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2024-04-18, 8:25 AM |
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Chapter
5: Vidura
Talks with
Maitreya
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'At the source of the
celestial river [the Ganges] Vidura,
the best among the Kurus
who had come closer to the Infallible One, sat before Maitreya Muni
whose knowledge was fathomless and with a perfect respect he from the satisfaction of his transcendence politely asked him questions. (2)
Vidura said: 'For the sake of
happiness everyone in this world engages in fruitive activities, but by
those activities one never becomes happy or finds satisfaction, on the
contrary, one rather becomes unhappy that way. Please, oh great one,
kindly enlighten us on what would be the right course in which
circumstances. (3) The
great souls who are of sacrifice wander around for
the sake of the Lord of the three worlds, because of their compassion for the common
man who turned his face away from Lord Krishna and under the
influence of the material world is always unhappy in neglect of his
duties to God. (4) Therefore oh
greatest among the saints, please instruct me on the path that is
favorable for us serving the
Supreme Lord perfectly who,
residing in
the heart of the living beings, awards the unalloyed devotee the
knowledge of the basic principles [the Truth] with which one learns the
classical wisdom [the Veda]. (5) What does the self-sufficient Supreme Lord
and ruler of the three worlds all
do when He despite of being
desireless accepts it to be incarnate in order to arrange
the maintenance of the created
universe? (6) How can He who withdraws to lie down
in the ether and be unconcerned at the basis of the universe as the One
Lord of Unification, as the one and only original master then again
have an existence in the form of the many different [avatâras]? (7) Why is it
that, concerning the
pastimes that He for the welfare of the twice-born ones, the cows and
the
devoted ones displays in the transcendental activities of His different
incarnations, our minds never seem to have enough in spite of time and
again hearing about the auspicious, nectarean characteristics of
the Lord? (8) What are the different
principles on the basis of which the
Lord of all Lords generated the different rulers and their higher
and lower worlds
wherein, as known, all classes of beings are differently occupied? (9) And please
describe to us, oh chief among the brahmins, how the creator of the universe
Nârâyana, the
self-sufficient Lord who for
mankind is the way, put together
all the
different forms, engagements and dispersed cultures of the incarnated souls.
(10)
Oh fortunate one, from the mouth of
Vyâsadeva I repeatedly heard about the higher and lower [nature]
of these
occupations, but without the
nectar of the talks about Krishna I
am
little
satisfied
about
these
matters
and
the
happiness
derived
from
them. (11) Who can get enough of the stories
about Him whose feet are the places of pilgrimage and who in society is worshiped by the great devotees? When these stories enter someone's ears they, because of the love they bestow, cut asunder the ties of affection a person has with his
family! (12) Your friend sage Krishna Dvaipâyana
Vyâsa has described the transcendental qualities of the Supreme
Lord in the
Mahâbhârata. That book is only there to draw the attention
of
people who take pleasure in attending to worldly topics towards
the stories of the Lord. (13) The
weight of
that belief gradually brings
about
indifference for other matters. The one who constantly remembers the
Lord His feet has achieved the bliss that without delay vanquishes
all
miseries. (14) I
pity all those ignorant poor people
who, in decay with the divinity of Time, in the sinfulness of their
pitiable state of ignorance have
turned
away
from
the
stories
about
the
Lord
and waste
the length of their lives with useless philosophical
exercises, imaginary purposes and a diversity of rituals. (15) Therefore,
oh
Maitreya,
you
who
as
the
friend
of
the
distressed
promotes
the
good
fortune
[of
everyone],
please
describe
for
our welfare of all topics
the essence: the talks about the Lord that alike the
nectar of flowers constitute the glory of all pilgrimaging. (16) Please tell us
everything
pertaining to the transcendental, superhuman activities accomplished by
the Lord in His with all potencies equiped embodiments for the sake of
a perfect grip on the
maintenance and creation of His universe.'
(17) S'rî S'uka
said: 'Thus as
requested the great sage, His lordship Maitreya, did Vidura for the ultimate welfare of all the honor of giving an exposition [on these matters]. (18) S'rî
Maitreya said: 'My blessings, oh good one whose mind is constantly
fixed
upon the Lord beyond the senses. Your questioning me
for the sake of all is proof of the goodness of your mercy to broadcast
the glories of the soul in this world. (19) Oh
Vidura, I am not surprised that you who accepted the Supreme Personality our Lord, without any deviation of thought have asked
me these questions, for you were
born from the semen of Vyâsa. (20) Because of a curse of the
powerful sage Mândavya
Muni you have, from the maidservant of the brother
[Vicitravîrya] and the son
of Satyavatî [Vyâsadeva], taken
birth as the incarnation of
Yamarâja, the controller of death [see family tree]. (21) Your
goodness
is recognized as one of
the eternal associates of the Supreme Lord. Upon His return to His
abode He ordered me to instruct you in spiritual knowledge. (22) Therefore
I shall
now give you a systematic description of the pastimes of the Supreme
Lord in His control over the enormously extended outer illusion for the
sake of the creation, maintenance and dissolution of the universe.
(23) Prior to the creation of the universe
the
Supreme Lord, the Self and master of the living beings, existed as one
without a second. It was His wish [then] not to be manifested as
[many] individual soul[s], with [each] a vision of his own and outer
characteristics. (24) He at
the time being nothing of that all, as a seer could not discern
anything
visible.
Free to act to His wishes He, with His inner potency manifested but
with His expansions and His material potency not manifested, felt as if He did not exist. (25) That what He as the
perfect
seer sees
is energy characterized by cause and effect. Oh fortunate one, this
energy with which the Almighty has built this world is called mâyâ
[illusory, bewildering]. (26) With the effect
of Eternal Time [kâla]
upon the
three modes of
this illusory energy, the
Supreme being, He who essentially is spiritual, generated the
virility [the valour, the manliness, the power] by [entering the universe as]
the person [as the
Purusha]. (27) From
the unmanifested then by the interaction of time came about the Mahat-tattva
[the complete of the Supreme, the cosmic intelligence]. This physical
self that situated in the totality drives away darkness and ignorance is of an understanding nature and capable of
creating complete [spiritual] universes. (28) The
[sum total of
manifestation]
which thus constitutes a plenary expansion of guna, kâla and [jîv]-âtmâ,
forms the range of sight of the Personality of Godhead. It is the
reservoir, the reason for existence, the self, of the many
differentiated life forms of this universe that urges on creative
effort.
(29) The
Mahat-tattva transforming into the material reality of ego
consciousness manifests itself in terms of cause, effect and
doer. Thus we have three kinds of ego that constitute a reflection in
the
mind of [the gunas of] the self, the material
elements and sentience: [respectively] brilliance [sattva],
ignorance [tamas] and variability [rajas]. (30) With the principle of variability of the ego [vaikârika] a
transformation is brought about of the mind that in its emotionality
calls for all the God-conscious ones who constitute the basis of the
material knowledge concerning the phenomenal world. (31) With
the brilliance [taijasâni] of one's sense spiritual
knowledge
about
fruitive
activities
[karma]
dominates. (32) In
ignorance [tamas] one
arrives at the realization of the subtle sense objects [of imagined
sounds and images] of which the ether [their medium] constitutes the
representation of the Supersoul. (33) Material
energy
is
a
partial
mixture
of
time
[the
time
of
expanding
and
contracting].
The
Supreme
Lord
glancing
this
over
from
the
ether,
thus being contacted created the transformation of that touch in the
form of air. (34) The
air, also
transformed by the extremely powerful ether, gave rise to the
form of light and [the bio-electricity] of sense perception by which
the world is seen.
(35)
From
the interaction of the air and its bio-electricity with
the glance of the Lord [of the ether] there was by the mixture of time a transformation of the material energy
that created the taste [for life]
in water. (36) The
electrified
water thus created due to the transformation of the Supreme Spirit
[of the ether] glancing over the earth, led to the creation of the
quality of smell with the partly uniting of the external energy with
eternal time.
(37) Oh gentle
one,
understand
that
from
the
ether
onwards,
all
the
material
elements
and
the
great
number
of
their
superior
and
inferior
qualities, [owe their existence to] the finishing touch
of the Supreme. (38) The
gods ruling over all these
material elements are all part and parcel of Lord Vishnu. Embodied in
the time-bound energy as partial aspects they fail in their personal
duties and express their honest feelings for the Lord. (39)
The gods said: 'Our obeisances at Your lotus feet oh Lord, in
distress we surrendered to them because they are the protecting
umbrella
that offers all the great sages shelter who vigorously fully put behind
themselves all the great miseries of material life. (40) Oh Father, because of the fact that in this
material world oh Lord, the individual souls are always embarrassed by
the three miseries [born from oneself, others and nature] they are
never happy, but attaining Your self oh Supreme Personality, they
obtain
the shelter of the shade of Your lotus feet and the knowledge. (41) At every step
taking to the shelter of the place of pilgrimage of Your feet, the
great sages, who on the wings of the Vedic hymns with a clear mind
search for Your
lotuslike face, find their shelter at the best of rivers [the
Ganges] that liberates from the reactions to sin. (42)
The meditation that with belief, simply hearing and
devotion cleanses the heart with the strength of the
knowledge of detachment, obliges those who found the peace to head for
the sanctuary
of Your lotus feet.
(43)
Let us all seek the
shelter of the lotus feet of You who assumed the forms of the avatâras
for the sake of the creation, maintenance and dissolution of the
universe. Oh Lord, they
constitute the refuge that awards the courage of the devotees with remembrance. (44) Because
the
people
get
entangled
and
are
thus
of
the
material
body
in
the
mind
of
'I'
and
'mine',
they
are
immersed
in an undesirable eagerness and
see themselves far removed from You, even though You are present in
their bodies. Let us therefore worship Your lotus feet, oh Lord. (45) They [Your feet] cannot be seen by those who,
under the influence of the material world, by
their sense perception became alienated from the internal vision oh
Supreme One. But oh Greatness, for those who
do have the [inner] vison there are the pastimes of Your divine
activities. (46)
Oh Lord, those who are seriously committed simply by drinking the
nectar of the talks attain the full maturity of devotional service, the
true meaning of renunciation, the intelligence in which one quickly
achieves the spiritual sphere where foolishness and indolence have
ended
[Vaikunthha]. (47) For
others of transcendental
realization in the yoga in which one conquers the very powerful
material world, You are also the one, pacifying Original Person whom
they enter. But while it for them is a thing hard to accomplish that is
not the case for the
ones who serve You. (48) Oh Original Lord, we are therefore much
obliged. Since we for the sake of the creation of the world one
after the other were created and
in the past were separated as a consequence of what we did
according to the
three modes of nature, we were caught in the network of our own
pleasures and failed to stand united in Your service. (49) Oh Unborn
One,
direct us in making our offerings at the right time whereby
we can share our meals and also all other living beings can have their
sustenance so that we with our offerings of food can
eat without disturbance. (50) Oh Lord, You are
of us the gods, the God-conscious and our orders, the one unique
original primal person. You oh Lord are, although You are unborn, for
the
material energy the
cause of the gunas and the karma, alike the seed that is sown
for begetting the species. (51) Oh
Supreme Soul,
tell us what we, who were all created from and for the totality of the
cosmos, should do for You and specifically grant us the vision of Your
personal plan. Please grant us the ability oh Lord, to work and act
according to Your special mercy with us [the status-orientations and
their transcendence].'
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