Chapter 23: Devahûti's Lamentation

(1) Maitreya said: 'After the departure of the parents the chaste woman who understood the desires of her husband constantly served her spouse with a love as great as that of Pârvatî for S'iva, her Lord. (2) Intimately, with a pure soul, with great respect and sense-control she was of service with love and sweet words o Vidura. (3) Forsaking lust, pride, envy, greed, sinful actions and vanity she always pleased her powerful husband diligently with good sense. (4-5) She, the daughter of Manu fully devoted to him who no doubt was the foremost sage among the divine rishis, expected greater blessings from him than from providence. But he saw that she had grown weak and emaciated because of the protracted religious observance and with an of love stammering voice he, overcome with compassion, spoke to her. (6) Kardama said: 'At present I am pleased with you o respectful daughter of Manu, because of your most excellent, supreme service and devotion. But you do not properly take care of that body so extremely dear to this embodiment; you deplete it in my service. (7) The blessings of the Lord I achieved myself in my religious life of being fully engaged in austerity, meditation and fixing my mind in the knowledge, can just as well be obtained by you in your devotional service to me. Look at them with the help of the transcendental vision free from fear and lamentation that I grant you. (8) What material achievements compare to this grace of the Lord of Fortune? Those enjoyments find their end in a single movement of an eyebrow of the Lord of the Great Strides. Thanks to your conscientious service you can now enjoy the success of the supernatural gifts which for people who are proud of their lineage are so difficult to obtain.' (9) After he had spoken this way the woman who heard him excell in the special knowledge of yoga found satisfaction and with a voice choked with humility and love and a shining, smiling face with a slightly bashful glance, she spoke to him.

(10) Devahûti said: 'O best of the brahmins, o mighty husband, I know of the mastery of your infallibility in the power of yoga. Let then now your promise be fulfilled that once we would have united in the body we may enjoy the greater glory of having progeny which for a chaste woman is of such a great value. (11) Do for the sake of this that what according to the scriptures needs to be done and by which this, because of an unfulfilled passion and by emotions struck, emaciated, poor body may be rendered fit for you. And please, o Lord also think of a suitable mansion.'

(12) Maitreya said: 'Seeking the pleasure of his dearest, Kardama exercised his yogic power and produced instantly a high rising palace according to his idea of a desirable place, o Vidura. (13) It answered all desires and was wonderfully bedecked with all sorts of jewels, all kinds of luxury increasing over time and pillars carved out of precious stone. (14-15) It was equipped with a heaven of paraphernalia and brought happiness throughout all seasons, was decorated with festoons and flags and wreaths of various colors and fabrics, charming sweet flowers humming with bees, fine cloth of linen and silk and was embellished with various tapestries. (16) In stories one over the other there were separate arrangements of beds, comfortable couches and fanned seats. (17) Here and there various artistic engravings were displayed with the extraordinary beauty of a floor with emeralds furnished with coral daises. (18) The doorways had thresholds of coral and doors beautifully bedecked with diamonds. Its domes of sapphire were crowned with golden pinnacles. (19) On the diamond walls there were the choicest rubies that seemed to give them eyes and it was furnished with various canopies and highly valuable gates of gold. (20) The many artfully crafted swans and groups of pigeons here and there made the real ones who thought to see their own kind repeatedly fly over and vibrate their sounds. (21) The pleasure grounds, resting chambers, bedrooms, inner and outer yards designed for comfort astonished the sage himself.

(22) Kardama, who could understand the heart of everyone, saw that Devahûti was not very happy to see such a mansion and then addressed her personally. (23) 'O fearful one, before you ascend this high rising palace, please bathe in the sacred lake created by Lord Vishnu [Bindu-sarovara] that fulfills all desires of man.' (24) She, the lotus-eyed one with her matted hair and dirty clothes, then complied with the words of her husband. (25) With her body and her breasts grubby and covered by dirt she entered the lake containing the sacred waters of the Sarasvatî river. (26) In the lake she saw a house with a thousand girls as fragrant as lotuses in the prime of youth. (27) Seeing her all of a sudden the damsels rose and said with folded hands: 'We are your maidservants, please tell us what we can do for you.' (28) After bathing her with the most costly oils, the respectful girls gave the virtuous wife spotless fine new clothes. (29) They also gave her the most valuable ornaments and very excellent splendid food and sweet intoxicating beverages containing all good qualities. (30) She next looked at the mirror image of her body that, freed from all dirt and clad in clean robes, by the utterly respectful maidservants was adorned with a garland and decorated with auspicious marks. (31) Washed from head to toe she was decorated with a golden necklace with locket and bangles and tinkling ankle bells made of gold. (32) About her hips she wore a girdle made of gold decorated with numerous jewels and she was also adorned with a precious pearl necklace and auspicious substances [like saffron, kunkuma - which is perfumed red powder for the breasts -, mustard seed oil and sandelwood pulp]. (33) With her beautiful teeth, charming eyebrows, lovely moist eyes that defeated the beauty of lotus buds and her bluish curly hair, she shone all over. (34) When she thought of her dear husband, the foremost among the sages, she [all of a sudden] found herself along with her maidservants there where he, the founding father, the Prajâpati was. (35) With that sudden return to her husband surrounded by the thousand maidens she was in awe about his yogic power.

(36-37) The sage, seeing her washed clean, shining forth with a soul of unprecedented beauty, girdled, with charming breasts, attended by a thousand celestial girls and excellently dressed, relished the sight and helped her ascend that elevated place, o destroyer of the enemy. (38) Even though [he appeared to be] attached to his beloved one who was attended by the girls of heaven, he did not lose his glory. Together with her in the palace his person shone as charmingly as the moon in the sky surrounded by the stars causing rows of lilies to open in the night. (39) In that palace, that heavenly vehicle [a vimâna], he reached the pleasure grounds of the gods of heaven and the valleys of Indra, the king of the mountains, that are so beautiful with the falling waters of the Ganges and the cool breezes that arouse the passion. He who like treasurer Kuvera was surrounded by his damsels thus for a long time enjoyed his life while the ones of perfection, the Siddhas, vibrated the auspicious sounds of their praises. (40) Loved by his wife he enjoyed the gardens of Vais'rambhaka, Surasana, Nandana, Pushpabhadraka, Caitrarathya and lake Mânasa-sarovara. (41) With that splendrous and grand palace answering to every desire he moved through the worlds just like the air that reaches everywhere, and surpassed therewith the palaces, the heavenly vehicles, of the greatest gods. (42) What would be difficult to achieve for those men who are determined, for those who have taken refuge of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality that vanquish all danger?

(43) After having shown his wife the entire universe with all its arrangements and many wonders, the great yogi returned to his hermitage. (44) In order to sexually please his wife, the daughter of Manu, he divided himself in nine forms and enjoyed the many years with her like in a moment. (45) In the palace lying on an excellent bed conducive to their love, she in the company of her most handsome husband did not notice the passage of time. (46) Thus for the enjoying couple immersed in their lusts by the power of yoga a hundred autumns passed as in a trice. (47) Powerful Kardama as a knower of the soul knew each his desire. He made love to her as her other half and deposited with the body that he had divided in nine his semen in her. (48) Soon thereafter Devahûti gave birth to [nine] female children who all in every limb were as charming as a fragrant red lotus. (49) Seeing that her husband was about to leave home, she gave a beautiful smile but was innerly upset with a heart in distress. (50) Suppressing her tears, scratching the floor with the radiant, gemlike nails of her foot and with her head bent down, she slowly expressed herself in charming words.

(51) Devahûti said: 'All that you have promised my Lord has been fulfilled, but you should grant the surrendered soul that I am freedom from fear also. (52) My dear brahmin, it is left to your daughters to find a suitable husband. But who is there to comfort me when you have left for the forest? (53) Disregarding the knowledge of the Supreme Soul so much idle time has passed my master, with us indulging in pleasing our senses. (54) Attached to the gratification of our senses my love for you went without recognizing your transcendental existence. May that love nevertheless protect me against all fear. (55) Association with those engaged in sense gratification is the cause of the cycle of birth and death, while ignorantly acting like that in association with a saintly person leads to liberation. (56) When one's work here is not performed for the sake of a higher, more righteous life, when one's righteous life does not lead to detachment and when one's detachment does not lead to devotional service at the place where the Lotus Feet are worshipped, one is a zombie, dead while being alive. (57) It suffers no doubt that I was [the one who] completely [was] deceived by the outer material potency of the Lord, because I despite of having achieved you did not seek liberation from material bondage.'