Skandha 11
भजन्ति ये यथा देवान् देवा अपि तथैव तान् ।
छायेव कर्मसचिवा: साधवो दीनवत्सला: ॥ २.६ ॥
The way people worship Devas, Devas too bestow fruits on them in the same manner; they are subservient to Karma and act like shadow. On the other hand, virtuous people are ever compassionate to the poor. (2.6)
श्रुतोऽनुपठितो ध्यात आदृतो वानुमोदित: ।
सद्य: पुनाति सद्धर्मो देव विश्वद्रुहोऽपि हि ॥ २.१२ ॥
Bhagavatha Dharma, when heard, read, meditated upon, held with respect in heart, or appreciated when found in someone, purifies that person immediately, even if he happens to be the enemy of the whole universe. (2.12)
भक्ति: परेशानुभवो विरक्ति-रन्यत्र चैष त्रिक एककाल: ।
प्रपद्यमानस्य यथाश्नत: स्यु-स्तुष्टि: पुष्टि: क्षुदपायोऽनुघासम् ॥ २.४२ ॥
With every morsel of food consumed, satisfaction, nourishment and relief from hunger result together. Similarly, when one takes refuge in Bhagavan, he develops simultaneously love of the Lord, experience of the Supreme Power and dispassion towards mundane objects. (2.42)
विसृजति हृदयं न यस्य साक्षा-द्धरिरवशाभिहितोऽप्यघौघनाश: ।
प्रणयरसनया धृताङ्घ्रिपद्म: स भवति भागवतप्रधान उक्त: ॥ २.५५ ॥
Even if his name is uttered out of helplessness, Hari destroys the person’s entire mass of sins. If one ties the lotus feet of Bhagavan by love, Bhagavan does not leave his heart, and he becomes the best among devotees of Bhagavan. (2.55)
नित्यार्तिदेन वित्तेन दुर्लभेनात्ममृत्युना ।
गृहापत्याप्तपशुभि: का प्रीति: साधितैश्चलै: ॥ ३.१९ ॥
Wealth, which is acquired with difficulty, causes misery every day and is indeed killer of Atma. Similarly, house, offspring, kith and kin and cattle-wealth, when acquired, are transient and what long term benefit can be derived from them? (3.19)
तस्माद् गुरुं प्रपद्येत जिज्ञासु: श्रेय उत्तमम् ।
शाब्दे परे च निष्णातं ब्रह्मण्युपशमाश्रयम् ॥ ३.२१ ॥
Hence one, who longs for Jnana, should approach a Guru for his best spiritual advancement. The Guru should be master of Vedas (Shabdabrahman) and established in Brahman, having quietened his mundane connections. (3.21)
तत्र भागवतान् धर्मान् शिक्षेद् गुर्वात्मदैवत: ।
अमाययानुवृत्त्या यैस्तुष्येदात्मात्मदोहरि: ॥ ३.२२ ॥
The aspirant, considering the Guru as his own Atma and Bhagavan, should learn the dharmas of Bhagavan’s best devotees. By his practising these dharmas without any scent of delusion, Hari, who is the Atma of all and bestower of Atmajnana, is pleased. (3.22)
स्मरन्त: स्मारयन्तश्च मिथोऽघौघहरं हरिम् ।
भक्त्या सञ्जातया भक्त्या बिभ्रत्युत्पुलकां तनुम् ॥ ३.३१ ॥
Aspirants, out of deep love, meditate on Bhagavan and remind others to similarly meditate. Thus bhakti intensifies among the group and their bodies show hairs standing on end. (3.31)
क्वचिद् रुदन्त्यच्युतचिन्तया क्वचि-द्धसन्ति नन्दन्ति वदन्त्यलौकिका: ।
नृत्यन्ति गायन्त्यनुशीलयन्त्यजं भवन्ति तूष्णीं परमेत्य निवृता: ॥ ३.३२ ॥
Sometimes devotees start weeping on not finding Bhagavan, sometimes they laugh on seeing him, sometimes they are full of joy and start talking out-of-the-world things, sometimes they dance and sing and sometimes, by constant meditation, they become one with that unborn Supreme Bhagavan, and become silent, having cut off totally from mundane matters. (3.32)
इति भागवतान् धर्मान् शिक्षन् भक्त्या तदुत्थया ।
नारायणपरो मायामञ्जस्तरति दुस्तराम् ॥ ३.३३ ॥
Having learnt Dharmas of great devotees and having developed devotion thereby, the aspirant becomes entirely dependent on Narayana and crosses Maya, which is difficult to cross. (3.33)
नाचरेद् यस्तु वेदोक्तं स्वयमज्ञोऽजितेन्द्रिय: ।
विकर्मणा ह्यधर्मेण मृत्योर्मृत्युमुपैति स: ॥ ३.४५ ॥
If one, who has not attained Atmajnana and has not controlled his sense organs, abandons karmas specified by Vedas, he commits Adharma by leaving out prescribed karmas and goes from death to death (i.e. he is stuck in samsara of continuous births and deaths). (3.45)
वेदोक्तमेव कुर्वाणो नि:सङ्गोऽर्पितमीश्वरे ।
नैष्कर्म्यां लभते सिद्धिं रोचनार्था फलश्रुति: ॥ ३.४६ ॥
One, who performs all of those karmas only as prescribed in Vedas without attachment to fruits thereof and dedicates the karmas to Iswara, attains Moksha, the state where karmas have dropped. The narration of fruits of karmas in Vedas is for the purpose of creating interest in due performance of those karmas. (3.46)
ये कैवल्यमसम्प्राप्ता ये चातीताश्च मूढताम् ।
त्रैवर्गिका ह्यक्षणिका आत्मानं घातयन्ति ते ॥ ५.१६ ॥
Those, who have not attained Atmajnana and Moksha, but have crossed the stage of total ignorance, get caught in the three Purusharthas – Dharma, Artha (wealth) and Kama (desire), without attaining peace even for a second and harm their own Atma. (5.16)
विभ्व्यस्तवामृतकथोदवहास्त्रिलोक्या: पादावनेजसरित: शमलानि हन्तुम् ।
आनुश्रवं श्रुतिभिरङ्घ्रिजमङ्गसङ्गै-स्तीर्थद्वयं शुचिषदस्त उपस्पृशन्ति ॥ ६.१९ ॥
O Bhagavan! You have created two kinds of rivers for washing away the sins of the three worlds – one, the river of your stories full of nectarine sports, and the other, Ganga, with waters from washing your feet. Hence people of discrimination in good company take to both these rivers and listen to your sacred stories and bathe in Ganga waters and get rid of their sins. (6.19)
आत्मनो गुरुरात्मैव पुरुषस्य विशेषत: ।
यत् प्रत्यक्षानुमानाभ्यां श्रेयोऽसावनुविन्दते ॥ ७.२० ॥
Specially for human being, Atma is his own Guru; he has the abiltiy to determine the good (and the evil) by direct observation as well as by inference. (7.20)
श्रीब्राह्मण उवाच सन्ति मे गुरवो राजन् बहवो बुद्ध्युपाश्रिता: ।
यतो बुद्धिमुपादाय मुक्तोऽटामीह तान् शृणु ॥ ७.३२ ॥
(Dattatreya tells king Yadu) O king! I have many Gurus from whom I learnt my lessons using my intellect; using that learning, I move about as a liberated person. Let me tell you about those Gurus. (7.32)
पृथिवी वायुराकाशमापोऽग्निश्चन्द्रमा रवि: ।
कपोतोऽजगर: सिन्धु: पतङ्गो मधुकृद् गज: ॥ ७.३३ ॥
The Gurus are: Earth (from Earth I learnt forbearance and courage); Air (satisfaction with minimum wants, not getting affected by surroundings); Space (it is all-pervading and indivisible; Atma is similar); Water (natural purity, cleanliness and sweetness); Agni (maintenance of purity in spite of mundane enjoyment of objects); Moon (changes in external form do not affect Atma); Surya (collecting things without attachment and letting them go in time); Dove (not developing attachment to family); Python (happiness with whatever is got through providence); Ocean (constant happiness and majesty); Firefly (control of sense organs); Honeybee (non-accumulation and non-possession of things); Elephant (Watchfulness in dealings with women). (7.33)
मधुहाहरिणो मीन: पिङ्गला कुररोऽर्भक: ।
कुमारी शरकृत् सर्प ऊर्णनाभि: सुपेशकृत् ॥ ७.३४ ॥
Honey-collector (non-possession and charity of things); Deer (not getting attracted to mundane music); Fish (Necessity to overcome the tongue and taste); Pingala – prostitute (desire is the cause of sorrow and satisfaction is the cause of happiness); Osprey (non- accumulation of desired objects); Child (carefree condition); Girl (lesson from bangles – Merit of being alone); Arrow-maker (extreme concentration); Serpent (not caring for house etc.); Spider (creation, sustenance and destruction without getting attached); Wasp (extreme concentration leads to change of even form).
एते मे गुरवो राजन् चतुर्विंशतिराश्रिता: ।
शिक्षा वृत्तिभिरेतेषामन्वशिक्षमिहात्मन: ॥ ७.३५ ॥
I took refuge in these twenty four Gurus, o king! I learnt lessons for myself from their conduct. (7.35)
सूर्योऽग्निर्ब्राह्मणा गावो वैष्णव: खं मरुज्जलम् ।
भूरात्मा सर्वभूतानि भद्र पूजापदानि मे ॥ ११.४२ ॥
(Sri Krishna to Uddhava) Surya, Agni, Brahmana, Cows, devotee of Vishnu (Bhagavan), Space, Vayu, Water, Earth, Atma and all living beings, O Auspicious one!, are places of my worship. (11.42)
प्रायेण भक्तियोगेन सत्सङ्गेन विनोद्धव ।
नोपायो विद्यते सम्यक् प्रायणं हि सतामहम् ॥ ११.४८ ॥
O Uddhava! But for the combination of Bhaktiyoga and the company of the virtuous, there is generally no means of attaining Moksha; for the virtuous people, I am indeed the refuge. (11.48)
(To be continued)
