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2024-04-26, 11:51 PM |
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Chapter
7: What
Prahlâda Learned in the Womb
(1) Nârada Muni said [to
Yudhishthhira, see 7.1: 13]: 'Thus being requested by
the Daitya sons he, the Asura who was a great devotee
of the Lord, with a
smile addressed them, remembering what I had told him. (2) S'rî Prahlâda said: 'When our father left
for
Mandarâcala to perform austerities, the godly ones made a great
war effort in opposing the Dânavas. (3) The ones
headed by Indra said: 'Luckily the sinner paining
everyone, has now, like a
serpent being eaten by the ants, been consumed by his own sins [so that we can defeat the
Daityas. See 7.3: 15-16].' (4-5)
When the Asura leaders
heard how they by their great
display of violence one after the other were killed, they fearfully
fled
in all directions. And none of them all in his great haste and desire
to stay alive took any heed of his wife, children or wealth, home,
relatives, animals or the articles of his household. (6) In the rush
of their victory the Suras then plundered the king's palace, during which Indra
captured the queen, my mother.
(7) The devarishi who
happened to arrive there on the spot saw how she, being led away on the road, trembling with
fear screamed like a kurarî [an osprey]. (8) He said: 'Oh
King of the Suras, you should not lead this woman away, she is
innocent,
release her right away oh greatest one of fortune, she is the chaste
wife of someone else!'
(9) Indra said: 'She carries the seed of this
impossible Sura enemy in her womb, let her remain in our
custody until she delivers. With that objective being realized I will
release her.'
(10) Nârada said: 'This child is evidently
sinless. He is [in fact] a very great saintly devotee, a powerful
servant of the Eternal One. You will not cause his death.'
(11) Thus addressing him, Indra released her out of
respect for the words of the devarishi and out of
respect for someone [like me] dear to the Eternal Personality. He
devoutly circumambulated her and then returned to his heaven. (12) The
rishi thereafter took my mother to his âs'rama
reassuring her with
the words: 'Stay here my child, until your husband arrives.'
(13)
She, like he had said, thus lived with the devarishi with nothing
to fear from any side for as long as the penance of the Daitya
leader was not completed. (14) For
the welfare of the child
that she expected the faithful
woman in that place where she
wanted to deliver, with great dedication rendered service unto Nârada. (15) The rishi mercifully instructed her and
[through her]
specifically me in both the principles of dharma of relating to the
Lord and the pure spiritual knowledge [concerning the difference
between soul and matter, compare 1.2:
7]. (16) Because
she
is
a
woman
and
because
it
happened
such
a
long
time ago she has forgotten all this knowledge, but
I, blessed by the sage, have not, the memory of it has not left me
even
to this day [see also B.G. 9:
32]. (17) If
you confide in my words
that knowledge is also within your reach. Provided a firm faith the
intelligence of the very best is there just as well for [even] women
and
small
children
as
it
is
there
for
me
[see also B.G. 18: 55]. (18) One
observes all the six
conditions of the body beginning with birth, just like they are seen
with the fruits of the Lord in the form of a tree [that come about,
exist materially, grow, transform,
dwindle and perish], but these changes do not apply to the soul [see
also B.G. 2: 20]. (19-20) The
soul is eternal, does not
dwindle, is pure, is an individual, is the knower of the field and the
original
foundation, the unchanging, self-illumined, actual cause that pervades
all, independently and immutably. By [contemplating] these twelve
transcendental symptoms of the soul
a conscious person is impelled to give up the false conception of 'I'
and 'mine' originating from the illusion that is attached to everything
that belongs
to having a body [see also 6.4:
24]. (21) Gold
being locked
up in
stones is by the gold-diggers in different ways won in the
gold mines and easily extracted by the experts. The experts concerning the
difference between spirit and matter can the same way from within the
fields constituted by organic bodies [see also B.G. 13:
1-4] with the help of spiritual
processes extract the brahmin essence that is the goal. (22) The
teachers of example speak
of eight types of material energy [B.G. 7:
4], three modes
of
nature and sixteen modifications [the
senses of action and perception, the elements and the mind, see also 1.3:
1]. The individual
living entity, the person, is the one element connecting all the others. (23)
The body that moves about or stands still combines all these [24]
elements and is thus characterized by this duality [of spirit and
matter]. Thus equipped one for the sake of
[the authenticity of the] person has to say 'not
this, not that' [neti neti]. That is the way to turn away from
everything that is not the soul. (24) Sober
and thoughtful persons
are of a
mind that is purified on the basis of discriminating that connectedness
within and independence from the material world that is ruled by
creation, maintenance and destruction. (25)
The Original Person of Transcendence is He who oversees the movements
of the intelligence in the waking state, the dream state, and
deep sleep. (26) One
should ascertain the
original position of the soul by [neti
neti] turning away from the dividedness [of the mind] that is produced by
the different actions
of the intelligence in touch with the three modes of material nature,
even
as one can notice the [presence
of] air by its
different odors [see also B.G. 3: 42]. (27) This
constitutes the entrance
[to the
transcendental position] within this ocean of matter in which one is
caught in the operating modes of material nature, the same way one is
caught in a dream.
(28) Therefore from the bottom of your heart you
must burn the weeds of all karma of being conditioned by the modes of
nature, in the yoga realizing the cessation of the stream of
consciousness. (29) Of
the thousands of processes this
method as offered by the bhâgavata [the Lord, the pure
devotee and the
book] offers the process of yoga that once being followed quickly
will
bring about the love for the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead [see also B.G. 18:
66, and the footnote]. (30-31) Properly
wait upon a guru with faith and devotion, offer all that you acquired,
be
of association with the saintly and devoted ones and be of worship for
the Lord. Have faith in the discourses about the Lord, sing about His
qualities and activities, meditate on the feet and exercise respect in
worship of the deities. (32)
Understanding that Hari, the Supreme Lord is situated in all living
beings, one should be of the
highest regard for all creatures and their needs. (33) When
one thus manages to subdue the six
symptoms [of sensual weakness: lust, anger, greed, illusion, madness
and jealousy] devotional service is rendered to the Lord, to
Vâsudeva, the Supreme Personality with whom one finds love. (34)
Hearing about the uncommon activities and
great power of His exploits
and His qualities as demonstrated by the pastimes of His different
appearances, there will be horripilation, tears, a
faltering voice and loud chanting, shouting and dancing because of the great jubilation associated
with it. (35) Like
being haunted by a
ghost there are sometimes laughs, exclamations, meditative moods,
exercises of respect towards other living beings, prolonged heavy
breathing and utterances like: 'Oh Lord, Master of the World,
Nârâyana!' That way being absorbed in
thoughts about the True Self one
is free from shame.
(36) When one is immersed in thoughts of love about Him one is freed from all obstacles on one's
path and harmonized in one's body and
mind. This happens because the so
very powerful seed of desire is
burned by the exercise of bhakti. That is how one achieves Adhokshaja, the
Lord Beyond the Senses [**]. (37) When
one
constantly
keeps
in
touch
with
Adhokshaja,
the
contaminated
mind
of an embodied being in this
world is halted and the cycle of this material existence
is ended. Those who are advanced know everything about that
spiritual heaven of happiness. Be therefore, from the core of your
heart, of devotional service to the Lord of Hearts residing in your
heart
[see also B.G. 18:
54].
(38) And why would the worship of the Lord as the
space [for others] in one's heart, be a problem oh Asura
sons? With Him always present there as the Soul to one's soul
and the friend of all possible living beings, why would it be necessary
to endeavor for ordinary sensual pleasures
[compare 7.6: 19 and
B.G. 9: 26]? (39)
Wealth, women, one's animals, children and all of that; houses, land,
elephants, a treasury, luxury and all the money and that sense
gratification is by the one whose lifespan is but short and
inevitably has to die, lost in a second. What pleasure can one derive
from such a temporary thing? (40) Similarly
the [higher] worlds that are achieved by great sacrifice are all
perishable.
However comfortable they might be, they are not flawless and therefore
He whom one never heard or saw making a mistake, the Supreme Lord, is
the one to be worshiped for one's self-realization with the bhakti
we talked about [see also B.G. 8:
16]. (41) Because
of
the
material
knowledge
in
support
of
the
many
activities
in which one is engaged in this world, one may consider
oneself
highly advanced, but time and again man achieves the inescapable result
of the opposite [of having degraded for the sake of a material purpose]. (42) The
determination of the karmi
[the achievement-oriented person] to be
happy and to be free from misery out here, is an ambition that always
leads to unhappiness because that desire obscures the [interest of the
lasting] happiness that is the result of a more laconic attitude
[concerning material outcomes]. (43) For
the purpose of obtaining the
desired objects that he wants in his ambitions, the living being in this material world
needs to be embodied. This
perishable body embraces the soul, but serving other purposes [than
lasting happiness] it is directed elsewhere. (44)
What can one say? One is ultimately separated from that upon which one based
one's self-esteem: one's
children, wife, home, wealth and all of that, the realm, the treasury,
the
elephant, the ministers and servants and the relatives. (45) Of what value to the
soul is all of this? These
trivial matters concerning the perishable body, appear to be
necessary, but they are useless for attaining the nectar ocean of
eternal happiness.
(46) Just ask yourselves oh Asura sons, of what interest it
would be for someone to be embodied
in this world and from the time of his conception in all stages of
life suffer the consequences of his karma. (47) Someone
embodied
engages
in
result-motivated
actions
with
the
body
he
acquired as a consequence of
what he did in the past and because he performs these actions in
ignorance he obtains yet another body. (48) Therefore
worship
selflessly
the
Supreme
Personality
of
Godhead,
the
Lord,
the Soul of the soul who is
free from desire and upon whom depends [the fulfillment of the desire
to
regulate] one's sensual pleasure, religion and income. (49) The
Lord and Master of all living beings is the beloved, original source of
life who with the [five] elements of nature created all these
individual souls as manifestations of His cosmic intelligence. (50) Whether one is a god, a demon, a man, a ghost
or a
singer of heaven, all who render service to Mukunda's feet will
find the fulfillment that we have found! (51-52) Being a perfect brahmin, a fine godly person
or a saint, oh Asura descendants, will not suffice for pleasing
Mukunda, nor will
good conduct or vast learning. Neither will charity, austerity,
worship, cleanliness nor vows suffice. The Lord is satisfied by
unalloyed
devotional service, the rest is pretentious display [see also B.G. 9:
30 and 1.2:
8]. (53) Oh Dânava sons,
recognize Him, the Soul and Master of all living beings, everywhere in
each and all as your self interest and then be of devotional service
unto Him the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. (54)
Oh Daityas, the ghosts and demons, the women and the laborers, the
cowherds, the birds, the animals and the sinners without any
doubt all can arrive at and be part of the qualities of the
Infallible One,
of Acyuta [see also B.G. 4: 9]. (55) The supreme
self-interest of a person in this world is to see Govinda everywhere
and to be of unalloyed devotional service unto Him [see
also bhajan 1 and 2].'
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