54 verses
Sūta said: Having learned about Kṛṣṇa, the goal of the jīva, from Maitreya while on pilgrimage, Vidura came to Hastināpura with a desire to teach that.
Having asked sufficient questions to Maitreya, Vidura, ceased asking any more when he heard about pure devotion to Govinda.
He gave up questioning means he did not have any more desires to hear further, because all other questions are useless once bhakti has appeared.
Seeing that their friend had returned, Yudhiṣṭhira and his brothers, Dhṛtarāṣtṛa, Yuyutsu, Sañjaya, Kṛpācārya, Kuntī, Gāndhārī, Draupadī, Subhadrā, Uttarā, Kṛpī, the rest of the relatives of Pāṇòu and their wives and sons became revived, as if their life airs had returned to their limbs, and according to suitability, joyfully mixed with his company, greeted and embraced him.
Sūta means Sañjaya, Śāradvataḥ is Kṛpa. Kṛpī is the wife of Droṇācārya. Jāmayaḥ means wives of the relatives. The word yāmi is seen in dictionaries along with words starting with consonants and semi-vowels. When the life air goes, a person faints. When the life air returns, the person regains consciousness. Tanvaḥ means parts of the body like hands and feet. As if life airs had returned to the limbs, they revived their various actions.
Agitated by the longing created by separation, they shed tears of love. The king had him accept a seat and worshipped him.
After feeding him, letting him rest and sitting him down, the king with humility spoke to Vidura for all to hear.
Yudhiṣṭhira said: Do you remember us, because we, along with our mother, growing up under the shade of your wings, were saved by you from the poison and the fire and other dangers?
Just as birds raise their young with great affection under the shade of their wings, you raised us. Another meaning of pakṣa-cchāyā is showing favor to us. Yad mocitā means because we were saved by you.
As you wandered over the earth, what did you do for maintenance? What major holy places did you serve on the earth?
Vṛttyā means by livelihood. Vaḥ means by you.
O master! Devotees like you are holy places incarnate. You purify the holy places because the Lord is situated within you.
In this verse he says that Viduras going to the holy places is good fortune for those places. You make the holy places even greater, purifying the pure.
O father! Did you see or hear about our relatives and friends, devotees of Kṛṣṇa, the Yadus. Are they residing happily in Dvārakā? When Yudhiṣṭhira had thus spoken, Vidura then gradually described everything he had experienced, except for the destruction of the Yadu dynasty.
A merciful person, unable to see others suffer, should not reveal an inauspicious event arising on its own which no human can tolerate.
This verse explains the scriptural reason why he did not tell them about the disappearance of the Yadus.
Respected as a god, Vidura stayed there for some time, pleasing all and giving the highest benefit to Dhṛtarāṣṭra.
Śreyas-kṛt means giving benefit.
As long as Yama passed his life for a hundred years as a śūdra because of a curse, Aryamā performed his duties of punishing the sinful in an appropriate way.
One should consider that Vidura was inferior because of being lesser than Dhṛtarāṣṭra and others. Dharma-rāja, Yama, was born as a śūdra by the curse of Māṇòavya in the form of Vidura. Who would carry out punishment while Yama had the śūdra body? Aryamā held the post. Abibhrat is poetic license for abibhaḥ. One time the soldiers of a king were chasing some thieves. They caught them near Māṇòavya who was performing penance. Tying him up along with the thieves they brought him to the king. By the kings order, they were all impaled. But the king recognized the sage, and had him taken down, and took care of him. The sage went to Yama and in anger spoke. Why was I impaled? Yama replied, As a boy you pierced a grasshopper with the tip of a kuśa grass, as play. Hearing this Māṇòavya cursed Yama, Since you punished so severely though I was an ignorant boy at the time, you should become a śūdra.
Having attained his kingdom, and seeing the heir to the dynasty, Yudhiṣṭhira along with his brothers who were like protecting devatās, became overjoyed with the greatest splendor.
Insurmountable time overtook those attached to their houses and intoxicated with household affairs without their knowledge.
This verse is a criticism of people other than Yudhiṣṭhira and his family present at that time. It has already been said that he was unattached to everything except the Lord kṣudhitasya yathetare: he was completely attached to the Lord and nothing else. (SB 1.12.6)
Knowing that his time was approaching, Vidura spoke to Dhṛtarāṣṭra. O king! You should leave immediately. See! Fearful time is approaching!
O master! The supremely powerful time which no one can stop has approached us all.
By saying all Vidura indicates that time had approached even those who should be able to prevent the actions of time.
Attacked by time, a person is separated immediately from his beloved life airs, what to speak of other things like wealth.
Afflicted by time, in the form of death a person is separated from his life airs.
Your father, brothers, friends, and sons have been killed. Youth has departed. The body is afflicted by old age. You are living in another persons house.
In seven verses Vidura teaches renunciation.
You were blind from birth. You are now deaf, and feeble witted. Your teeth are broken, your digestion is weak, and your body is full of mucus. Still you are attached.
So strong is the desire to live among all creatures that, like a dog, you take the food given by Bhīma!
Apavarjitam means given. Gṛha-pālaḥ is a dog.
What is the use of life maintained by food given by those whom you tried to burn, poison, whose wife you insulted, and whose land and wealth you stole?
What is the use (kiyat) of life (asubhiḥ) attained by food given by them (tad-dattaiḥ).
Though wanting to live and not give the body up, your body, worn out with old age, is dying, beyond your will, like two pieces of cloth.
Paraiti means it is wasting away. Two pieces of cloth indicate the upper and lower cloth. This indicates that both the gross and subtle bodies have become worn out. Blindness and deafness indicate decay of the subtle body (since the senses are subtle) and wrinkles and grey hair are the decay of the gross body.
He is called wise who gives up this body which has not been used to worship Kṛṣṇa, after rejecting wealth and sons and going where no one can find him, while practicing bhakti.
Gata-svārtham means afflicted with lamentation, illusion and old age because of not having performed worship of Kṛṣṇa. Mukta-bandhanaḥ means giving up wealth and sons. Avijñāta-gatiḥ means going where no one knows. The words gives up should mean gives up the body at a holy place with devotion. Such a person is wise.
He is the best of men who gives up the house after developing discrimination by self-endeavor or inspiration of others and becoming detached, while concentrating the mind on the Lord.
The best of men however prepares his remedy before old age. His qualities are described. Getting knowledge himself, or getting instructions from others, he develops discrimination (ātmavān). As the merchant turns his heart towards money, the devotee turns his heart towards the Lord, to achieve the Lord. He is the best of men. The austere sannyāsī is the wise man and the person understanding bhakti is the best of men.
Therefore, go to the north, somewhere unknown to your relatives. Then time, the destroyer of most of mans qualities, will come.
You have not become a narottama. Therefore become a dhīra. Arvāk kālaḥ means time will come. That time, the destroyer of mans qualities like determination and mercy will come.
The King, born of Ajamīòhas dynasty, with eyes of knowledge, enlightened by his younger brother Vidura, possessing the path shown by his brother, cutting the ropes of affection because of determination, left the house.
He was given teachings of bhakti-mīśra-jñāna, for liberation. He was born in the Ājamīòha dynasty. Because of his mental determination he could leave. The path shown by his brother was the path of bondage and liberation.
Chaste Gāndhārī, daughter of Subala, having good qualities and dedicated to her husband, followed him as he went to the Himālayas, which gives joy to those who have given up violence. She took the challenge like a warrior enjoying a good battle.
Gāndhārī was the daughter of Subala. Sādhvī means having good qualities. How did she go to the Himālayas, which would give great hardship? Such sufferings are a cause of joy for those who have enthusiasm. An example is given. It is like a good (san) fight (samprahāraḥ) experienced by the warrior even if he is very young. Sat-samprahāram is also seen. The neuter case is poetic license. Amara-koṣa says samprahārābhisampāta-kali-saṁsphoṭa-saṁyugāḥ: samprahāra means war, quarrel, battle, conflict.
Yudhiṣṭhira after performing sandhya rites, offering oblations in the fire and offering respects to the brāhmaṇas by giving sesame, cows, land and gold, entered the house to offer respects to his elders. But he did not see Vidura, Dhṛtarāṣṭra or Gāndhārī.
Kṛta-maitraḥ means having performed sandhya rites. He worshipped the brāhmaṇas with sesame and other items and entered. By using the word praviṣṭaḥ (sometimes associated with entering the funeral pyre) there is a hint at death rites offerings, which also use sesame The word ca indicates not only that he did not see them, but did not know where they had gone. Pitarau refers to Vidura and Dhṛtarāṣṭra.
Afflicted in mind, he asked Sañjaya who was sitting there, O son of Gavalgaṇa, where is our father, my blind, aged uncle, his wife grieving for her slain children, and my uncle and friend Vidura?
Has he thrown himself in the Gaḍgā along with his wife, out of sorrow, with all his children dead, while contemplating my foolish offense?
Was Dhṛtarāṣṭra depressed (āśaṁsamānaḥ) with the thought of my offense, thinking, Why should I live, when Yudhiṣṭhira did not leave even one of my sons? or another meaning is: he desired (āśaṁsamānaḥ) as follows, Let Yudhiṣṭhira also have the sin of killing me too.
When our father Pāṇòu departed, these two protected all us children, who were their relatives, from dangers. From this place, where have they gone?
Sūta said: Sañjaya, pained by the separation, and not seeing his lord, overcome with compassion and the bewilderment of affection, did not reply.
Sañjaya was overcome with affection, thinking, What will become of these two without protection? He was disturbed by affection caused by his relationship which melted his heart.
Wiping his tears with his hands, making is mind steady by intelligence, remembering the feet of his master, he replied to Yudhiṣṭhira.
Viṣṭabhyātmānam ātmanā means creating steadiness in the mind by intelligence.
Sañjaya said: O joy of the dynasty! I certainly do not know about your uncles and Gāndhārī. O mighty-armed warrior! They have cheated me.
Veda should actually be vedmi. Muṣitaḥ means cheated. They left while he was sleeping.
At that time, Lord Nārada, holding a vīṇa, arrived. Standing up, Yudhiṣṭhira, along with his brothers, after welcoming and worshipping him, spoke to him.
Out of lamentation, Yudhiṣṭhira worshipped him, but more important was the whereabouts of his uncles.
Yudhiṣṭhira said: O master! I do not know the destination of my uncles. Where did they go from there? Where did my austere aunt, grieving for her dead sons, go? You are like a pilot for crossing the ocean of grief; you can see the other side. Then Lord Nārada the best of sages spoke.
Apāre means in the ocean of grief. Since you are the Lord, you know everything. Please tell me.
Nārada said: O King! Do not lament for anything, because this world is dependent on the Lord. The Lord to who even the devatās carry offerings joins and separates the living beings.
In the beginning, Yudhiṣṭhira would faint with lamentation on hearing what had happened. Therefore first Nārada appeased his lamentation. You say do not lament, but I am fainting in separation from those two persons. This cannot be prevented because meeting and separation are dependent on the Lord.
Just as cows are bound by ropes to the nose and the ropes are all attached to one longer rope, all humans, bound by designations of varṇāśrama derived from the Vedas carry out the orders of the Lord.
To support what has been said about all entities carrying out the Lords orders and the Lord causing meeting and separation, two examples are given. Each cow has a rope tied to its nose, and all are tied to one longer rope. What is the connection between the ropes and the longer rope with the present discussion? The Veda is the long rope. Humans are bound by the short ropes of the designations in the Vedas, such as brāhmaṇa and kṣatriya, brahmacārī and gṛhastha. Their payment (balim) is following the order, such as Every day one must perform sandhyā rites.
Just as the items used in playing are brought together and separated by the will of the player, humans are brought together and separated by the will of the Lord.
Krīòopaskarāṇām refers to things like dice.
If one considers oneself to be the soul, the body, neither or both, in all these cases, the person, situated with discernment beyond material affection, should not lament for himself or others.
It has been just said that because everything is under the control of the Lord, one should not lament. But when looking at the world, there is no real object of suffering. People may consider themselves as jīva (dhruvam) or as the body (adhruvam) or neither as jīva or body by being brahman (ubhayam), or having qualities of both consciousness and unconsciousness (vā).7 All four types of people should not lament for their relatives, since they have no affection (snehād anyatra), being situated with discernment. Affection is the source of lamentation and is the root of ignorance. This affection is generated from illusion in the material world (mohajāt). This indicates that the affection related to bhakti is not included here as a source of lamentation. Lamentation arising from bhakti, the sthāyi-bhāva of karuṇa-rasa, is most excellent.
O King! Give up your agitation arising from ignorance, thinking How will they, suffering and without protection, live without me?
Give up the disturbance of mind which thinks How will they live without me?
This body of five elements is dependent on time, karma and the material ingredients. How can a person, as if bitten by a snake, protect others?
No one can protect anyone else by giving maintenance. Time is the general cause. Karma is the cause of birth. Guṇa indicates the material cause. The body made of five elements is dependent on these. The body with these constituents is quickly subject to destruction. One person bitten by a snake cannot protect others.
The humans are maintained by the animals and the animals are maintained by the plants. The big are maintained by the small. One living being is the maintenance for another living being.
The maintenance of all entities is established in the beginning by the Lord. The animals (ahastāni) are food for the humans. The plants (apadāni) are food for the animals. The small fish are food for the big fish. One entity is the natural food for another. For renounced persons, maintenance through leaves, fruits and flowers prepared for the Lord is not forbidden. Why do you lament then?
O King! This universe is only the Lord. He is the one soul of all the jīvas. He is self manifesting, not dependent on others. He is the jīva and the objects of enjoyment for the jīva. See the one Lord manifested as many by his material energy.
You have said that the world is dependent on the Lord. If everything is dependent on the Lord, why do you say that the body is dependent on time, karma and matter?
That is true. Everything is the Lord because everything in this world including time and karma is the effect of the Lords energies. That is expressed in this verse.
The Lord is this universe (idam). Through his svarūpa-śakti, in the form of paramātmā, he is the soul of the jīvas (ātmanām). He is self-revealing (svadṛk). He is the jīva (antaraḥ) as the enjoyer. He is the happiness and distress as the external objects of experience (anantaraḥ). The Lord appears through these three energies (svarūpa-śakti, jīva-śakti, māyā-śakti). See the one Lord manifested as many (urudhā) such as devatās and animals, by the māyā-śakti.
He, the Lord of Dvārakā, protector of all beings, has appeared in the form of time to destroy the demons.
Where does this person with such powers exist? He is living in Dvārakā. He is here (so yam). He has appeared on earth (asyām) for destroying the demons. Appearing to the demons as the form of time he destroys them. Actually he has a form of supreme bliss but for the demons he appears as time.
Having completed the actions for the devatās, he is waiting for the remaining activities. While he remains on earth, you should consider all things as objects of attachment.
He is waiting only for the remaining actions. Like Vidura, Nārada did not describe the arrangement for the destruction of the Yadu family, which he knew had already taken place. The verb has no object, but it means that they should observe everything as objects of I and mine. Even hearing about the incident, they should consider everything in this way.
Dhṛtarāṣtṛa, with his wife Gāndhārī, and Vidura, has gone to a hermitage of sages on the south side of the Himālayas.
Having dispelled his lamentation, he now tells the actual facts to the inquisitive Yudhiṣṭhira in six verses. Dakṣiṇena means in the southern direction.
That place where the Gaḍgā became seven by dividing into seven branches to please the seven sages is called Sapta-srota.
That which is famous as Gaḍgā (svardhunī) made herself into seven (saptadhā). Why? She did it to please the seven sages. That place is called by names like Sapta-srota or Marīci-gaḍgā.
At that place Dhṛtarāṣtṛa, bathing three times a day, performing sacrifice according to scriptural rules, drinking only water as food, controlling the mind, ridding himself of material desires, perfecting sitting postures and breathing, withdrawing the six senses, has destroyed the contamination of sattva, rajas and tamas by meditation on the Lord.
The process of aṣṭāḍga-yoga that he performed is described in four verses. The niyamas are bathing, sacrifice and taking water as food. The yamas are calming the mind (upaśāntātmā) and destroying attachments (vigataiṣaṇaḥ). Āsana, prāṇāyāma and pratyāhārā are described in the third line. Dhāraṇā and dhyāna are described in the last line.
Meditating on merging the false ego into the mahat-tattva, merging the mahat-tattva into the jīva, merging the jīva into the brahman, and merging the Paramātmā into Bhagavān, the supreme shelter, like merging the sky in the pot into the sky, he has destroyed the impressions arising from the guṇas of māyā, controlled the senses and mind. Stopping all enjoyment of the senses (or eating), he remains without movement like a pillar.
Merging the elements of his body into the senses, merging the false ego (ātmānam) into the mahat-tattva (vijñānātmani), merging the mahat-tattva into the jīva (kṣetra-jñe), perceiving it as such, and merging the jīva into the brahman, merging the Paramātmā situated in the body (ātmānam) into Bhagavān, the Lord (ādhāre), the āśraya-tattva, the aṁśī. But it is well known that Paramātmā and Bhagavān are one. That is true, but though they are one, there is a functional difference. This is explained through an example. It is like air in a pot and the air, like the limited sky and the unlimited sky. The sky in the pot and the sky outside the pot are actually one since the sky is all-pervading. Lack of deviation is described. Deviation arises from internal disturbance of the guṇas or from external agitation of the senses. Dhṛtarāṣṭra has neither because he has destroyed the results of the guṇas of māyā, the impressions of desires. Therefore he has controlled the senses and mind.
Do not be an obstacle to Dhṛtarāṣṭra who has renounced all actions! O king! Five days from now he will give up his body. He will turn himself to ashes.
Since Yudhiṣṭhira may try to bring him back Nārada says Do not be an obstacle (antarāyaḥ)! Abhūḥ in this case should be bhūḥ with mā, but stays in that form because of poetic license. Yudhiṣṭhira may still want to see him. Therefore Nārada says five days from now (adyatanāt) he will give up his body. Yudhiṣṭhira may want to go to burn the body. Nārada says that he will burn himself up (svam).
While his body is being burned along with the cottage, the noble wife, situated outside, will enter the fire to follow her husband.
I will go and bring back Gāndhārī! No, that is not possible. When the body of her husband burns along with the hut (sahoṭaje) by the fire of yoga and the household fire, she, situated outside, will enter the fire following (anu) her husband.
O joy of the Kurus! Seeing this astonishing event, Vidura, with joy and lamentation, will depart to visit holy places.
I will go and bring Vidura back. No, that is not possible. Seeing this astonishing event, he will depart for holy places. Vidura will be joyful, since Dhṛtarāṣṭra has attained a spiritual goal. He will lament as a worldly custom. He will then go from that place to serve holy places. It should be understood that Dhṛtarāṣṭra being an offender to devotees, attained only liberation and not prema, since Vidura did not give such mercy.
Saying this, Nārada with his vīṇa ascended to Svarga. Yudhiṣṭhira, taking those words in his heart, gave up his lamentation.
Nārada saying this concluded, and then ascended to Svarga. Śucaḥ means lamentation.
Gatim means Kṛṣṇa. Tayā avāpta-vivitsitaḥ means he who attained all that he desired by that knowledge. Vivitsitaḥ comes from the verb vit, meaning to attain, in desiderative form.
The thirteenth chapter describes the arrival of Vidura, Dhṛtarāṣṭra leaving the palace on the instruction of Vidura, and Nāradas instructions to allay the lamentation of Yudhiṣṭhira, in order to describe the coronation of Parīkṣit, just as the story of Aśvatthāmā throwing the brahmāstra was told in relation to Parīkṣits birth.
Having told about Parīkṣits birth, before telling about how Kali was punished by Parīkṣit, first the coronation will be described. But to describe the coronation, first the arrival of Vidura and the departure of Dhṛtarāṣṭra on the instruction of Vidura, the arrival of Arjuna, and the departure of the Pāṇòavas are described in three chapters.