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2024-04-26, 8:03 PM |
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Chapter 81: The Brahmin Honored: Lord Krishna
the Godhead of the Brahmins
(1-2)
S'rî S'uka said: 'He, Bhagavân
Krishna, the True Goal of the Devotees, the Lord Knowing Perfectly the
Minds of All Beings, in this manner conversing with this best one among
the brahmins, then, in His dedication to the ones of learning, spoke to
His dear friend, with a loving glance looking at him, smiling and
laughing. (3) The Supreme Lord said: 'What gift have you
brought for Me from home, o brahmin? Even the slightest thing offered
by devotees in pure love turns into something immense for Me, whereas
not even the greatest being presented by non-devotees may please Me. (4) Whoever offers Me a leaf, a flower, a fruit
and water with devotion, that offer brought from the heart by a soul of
good habits I accept [same as in B.G.
9: 26].'
(5) The one twice-born though, thus being
addressed, was, bowing down his head, too embarrassed with Him, the
Husband of the Goddess of Fortune, and didn't offer the few hands of
rice grains, o King. (6-7) As the
direct Witness in the heart of all living beings fully cognizant of the
reason why he came thought He to Himselves: 'He worshiped Me in the
past and never desired the opulence, but because he, My friend, to keep
his chaste and devoted wife happy, now came to Me, will I give him
riches that are [even] out of reach for the immortals [see also B.G.
9: 22].' (8) With this in mind snatched He Himself from
under the garment of the twice-born one away the ricegrains that were
tied up in a bundle, and said He: 'What is this? (9) Have you brought this to My pleasure My dear
friend? These ricegrains satiate Me and the whole universe [that I am]!
(10)
Thus speaking took He a handful to eat and a
second one, whereupon S'rî [Rukminî devî] devoted to
Him, the One Supreme, seized His hand [for the beaten grains were hard
to digest]. (11) 'That, o Soul of the Universe, is enough to
make a person who is after Your satisfaction prosper in this world and
the next with all opulence available.'
(12) The brahmin the night thereafter residing in
Acyuta's palace, having drunken and eaten to his fill felt as if he had
attained heaven. (13) The next day
went he who was honored by Him, the Self-satisfied Maintainer of the
Universe, back to his own residence my dear, feeling delighted as he
walked the road. (14) Even though
he had received no wealth from Krishna and had been too embarrassed to
beg for it on his own accord, was he on his way home filled with joy
about the audience he had with the Great One. (15) 'Ah, what a privilege it is to have
witnessed the extend of the devotion to the twice-born of the Godhead
of the Brahmins; He who carries Lakshmî on His chest embraced the
poorest man! (16) Who am I? Someone poor and sinful! And who
is Krishna? The temple of S'rî! And He, this friend of the
brahmins, closed me unblinking in His arms! (17)
Like one of His brothers having me seated on the bed of His beloved,
was I, tired as I was, by His queen fanned with a hair-fan she held. (18) With sincerity served and with my feet
massaged and such was I like a demigod worshiped by the God of Gods,
the Godhead of the Learned! (19)
The worship of His feet is the root cause of all perfections and
opulence a person may find in heaven, in his emancipation, in the lower
regions and on earth. (20) 'If this poor
one obtains riches will he, delighting in excess, not remember Me', He
must have thought, in His grace not to grant me the slightest amount of
wealth.'
(21-23) Thus innerly occupied with these thoughts
arrived he in the vicinity of his home. There he found himself placed
before high rising palaces, rivaling the sun, the fire and the moon,
that on all sides were surrounded by wonderful courtyards and gardens
swarming with hordes of cooing birds, ponds full of lilies and night
and day blooming white lotuses and well adorned and ornamented men and
women with deer-like eyes. 'What is this, whose place is this, how
could this come about?' (24)
That way paining his mind was he welcomed by the men and women with
complexions effulgent like the demigods, who most fortunately loudly
sang with instrumental music. (25)
Hearing that her husband had arrived, came his excited wife extremely
jubilant, quickly out of the house like it was the goddess of fortune
manifesting herself from her abode. (26)
Seeing the husband she was so devoted to, bowed she with her eyes,
tearful with the spur of love, closed, solemnly her head down,
embracing him within her heart. (27)
Seeing his wife appearing as effulgent as a goddess in a vimâna,
shining in the midst of maidservants with golden lockets around their
necks, was he stunned. (28) Pleased
himself to be joined by her saw he, having entered his home, how it
with its hundreds of gem-studded pillars looked like the palace of the
great Indra. (29-32) There were
ivory beds ornamented with gold [with bedding] white as foam and
couches with golden legs, yaktail fans, golden chairs with soft
cushions and canopies hung with strings of pearls. Seeing the sparkling
clear quartz walls inlaid with precious emeralds as also the jeweled
lamps and the women decorated with jewels, reasoned the brahmin
therewith, free from agitation with all the flourishing opulence, about
the cause of the unexpected prosperity: (33)
'It must be so that the cause of my prosperity here, of me who poverty
stricken was always so unfortunate, can be nothing but the glance upon
me of Him, the Best of the Yadus, the One of the Greatest Opulence. (34) After all, gave He, my Friend, the most
exalted among the Das'arhas, with me being in the presence of Him, the
Enjoyer of All Wealth, as plentiful as a cloud having said nothing when
He took notice of my intention to beg. (35)
Contrary to the little that He makes of the great that He Himself gives
is the insignificant given by a well-wishing friend by Him turned into
something great; that is how the Supreme Soul with pleasure accepted
the palmful of ricegrains brought by me. (36)
Let there indeed life after life repeatedly be my love [sauhrida], friendship
[sakhya], sympathy [maitrî] and servitude [dâsya] with Him, the Supremely Compassionate
Reservoir of Transcendental Qualities, and may I become firmly attached
to the valuable association of His devotees. (37) Upon His devotee does the Supreme Lord not
bestow the wonderful opulences - a kingdom and material assets - when
he, not born again , fails in understanding. In His wisdom He sees how the
intoxication [the mada] leads to the downfall of the wealthy.'
(38) This way firmly fixed in intelligence was he
most devoted to Janârdana and enjoyed he together with his wife
free from inordinate desire. Therewith kept he aways in mind that he
[time and again] had to renounce the objects of the senses. (39) Because of Him, the God of Gods, Hari, the
Master and Lord of Sacrifice are the brahmins truly the masters; there
is no higher deity to be found than them. Thus seeing the Unconquerable One as
conquered by His own servants and was he, the learned friend of the Supreme
Lord, by the momentum of his meditation upon Him released from his
bondage to the [material] self and attained he soon His abode, the
destination of the truthful. (41)
A man hearing of this sympathy for the twice-born of the Godhead of the
Brahmins, finds love for the Supreme Lord and is freed from the bondage
of fruitive labor.
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