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2024-03-29, 2:25 PM |
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Chapter 16: How the Lord can be
Comprehended as a Matter of Fact
(1) The king [Parîkchit] said: 'You spoke
[in 5.1: 31-33] about
the sphere of the earth [Bhû-mandala] saying that it stretches as
far as the heat of the sun reaches and as far as the moon and myriad of
stars can be seen. (2) Because of
Priyavrata's circumambulating in his chariot [in 5.1:
30-31] by the seven ditches [of the
wheels] the oceans were created which separated the seven different
dvîpas. This you all clearly described oh great one.
Concerning this subject of study I'd like to know everything about the
sizes and characteristics in question. (3) With before our eyes
the material qualities of the Supreme Lord who - despite of the fact
that He Himself is free from the modes - assumed the gross form [of the
universe], the mind is ready to focus on His more subtle form as the
light of the soul [that stands for] the supreme spiritual entity. Oh
dear teacher, be pleased to tell us how He, whom one knows as the Great
Lord Vâsudeva, can be comprehended as something demonstrable [tat].'
(4) The rishi said: 'Oh
great King, there are endless transformations of the material qualities
[the gunas] of the Supreme Lord. Even though not even a person
living as long as Brahmâ is capable of putting it into words or
fully understand this, I nevertheless shall try to explain in terms of names, forms and
proportions that what from the unmanifest
has manifested [as Bhûloka, our terrestrial world]. (5) The width of this area all around the earth [our
material 'island'], this space inside the whorl of the lotus flower [of
the galaxy] unfolding in the night which is as round as a lotus leaf,
measures a terrible number of yojanas [or light years as we
say
these days*]. (6) Therein
nine
subdivisions
are found [one central area and eight peripheral
'areas separated by mountains'; so-called varshas] of nine
times thousand yojanas neatly separated by eight boundaries of
rock ['mountain-ranges', 'spiral arms' or giri]. (7)
Among these there is one area in the center named Ilâvrita which
is entirely golden and known as the most renown of all mountains, Mount
Meru. This area stretches up as far as it is wide and it is of this
lotus-like unfolded universe the pericarp that measures a thirty two
thousand yojanas at its base. It stretches sixteen thousand yojanas
upwards to its top as well as below [according to modern
astronomy our galaxy is about seven thousand lightyears thick].
(8) North and further north of Ilâvrita
[projected on the globe of the earth] there are one after the other stretching out the three ranges of Nîla, S'veta and
S'ringavân, which each by one tenth are flatter in their marking
the varshas of Ramyaka, Hiranmaya and Kuru. Stretching out for two thousand yojanas,
they reach to the
Kshâroda ocean in the east
and west [the 'salty one']. (9)
The same way there are to the south of Ilâvrita the Nishadha, Hemakûtha
and Himâlaya ranges that stretch out with a body of thousands of yojanas
to the east dividing a same number of varshas which are
called Hari, Kimpurusha and Bhârata. (10)
And likewise to the west of
Ilâvrita as well as to the east are situated the two demarcations
of the
western Mâlyavân and eastern Gandhamâdana ranges
which for two thousand yojanas stretch out
to the mountains the Nîla and the
Nishadha. They constitute the borders of the varshas called
Ketumâla and Bhadrâs'va. (11) The mountains
named Mandara, Merumandara, Supârs'va and Kumuda at four sides
form a belt around Mount Meru which massively spreads out for
countless yojanas. (12)
On these four
mountains
standing like flagstaffs one finds, spread over as much as a thousand yojanas,
four
kinds
of
the
very
best
of
trees:
the
mango,
the
rose
apple, the
kadamba and the banyan. With their branches they cover hundreds of yojanas. (13-14) There
are
four
lakes
of
the
purest
water,
milk,
honey
and
sugarcane
juice,
drinking
from which the demigods [the Apsaras, Gandharvas,
Câranas, Kinnaras etc.] have
a natural command of the powers of yoga oh best of the Bharata dynasty. There are also four gardens
called Nandana, Caitraratha, Vaibhrâjaka and
Sarvatobhadra.
(15)
The enchanted and enchanting wives of the powerful demigods, whose
glories together with those of their partners are sung by the lesser
gods, are there engaged in their
pastimes. (16) On
the slopes of
the Mandara, at eleven-hundred yojanas from the
top, from the mango tree named
Devacûta the fruits fall
down
that sweet as nectar are as big as mountain peaks. (17)
From the broken mangoes the
reddish juice streams in
large quantities that is very
sweet and fragrant,
being mixed as it is with other aromas. It flows down from the top
of Mandara mountain in the
east of Ilâvrita-varsha in
a river called the Arunodâ.
(18)
The wind in contact with the limbs of Bhavânî [the wife of S'iva],
her maid servants and the chaste wives of the Yakshas [S'iva's
followers] using this water, fragrant therefrom can be smelled for ten yojanas around. (19)
Similarly the
juice of the elephant sized rose apple fruits that with their tiny
seeds are broken to pieces because of
falling to the ground at ten-thousand yojanas from
the top of Merumandara, flows down in a river named the
Jambû-nadî through the entire southern region of
Ilâvrita. (20-21) The
mud of both
the banks that is completely saturated with that juice, delivers dried
under the
influence of the air and the sun continually [a kind of gold] named
Jâmbû-nada. It is used by the denizens of heaven
and provides the ever youthful wives of the demigods with all kinds of
ornaments
in the form of belts, diadems,
bangles and so on. (22) But
from the big kadamba standing on the slope of the
mountain Supârs'va five streams of honey flow from its hollows tens of feet wide [five vyâmas
of about five to six feet
each] which from the top of that mountain flow down and penetrate the
entire western region of Ilâvrita with their fragrance. (23) These
flows sweetly perfume, through
the breath issuing from the mouths of those who drank from them, the
air over a distance of hundred yojanas. (24)
So too from the top of Kumuda
mountain, on which the banyan tree
grows that with its thick stems is called S'atavals'a ['a hundred
trunks'], big rivers flow in the northern direction of Ilâvrita.
They bring happiness in fulfilling all desires by carrying in their wake an
abundance of milk, yogurt, honey, clarified butter, molasses, food
grains and so on, as well as a
certain wealth of clothing, bedding,
sitting places, ornaments and more of such goods. (25)
Those citizens who make use of these benefits never ever get wrinkles,
gray hair, fatigued,
bad smelling perspiration, old of age, diseased, premature death, cold
or heat, a waning luster or whatever variety of troubles and
sufferings. For their entire life they are of nothing but an unlimited
happiness.
(26) Like the filaments of the whorl of a lotus all
around the base of Mount Meru are arranged twenty or more mountains
carrying names as
the Kuranga, Kurara, Kusumbha, Vaikanka, Trikûtha, S'is'ira,
Patanga, Rucaka, Nishadha, Sinîvâsa, Kapila, S'ankha,
Vaidûrya, Jârudhi, Hamsa, Rishabha, Nâga,
Kâlañjara and the Nârada. (27) Mount Meru with its golden brilliance like fire, is
surrounded by
eight mountains of which the two in the east are called Jathhara
and
Devakûtha, the two in the west Pavana and Pâriyâtra,
the two in the south Kailâsa and Karavîra and the two in
the north Tris'ringa and Makara. Each of them stretching out for two thousand
yojanas,
they
together
cover
eighteen
thousand
square
yojanas. (28) On top of Mount Meru one finds in the middle the
dwelling place, the city of the most powerful self-born one [Lord
Brahmâ], stretching to all sides for many thousands of yojanas
and about
which the sages say
that it is entirely golden [our galaxy does so for twenty-six-thousand
light years to its
pericarp and forty to sixty thousand light years in diameter, compare verse 7]. (29) Around
that center in each direction the eight cities of the rulers over
the planetary systems are found which being four times as
small are of a likewise form (**).'
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