22 verses
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: While King Citraketu, overcome by lamentation, lay like a dead body at the side of the dead body of his son, the two great sages Nārada and Aḍgirā instructed him about spiritual consciousness as follows.
O best of kings! What relationship does the dead body for which you lament have with you, and what relationship do you have with him? Who is who, in your previous birth, this birth and future birth?
Who is he in relation to you? He is my son. That is true, But what you in relation to him? I am the father. In previous birth, or now, or in next birth, who is who? Those who had a relationship with sons in a previous birth, at death were separated from those sons and in this present life they are sons of that person or another person. In another life they become wives, enemies or friends of that or another person.
As small particles of sand come together and are separated by the force of the waves, the jīvas come together and are separated by the force of time.
The meaning is explained. Just as particles of sand join and separate by the force of waves, jīvas meet and separate by the force of time.
O King! Just as grains appear or do not appear from seeds, children appear or do not appear from fathers, driven by māyā.
I may or may not be his father or his son in this birth or another birth. But enough with such questions for now! Please tell me for what fault do I experience suffering caused by separation from my object of affection? It is not your offense. The cause is time alone. This is what they explain. But for a long time I did not have a son. In my old age a son was born but died. This is great suffering. Among the grain seeds some produce grains and some do not, but get destroyed. Among fathers some produce sons and some do not. Though some grains produce and others are produced, they have no relationship as father and son. Thus there is no lamentation. Dhānā means roasted grains and a woman. Thus there is another meaning. Just as grain does not arise from roasted grains, sons do not arise in persons like you without the karma for having sons. But O King (iśa)! Driven by māyā, the living entities have sons. To enlighten you, I, Aḍgirā, became your son through the influence of māyā.
O King! Both you and we, as well as everything moving and not moving who are situated here now, were not together before our births and will not be together after our deaths. We are not even together at the present time.
Not only is a dead son lamentable. Wife, ministers and relatives all presently existing are to be lamented. We are all situated here now at one time (tulya-kālāḥ). Before our birth and after our death, we do not exist. Even now we do not exist. Things which do not exist in all three phases of time cannot be called substantial. That is the meaning. Pious persons do not consider insubstantial, impermanent objects. Though the objects are real they are regarded as unreal (because they are temporary).
The Lord, indifferent, like a child playing, creates, maintains and destroys all beings by other beings, who are created by him and are dependent on him.
Observing that your son was born, but by some harsh cause was destroyed, you think that your bearing a son is good and others destroying him is bad. The Lord creates living entities through fathers, maintains them through kings and destroys them through snakes. These beings are create by the Lord and are dependent on the Lord (ātma-sṛṣṭaih). But if the Lord is full in his desires, why does he create these beings? He creates, but is indifferent, like a boy playing.
Just as from one seed another seed is generated, O King, so by the body of the father another body, a son, is produced through the body of the mother. (Why do you lament, since the body is still here?) But the object called the jīva is eternal.
What you said is true. I, a father, created by the Lord, produced a son, who is now dead. Therefore I lament. The two sages respond. By the body of the father, the body of the son is born from the body of a mother, just as a seed is born from another seed. Since the body of the son which you produced is present before you now, why do you lament? This is the intention of the statement. But I am lamenting because the jīva is not longer present. They reply. The jīva is eternal. It is not produced by you. Thus you have no relationship at all with it.
Just as divisions of general and specific are imagined in the absolute, so divisions of body and soul with mutual dependence are imagined because of beginningless ignorance.
Since the soul is the partner with the temporary body, it should also be temporary. The distinction of soul and body which seem to be mutually dependent is produced from beginningless ignorance, just as the division of generic (jāti) and specific (vyakti) in the eternal Brahman is imaginary, since it cannot be discerned that they are mutually dependent.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Thus pacified by the instructions of Nārada and Aḍgirā, King Citraketu, wiping his shriveled face with his hand, the King began to speak.
King Citraketu said: You two, endowed with knowledge, greatest amount the great, have arrived here in the dress of mendicants.
The two sages had dressed as mendicants to hide their identity.
vasiṣṭho bhagavān rāmaḥ kapilo bādarāyaṇiḥ durvāsā yājñavalkyaś ca jātukarṇas tathāruṇiḥ
romaśaś cyavano datta
āsuriḥ sapatañjaliḥ
ṛṣir veda-śirā dhaumyo
muniḥ pañcaśikhas tathā
hiraṇyanābhaḥ kauśalyaḥ
śrutadeva ṛtadhvajaḥ
ete pare ca siddheśāś
caranti jñāna-hetavaḥ
Perfect persons like the following wander the surface of the earth to instruct knowledge: Sanat-kumāra, Nārada, Ṛbhu, Aḍgirā, Devala, Asita, Apāntaratamā, Vyāsadeva, Mārkaṇòeya, Gautama, Vasiṣṭha, Bhagavān Paraśurāma, Kapila, Śukadeva, Durvāsā, Yājñavalkya, Jātukarṇa and Aruṇi, Romaśa, Cyavana, Dattātreya, Āsuri, Patañjali, the great sage Dhaumya who is like the head of the Vedas, the sage Pañcaśikha, Hiraṇyanābha, Kauśalya, Śrutadeva and Ṛtadhvaja.
Please kindle your flame of knowledge in me, a fool, a farm animal, drowning in the darkness of ignorance.
Aḍgirā said: O King! I am the giver of the son to you who desired a son, and this is Nārada, a great sage, son of Lord Brahmā.
anugrahāya bhavataḥ prāptāv āvām iha prabho brahmaṇyo bhagavad-bhakto nāvāsāditum arhasi
Remembering you, who are unsuitably drowning in insurmountable ignorance because of sorrow for your son, and who can recognize great devotees, we have come here to give mercy to you. The devotee of the Lord, who serves brāhmaṇas, should not lament.
You can see and think of the Lords devotees and great sages (mahā-purṣa-gocaram). Because he served the brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas he is called brahmaṇyaḥ bhagavad-bhaktaḥ. Actually however, he was not a devotee at all.
I would have given you spiritual knowledge when I first came to your house, but I gave you a son, knowing that you were absorbed in material objects.
Daòāmi should be adāsyam (I would have given). The second dadāmi should be adadām: I gave a son. Tenses can be interchanged according to the rule tiḍām tiḍo bhavanti.
śabdādayaś ca viṣayāś calā rājya-vibhūtayaḥ mahī rājyaṁ balaṁ koṣo bhṛtyāmātya-suhṛj-janāḥ
sarve 'pi śūraseneme
śoka-moha-bhayārtidāḥ
gandharva-nagara-prakhyāḥ
svapna-māyā-manorathāḥ
Now you are experiencing the pains of a parent. O King! Your wife, house, the wealth of a kingdom, various other opulences, the objects of the senses, and the powers of ruling are all temporary. Land, kingdom, military power, treasury, servants, ministers, friends and relatives are all causes of fear, illusion, lamentation and distress. They are false, like a Gandharva city, like the objects of a dream, a magic show or imagination.
It has been said that wife and other objects, because of being temporary, are not real, and because of appearing and disappearing, are cause of suffering. Besides these things, other things also, which are causes of lamentation, illusion, fear and pain, are false. One perceives that dream objects are false when waking from a dream. Objects which appear through dreams, magic or imagination are false like a Gandharva city.
Imaginary objects seen in the absence of real objects are not seen when waking from a dream. They are products of the mind. Actions for attaining objects of a person meditating on those objects because of impressions of karma are also made of the mind.
Imaginary objects are seen without some real object such as a tiger or snake existing, but when the dream is over, they are not seen. Impermanent objects like wife and false objects, like dreams, all arise from the mind, since they arise from desires in the mind (manobhavāḥ). Actions also are composed of the mind because one meditates (using his mind) on objects because of his impressions of karma (in order to carry out action). Because the action is composed of mind, the object attained is also made of the mind.
The body of the jīva who thinks he is the body is composed of the gross organs, the sense devatās and the senses. It is said that this body gives various types of suffering and pain to the jīva.
It has been explained that attachment to objects is the cause of suffering. Now identification with the body is described. The body of the jīva who thinks he is the body is made of gross elements, sense devatās and the senses.1
Therefore, considering with steady mind the truth about the soul, give up faith that temporary objects are eternal in this world of duality and take shelter of detachment.
With undisturbed mind consider the truth of the soul. Give up faith or affection, (viśrvambham) thinking that temporary objects are eternal (dhruva) in the world of duality, holding the conception of this world, me and my objects. Amara-koṣa says śāśvatas, dhruva, nitya, sadātana and sanātanā mean eternal. Take shelter (āviśa) of a peaceful mind.
Nārada said: Attentively receive from me a mantra embodying the Upaniṣads. Meditating on it, after seven nights you will be able to see Lord Saḍkarṣaṇa.
What is the eternal object? Please tell me what it is. Since Nārada was a great devotee, at the suggestion of Aḍgirā, he then spoke. Accept this Upaniṣad in the form of a mantra.
My dear King, in former days Lord Śiva and other devatās, taking shelter of the lotus feet of Saḍkarṣaṇa, immediately got free from the illusion of duality and achieved unequaled and unsurpassed glory. You will very soon attain that very same position.
Bhramam means bewildering. Dvitayam means duality. Upaiti should be upaiṣyati (you will attain).
Thus ends the commentary on the Fifteenth Chapter of the Sixth Canto of the Bhāgavatam for the pleasure of the devotees, in accordance with the previous ācāryas.
In the Fifteenth Chapter the two sages deliver the King from suffering and Nārada gives him instructions on a mantra.