24 verses
Sūta said: Hearing the words of Śukadeva by which he could discern the truth about the soul, Parīkṣit concentrated his mind which was always thinking of Kṛṣṇa .
He completely gave up attachment to body, wife, sons, house, animals, wealth, friends, kingdom, which is constant and strong in others.
Ātma means body.
O great devotees! The intelligent Parīkṣit, full of faith in hearing Kṛṣṇas activities, asked this question to Śukadeva which you have asked me.
What you have asked refers to the request the sages made in the last chapter Please tell us everything which is related to Kṛṣṇa, expressed in verses such as āyur harati vai puṁsām. The King asked Śukadeva the same thing.
Knowing his impending death, giving up all actions of dharma, artha and kāma, he became firmly fixed in prema to Kṛṣṇa.
Understanding he was going to die (saṁsthām), giving up (sannyasya) all material activities, he attained firm prema (bhāvam), though it was already present.
The King said: O sinless brāhmaṇa! When you, full of knowledge, speak topics of the Lord, my ignorance is destroyed. Those words are fitting.
Tamaḥ means ignorance. Mahyam means mama (my).
Again, I desire to know how the Lord, by his energy, creates this universe which is hard to meditate on by even the devatās.
This is the Kings intention. You have described that I should hear and chant at the point of death. The subjects of hearing and chanting are Kṛṣṇas qualities, forms and pastimes. First I will ask about the pastimes of creation by his māyā-śakti. Then I will ask about his pastimes such as lifting Govardhana using his cit-śakti. Again I desire to know. The verb form vivitsāmi is poetic license (the other being vividisāmi). The universe is hard to meditate upon (durvibhāvyam).
I desire to know how the Lord maintains and then destroys the universe again. By which śaktis does this possessor of many śaktis, the supreme person, sport with māyā and create the elements, and then employing the devatās create the bodies of the living entities? O brāhmaṇa! The activities of the Lord, performer of astonishing activities, certainly appear hard to understand for even the wise.
Gopāyati means maintains. Samyacchate means destroys. The Lord possesses many śaktis such as the taṭaṣthā-śakti, bahiraḍga-śakti and antaraḍga-śakti related to the jīva, matter and the spiritual world. He sports with māyā-śakti (krīòan) and creates a form of himself (ātmānam karoti) in the form of mahat-tattva, false ego and other elements. This is a question about sarga, primary creation. He engages others, the devatās such as Brahmā and Marīci, in sporting (krīòayan), and creates a form of himself (ātmānam vikaroti) in the form of the devatās, animals, and humans. This is secondary creation.
Just as the Lord, while performing activities of creation and destruction, supports the guṇas of prakṛti all at once as one puruṣa, he also supports the guṇas through many forms of devatās. Does he do this gradually in sequence?
Just as the Lord, as one, as the puruṣa, supports the guṇas of prākṛti at one time, or, without being contaminated, as one puruṣa, activates the guṇas with his glance and maintain them, he also maintains the guṇas as many (bhūriśaḥ), by the appearance (janmabhiḥ) of Brahmā, Marīci and others. Does he do this gradually in sequence? How does he support the gūnas? He performs activities of creation.
Please speak these topics about which I am doubtful. You are expert in discerning the truth in the scriptures just as Kṛṣṇa himself knows, and you have realized Kṛṣṇa.
Vicikitsitam means doubt. If this is hard for the wise to understand, how do you know that I know? Just as Kṛṣṇa, Bhagavān, knows, you, his devotee, also know. You are expert in discerning the Vedas (brahmaṇi) and in realizing Kṛṣṇa (parasmin). Other writers of scripture do not all realize Kṛṣṇa. They do not know. The Lord says:
kiṁ vidhatte kim ācaṣṭe kim anūdya vikalpayet |
ity asyā hṛdayaṁ loke nānyo mad veda kaścana ||
What do the Vedas instruct as action? What is the final meaning of the Vedas? What alternatives do the Vedas raise? No one except me or my dear devotee knows the intended meaning of the Vedas. SB 11.21.42
The Vaiṣṇavas should hear the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa and the avatāras involving the cit-śakti and but should similarly hear the pastimes of the puruṣāvatāras such as creating the universe, involving māyā-śakti. Those pastimes should not be leered at. The hearer Parīkṣit and the speaker Śukadeva intended that those pastimes should be known.
Sūta said: Being thus requested by the King to speak about the qualities of the Lord, Śukadeva, remembering the Lord of the senses, prepared to answer.
Hṛṣīkeśa is the person who inspires all the senses. May the Lord become situated in my words and answer you! While offering respects to the Lord and guru, he begins to answer.
Śukadeva said: I offer my respects to the supreme person Kṛṣṇa, whose powerful expansion is Mahā-viṣṇu, performing pastimes of creation, maintenance and destruction of the universe through accepting the three guṇas, whose second and third expansions act as the inner soul of the universe and the jīvas, and who can be realized by the path of bhakti, but cannot be realized by other paths.
He offers respects in thirteen verses. I offer my respects to the supreme person, Kṛṣṇa. First he speaks of the power of Kṛṣṇa. I offer respects to the unlimited power of the puruṣāvatāras (bhūyase). He then describes a pastime of the first puruṣāvatāra: creation, maintenance and destruction of the universe using the three guṇas or sattva, rajas and tamas (gṛhīta-śakti-tritayāya). He then describes the second and third puruṣas. He is the antaryāmī of the whole universe and all the living beings within (antarbhavāya). He can be realized by bhakti, but is unknown to the yogīs (anupalakṣya-vartmane).
Again I offer respects to you, the destroyer of suffering of the devotees and giver of liberation to the demons, the form of śuddha-sattva, the shelter of those with the mood of the paramahaṁsas, the giver of brahman to the bhakti-miśra-jñānīs and prema to the pure devotees.
The sweetness of the Lords mercy is now described. Again I offer respects to you who destroy the suffering of your devotee by appearing as Rāma and Kṛṣṇa (sad-vṛjina-cchide). You destroy the suffering of material existence (abhavāya) for the sinful (asatām), non-devotee rāṣaksas and asuras, by personally killing them.
Khila-sattva means inferior, material existence. Akhila-sattva means superior, spiritual existence. You have a body of śuddha-sattva. You are the shelter of the mood of the paramahaṁsas. You are the giver of the bliss of brahman to the bhakti-miśra-jñānīs and the giver of the bliss of prema to the pure devotees (vyavasthitānām), who are under your shelter.
I continually offer respects to you, son of Vasudeva of the Yadus, who remain forever distant from the non-devotees, who are the enjoyer in your spiritual abode in Mathurā and Vraja with your devotees, displaying powers that are unequalled and unsurpassed.
You are filled with power and sweetness. Continually I offer respects (namo namaḥ). By using the second person case (te), he implies that the Lord is directly his worshippable deity. I offer respects to the son of Vasudeva (ṛṣabhāya), of the Yadu dynasty (sātvatām). The phrase ṛṣabhāya sātvatām also implies the meaning protector of the devotees in connection with the previous verse. You are a distant for those without bhakti (kuyoginām). But you are not distant or hidden. There is no one equal or greater than you in power (rādhasā). You are the enjoyer (raṁsyate) in your dhāma of Mathurā-maṇòala, along with those persons qualified for that enjoyment. What type of dhāma is that? It is the very form of brahman. Tāsāṁ madhye sākṣād brahma gopāla-purī hi: in the center is the town of the cowherd Kṛṣṇa, which is directly brahman. (Gopāla-tāpinī Upaniṣad) Rādhasā indicates his power and raṁsyate indicates his sweetness.
I offer continual respects to the Lord with all auspicious qualities, whose glorification, remembrance, deity form, topics and worship immediately destroy the impurities of man.
All the impurities blocking attainment of the Lord are destroyed by glorifying and remembering the Lord. Yad-īkṣaṇam refers to seeing the deity form of the Lord. He has all auspicious qualities (subhadra-śravase).
I offer repeated respects to the Lord with all auspicious qualities. By worshipping his feet the jñānīs destroy the attachments of this world and the next which reside in the heart, and attain their spiritual goal of brahman without fatigue.
Even the jñānīs, whose impurities are destroyed, worship him. Ubhayataḥ means in this life and the next. Vyudasya means destroying. Antar-ātmaḥ means the antaḥ-karaṇa. Those who do not worship the Lords feet become exhausted. It is said:
śreyaḥ-sṛtiṁ bhaktim udasya te vibho
kliśyanti ye kevala-bodha-labdhaye
teṣām asau kleśala eva śiṣyate
nānyad yathā sthūla-tuṣāvaghātinām
My dear Lord, devotional service unto you is the best path for self-realization. If someone gives up that path and engages in the cultivation of speculative knowledge, he will simply undergo a troublesome process and will not achieve his desired result. As a person who beats an empty husk of wheat cannot get grain, one who simply speculates cannot achieve self-realization. His only gain is trouble. SB 10.14.4
I offer continual respects to the Lord full of auspicious qualities. Without worshipping him, the jñānīs, karmīs, specialized karmīs, yogīs, scholars of the Vedas and followers of proper conduct cannot attain any benefit.
Without bhakti the practices of even great souls, being useless, are condemned. The jñānīs (tapasvinaḥ), the karmīs (dāna-parāḥ), the special karmīs who perform horse sacrifices (yaśasvinaḥ), the yogīs (manasvinaḥ), the studiers of the Vedas (mantra-vidaḥ), the followers of proper conduct (sumaḍgalāḥ) cannot attain benefit without worshipping the Lord. The phrase subhadra-śravase is repeated with each verse to show the predominance of hearing and chanting the glories (śravase) of the Lord.
I offer respects to the Lord of inconceivable power. The Kirātas, Hūṇas, Andhras, Pulindas, Pulkaśas, Abhīras, Śumbhas, Yavanas, Khasas and others of low birth, and those sinful by actions, by taking shelter of the devotees who take shelter of the powerful Lord, become purified of their prārabdha-karmas.
Even the condemned sinners, by just a trace of bhakti become successful. Those born in the tribes mentioned are considered sinful by birth. Others are sinful by actions. They all become purified. Upāśraya refers to the devotees. Those who surrender to the devotees accepting those devotees as gurus become purified. Just by taking shelter of the proper guru, sinners by birth or action become purified. This indicates that bhakti destroys the prārabdha and aprārabdha karmas. The low birth is the cause of impurity for the persons mentioned. The present experience of low birth is the prārabdha-pāpa or prārabdha-karma. The word śudhyanti means they are purified. If they are purified, their bad birth must be destroyed. If their bad birth has been destroyed their prārabdha-karmas must have been destroyed. When they are called by those names it should be understood to be for practical purposes. It is not their spiritual designation, for it is forbidden to identify devotees by their birth. arcye viṣṇau śilā-dhīr guruṣu nara-matir vaiṣṇave jāti-buddhiḥ: It is an offense to see the deity form as stone, to see the guru as an ordinary man, and to see the Vaiṣṇava according to his birth. (Padma Purāṇa) The rule is that though they have had low birth, they should be taught bhakti. It will be said:
dūre hari-kathāḥ kecid dūre cācyuta-kīrtanāḥ
striyaḥ śūdrādayaś caiva te nukampyā bhavādṛśām
Persons devoid of devotee association and who cannot appreciate glorification of the Lord, women and śūdras, deserve your mercy. SB 11.5.4
The word ādyaḥ in the verse indicates those of low birth. In order to remove the objection that the Lord cannot possibility consider all low cases, the word prabhaviṣṇave is used. The Lord has natural ability (prabhutā). It is not subject to logic.
He alone is the Supreme Lord. He is worshipped as the ātmā by the jñānīs and yogīs. He is to be worshipped by the knowers of the Vedas, the followers of dharma and the performers of austerities. May the Lord whose qualities cannot be known even by those free of deceit such as Brahmā and Śiva be merciful to me!
The excellence of those with bhakti was shown by negative and positive statements in the last two verses. The Lord is now shown to be worshipped by others for attaining their particular goals. He is the Lord. He is worshipped as the ātmā by the jñānīs and yogīs (ātmavatām). He is worshipped by the followers of the Vedas, the followers of dharma and the followers of austerity. His qualities cannot be known with certainty even by those free of deceit such as Brahmā and Śiva. What then to speak of knowing his form which holds those qualities? And what to speak of those jñānīs and yogīs who are not free of deceit knowing his qualities or form!
He is the protector of prosperity, sacrifice, the citizens, the intelligent, the planets, and the earth. He is the protector and goal to be attained for the Andhakas, Vṛṣṇis and Yadus. May the Lord, master of the devotees, be pleased with me!
The Lord is protector of all. Details are given. He is the master and the goal to be attained, as a Yādava in his aprakaṭa form.
May Mukunda be pleased with me! Purified by meditation on his feet the wise sages see with their intelligence the truth about Paramātmā and while others speak of him according to their impure intelligence.
May Kṛṣṇa give me knowledge! Those purified by samādhi at the Lords feet see the true form of Paramātmā. But (ca) other learned people speak of him according to their taste, by the power of their learning. Some say he is Paramātmā but others will speak of him as having form, having no form, the jīva who is small, or an all-pervading jīva. Or others will speak of the universe as false though it appears true and eternal. They speak according to their intelligence, but their intelligence has not been purified. Therefore they do not see the truth about the ātmā.
May the Lord, the best of the sages, be pleased with me! Inspired by him, at the beginning of the kalpa, Sarasvatī, whose aim is to reveal Kṛṣṇa, appeared from the mouth of Brahmā and revealed proper memory to carry out creation in his heart.
Just as the Lord made the Vedas flow from the mouth of Brahmā, may he let the description of his pastimes flow from my mouth! That wish is expressed in this verse. Inspired by the Lord, Sarasvatī, the form of the Vedas, appeared (prādurabhūta) from Brahmās mouth (āsyataḥ) at the beginning of the kalpa (purā), and revealed (vitanvatā) proper memory in his heart. Sarasvatī shows (laksaṇā) Kṛṣṇa (sva) as the object of worship. The Lord says:
kālena naṣṭā pralaye vāṇīyaṁ veda-saṁjñitā |
mayādau brahmaṇe proktā dharmo yasyāṁ mad-ātmakaḥ ||
By the influence of time, the Vedic knowledge was lost at the time of annihilation. Therefore, when the subsequent creation took place, I spoke to Brahmā the Vedic knowledge in which bhakti is the essence. SB 11.14.3
May the Lord ornament my words by his presence in them, just as he creates the bodies for the living beings with the material elements and dwells in them, but, as the puruṣa, being the life of the sixteen elements, enjoys them without being contaminated.
Now may my words, created by him, by his presence in them, create beauty with literary ornaments and qualities invoking mādhurya, karauṇa and other rasas, to bring joy to the listeners! May the Lord ornament my words by being present in them, just as the Lord after creating bodies for humans and others, personally resides in those bodies and makes them successful. Having created the bodies (imāḥ puraḥ) by mahat-tattva and other elements, he dwells (śete) in those bodies (amūṣu) as the antaryāmī. The meaning of puruṣa is then proved. He can to this, because as the puruṣa he enjoys the guṇas in the form of the eleven senses and five gross elements without contamination, since he enjoys by his glances. May he also enjoy the qualities of my words! Ṣoòaśātmakaḥ means one who gives life to the sixteen elements. The ending kaḥ has the same meaning as the word without kaḥ. Those bodies, endowed with ornaments and clothing, but without the Lords presence, are untouchable by the devotees. May my words not be without your presence!
I offer respects to the avatāra of Vāsudeva, Vyāsadeva, the writer of scriptures, whose lotus mouth nectar, topics about Kṛṣṇa, filled with knowledge, the devotees drink.
He offers respects to his guru Vyāsadeva, who is the avatāra of Vāsudeva (vāsudevāya), who is the maker of scriptures (vedhase), whose lotus mouth nectar, filled with knowledge, the devotees drink. Or Vāsudeva can mean Kṛṣṇa. Then saumyāḥ refers to gopīs of Kṛṣṇa. Jñānam means filled with knowledge. Just by drinking the nectar of his lotus mouth, filled with the most extraordinary knowledge, filled with ornaments, rasa, and skill in dancing, singing, music, and art, which they knew nothing about, the gopīs attained full realization of it. Let us, following them, also attain that knowledge. This is the confidential meaning.
O King! Brahmā, filled with the Vedas, taught this knowledge, which the Lord had directly spoke to him, to Nārada who asked about it.
He praises the conversation between Brahmā and Nārada, which contained questions and answers. Brahmā, who at his birth was filled with the Vedas (veda-garbhaḥ), spoke this knowledge which the Lord himself had taught to him (ātmanaḥ).
In the Fourth Chapter, Śukadeva, being asked by Parīkṣit, describes the creation through the conversation of Brahmā and Nārada, after offering respects to his guru Kṛṣṇa.
Hearing words from which he could discern the truth about the soul, he particularly (vi) concentrated his mind which was always thinking of Kṛṣṇa, because he was the son of Uttarā (auttareyaḥ). From the time that Kṛṣṇa entered her womb to save him, he remembered Kṛṣṇa. Or satīm matim can mean undeviating mind.