory to the god-conscious. (27) Now this auspicious moment called abhijit [the eight muhurta, about midday] has almost passed, dispose for the welfare of us, Your friends, quickly of this formidable foe. (28) Fortunately is the death of this one who came of his own accord ordained by You; show him Your power in the duel, kill him and establish the peace of the worlds.'

Chapter 19 

The Killing of the Demon Hiranyâksha

(1) Maitreya said: 'Hearing the nectarine words free from sinful intentions of Brahmâ, made the Lord heartily laugh and accept them with a glance laden with love. (2) Then, springing up, did He struck the demoniac enemy fearlessly stalking before Him with His mace sideways at the chin. (3) But that blow was stopped by Hiranyâksha his mace, so that the Lord His mace, slipping from His hands, fell down whirling with an astonishing miraculous glow. (4) Although then, from that having an excellent opportunity, did Hiranyâksha not attack respecting the code of combat that having no weapon in battle must be honored. This drove the Lord further. (5) As His mace fell a cry of alarm rose [from the bystanders] and seeing Hiranyâksha his righteousness did the All-powerful Lord remember His Sudars'ana cakra. (6) As He was revolving His discus, playing with the vile son of Diti, was He as the chief of His associates met with various expressions of disbelief that filled the sky with: 'All fortune to You, please put Him to his end.'(1) Maitreya said: 'Hearing the nectarine words free from sinful intentions of Brahmâ, made the Lord heartily laugh and accept them with a glance laden with love. (2) Then, springing up, did He struck the demoniac enemy fearlessly stalking before Him with His mace sideways at the chin. (3) But that blow was stopped by Hiranyâksha his mace, so that the Lord His mace, slipping from His hands, fell down whirling with an astonishing miraculous glow. (4) Although then, from that having an excellent opportunity, did Hiranyâksha not attack respecting the code of combat that having no weapon in battle must be honored. This drove the Lord further. (5) As His mace fell a cry of alarm rose [from the bystanders] and seeing Hiranyâksha his righteousness did the All-powerful Lord remember His Sudars'ana cakra. (6) As He was revolving His discus, playing with the vile son of Diti, was He as the chief of His associates met with various expressions of disbelief that filled the sky with:(1) Maitreya said: 'Hearing the nectarine words free from sinful intentions of Brahmâ, made the Lord heartily laugh and accept them with a glance laden with love. (2) Then, springing up, did He struck the demoniac enemy fearlessly stalking before Him with His mace sideways at the chin. (3) But that blow was stopped by Hiranyâksha his mace, so that the Lord His mace, slipping from His hands, fell down whirling with an astonishing miraculous glow. (4) Although then, from that having an excellent opportunity, did Hiranyâksha not attack respecting the code of combat that having no weapon in battle must be honored. This drove the Lord further. (5) As His mace fell a cry of alarm rose [from the bystanders] and seeing Hiranyâksha his righteousness did the All-powerful Lord remember His Sudars'ana cakra. (6) As He was revolving His discus, playing with the vile son of Diti, was He as the chief of His associates met with various expressions of disbelief that filled the sky with: 'All fortune to You, please put Him to his end.'

(7) The daitya upon seeing Him armed with His disc before him, being ready and looking at Him with His eyes like the petals of lotusflowers, was in his senses overpowered by indignation and hissing like a serpent he bit his lips in great resent. (8) With his fearful huge teeth and both his staring eyes burning like fire he then attacked saying: ' Thus You are defeated by Your own club!', and hurled it at the Lord. (9) That mace, o seeker of truth, was, while his enemy looked on, playfully knocked down by the right foot of the Supreme Lord of sacrifices who had taken the form of a boar, although it had the force of a tempest.

(10) Then He said: 'Pick it up and try again, when you are so eager to win'. At that time, did Hiranyâksha, thus challenged, roaring loudly strike again. (11) Seeing the mace flying towards Him, did the Lord standing firm catch it with ease, seizing it as Garuda would do a serpent. (12) The frustration of his bravery shattered the pride of the great demon and being put off he refused to take back the mace that the Lord offered Him. (13) Instead he took up a trident and flaming like fire he ravenously went against the Lord of Sacrifice in the form of Varâha, as one with evil intentions would against a brahmin. (14) The shiny trident that the mightiest among the daityas with all his strength had hurled was midair with a flash of light cut to pieces by the sharp rim of the cakra, like Indra cutting off the wing of Garuda [when he once snatched a pot of nectar]. (15) When he saw his trident cut in pieces by the Lord His disc, he went mad and came roaring forward striking the broad and S'rîvatsa-marked chest of the Lord hard with his fist, after which the demon disappeared from sight. (16) Thus struck by him, o Vidura, was the Supreme Lord in His first incarnation as a boar not in the least shaken and no more affected than an elephant struck by a bunch of flowers. (17) The people though now saw the Lord of the union in matter being sieged with an array of tricks and they fearfully thought that the end of the world had come. (18) Fierce winds were blowing and in all directions darkness spread itself from the dust while stones came down as if thrown by an army. (19) The luminaries in the sky disappeared behind masses of clouds from which it thundered and lightened while all the time it rained pus, hair, blood, stool, urine and bones. (20) O sinless one, mountains of all kinds of weapons discharging appeared and naked demonesses armed with tridents and with their hair hanging loose were seen. (21) Many savage devils and demons on foot, horseback, on chariots and elephants appeared, uttering cruel words of murder. (22) Upon this display of magical power of the demon intent on destruction, did the beloved enjoyer of the three sacrifices [of hearing, goods and breath see B.G. 4: 26-27] cast the weapon of His most excellent presence [the Sudars'ana cakra].

(23) At that very moment a shudder ran through the heart of Diti [the mother of the demon] and recalling the words of her husband [Kas'yapa] did blood flow from her breasts. (24) With his magic forces being dispelled the demon came in view again of the Supreme Lord, and full of rage he embraced to crush, but found the Lord outside of his grip. (25) Hiranyâksha stroke Lord Adhokshaja [meaning: beyond our sense control] with his fist as hard as a thunderbolt, but was slapped by Him just below his ear, like the Lord of the Maruts [Indra] did with the demon Vritra. (26) Though slapped by the Invincible Lord in a casual manner, did the demon's body wheel around; his eyes bulged out of their sockets and with his arms and legs lifeless and his hair scattered, he fell down like a gigantic tree uprooted by the wind.

(27) The self-born one [Brahmâ] and others who saw him lying on the ground with his glow still unfaded and his lip bitten by his teeth, said, approaching in admiration: 'O who indeed could so meet his final destination?. (28) He upon whom the yogîs in seclusion meditate absorbed in the union, seeking liberation from the unreal of the body - of a foot of Him was the son, the crest jewel of the ones of Diti, struck and did he indeed cast off his body while gazing at His countenance. (29) Both of the two personal assistants of the Lord have been cursed to be born again from the godless for a couple of lifes, after which they indeed will return again.'

(30) The godly ones said: 'All obeisances to You, enjoyer of all sacrifices, who for the purpose of maintaining took the form of pure goodness; to the worlds good fortune You've slain this one who was wreaking havoc. With devotion to Your feet, we are now at ease. '

(31) S'rî Maitreya said: 'After thus having killed the so very powerful Hyranyâksha, did the Lord, the source of the boar-incarnation return to His own abode, praised by the one seated on the lotus and the others in one uninterrupted festival. (32) To you I explained, as it was told to me, dear friend, how by the activities of the Supreme Lord in assuming His [boar-]incarnation, Hiranyâksha, who was of a vast prowess, in a great fight was killed like a plaything'."

(33) Sûta said: " Thus did Vidura, the great devotee, hear, from the son of Kushâru [Maitreya], the narration about the Supreme Lord and achieve transcendental bliss, o brahmin [S'aunaka]. (34) What must I say of hearing about the Lord with the mark of S'rîvatsa, when even the renown of others, devotees loyal to the verses, can raise the pleasure? (35) The king of the elephants [Gajendra] who was attacked by an alligator, meditated upon the lotus feet while his females were crying and was quickly delivered from the danger. (36) Who would not take shelter with Him who is so easily worshiped by men without pretensions; which grateful soul would not render service to the one who is impossible to worship by those who aren't real seekers? (37) He who indeed hears, chants and takes pleasure in this wonderful pastime of the Supreme One who as a boar raised the earth out of the ocean and killed Hiranyâksha, will instantly be freed, even if he finished a brahmin, o twice-born! (38) This narrative confers great merit, is very sacred and brings wealth, fame and longevity and will provide all that one needs. Whoever listens to it will find his life-force and senses strenghtened by it on the battlefield and at the end of one's life it will grant the shelter of Lord Nârâyana, o dear S'aunaka."

Thus ends the first part of Canto 3 of the S'rîmad Bhâgavatam

Translation: Anand Aadhar Prabhu, http://bhagavata.org/c/8/AnandAadhar.html

Production: the Filognostic Association of The Order of Time, with special thanks to Sakhya Devi Dasi for proofreading and correcting the manuscript. http://theorderoftime.com/info/guests-friends.html

The sourcetexts, illustrations and music to this translation one can find following the links from: http://bhagavata.org/ 

For this original translation next to the Sanskrit dictionary a one-volume printed copy has been used with an extensive commentary by A.C. Bhaktivedânta Swami Prabhupâda. ISBN: o-91277-27-7 . See the S'rî mad Bhâgavatam treasury: http://bhagavata.org/treasury/links.html for links to other sites concerning the subject.