Canto
7
Chapter 2: Hiranyakas'ipu, the King of the Demons, on Bereavement
(1) S'rî Nârada said: 'When the brother [Hiranyâksha] thus was killed by the Lord in the form of a boar [see 3.18-19] was Hiranyakas'ipu very afflicted with anger and grief o King. (2) Enraged biting his lips on this, stared he into the sky that smoked with the blazing fury of his eyes and spoke he. (3) With his terrible teeth and fierce look ghastly to behold, raised he, in an assembly of the Dânavas, his trident with a frown on his face saying the following. (4-5) 'O Dânavas and Daityas, Dvimûrdha ['the two headed one'], Tryaksha ['the three-eyed one'] S'ambara and S'atabâhu ['the hundred-armed one']; Hayagrîva ['the horsehead'], Namuci, Pâka, Ilvala and Vipracitti! Pulomâ, S'akuna and all others, listen to the words I have to tell you and may you thereafter all quickly, without delay, act to them. (6) My so very dear brother and well-wisher was with those powerless enemies, the godly who conspiring behind his back were of worship, killed by Hari who was supposed to treat us all equal. (7-8) He has forsaken His own love for us and is now, abominable in mâyâ, behaving like a wild beast in His as a child jumping from this to that form to the like of His worshiping devotees. I will with my trident cut His neck and make Him swim in blood for the sake of indeed [Hiranyâksha,] he who was so fond of drinking it. Thus I'll please my brother and find my own peace. (9) When He, that most deceitful enemy of all is finished will, like with the drying up of the branches and leaves of a tree that is cut by its roots, the same happen to those guys of God whose life belongs to Vishnu. (10) Meanwhile all of you go to that world so neatly kept by the rulers of Brahmâ and see to the destruction of all those repenting and sacrificing bookworms who according to vows donate in charity. (11) Vishnu by the twice born exhaustingly worshiped, is sacrifice personified, the Supreme Person of the full of dharma; He is the one shelter of the religion of them gods and sages, forefathers and all the others. (12) Wherever the twice-born keep their cows, study their Vedas and are busy with their varnâs'rama ado, set all those towns afire or cut down all the trees of the place.'
(13) Proving him their respects took they the instructions of their master on their heads and terrorized they, the experts in destruction, all the people. (14) The cities and villages, pasturing grounds, orchards and gardens, fields, forests, hermitages and mines, farms and mountain places, cowherd camps and the capitals as well, they all burned down. (15) While others with firebrands set the dwellings ablaze, demolished some of them with picks the bridges, surrounding walls and the city gates and took some others axes to destroy the source of livelihood by cutting down the fruit trees. (16) When time and again the people were thus disturbed by the followers of the king of the Daityas, gave the godly their positions up and wandered they, not seen by the demons, all over the earth. (17) Hiranyakas'ipu, very distressed about the loss of his brother performed the obsequies and pacified his nephews. (18-19) S'akuni, S'ambara, Dhrishthi, Bhûtasantâpana, Vrika, Kâlanâbha, Mahânâbha, Haris'mas'ru and Utkaca as also their mother Rushâbhânu and Diti, his own mother, he addressed as a well adapted person in sweet words saying this, o ruler of man.
(20) Hiranyakas'ipu said: 'O mother, mother, o sister in law, o nephews, you do not deserve this lamentation about our hero of enlightenment who in front of the enemy desired the most glorious death. (21) Of all beings in this world living together like travelers amassing about a drinking place, o my sweet mother, are by divine ordinance the ones that were brought together in one place led apart according their own karma. (22) The eternal inexhaustible soul is, free from the tinge of matter, capable of going anywhere; knowing all and transcendent takes that soul up the self of a body that under the influence of the material world gives him various qualities [see B.G. 13: 22]. (23) Just as reflected in water the trees are moving, seems it also in case of an optical illusion to be so that [with heat e.g.] the ground moves. (24) Likewise does the adhering mind, that is confused of the modes of matter, the same way agitate the changeless living entity, o my mother, making the entity despite of being formless believe that it belongs to that bodily form. (25-26) This soul, confounded indeed with his formless existence, falls in love with the body and has beloved ones and enemies, allies and strangers in his karma about the material affair. Faced with births and dying, lamenting different ways and lacking in discrimination as to what the scriptures say, is he full of anxiety and forgetful about the right discrimination. (27) Concerning this one often recites an ancient story about Yamarâja in discussion with the friends of a deceased one. Listen closely. (28) Once there was a king in Us'înara known as Suyajña who was killed by his enemies in a war. His kinsmen sat around him. (29-31) With his jeweled armor scattered here and there and his ornaments and garlands fallen down, lay he there in his blood pierced by the arrows through his heart. With his hair loose and his eyes obscured, had he of anger bitten lips, was his lotus face covered with dust and lay his arms and weapons cut off on the battlefield. When the queens ascertained that the master of Us'înara thus hacked up by providence had been killed, were they in tears and pounded they their breast constantly with their hands, crying over and over again 'O, husband', falling down at his feet. (32) Wailing out aloud for their beloved husband moistened they the lotus feet with the tears red of the kunkum of their breasts and with their ornaments and hair loosened lamented they heart-rending, sobbing pitiably:
(33) 'Alas by the merciless providence o Lord of us, have you, o beloved one, been taken away beyond the range of our sight; the state and the inhabitants of Us'înara you formerly provided their livelihood, but now that you're finished are you the cause of an increase in their lamentation. (34) You were such a grateful husband to us o King, how can we and your retinue live without you; you who art our best friend, tell us where those, who were of service at your lotus feet, have to follow you now you've left us.' (35) The queens thus lamenting had taken the dead husband on their lap, not wishing the corpse to be buried. In the meantime was the sun setting in the west. (36) Hearing the kith and kin of the ruler lamenting so loudly came Yamarâja in person in the form of a boy to them and spoke he.
(37) S'rî Yamarâja said: 'How regretful to see this bewilderment of these elderly people. Don't they see the law of nature ruling every day? To the same nature as to where this man returned will they themselves return, nevertheless they meaninglessly weep! [compare B.G. 2: 28]. (38) We, alas, think that, because we at present are without the protection of our parents, we thus, weak as we are, don't have to worry that we'd be eaten by the predators, supposing that He who has protected us in the womb would also protect us thereafter. (39) O poor women, the Supreme Controller by His own will creates all of this, while He Himself remains the same, and it is Him who no doubt also maintains and destroys; all that moves and does not move, is, so one says, the plaything of the Lord who at all times is able to give protection or to annihilate. (40) Something lost in the street can, protected by destiny, be preserved despite of the fact that one stays home, or just the same, God willing, be lost; despite of being unprotected can one under His protection remain alive whether one is at home or in the forest, but this one struck down did, well protected, not survive. (41) All that are embodied have their own type of birth according their karma and disappear also in due course of time therefrom; but all this does not apply to the soul, even though he, situated within this material world, in various forms is bound to her different modes. (42) This body of the person born of ignorance is just as separate from him as the material of a house is separate from its indweller; the same way is man separate from the body in which he with water, earth and fire took birth, and which, transforming in time, is vanquished again. (43) Just as fire in wood is observed separately, just as the air within the body has its separate position, just as the all pervading ether stays with itself, so too stands the living entity apart from its material encasement with its modes. (44) [The body of] this one [called] Suyajña is there right before you and you, o foolish people, now cry for him, but he who heard and spoke with it in this world, could never be seen by you! (45) Although residing within this body is the great ruler of the body, the life air, not the listener, nor the speaker; the soul stands apart from him, the life air, that is locked up within the body with all its sense organs. (46) The soul in control achieves and gives up again high and low-class bodies that are characterized by the five elements, the senses and the mind, and in doing so differs he [as the so-called linga, the subtle body] by dint of his own spiritual potency indeed from that what he assumes [see also 4.29]. (47) As long as one is of fruitive activity is one covered by the subtle body [consisting of mind, intelligence and false ego]; from that bondage is there the reversal [of the control from the soul to the one by the body] and the misery which follows the being identified with the illusory of matter [B.G. 8: 6]. (48) Just like with the seeing and talking in a daydream is it useless to cling to the factual of the modes of nature: everything that the senses produce in a dream is false. (49) It is for this reason that having the eternal as well as the temporal in this world is something that is not lamented by those who are of knowledge, otherwise, as you'll understand, wouldn't it be possible to deal with those who do like to sob over things [see also B.G. 2: 11]. (50) Some hunter in the forest who was directed to decimate the number of birds, spread a net and luring with food here and there he captured them. (51) He saw there a pair of kulinga birds foraging and as the hunter allured the female bird was it killed by surprise. (52) O queens, the male seeing how the female bird caught in the ropes of the net was seized, was very aggrieved and not knowing what to do began the poor thing out of affection to lament for its mate: (53) 'Alas how cruel providence is, the Almighty of Mercy, to my wife; how awkward, what else can I do but lament over the poor one? (54) As He likes He may take my life too, what, for God, is the use of my half of the body really, what a poor life it is to suffer that pain for a lifetime! (55) How unfortunate are my babies waiting for their mother in their nest. How can I without the mother maintain the young that can't fly as yet?' (56) With the bird with wet eyes thus very sad lamenting at a distance over the loss of his beloved, managed the relentless hunter to sneak upon him and take him down by piercing him with an arrow.
(57) And so, o ignorant ones, is it with you not facing the finality of your existence; lamenting over your husband won't bring him back, not even in a hundred years.'
(58) S'rî Hiranyakas'ipu said: 'The boy thus expounding philosophically astounded the hearts of all the relatives and they thought everything that the eye could meet was just temporary [see also B.G. 2: 18]. (59) Yamarâja in this form having given instruction then disappeared, whereupon the relatives of King Suyajña did what needed to be done for the funeral. (60) So what would there for you be to lament about? Whether it belongs to you or to someone else, whether it concerns yourself or someone else, in this material world is the idea one has of oneself and of others the result of being preoccupied with the body in combination with a lack of knowledge about that what is embodied.'
(61) S'rî Nârada said: 'Diti and [Rushâbhânu,] the wife of the deceased brother, hearing the speech of the king of the Daityas promptly gave up their great bereavement and engaged their hearts in the real philosophy of life.'
Second edition, loaded June 12, 2007.
Source texts:
Hiranyakas'ipu, King of the Demons
S'rî Nârada said: 'When the brother [Hiranyâksha] thus was killed by the Lord in the form of a boar [see 3.18-19] was Hiranyakas'ipu very afflicted with anger and grief o King.S'rî Nârada Muni said: My dear King Yudhishthhira, when Lord Vishnu, in the form of Varâha, the boar, killed Hiranyâksha, Hiranyâksha's brother Hiranyakas'ipu was extremely angry and began to lament. (Vedabase)
Enraged biting his lips on this, stared he into the sky that smoked with the blazing fury of his eyes and spoke he.
Filled with rage and biting his lips, Hiranyakas'ipu gazed at the sky with eyes that blazed in anger, making the whole sky smoky. Thus he began to speak. (Vedabase)
With his terrible teeth and fierce look ghastly to behold, raised he, in an assembly of the Dânavas, his trident with a frown on his face saying the following.
Exhibiting his terrible teeth, fierce glance and frowning eyebrows, terrible to see, he took up his weapon, a trident, and thus began speaking to his associates, the assembled demons. (Vedabase)
'O Dânavas and Daityas, Dvimûrdha ['the two headed one'], Tryaksha ['the three-eyed one'] S'ambara and S'atabâhu ['the hundred-armed one']; Hayagrîva ['the horsehead'], Namuci, Pâka, Ilvala and Vipracitti! Pulomâ, S'akuna and all others, listen to the words I have to tell you and may you thereafter all quickly, without delay, act to them .
O Danavas and Daityas! O Dvimûrdha, Tryaksha, S'ambara and S'atabâhu! O Hayagrîva, Namuci, Pâka and Ilvala! O Vipracitti, Puloman, S'akuna and other demons! All of you, kindly hear me attentively and then act according to my words without delay. (Vedabase)
My so very dear brother and well-wisher was with those powerless enemies, the godly who conspiring behind his back were of worship, killed by Hari who was supposed to treat us all equal.
My insignificant enemies the demigods have combined to kill my very dear and obedient well-wisher, my brother Hiranyâksha. Although the Supreme Lord, Vishnu, is always equal to both of us--namely, the demigods and the demons--this time, being devoutly worshiped by the demigods, He has taken their side and helped them kill Hiranyâksha. (Vedabase)
He has forsaken His own love for us and is now, abominable in mâyâ, behaving like a wild beast in His as a child jumping from this to that form to the like of His worshiping devotees. I will with my trident cut His neck and make Him swim in blood for the sake of indeed [Hiranyâksha,] he who was so fond of drinking it. Thus I'll please my brother and find my own peace.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead has given up His natural tendency of equality toward the demons and demigods. Although He is the Supreme Person, now, influenced by mâyâ, He has assumed the form of a boar to please His devotees, the demigods, just as a restless child leans toward someone. I shall therefore sever Lord Vishnu's head from His trunk by my trident, and with the profuse blood from His body I shall please my brother Hiranyâksha, who was so fond of sucking blood. Thus shall I too be peaceful. (Vedabase)
When He, that most deceitful enemy of all is finished will, like with the drying up of the branches and leaves of a tree that is cut by its roots, the same happen to those guys of God whose life belongs to Vishnu.
When the root of a tree is cut and the tree falls down, its branches and twigs automatically dry up. Similarly, when I have killed this diplomatic Vishnu, the demigods, for whom Lord Vishnu is the life and soul, will lose the source of their life and wither away. (Vedabase)
Meanwhile all of you go to that world so neatly kept by the rulers of Brahmâ and see to the destruction of all those repenting and sacrificing bookworms who according to vows donate in charity.
While I am engaged in the business of killing Lord Vishnu, go down to the planet earth, which is flourishing due to brahminical culture and a kshatriya government. These people engage in austerity, sacrifice, Vedic study, regulative vows, and charity. Destroy all the people thus engaged! (Vedabase)
Vishnu by the twice born exhaustingly worshiped, is sacrifice personified, the Supreme Person of the full of dharma; He is the one shelter of the religion of them gods and sages, forefathers and all the others.
The basic principle of brahminical culture is to satisfy Lord Vishnu, the personification of sacrificial and ritualistic ceremonies. Lord Vishnu is the personified reservoir of all religious principles, and He is the shelter of all the demigods, the great pitas, and the people in general. When the brâhmanas are killed, no one will exist to encourage the kshatriyas to perform yajñas, and thus the demigods, not being appeased by yajña, will automatically die. (Vedabase)
Wherever the twice-born keep their cows, study their Vedas and are busy with their varnâs'rama ado, set all those towns afire or cut down all the trees of the place.'
Immediately go wherever there is good protection for the cows and brâhmanas and wherever the Vedas are studied in terms of the varnâs'rama principles. Set fire to those places and cut from the roots the trees there, which are the source of life. (Vedabase)
Proving him their respects took they the instructions of their master on their heads and terrorized they, the experts in destruction, all the people.
Thus the demons, being fond of disastrous activities, took Hiranyakas'ipu's instructions on their heads with great respect and offered him obeisances. According to his directions, they engaged in envious activities directed against all living beings. (Vedabase)
The cities and villages, pasturing grounds, orchards and gardens, fields, forests, hermitages and mines, farms and mountain places, cowherd camps and the capitals as well, they all burned down.
The demons set fire to the cities, villages, pasturing grounds, cowpens, gardens, agricultural fields and natural forests. They burned the hermitages of the saintly persons, the important mines that produced valuable metals, the residential quarters of the agriculturalists, the mountain villages, and the villages of the cow protectors, the cowherd men. They also burned the government capitals. (Vedabase)
While others with firebrands set the dwellings ablaze, demolished some of them with picks the bridges, surrounding walls and the city gates and took some others axes to destroy the source of livelihood by cutting down the fruit trees.
Some of the demons took digging instruments and broke down the bridges, the protective walls and the gates [gopuras] of the cities. Some took axes and began cutting the important trees that produced mango, jackfruit and other sources of food. Some of the demons took firebrands and set fire to the residential quarters of the citizens. (Vedabase)
When time and again the people were thus disturbed by the followers of the king of the Daityas, gave the godly their positions up and wandered they, not seen by the demons, all over the earth.
Thus disturbed again and again by the unnatural occurrences caused by the followers of Hiranyakas'ipu, all the people had to cease the activities of Vedic culture. Not receiving the results of yajña, the demigods also became disturbed. They left their residential quarters in the heavenly planets and, unobserved by the demons, began wandering on the planet earth to see the disasters. (Vedabase)Text 17
Hiranyakas'ipu, very distressed about the loss of his brother performed the obsequies and pacified his nephews.
After performing the ritualistic observances for the death of his brother, Hiranyakas'ipu, being extremely unhappy, tried to pacify his nephews. (Vedabase)
S'akuni, S'ambara, Dhrishthi, Bhûtasantâpana, Vrika, Kâlanâbha, Mahânâbha, Haris'mas'ru and Utkaca as also their mother Rushâbhânu and Diti, his own mother, he addressed as a well adapted person in sweet words saying this, o ruler of man.
O King, Hiranyakas'ipu was extremely angry, but since he was a great politician, he knew how to act according to the time and situation. With sweet words he began pacifying his nephews, whose names were S'akuni, S'ambara, Dhrishthi, Bhûtasantâpana, Vrika, Kâlanâbha, Mahânâbha, Haris'mas'ru and Utkaca. He also consoled their mother, his sister-in-law, Rushâbhânu, as well as his own mother, Diti. He spoke to them all as follows. (Vedabase)
Hiranyakas'ipuh said: 'O mother, mother, o sister in law, o nephews, you do not deserve this lamentation about our hero of enlightenment who in front of the enemy desired the most glorious death.
Hiranyakas'ipu said: My dear mother, sister-in-law and nephews, you should not lament for the death of the great hero, for a hero's death in front of his enemy is glorious and desirable. (Vedabase)
Of all beings in this world living together like travelers amassing about a drinking place, o my sweet mother, are by divine ordinance the ones that were brought together in one place led apart according their own karma.
My dear mother, in a restaurant or place for drinking cold water, many travelers are brought together, and after drinking water they continue to their respective destinations. Similarly, living entities join together in a family, and later, as a result of their own actions, they are led apart to their destinations. (Vedabase)
The eternal inexhaustible soul is, free from the tinge of matter, capable of going anywhere; knowing all and transcendent takes that soul up the self of a body that under the influence of the material world gives him various qualities [see B.G. 13: 22].
The spirit soul, the living entity, has no death, for he is eternal and inexhaustible. Being free from material contamination, he can go anywhere in the material or spiritual worlds. He is fully aware and completely different from the material body, but because of being misled by misuse of his slight independence, he is obliged to accept subtle and gross bodies created by the material energy and thus be subjected to so-called material happiness and distress. Therefore, no one should lament for the passing of the spirit soul from the body. (Vedabase)
Just as reflected in water the trees are moving, seems it also in case of an optical illusion to be so that [with heat e.g.] the ground moves.
Because of the movements of the water, the trees on the bank of a river, when reflected on the water, seem to move. Similarly, when the eyes move because of some mental derangement, the land appears to move also. (Vedabase)
Likewise does the adhering mind, that is confused of the modes of matter, the same way agitate the changeless living entity, o my mother, making the entity despite of being formless believe that it belongs to that bodily form.
In the same way, O my gentle mother, when the mind is agitated by the movements of the modes of material nature, the living entity, although freed from all the different phases of the subtle and gross bodies, thinks that he has changed from one condition to another. (Vedabase)
This soul, confounded indeed with his formless existence, falls in love with the body and has beloved ones and enemies, allies and strangers in his karma about the material affair. Faced with births and dying, lamenting different ways and lacking in discrimination as to what the scriptures say, is he full of anxiety and forgetful about the right discrimination.
In his bewildered state, the living entity, accepting the body and mind to be the self, considers some people to be his kinsmen and others to be outsiders. Because of this misconception, he suffers. Indeed, the accumulation of such concocted material ideas is the cause of suffering and so-called happiness in the material world. The conditioned soul thus situated must take birth in different species and work in various types of consciousness, thus creating new bodies. This continued material life is called samsâra. Birth, death, lamentation, foolishness and anxiety are due to such material considerations. Thus we sometimes come to a proper understanding and sometimes fall again to a wrong conception of life. (Vedabase)
Concerning this one often recites an ancient story about Yamarâja in discussion with the friends of a deceased one. Listen closely.
In this regard, an example is given from an old history. This involves a discourse between Yamarâja and the friends of a dead person. Please hear it attentively. (Vedabase)
Once there was a king in Us'înara known as Suyajña who was killed by his enemies in a war. His kinsmen sat around him.
In the state known as Us'înara there was a celebrated King named Suyajña. When the King was killed in battle by his enemies, his kinsmen sat down around the dead body and began to lament the death of their friend. (Vedabase)
With his jeweled armor scattered here and there and his ornaments and garlands fallen down, lay he there in his blood pierced by the arrows through his heart. With his hair loose and his eyes obscured, had he of anger bitten lips, was his lotus face covered with dust and lay his arms and weapons cut off on the battlefield. When the queens ascertained that the master of Us'înara thus hacked up by providence had been killed, were they in tears and pounded they their breast constantly with their hands, crying over and over again 'O, husband', falling down at his feet.
His golden, bejeweled armor smashed, his ornaments and garlands fallen from their places, his hair scattered and his eyes lusterless, the slain King lay on the battlefield, his entire body smeared with blood, his heart pierced by the arrows of the enemy. When he died he had wanted to show his prowess, and thus he had bitten his lips, and his teeth remained in that position. His beautiful lotuslike face was now black and covered with dust from the battlefield. His arms, with his sword and other weapons, were cut and broken. When the queens of the King of Us'înara saw their husband lying in that position, they began crying, "O lord, now that you have been killed, we also have been killed." Repeating these words again and again, they fell down, pounding their breasts, at the feet of the dead King. (Vedabase)
Wailing out aloud for their beloved husband moistened they the lotus feet with the tears red of the kunkum of their breasts and with their ornaments and hair loosened lamented they heart-rending, sobbing pitiably:
As the queens loudly cried, their tears glided down their breasts, becoming reddened by kunkuma powder, and fell upon the lotus feet of their husband. Their hair became disarrayed, their ornaments fell, and in a way that evoked sympathy from the hearts of others, the queens began lamenting their husband's death. (Vedabase)
'Alas by the merciless providence o Lord of us, have you, o beloved one, been taken away beyond the range of our sight; the state and the inhabitants of Us'înara you formerly provided their livelihood, but now that you're finished are you the cause of an increase in their lamentation.
O lord, you have now been removed by cruel providence to a state beyond our sight. You had previously sustained the livelihood of the inhabitants of Us'înara, and thus they were happy, but your condition now is the cause of their unhappiness. (Vedabase)
You were such a grateful husband to us o King, how can we and your retinue live without you; you who art our best friend, tell us where those, who were of service at your lotus feet, have to follow you now you've left us.'
O King, O hero, you were a very grateful husband and the most sincere friend of all of us. How shall we exist without you? O hero, wherever you are going, please direct us there so that we may follow in your footsteps and engage again in your service. Let us go along with you! (Vedabase)
The queens thus lamenting had taken the dead husband on their lap, not wishing the corpse to be buried. In the meantime was the sun setting in the west.
The time was appropriate for the body to be burned, but the queens, not allowing it to be taken away, continued lamenting for the dead body, which they kept on their laps. In the meantime, the sun completed its movements for setting in the west. (Vedabase)
Hearing the kith and kin of the ruler lamenting so loudly came Yamarâja in person in the form of a boy to them and spoke he.
While the queens were lamenting for the dead body of the King, their loud cries were heard even from the abode of Yamarâja. Assuming the body of a boy, Yamarâja personally approached the relatives of the dead body and advised them as follows. (Vedabase)
S'rî Yamarâja said: 'How regretful to see this bewilderment of these elderly people. Don't they see the law of nature ruling every day? To the same nature as to where this man returned will they themselves return, nevertheless they meaninglessly weep! [compare B.G. 2: 28]
S'rî Yamarâja said: Alas, how amazing it is! These persons, who are older than me, have full experience that hundreds and thousands of living entities have taken birth and died. Thus they should understand that they also are apt to die, yet still they are bewildered. The conditioned soul comes from an unknown place and returns after death to that same unknown place. There is no exception to this rule, which is conducted by material nature. Knowing this, why do they uselessly lament? (Vedabase)
We, alas, think that, because we at present are without the protection of our parents, we thus, weak as we are, don't have to worry that we'd be eaten by the predators, supposing that He who has protected us in the womb would also protect us thereafter.
It is wonderful that these elderly women do not have a higher sense of life than we do. Indeed, we are most fortunate, for although we are children and have been left to struggle in material life, unprotected by father and mother, and although we are very weak, we have not been vanquished or eaten by ferocious animals. Thus we have a firm belief that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who has given us protection even in the womb of the mother, will protect us everywhere. (Vedabase)
O poor women, the Supreme Controller by His own will creates all of this, while He Himself remains the same, and it is Him who no doubt also maintains and destroys; all that moves and does not move, is, so one says, the plaything of the Lord who at all times is able to give protection or to annihilate.
The boy addressed the women: O weak women! Only by the will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is never diminished, is the entire world created, maintained and again annihilated. This is the verdict of the Vedic knowledge. This material creation, consisting of the moving and nonmoving, is exactly like His plaything. Being the Supreme Lord, He is completely competent to destroy and protect. (Vedabase)
Something lost in the street can, protected by destiny, be preserved despite of the fact that one stays home, or just the same, God willing, be lost; despite of being unprotected can one under His protection remain alive whether one is at home or in the forest, but this one struck down did, well protected, not survive.
Sometimes one loses his money on a public street, where everyone can see it, and yet his money is protected by destiny and not seen by others. Thus the man who lost it gets it back. On the other hand, if the Lord does not give protection, even money maintained very securely at home is lost. If the Supreme Lord gives one protection, even though one has no protector and is in the jungle, one remains alive, whereas a person well protected at home by relatives and others sometimes dies, no one being able to protect him. (Vedabase)
All that are embodied have their own type of birth according their karma and disappear also in due course of time therefrom; but all this does not apply to the soul, even though he, situated within this material world, in various forms is bound to her different modes.
Every conditioned soul receives a different type of body according to his work, and when the engagement is finished the body is finished. Although the spirit soul is situated in subtle and gross material bodies in different forms of life, he is not bound by them, for he is always understood to be completely different from the manifested body. (Vedabase)
This body of the person born of ignorance is just as separate from him as the material of a house is separate from its indweller; the same way is man separate from the body in which he with water, earth and fire took birth, and which, transforming in time, is vanquished again.
Just as a householder, although different from the identity of his house, thinks his house to be identical with him, so the conditioned soul, due to ignorance, accepts the body to be himself, although the body is actually different from the soul. This body is obtained through a combination of portions of earth, water and fire, and when the earth, water and fire are transformed in the course of time, the body is vanquished. The soul has nothing to do with this creation and dissolution of the body. (Vedabase)
Just as fire in wood is observed separately, just as the air within the body has its separate position, just as the all pervading ether stays with itself, so too stands the living entity apart from its material encasement with its modes.
As fire, although situated in wood, is perceived to be different from the wood, as air, although situated within the mouth and nostrils, is perceived to be separate, and as the sky, although all-pervading, never mixes with anything, so the living entity, although now encaged within the material body, of which it is the source, is separate from it. (Vedabase)
[The body of] this one [called] Suyajña is there right before you and you, o foolish people, now cry for him, but he who heard and spoke with it in this world, could never be seen by you!
Yamarâja continued: O lamenters, you are all fools! The person named Suyajña, for whom you lament, is still lying before you and has not gone anywhere. Then what is the cause for your lamentation? Previously he heard you and replied to you, but now, not finding him, you are lamenting. This is contradictory behavior, for you have never actually seen the person within the body who heard you and replied. There is no need for your lamentation, for the body you have always seen is lying here. (Vedabase)
Although residing within this body is the great ruler of the body, the life air, not the listener, nor the speaker; the soul stands apart from him, the life air, that is locked up within the body with all its sense organs.
In the body the most important substance is the life air, but that also is neither the listener nor the speaker. Beyond even the life air, the soul also can do nothing, for the Supersoul is actually the director, in cooperation with the individual soul. The Supersoul conducting the activities of the body is different from the body and living force. (Vedabase)
The soul in control achieves and gives up again high and low-class bodies that are characterized by the five elements, the senses and the mind, and in doing so differs he [as the so-called linga, the subtle body] by dint of his own spiritual potency indeed from that what he assumes [see also 4.29].
The five material elements, the ten senses and the mind all combine to form the various parts of the gross and subtle bodies. The living entity comes in contact with his material bodies, whether high or low, and later gives them up by his personal prowess. This strength can be perceived in a living entity's personal power to possess different types of bodies. (Vedabase)
As long as one is of fruitive activity is one covered by the subtle body [consisting of mind, intelligence and false ego]; from that bondage is there the reversal [of the control from the soul to the one by the body] and the misery which follows the being identified with the illusory of matter [B.G. 8: 6].
As long as the spirit soul is covered by the subtle body, consisting of the mind, intelligence and false ego, he is bound to the results of his fruitive activities. Because of this covering, the spirit soul is connected with the material energy and must accordingly suffer material conditions and reversals, continually, life after life. (Vedabase)
Just like with the seeing and talking in a daydream is it useless to cling to the factual of the modes of nature: everything that the senses produce in a dream is false.
It is fruitless to see and talk of the material modes of nature and their resultant so-called happiness and distress as if they were factual. When the mind wanders during the day and a man begins to think himself extremely important, or when he dreams at night and sees a beautiful woman enjoying with him, these are merely false dreams. Similarly, the happiness and distress caused by the material senses should be understood to be meaningless. (Vedabase)
It is for this reason that having the eternal as well as the temporal in this world is something that is not lamented by those who are of knowledge, otherwise, as you'll understand, wouldn't it be possible to deal with those who do like to sob over things [see also B.G. 2: 11].
Those who have full knowledge of self-realization, who know very well that the spirit soul is eternal whereas the body is perishable, are not overwhelmed by lamentation. But persons who lack knowledge of self-realization certainly lament. Therefore it is difficult to educate a person in illusion. (Vedabase)
Some hunter in the forest who was directed to decimate the number of birds, spread a net and luring with food here and there he captured them.
There was once a hunter who lured birds with food and captured them after spreading a net. He lived as if appointed by death personified as the killer of the birds. (Vedabase)
He saw there a pair of kulinga birds foraging and as the hunter allured the female bird was it killed by surprise.
While wandering in the forest, the hunter saw a pair of kulinga birds. Of the two, the female was captivated by the hunter's lure. (Vedabase)
O queens, the male seeing how the female bird caught in the ropes of the net was seized, was very aggrieved and not knowing what to do began the poor thing out of affection to lament for its mate:
O queens of Suyajña, the male kulinga bird, seeing his wife put into the greatest danger in the grip of Providence, became very unhappy. Because of affection, the poor bird, being unable to release her, began to lament for his wife. (Vedabase)
'Alas how cruel providence is, the Almighty of Mercy, to my wife; how awkward, what else can I do but lament over the poor one?
Alas, how merciless is Providence! My wife, unable to be helped by anyone, is in such an awkward position and lamenting for me. What will Providence gain by taking away this poor bird? What will be the profit? (Vedabase)
As He likes He may take my life too, what, for God, is the use of my half of the body really, what a poor life it is to suffer that pain for a lifetime!
If unkind Providence takes away my wife, who is half my body, why should He not take me also? What is the use of my living with half of my body, bereaved by loss of my wife? What shall I gain in this way? (Vedabase)
How unfortunate are my babies waiting for their mother in their nest. How can I without the mother maintain the young that can't fly as yet?'
The unfortunate baby birds, bereft of their mother, are waiting in the nest for her to feed them. They are still very small and have not yet grown their wings. How shall I be able to maintain them? (Vedabase)
With the bird with wet eyes thus very sad lamenting at a distance over the loss of his beloved, managed the relentless hunter to sneak upon him and take him down by piercing him with an arrow.
Because of the loss of his wife, the kulinga bird lamented with tears in his eyes. Meanwhile, following the dictations of mature time, the hunter, who was very carefully hidden in the distance, released his arrow, which pierced the body of the kulinga bird and killed him. (Vedabase)
And so, o ignorant ones, is it with you not facing the finality of your existence; lamenting over your husband won't bring him back, not even in a hundred years.'
Thus Yamarâja, in the guise of a small boy, told all the queens: You are all so foolish that you lament but do not see your own death. Afflicted by a poor fund of knowledge, you do not know that even if you lament for your dead husband for hundreds of years, you will never get him back alive, and in the meantime your lives will be finished. (Vedabase)
S'rî Hiranyakas'ipu said: 'The boy thus expounding philosophically astounded the hearts of all the relatives and they thought everything that the eye could meet was just temporary [see also B.G. 2: 18].
Hiranyakas'ipu said: While Yamarâja, in the form of a small boy, was instructing all the relatives surrounding the dead body of Suyajña, everyone was struck with wonder by his philosophical words. They could understand that everything material is temporary, not continuing to exist. (Vedabase)
Yamarâja in this form having given instruction then disappeared, whereupon the relatives of King Suyajña did what needed to be done for the funeral.
After instructing all the foolish relatives of Suyajña, Yamarâja, in the form of a boy, disappeared from their vision. Then the relatives of King Suyajña performed the ritualistic funeral ceremonies. (Vedabase)
So what would there for you be to lament about? Whether it belongs to you or to someone else, whether it concerns yourself or someone else, in this material world is the idea one has of oneself and of others the result of being preoccupied with the body in combination with a lack of knowledge about that what is embodied.'
Therefore none of you should be aggrieved for the loss of the body--whether your own or those of others. Only in ignorance does one make bodily distinctions, thinking "Who am I? Who are the others? What is mine? What is for others?" (Vedabase)
S'rî Nârada said: 'Diti and [Rushâbhânu,] the wife of the deceased brother, hearing the speech of the king of the Daityas promptly gave up their great bereavement and engaged their hearts in the real philosophy of life.'
S'rî Nârada Muni continued: Diti, the mother of Hiranyakas'ipu and Hiranyâksha, heard the instructions of Hiranyakas'ipu along with her daughter-in-law, Rushâbhânu, Hiranyâksha's wife. She then forgot her grief over her son's death and thus engaged her mind and attention in understanding the real philosophy of life.' (Vedabase)
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ISBN: o-91277-27-7
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