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2024-03-29, 6:48 PM |
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Chapter
18: King
Yayâti Regains his Youth
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'Just
like
an embodied soul
having six senses [with
the mind as the
sixth] there were from king
Nahusha [another son of Purûravâ's son
Âyu] six sons:
Yati,
Yayâti,
Samyâti,
Âyati,
Viyati
and
Kriti.
(2)
The eldest son Yati did not accept the
kingdom offered by his father, for he knew what that entails. A person who enters such a position cannot
seriously engage in self-realization. (3) When
his father by the
brahmins was forced to abdicate for having offended Indra's wife
S'acî and he hence had degraded to the level of a python [a
'goat-swallower'], Yayâti became
the king. (4)
He allowed his four younger
brothers to rule the different
directions. Yayâti thus ruling the world married with the
daughters [Devayânî] of S'ukrâcârya and
[S'armishthhâ of] Vrishaparvâ.'
(5) The king said: 'The mighty seer
S'ukrâcârya was a brahmin while Yayâti belonged to
the kshatriya class. How could there, against the customs, be a [pratiloma] marriage of a
brahmin [daughter]
with a kshatriya?' [anuloma, the other way around, was
more common].
(6-7) S'rî S'uka said: 'One day
Vrishaparvâ's daughter named S'armishthhâ, an
innocent girl with a passionate character, was together with the daughter of the guru Devayânî
and with thousands of friends.
They walked in the palace garden full of blossoming trees that had sand banks with lotus flowers buzzing with the sweet sounds of bumblebees. (8) When the lotus-eyed girls arrived at
the side of the lake
situated there, they gave up their dresses on the bank and began
sporting in the water by splashing one another. (9) They [suddenly] saw Lord S'iva
passing by seated on his bull
together with the goddess
[Pârvatî]. The
young girls quickly got out of the water and full of shame
covered
themselves with their garments. (10) Without
noticing
it
S'armishthhâ
put
on the clothes of the guru's daughter as if they were her own, whereupon Devayânî irritated said this: (11) 'Now
look how she like a
maid-servant acts without any manners.
She just like a dog going for the ghee for a sacrifice has put on the
garment that was meant for me! (12-14) Of us descendants of Bhrigu better than the
rest by
whose austerity this entire
world was created,
of us who are the face of the Personality of Transcendence and by whose
piety the light of the right path is known, of us unto whom
the masters of the world, the enlightened ones of control and even the
Supreme Lord, the Purifying Supersoul and Husband of the Goddess, are
offering prayers, she,
whose demoniac father is a disciple of our father, has put on what was
meant to be worn by us. It is as if an unchaste s'udra tries to
master
the Vedas!'
(15) S'armishthhâ thus
rebuked breathed heavily like a trampled serpent and said very angrily
biting her lip to the guru's daughter: (16) 'What
a
nonsense, you beggar! You do not know your place. Is not it you who
waits
outside our house [for food] like the crows do?'
(17) With these unkind words rebuking her
S'armishthhâ angrily took the garments away from the
virtuous daughter of the spiritual teacher and pushed her into
a well. (18) As
she went home Yayâti, who
wandered around for a hunt, happened
to arrive at the spot and,
thursting for water, discovered her in the well. (19)
Because she sat there completely
naked, the king gave her his
upper garment and most kindly put
his hand into hers to
pull her out. (20-21) The daughter of Us'anâ
[or
S'ukrâcârya, see also B.G. 10:
37] with words
full of love and kindness said to the
hero: 'Oh King, with you
taking my hand, oh
conqueror of the cities of the enemy, you have accepted my hand! May it
not be
touched by anyone else but by you because the relationship between you and
me that we have now,
was
arranged by
providence oh hero and not by man!
(22) Having landed in this well I learned about your goodness. [Please know
that] no qualified
brahmin can become my husband oh strong-armed one, because Kaca, the
son
of Brihaspati whom I have cursed
in the past, pronounced a curse against it [*].'
(23) Yayâti did not like what had been
arranged by providence, but thinking for himself however he, attracted
to her, agreed to her proposal. (24) After
the
king had left she, having returned home, in tears wisely told
everything
to her father, recounting all that S'armishthhâ had done
and what had happened thereafter. (25) The
mighty thinker was most
unhappy about it. He condemned the priesthood, praised the activity of
collecting grains [uñcha-vritti, see 7.11: 16
and 7.12: 17-19] and left his
residence together with his
daughter. (26) King Vrishaparvâ understanding that
his
spiritual master acted in resistance, propitiated him by prostrating on
the road with his head at his
feet. (27) The
mighty son of Bhrigu,
who could not be angry for longer than a minute, then said to his
disciple:
'I cannot ignore her, please fulfill her desire oh King!'
(28) With
his consent to settle matters [as demanded] Devayânî
expressed her
desire: 'To whomever my father gives me away in marriage, she
[S'armishthhâ] must accompany me as my follower.'
(29) S'armishthhâ together with her friends by
the father being given to Devayânî
understood the danger [of the âcârya
leaving] and also what the benefit was of his respectability, and
therefore served her with the
thousands of other women as a servant. (30) When
he gave his daughter [Devayânî] to [Yayâti] the descendant of
Nahusha, S'ukrâcârya
said to him: 'Oh King, never ever allow S'armishthhâ
into
your bed!'
(31) S'armishthhâ [however] who [later on] saw
that Us'anâ's daughter had nice children, asked him at an
opportune moment in a secluded place, whether he as the husband of her
girlfriend would not like her as a faithful wife. (32) Remembering
what S'ukra had
said when he gave his advice for a situation like this, he who by the
princess was requested to have children with her, then decided from his
sense of duty and respect for the principles of religion, to give in to
her [compare B.G. 7:
11]. (33) Devayânî
gave
birth
to
Yadu and Turvasu. S'armishthhâ, the daughter of
Vrishaparvâ, had Druhyu,
Anu and Pûru. (34) When
Devayâni was informed that
S'armishthhâ was
pregnant of her protector she boiling with anger proudly returned to
her father's house. (35)
Following his sweetheart, his great desire, he tried to appease her
with meaningful words and massaging her feet, but it was in vain. (36) S'ukra
said
angrily
to
him:
'You
womanizing,
deceitful
man.
May
you
oh fool, be afflicted by the
disfigurement of the human body because of age.'
(37) S'rî Yayâti said: 'As yet my
lust with your daughter has not been satisfied oh brahmin!'
[S'ukra replied:] 'For as
long as
you are
lusty you may exchange your old age for the youth of
someone willing to consent to that.'
(38) He thus got the opportunity
to change places with his eldest son. He asked him: 'Oh Yadu, beloved
son, please
give me your youth in exchange for this old age! (39) I am
not yet satisfied in my
sensual needs,
my dear son. When you take upon yourself the burden of old age that
your grandfather [S'ukra] wished me, I can enjoy life a few years more [see also 7.5:
30].'
(40) S'rî
Yadu
said: 'I am not happy
to
accept your old age while you remain youthful. A person [like me] will never become
free from material desires without
[having
had]
the
experience
of
bodily
happiness [see
also 7.12:
9-11 and B.G. 4:
13]!'
(41) The father requested Turvasu, Druhyu and Anu
oh son of Bharata, but they refused to accept because they, not
conversant with
the true nature [of the soul], took their temporality for something
permanent. (42)
He asked Pûru who was younger but better qualified. He said to
him: 'You my dear son, would not turn
me
down
like your older brothers
did, would you?'
(43) S'rî Pûru said:
'Who oh King, oh best one among the people, gets in this world the
chance to
repay his father for the body that he gave? It is by his mercy that one
may enjoy a higher life. (44) He
who acts in respect of his father's
wishes is the best one, he who acts on his command is but mediocre and
low-class is he who acts irreverently but he who defies his
father's words is like his stool.'
(45) Pûru was thus pleased
to accept the burden of old age of his father while his father was
pleased with the satisfaction of his youthful desires that he asked for
oh ruler of man. (46) He [Yayâti] as the master of the seven
continents ruled like a father over his subjects
and enjoyed to his heart's content the material happiness without any
frustration of his senses. (47) Devayânî
on
top
of
that
provided
her
beloved
husband
as
his sweetheart in
private twenty-four hours a
day divine bliss with all of her body, mind and words and
everything that belongs to it. (48) With
different rituals worshiping
Hari, the Personality of Sacrifice, the Godhead and
Reservoir of all Divinity and Object of all Vedic knowledge,
Yayâti was of an abundant charity. (49) Then
the
complete
of
the
in Himself created world appears
- just like a mass of clouds in the
sky - as a diversity of [life]
forms and then again it is of no
manifestation, like it concerned a creation of the mind as in a dream [see also B.G. 7:
24-25]. (50) Placing only Him in his heart, Lord
Vâsudeva, the One Nârâyana who exists within each but
is visible to
no one, he free from desire worshiped the Supreme Master. (51) Thus
for a thousand
years with his mind and his five
senses being engaged in a notion of worldly happiness he, the master of
the entire world, because of his
devious senses nevertheless could
not find satisfaction.'
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