Chapter 15 - Consolation of Citraketu

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Śrī Śuka said:

1. Bringing back to consciousness the king, with their soft and wise words, the sages Aṅgiras and Nārada spoke to the king who was overpowered with grief, and was lying like a dead person by the side of the dead child.

2. “What can be your relationship, in the previous and the present birth, Oh great King, with the child whom you are mourning? How was he related to you in the previous birth, the present birth and will be related in the future one?

3. Just as the grains of sand come together and separate by the force of the stream of water, so are embodied beings brought together and separated by Time.

4. Just as seeds may or may not produce corn, similarly Bhūtas prompted by God’s Māyā may or may not produce Bhūtas.

5. We, you, the mobile and immobile creatures which are contemporaneous with us, were not so before the present birth nor are so in the present birth, nor shall be so after death. (Due to the nonexistence of these before and after, they are unsubstantial or unreal like dreams).

6. The Lord of Bhūtas who is himself unborn (and therefore imperishable) and has no purpose to achieve, like a playful boy, creates, protects and destroys the Bhūtas by means of Bhūtas which are created by him and hence dependent on him.

7. Oh King, the body of a son is born from the body (of the mother) through another body (namely that of the father) just as a seed sprouts forth from another seed. But the occupant of the body is eternal like earth and other principles.

8. It is from eternity that this (above-mentioned) distinction between a body and the occupant of the body (the Soul) has been presumed through ignorance, as the distinction between the class or the generic property (jāti) and the individuality of a thing (vyakti) is conceived as existing in the thing itself (such distinction between interdependants like jāti and vyakti are untenable).

[Note: After verse No. 8, the text before Padaratnāvalī adds four verses:]

(1) Just as the difference or changes due to fuel are wrongly attributed to the fire, similarly the conditions affecting the body, viz., difference, birth, decline, growth and destruction are wrongly attributed to the Jīva who is distinct from the body. This misconception is due to Karma.

(2) It is due to Jīva’s intimate relation to the body and the false identification of the body with the Soul, that the above-mentioned conditions (of the body) appear to be the conditions of the Jīva as in a dream. As everything else is a source of fear, one should not ponder over anything leading to evil consequences.

(3) Just as the appearance of a serpent or a tiger or another (frightening) object like it, in a dream, causes fear, as the dream appearance is identified with the reality in a wakeful condition, so is the Saṃsāra due to the misconception grown since eternity.

(4) The idea of the world of sons (or relatives) and other possessions depends on the mind. It is due to the influence of the Ego which creates likes and dislikes in the mind and leads to merits and demerits. One should clear away the ignorance in the form of the notions like me and mine, and fix one’s mind on the all-powerful Omnipresent Lord Vāsudeva.

Śrī Śuka said:

9. When king Citraketu was thus consoled by the words of the Brāhmaṇa sages, he wiped out with his hand, his face which was withered through grief for his son, and addressed them thus.

The king (Citraketu) said:

10. Who are you both so full of spiritual knowledge, the most worshipful ones among the adorables who have come here disguised as Avadhūtas?

11. For, persons who have realized Brahman and who are dear to the glorious Lord, range over the world in the guise of mad persons, for guiding and counselling sensually- minded people like me.

12. (For example) Sanatkumāra, Nārada, Ṛbhu, Aṅgiras, Devala, Amita, Apāntarātma, Vyāsa, Mārkeṇḍeya [Mārkaṇḍeya?] and Gautama.

13. Vasiṣṭha, the glorious Paraśurāma, Kapila, Bādarayaṇi (Śuka), Durvāsas, Yājñavalkya, Jātūkarṇya and Āruṇi.

14. Romaśa, Cyavana, Datta, Patañjali, Āsuri, the sage Vedaśiras, the sage Bodhya, and Pañcaśiras.

15. Hiraṇyanābha, Kausalya, Śrutadeva, Ṛtadhvaja—these and other masters of spiritual powers go about in the world with the object of imparting spiritual knowledge.

16. Therefore, you both are the masters of a stupid and ignorant brute like me. Enlighten me with the lamp of your knowledge—me who am plunged into the blinding darkness of ignorance.

Aṅgiras said:

17. Oh King, I am Aṅgiras who blessed you with a son as you longed for one. This is the veritable son of Brahmā, the worshipful divine sage Nārada.

18-19. Finding you, a devotee of the Supreme Person, plunged in the deep impassable darkness of grief for the son, though you are not fit to be so affected, we have arrived here to help you out of it, with our grace. For, you are dear to Brāhmaṇas and votary of the Lord and thus do not deserve to be so despondent.

20. When I visited your house, at that very time (of our first meeting), I would have imparted to you spiritual knowledge. But knowing your insistence and longing for something else (viz, the birth of a son), I blessed you with a son.

21-22. Now, you experience the agony suffered by persons having sons. In the same way (are the agonies of persons who have) wives, houses, wealth, power and prosperity of various kinds, objects of enjoyment like sound etc., fleeting powers of sovereignty, the earth, kingdom, the army, the treasury, servants, ministers, friends and relations.

23.Oh King Śūrasena, all these are the sources of grief, delusion, fear and affliction, for they are momentary like (the proverbial) city of Gandharvas in the sky, and unreal like a dream, delusion and fancies.

24.They are mental images, for they are perceived without being real or substantial and disappear the next moment. For a man brooding over objects through the force of tendencies of actions (karma) in the previous birth, various activities proceed from the mind.

25.In fact, this body of embodied beings is constituted of gross elements, conative and cognitive senses. It is said, by the knowers of the reality, to be the cause of various afflictions and torments to the Jīva who identifies itself with its body.

26.Therefore, examining carefully the real nature of the Soul and with concentration of mind, give up the belief in the permanence of the objective world as it implies duality. Betake yourself to renunciation and serenity of the mind.

[Note: Additional verses in Padaratnāvalī’s text of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa:]

(1) A king named Bhoja dreamt that he subsisted on the remnant of the food (out of the dishes) of his enemy. He was therefore overcome with nausia, grief, delusion, fear and distress and became utterly miserable.

(2) (In the dream) some (of his enemies) who nursed age-old animosity and vengeance, carried away the objects he enjoyed; some killed his dependents; some abducted his wives while others beheaded him.

(3) Awaking from this dream overflooded with unending miseries, he reflected deeply over it. He got disgusted and renounced his house (worldly life).

(4) Externally appearing as insane, he visualized the Supreme Soul within his heart, free from attachments. Overcoming conflicting states of the mind he established it in the Supreme Brahman called Śrī Nārāyaṇa, untouched by the conditioning perishable body. In this absorbed state of meditation (in a-samprajñāta-samādhi), he totally forgot that he was conditioned by the body.

Nārada said:

27. After purifying yourself (i.e. after disposing of the dead body of the child and taking a bath thereafter) accept from me the Mantropaniṣad (Vide Infra Ch. XVI, 18-25). By bearing this in mind and meditating over it, you will visualize Lord, Saṅkarṣaṇa within seven nights.

28. Oh great King, by resorting to the feet of Saṅkarṣaṇa, ancient votaries of the Lord like god Śiva and others, gave up the illusion of this world which implies duality and attained immediately to his greatness which was neither equalled by nor surpassed by anyone else. You will also attain to that eminence within a short time.