SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM: CANTO 9

(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'He [Yayâti] this way behaving in lust with the women did disgusted, for his own well-being counteracting with intelligence, narrate the following story to his wife [Devayânî].

(2) 'Please listen o daughter of S'ukra to this tale that exemplifies perfectly the behavior of someone worldly like me, someone over whom the sober ones of the forest [who retired] always lament as being too attached to material enjoyment. (3) There was a goat in the forest searching for some food for his dearmost self. By chance met he with a she-goat that as a consequence of her own actions had fallen into a well. (4) Motivated for lust thought the he-goat of a way to free her and engaged he with the tip of his horns in digging into the earth around the well. (5-6) She getting out of the well had to the taste of the he-goat indeed nice hips and she too fancied him as a sex partner just as the many other onlooking she-goats did. Stout with a nice beard being a first class seed donor and master lover could that he-goat, the number one goat to them all, like someone haunted, ever more lusty as the only one enjoy the great number of them forgetting himself completely [compare 6.5: 6-20]. (7) When the she-goat of the well saw him, her beloved, engaged in delighting with another one could that business of the goat not be tolerated. (8) Him as a lusty cruel hearted pretender, a friend to the occasion only sensually interested, she aggrieved gave up to return to her former caretaker. (9) He then under her spell in pain poorly followed her and tried to pacify her on the road with what goats so say, but he couldn't satisfy her. (10) Angry were thereupon by the brahmin caring about some [other] she-goat [-wife] his dangling testicles cut off but they were for his own good by the yoga expert reattached.

(11) O dearest wife, with his testicles restored could he with the she-goat he had saved from the well for a time of many, many years up to the day of today not get his lusty desires satisfied. (12) I am a poor miser just like that; in the company of you with your beautiful eyebrows am I tied in love and could I as yet, bewildered as I am by your outer appearance, not be of the soul [compare 3.30: 6-12, 4.25: 56, 4.28: 17, 5.4: 18, 7.14 and 8.16: 9]. (13) What of the food grains, barley, gold, animals and women in this world; they do not satisfy the mind of the person who is a victim of lust. (14) Never at any time will by enjoyment the lust of the lusty be pacified, just like feeding fire with butter again and again will increase the fire. (15) When a man does not envy, nor goes at the detriment of any living being will, to that person who then has an equal vision, all directions appear equally happy [see also B.G. 2: 56, 2: 71, & 4: 10]. (16) That which is so difficult to forsake for people who are too attached, that root cause of all tribulation that is not overcome even when one is crippled by old age, such a desire, should by the one who seeks happiness be given up. (17) Nor with one's mother, one's sister or one's daughter should one sit close, because the senses so very strong will even agitate the most learned. (18) For as long as a thousand years enjoyed I without interruption in sense-gratifciation, and still increases the desire for it more and more. (19) For that reason will I give up on these desires by fixing my mind upon the absolute Truth, and will I without duality, without falsely identifying myself, wander with the [freedom of the] animals of nature. (20) As one sees them, as one aspires them should one, knowing them to be temporal, not even think of them nor actually enjoy them nor want the prolongation of material life and the forgetfulness about the real self associated with it; he who is mindful about this is a self-realized soul [see also B.G. 2: 13].'

S'rî S'uka said: 'He [Yayâti] this way behaving in lust with the women did disgusted, for his own well-being counteracting with intelligence, narrate the following story to his wife [Devayânî].

S'ukadeva Gosvâmî said: O Mahârâja Parikshit, Yayâti was very much attached to woman. In due course of time, however, when disgusted with sexual enjoyment and its bad effects, he renounced this way of life and narrated the following story to his beloved wife. (Ved abase)

Text 2

'Please listen o daughter of S'ukra to this tale that exemplifies perfectly the behavior of someone worldly like me, someone over whom the sober ones of the forest [who retired] always lament as being too attached to material enjoyment.

My dearly beloved wife, daughter of S'ukrâcârya, in this world there was someone exactly like me. Please listen as I narrate the history of his life. By hearing about the life of such a householder, those who have retired from householder life always lament. (Ved abase)

Text 3

There was a goat in the forest searching for some food for his dearmost self . By chance met he with a she-goat that as a consequence of her own actions had fallen into a well.

While wandering in the forest, eating to satisfy his senses, a he-goat by chance approached a well, in which he saw a she-goat standing helplessly, having fallen into it by the influence of the results of fruitive activities. (Ved abase)

Text 4

Motivated for lust thought the he-goat of a way to free her and engaged he with the tip of his horns in digging into the earth around the well.

After planning how to get the she-goat out of the well, the lusty he-goat dug up the earth on the well's edge with the point of his horns in such a way that she was able to come out very easily. (Ved abase)

Text 5-6:

She getting out of the well had to the taste of the he-goat indeed nice hips and she too fancied him as a sex partner just as the many other onlooking she-goats did. Stout with a nice beard being a first class seed donor and master lover could that he-goat, the number one goat to them all, like someone haunted, ever more lusty as the only one enjoy the great number of them forgetting himself completely [compare 6.5: 6-20].

When the she-goat, who had very nice hips, got out of the well and saw the very handsome he-goat, she desired to accept him as her husband. When she did so, many other she-goats also desired him as their husband because he had a very beautiful bodily structure and a nice mustache and beard and was expert in discharging semen and in the art of sexual intercourse. Therefore, just as a person haunted by a ghost exhibits madness, the best of the he-goats, attracted by the many she-goats, engaged in erotic activities and naturally forgot his real business of self-realization. (Ved abase)

Text7:

When the she-goat of the well saw him, her beloved, engaged in delighting with another one could that business of the goat not be tolerated.

When the she-goat who had fallen into the well saw her beloved goat engaged in sexual affairs with another she-goat, she could not tolerate the goat's activities. (Ved abase)

Text 8

Him as a lusty cruel hearted pretender, a friend to the occasion only sensually interested, she aggrieved gave up to return to her former caretaker.

Aggrieved by her husband's behavior with another, the she-goat thought that the he-goat was not actually her friend but was hardhearted and was her friend only for the time being. Therefore, because her husband was lusty, she left him and returned to her former maintainer. (Ved abase)

Text 9

He then under her spell in pain poorly followed her and tried to pacify her on the road with what goats so say, but he couldn't satisfy her.

Being very sorry, the he-goat, who was subservient to his wife, followed the she-goat on the road and tried his best to flatter her, but he could not pacify her. (Ved abase)

Text 10

Angry were thereupon by the brahmin caring about some [other] she-goat [-wife] his dangling testicles cut off but they were for his own good by the yoga expert reattached.

The she-goat went to the residence of a brâhmana who was the maintainer of another she-goat, and that brâhmana angrily cut off the he-goat's dangling testicles. But at the he-goat's request, the brâhmana later rejoined them by the power of mystic yoga. (Ved abase)

Text 11

O dearest wife, with his testicles restored could he with the she-goat he had saved from the well for a time of many, many years up to the day of today not get his lusty desires satisfied.

My dear wife, when the he-goat had his testicles restored, he enjoyed the she-goat he had gotten from the well, but although he continued to enjoy for many, many years, even now he has not been fully satisfied. (Ved abase)

Text 12

I am a poor miser just like that; in the company of you with your beautiful eyebrows am I tied in love and could I as yet, bewildered as I am by your outer appearance, not be of the soul [compare 3.30: 6-12, 4.25: 56, 4.28: 17, 5.4: 18, 7.14 and 8.16: 9].

O my dear wife with beautiful eyebrows, I am exactly like that he-goat, for I am so poor in intelligence that I am captivated by your beauty and have forgotten the real task of self-realization. (Ved abase)

Text 13

What of the food grains, barley, gold, animals and women in this world; they do not satisfy the mind of the person who is a victim of lust.

A person who is lusty cannot satisfy his mind even if he has enough of everything in this world, including rice, barley and other food grains, gold, animals and women. Nothing can satisfy him. (Ved abase)

Text 14

Never at any time will by enjoyment the lust of the lusty be pacified, just like feeding fire with butter again and again will increase the fire.

As supplying butter to a fire does not diminish the fire but instead increases it more and more, the endeavor to stop lusty desires by continual enjoyment can never be successful. [In fact, one must voluntarily cease from material desires.] (Ved abase)

Text 15

When a man does not envy, nor goes at the detriment of any living being will, to that person who then has an equal vision, all directions appear equally happy [see also B.G. 2: 56, 2: 71, & 4: 10].

When a man is nonenvious and does not desire ill fortune for anyone, he is equipoised. For such a person, all directions appear happy. (Ved abase)

Text 16

That which is so difficult to forsake for people who are too attached, that root cause of all tribulation that is not overcome even when one is crippled by old age, such a desire, should by the one who seeks happiness be given up.

For those who are too attached to material enjoyment, sense gratification is very difficult to give up. Even when one is an invalid because of old age, one cannot give up such desires for sense gratification. Therefore, one who actually desires happiness must give up such unsatisfied desires, which are the cause of all tribulations. (Ved abase)

Text 17

Nor with one's mother, one's sister or one's daughter should one sit close, because the senses so very strong will even agitate the most learned.

One should not allow oneself to sit on the same seat even with one's own mother, sister or daughter, for the senses are so strong that even though one is very advanced in knowledge, he may be attracted by sex. (Ved abase)

Text 18:

For as long as a thousand years enjoyed I without interruption in sense-gratifciation, and still increases the desire for it more and more.

I have spent a full one thousand years enjoying sense gratification, yet my desire to enjoy such pleasure increases daily. (Ved abase)

Text 19:

For that reason will I give up on these desires by fixing my mind upon the absolute Truth, and will I without duality, without falsely identifying myself, wander with the [freedom of the] animals of nature.

Therefore, I shall now give up all these desires and meditate upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Free from the dualities of mental concoction and free from false prestige, I shall wander in the forest with the animals. (Ved abase)

Text 20:

As one sees them, as one aspires them should one, knowing them to be temporal, not even think of them nor actually enjoy them nor want the prolongation of material life and the forgetfulness about the real self associated with it; he who is mindful about this is a self-realized soul [see also B.G. 2: 13].'

One who knows that material happiness, whether good or bad, in this life or in the next, on this planet or on the heavenly planets, is temporary and useless, and that an intelligent person should not try to enjoy or even think of such things, is the knower of the self. Such a self-realized person knows quite well that material happiness is the very cause of continued material existence and forgetfulness of one's own constitutional position. (Ved abase)

Text 21:

'The son of Nahusha having said this to his wife returned, freed from desires, his youth to Pûru and took back from him his old age [see 9.18: 45].

S'ukadeva Gosvâmî said: After speaking in this way to his wife, Devayânî, King Yayâti, who was now free from all material desires, called his youngest son, Pûru, and returned Pûru's youth in exchange for his own old age. (Ved abase)

Text 22:

He made [of his other sons] Druhyu king over the southeastern direction, Yadu over the southern side, Turvasu over the western part and Anu over the north.

King Yayâti gave the southeast to his son Druhyu, the south to his son Yadu, the west to his son Turvasu, and the north to his son Anu. In this way he divided the kingdom. (Ved abase)

Text 23:

The entire planet its riches and wealth he placed under the control of Pûru as the most admirable of the citizens, crowning him emperor over his elder brothers, and thus having settled matters left he for the forest.

Yayâti enthroned his youngest son, Pûru, as the emperor of the entire world and the proprietor of all its riches, and he placed all the other sons, who were older than Pûru, under Pûru's control. (Ved abase)

Text 24

Uninterrupted for all those years with the six of his ways [senses and mind] having enjoyed gave he it all up in a moment [see also 2.4: 18] like a bird that leaves its nest when its wings are grown.

Having enjoyed sense gratification for many, many years, O King Parikshit, Yayâti was accustomed to it, but he gave it up entirely in a moment, just as a bird flies away from the nest as soon as its wings have grown. (Ved abase)

Text 25

Doing so was he instantly freed from all his attachments and was he, understanding his constitutional position, cleansed of the influence of the three modes [see also 1.2: 17]. Pure to the beyond achieved he the Absolute Truth of Vâsudeva, achieved he his destination as a confided associate of the Supreme Lord.

Because King Yayâti completely surrendered unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva, he was freed from all contamination of the material modes of nature. Because of his self-realization, he was able to fix his mind upon the Transcendence [Parabrahman, Vâsudeva], and thus he ultimately achieved the position of an associate of the Lord. (Ved abase)

Text 26

Hearing the tale understood Devayânî it was an instruction for self-realization presented as a joke in the exchange of love between a husband and a wife.

When Devayânî heard Mahârâja Yayâti's story of the he-goat and she-goat, she understood that this story, which was presented as if a funny joke for entertainment between husband and wife, was intended to awaken her to her constitutional position. (Ved abase)

Text 27-28

She understood that living with friends and relatives who are all subjected to the control of the rigid laws of nature [Time], is like associating with travelers at a water place created by the power of illusion of the Lord [according one's karma]. The daughter of S'ukrâcârya forsaking all attachments in this dreamlike world, fixed her mind fully on Lord Krishna and gave up on as well the gross as the subtle [the linga] of her soul.

Thereafter, Devayânî, the daughter of S'ukrâcârya, understood that the materialistic association of husband, friends and relatives is like the association in a hotel full of tourists. The relationships of society, friendship and love are created by the maya of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, exactly as in a dream. By the grace of Krishna, Devayânî gave up her imaginary position in the material world. Completely fixing her mind upon Krishna, she achieved liberation from the gross and subtle bodies. (Ved abase)

Text 29

My obeisances unto You, my Supreme Lord Vâsudeva, Creator of All residing in All beings and abodes; unto You my respect who in perfect peace art the Greatest of All!'

O Lord Vâsudeva, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, You are the creator of the entire cosmic manifestation. You live as the Supersoul in everyone's heart and are smaller than the smallest, yet You are greater than the greatest and are all-pervading. You appear completely silent, having nothing to do, but this is due to Your all-pervading nature and Your fullness in all opulences. I therefore offer my respectful obeisances unto You. (Ved abase)