The Bhagavata Purana

by G. V. Tagare | 1950 | 780,972 words | ISBN-10: 8120838203 | ISBN-13: 9788120838208

This page describes Description of the Rainy Season and the Autumn which is chapter 20 of the English translation of the Bhagavata Purana, one of the eighteen major puranas containing roughly 18,000 metrical verses. Topics include ancient Indian history, religion, philosophy, geography, mythology, etc. The text has been interpreted by various schools of philosophy. This is the twentieth chapter of the Tenth Skandha of the Bhagavatapurana.

Chapter 20 - Description of the Rainy Season and the Autumn

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

[Note: In Padaratnāvalī’s text verses 1 and 2 form a part of the last i.e. Padaratnāvalī’s 17th chapter. Padaratnāvalī’s new (18th) chapter begins from the 3rd verse of this (20th) chapter.]

Śrī Śuka said*:

1. The cowherd-boys related to their mothers and other women-folk (particularizing the special points) in details, the miraculous feats of them both (viz. of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma) as to how Kṛṣṇa rescued them from a forest-conflagration, and how Balarāma killed the demon Pralamba.

2. Listening to the account, elderly cowherds and cowherd women were astonished. They (thenceforth) looked upon Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma as the most prominent gods who have come down to stay in Vraja.

3.[1] Then (after the summer), there was the advent of the rainy season which is favourable to the regeneration of all beings, and during which, the sky appears beautiful with refulgent circles (round the Sun and the Moon), and is resounded with thunders.

4. Being overspread with thick dark blue clouds (heavy with water), attended with lightning and thunder, and with its light (of the Sun or the Moon) being obscured and dimmed, the sky looked like Brahman modified by the conditioning guṇas of Prakṛti[2] (or the individual soul whose spiritual wisdom is obscured by sattva, rajas and tamas each corresponding to the lightning, thunder and clouds which overcast the sky)[3].

5. (Like a king redistributing his wealth for public welfare to his subjects, from whom he collected it in the form of land revenue and other taxes). At the proper time (in the rainy season), the Sun-god or the Rainy season[4] began to release the wealth in the form of water to the earth from which he absorbed it with his rays, during the (last) eight months.

6. Mighty clouds charged with lightning (with which they viewed the earth parched with the summer heat) and violently tossed by tempestuous winds (as if they were overwhelmed with compassion for the world afflicted with the summer) showered down the life-giving[5] water (resuscitating the world) which brought delight to all, just as merciful persons[6] lay down their lives out of compassion for the harassed and tormented people.

7.[7] Just as the shrivelled and emaciated body of a person undergoing severe austerities for the attainment of some desired object, regains its normal health and plumpness after the realization of that object, the earth that was parched and shrivelled through the heat of the sun (in the summer), now swelled up (and became green) when drenched with water by the rain-god.

8. At the nightfall (when the sky is overcast with clouds) it is the fire-flies and not the planets that shine through darkness even as the heretical scriptures dazzle in their sins, in the Kali age and not the Vedas.

9. Just as young Brāhmaṇa pupils break their silence at the end of their daily religious routine, and begin their recitation of the Vedas on hearing the voice of their preceptor, the hibernating frogs which were lying silent, broke out croaking on hearing the sound of rains (or the thunder of the rainy clouds).

10. Rivulets that dry up in the summer, now overflow their banks and flowed into the wrong channel, like the body and riches of persons with unrestrained mind (and enslaved by their senses) and misdirected to the wrong track.

11. Like the army (camp) of a king, the earth appeared green with verdant grass (at some places), crimson-coloured by (the crowds of) Indragopa insects, and at some places, it became covered with the growth of umbrella-shaped mushrooms.

12.[8] Fields with their rich crop brought delight to the farmers and heart-burning[9] to the rich (feeling jealousy towards the farmers) as they did not know that everything depends on the luck.

13.[10] Being drenched with the fresh rain-waters,[11] all beings living on the land and in water assumed a beautiful, winsome appearance immediately, even as persons attain to attractive divine form[12] through the service (worship and contemplation) of Hari (due to its being the highest form of religion and of supremely blissful nature).

14. The sea, the waters of which are already tossed into high waves by stormy winds, becomes more violently agitated at the confluences with rivers, even as the heart of an immature yogī, still influenced with passions, becomes highly perturbed by contacts with worldly objects.[13]

15. Though continuously subjected to the down-pour of rains, the mountains were not agitated at all, like the devotees of Hari whose minds are absorbed in the meditation of the Lord and are not perturbed even under overwhelming calamities (of threefold nature).

16. Being unused (or unrepaired for a long time) and hence overgrown and covered with grass, the tracks and paths become doubtful (unrecognizable) like the Vedas which are not properly studied (and repeatedly recited), get consigned to oblivion by the force (passage) of time.

17. Just as pleasure-seeking women bear no constancy to men of virtue and merit (if devoid of money), the fickle-hearted flashes of lightning did not remain constant (and faithful) to clouds which are the friends of the world,

18. Just as the attributeless Supreme Person manifests himself in the world which is a product or conglomeration of guṇas, (viz. sattva, rajas and tamas), the rain-bow (Indra’s bow) though devoid of a guṇa (a string). shone forth in the sky, the special quality (guṇa) of which is sound.

19. Veiled over by clouds shining with her own beams of light, the moon did not shine forth like the individual soul, enveloped and shrouded in its ego-sense, illumined by its own light.

20. Just as persons sorely distressed and (hence) disgusted with the miseries of household life (saṃsāra) feel delighted at the arrival of the devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa, peacocks to which the advent of the rainy season (lit. the appearance of the clouds) is itself an occasion of joy, become exulted with their hair (feathers) standing on their end (while dancing with their feathers spread out).

21.[14] Just as persons, at first grown emaciated and exhausted through asceticism, become stout and robust on attaining the fruition of their desires, the trees shrunk and dried up through the heat of the summer, sucked water through their feet (i.e. roots) and assumed many new (rich) forms (putting forth luxuriantly new branches, foliage, fresh blossoms, fruits etc.).

22. (This verse shows the characteristics of persons permanently indulging in saṃsāra—nitya-saṃsārī).

The cranes continue to stay even in sliding, miry and thorny banks of lakes, Oh Parīkṣit, like unto wicked-minded persons given to low pleasures, continue to live in houses wherein they carry on their detestable cruel (lit. of non-pacific nature) jobs.

23. While the god of rains poured down showers of rains, dams and bridges got damaged and breached by floods, just as the paths[15] (of religious duties prescribed for different classes of society (varṇas) and stages of life (āśramas) in the Vedas, are breached by attacks of false heretical theories in the Kali Age.

24. Clouds impelled by winds showered their nectar-like waters to creatures below, just as rulers of the earth or merchant kings advised by Brāhmaṇas at opportune times, distribute their blessed wealth among the subjects (or carry out works of social welfare).

25. When the forest was thus abounding in trees richly laden with ripe dates and rose apples, Kṛṣṇa, surrounded by cows and cowherds, and accompanied by Balarāma, entered in it for sporting.

26. At the call of Kṛṣṇa, cows which (normally) proceeded in slow gait owing to the weight of heavy udders, hastened with quick steps, showering with joy the milk from their udders on the way.

27. On the way, Lord Kṛṣṇa saw the inhabitants of the forest (men, birds and beasts) exulted with joy, rows of trees dripping with honey, streams of waters cascading from hills, and their echoing sound in the hills and the caves that were at hand.

28. Sometimes when it rained, the Lord took shelter under a tree or entered a cave, and sported Himself joyously eating bulbs, roots and fruits.

29. Accompanied by Balarāma, he sat on a slab of stone near water, and ate the rice mixed with curds (brought from home), sharing it with cowherds who were to sit with him for the meal.[16]

30-31. Beholding the bulls and calves lying on the lush green grass ruminating in great satisfaction, with their eyes closed, and cows fatigued with the heavy weight of their udders (also resting and chewing the cud in satisfaction), and the splendid beauty of the rainy season enhanced by his own enchanting powers, bringing delight to all creatures, the Lord felt gratified (with them all).

32. While Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa were dwelling at that Vraja in this way, the autumn characterised by cloudless skies crystal-like waters and gentle breezes, set in.

33. (Originally waters are crystal clear, but they become turbid due to rainy season). Now due to the autumnal season which makes the lotus-plants blossom forth, waters have regained their original translucent nature, just as the minds of persons who have fallen from the path of yoga, regain their mental serenity by resuming their yogic practices.

34. Just as devotion to Kṛṣṇa removes all the evils setting upon persons belonging to different stages of life (āśramas)[17], the Autumn dispelled all the clouds from the sky and prevented the contacts of the elements or the congestion of created beings, dried up the mire on the earth, and cleansed the turbidity from water.

35. Having discharged (and thus renounced) all their possessions (in the form of the waters in them), the clouds shone forth in their spotless white splendour, as quiescent sages who have absolved themselves of all sins do, after renouncing all their three-fold desires (about progeny, property and celebrity).

36. Just as people with spiritual wisdom impart their nectar-like knowledge on some occasions, and refuse to do so on others, the mountains also at some places allowed the streams of pure water to flow, while at others they withheld them.

37. Just as ignorant persons immersed in their household matters are not cognisant of the daily shortening of the span of their life, so the creatures in shallow waters did not perceive the diminishing water level every day.

38. Just as a poverty-stricken, wretched man burdened with family responsibilities but of uncontrolled senses, undergoes miseries, the creatures in shallow waters suffered from the heat of the autumnal sun.

39. Marshy tracts of land gradually gave up their marshiness, and the plants their unripeness, just as (spiritually) wise men slowly (step by step) discard their notions of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ with respect to their bodies and belongings which are distinctly different from their self.

40. When the season of autumn set in, the waters of the ocean grew calm and still, even as a meditative sage established in his self, gives up ritualistic performances and recitation of the Vedas.

41. Cultivators secured the supply of water to their fields by strengthening the bunds (and thus stopping the breaches and leakages), just as Yogins, by control of senses, preserve their spiritual knowledge which otherwise gets dissipated (through unsubdued senses)[18].

42. The moon relieved the sufferings of creatures caused by the rays (heat) of the autumnal sun, just as the (revelation of) spiritual knowledge alleviates the troubles caused by the (false) identification of the body with the soul, or Lord Kṛṣṇa removes the pangs of separation of (cowherd) women of Vraja.

43. The cloudless sky shone forth beautifully with bright stars twinkling clearly in autumnal nights, as the mind with the predominance of Sattva, correctly comprehends the import of the Vedas (Śabda-Brahman) as decided by the Pūrva and Uttara Mīmāṃsās.

44. The full moon, surrounded by stars, shone resplendent in the heavens, just as Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of Yadus, did in his circle of Vṛṣṇi clansmen, on the earth.

45. People, embraced by the (cooling) temperate breeze which has blown over blossoming forests, felt relieved of the heat (of the sun) but not so the Gopa women whose heart was stolen (captivated) by Kṛṣṇa (whom they embraced in their hearts) as the pangs of actual separation were enhanced thereby.

46. Due to the (fecundating influence of the) Autumn, and through the insistent courting of their mates, cows, female deer (or beasts), she-birds and women, conceived (irrespective of their willingness), just as the acts for propitiating the Lord are followed by the concomitant fruit (automatically).

47. At the sunrise all lotuses (except moon-lotuses) bloomed forth, just as all subjects except criminals (or robbers) become fearless on the installation of a king (i.e. restoration of good government).

48. The earth, rich with ripe cornfields, shone bright and beautiful, especially due to the incarnation of the two rays (aṃśas) of Lord Hari (viz. Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma) and also with the performance of Vedic sacrifices of harvest season (wherein new com is offered), and with festivities and grand celebrations gratifying the senses, which were carried on in cities and villages.

49. Just as Siddhas (the masters of yoga and mantras—mystic incantations), detained (in their present bodies) by their ordained span of life, attain their respective desired heavenly bodies, when the appropriate time arrives, merchants, sages, kings and snātakas (life-long bachelor-students) shut up in their places due to the rainy-season, (and were impeded from undertaking an expedition or journey) now set out to achieve their respective objects.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Note: VV. 3-24 give a spiritually suggestive, beautiful description of the rainy season in the epic style. Annotators have tried to find some ‘hidden meaning’ convenient to their school of thought in these verses.

Padaratnāvalī regards this description as an illustration (dṛṣṭānta) of the deep or superficial (of pure and not so pure) devotion to god Nārāyaṇa.

(nārāyaṇa-bhakti-vaiśadyāvaiśadya-dṛṣṭāntatvena prāvid ṛtum varṇayati /)

[2]:

saguṇa brahman—(1) Individual soul conditioned by guṇas but capable of expanding by guṇas and not physically—Bhāgavata Candrikā (2) Four-faced god BrahmāPadaratnāvalī

[3]:

(i) Bhāgavata Candrikā: By nature, the sky is clear, pure and bright but gets darkened by clouds etc. So also though knowledge is inherent in the Jīva, the cognitive power remains ineffective till the Jīva attains Liberation or mukti. Hence one should try for Liberation.

(ii) The Sun: the brightest luminary is shrouded with clouds like god Brahmā with the three guṇas.—Padaratnāvalī

[4]:

Parjanya—The sun-god who presides over the thundering clouds.—Padaratnāvalī

[5]:

v.l. prāṇinām—The very life of living beings—Bhāgavata Candrikā

[6]:

Just as the glances of Lord Kṛṣṇa shower the water in the form of Spiritual Knowledge on his earnest devotees—Padaratnāvalī

[7]:

This verse shows the pravṛtti mārga of worldly prosperity—Padaratnāvalī

[8]:

SR & KD.: Fields caused joy or grief to the farmers according to the richness or failure of harvests as they did not know that everything depends on destiny.

VT. takes kṣetra as ‘a body’.

Bhāgavata Candrikā: The verse teaches that one should feel joy at the prosperity of others.

Padaratnāvalī interprets kṣetra as ‘a sacred place’ and explains: Due to the vision of the great glory of the Lord, holy places bring joy. But to those who are proud and materialistic and think about the cost of pilgrimage find that the same holy places are full of misery and anxiety. One who is keen on getting Mokṣa (Liberation) should devote himself to the lotus feet of Hari.’

[9]:

Subodhinī: To the proud kings who are bent on conquering the enemies, the rains and fields covered with crops, cause obstruction and troubles, as they do not know that victory or defeat depends on the Will of the Lord.

[10]:

VT. endorses Bhāvāratha Dīpikā and states that both the process and attainment (sādhanāvasthā and sādhyāvasthā) of the service of Hari are supremely blissful.

Bhāgavata Candrikā: No Grace can be attained except through the service of Hari.

[11]:

Padaratnāvalī interprets vāri as ‘knowledge’ that removes the misery of saṃsāra of the denizens of the nether-world (pātāla), inhabitants of the terrestrial globe and residents of the higher (celestial) world. To these inhabitants, pure spiritual knowledge leading to gracious divine forms, is attainable through the service of Hari.

[12]:

Subodhinī: Just as devotees assume the four-armed divinely refulgent Hari-like form etc. ‘The inhabitants of land etc.’ stand for persons characterised by sattva, rajas and tamas.

[13]:

guṇa—(i) rajo-guṇaPadaratnāvalī

(ii) Natural propensities creating agitation in the mind for sensual pleasure. These are to be controlled by meditating on Hari.—Bhāgavata Candrikā

[14]:

Bhāgavata Candrikā Persons performing penance with some material end in view grow emaciated through penance, but after realizing the fruition of their desire, become multiplied in the form of sons, grandsons etc., and persons who, with no ulterior motive except the propitiation of the Lord, perforin penance, attain Liberation, and are endowed with various supernatural forms and life similar to the Lord.

Padaratnāvalī interprets pādapa as ‘ascetics’ and explains: As ascetics performing penance, drink the ambrosia of Śāstric knowledge and controlling their senses and minds realize the Supreme Soul (paramātman) Himself.

[15]:

Due to the heretical arguments advanced by the Buddha and his followers the Vedic paths of action (Karma), of Knowledge and of Devotion are broken down—Subodhinī Bhakti, however, has a place in non-vedic religions in India.

KD. includes the followers of āgamas and tantras under heretics.

[16]:

Some other cowherds made their own arrangement at different places—Subodhinī

[17]:

SR. enumerates the evils: The trouble of physical work during studenthood, the pangs of separation in married state, and sexual passions etc in sannyāsins.

[18]:

Subodhinī aptly quotes:

ūrdhvendriyais tu vikṣepo jñānasyā'dho vināśanam /
nirodhe puñja-bhāvena svakāryaṃ sādhayed dhruvam //

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