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2024-04-27, 0:51 AM |
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Chapter
14: King
Citraketu's Lamentation
(1) S'rî Parîkchit
said: 'How could Vritrâsura with a nature of passion and
ignorance and being that sinful minded oh brahmin, have such a strong determination in
Nârâyana, the Supreme Person? (2) With [even] the gods whose minds are of pure goodness and the
saints who have unblemished souls, only
rarely is observed that they develop devotion for the lotus feet of Mukunda, the
Lord of Liberation. (3) In this material world there
are as many living entities as there are atoms,
some of them are human or related to the human form and among them only
a few act to do good. (4) Oh best of the twice-born, one always sees
that among those who believe in liberation only a few desire liberation
and that among the thousands of them only
a few are really liberated, are really perfect. (5) And among the
millions and trillions [of living beings] you in the midst of those who
found liberation and perfection oh great sage, will very rarely
find someone who
considers Nârâyana the Supreme One and has a mind that is
completely peaceful [compare B.G. 7: 3 & 7: 26]. (6) How,
[with the
truth of this,] could Vritra then, being so sinful and the cause of
such
suffering all over the world, in the full of his fire of giving battle
have an intelligence that was fixed on Krishna? (7)
I am in great
doubt about this and would very much like to hear oh master, how he
managed to please the Thousand-eyed One in battle with his bravery and
strength.' "
(8) S'rî
Sûta said: "After the powerful son of Vyâsa had listened to
the inquiry of the devout Parîkchit he expressed his
compliments and explained it to him. (9) S'rî S'uka said: 'Please listen carefully oh
King, to
the story about this as heard from the mouths of Vyâsa,
Nârada Muni and Devala Rishi. (10) Once
there
was
a king, an emperor over all the earth who lived in
S'ûrasena and was named Citraketu ['the light of
excellence']. During his rule the earth delivered everything one could
wish for oh King. (11)
He had thousands and
thousands of wives, but from none of them the king got a single child,
even though they were very
well capable of giving birth. (12)
With all his beauty, magnanimity, youth, good birth, education,
opulence, welfare and all other good qualities he was endowed with, he
was full of anxiety in his role of being the spouse to that many wives
bearing no children. (13)
Neither his great opulence nor all his queens
with their beautiful eyes, nor all the lands he ruled as the Emperor
could make him happy. (14)
One day however Angirâ,
the very powerful sage who
traveled around in his countries, unexpectedly arrived at the
palace. (15) In order to pay his respects according to
the
customs, he stood up from his throne and offered him worship. After
thus having proven his hospitality he offered him a comfortable seat
and sat down next to him in proper self-restraint. (16) Then oh
Mahârâja the great rishi
himself bowed down complimenting him who in all humility sat beside him
on the ground and addressed him speaking
as follows.
(17) Angirâ said: 'Is
everything all right with your health and the material order of the
state, the order of the king [in the form of priests, ministers,
territories,
subjects, fortresses, the treasury, the police and the army] that is so
much alike the seven material layers protecting the living being
[consisting of the totality, the ego and the five objects of the
senses; mahat-tattva, ahankâra and tanmâtras]? (18)
The king
submitting himself to [the needs and demands] of these elements of his
rule can achieve welfare and prosperity oh god of man, and so will each and all who depending on
him
offer their wealth and
services. (19) Is it
so that your wives,
citizens, secretaries, servants, merchants as also your ministers,
intimates, governors, landholders and offspring, all
comply with your rule? (20) When
the mind [of the king] is
controlled all the subjects will comply and then everyone, including
the governors, no longer being negligent, will make his contribution. (21)
From
the
anxiety of your pale face I can tell that something is bothering you,
that you for
some or another reason aren't quite happy mentally.'
(22) He
[Citraketu] who desired offspring
and this way was questioned by the muni
despite of his greater learning oh King, bowed
deeply before the sage in great
humility and replied as
follows. (23) King Citraketu said: 'Oh great one, what of the external and internal
affairs of the embodied
souls would not be understood by
yogis who by dint of their austerity, spiritual knowledge and
meditative absorption are freed
from all sins? (24) Nevertheless, even
though you know everything, you ask me what's on my mind oh
brahmin. Let me now with your
permission dilate on what you asked me. (25) Having a great
empire even desirable to the demigods, all the wealth and the
upkeep doesn't give me any pleasure because I have no son. To me it is
all
like trying to satisfy one's hunger and thirst with everything else but
food and drink. (26) Save
therefore me and my forefathers
from getting lost in the darkness oh great wise. Make it so that we get
a
son and thus may defeat that [threat] which is so difficult to
overcome.'
(27) S'rî S'uka said: 'Thus being beseeched, the most
powerful and merciful son of Brahmâ made him cook a preparation
of
sweet rice for Tvashthâ [the demigod father of Vis'varûpa,
see 6.8], which he then offered in worship of
him. (28) The sage
then offered the remnants of the sacrifice to the first and most perfect queen of all the king's queens who was called Kritadyuti, oh best of the Bhâratas. (29) Thereafter he said to the king: 'Oh King,
there will be one son who will be the
cause of jubilation as also lamentation for you', whereupon the son of
Brahmâ left. (30) After having eaten the food of the offering Kritadyuti proved
to be impregnated by Citraketu, the way the goddess Krittikâ
received a son [named Skanda]
from Agni. (31) Her
fetus gradually developed
little by little from the semen of the king of
S'ûrasena, just like the moon does during the bright fortnight of
the month. (32) And
thus in due
course of time a son was born who created the greatest delight among
the
inhabitants of S'ûrasena when they heard about it. (33)
The king, very
happy with his newly born son, bathed and decorated himself with
ornaments and then arranged for the brahmins to perform the birth
ceremony with many benedictory words. (34) He
donated to the brahmins gold,
silver, garments, ornaments as also villages, horses, elephants and
sixty crores of cows. (35) In
order to
increase the opulence, the reputation and longevity of his newly born
son, he with great attention like a raincloud showered all one
could wish for. (36)
Just
like a poor
man who has an increasing affection for the riches he gained with great
difficulty, the pious king, as a father, day after day felt more love
for the son he with so much difficulty had received. (37)
Also
the
mother developed
ignorantly an
excessive affection for the son and that led, with all the
co-wives of Kritadyuti, to a feverish desire
to have sons as well. (38) As
good as he all day cared about
the son, king Citraketu was also extraordinarily
attracted to the wife who gave him the son and not so much to the
other wives. (39) Because
of
having
no
sons
and
being
unhappy
for
being
neglected
by
the
king,
they
then
lamented,
condemning
themselves out of envy. (40) A woman who has no son is at home by her
husband and the co-wives who do have sons, disrespected and burdened
with the load of sin. She is
then despised like a maid-servant. (41)
What would a maid-servant
have
to
lament when she finds her honor in faithfully serving her husband? But
if she is there like a maid-servant to the
maid-servants, she is most unfortunate. (42) The
queens, who burned [in lamentation and envy] because their
king enjoyed the wealth of a son from their rival Kritadyuti, having fallen out of grace thus developed a very
strong hatred. (43) Out
of their minds because of their enmity the women unable to accept the
king['s conduct], became extremely
hard-hearted and administered poison to the boy. (44) Kritadyuti walking around the house was not
aware of the sin committed by the co-wives and thought, looking upon
her son, that he was fast asleep. (45)
When the boy had lied down a
long time
she, as a sensible woman, therefore gave the nurse the order: 'Please
oh friend, bring me my
son.' (46)
Looking after him the nurse
saw him lying down with his eyes turned upwards and his life force,
mind and senses gone. She then falling to the ground cried:
'I'm doomed!' (47) As
soon as the queen
heard that she with an agitated voice in loud words of regret was
striking her breast with both her hands, she also hurried in and
saw, upon approaching her son, that her child unexpectedly had deceased. (48)
Overcome by grief she fell unconscious to the ground with her
hair
and dress in disarray. (49)
Next oh
ruler of man, all the inhabitants of the palace and all the
people, men and women who had heard the loud crying nearby, came and
all
lamented greatly being equally aggrieved, just as did pretentiously
the
ones who had committed the crime. (50-51) Hearing
that
his
son
had
died
for
reasons
unknown,
the
king
couldn't
see
properly
anymore.
Followed
by his entourage of ministers and brahmins he on his way constantly fell and
slipped. Because of his affection
his lamentation grew [like fire] so that he fell unconscious down at
the
feet
of the dead boy. Heavily breathing with his hair and dress disheveled,
he [coming to] wasn't capable of uttering a single word anymore because of his choked up voice and the tears he cried. (52)
The
queen,
seeing her husband crying heavily in his grief over the
deceased child, the only son of the family, cried along in every
possible way and
thus added to the anguish of all the people, including
the officers and ministers, who had gathered there. (53)
The flowers in her
scattered hair slipped down while her two with kumkum powdered breasts got wet from the
teardrops
that, mixed with her make-up, fell from her eyes. She lamented about her son with a sound
that reminded one of the sweet cries of a
kurarî bird.
(54) 'Alas, oh Creator of my fate, how
much You fail in Your wisdom! With the father alive while his
offspring is dead You prove to be someone who acts against His own
creation. Such a contradiction
makes You an opponent. (55) If there in this
world is no regular order to the death and birth of the
ones embodied, then let it be so that things happen as a result of
one's karma. [But with] this [taking away of my son] You personally
are
cutting
away
the
bond
of
love
that
You
created
for
the
growth of
Your creation! (56)
And you my dear son, shouldn't give up on
me. I am so miserable without you as my protector. Look what grief you
gave your father. With you we can easily overcome the darkness that is
so difficult to defeat without a son. Please don't abandon us any
longer, do not go away with the merciless Lord of Death. (57) Get
up my sweet son, all the children, all your playmates are calling for
you to come and play with
them oh prince of mine. You've slept so long and must be really
hungry by now. Please take my breast to drink and drive away the
grief of your relatives. (58) How
unfortunate not to see the charming smiles any longer of you who were
born from my
flesh. Have you, now that you've
closed the eyes of your lotus face, really
left for the other world, the
place of no return? Have you been taken away by the cruel Lord of
Death? No longer I can hear
your sweet prattle.... .'
(59) S'rî S'uka
said: 'Citraketu, with the woman bewailing her dead son this
way in several
lamentations, was very much aggrieved and cried loudly. (60)
With
the king and
his wife thus lamenting, all their subjects cried equally aloud
and thus all the men and women of the kingdom were out of their wits of
sadness. (61) Sage Angirâ, who knew that they
because of the misery that fell upon them had lost their senses and
were helpless, then visited them together with Nârada Muni.'
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