60 verses
King Parīkṣit said: O brāhmaṇa! Since he was sinful, with a nature of rajas and tamas, how could Vṛtrāsura have firm attachment to Nārāyaṇa?
Bhakti to the Lords lotus feet rarely develops even in the devatās with minds in sattva-guṇa and in pure sages.
Śuddha-sattvānām means in those with antaḥkaraṇas having sattva-guṇa. Jñāna develops on its own after purification of antaḥkaraṇa. This is not so with bhakti, since without association of devotees bhakti does not appear.
In this material world there are as many living entities as atoms. Among these living entities, a few are human beings or devatās, and among them, a few practice dharma.
Among them, some are humans, devatās or Gandharvas, but not all. And among those, some follow dharma.
O best of the brāhmaṇas! Out of those follow dharma, only a few desire liberation. Among many thousands who desire liberation, one person becomes a jivamukta and out of many such persons, only one attains the spiritual world.
Mucyeta means he becomes a jīvanmukta.
O great sage! Greater than those who are jīvanmukta and greater than those who attain liberation is the devotee of Lord Nārāyaṇa. Such a devotee, who is in śānta or other rasas, is very rare, even among ten million people.
It has been said that among the liberated one may attain perfection. Many perform sādhana for liberation but do not attain liberation. But those who becomeliberated (jivanmukta) do not all become perfect. Only some do, for it is said:
jīvanmuktā api punar bandhanaḥ yānti karmabhiḥ
yady acintya-mahā-śaktau bhagavatyiaparādhinaḥ
The jīvanmuktas again become bound by karma if they commit offense to the Lord, possessor of inconceivably great energies.
Those who attain perfection and get liberation attain sāyujya, merging in the Brahman. The devotee of Nārāyaṇa is rarer that those liberated persons. The genitive case should here mean the ablative case, since the genitive case will not have a proper meaning. (Among those in sāyujya none become devotees.) Compared to the jīvanmuktas and the liberated person the devotee of Nārāyaṇa is rare because of his superiority.
Or one can consider this in another way. There are two types of jñāna: pure and mixed with bhakti. By pure jñāna those who desire liberation cannot achieve it. It is like beating empty husks for grain:
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
Jñāna mixed with bhakti has two types: with bhakti in which one does not respect the Lords form, considering his form material, and with bhakti in which one respects the Lords form, not considering it material. By the first type of jñāna mixed with bhakti one will not attain liberation, but one will think one is liberated. Such bhakti destroys ignorance completely but only partly produces knowledge (vidyā), and then disappears. (The practitioner thinks bhakti must be discarded for attaining liberation.) But without bhakti a person cannot attain complete knowledge of Brahman. Thus he cannot merge into Brahman. This is stated in the Gītā and also in Bhāgavatam with the following verses:
ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas
tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ
āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ
patanty adho 'nādṛta-yuṣmad-aḍghrayaḥ
Persons who are falsely under the impression of being liberated, without devotional service to the Lord, may reach up to the point of liberation, but because of their impure consciousness, such so-called liberated persons again fall down into material existence. SB 10.2.32
avajānanti māṁ muṭā mānuṣīṁ tanumāśrit
paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto mama bhūta-maheśvaram
The fools deride me in this human form, not knowing that I am the great Lord of the Brahman, higher than all else. BG 9.11
moghāśā mogha-karmāṇo mogha-jñāna-vicetasaḥ
rākṣasīm āsurīñ caiva prakṛtiṁ mohinīṁ śritāḥ
Among those who cannot distinguish this truth, those who are devotees do not gain sālokya, those who are karmīs do not attain their material fruits, and those who are jñānīs do not attain liberation. They assume the nature of Rākṣasas and asuras. BG 9.12
The meaning of the Gītā verses is as follows. Fools disrespect me for having a human form. Seeing all humans with a material body, they think that my body also is made of matter. In this way they disrespect me. What is my human body? It is the best existence (param bhāvam), viśuddha-sattva. It is the supreme cause (maheśvaram) of all jīvas from Brahmā to the grass. This human body which I have accepted is the cause of all objects made of prakṛti.
If they are my devotees but think in this way, then all their desires to attain me are useless. If they are karmīs, then all their karmas become useless, and they do not attain Svarga. If they are jñānīs, then the jñāna becomes useless and they do not achieve liberation. Then what do they attain? They are born in the wombs of Rākṣasas.
By the second type of jñāna mixed with bhakti, with belief in the form of the Lord, after the destruction of vidyā (since vidyā is also a cause of bondage), by bhakti devoid of any mixture of jñāna, which does not disappear, a person realized tat-padartha (Brahman) and attains merging in Brahman. It is said:
brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāḍkṣati
samaḥ sarveṣu bhuteṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parāṁ
Having attained the state of Brahman, being a pure soul, he does not lament in loss of what he had nor does he desire what he does not have, and looks upon all beings as equal. He then manifests prema-bhakti. BG 18.54
bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ
tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā viśate tad anantaram
Only by bhakti can a person know me as Brahman. Then, knowing me as Brahman by that bhakti, he merges with me. BG 18.55
However, among those who gain perfection, at the beginning of realizing Brahman some person may attain pure bhakti by the mercy of some pure bhakta. Then, by gaining the sweetness of bhakti, he will find merging tasteless and surrender to the Lord. In this way the Bhāgavatam verse can be explained by taking the genitive meaning. If the devotee giving mercy has śānta-bhakti, then the recipient obtains śānta-bhakti. Dāsya and other types of bhakti are also implied here. Since such bhakti is rarely attained, the word thousand is not used, but rather the word ten million.
How did sinful Vṛtrāsura, who caused so much suffering to others, become so fixed in Kṛṣṇa during the raging battle?
How did most rare bhakti beyond the three guṇas, exist in a demon like Vṛtrāsura, blinded by the three guṇas?
O master! This is my doubt. I am curious to hear about Vṛtrāsura whose heroism pleased Indra in battle.
Sūta Gosvāmī said: After hearing Mahārāja Parīkṣit's very intelligent question, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the most powerful sage, thanking him, spoke these words.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: O King! Please listen with attention what I heard from the mouths of Vyāsadeva, Nārada and Devala.
O King Parīkṣit! In the province of Śūrasena there was a king named Citraketu, ruling the entire earth. During his reign, the earth produced all the necessities for life.
Citraketu had ten million wives, but though desiring to produce children, he did not receive a child from any of them.
He had ten million wives (10,000 x 1000). He married them in order to have offspring (sāntānikaḥ), not just for enjoyment.
Citraketu, though endowed with beauty, magnanimity, youth, high family, education, power and wealth, being the husband of barren wives, was full of anxiety.
All of the wives were barren by fate.
His wealth, his queens with attractive eyes, and his control of all lands were not sources of happiness for him.
Once upon a time, the powerful sage named Aḍgirā, traveling all over the universe, came to the palace of King Citraketu uninvited.
After properly respecting the sage who was treated as a guest and seated comfortably by standing up and offering articles of worship, Citraketu sat down with attention.
O King Parīkṣit! The great sage, after worshipping the King seated on the ground and bowing in humility, addressed him and spoke as follows.
Aḍgirā said: Do you have health, good fortune and ministers? Just as man is protected by the seven elements, the king is protected by seven elements.
Do you have good health, good fortune and ministers? The happiness of the king depends on the happiness of the ministers and the happiness of the ministers depends on the happiness of the king. An example is given. Just as the jīva is protected by the seven elements beginning with mahat-tattva,1 since he cannot exist for an instance without these elements, a king is protected by seven elements: guru, ministers, friends, treasury, population, fort and strength.
O King! When a king directly depends upon his associates and follows their instructions, he is happy. Similarly, when his associates offer their gifts and activities to the king and follow his orders, they are also happy.
When the king gives all his duties to his ministers the kingdom is happy. O King! Ministers who offer wealth, horses and elephants, cause of anxiety and greed, to the king, are protected by the king. Another version has āhatādhayaḥ: ministers whose anxieties are destroyed by the king become happy.
O King! Are your wives, citizens, counselors, servants, merchants, the inhabitants of your palace, ministers, provincial governors, land owners and sons under your control?
Moreover, if all the people obey the king there is happiness. Śreṇyaḥ refers to sellers of oil and betel nut.
If the King's mind is fully controlled, everyone is under his control. All the worlds and their controllers offer tribute to him.
He asks whether the Kings mind is under his control. Anuvaśaḥ means dependent.
O King Citraketu! Your mind is not pleased due to yourself or others. I see that your face is pale with worry, because of not achieving your desires.
Again he speaks to the silent King. The mind in your body (ātmanaḥ) is not happy because of yourself or someone else. I am happy. No, I see that your face is pale.
O King Parīkṣit! Questioned by the knowledgeable sage in this way, King Citraketu, desiring a son, bent low in great humility and spoke to the great sage as follows.
Vikalpitaḥ means being made the subject in various ways. Though the sage knew the cause, he wanted to hear of the Kings grief from his own mouth.
King Citraketu said: What is not known in all embodied beings externally and internally by yogīs who have destroyed all sins by austerity, knowledge and samādhi?
Śarīriṣu means persons like me.
O great brāhmaṇa! Inspired by your order, let me explain the worry in my mind to you who know everything but are asking me.
I will obey the order of you who are asking. I will explain the worry in my mind (ātmani).
Just as a person aggrieved by hunger and thirst is not pleased by the external gratification of flower garlands or sandalwood pulp, I am not pleased with my empire, opulence or possessions, which are desirable even for great devatās, because I have no son.
Other things like garlands or sandalwood do not please a person who desires food and water because of hunger and thirst.
O great sage! Therefore, please save me and my forefathers, who are descending to the darkness of hell. Kindly do something so that I may have a son to deliver us from hellish conditions.
I have attained hell along with my ancestors. Do something so that I can surpass hell by having a son.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: In response to the request of Mahārāja Citraketu, the merciful sage, who was born of Lord Brahmā's mind, performed a Tvaṣtṛ sacrifice for the devatā Tvāṣtā, after cooking a rice offering.
Tvāṣṭram means for the devatā Tvaṣṭṛ.
O best of the Bhāratas! Aḍgirā gave the remnants of the food offered in the sacrifice to the most charming among Citraketu's millions of queens, named Kṛtadyuti, who he had married first.
He gave the cooked rice to the queen he had first married and who was best in charm.
Thereafter, the great sage told the King, "O great King, now you will have a son who will be the cause of both jubilation and lamentation." The sage then left.
The sage thought, Why should I tell him now how his son will be cause of joy and sorrow? The King will know this at the birth and death of the child. But it is necessary to say unwelcome words now, when in the future the King reproaches me. Without telling the truth clearly, he left. The King thought, Because my son will have many good qualities he will give joy. Because I will not be able to control him, since he will have more power than me, he will bring grief. Let that be. I will tolerate that grief. Thus the King became happy.
As the Kṛttikās, through Agni, had a child named Skanda, Kṛtadyuti, through Citraketu, became pregnant after eating remnants of food from the sacrifice.
The Kṛttikās had a son through Agni. 2
O King! After receiving semen from Citraketu, the King of Śūrasena, Kṛtadyuti gradually developed in her pregnancy, just as the moon develops during the bright fortnight.
Thereafter, in due course of time, a son was born to the King. Hearing news of this, all the inhabitants of the state of Śūrasena were extremely pleased.
Joyful Citraketu, after bathing and by decorating himself with ornaments, engaged brāhmaṇas in offering benedictions to the child and performing the birth ceremony.
The King gave charity of gold, silver, garments, ornaments, villages, horses and elephants, as well as six hundred million cows to the brāhmaṇas
As a cloud indiscriminately pours water on the earth, the generous King Citraketu, to increase the reputation and longevity of his son, distributed most valuable items to other citizens like rainfall.
The King gave most valuable things (dhanyam), rather than worthless things, to other persons, since he was very generous (mahāmanā).
When a poor man obtains money after great difficulty, his affection for the money increases daily. Similarly, when King Citraketu, after great difficulty, received a son, his affection for the son increased day after day.
The mother developed extreme affection for her son out of illusion. The other wives developed a feverish desire to have sons.
The other wives developed a painful desire for a son.
As King Citraketu fostered his son very carefully, his affection for Queen Kṛtadyuti who bore the son increased, and gradually he lost affection for the other wives.
The other queens lamented and condemned themselves with hatred because of the distress of being sonless and because of the Kings neglect.
A wife who has no sons is considered by her husband to be fit for sending off to the forest and is criticized like a maidservant by her co-wives who have children. Certainly such a woman is condemned as sinful.
The sonless wife is seen by the husband as worthy of sending to live in the forest.
Why should maids who serve the master lament, since they gain respect of the master? But we are most unfortunate because we are simply maids of the maidservant.
We are unfortunate like the servant of a maidservant who is unfortunate.
Being neglected by their husband and envious of Kṛtadyuti's wealth in possessing a son, Kṛtadyuti's co-wives developed strong hatred.
The co-wives had the quality of being disrespected by the King (asammata-vṛttīnāṁ).
Losing discretion because of hatred and being intolerant of the King, those cruel women gave poison to the young child
Durmarṣāḥ means intolerant.
Unaware of the sinful act of her co-wives, Queen Kṛtadyuti walked about in the house, looking at her son, thinking that he was sleeping.
Thinking that her child had been sleeping for a long time, the intelligent Queen ordered the nurse, "My dear friend, please bring my son here."
When the maidservant approached the child, who was lying down, she saw that the child had his eyes turned upward and was without life, senses or mental functions. Seeing this, she immediately cried, "Now I am doomed," and fell to the ground.
In great agitation, the maidservant struck her breast with both hands and cried loudly in regretful words. Hearing her loud voice, the Queen immediately came to her son and saw that the young boy had suddenly died.
She saw that her son who was very young was dead.
In great lamentation, her hair and dress in disarray, the Queen fell to the ground unconscious.
O King Parīkṣit! Hearing the loud crying, all the inhabitants of the palace came, both men and women. Being equally aggrieved, they also began to cry. The queens who had administered the poison also cried pretentiously.
Tāś ca means the other queens.
papāta bālasya sa pāda-mūle mṛtasya visrasta-śiroruhāmbaraḥ dīrghaṁ śvasan bāṣpa-kaloparodhato niruddha-kaṇṭho na śaśāka bhāṣitum
When King Citraketu heard of his son's death from unknown causes, he became almost blind. Because of his great affection for his son, his lamentation grew like a blazing fire. He kept slipping and falling on the ground. Surrounded by his ministers and brāhmaṇas, the King approached and fell at the child's feet, his hair and dress scattered. The King, breathing heavily, with tearful eyes and choked voice, could not speak.
The child had died of unknown cause (alakṣitāntakam). Anuprakṛtiḥ means ministers and friends. Surrounded by ministers and brāhmaṇas he fell down. They also fell down.
When the Queen saw her husband merged in great lamentation and saw the dead child, who was the only son in the family, she lamented in various ways. This increased the pain in the cores of the hearts of all the inhabitants of the palace, the ministers and all the brāhmaṇas.
The one son was the continuation of the family line. She nourished the pain in the hearts of the ministers.
The garland of flowers decorating the Queen's head fell off, and her hair became scattered. Falling tears smeared the collyrium on her eyes and moistened her breasts, which were covered with kuḍkuma powder. She lamented the loss of her son like a wailing kurarī bird.
O Creator! You are certainly inexperienced in creation, for during the lifetime of a father you have caused the death of his son, thus acting in opposition to your laws of creation. If you are determined to contradict these laws, you are certainly our enemy.
The cause of lamentation is the Lord. The cause of him doing this is his foolishness. She gives the Lord some advice for his own benefit, so that he will not do as he has done again. The Lord is inexperienced, childish, because he has made his own creation improperly (apratirūpam). How is it improper? While the elder lives, the child dies. There is a problem in the creation if the elders cannot create and the children die. If you think that now you will do everything in an opposite way during creation, then you are certainly our enemy (paraḥ). Doing what is wrong for you to do, you also show that you are inimical to us by making us suffer.
If you say there is no rule that the son should not die while the father lives, then let birth and death happen by karma, but still, you have created bonds of affection for increasing your creation, and then you have cut those bonds and caused undue suffering.
What is my offense, since I only give birth and death according to a jīvas karma? There is no law that while the son lives, the father dies, or that after the father dies, the son should die, since it depends on karma. Then let birth and death happen by karma, but then what action do you perform? How can all this be accomplished by insentient karma, without my control? True, it is accomplished by you. But you have created bonds of affection for increasing your creation, and you cut those bonds. Seeing such misery arising from affection, who will have affection for their children? And without affection of children, how will they survive? You are certainly a fool because of this fault in your creation. Or there is another meaning if the present tense stands for the imperative. Affection is the cause of happiness and distress. Without affection let the children be born and let them die. Then there will be no happiness and distress.
My dear son! You should not give up my company since I am helpless and miserable. Just look at your lamenting father. By you, we could easily cross over dark, hellish existence, which cannot be crossed without a son. Do not go far off with merciless Yamarāja!
The mother thought, Why am I gossiping with the foolish Lord? Why do I not think of the benefit of my son? O son! By you could cross the hell which is dark and difficult to cross over. But Yamarāja is taking me to his city. What can I do? Do not go with merciless Yamarāja.
My dear son! Please get up. Your playmates are calling you to play. You have slept long enough. Since you must be very hungry, please eat. Suck my breast and dissipate our lamentation.
Thinking that her son is sleeping she speaks. Aśanayā means because of hunger.
My dear son! I am certainly most unfortunate, for I can no longer see your mild smiling, your joyful eyes and lotus face. Have you gone to the world from which you cannot return? Have you been taken by cruel Yamarāja? Because of this, I can no longer hear your pleasing voice.
O my son! I do not see your lotus face with a happy smile, since you do not awaken. Have you gone the next world, from which you cannot return? What is your fault by which Yamarāja has taken you? Because you have been taken, I do not hear your sweet words.
Vilapantyā means along with his lamenting wife.
While the King and Queen lamented, all their male and female followers joined them in crying. All the citizens of the kingdom became unconscious.
When the great sage Aḍgirā understood that the kingdom was without a leader because the King was almost dead and that the citizens had lost consciousness because of the calamity, he went there with Nārada.
Understanding the all the citizens had lost consciousness and were without a leader since Citraketu was almost dead, the sage went there.
Thus ends the commentary on the Fourteenth Chapter of the Sixth Canto of the Bhāgavatam for the pleasure of the devotees, in accordance with the previous ācāryas.
The Fourteenth Chapter describes how Citraketu, by the mercy of devotees, obtained a son whose birth caused happiness and whose death caused distress.