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2024-04-25, 11:33 AM |
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Chapter 18: Prayers to the Different
Avatâras
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'The son of
Dharmarâja known as Bhadras'ravâ, along with the leading
nobles and all the inhabitants of Bhadrâs'va-varsha, directly worships the same way [as Lord S'iva does] the Supreme Lord Vâsudeva in His dearmost form as the
director of the religion: His incarnation as Hayagrîva [or
Hayas'îrsha]. Approaching Him they, absorbed in transcendence,
chant the following. (2) The ruler Bhadras'ravâ and his subjects
say: 'My obeisances unto the Supreme Lord whom we worship because He is
the source of all religious principles and the One who purifies us from
all material contamination. (3)
Alas! How
wondrous
the ways of the Lord are. Sure to be faced with death
someone nevertheless doesn't see this and thinks of material happiness.
When he
does the wrong things he tries to enjoy and when he cremates his father
or his sons he wishes to live for ever! (4) The great sages traditionally insist that the universe
is
perishable and the philosophers and the scholars who see and know their
real self state that as well. Still they are overcome by illusion oh
Unborn One, by Your outer energy, by Your miraculous ways. I offer You, the One Unborn, my
obeisances. (5) The Vedic literatures defend
You as being aloof from Your
activities of the creation, the maintenance and the annihilation of the
entire universe. That You are not touched by them nevertheless does not
amaze us, for we are united in You, the original cause of all causes
and essence [the primal substance] in all respects. (6)
At the end of
the Yuga the four Vedas were stolen by the personification of ignorance
[the demon Madhu] and [retreiving them] from the lowest worlds they
were by You, assuming the form of half a horse, half a man
[Hayagrîva], returned to the supreme poet [Brahmâ] when he
asked for them. Him, You whose resolve never fails, I offer my
obeisances.
(7) In Hari-varsha, there is also the Supreme Personality
of the Lord in a human form [as Nrisimhadeva]. The reason why He
assumed that form most satisfying to the great personality of all good
qualities Prahlâda, I'll explain to you later [see seventh canto]. That topmost devotee because of whose exalted
character
and qualities all the Daityas in his family were delivered, is,
together with the people of that varsha, of an uninterrupted,
unflinching devotional service and they worship Him chanting this: (8)
'Oh Supreme Lord Nrisimha, I
bow for You, my obeisances to the power of all power that You are.
Please manifest Yourself fully, oh You whose nails and teeth are like
thunderbolts. Please take away the desire to enjoy the untrue, be so
good to drive away oh Lord, the ignorance in the material world. May,
with my oblations, there be freedom from all fear, I beg You oh Lord,
source of my prayer, to appear before my mind's eye. (9) Let there be good
fortune for the entire universe, may all mischief turn into virtue, let
all living beings find consciousness in a reciprocating
mindfulness and may the mind be calm. Give us the experience of the
Lord in the beyond, let our intelligence be absorbed in this without
another motive. (10)
Let there no longer be the attachment to one's house, wife, children, a
bank balance, friends and relatives, but rather the association with
persons who cherish the Lord, with people satisfied with the bare
necessities of life who - contrary to those who cherish the senses - quickly succeed in self-realization. (11)
From having
achieved the repeated association with those
whose
influence is uncommon and coming in touch with the holy places, the
impurities of the mind are overcome. The unborn one who
entered the core of the heart through the ears would indeed not be of
service to impure matters - such is the way of Mukunda [the Lord of
Liberation]. (12) In
those who free from ulterior motives are of service to the Fortunate
One all the demigods manifest themselves and all good qualities are
found - but where are the good qualities of a person who is not devoted
to the Lord and with a busy mind constantly runs after the temporary
matters of the outside world? (13) As desirable as water is to aquatics, the
Supreme Lord
is desirable as the true self, the (Super)soul, of all embodied beings.
If one gives
up on a personality as great as He is, one will get attached to a
household life which for a couple having aged is then the [entire]
greatness [that was accomplished].
(14) Household
life
is
the
root
cause
of
fear
and
depression,
passion,
attachment,
disappointment,
anger,
the
desire
for
prestige and the cycle of
repeated birth and death. Therefore one should give it up [to be attached this
way] and thus be of worship for the feet of Lord Nrisimhadev who is the
refuge of fearlessness.'
(15) The Supreme
Lord resides in Ketumâla in the form of Kâmadeva [or also
Pradyumna, see 4.24: 35] according to His
wish to satisfy the Goddess of Fortune as well as the sons [the days]
and the daughters [the nights] of the founding father [Samvatsara, the
deity of the year] who rule the land and of whom there are as many as
there are days and nights in a human lifetime. The fetuses of these
daughters whose minds are upset by the radiation of the mighty weapon
[the cakra] of the Supreme Personality, are ruined and after
one year expelled dead [from the womb] as miscarriages. (16)
So very
beautiful in His movements and manifested pastimes, He with
His mild smiles, playful glances, slightly raised attractive
eyebrows and charming lotuslike face is a pleasure to the
Goddess of Fortune and all the senses. (17) To
that highest
form of the Supreme Lord so affectionate to all, the Goddess of
Splendor, in the absorption of yoga
recites the following in her all
year
through - during the nights with the daughters of the Prajâpati,
and during the days with the husbands - being of worship for Him: (18)
'Oh Lord, hrâm hrîm hrûm [a mantra of propitiation], in respect of all Your qualities and
properties I offer
You, the Supreme Lord of
the senses my obeisances. You are the Soul of all and master of action,
knowing, function
and relation; the One known as the sixteenfold [of the working, the
knowing senses, the elements and the mind]. You as the Enjoyer of all
rituals, the supplier of the food, He who awards eternal
life, the All-pervading One of Power, the strength of the body and the
senses, the Supreme Husband fulfilling all desires, I offer my respects
- may there always be Your good fortune! (19) Women ask in this
world for another, self-sufficient husband by
propitiating You, the Lord of the senses by means of sacred vows,
because the dependent husbands are not capable to protect the sweet
children, wealth and life of these women. (20)
That man would be a husband
who is
fearless and self-sufficient and fully capable of offering protection.
You are that person [depending on no one else] for otherwise people
would fear each other [in their dependence]. There is no attainment
held higher in this world than the attainment of You. (21)
A woman who, with
that notion of You in mind, eagerly worships Your
lotus feet, is by You, despite of all the desires she is addicted to,
rewarded for just that wish; but when she wishing to worship You aims
at something else oh Supreme
Lord,
she having broken [with the original purpose], will feel pain. (22)
In order to obtain me [the Goddess of Fortune], the unborn one
[Brahmâ], the mighty master [Îs'a or S'iva], the other
gods as well as the unenlightened ones,
undergo severe penances; but because I have my heart
always in You, no one with a mind turned to the senses will obtain me,
unless he with heart and soul is of service at Your feet oh
Unconquerable
One. (23) I
pray that You
oh Infallible one, place on my head the worshipable lotus hand that You
also placed on the
heads of the devotees. You carry my mark on Your chest oh
worshipable one, but that is misleading [that doesn't guarantee Your
mercy]. Who can ever understand by reason and
argument the motives of You, the Supreme Lord?'
(24) In Ramyaka in the past He was worshiped by
[Vaivasvata] Manu [at
the end of the Câkshusha-manvantara] as the foremost [living
being], the
Supreme Personality in the form of Matsya, the fish incarnation. He,
the
ruler of that land is even today in his devotional service of
worship with the following prayer:
(25) 'The Supreme Lord
appearing in His first incarnation [as the mantra AUM] I offer my obeisances. My
obeisances for Him who is pure
goodness, the origin of life, the source of the vitality, the origin of
all mental power and bodily strength in the form of the great fish. (26) Not
seen by the leaders of the
different worlds
You are present within as well as without and one hears loudly
the
sounds
[the
mantras
by
which
man, indicated by his different [varnâs'rama]
names
[for status and occupation],
is brought under Your
control like he was a wooden
doll oh Supreme Controller. (27)
The leaders of the world suffer in politics from the fever of envy.
They, separately or combined, endeavoring apart from You also
try to offer protection, but they are not capable of realizing that,
whatever two-legged, four-legged, crawling or non-moving
creatures it might concern in this world. (28)
Oh Lordship, when this earth, the storehouse of all kinds of medicinal
herbs, was in the stormy waves of the waters of devastation at the
end
of the Yuga, You with all Your power very quickly were there for [the
rescue of] her and me oh Unborn One. I offer You, the ultimate source
of
life of the entire universe, therefore my respectful obeisances [see
also 8.24].'
(29) Residing in
Hiranmaya
the
Supreme
Lord
manifests
with
the
body
of
a
tortoise
[Kurma].
Aryamâ,
the
leader
of
the forefathers, worships together
with the people of that realm that dearmost
embodiment of Him, singing the
following hymn. (30) 'My Lord, our
respects for You, the Supreme Lord in the form of a tortoise. You
are the embodiment of all good qualities, again and again we offer You
our obeisances whose position cannot be
discerned, You the greatest one, He who reaches everywhere and the
Shelter of All. (31) This
form of You
of the visible cosmic complete which You manifested by Your creative
potency and is known by so many appearances, is beyond any measure
and we therefore cannot perceive it as it is - unto You, whose actual
form cannot be expressed in words, our respects. (32)
What is born from a womb,
born from
humidity, born from an egg, born from the earth; what moves or does not
move around, a god, a sage or forefather; what exists as the material
elements, the senses, the higher worlds, the sky, the earthly worlds,
the hills and mountains, the rivers, the oceans, the islands, the stars
and the planets,
thus are all different notions of one and the same [form of You]. (33) From You, with Your
countless different names, forms and features, the learned ones derive
their notion of numerical proportions, enumerations and compositions,
the truth of
which they verify by observation. Unto Him who thus
discloses Himself in analysis, You, I offer my obeisances
[see also Kapila 3.28-33].'
(34) Also
in the northern territory called Kuru there is the Supreme Lord, the
Original
Person of Sacrifice, in His boar form [Varâha, see 3.13].
There He is over and over worshiped by the Goddess
and this planet earth, together with the inhabitants of [Uttara-]Kuru
who are unrelenting in their devotional service unto Him. In this
worship the following
Upanishad verses are repeated: (35)
'We offer the Supreme Lord
our
obeisances who is understood by means of the different mantras for the
sacrifices, the rituals and all the great ceremonies that are part of
His body. That great personality, the purifier of our
karma who manifested Himself in all the three [previous] ages we offer
our respects. (36) For
the great
scholars full of wisdom material nature with her modes constitutes Your
form. Just like with fire that manifests itself in wood when one spins
a stick, they in their spiritual investigations seeking the cause find
You who remain hidden when one endeavors for results. Unto You, that
Soul manifesting Himself, my respects. (37) Those
whose
intelligence stabilized, because of carefully considering all the
different limbs of the yoga system, are thus completely freed from the mâyâ
of Your external form, the illusion that is raised by the objects of
the senses, the demigods [of the sun, the moon, the fire etc] who rule
the senses, the body, the Time that rules [the Ruler], the doer [the
ego] and the modes of nature, whom one all perceives as matters of
fact. My repeated obeisances unto that Sublime Soul. (38) You
entertaining no desires with maintaining, annihilating and creating the
universe, You who in Your supervision with guna and karma -
like
iron
moving
towards
a
magnet
-
wants
to
[take
care
of the souls] but
does
not desire [Your manifestation], You who are there as the witness to
the actions and reactions, I offer my obeisances. (39)
Before Him who in the original form of a boar,
playful like an elephant, after killing the most formidable daitya
opponent in the fight, emerged from the water of the Garbhodaka ocean
keeping me, the earth, on top of His tusks [Hiranyâksha see 3.19] -
before
that Almighty Lord, I bow down.'
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