SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM: CANTO 2 DOWNLOAD-VERSION

This book relates the story of the Lord and His Incarnations since the earliest records of the vedic history. It is verily the Krishna-Bible of the Hindu-universe. The Bhâgavad Gîtâ compares to it like the sermon on the mountain by Lord Jesus to the full Bible. It has 18.000 verses and consists of 12 books also called cantos. These books tell the complete history of the vedic culture with the essence of all its classical stories called purânas and includes the cream of the vedic knowledge compiled from all the literatures as well as the story of the life of Lord Krishna in full (canto 10). It tells about His birth, His youth, all His wonderful proofs of His divine nature and the superhuman feats of defeating all kinds of demons up to the great Mahâbhârat war at Kurukshetra. It is a brilliant story that has been brought to the West by Swami Bhaktivedânta Prabhupâda, a Caitanya Vaishnava, a bhakti (devotional) monk of Lord Vishnu [the name for the transcendental form of Lord Krishna] who undertook the daring task of enlightening the materialist westerners as well as the advanced philosophers and theologians, in order to help them to overcome the perils and loneliness of impersonalism and the philosophy of emptiness.

For the translation the author of this internet-version has used the translation of Swami Prabhupâda. As an âcârya [guru teaching by example] from the age-old indian vaishnava tradition he represents the reformation of the devotion for God the way it was practiced in India since the 16th century. This reformation contends that the false authority of the caste-system and single dry bookwisdom is to be rejected. Lord Krishna-Caitanya, the avatâra [an incarnation of the Lord] who heralded this reform, restored the original purpose of developing devotion for God and endeavored especially for the sacred scripture expounding on the devotion relating to Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This scripture is this bhâgavata purâna from which all the vaishnava-âcâryas derived their wisdom for the purpose of instruction and the shaping of their devotion. The word for word translations as well as the full text and commentaries of this book were studied within and without the Hare Krishna temples of learning in as well India, Europe as in America. The purpose of the translation is first of all to make this glorious text available for a wider audience over the Internet. Since the Bible, the Koran and numerous other Holy texts are readily available, the author meant that this book could not stay behind on the shelf of his own bookcase as a token of material possessiveness. Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost, and certainly this type of knowledge which stresses the yoga of non-possessiveness and devotion as one of its main values could not be left out. The version of Prabhupâda Swami is very extensive covering some 2400 pages of plain fine printed text including his commentaries. And that was only the first ten cantos. The remaining two cantos were posthumously published by his pupils in the full of his spirit. Thus the author was faced with two daring challenges: one was to make a readable running narrative of the book - that had been dissected to the single word - and second to put it into a language that would befit the 21th century with all its modern and postmodern experience and digital progress to the world order without losing anything of its original verses. Thus another verse to verse as-it-is translation came about in which Prabupâda's words were retranslated and set to the understanding and realization I myself acquired. This realization came directly from the disciplic line of succession of the Vaishnava line of âcâryas (teachers) as well as from a realization of the total field of indian philosophy of enlightenment and yoga discipline as was brought to the West by also non-vaishnava guru's and maintained by their pupils. Therefore the author has to express his gratitude to all these great heroes who dared to face the adamantine of western philosophy with all its doubts, concreticism and skepticism. Especially the pupils of Prabhupâda, members of the renounced order (sannyâsîs) who instructed the author in the independence and maturity of the philosophy of the bhakti-yogis of Lord Caitanya need to be mentioned. The author was already initiated in India by a non-vaishnav guru and been given the name of Swami Anand Aadhar ("teacher of the foundation of happiness"). That name the Krishna community converted into Anand Aadhar Prabhu (master of the foundation of happiness) without further ceremonies of vaishnav' initiation (apart from a basic training). Anand Aadhar is a withdrawn devotee, a so-called vânaprashta, who does his devotional service independently in the silence and modesty of his own local adaptations of the philosophy.

The spelling of Sanskrit names has here and there been adapted because of the absence of the suitable Sanskrit signs on the keyboard so that e.g. where normally a flat stripe was placed above the letters a ^accent is placed. It means that one has to choose for two letters where one is written, or that one has to pause pronunciating the word at that place. Also the name Krsna has been spelled this way as Krishna and rsi (=wise) as rishi. Normally the word for word translations of Prabhupâda have been taken as they were given in the translations of Prabhupâda, be it that here and there some words, because of their multiple meanings have lead to slightly different translations. E.g. the word loka means as well planet as place as world. Between square brackets [] sometimes a little comment and extra info is given to accommodate the reader when the original text is drawing from a more experienced approach. The original running text of Prabhupâda is linked up at each verse so that it is possible to retrace what the author has done with the text. This is according the scientific tradition of the Vaishnava-community. For the tenth Canto more verse-to-verse loyal translations of a former pupil of Prabhupâda (S'rî Hayesvar das) and Prabhupâda's godbrothers/pupils have been used [including their word for word translation] next to the translation of Prabhupâda, as for this volume [but not the eleventh canto] the word-for-word translations had been omitted and replaced by a more elaborate description of the text. The twelfth canto was drawn in reference to the work of only the ISKCON pupils of Prabhupâda who completed his work. Further was throughout the concatenation process of this version the so called Shastri-version of the Bhâgavatam (from the Gîtâ Press, Gorakpur) as extant with the common Himdu in India itself used as a reference and second opinion.

For the copyright on this translation is settled for the so-called ShareAlike copyright. This means that one is free to copy and alter the text on the condition of attribution (name of Anand aadhar and link to this website bhagavata.org) and that one is free from commercial use. For all other usage one will have to contact the author.

With love and devotion, Anand Aadhar Prabhu, Enschede, The Netherlands, 02-10-2009.

(24) His individual body is this gross material world in which we experience all that belongs to the past, the present and the future of this universe in existence. (25) This outer shell of the universe which we know as a body consisting of seven coverings [see kos'as], constitutes the notion of the object of the Universal Form of the Purusha [the Original Person] who is the Supreme Lord. (26) The lower worlds are by the ones who studied it recognized as the soles of His feet [called Pâtâla] of which His heels and toes are called Rasâtala, His ankles Mahâtala while the shanks of the gigantic person are called the Talâtala worlds. (27) The two knees of the Universal Form are called Sutala, the thighs Vitala and Atala and the hips are named Mahîtala o King. Outer space is accepted as the depression of His navel. (28) The higher, illumined worlds are His chest, with above it the neck called Mahar. His mouth is called Jana while Tapas is the name of the worlds of the forehead with Satyaloka [the world of Truth] as the uppermost of the [middle] worlds of the Original Personality who has a thousand heads. (29) The gods headed by Indra are His arms, the four directions are His ears and sound is His sense of hearing. The nostrils of the Supreme are the As'vinî-Kumâras [a type of demigods] while fragrance is His sense of smell and His mouth the blazing fire. (30) The sphere of outer space are the pits of His eyes, while the eyeball of the sun makes up His seeing. The eyelids of Vishnu are the day and night, the movements of His eyebrows are the supreme entity [Brahmâ and the other demigods], His palate is the director of water [Varuna] and His tongue is the nectarine juice. (31) They say that the Vedic hymns are the thought process of the Unlimited One, that His jaws make up Yamarâja [the Lord of death], His teeth are His affection and that His smile is the most alluring, unsurpassable material energy [mâyâ]. Material creation is but the casting of His glance. (32) Modesty is His upper lip, His chin stands for the hankering, religion is His breast, and the path of irreligion is His back. Brahmâ is His genitals, His testicles are the Mitrâ-varunas [the friends], His waist the oceans and the stack of His bones are the mountains. (33) His veins are the rivers and the plants and trees are the hairs on the body of the Universal Form, o King. The air is His omnipotent breathing, the passing of the ages, Time, is His movement and the constant operation of the modes of material nature is His activity. (34) Let me tell you that the hairs on the head of the Supreme Controller are the clouds o best of the Kurus, and that the intelligence of the Almighty is the prime cause of the material creation, so one says. His mind, the reservoir of all changes, is known as the moon. (35) The material principle constitutes His consciousness, so one says, while Lord S'iva is the cause within [His ego, His self]. The horse, mule, camel and elephant are His nails, and all other game and quadrupeds are represented in the region of His belt. (36) The singing of the birds is His artistic sense and Manu, the father of man forms the contents of His thought with humanity as His residence. The angelic and celestial beings [the Gandharvas, Vidyâdharas and Caranas] constitute His musical rhythm while the remembrance of terrorizing soldiers represents His prowess. (37) With the intellectuals [brahmins] for the face and the rulers [kshatriyas] for the arms of the Universal Form, the traders [vais'yas] are the thighs and the laborers [s'ûdras, the dark or 'krishna'-class] those who are protected by His feet. Through the various names of the demigods He overtakes with the provision of feasible goods [that appease Him] by means of the performance of sacrifices.

(38) I explained all these locations in the Form of the Supreme Lord to you so that anyone who may concentrate the mind on this virâth-rûpa Universal Form can attain through intelligence. Beyond Him as such there is nothing else to be found in the gross of matter. (39) He who may be known in so many ways as the Supersoul present in all forms, alike a dreamer who sees himself [in different situations], is the one and only Supreme Truth and ocean of bliss. One must direct oneself to Him alone and nothing else if one doesn't want to see oneself degraded by attachments.'

(1) S'rî S'ukadeva said: 'For the intelligent among men, I have given you all the answers in response to the inquiring of your good self about the human being on the threshold of death. (2-7) They who desire the luster of the Absolute worship the master of the Vedas [Brihaspati]; Indra, the king of heaven is there for the ones desiring the strength of the senses [sex] and the Prajâpatis [the strong progenitors] are there for those who desire offspring. The goddess [Durgâ] is there for those who desire the beauty of the material world, the fire god is there for the ones desiring power, for wealth there are the Vasus [a type of demigod] and the incarnations of Rudra [Lord S'iva] are there for those who wish strength and heroism. For a good harvest the mother of the demigods Aditi is worshiped, desiring heaven one worships her sons, for those desiring royal riches there are the Vis'vadeva demigods and to be of commercial success there are the Sâdhya gods. The As'vinîs [two brother demigods] are there for the ones desiring longevity, for a strong body mother earth is worshiped and those who want to maintain their position and be renown respect the goddesses of the earth and the heavens. Aspiring beauty there are the heavenly Gandharvas, those who want a good wife seek the girls of the heavenly society [the Apsaras and Urvas'îs] and anyone who wants to dominate others is bound to the worship of Brahmâ, the head of the Universe. Yajña, the Lord of Sacrifice is worshiped for tangible fame and for a good bank balance Varuna, the treasurer, is sought. But those who desire to learn, worship S'iva himself while f or a good marriage his chaste wife Umâ is honored.

(8) For spiritual progress the supreme truth [Lord Vishnu and His devotees] is worshiped, for offspring and their care one seeks the ancestral [the residents of Pitriloka], pious persons are sought by those who seek protection, while the demigods in general are there for the less common desires. (9) The godly Manus [the fathers of mankind] are there for those desiring a kingdom, but the demons are sought for defeating enemies. The ones desiring sense gratification are bound to the moon [Candra], while those who are free from desire worship the Supreme Personality in the beyond. (10) Whether he is free from desire, is full of it or else desires liberation, someone who has a broader outlook with all his heart should worship in devotional service [bhakti-yoga] the Original Personality of God, the Supreme One. (11) All these types of worshipers for sure develop, in their worship of the highest benediction in this life, through association with His pure devotees unflinching, spontaneous attraction to the Supreme Lord. (12) The knowledge leading to the limit of the complete withdrawal from the whirlpool of the material modes, gives the satisfaction of the soul, which in the transcendence of being detached from these modes, carries the blessings of the path of bhakti yoga. Who, absorbed in the narrations about the Lord would not act upon this attraction?"

(13) S'aunaka said: "What is it that the king, the ruler of Bharata, after hearing all of this, wanted to know more from the son of Vyâsadeva, the poetic wise? (14) O learned Sûta, explain those topics to us who are eager to hear about it, for in an assembly of devotees those talks are welcome that lead to the narrations about the Lord. (15) He, the king, that grandson of the Pândavas, was no doubt a great devotee, a great fighter who playing with dolls as a child enacted the activities of Lord Krishna. (16) And thus it must also have been so - there in the presence of all those devotees - with the son of Vyâsadeva who, in his attachment to the Supreme Lord Vâsudeva who is glorified by so many souls, had all the great qualities for it. (17) Except for the one who spends his time on the topics about the One who is discussed in the supreme scriptural truth, the rising and setting sun is but decreasing the lives of the people. (18) Aren't the trees also living, are the blacksmith's bellows not breathing as well and are the beasts all around us not also eating and procreating? (19) A person whose ear never reached the holy name of the One who delivers us from all evil is just as praiseworthy as a dog, a hog, an ass or a camel. (20) The ears of a man who never heard of Vishnu, the One of giant progress, are like those of snakes and also the tongues of those who never sang aloud the songs of worth are as useless as those of frogs. (21) Even carrying a heavy silk turban, the upper part of the body is just a burden, when that body never bows down to Mukunda [Krishna granting liberation]; just like hands not engaged in the worship of the Lord are alike those of a dead body, even though they are decorated with glittering golden bangles. (22) Like the eyes on the plumes of a peacock the eyes of those men are who do not look upon the forms of Vishnu and like the roots of trees the feet of those human beings are who never went for the holy places of the Lord. (23) Dead while being alive the mortals are who never personally received the dust of the feet of pure devotees and a descendant of Manu [a man] is but a dead breathing body when he has never experienced the wealth of the aroma of tulsî leaves of Lord Vishnu's lotus feet. (24) Certainly that heart is steel-framed which, in spite of being absorbed in chanting the name of the Lord, is not transformed by the emotions of therewith having tears in one's eyes and hairs standing on end. (25) O Sûta Gosvâmî, you express yourself in favorable terms, so please explain what transcendental knowledge the expertly leading S'ukadeva Gosvâmî upon being questioned conveyed to the king who sought the truth."

(1) Sûta said: "Just having realized what S'ukadeva Gosvâmî thus said about the verification of the reality of the soul, the chaste son of Uttarâ [Parîkchit] concentrated upon Lord Krishna. (2) He [thus meditating for a moment innerly] gave up his deep-rooted and constant possessiveness in relation to his body, his wife, his son, his treasury and all his relatives and friends in his undisputed kingdom. (3-4) The great soul in full faith inquired for the purpose of this exactly the way you are asking me, o great sages. Being informed of his death he renounced his fruitive activity according the three principles [of self-realization: renouncing religious acts, economic development and sense gratification] and everything thereto and thus firmly fixed he achieved the attraction for the love of the Supreme Lord Vâsudeva. (5) The king said: 'What you said is perfectly right, o learned one; being without contaminations you have the knowledge of it all and make the darkness of ignorance gradually disappear when you are speaking about the topics concerning the Lord. (6) Furthermore, I would like to learn how the Supreme Lord by His personal energies creates this phenomenal world of the universe that is so inconceivable for even the great masters of meditation. (7) And please tell me also about the way the powerful one maintains His energies and winds them up again, how He as the all-powerful Supreme Personality arrives at His expansions, involves them and being involved Himself enacts them and causes them to act [see also canto 1, chapter 3]. (8) Even the highly learned in spite of their endeavors for His sake, fall short, dear brahmin, in explaining the wonderful, inconceivable acts of the Supreme Lord. (9) Even though He acts through His different incarnations He is the One and Supreme, whether He acts by the modes, is there simultaneously in the material energy or is manifesting in many forms consecutively. (10) Please clear up these questions asked by me, since you, being as good as the Supreme Lord, are of the oral tradition with the vedic literatures as well as of full realization in transcendence.' "

(11) Sûta said: "Upon thus being requested by the king to describe the transcendental attributes of Lord Hrishîkes'a [Krishna as the master of the senses] S'uka, in order to reply properly, proceeded methodically.

(12) S'rî S'uka said: 'My obeisances to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who for the maintenance as well as the winding up of the complete whole of the material creation, by His pastimes assumed the power of the three modes while residing within as the One whose ways are inconceivable. (13) Again my obeisances to Him who frees the truthful from the distressing controversies of those who follow untruth, unto Him who is the form of pure goodness, granting all that is sought by those who are situated in the status of the highest stage of spiritual perfection [the paramahamsas]. (14) Let me offer my obeisances unto the great associate of the Yadu dynasty who, keeping far from mundane wrangling, vanquishes the nondevotees. I bow down to Him who is of the same greatness of enjoying the opulences as in enjoying the sky in His own abode. (15) For Him of whom the glorification, remembrance, audience, prayers, hearing and worship forthwith cleanses away the effects of the sins of everyone, unto Him of whom one speaks as being the all-auspicious one, I bring my due obeisances again and again. (16) The bright ones who by simply dedicating themselves to His lotus feet completely give up all attachments to a present or future existence, realize without difficulty the progress of the heart and the soul towards a spiritual existence; unto that renown all-auspicious One my obeisances again and again. (17) The great sages, the great performers of charity, the ones most distinguished, the great thinkers, the great mantra chanters [reciters/singers] and the strict followers will never attain to tangible results when they are not dedicated to Him. I offer my obeisances again and again to Him about whom to hear is so very auspicious. (18) The people of old Bharata, Europe, southern India, Greece, Pulkas'a [a province], Âbhîra [part of old Sind], S'umbha [another province], Turkey, Mongolia and more who are also addicted to sin, at once get purified when they take to the shelter of the Lord His devotees. Him, the powerful Lord Vishnu I offer my respectful obeisances. (19) He is the soul and Lord of the selfrealized, the personification of the Vedas, the religious literatures and austerity. May the Supreme Lord, He who is held in awe by those who in their transcendence are free from all pretension - the Unborn One [Lord Brahmâ], Lord S'iva and others - always be graceful with me. (20) May He, the Supreme Lord and master of all the devotees, who is the owner of all opulence, the director of all sacrifices, the leader of all living entities, the master of the intelligent, the ruler of all worlds, the supreme head of the planet earth and the destination and first among the [Yadu] kings of the Sâtvatas, the Andhakas and the Vrishnis, be merciful with me. (21) It is said that thinking of His lotus feet and at each moment being absorbed in it, when one follows the authorities, purifies and results in the actual knowledge of the ultimate reality of the soul and also that it makes the scholars describe Him to their liking. O Mukunda, my Supreme Lord, may Your grace always be with me. (22) May He who strengthened the first one of creation [Lord Brahmâ] with remembrance in his heart about Himself and his origin and who [thus] from the beginning inspired the Goddess of Learning who appeared to have been created from Brahmâ's mouth - may He, the Teacher of Teachers, be pleased with me. (23) He who lies down within the material creation and empowers all these bodies made of the material elements while He as the Purusha [the original person] causes all to be subjected to the modes of nature with her sixteen divisions [of consciousness, the elements of earth, water, fire, air, ether, the five organs of action and the senses]; may that Supreme Lord give strength to my statements. (24) My obeisances unto him, the great expansion of Vâsudeva [viz. Vyâsadeva] who is the compiler of the Vedic literatures from whose lotus mouth his adherents drank the nectar of this knowledge. (25) The first created being [Brahmâ], my dear king, imparted, on the request of Nârada, from the inside the vedic knowledge exactly as it was spoken by the Lord in the heart.' "

(1) Nârada said [to the Creator]: 'My obeisances to you o god of the demigods, for you are the one firstborn from whom all living beings generated. Please explain which knowledge specifically leads to the transcendental. (2) What is the form, the basis and the source of this created world? O master, how is it conserved, by what is it controlled and please, what is it factually? (3) All this is known by your good self, since you know all that has become, will become and is becoming. Master, you hold this universe in the grip of your scientific knowledge, like one holds a walnut. (4) What is the source of your wisdom, who protects you and who is above you? In what capacity do you, with the help of the potency of the soul, on your own create the lives of all beings with the elements of matter? (5) Like a spider creating its web, you without any help manifest from your own soul power all these lives by whom you are never controlled. (6) O almighty one, in this world I do not know a single entity having a name and form that is superior, inferior or equal, of a temporary nature or lasting forever, which owes its existence to another source [than you]. (7) We're weary of the fact that you with your perfect discipline underwent severe penances. We thus had the chance to doubt whether your good self would be the ultimate truth [and thus thought of an entity higher than you]. (8) O all-knowing ruler over all, please explain to me all that I have asked you, so that I will be of an understanding in accord with your instructions.'

(9) The Creator replied: 'O gentle one so dear to me, you are so very kind in your perfect inquiries. That inspires me to further see into the heroism of the Supreme Lord. (10) My son, you are not mistaken in what you just said in your describing me, because without knowing the Supreme beyond me, it certainly will turn out to be as you said [viz. that one has to do penance when one takes me for the Supreme]. (11) All of the world that I created was created by the effulgence [the brahmajyoti] of His existence, just as the fire, the sun, the moon, the planets and the stars [radiate after His effulgence]. (12) I bring Him my obeisances, the Supreme Lord Vâsudeva upon whom I meditate, by dint of whose invincible potencies one calls me the teacher [guru] of the world. (13) Unashamed about keeping a prominent position with the bewildering material energy, those who are deluded make a wrong use of words in speaking of 'I' and 'mine'. By that use of words I am poorly understood. (14) The five elements in their interaction with Eternal Time as also the natural disposition of the living being, are certainly part of Vâsudeva o brahmin, but the truth is that each of them separately has no value. (15) Nârâyana [Krishna as the four-armed original Personality of God and primordial Lord of man] is the cause of the knowledge, the demigods are His helping hands, for His sake the worlds exist and all sacrifices are just there to please Him, the Supreme Lord. (16) Concentration of mind is just there to know Nârâyana, austerity is only there to achieve Nârâyana, the culture of transcendence is just there to become aware of Nârâyana and progress on the path of salvation is there only to enter the kingdom of Nârâyana. (17) Inspired by what was created by Him, the Seer, the Soul of All, the Controller of All Intelligence who created me, I also create.

(18) Of the [modes of] goodness, passion and ignorance [see 4.23], that because of the Almighty [Lord of Time] by the external energy were assumed, there are the three qualities of transcendence: maintenance, creation and destruction. (19) The eternally liberated, living entity subjected to conditions of cause and effect is affected [though] by the modes of material energy that [in his life then] manifest with the symptoms of [respectively] knowledge, activities and material inertia. (20) He, the Supreme Lord, the witness of the witness who [by the living entity who is led] by the symptoms of the three modes cannot be recognized in His movements o brahmin, is the controller of everyone as well as of myself. (21) [The Lord of] Eternal Time, the controller of the deluding potency of matter [mâyâ] thus took upon Himself, from His own potency spontaneously appearing in different obtained [guna] forms, the workload [karma] and specific nature [or svabhâva, of the living entity]. (22) Because of the superintendence of the original person the creation of the mahat-tattva [the 'greater reality'] took place, from eternal time there was the transformation of the modes and from these specific natures the different activities found their existence. (23) But because of the transformation of the greater complete passion and goodness strongly dominated [in the beginning]. Thereupon [countering in reaction] the mode of darkness became more prominent that is characterized by matter, material knowledge and a predominance of material activities. (24) That transformed material ego, as said, manifested itself according to the three characteristics of goodness, passion and ignorance, and thus prabhu, the powers of a guiding intelligence, knowledge of creation and material evolution divided. (25) From the form of darkness that underwent transformation, of all the elements [first] the ether evolved with its subtle form and quality of sound which is indicative of the seen as well as the seer. (26-29) By transformation of the ether the air found its existence which is characterized by the quality of touch. Along with it sound also appeared as a characteristic that was remembered from the ether. Thus air acquired a life of diversity as well with energy and force. Air on its turn again transformed under the influence of time and generated from its nature the element of fire in response to what preceded. With its form there was likewise touch and sound [as the hereditary burden or the karma of the previous elements]. Fire transformed [or condensated from oxygen and hydrogen] into water. Thus the element of taste came about which consequently was accompanied by touch, sound and form. But because of the variegatedness of that transformation of water next followed the smell of the juice which assumed form [as the earth element] together with the qualities of touch and sound. (30) From the mode of goodness the [cosmic] mind of the gods generated who act in goodness, counting the ten of them [according to the five senses of perception and action] as the controllers of the directions [the Digdevatâs], the air [Vâyu], the sun [Sûrya], the waters [Varuna], longevity [the As'vinî-Kumâras], fire [Agni], the heavens [Indra], the deity of transcendence [Vishnu in the form of Upendra], the deity of friendship [Mitra] and the guardian of creation [Brahmâ]. (31) From the passion of ego the according tenfold transformation took place that gave the living energy the intelligence of all the senses of action - the mouth, the hands, the feet, the genitals, and the anus - and perception - sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. (32) As long as all these catogories of the elements, the senses, the mind and the modes of nature remained separate, the body [of man and mankind] could not be formed, o best one of knowledge [Nârada]. (33) When all these [elements] by means of the [compelling] force of the Supreme Lord were assembled and found their application, this universe with both its true and illusory, its spiritual and material realities [sat/asat] found its existence.

(34) The universe after countless millenia having been submerged in the [causal] waters, was by the individual soul [the jîva or the Lord] who animates the inanimate awakened to its own time of living. (35) He Himself as the original person [the Purusha] appeared from within the universal egg to divide Himself in thousands of divisions of legs, arms, eyes, mouths and heads. (36) The great philosophers conceive of all the worlds of the universe as the limbs of a body [the virâth rûpa] which has seven systems below the waist and seven systems in the upper portion. (37) The brahmins represent the mouth of the Original Person, the ruling class constitutes His arms, the traders form the thighs of the Supreme Lord and the laborer class His legs. (38) The earthly [lower] worlds [Bhûrlokas] belong to His legs so one says, the ethereal worlds [Bhuvarlokas] belong to His belly, the heavenly worlds from the heart [Svarlokas] are situated in His chest while the highest worlds of the saints and sages [Maharlokas] are of the Great Soul. (39) Above the chest up to the neck one finds the world of the godly [the sons of Brahmâ, Janaloka] and higher up in the neck one finds the world of renunciation [Tapoloka, of the ascetics]. The world of truth [Satyaloka of the selfrealized, the enlightened ones] is found in the head. [These worlds are all temporal] but the spiritual world [Brahmaloka, the world of the one Soul, the Supreme Lord] is eternal. (40-41) With on His waist the first of the lower worlds, further down the second on the hips, the third down to the knees, the fourth on the shanks, the fifth on His ankles, the sixth on His feet and the seventh on the soles of His feet [compare 2-1: 26-39], the body of the Lord [virâth-rûpa or universal form] is filled with all the [fourteen types of] worlds. (42) One imagines the worlds alternatively [simply divided in three] with the earthly, lower worlds situated on the legs, the ethereal, middle worlds in the region of the navel and the heavenly, higher worlds found from the chest upwards.'

Chapter 6: The Hymn of the Original Person Confirmed

(1) The Creator said: 'The mouth [of the universal form] is found in the fire which is the center for the voice of the seven [meters of] hymns [sung in honor] of the essential ingredients [the elements, the layers of His body. Dhâtava, literally: skin, flesh, sinew, marrow, bone, blood and fat]. With respect for the forefathers and the gods offering all kinds of foodstuff and delicacies that by humans beings then are appreciated as the nectar [of the remnants] is the field of action [for the sake of] His tongue. (2) For His nose there is the life air and the air outside in order to bring about the transcendental experience of longevity [the As'vinî demigods] in combinaton with all the medicinal herbs and fragrances one may enjoy. (3) The eyes [of the gigantic body] that see all kinds of forms as also all the illumined that glitters to the eyeball of the sun, accompany the hearing by the ears of all the sounds of veneration that from all directions resound in the ether. (4) His outer appearance [the presence of the Universal Form] constitutes the foundation of all things and favorable opportunities and is also the field where one harvests, while His skin of moving airs forms the touch that leads to all kinds of offerings. (5) His bodily hair is the vegetation of the kingdoms with the help of which in particular the sacrifices are performed. The clouds with their electricity, the stones and the iron ore make thereto for the hair on His head, His facial hair and His nails. (6) His arms, the governing men of God, predominantly provide what is needed and protect the general mass. (7) In the Lord His lotus feet that offer shelter His progress is recognized of the lower middle and heavenly worlds, because they, in providing all that was needed, liberate from fear and contain all the benedictions. (8) Water, semen and the generative capacity of rain refer to the genitals of the Creator, the Lord, or to the spot where the happiness originates that is brought about by the [need of] begetting [offspring or cultural products]. (9) O Nârada, the orifice where the evacuation of the Universal Form takes place is the birthplace of Yama the controlling deity of everything running to its end and of Mitra. It forms the rectum where envy, misfortune, death and hell are remembered. (10) Frustration, immorality and ignorance are found at His backside, while the rivers and streams [as said] make for His veins and the mountains for the stack of His bones. (11) The unseen mover [viz. Time] of the seas and oceans of the living beings that are involved with evolution and extinction is, as seen from His belly [the middle worlds, S'iva], by the intelligent known as the [beating] heart that is located in the subtle body.

(12) Your, mine, my sons' [the Kumâras] and Lord S'iva's heartening of dharma depends on the life and soul of the Supreme Being [who constitutes the save harbor] of truth and wisdom. (13-16) Me, you, Lord S'iva, as also the great sages before you, the godly, the demoniac, the human beings and the excellent [the Nâgas], the birds, the beasts, the reptiles and all the heavenly beings as well as the plants and many other living entities found on land, in water and in the sky, together with the asteroids, stars, comets, planets and moons and lightening and thunder; all that was, that is and will be created, this entire universe together is [pervaded] and covered by the Original Person in a form measuring not more than nine inches [see also 2.2: 8]. (17) The same way the sun spreads its rays outside and illumines and gives strength [inside with prânâ], the expansion of the universal form, the Supreme Person also vitalizes all that lives from the inside as well as from the outside. (18) He is the controller of immortality and fearlessness, transcendental to death and the fruitive action of anyone and therefore, o Nârada, the glories of the Original Personality are considered immeasurable.

(19) You should know that all the living entities exist in [but] one fourth of the secure reservoir of all opulence where there is no death or fear. That reservoir is the Supreme Person who resides in the beyond of the material coverings of the three worlds. (20) The [remaining] three fourths of Him in the beyond is the place where those reside who will never be reborn. Within [the material world] there are even though the three worlds [heaven, purgatory and hell] that are reserved for the status positions of those who, attached to family life, do not strictly follow the vow of celibacy. (21) Thus neatly arranging the destination of the living beings, the Maintainer rules over the devotion of the nescient as well as the ones who factually know, and is thus, as the Original Personality of God, the master of both. (22) He from whom all the planets and the gigantic universal form originated, together with the elements and the senses according to the material qualities of the universe, in the superlative of that Universal Form compares to the sun [that] relating to its distributed rays and heat [remains aloof from it].

(23) When I took birth from the lotus flower sprouting from the navel of this great person, I had next to the personal limbs of the Original Person nothing to perform sacrifices with. (24) For the performance of sacrifices, the sacrificed such as flowers and leaves and burning material [such as straw] is needed together with an altar as also a framework of time [a calendar e.g.] in order to follow the modes of nature. (25) Utensils, grains, fuel [clarified butter], sweetener ['honey'], capital ['gold'] and a fire place ['earth'], water, the scriptures ['Rig, Yajur and Sâma Veda'] and [at least] four [officiating] persons are comprised in this, o pious one. (26) It also involves the invocation of holy names and mantras as well as the settling of contributions and taking of oaths concerning the specific godhead at hand. And for the purpose of each of them there is a particular scripture. (27) In order to be able to progress towards the ultimate goal by means of worship and to be able to compensate [to safeguard, correct or excuse] with the offerings ultimately made for the diverse parts of the [governing] body of the Original Person [the representing demigods], I arranged for the ingredients. (28) Thus well-equipped I worshiped, engaging with all the ingredients, the expansions of the Original Person, the Supreme Personality, the original enjoyer of all sacrifices. (29) According to that example your [god-]brothers, the nine masters of the living creatures [schools; demigods next to Brahmâ; compare 5: 30], with proper ritual were of sacrifice for the manifest and non-manifest personalities. (30) In following those [schools or demigods] also the Manus, the fathers of mankind, in due course of time were of worship to please Him, and so did the other great sages, forefathers, scholars, opponents [Daityas] and mankind at large.

(31) For the sake of Nârâyana, the Personality of Godhead, all these greatly powerful manifestations, who had accepted the material illusion of form in the spheres of the universe, found their existence in the reality of creation, maintenance and destruction, even though He Himself is self-sufficient above it. (32) According to His will, I create while under His subordination S'iva destroys. He Himself acts thereto as the Original Person and controller of the three energies who maintains the entire Universe.

(33) Thus I explained upon your request my dear, all this to you. Whatever you think of, whether it is a cause or an effect, there is nothing to be found that has its existence beyond the Supreme Lord. (34) O Nârada, this state of mind always proved itself to be correct because my heart with great zeal managed to hold on to the Lord. My mind never wandered off in untruth with it nor was I by my senses degraded in the temporal. (35) I am the personification of Vedic wisdom, full of austerity, the worshipable master of all the forefathers and a self-realized expert in the practice of yoga, yet I couldn't fathom Him from whom I myself generated. (36) I am [therefore] devoted to the all-auspicious feet of the Lord of the surrendered souls, which stop the repetition of births and deaths and grant the vision of happiness. One surely cannot estimate the potency of His personal energies - just like the sky that can't see its own limit. Therefore, how can others know? (37) Since neither I, nor you o sons, nor the Destroyer have an idea of the true nature of His movements, one cannot expect that the other God-conscious would do any better. With one's intelligence bewildered by the illusory energy of what is created one is only able to see as far as one's ability reaches.

(38) We offer Him, the Supreme Lord, our respectful obeisances, whose incarnation and activities we glorify, even though persons like us do not fully know Him. (39) He, the very Primordial Original Personality in each millennium creates within Himself, by Himself, His own transcendental presence, maintaining Himself [for some time] and absorbing [Himself again]. (40-41) Without a material tinge, pure and perfect in knowledge and all-pervading in His fullness He is situated in truth as the absolute without a beginning and an end, in freedom from the modes of nature and in a position in which He is eternally unrivaled. O wise one, the great thinkers can only understand this with a pacified self and their senses under cover, otherwise it will certainly be beyond their scope and be distorted by untenable arguments. (42) The first avatâra of the Lord is the Original Person: [Mahâvishnu or Kâranodakas'âyi Vishnu. He forms the basis of] spacetime [kâla svabhavah, the original nature of time], cause, effect, the elements, the modes, as also the ego, the senses and the mind. These together constitute the diversity of the complete whole of all that moves and doesn't move of the universal being [also called Garbhodakas'âyî Vishnu].

(43-45) I myself [Brahmâ], the Destroyer and the Maintainer; all the fathers of the living beings like Daksha [and Manu], you yourself and the other sons [the Kumâras]; the leaders of the higher worlds, the space travelers, the earth and the lower worlds; the leaders of the denizens of heaven [of the Ghandarva, Vidyâdhara and Cârana worlds] as well as the leaders of the demons [the Yakshas, Râkshasas and Uragas] and the underworld; the first among the sages, the forefathers, the atheists, the specially gifted, the uncivilized and the dead; the evil spirits, the Jinn and the Kûshmândas [other evil spirits], including all the great aquatics, beasts and birds - in other words each and everyone in the world who is of power to a special degree or of a specific mental or perceptual dexterity or exceptional strength, forgiveness, beauty, modesty, opulence, intelligence or breeding, exists as if he himself would offer the [ultimate] form of [representing] His transcendental reality, but in fact they are only a part of it. (46) O Nârada, now relish the devotion for the pastimes of all those incarnations of the Original Supreme Personality. That devotion will evaporate the foul matter that accumulated in your ears. I will relate these stories, that are all a pleasure to hear, one after the other the way they are present in my heart.'

(1) The Creator said: 'When the Lord attempted to lift the earth out of the great ocean [- the Garbodhaka], assumed He as the Unlimited One within the universe for His pastimes the form of the sum total of all sacrifices, in being faced with the first demon [called Hiranyâksha, the demon of gold] who by Him, as if He was a thunderbolt piercing a pack of clouds, was defeated with His tusk [Him considered as the boar-avatâra Varâha].

(2) From Âkûti ['good intention'], the wife of the Prajâpati, Suyajña ['appropriate sacrifice'] was born who with his wife Dakshinâ ['the reward'] gave birth to the godly headed by Suyama ['proper regulation'] by which He greatly diminished the distress in the three worlds and because of which the father of mankind called Svâyambhuva Manu was named Hari [the Lord].

(3) Next He took birth in the house of the twice born Kardama ['the shadow of the Creator'], from the womb of Devahûti ['the invocation of the Gods'] accompanied by nine women. In teaching His mother as Lord Kapila ['the analytic one'] in spiritual realization, she in that life was freed from the soul-covering material modes and achieved liberation.

(4) The sage Atri praying for offspring, I, satisfied by his surrender, promised the Supreme Lord to be born as Datta [Dattâtreya, the given one] of whom the dust of His lotusfeet purified the body of mysticism bringing wealth to the spiritual and material worlds of Yadu [the founder of the dynasty], Haihaya [a descendant] and others.

(5) Because of my first having lived austere in penance for the sake of the creation of the different worlds, the Lord appeared as the four Sanas [the four celibate sons called Sanat-kumâra, Sanaka, Sanandana and Sanâtana]. In the epoch before, the spiritual truth was devastated in the inundation of the world, but it became completely manifest with these sages who had a clear vision of the soul.

(6) From Murti [the idol], the wife of Dharma ['righteousness'] and the daughter of Daksha[the able one, a prajâpati], He took the form of Nara-Nârâyana ['man, the course of man']. Thus [in that descent] by seeing the strength of [the beauties originating of] His personal penances the Supreme Lord never would see His vows broken by the celestial beauties that came to Him with Cupid [the god of love]. (7) Great stalwarts [like Lord S'iva] can overcome their being overwhelmed by lust by means of their wrathful vision, but they cannot overcome their own intolerance. To that however, with having Him within, the lust is afraid to enter. How can it factually reclaim the attention with Him in mind?

(8) Incited by the sharp words uttered by a co-wife, even in the presence of the king, [He as] a boy took to severe penances in a great forest and therewith set the goal of the attainment of Dhruva [the immovable] with being prayed for to the satisfaction of the denizens of heaven as do the great sages ever since ascending and descending from that position [see also fourth Canto].

(9) When the twice born, cursed King Vena ['the anxious'], strayed from the path of religion, it burnt him like a thunderbolt and all his great deeds and opulence went to hell. Being prayed for He delivered him coming to earth as his son [named Prithu, 'the great one'] as well achieving that the earth could be exploited to yield all kinds of crops.

(10) As the son of King Nâbhi ['the pivot'] He was born as Rishabha ['the best one'] from Sudevî to go for the certainty of being equipoised in the matter of yoga which is accepted by the learned sages as the highest stage of perfection, in which one, being perfectly liberated from material influences, accepts the selfreposed in suspension of the activities of the senses.

(11) In a sacrifice of mine the Supreme Lord appeared with a horse-like head [called Hayagrîva] and thus He is seen as the Personality of Sacrifices with a golden hue from whose breathing through His nostrils the sounds of the vedic hymns, personal sacrifices and all that concerns the [Super-]soul of the godly can be heard.

(12) He who became the Manu [called Satyavrata, 'the truth-abiding'] at the end of the epoch saw that Lord Matsya ['the fish'] is the shelter of all living beings up to the earthly ones because of which out of a great fear for the waters, having taken to my mouth, therefrom certainly all the Vedas could be enjoyed.

(13) When in the ocean of milk [knowledge] the leaders of the immortals and their opponents where churning the mountain [called Mandara, big] for gaining the nectar, supported the primeval Lord half asleep as a tortoise [called Kurma] it scratching and itching His back.

(14) As Nrisimha ['the lion'] He appeared as the one that takes away the fear of the god-conscious in rolling His eyebrows and showing the terrifying teeth of His mouth, directly on His lap with His nails piercing the fallen king of the demons [Hiranyakas'ipu] who had challenged Him with a club in his hands.

(15) The leader of the elephants who within the river at his leg was taken by an exceptionally strong crocodile, holding a lotus in great distress addressed [Him] like this: 'You are the original personality and Lord of the Universe and as famous as a place of pilgrimage all good ensues just hearing of Your name so worthy to chant.' (16) The Lord who heard him in his need, as the Unlimited Powerful One seated on the king of the birds [Garuda], cut the beak of the crocodile in two with His cakra-weapon and delivered him in His causeless mercy by pulling him out by his trunk.

(17) Although by His transcendental qualities the greatest He [as the youngest] of all the sons of Aditi ['the infinite one'] surpassed in this universe all the worlds [as Vâmana] and was therefore called the Lord of Sacrifice: pretending to need only three steps of land He took thus begging all the lands [of Bali Mahârâja] without ever offending the authorities He is never bereft of. (18) O Nârada, by virtue of the strength of the water that washed from the feet of the Lord, he [Bali Mahârâja], who kept it on his head and who had the supremacy over the kingdom of the godly, never tried for anything else but to keep - even at the cost of his own body - to his promise, as he was dedicated to the Lord within his own mind.

(19) Unto you, Nârada, the Supreme Lord satisfied by the developing of your goodness through your transcendental love, nicely in all detail described the light of the knowledge of yoga and the science of relating to the soul, which all surrendered to Vâsudeva so perfectly know to appreciate.

(20) By His cakra and undeterred in all circumstances ['ten sides'] He in the different incarnations as the Manu-successor in the Manu-dynasty ruled over de miscreants and kings of that type, subduing by the marks of His personal glories from the world of truth the three systems [see loka] thus establishing His fame.

(21) With the name of Dhanvantari ['moving in a curve'] the Supreme Lord as fame personified descended in the universe directing the knowledge for obtaining a long life by bringing the nectar from the [Kurma-churning] sacrifice that swiftly cures the diseases of all living entities.

(22) With the purpose of diminishing the increasing dominance of the ruling class the great soul [as Lord Paras'urâma] as the Ultimate Spiritual Truth abated all those thorns of the world who strayed from the path and opted for a hellish life, awfully powerful operating thrice seven times by His transcendental hatchet.

(23) By dint of His causeless all-embracing mercy, the Lord of All Time [as Râma] descended in the family of Ikshvâku [the dynasty of the solar order] where on the command of his father [Das'aratha] He took to the forest with His wife [Sîtâ] and brother [Lakshmana] on the opposition of the ten-headed one [the demoniac ruler Râvana] who had caused great distress. (24) Unto Him the fearful Indian ocean, which saw its aquatics [sharks, seasnakes and such] burnt, quickly gave way when from a distance He, angered as He was about His aggrieved intimate friend [the kidnapped Sîtâ], meditated the city of the enemy [on the island of Lankâ] with red-hot eyes like Hara did [who wanted to burn the heavenly kingdom by his fiery looks] in desiring to burn it down. (25) When the trunk of the elephant carrying Indra with light in all directions broke on the chest of Râvana, he was proudly overtaken by laughter strolling amidst the armies, but within no time the kidnapper was killed by the tingling sound of the bow [of Râma].

(26) When the entire world is in misery from the burden of the soldiers of disbelievers, is He, with His plenary expansion, His beauty and His black hair, whose glorious activities are so difficult to see by the people in general, bound to appear for the sake of the decimation of those atheists. (27) Who possibly else than He could as a child kill a living being that assumed the form of a giant demoness [Pûtanâ] or only being three months old with His leg turn over a cart and also uproot two high rising Arjuna trees? (28) At Vrindâvana [where Krishna grew up] by His merciful glance He brought back to life the cowherd boys and their animals who drank of the poisoned water [of the Yamunâ]. In order to purify [the water] from the excess of the highly potent poison He in the river took pleasure in punishing the snake severely that was lurking there with its venomous tongue. (29) He by His superhuman activity saved all the inhabitants of Vraja [the cowherd-village], that unworried were sleeping that night, from being burnt by the fire that was ablaze in the dry forest. Thus to them [later on, also those cowherdboys] who were sure to see the last of their days, He together with Balarâma proved His unfathomable prowess [delivering them the same way from another fire in the forest] by simply having them closing their eyes. (30) Whatever rope His [foster] mother [Yas'odâ] tried to take to bind her son, time and again proved to be too short and that which she saw when He opened His mouth to the doubting cowherd woman were all the worlds, which convinced her thus another way. (31) Nanda Mahârâja His [fostering] father whom He also saved from the fear for Varuna [the demigod of the waters] and the cowherd men who were held captive in the caves by the son of Maya [a demon] and also the ones [in Vrindâvana] working during the day and sleeping during the night of their hard labor, He surely awarded the highest world of the spiritual sky. (32) When the cowherd men were being stopped in their sacrifices by the king of heaven who caused the downpour of heavy rains, He, desiring to protect the animals in His causeless mercy, being only seven years of age, held up Govardhana Hill for seven days in a row, just like an umbrella playfully with one hand only without getting tired. (33) When in His nightly pastimes in the forest desiring to dance in the silver light of the moon with sweet songs and melodious music He awakened the amorous desires of the wives of Vrajabhûmi [the region of Vrindâvana], He decapitated their kidnapper [a demon known as S'ankhacûda] who was in pursuit of the riches of Kuvera [the heavenly treasurer]. (34-35) All those like Pralamba, Dhenuka, Baka, Kes'î, Arishtha, Cânûra and Mushthika [wrestling for Kamsa], Kuvalayâpîda [the elephant], Kamsa [the demoniac uncle], many foreign kings [like those of Persia], the ape Dvivida, Paundraka and others, as well as kings like S'âlva, Narakâsura, Balvala, Dantavakra, Saptoksha, S'ambara, Vidûratha and Rukmî and all powerful and well equipped as Kâmboja, Matsya, Kuru [the sons of Dhritarâshthra], S'rîñjaya, and Kekaya, found their dissociation or would attain to His heavenly abode through either Himself or with His other names, like Baladeva [Krishna's brother], Arjuna or Bhîma.

(36) Born from Satyavatî He [as Vyâsadeva], in due course of time seeing the difficulties of the less intelligent and short-lived of mankind at large, with His appearance in the exact, complex vedic literature compiled, [would and] will for certain divide the desire tree of the Vedas into its branches according the circumstances of the age.

(37) To those who, well situated on the path of the Vedas, envious with the divine unseen roam the worlds by inventions of Maya [a demon] and who are destructive of the bewildered mind, He dresses Himself attractively [as the Buddha] speaking mainly of moral guidelines.

(38) When with even the civilized gentlemen there is no mention of the Lord, and the twice-born [the higher classes] and the government itself never take to the hymns, paraphernalia, altars and words wherever, then at the end of the Age of Dissent will the Supreme Lord, the chastiser appear.

(39) I of penance [as Brahmâ] from the beginning with the generating [nine] sages [Prajâpatis], certainly [in the middle] maintained the duties of sacrifice [as Vishnu] with Manu, the godly and the different rulers, but in the end with the forsaking of the principles it is S'iva to the atheists subjected to anger. All of them are the potent representatives of the One of Supreme Power. (40) Who can fully describe the prowess of Lord Vishnu? Not even the scientist that might have counted the atoms. All were greatly moved by Him who by His own leg could cover the universe [as Trivikrama] up to the topmost world beyond the operating modes. (41) Never do I, nor all the sages born before you, know the end of the Omnipotent Original Person. Then what to expect of others born after us who even to the present day by singing the qualities with the thousand faces of Ananta S'esha [the 'snakebed' of Vishnu] of the primordial God, cannot achieve to His limit? (42) He, the Supreme Lord, will only bestow the mercy of His unlimited potential upon those who by all means, without any reservation and pretension, are as the souls that surrendered to His feet passed the insurmountable ocean of His material energies, and not upon those who hold on to the I and mine of the body that is known [in the end] to be eaten by dogs and jackals. (43-45) O Nârada, know me and yourself to be of the Supreme over the deluding material potency as also are the great Lord S'iva, Prahlâda Mahârâja who came from the atheist family, S'atarûpâ, the wife of Manu and Svâyambhuva Manu himself with his children, Prâcînabarhi, Ribhu, Anga [the father of Vena], and like Dhruva, Ikshvâku, Aila, Mucukunda, Janaka, Gâdhi, Raghu, Ambarîsha, Sagara, Gaya, Nâhusha, etc. as also others like Mândhâtâ, Alarka, S'atadhanve, Anu, Rantideva, Bhîshma, Bali, Amûrttaraya, Dilîpa, Saubhari, Utanka, S'ibi, Devala, Pippalâda, Sârasvata, Uddhava, Parâs'ara, Bhûrishena, and first ones as Vibhîshana, Hanumân, S'ukadeva Gosvâmî, Arjuna, Ârshthishena, Vidura and S'rutadeva. (46) Undoubtedly do also those persons manage to surpass the illusion of the divine energy and to arrive at knowledge, who are women, laborers, barbarians and outcasts do know despite of [formerly] being sinful souls - provided they observe the instructions of admirable devotees. When even those who were not of the human do, then what would one expect from those who devotedly listened [from the beginning]? (47) Being eternal and unperturbed, free from fear and uncontaminated in the opposing consciousness without preferences in the reality of the Supersoul over the true and untrue, one is [having surpassed] unconcerned about the fruits of action in sacrifices and sees the illusion flying away that is full of shame [see also B.G. 2: 52]. For certain that is the ultimate phase of the Supreme Lord [Bhagavân] who is the Spirit of Transcendence of the person which is thus known as being of unlimited happiness without grief. (48) In that state of hearing are the diverse practices of the mystics seeking the truth in their process of spiritual culture then given up, just the way Indra [god of the rains] doesn't worry to dig a well [to have water]. (49) He, all-auspicious is also the master, the Supreme Lord, because to the natural living being its own constitution all doing good is rewarded the ultimate success to which, after the body with its constituent elements is being vanquished and given up, one, being unborn like the original person, will never be vanquished.

(50) My dear, thus I explained in brief to you about the Supreme Lord as the creator of the known worlds, without whom nothing else of whatever that may exist in the phenomenal and noumenal can be of any causation. (51) This story of the Fortunate One called the S'rîmad Bhâgavatam, was handed down to me by His Holiness and constitutes the summary of His diverse potencies. Now you from your good self must expound on this science of Godhead yourself. (52) Therefore describe with determination, for the cause of enlightening mankind, this science of devotion [bhakti] for the Supreme Personality, the summum bonum and Absolute of all Souls. (53) With the description of the external affairs of Him, the Lord, in regular devoted appreciation and attendance, the living entity will never become illusioned by the external energy.

(1) The king asked: 'How did Nârada, being instructed by Lord Brahmâ, o brahmin, explain the modes and their transcendence, and whom did he explain it to?' (2) This I wish to understand o best one: what is the reality of those who are in the Absolute of the truth of the Lord who is so full of wonderful potencies and whose narrations are so beneficial to all the worlds? (3) Please continue speaking, o you of great fortune, so that I, about to leave my body, freed from material association, may put my thoughts to the Supreme of the soul, Lord S'rî Krishna. (4) Those who with faith, regularly take to the matter and as well seriously endure in the endeavor, will after not too long a time see the Supreme Lord appear in their hearts. (5) Thus receiving it through their ears from the love of their own liberation, this lotus [the Bhâgavatam] of Krishna washes away the impurities like the waters of autumn do. (6) Once being cleansed will the person, who took to the shelter of Krishna's feet, never give up that liberation, just like a traveler, who going through the miseries of life, will never give up his home [see also B.G. 5: 17; 8: 16; 8: 21-28; 9: 3; 15: 3-4; 15: 6].

(7) As it is not a question of being material, o brahmin, can you as you may know from your good self tell me whether the living being in the beginning comes to the body accidentally or of some cause? (8) If He is in possession of the lotusflower of this world, that as it were sprouted from His abdomen, then what is the difference between the Original Person with this certain measurement [of the virâth rûpa] and the situation that one speaks of with the many different embodiments? (9) How could he who was not born from matter himself and who gave life to all the ones born with a material body, through His mercy see His Form while being born from the lotusflower of the navel? (10) And also [how can it be that] He as the Original Person maintaining, creating and annihilating the material worlds remains untouched by His own external energy while resting as the Lord of all energies in the heart of everyone? (11) Before I heard you discuss the different worlds with their governors as the different parts of the body of the Original Person, so what [can you tell] about those governors that by the different systems are the different parts of Him?

(12) And what about the day of Brahmâ [a kalpa] and the periods between them [vikalpas], as also what to say about the time measuring what one calls the past, future and present - and how about the lifespan allotted to embodied beings? (13) O purest of the twice born, what may be the beginning of time and what about the way in terms of one's karma it is experienced as being short or long? (14) Then again to what extent is one taken over by accruing [karma] to the different modes of nature in the different life forms which are also certainly the result of one's desire. (15) Please describe to us how life underneath the earth, in the four quarters of heaven, in the sky, on the planets and about the stars, on the hills, in the rivers, the seas and on the islands comes about and what are their inhabitants? (16) What is the extent and measurement of the outer space universe and the inner space, and what are their divisions? And what is the character and action of the great souls and the vocations and age-groups of society? (17) What are the different ages, how long do they take and what is their nature and which incarnation of the Lord performs what kind of wonderful activities in each and every age?

(18) What are the specific religious affiliations of human society in general and what are the duties of the three classes [labor, trade and intellect] and their administration [the fourth class] as also what would the obligations be to people in distress? (19) And what is the number of elements of creation and what are their characteristics and interaction? What are the rules and regulations of the devotional practice to the Original Person in the cultivation of yoga and what are the different spiritual methods leading thereto? (20) What are the opulences of the yogamaster, where do they lead to, how do the yogis detach from the astral body and what is the transcendental knowledge found in the religiosity about the historical accounts and the vedic stories? (21) What is the specific order of all those transient living beings and how does it end? What are the good deeds, rituals and also the regulative principles concerning the religion, the means of existence and the pleasing of the senses? (22) How do all those who either live in union with the Lord or go against Him come about and what is the conditioning of the ones liberated as also that of the ones that live undetermined?

(23) As surely as the independent Supreme Lord enjoys His pastimes from His own inner potency, He, correctly, gives them up just the same, to the external of His capacity remaining a witness as the Almighty. (24) About all this and more that I didn't ask you, o fortunate one, I've been wondering from the beginning. Please explain in accordance with the truth, o great sage, what you want to tell me with us all having fallen at your feet. (25) Surely in these matters of factual knowing are you as good as Brahmâ originating directly from the Lord, while others are only following to custom after what of borrowed knowledge could be said. (26) I never get tired, o brahmin, of drinking, in hunger of my fasting, of the nectar of the Infallible flowing from the ocean of your speech'."

(27) Sûta Gosvâmî said: "He [S'ukadeva] thus being questioned by the king on topics of the highest truth like these, was, as the instrument of the Creator, very pleased in meeting this servant of Vishnu. (28) He said that this purâna in pursuance of the Vedas called the Bhâgavatam, was spoken by the Supreme Lord to Lord Brahmâ at the beginning of the first of his days. (29) He then prepared himself to describe in full whatever the king, the best of the dynasty of Pându, all asked in his, from the beginning to the end, continuing inquiries."

(1) S'uka said: 'Without the drive of the [Super-]soul, o King, there will never be any good in the spirited consciousness of the beyond relating to the material body, which is then to the seer completely like in a dream. (2) Driven in matter the many forms that appear to have manifested experience different sorts of enjoyment according the modes of the material world and thus they think of 'I' and 'mine'. (3) Whenever indeed, in his own glory of transcendence to the time of the material energy, he [the living entity] enjoys the freedom from misconceptions, then, in that fullness, he will give up those two. (4) 'The reality of the soul is the goal of purification' is what the Supreme Lord factually told the Creator showing him His Form when he was without any misunderstanding in vows and worship. (5) He, the first godly person in the universe, as the supreme spiritual teacher, began from his own divine position [on the lotus of the creation] to reflect on the matter of where it came from and he could not figure out what the directions and the ways were of how all should be put together materially.

(6) Once when he was immersed in thinking thus, he heard two syllables being spoken which were the sixteenth [ta] and the twenty-first [pa] of the spars'a-alphabeth and, joined together, became known as the wealth of the renounced order, o King [tapas means penance]. (7) When he heard that, he looked all sides to see the speaker, but there was no one to be found and from where he sat in his divine position he then thought it the best to pay attention to doing penance as he was instructed. (8) With a spotless vision for a thousand godly years, he as the controller of both life and mind, enlightened all the worlds executing such a penance in the past, being of all the ones doing penance the one of the severest practice.

(9) For him, the Supreme Lord being pleased by his penance, manifested His own abode [also called Vaikunthha, the place without fear], beyond which no other world is found and which is worshiped as the place where the five miseries of material life [ignorance, selfhood, attachment, hatred and death-fear] have completely ceased with persons who without illusion and fear of existence are of perfect self-realization. (10) There, the mode of goodness prevails over the other two of passion and slowness without them ever being mixed with it, nor is there the influence of time, the external energy - or what to say of [the influence of] others; there both the enlightened and the unenlightened souls worship the Lord as devotees. (11) Sky-bluish and glowing with lotuslike eyes, very attractive and youthful with yellowish dress, all of them there have the four arms and the luster of pearls and effulgence of fine ornaments. (12) Some radiate like coral or diamonds, with heads blooming like a celestial lotus with earrings and garlands. (13) That place, radiating with the rows of brilliant high rising, excellent buildings and celestial ladies with electrifying complexions of the great devotees of the Lord, is as beautiful as a sky decorated with clouds and lightning. (14) The goddess there is doing devotional service to the lotus feet of the Lord, being of praise with the help of diverse paraphernalia and a following of dearmost associates who moved by the company [of Apsaras] that took to the shelter of the [everlasting season of] spring are singing their songs. (15) There one surrounds the Lord of the entire community of devotees, of the goddess, of the Universe and the sacrifice - the Almighty One, who is being served in transcendental love by the foremost associates like Sunanda, Nanda, Prabala and Arhana. (16) The servitors affectionately facing Him are intoxicated by the very pleasing sight of His smile, reddish eyes, His face with His helmet and earrings, His four hands, yellow dress, His marked chest and the goddess of fortune at His side. (17) Seated on His highly valuable throne He, accompanied by the opulence of His four [matter, original person, intellect and ego] sixteen [the five elements, perceptive and working senses, and mind] and fivefold energies [sense objects of form, taste, sound, smell and touch] and other personal prowesses He sometimes shows [the eight siddhis or mystic powers], verily enjoys His abode as the Supreme Lord.

(18) The Creator of the Universe, who was overwhelmed by the sight of that audience, was in his heart full of ecstasy and with his body full of divine love he bowed down with tears in his eyes before the lotus feet of the Lord - an example which is followed by the great liberated souls. (19) Seeing him present before Him He thought the worthy great scholar suitable for creating the lives of all living beings to His own control, and mildly smiling He addressed the beloved one with enlightening words, very pleased shaking hands with His partner in divine love. (20) The Supreme Lord said: 'As opposed to My contentment with those who do profit-minded service, am I completely satisfied about your long lasting penance to create from your vedic expertise. (21) All my blessings to you, just ask Me, the giver of all benediction, whatever favor you wish from Me, o Brahmâ, as the limit of My realization is the ultimate success of everyone's penances. (22) This enviable perception of My abodes you may actually experience because of your submissive hearing in doing penance to the beyond. (23) It was ordered by Me as you were perplexed in your duty. That penance directly affects My heart and soul and is to the one engaged in it my factual identity, o sinless one. (24) By that penance I create, surely by that penance I withdraw and again I, by that penance, maintain the cosmos; My power is found in strict penance'.

(25) Brahmâ said: 'Supreme Lord of all living beings, You are the director seated in the heart who unobstructed, by Your superior intelligence, knows of all endeavors. (26) In spite of that I ask You, o Lord, please enlighten me in my desire to know about Your being beyond and descending in Your form as we may know it, although You are yourself formless. (27) And how do You by Your own potency, from Your own Self, combine and recombine the different forces in matters of annihilation, generation, acceptance and maintenance? (28) O Mâdhava [master of all energies], please let me know in proper terms of all those [forms] You infallibly enact with determination like a spider does in covering [its own web]. (29) As the Supreme Lord teaching it me by Your acts I may, by Your mercy, thus never factually be entrapped in matter, even though I acting as your instrument create the lives of the beings. (30) O Lord, like a friend does with a friend You have accepted me for creating the different lives of the living entities; o my Lord, may all those who are born unperturbed in the service of You never give rise to me being mad with imagination about it, o Unborn One.'

(31) The Supreme Lord said: 'The knowledge acquired about Me is very confidential and is realized in combination with devotional service and its necessary paraphernalia; just try to take it up as I explain it to you. (32) Let that factual realization be there by the causeless mercy of Me, as seen in the transcendental existence of My eternal form with its diverse appearances and qualities. (33) I indeed existed before [your creation of these lives] and nothing else but the Supreme would be the cause of the effect of all that is seen, while it is also I that is all that remains of these created; that is what I am. (34) That which appears to be of value, is not what it seems without relating to Me - know that illusory energy of Mine to be a reflection, to be darkness. (35) Just like the elements of the universe that appear in the minute as well as in the gigantic before being engaged as well as thereafter, am I even so as well in them as not in them Myself. (36) No doubt must a person in search of the soul to this extent inquire after the Reality of the Principle, in a direct as well as indirect manner, in whatever time, space or circumstance. (37) If your concentration of mind remains fixed on this conclusion about the Supreme you have no complacency to fear, nor in temporary loss nor at the end of your time."

(38) S'uka said: "After thus giving full instruction, disappeared the Unborn One, Lord Hari as He was seen in His transcendental form of the Absolute by the leader of the living entities [Brahmâ]. (39) On the disappearance began Brahmâjî, with folded hands unto the Lord, the objective of all senses, to shape the lives of all living beings that fill the universe, exactly as he did before. (40) Thus once upon a time he, the father of all living beings and religious life, situated himself with vow and respect for the sake of the welfare of the living beings, desiring it in the interest of their own good qualities. (41) It is unto Him that Nârada, the very dear of the inheriting sons, is very obedient and ready to serve by the good behavior of his meekness and sense-control. (42) With his desire to know about Vishnu, the Lord of all energies, the great sage and first-class devotee, o King, very much pleased his Father [Lord Brahmâ]. (43) After seeing the satisfaction of the great grandfather of the whole universe, Nârada Muni questioned him the same way you are questioning me. (44) Thereupon this story of the Fortunate One [summarized in the four verses 33-36] was with its ten characteristics [see next chapter], explained by the Supreme Lord who told it the son, the creator of the universe, with great satisfaction. (45) Nârada instructed this Supreme of the Spirit, to the great sage, the meditative Vyâsadeva with his immense capacity, on the bank of the Sarasvatî, o King. (46) All the things you've been asking me concerning the world of the Universal Form of the Original Person and other matters, I shall now explain to you in great detail."

(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'In this [Bhâgavatam] there are [ten types of] statements about the following: the creation of the universe, the secondary creation, the different worlds, support [by the Lord], the creative drive, the changes of Manus, following divine instruction, returning to God, finding liberation and the Summum Bonum [description of the actions of Lord Krishna]. (2) For the purpose of doing justice to the Summum Bonum the symptoms of the other nine in this [Bhâgavatam] are described by vedic inference or either more direct explanations or summaries given by the great sages. (3) The five gross elements, the objects of the senses and the senses themselves including the mind give rise to the manifestation which is called the created universe [sarga] of the Creator, while the resultant activities of the interaction to its modes is called the secondary creation [visarga]. (4) The stability of the worlds is the victory of the Lord of Vaikunthha, His support is His causeless mercy, the reign of the Manus sets the perfection of duty and the creative drive is about the propensity to fruitive labor. (5) The following to divine instruction as said deals with the various narrations describing the activities of the Lord descending and the persons that are His followers. (6) Returning to God is about the resting in the Original Person of souls along with the energies while liberation is about giving up other forms [of existence] for the sake of the permanence of the constitutional Original One.

(7) He is of both the cosmic manifestation and its returning to God, the source from which all takes place and thus He is called the reservoir of the Supreme Spirit or the Supersoul. (8) From being the personality in possession of his senses [adhyâtmika] He is as well the controlling deity [adhidaivika] as the person separate therefrom perceived as another embodied living being [adhibhautika]. (9) The one who sees that each one of the three is not understood in the absence of one of the others, knows that He is the soul that is its own shelter in this spiritual division.(10) As He [expanding in space-time] separated the Universes, came He as the same Original Person out of Himself to rest in the [causal] waters desiring for the created the most pure of transcendence. (11) In that residing in Himself for a thousand of His godly years, is He in the matter of His own creation known by the name of Nârâyana [the path, the lead of God relating to man], for He, resting in the causal waters, emanated from the Original Person. (12) The physical elements, the activities, the time and surely also the living entities all exist by His mercy and cease to exist on neglect. (13) Being on Himself He, from His mystic slumber, desired the variety and thus generated the golden hue of the seminal demigod to the created external energy perfect in its three features.

(14) Let me now tell you about how the Lord, as the One only, divided the potency of His Lordship in three deities ruling the sensing, controlling and embodied beings.(15) Proceeding from the ether within the body of the Original Person generated the energy of the senses, the mental force and the physical strength and then the life breath [the prâna] ruling over each. (16) The in all living entities endeavoring senses who follow the symptoms of life, find their peace the way all subjects stop endeavoring in following a king as he stops. (17) The living force being agitated generates from the Supreme within hunger and thirst and at first, in order to quench that thirst and still that hunger, the mouth was opened. (18) From the mouth the palate generated showing the tongue after which the various tastes manifested that could be relished by it. (19) With the need to speak from the mouth of the Supreme there came the fire of as well vibrations as speeches, but because He was at rest in the waters, for a very long time that remained suspended. (20) In the nostrils the movement of the respiration was developed upon which from the nose its desire to function the sense to smell odors came about. (21) Being on Himself in the darkness did, on the desire to observe all the coming manifestations of His transcendental body, for His vision the Sun manifest to give all eyes the power of seeing. (22) From the wise desiring to understand from their realization that what He wanted to know, the ears as well manifested to the direction of the power of hearing and its objects. (23) Of the desire to experience the hard, soft, light, weight, heat and cold of all matter, the sense of touch was distributed over the skin with its bodily hair and of having perceived through the touch of that skin the objects of perception from within and without, the three controlling deities manifested as well.

(24) Desiring the different types of work, from them His hands manifested, but to give strength to the manipulation depending on them [the gods and His hands], Indra, the king of the gods, came into being. (25) Wishing to control movement the legs manifested, for the purpose of which the Lord of Sacrifice [Vishnu] Himself manifested motivating the different human beings to the duties according their fruitive activities [karma]. (26) Desiring to taste the nectar of sexual enjoyment appeared the genitals of the male and female organ and found the cherished of the lustful its existence that is the shelter for the both of them [controlled by the Prajâpati]. (27) Desiring to evacuate the refuse of eatables first the opening of the anus and then its sense came about after which Mitra, the controller over the excretion, came to give shelter to the both of them. (28) Wishing to spread everywhere in different bodies, from the one body the navel manifested after which it became the place wherefrom separated the arrest of the vitality and death were found. (29) In the want for food and drink the abdomen with the rivers and seas of the intestines and arteries originated as also the source of the sustaining metabolism of them. (30) Desirous to know His own energy the heart [as the seat of thinking] manifested after which the mind, Candra the controller [the moon] and thus the reality of determination and desire were found. (31) The seven elements of the nails, skin, flesh, blood, fat, marrow and bone are predominantly of earth, water and fire whereas the life breath is there from the ether, the water and the air [see also kosha]. (32) The senses of the material ego are attached to the modes of matter, which thus affect the mind after which all affection follows that shapes the intelligence and its deliberation of soul.

(33) Of all this is the Supreme Lord His form, as I explained to you, known in the eight elements [of earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego] of all the worlds and such, that make for an unlimited external covering. (34) Therefore there are, for the supreme of the finer than the finest, the featureless unmanifested, that is without a beginning, without an intermediate stage and without an end and is thus eternal, the words for the mind to the transcendental. (35) Neither of these forms about the Supreme Lord as I described to you are, because of their external manifestation, ever taken for granted by the learned ones of consciousness. (36) He by His incarnations and activities, His transcendental qualities and entourage, as the Supreme Lord of the Spirit, accepts in the pastimes of His forms the work of transcendence that is free from material interest. (37-40) O King, know that all the happiness and distress and their mixture as experienced by the members of the family of Brahmâ, the Manus, the godly, the wise, the inhabitants of Pitriloka [forefathers] and Siddhaloka [the perfected], the Câranas [the venerable], Gandharvas [singers of heaven], Vidyâdharas [scientists], Asuras [the unenlightened or the demons], Yakshas [treasure-keeper or evil spirits], Kinnaras [of superpowers] and angels, the snake-like, the monkey-shaped Kimpurushas, the human beings, the inhabitants of Mâtriloka [of the place of the mother], the demons and Pis'âcas [yellow flesh-eating demons], as also the ghosts, spirits, lunatics and evil spirits, the ones of good and evil stars, as well as the birds, the forest-dwelling and domestic animals, the reptiles, those of the mountains, the moving and standing living entities, the living entities born from embryos, from eggs, from heat [microorganisms] and from seeds, and all others, whether they be in the water, land or the sky, is with all of them there as the result of deeds in the past [karma].

(41) To the modes of goodness, passion and slowness we thus have the three of the godly, the human and the suffering ones and even others, o King, when one divides it to moving in habits developed in each of the three in relation to the other two. (42) Without doubt in this does He, the Maintainer of the entire universe, the Supreme Lord, assume the form of the principles of righteousness, in order to reclaim, after the creation of the universes, the godless, the human and the godly ones. (43) At the end of the era all that is with Him will be completely annihilated by fire in the form of Rudra [S'iva the destroyer], the way in time the wind does with clouds. (44) With these features concerning the matter of creation and destruction is by the great transcendentalists the Supreme Lord described, but the great devotees deserve to see more of the most glorious than these features alone. (45) Never is in the matter of creation and so on the Supreme in the beyond described as the engineer, for that [idea of having a Supreme position] is to counteract what by the material energy is manifested. (46) This all but exemplifies the regulative principles by which the Creator operates for the duration of his time [described as a day of Brahmâ] and the duration of the universes. Herein, in summary, is the generating of the entire dispersed material creation given.(47) The exact measurement of the time to its form and symptoms of one day of Brahmâ [kalpa] I will explain after first letting you know about this epoch of His descend [also called the Pâdma Kalpa]'."

(48) S'aunaka said: "O Sûta, you told us from your good self about Vidura, who is one of the best devotees, as he took to the places of pilgrimage on this earth, leaving aside the relatives that are so difficult to give up. (49-50) O gentle one, please tell us here about the new things Vidura discussed with Maitreya [a famous rishi] who is so full of transcendental knowledge and anything else he asked His grace and got answered from him back then. Why did Vidura actually give up his activities and his associates and why did he return home afterwards?"

(51) Sûta replied: "Please listen while I explain to you what the great sage [S'uka] spoke about in his answering according the questions of King Parîkchit."

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