SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM: CANTO 5- CHAPTER 5

(1) Lord Rishabha said: 'My dear sons: This body, carried by all within this material world, does not deserve the troublesome of the sense gratification of dogs and hogs, but is worth the trouble of the austerities and penances for the sake of the divine from which the heart finds its purification and then an unending spiritual happiness is achieved. (2) Serving the great ones, one says, is the way of liberation and to seek the association of the ones who are attached to women is the way of the dungeon, of darkness; the highly advanced are people who in the spiritual have an equal regard for all, they are situated in peace, do not feel offended, wish all the best and know how to behave. (3) Those who in relating to Me, their Lord, are eager to develop love* , and who to people, who interested in the maintenance of their body are fond of their home, wife, children, wealth or friends, are not so attached, they collect from and take to the world only as far as is needed. (4) Indeed, I think that the madly being engaged with the performance of unwanted deeds for the satisfaction of the senses, which, despite of the misery it gives, made this temporary existence of the body possible, does not befit the soul. (5) As long as there is the defeat resulting from ignorance, as long as one is not inquiring about the reality of the soul, as long as one's mind is absorbed in fruitive activities, is one factually caught in one's karma from which there is the bondage to this material body. (6) When the soul is thus covered by ignorance, acts the mind to the reign of fruitive activities for as long as unto Me, Vâsudeva, there is no love; as long as that is the case is one not delivered from one's being united with a physical frame. (7) Even when one as a man of learning does not see how useless the endeavor to satisfy the senses is, will one very soon get mad being forgetful in one's self-interest and become a fool finding nothing but material miseries in a life at home that is based on sexual intercourse. (8) Of the sexual attraction between man and woman are both their hearts tied to one another and thereafter do they call for a home, privacy, children, wealth and relatives; this is the illusion of the living being known as "I" and "mine'. (9) When the mind, the strong knot in the heart of such a person bound by the results of his deeds in the past, is slackened; turns at that time the conditioned one away from his misconception of "I", and does he, giving it up, liberated go to the transcendental world that is the original cause. A Vishnu to worship

(10-13) By following a spiritually advanced person, a guru; in devotional service unto Me, by not desiring, in being of tolerance with the dual world and as well by inquiring and by realizing the truth of the miseries of the living being everywhere; by practicing austerities and penances and giving up on sensual pleasures; by working for Me, listening to stories about Me as also by always keeping company with the devoted; by singing about My qualities; by being without enmity, by being equal to all, by subduing one's emotions, o sons; by desiring to give up on the identification with one's home and body, by studying the yoga literatures; by living solitary, by fully controlling the breath, the senses and the mind; by developing faith, by always observing celibacy, by being ever vigilant, by restraint of speech; by thinking of Me, seeing Me everywhere; by developing knowledge, wisdom and by being illumined by the practice of yoga; by patience, enthusiasm and endowed with goodness and benevolence, one can give up the false identification with the material world, the cause of material bondage. (14) Becoming completely free from desiring the profit, should one by this practice of yoga as I have told you taking care of the knot of bondage in the heart brought about by ignorance, [further] desist from the means of liberation. (15) The king or guru to his sons or disciples who, desiring My abode, thinks that reaching Me is the goal of life, should in this manner, free from anger, give instruction; when one misses the spiritual knowledge one should not engage for fruitive actions - for what can a man simply piously or impiously working for the profit achieve? In fact he will cause the ones whose vision is clouded, to fall down in the pit [compare B.G. 3: 26]. (16) People who personally have lost sight of the path of auspiciousness and who are obsessed in their desiring the goods, run envious of one another for the sake of temporary happiness into unlimited sufferings and have foolish enough no clue [see also B.G. 7: 25]. (17) What man of learning, who is personally well versed in the spiritual knowledge, would in his mercy engage someone else in looking for that again, after which that person, living in ignorance like a blind man addicted to material cunning, is following the wrong path? (18) Such a person may not be a relative, a father, a mother, a spouse, nor may he be the reality, the spiritual master, the deity of worship or the one who delivers from the repetition of birth and death. (19) It is in this embodiment of Mine, which, inconceivably, is of the eternal, that indeed My heart is set to the dharma, the devotional, and My back is turned away to the adharma, the non-devotional; therefore call the civilized Me truly the Best One, Rishabha. (20) Therefore must you all, born from My heart, try with a pure intelligence to be of service to the one most exalted, that brother Bharata of yours ruling over the people.

(21-22) Of the living and nonliving, are far superior to the plants those beings who move around; of them are those who developed intelligence better and better than them are the human beings of whom the ones of the spirit, the meditators of S'iva, are superior. Better than them are the singers of heaven [the Gandharvas] and superior to them are the perfected ones [the Siddhas], above whom are found the superhuman beings [the Kinnaras]. The godly ones are better than the unenlightened and of the direct sons of Brahmâ, like Daksha, led by Indra, is Lord S'iva the best; above him do we find him who originated from Lord Brahmâ, My devotee, [the brahmin], to whose divinity of being twiceborn, I am the Lord. (23) No other entity compares to the brahmin nor do I see, o learned ones, anyone superior to him. Of him I eat with satisfaction from the food that by the people with faith and love in proper ceremony was offered [to the mouth of Me and those belonging to Me], not so much from the food which thus was offered in [the mouth of] the fire. (24) Of the [vedic] body, fed by the eternal of My spirit, that is free from material contamination, has one in this world the [eight brahminical qualities of the] mode of supreme goodness [sattva], the purification [pavitra], the control over the mind [s'ama] and the senses [dama], the truthfulness [satya], the mercy [anugraha], the penance [tapasya] and the tolerance [titikshâ], wherein the realization of God is found. (25) Oh, of what need could you [My sons] be for anyone else but for those who, without desires and possessions in devotional service unto Me, are able to bestow heaven, liberation and enjoyment from Me and even the unlimited of a strength and opulence higher than the highest? (26) My dear sons, with you having the clear vision that I reside in all of them, should you at all times be of respect for each and everything, knowing that with respecting them you indirectly are of respect for Me. A Vishnu to worship

(27) Engage all mind, words and sight of your active and receptive senses directly in My worship, because otherwise a person will never be able to free himself from the great illusion which is Yama's deathtrap.'

(28) S'rî S'uka said: 'After for the sake of the people personally instructing this way His sons in spite of their being highly cultured, did the great personality, the well-wisher and Supreme Lord of all who was celebrated as the Best One, Rishabha, place Bharata, the eldest of His hundred sons and topmost devotee and follower of the divine order, on the throne for ruling over the planet. Of the great wise, the best of human beings free from desire who no longer work for the profit and who are characterized by devotional service, spiritual knowledge and detachment, is this the instruction of the duties. Although He remained with what He was at home, accepted He, only physically, like a madman with his hair unkempt, the sky for His dress and roamed He, keeping the vedic fire within, far and wide from Brahmâvarta. (29) Even though He, idle, blind, deaf, dumb and like a ghost and a madman, to the people appeared like someone unconcerned about the world [an avadhûta], did He with the vow of silence keep Himself from speaking. (30) Here and there passing through cities, villages, mines, lands, gardens, valley-communities, military encampments, cowsheds, farms, resting places for pilgrims, hills and forests, hermitages and so on, was He surrounded by bad people and flies and was He, like an elephant appearing from the forest, beaten away and threatened, urinated and spit upon, thrown into the dust, with the stones and the stool, farted at and given bad names; but He didn't care about that because He, from His understanding how the body relates to the soul, knew that this dwelling place of a body that is called real, was not a dwelling fit for a gentleman; instead He remained situated in His personal glory in negation of the 'I' and 'mine' and wandered unperturbed alone all over the earth. (31) With His very delicate hands, feet, chest, long arms, shoulders, neck and face etc.; with the lovely nature of His well-proportioned limbs, His natural smile, beautiful lotus petal-like graceful mouth, the marvel of His reddish widespread eyes and the great beauty of His forehead, ears, neckline, nose and expressive lip, of which His face was like a festival to all household women in arousing all around Cupid in the heart, appeared He, with His great abundance of curly brown hair which was matted, dirty and neglected, in the body as someone haunted by a ghost. (32) When He, the Supreme Lord saw that the people in general were explicitly against his yoga practice, took He, to counteract that karma, to the behavior of a python in lying down, to which He, chewing His food and accepting His drinks, passing stool and urinating, smeared His body rolling in the excrement. (33) His smell of stool was of such a good fragrance indeed that the air of the countryside for ten yojanas around received a pleasant aroma. (34) Thus by His activities moving, standing, sitting and lying down with the cows, the crows and the deer, was He, exactly like the cows, crows and deer do, eating, drinking and passing urine. (35) Thus practicing the various ways of mystic yoga enjoyed the Supreme Lord, the Master of Enlightenment, Rishabha, incessantly the Supreme in great bliss. By His fundamental indifference He achieved in the Supreme Self, the complete perfection of the unlimited of the whole of the opulence and symptoms of loving emotions unto the Supreme Personality of Vâsudeva situated in the heart of all living beings; the full of the mystic powers like traveling through the air, moving with lightening speed, the ability to stay unseen, the ability to enter the bodies of others, the power to see without difficulty things from afar and other perfections [siddhis, see also 2.2: 22; 2.9: 17; 3.15: 45; 3.25: 37] thus achieved, o King Parîkchit, He in His heart never directly accepted.

Lord Rishabha said: 'My dear sons: This body, carried by all within this material world, does not deserve the troublesome of the sense gratification of dogs and hogs, but is worth the trouble of the austerities and penances for the sake of the divine from which the heart finds its purification and then an unending spiritual happiness is achieved.

Lord Rishabha said: 'My dear sons: This body carried by all within this material world does not deserve the troublesome of the sense-gratification of dogs and hogs, but is worth the trouble of the austerities and penances for the sake of the divine from which the heart becomes purified and for certain an unending spiritual happiness is found. (Vedabase)

Text 2

Serving the great ones, one says, is the way of liberation and to seek the association of the ones who are attached to women is the way of the dungeon, of darkness; the highly advanced are people who in the spiritual have an equal regard for all, they are situated in peace, do not feel offended, wish all the best and know how to behave.

Serving the great ones, one says, is the way of liberation and to seek the association of the ones who are attached to women is the way of the dungeon, of darkness; the highly advanced are people who in the spiritual have an equal regard for all, they are situated in peace, do not feel offended, wish all the best and know how to behave. (Vedabase)

Text 3

Those who in relating to Me, their Lord, are eager to develop love* , and who to people, who interested in the maintenance of their body are fond of their home, wife, children, wealth or friends, are not so attached, they collect from and take to the world only as far as is needed.

Those who in relating to Me, their Lord, are eager to develop love * , and who to people, who interested in the maintenance of their body are fond of their home, wife, children, wealth or friends, are not so attached, collect from and take to the world only in so far it is needed. (Vedabase)

Text 4

Indeed, I think that the madly being engaged with the performance of unwanted deeds for the satisfaction of the senses, which, despite of the misery it gives, made this temporary existence of the body possible, does not befit the soul.

Indeed, I think that the madly being engaged for the satisfaction of the senses with its performance of unwanted deeds, which made this temporal existence of the body possible - although its brings misery -, does not befit the soul. (Vedabase)

Text 5

As long as there is the defeat resulting from ignorance, as long as one is not inquiring about the reality of the soul, as long as one's mind is absorbed in fruitive activities, is one factually caught in one's karma from which there is the bondage to this material body.

As long as there is the defeat resulting from ignorance, as long as one is not inquiring about the reality of the soul, as long as one's mind is absorbed in fruitive activities, is one factually caught in one's karma from which there is the bondage to this material body. (Vedabase)

Text 6

When the soul is thus covered by ignorance, acts the mind to the reign of fruitive activities for as long as unto Me, Vâsudeva, there is no love; as long as that is the case is one not delivered from one's being united with a physical frame.

When the soul is thus covered by ignorance acts the mind subjugated by fruitive activities as long as unto Me, Vâsudeva, there is no love; for that time is one not delivered from being united with a physical frame. (Vedabase)

Text 7

Even when one as a man of learning does not see how useless the endeavor to satisfy the senses is, will one very soon get mad being forgetful in one's self-interest and become a fool finding nothing but material miseries in a life at home that is based on sexual intercourse.

Even when one is a man of learning - when one does not see how useless the endeavor to satisfy the senses is, will one very soon get mad being forgetful in one's self-interest and become a fool finding nothing but material miseries in a life at home that is based on sexual intercourse. (Vedabase)

Text 8

Of the sexual attraction between man and woman are both their hearts tied to one another and thereafter do they call for a home, privacy, children, wealth and relatives; this is the illusion of the living being known as "I" and "mine'.

Of the sexual attraction between man and woman are both their hearts tied to one another and thereafter do they call for a home, privacy, children, wealth and relatives; this is the illusion of the living being known as "I" and "Mine'. (Vedabase)

Text 9

When the mind, the strong knot in the heart of such a person bound by the results of his deeds in the past, is slackened; turns at that time the conditioned one away from his misconception of "I", and does he, giving it up, liberated go to the transcendental world that is the original cause.

When the mind, the strong knot in the heart of such a person bound by the results of deeds in the past, is slackened; at that time does the conditioned one turn away from his misconception of "I", and does he, giving it up, liberated go to the transcendental world that is the original cause. (Vedabase)

Text 10-13

By following a spiritually advanced person, a guru; in devotional service unto Me, by not desiring, in being of tolerance with the dual world and as well by inquiring and by realizing the truth of the miseries of the living being everywhere; by practicing austerities and penances and giving up on sensual pleasures; by working for Me, listening to stories about Me as also by always keeping company with the devoted; by singing about My qualities; by being without enmity, by being equal to all, by subduing one's emotions, o sons; by desiring to give up on the identification with one's home and body, by studying the yoga literatures; by living solitary, by fully controlling the breath, the senses and the mind; by developing faith, by always observing celibacy, by being ever vigilant, by restraint of speech; by thinking of Me, seeing Me everywhere; by developing knowledge, wisdom and by being illumined by the practice of yoga; by patience, enthusiasm and endowed with goodness and benevolence, one can give up the false identification with the material world, the cause of material bondage.

By following a spiritually advanced person, a guru; in devotional service unto Me, by not desiring, in tolerance for the dual world and as well by inquiring and by realizing the truth of the miseries of the living being everywhere; by practicing austerities and penances and giving up on sensual pleasures; by working for Me, listening to stories about Me as also by always keeping company with the devoted; by singing about My qualities; by being without enmity, by being equal to all, by subduing one's emotions, o sons; by desiring to give up on the identification with one's home and body, by studying the yoga-literatures; by living solitary, by fully controlling the breath, the senses and the mind; by developing faith, by always observing celibacy, by being ever vigilant, by restraint of speech; by thinking of Me, seeing Me everywhere; by developing knowledge, wisdom and by being illumined by the practice of yoga; by patience, enthusiasm and endowed with goodness and benevolence, one can give up the false identification with the material world, the cause of material bondage. (Vedabase)

Text 14

Becoming completely free from desiring the profit, should one by this practice of yoga as I have told you taking care of the knot of bondage in the heart brought about by ignorance, one should [further] desist from the means of liberation.

Becoming completely free from the hankering for the profit, by this practice of yoga as I have told you taking care of the knot of bondage in the heart brought about by ignorance, one should [further] desist from the means of liberation. (Vedabase)

Text 15

The king or guru to his sons or disciples who, desiring My abode, thinks that reaching Me is the goal of life, should in this manner, free from anger, give instruction; when one misses the spiritual knowledge one should not engage for fruitive actions - for what can a man simply piously or impiously working for the profit achieve? In fact he will cause the ones whose vision is clouded, to fall down in the pit [compare B.G. 3: 26].

The king or guru to his sons or disciples who, desiring my abode, thinks that reaching Me is the aim of life, should in this manner, free from anger, give instruction; when one misses the spiritual knowledge one should not engage for fruitive actions - for what can a man simply piously or impiously working for the profit achieve? In fact he will cause the ones whose vision is clouded, to fall down in the pit [compare BG 3-26]. (Vedabase)

Text 16

People who personally have lost sight of the path of auspiciousness and who are obsessed in their desiring the goods, run envious of one another for the sake of temporary happiness into unlimited sufferings and have foolish enough no clue [see also B.G. 7: 25].

People who personally have lost sight of the path of auspiciousness and who are obsessed in their desiring the goods, run envious of one another for the sake of temporary happiness into unlimited sufferings and have being foolish no idea [see also BG 7.25]. (Vedabase)