Chapter 19 - Yayāti’s Retirement and Final Emancipation

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Śrī Śuka said:

1. (While) Yayāti, the woman-dominated addict, was enjoying the pleasures of senses in this way, he became aware of his spiritual fall (negligence of the Self) and being disenchanted (with worldly pleasures), narrated the following parable to his beloved Devayānī.

2. “Oh Devayānī! Please listen to this history of a passionate person on this earth, whose life and conduct were just like mine, and whose lot was deplored by self-controlled people residing in forests.

3. A certain goat, while seeking all alone for an object dear to him, in a jungle, happened to see a goat fallen into a well as a result of her fate.

4. Cherishing lust for her, the goat thought out a way to lift her up and digging out the earth on the bank with the tips of his horns, he made a way out for her.

5-6. It is said that after getting out of the well, the beautiful she-goat loved him (as her husband). Observing that she had selected a stout, finely bearded, lovable he-goat possessing great venereal strength and expert in the art of sexual intercourse, a number of other she-goats desirous of having a mate, wooed him. That he-goat possessed as he was by the devil of sexual passion, excited the passion of that flock of she-goats and revelled with them all alone, and thus failed to realize and think about his own self.

7. Seeing him enjoying himself with another most beautiful she-goat, the female-goat that formerly suffered a fall in the well, did not tolerate that act of the he-goat.

8. Being distressed, she left her mate who was wicked- hearted, a false lover posing as a friend, and professing love only for a moment, but really given to the gratification of his senses, and went to her master.

9. Even that goat too, being a woman-addict, felt aggrieved and followed her to reconcile hen but in spite of his bleating with erotic eloquence he failed to win her over on the way.

10. There, her master, a certain Brāhmaṇa, castrated the dangling scrotum of that goat. But in the interest (of the she-goat), he, being a master of (such) expedients sewed back the amputated limb.

11. Having got his testicles (along with his capacity of sexual enjoyment) restored, the goat, though enjoyed pleasures for a long time with the she-goat found in the well, does not feel satiated with sexual pleasures even today.

12. In the same way, Oh lady with beautiful eyebrows, I, a person of poor intellect, am chained down by your love, Oh gracious lady. Being infatuated by your charms, I do not know (the nature of) my Self.

13. All the food-grains, all gold, animals and women cannot yield satisfaction (to the degree of satiation) to the mind of a person subjected to cravings and passions.

14. Never, never does passion get satiated with the enjoyment of its sense-objects. (On the contrary) like a fire fed with oblations of ghee, it grows again in intensity.

15. When one does not cherish inauspicious attitudes (e.g. of hatred, partiality) to living beings, and looks upon all with equality, all the directions are full of bliss to him (i.e. he is blessed with happiness from all quarters).

16. A person desirous of happiness (untarnished by misery), should instantly give up thirst (for happiness) which is difficult to get rid of by evil-minded persons, and which does not get worn out even if one’s body gets withered with age, and which is a source of endless misery.

17. A person should not sit very close in privacy (lit. share the same seat in private) to his mother, sister or daughter. For the senses (as a whole) are so powerful that they lead astray even a wise (learned) man.

18. It is for complete one thousand years that I have been enjoying repeatedly and incessantly the objects of pleasures. Still every time (I enjoy them), the hankering after them grows (apace).

19. Therefore giving up this (thirst for enjoyment) and concentrating my mind on the Brahman and freeing myself from the pairs of opposites (pleasure-pain etc.) and the notion of egotism (I and mine), I shall lead a life in forest.

20. Knowing the unreality (momentariness) of what is seen (the kingdom or pleasures in this world) and what is heard (from the Vedas about the pleasures and positions promised in the next world), one should not brood over them or enjoy them. For, in that lies the transmigration of the soul, and the loss of (the real knowledge of) the soul. Such a knower realizes the Atman”.

21. Having addressed thus to his wife (Devayānī), Yayāti, the son of Nahuṣa, returned his youth to Pūru, and becoming free from desires, accepted the decrepitude of his old age from him.

22. He appointed Druhyu to rule over the Southeastern region (of his kingdom), Yadu in the South, Turvasu in the west and Anu in the north.

23. Having consecrated Pūru, the worthiest of them all, as the sovereign ruler of the earth and the subjects, he placed the elder brothers under his control and then repaired to the forest.

24. Just as a bird leaves its nest as soon as it gets full- fledged, he instantly shed off the six-fold objects of pleasures enjoyed through his senses and mind, for a considerable number of years (or) controlled his senses and mind.

25.^[1] Freeing himself completely from all attachments and shedding off his subtle body constituted of three guṇas by virtue of his spiritual power of self realization, the celebrated king Yayāti became absorbed^[2] in the Supreme Brahman unsoiled by Māyā (or any impurity) and designated as Vāsudeva—a state attained by the devotees of the Supreme Lord.

26. Hearing that parable, Devayānī regarded it as an incentive to follow a path of renunciation, and a jocular story told out of agony of separation between a man and his wife.

27-28. Realizing that the association of friends and relatives is brought about by Māyā (according to their karma)^[2] and is controlled by the Almighty Lord, and thus is as temporary as those of travellers attending a watering place (to drink water on the way), Devayānī, the scion of the Bhṛgu race, gave up attachment to everything and everywhere regarding it as unreal as dreams. She concentrated her mind on Kṛṣṇa (i. e. Lord Viṣṇu) and shuffled off her (subtle) body (and became liberated).

29. I bow to you the glorious Lord Vāsudeva, the cause of the Universe, the abode of all beings (or the Inner Controller of all) perfectly serene and all-pervading. Salutations to you.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Padaratnāvalī By his direct perception of the Self, he shed off his egotism caused by three guṇas or the threefold misery caused by them and became liberated—a stage reached by following the Bhāgavata dharma.

[2]:

Bhāgavata Candrikā He approached the stage of Mokṣa, for according to the Mahābhārata, he spent some period in the celestial world.