SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM: CANTO 3

(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 crown jewel 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 for 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) To those who are mature in the practice of yoga and have attained to your mercy in controlling the senses and the mind by the breath, there is no defeat from whatever side. (8) He by whose directions all living entities are led like a bull by the rope, he 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 did he, the self-born, o mighty-armed one, who by the prayers is understood as the original possessor of all opulence, reply 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 without any desire the peoples of the spiritual and material worlds without any desire. (13) Once upon a time did they, free from all material contamination, enter Vaikunthha the abode of Vishnu, the Supreme Lord; a realm worshiped in all other worlds. (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 mâdhavî flowers full of nectar blossoming in the midst of the water. (18) The tumult of pigeons, cuckoos, cranes, cakravâkas, 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 [female] 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) In that house of the Lord is sometimes, reflected in the crystal clear walls inlaid with gold, seen the Goddess of Fortune free from all faults assuming a beautiful form with tinkling [bangles at her] feet and playing with a lotus flower; [a vision] for which the other ladies, in order to win her grace, manifest themselves as sweepers of the greatest care. (22) In the ponds with banks of coral they offer, in their gardens surrounded by their maidservants, the Lord tulsî leaves, to that considering their faces, as seen in the clear nectarine water with the tilaka high on their noses, 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, removed from the values of life, are, devoid of all shelter, thrown into the darkness. (24) Those, and us as well, who so desired it, attained to the human form of life and knowledge of the subject matter of the Absolute by dint of the right conduct [dharma]. 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 the association [of Vaikunthha] one refrains from strict austerity and the following in the footsteps of the important wise, one certainly desires there to hear from His associates - above hearing from us - about the good qualities, to which discussing amongst one another the glories, there are, in the ecstasy of the attraction, tears in their eyes and shiverings of the body.'

(26) The sages [led by Sanaka] by dint of their spiritual potency reaching that place attained that moment to an unprecedented supreme happiness seeing the enlightenment of the highly elevated of the best of devotees and the predomination of 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 with an open mind, without asking, through the gold and diamond doors; 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 before the eyes of the inhabitants of Vaikunthha, even though 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? Whoever, at odds with the mentality of the devotees - who in Him are without anxiety and enmity -, is able, like you both are doing, to maintain such a duplicity not worthy 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 aversion. May you, from this place, because of seeing the matters in duality, leave for the material world where one lives with the threefold sin that is the enemy [desire, lust and anger].'

(35) The two understood how terrible it was 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 we pray, of your compassion and our repentance, 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 lotus feet 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 câmaras [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 eclipsed the pride of the Goddess of Beauty for the intelligence of His own meditating devotees; the very beautiful figure worshipable for me as well as for S'iva as 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 lotus feet entered their nostrils, their agitation changed, even though they were in both body and mind attached to the impersonal. (44) After looking up they saw the face of Him resembling 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 paths of yoga He is the object of meditation approved by the great ones; with the display of His human form pleasing the eyes is He, eternally present as the Connecting One, praised as the perfection of the eight achievements that is not attainable for others [the so-called eight perfections or siddhis are: animâ: smallness, mahimâ: greatness, garimâ: weight, laghimâ: lightness, prâpti: free access, prâkâmyam: doing at wish, vas'itva, control over the elements and îs'itvam: lordship over all].

(46) The Kumâras said: 'He who is seated in the heart is nevertheless 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 one, just through the ears, reaches to the description by our father [Brahmâ] of the secret of 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 who is unflinching in the union of devotion, free from bondage in the heart and without interest in a material life. (48) One [under Your influence] doesn't 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 lotus feet and the stories about You of which the pure glories are worth the chanting of the very expert knowers of Your rasas [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 lotus feet 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.

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.

S'rî Maitreya said: My dear Vidura, Diti, the wife of the sage Kas'yapa, could understand that the sons within her womb would be a cause of disturbance to the demigods. As such, she continuously bore the powerful semen of Kas'yapa Muni, which was meant to give trouble to others, for one hundred years. (Vedabase)

Text 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.

By the force of the pregnancy of Diti, the light of the sun and moon was impaired in all the planets, and the demigods of various planets, being disturbed by that force, asked the creator of the universe, Brahmâ, "What is this expansion of darkness in all directions?" (Vedabase)

Text 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.

The fortunate demigods said: O great one, just see this darkness, which you know very well and which is causing us anxieties. Because the influence of time cannot touch you, there is nothing unmanifest before you. (Vedabase)

Text 4

O god of gods, sustainer of the universe, you as the crown jewel of the spiritual and material worlds of all local divinities, know of all intentions of all living beings.

O god of the demigods, sustainer of the universe, head jewel of all the demigods in other planets, you know the intentions of all living entities, in both the spiritual and material worlds. (Vedabase)

Text 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 for you are the original unmanifest source.

O original source of strength and scientific knowledge, all obeisances unto you! You have accepted the differentiated mode of passion from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. With the help of external energy you are born of the unmanifested source. All obeisances unto you. (Vedabase)!

Text 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.

O lord, all these planets exist within your self, and all the living entities are generated from you. Therefore you are the cause of this universe, and anyone who meditates upon you without deviation attains devotional service. (Vedabase)

Text 7

To those who are mature in the practice of yoga and have attained to your mercy in controlling the senses and the mind by the breath, there is no defeat from whatever side.

There is no defeat in this material world for persons who control the mind and senses by controlling the breathing process and who are therefore experienced, mature mystics. This is because by such perfection in yoga they have attained your mercy. (Vedabase)

Text 8

He by whose directions all living entities are led like a bull by the rope, he whose force of control cannot be undone, to that chief, to you, we offer our obeisances.

All the living entities within the universe are conducted by the Vedic directions, as a bull is directed by the rope attached to its nose. No one can violate the rules laid down in the Vedic literatures. To the chief person, who has contributed the Vedas, we offer our respect. (Vedabase)!

Text 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.

The demigods prayed to Brahmâ: Please look upon us mercifully, for we have fallen into a miserable condition; because of the darkness, all our work has been suspended. (Vedabase)

Text 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.

As fuel overloads a fire, so the embryo created by the semen of Kas'yapa in the womb of Diti has caused complete darkness throughout the universe. (Vedabase)

Text 11

Maitreya said: 'Smilingly did he, the self-born, o mighty-armed one, who by the prayers is understood as the original possessor of all opulence, reply the godly satisfying them with sweet words.

S'rî Maitreya said: Thus Lord Brahmâ, who is understood by transcendental vibration, tried to satisfy the demigods, being pleased with their words of prayer. (Vedabase)

Text 12

Brahmâ said: 'Those headed by Sanaka [Sanâtana, Sanandana en Sanat-kumâra] where, before you, born from my mind and traveled without any desire the peoples of the spiritual and material worlds without any desire.

Lord Brahmâ said: My four sons Sanaka, Sanâtana, Sanandana and Sanat-kumâra, who were born from my mind, are your predecessors. Sometimes they travel throughout the material and spiritual skies without any definite desire. (Vedabase)

Text 13

Once upon a time did they, free from all material contamination, enter Vaikunthha the abode of Vishnu, the Supreme Lord; a realm worshiped in all other worlds.

After thus traveling all over the universes, they also entered into the spiritual sky, for they were freed from all material contamination. In the spiritual sky there are spiritual planets known as Vaikunthhas, which are the residence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His pure devotees and are worshiped by the residents of all the material planets. (Vedabase)

Text 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.

In the Vaikunthha planets all the residents are similar in form to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They all engage in devotional service to the Lord without desires for sense gratification. (Vedabase)

Text 15

There the original person is the Supreme Lord 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.

In the Vaikunthha planets is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the original person and who can be understood through the Vedic literature. He is full of the uncontaminated mode of goodness, with no place for passion or ignorance. He contributes religious progress for the devotees. (Vedabase)

Text 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.

In those Vaikunthha planets there are many forests which are very auspicious. In those forests the trees are desire trees, and in all seasons they are filled with flowers and fruits because everything in the Vaikunthha planets is spiritual and personal. (Vedabase)

Text 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 mâdhavî flowers full of nectar blossoming in the midst of the water.

In the Vaikunthha planets the inhabitants fly in their airplanes, accompanied by their wives and consorts, and eternally sing of the character and activities of the Lord, which are always devoid of all inauspicious qualities. While singing the glories of the Lord, they deride even the presence of the blossoming mâdhavî flowers, which are fragrant and laden with honey. (Vedabase)

Text 18:

The tumult of pigeons, cuckoos, cranes, cakravâkas, 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.

When the king of bees hums in a high pitch, singing the glories of the Lord, there is a temporary lull in the noise of the pigeon, the cuckoo, the crane, the cakravâka, the swan, the parrot, the partridge and the peacock. Such transcendental birds stop their own singing simply to hear the glories of the Lord. (Vedabase)

Text 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.

Although flowering plants like the mandâra, kunda, kurabaka, utpala, campaka, arna, punnâga, nâgakes'ara, bakula, lily and pârijâta are full of transcendental fragrance, they are still conscious of the austerities performed by tulasî, for tulasî is given special preference by the Lord, who garlands Himself with tulasî leaves. (Vedabase)

Text 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 [female] 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.

The inhabitants of Vaikunthha travel in their airplanes made of lapis lazuli, emerald and gold. Although crowded by their consorts, who have large hips and beautiful smiling faces, they cannot be stimulated to passion by their mirth and beautiful charms. (Vedabase)

Text 21:

In that house of the Lord is sometimes, reflected in the crystal clear walls inlaid with gold, seen the Goddess of Fortune free from all faults assuming a beautiful form with tinkling [bangles at her] feet and playing with a lotus flower; [a vision] for which the other ladies, in order to win her grace, manifest themselves as sweepers of the greatest care.

The ladies in the Vaikunthha planets are as beautiful as the Goddess of Fortune herself. Such transcendentally beautiful ladies, their hands playing with lotuses and their leg bangles tinkling, are sometimes seen sweeping the marble walls, which are bedecked at intervals with golden borders, in order to receive the grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. (Vedabase)

Text 22:

In the ponds with banks of coral they offer, in their gardens surrounded by their maidservants, the Lord tulsî leaves, to that considering their faces, as seen in the clear nectarine water with the tilaka high on their noses, thus kissed by the Lord as being part of His beauty.

The goddesses of fortune worship the Lord in their own gardens by offering tulasî leaves on the coral-paved banks of transcendental reservoirs of water. While offering worship to the Lord, they can see on the water the reflection of their beautiful faces with raised noses, and it appears that they have become more beautiful because of the Lord's kissing their faces. (Vedabase)

Text 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, removed from the values of life, are, devoid of all shelter, thrown into the darkness.

It is very much regrettable that unfortunate people do not discuss the description of the Vaikunthha planets but engage in topics which are unworthy to hear and which bewilder one's intelligence. Those who give up the topics of Vaikunthha and take to talk of the material world are thrown into the darkest region of ignorance. (Vedabase)

Text 24:

Those, and us as well, who so desired it, attained to the human form of life and knowledge of the subject matter of the Absolute by dint of the right conduct [dharma]. Where one is not in such respect of the Supreme Lord, one is alas performing in the bewilderment of His all-pervading illusory energy.

Lord Brahmâ said: My dear demigods, the human form of life is of such importance that we also desire to have such life, for in the human form one can attain perfect religious truth and knowledge. If one in this human form of life does not understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His abode, it is to be understood that he is very much affected by the influence of external nature. (Vedabase)