rule



 

Canto 6

Mahāmantra 2

 

 

Chapter 15: The Sages Nārada and Angirā Instruct King Citraketu

(1) S'rī S'uka said: 'Informing him with words of wisdom they [the sages Nārada and Angirā] spoke to the king who, like a dead man fallen at the side of the corpse, was so very much aggrieved. (2) 'Oh best of kings, the person you are lamenting about, who is that actually, oh lord, who was he in his previous birth, who is he now and who will he be hereafter?  (3) The way grains of sand wash ashore and drift apart by the force of the waves, the embodied souls are brought together and separated by time [compare B.G. 2: 13]. (4) Just as sometimes grains grow from seeds and sometimes not, the living entities, impelled by the material potency of the Supreme Lord, sometimes produce other living beings and sometimes not. (5) We, you and also the other creatures this moment moving and not moving around here, oh King, were not together before this birth, nor will they be together after they died, despite sharing the same present. (6) The Ruler of All, as indifferent as a [playing] boy, creates, maintains and destroys living beings through other living beings; they who were created by Him do not exist independent of Him [compare B.G. 3: 27]. (7) From the body of the embodied soul, through another body, a new body is manifested, just as indeed from one seed [in the soil] another seed is generated. The [this way temporally] embodied [individual soul] is eternal, just as the constituent elements of matter are Narada explains....[see B.G. 8: 17-22]. (8) To consider this body as existing independent of its indweller [the Lord] is, just like considering the individual person independent of his group, since time immemorial part of the ignorance of the human being; such a separation is, just like the independent existence of souls - of the essence -,  an imaginary one.'

(9) S'rī S'uka said: 'King Citraketu, consoled by what the twice-born souls thus told him, wiped his shriveled face with his hand and spoke. (10) The honorable king said: 'The two of you, who arrived here in the dress of renunciates, are accomplished in spiritual knowledge and are the greatest of the great. (11) You, as brahmins dear to the Lord [as Vaishnavas], dressed up like madmen, wander the surface of the earth as you like in order to enlighten those who, like me, are of a worldly intelligence. (12-15) Sanat-kumāra, Nārada, Ribhu, Angirā, Devala, Asita, Apāntaratamā [an early name of Vyāsadeva], Mārkandeya and Gautama; Vasishthha, Bhagavān Paras'urāma, Kapila, S'ukadeva, Durvāsā, Yājńavalkya and Jātukarna as also Aruni, Romas'a, Cyavana, Dattātreya, Āsuri, Patańjali, the sage Dhaumya head of the Vedas and the wise Pańcas'ikha, Hiranyanābha, Kaus'alya, S'rutadeva and Ritadhvaja; all these and other masters of perfection, are the wandering spiritual educators. (16) Therefore, let me be enlightened by your torchlight of spiritual knowledge, oh masters, for I am but a foolish village dog bereft of vision in the darkness.' [*]

(17) S'rī Angirā said: 'I am [the same] Angirā who granted you the son you wanted, oh King, and this son of Brahmā here is the great sage Nārada in person. (18-19) This because of your grief about your son being merged in a difficult to overcome darkness, does not befit you. You are supposed to remember the Supreme Personality. The two of us have arrived here visibly before your eyes in order to support you, oh King. You, as someone anchored in Brahman and devoted to the Lord, we have to say that you do not deserve it to come down like this. (20) The first time I came to your home, I could have given you the spiritual knowledge of transcendence, but, since you were absorbed in other matters, I could only give you a son. (21-23) And now you undergo the tribulation of someone with children, a nice wife, a home, riches and various assets and luxuries. The objects of the senses of concern to you, like a kingdom, opulence, land and royalty, power and a treasury with servants, ministers and allies, are all temporary. All of this, oh Ruler of S'ūrasena, constitutes a lamentable illusion giving rise to fears and distress, to figments concocted by the mind, to castles in the air in the form of preoccupations. (24) That what you are so concerned about is without any substance, that what you meditate upon are fabrications born from profit-minded actions. All these sorts of karmic engagements originate from the mind. (25) This body of the living entity consists of material elements and senses of action and perception. These are declared to be the cause of the various sufferings and pains of the living entity [see also B.G 15: 7-11]. (26) Therefore be careful with the things of the mind and consider your real position, give up your belief in the duality as being something permanent; take to the peaceful condition.'

(27) S'rī Nārada said: 'Listen good and accept from me this mantra containing the secret of Vedic philosophy [see 8.16: 18-25] that, if you concentrate on it for seven nights, will give you the vision of Lord Sankarshana ['the One with the plough' who joins everything; see 5.25]. (28) All others [all the other men of God], giving up on this illusion of duality and finding shelter at His lotus feet, oh King, in the past immediately attained His unequaled and unsurpassed majesty. You will likewise soon attain that supreme position.'

 

 

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Third revised edition, loaded November 18, 2018.
 

 

 

 

Previous Aadhar edition and Vedabase links:

Text 1

S'rī S'uka said: 'Informing him with words of wisdom they [the sages Nārada and Angirā] spoke to the king who, like a dead man fallen at the side of the corpse, was so very much aggrieved.
S'rī S'uka said: 'In order to instruct him on the factual that had to be stated, spoke they [the sages Nārada and Angirā] to the king, who for dead lying at the side of the corpse was so very much aggrieved. (Vedabase)

 

Text 2

'Oh best of kings, the person you are lamenting about, who is that actually, oh lord, who was he in his previous birth, who is he now and who will he be hereafter?

O best of kings, who would this be to you o lordship, this person you are lamenting about; and who would he have been before he was born to you; who is he at present and who would he be in the future? (Vedabase)

 

Text 3

The way grains of sand wash ashore and drift apart by the force of the waves, the embodied souls are brought together and separated by time [compare B.G. 2: 13].

Just as grains of sand come together at the shore and move apart by the force of the waves of the ocean, are they, the embodied souls, similarly united and separated by time [compare B.G. 2: 13]. (Vedabase)

  

Text 4

Just as sometimes grains grow from seeds and sometimes not, the living entities, impelled by the material potency of the Supreme Lord, sometimes produce other living beings and sometimes not.

Just as from seeds sown sometimes grains grow and sometimes not grow, so do likewise the living entities result in other living beings impelled by the potency of the Supreme Controller. (Vedabase)

 

Text 5

We, you and also the other creatures this moment moving and not moving around here, oh King, were not together before this birth, nor will they be together after they died, despite sharing the same present.

We and you too o King, and also other creatures who move about or are fixed in one place, are, the way they all together exist with birth and death, as it were thus not really there before nor afterwards, even though one is there in the present. (Vedabase)

 

Text 6

The Ruler of All, as indifferent as a [playing] boy, creates, maintains and destroys living beings through other living beings; they who were created by Him do not exist independent of Him [compare B.G. 3: 27].

Through some living entities does the Controller of All create other living entities and maintains He and annihilates He them as well; the living beings do not exist independent of Him, even though He Himself is as indifferent as a boy in His having created them [compare B.G. 3: 27]. (Vedabase)

 

Text 7

From the body of the embodied soul, through another body, a new body is manifested, just as indeed from one seed [in the soil] another seed is generated. The [this way temporally] embodied [individual soul] is eternal, just as the constituent elements of matter are [see B.G. 8: 17-22].

By the body of the one embodied is from one body another body created; just as indeed from one seed another seed is generated, is the one therewith embodied eternal, as are also the constituent elements of matter [see B.G. 8: 17-22]. (Vedabase)

 

Text 8

To consider this body as existing independent of its indweller [the Lord] is, just like considering the individual person independent of his group, since time immemorial part of the ignorance of the human being; such a separation is, just like the independent existence of souls - of the essence -,  an imaginary one.'

This division between the body and its indweller is there from not understanding that one has an existence of being generated from time immemorial, just as having a separate existence to the original substance is something as imaginary as having an individual element independent of its category.' (Vedabase)


Text 9

S'rī S'uka said: 'King Citraketu, consoled by what the twice-born souls thus told him, wiped his shriveled face with his hand and spoke.

S'rī S'uka said: 'King Citraketu, thus supported by what the twice-born had told him, wiped his shriveled face with his hand and spoke intelligently. (Vedabase)
  

Text 10

The honorable king said: 'The two of you, who arrived here in the dress of renunciates, are accomplished in spiritual knowledge and are the greatest of the great.

The honorable king said: 'The two of you who have arrived here disguised in the dress of total forsakers, are, considering the full of your knowledge, the greatest of the greatest. (Vedabase)

 

Text 11

You, as brahmins dear to the Lord [as Vaishnavas], dressed up like madmen, wander the surface of the earth as you like in order to enlighten those who, like me, are of a worldly intelligence.

As desired indeed do you brahmins, who are so dear to the Lord, dressed like madmen wander over the surface of the earth in order to awaken those who, like me, are of a familial intelligence. (Vedabase)

 

Text 12-15

Sanat-kumāra, Nārada, Ribhu, Angirā, Devala, Asita, Apāntaratamā [an early name of Vyāsadeva], Mārkandeya and Gautama; Vasishthha, Bhagavān Paras'urāma, Kapila, S'ukadeva, Durvāsā, Yājńavalkya and Jātukarna as also Aruni, Romas'a, Cyavana, Dattātreya, Āsuri, Patańjali, the sage Dhaumya head of the Vedas and the wise Pańcas'ikha, Hiranyanābha, Kaus'alya, S'rutadeva and Ritadhvaja; all these and other masters of perfection, are the wandering spiritual educators.

Sanat-kumāra, Nārada, Ribhu, Angirā, Devala, Asita, Apāntaratamā [an early name of Vyāsadeva], Mārkandeya and Gautama; Vasishthha, Bhagavān Paras'urāma, Kapila, S'ukadeva, Durvāsā, Yājńavalkya and Jātukarna as well as Aruni, Romas'a, Cyavana, Dattātreya, Āsuri, Patańjali, the sage Dhaumya head of the Vedas and the wise Pańcas'ikha, Hiranyanābha, Kaus'alya, S'rutadeva and Ritadhvaja; all these and other masters of perfection are the wandering spiritual educators. (Vedabase)

 

Text 16

Therefore let me be enlightened by your torchlight of spiritual knowledge, oh masters, for I am but a foolish village dog bereft of vision in the darkness.' [*]

Therefore let from you the torchlight of spiritual knowledge be ignited o masters, as I am but a village dog with a foolish vision that is blind in the midst of darkness [*]. (Vedabase)

 

Text 17

S'rī Angirā said: 'I am [the same] Angirā who granted you the son you wanted, oh King, and this son of Brahmā here is the great sage Nārada in person.

S'rī Angirā said: 'I am the one Angirā who granted you the son that you desired o King and that one son of Brahmā here is the great Nārada in person. (Vedabase)

 

Text 18-19   

This because of your grief about your son being merged in a difficult to overcome darkness, does not befit you. You are supposed to remember the Supreme Personality. The two of us have arrived here visibly before your eyes in order to support you, oh King. You, as someone anchored in Brahman and devoted to the Lord, we have to say that you do not deserve it to come down like this.

This way of being merged in a difficult to overcome darkness out of grieving over your son does not befit you who are supposed to remember the Supreme Personality. Just for your sake have the learned by the two of us arrived here at this place, o King, and to you, as someone anchored in Brahman and devoted to the Lord, we have to say that you don't deserve to come down like this. (Vedabase)

 

Text 20

The first time I came to your home, I could have given you the spiritual knowledge of transcendence, but, since you were absorbed in other matters, I could only give you a son.

The first time I came to your home, I could have given you the spiritual knowledge of transcendence, but, since you were absorbed in something else, I could only grant you a son. (Vedabase)

 

Text 21-23

And now you undergo the tribulation of someone with children, a nice wife, a home, riches and various assets and luxuries. The objects of the senses of concern to you, like a kingdom, opulence, land and royalty, power and a treasury with servants, ministers and allies, are all temporary. All of this, oh Ruler of S'ūrasena, constitutes a lamentable illusion giving rise to fears and distress, to figments concocted by the mind, to castles in the air in the form of preoccupations.

At present you indeed experience the tribulation of someone with children who as such has a nice wife, a home, riches and various assets and luxuries. All the objects of the senses thereto of meaning to you, like a kingdom, opulence, land and royalty, strength and a treasury with servants, ministers and allies, all belong to what is temporary. Indeed is this all o Ruler of S'ūrasena, a lamentable illusion giving rise to fears and distress; these are figments concocted by the mind, preoccupations in the form of castles in the air. (Vedabase)

 

Text 24

That what you are so concerned about is without any substance, that what you meditate upon are fabrications born from profit-minded actions. All these sorts of karmic engagements originate from the mind.

What you are looking after is without any substance, they are fabrications born of fruitive action that you meditate upon; it is from the mind that all sorts of karmic engagements find their existence. (Vedabase)

   

Text 25

This body of the living entity consists of material elements and senses of action and perception. These are declared to be the cause of the various sufferings and pains of the living entity [see also B.G 15: 7-11].

No doubt does this body of the living entity consist of material elements and senses of action and perception. These are declared to be the cause of the various sufferings and pains of the living entity [see also B.G 15: 7-11]. (Vedabase)

 

Text 26

Therefore be careful with the things of the mind and consider your real position, give up your belief in the duality as being something permanent; take to the peaceful condition.'

Therefore be careful with the things of the mind and consider your real position, give up your belief in the duality as a permanent object; take to the peaceful condition.' (Vedabase)

 

Text 27

S'rī Nārada said: 'Listen good and accept from me this mantra containing the secret of Vedic philosophy [see 8.16: 18-25] that, if you concentrate on it for seven nights, will give you the vision of Lord Sankarshana ['the One with the plough' who joins everything; see 5.25].

S'rī Nārada said: 'Listen good and accept this mantra of philosophy from me, which, concentrating on it for seven nights, will give you the vision of the all-pervading Lord Sankarshana ['the one with the plough' see 5.25]. (Vedabase)

 

Text 28

All others [all the other men of God], giving up on this illusion of duality and finding shelter at His lotus feet, oh King, in the past immediately attained His unequaled and unsurpassed majesty. You will likewise soon attain that supreme position.'

From finding shelter at His lotus feet, o King, achieved formerly all the godly, giving up on this illusion of duality, immediately His unequaled and unsurpassed glories, and so will you too after not too long a time obtain the Transcendence. (Vedabase)

 

 *: Before lecturing Vaishnavas pray the following prayer in which they describe the role of the guru:

'om ajńāna-timirāndhasya
jńānāńjana-s'alākayā
cakshur unmīlitam yena
tasmai s'rī-gurave namah'

"I was born in the darkest ignorance, and my spiritual master opened my eyes with the torch of knowledge. I offer my respectful obeisances unto him."  

 

 

 

 

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