The Bhagavata Purana
by G. V. Tagare | 1950 | 780,972 words | ISBN-10: 8120838203 | ISBN-13: 9788120838208
This page describes Shruti Gita (Hyman of Praise by The Vedas) which is chapter 87 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 eighty-seventh chapter of the Tenth Skandha of the Bhagavatapurana.
Chapter 87 - Śruti Gītā (Hyman of Praise by The Vedas)
[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]
[Note: Referring to the concluding verse of the last chapter—86.59—Parīkṣit doubted the competence and capability of the Vedas to declare or describe the Supreme Brahman.]
Parīkṣit requested:
1. O Brāhmaṇa sage! How is it possible for the Vedas, conditioned as they are with guṇas [see notes] and their products, to carry out their function directly with reference to the Supreme Brahman which is beyond specific indication and hence indefinable, devoid of guṇas and (beyond the range of perceptibility) is transcendental to the causal (cause-effect) relation.
Śrī Śuka explains:
2. The Almighty who is above limiting conditions and ever-liberated evolved the intellect, the senses, the mind and the vital breaths of all embodied beings (jīvas) for the enjoyment of various objects, for bringing about their birth, for their transmigration to various other-worldly regions, for experiencing pleasures, etc. thereof and for their Final Liberation (where all speculation or ideation ceases to function). He created these for helping Jīvas attain their four objectives of life, viz. artha, dharma, Kāma and Mokṣa.
3. This is the secret essence about the Brahman which is enshrined in the Upaniṣads and which is treasured up in their mind by the ancestors of our ancestors[1] (like Sanaka, Sanandana, etc.). He who faithfully and with devotion preserves it in the mind becomes rid of the limitation of the body[2] etc. and attains the Summum bonum.[3]
4. Here, on this topic, I shall narrate to you in details an ancient legend concerning the great sage Nārāyaṇa and containing a dialogue between Nārada and the sage Nārāyaṇa.
5. On one occasion, during the course of his tour of the world, Nārada, the beloved of the Lord, went to the hermitage of Nārāyaṇa (i.e. Badarikāśrama), to visit that ancient sage.
6. It is reported that in this Bhārata varṣa, from the beginning of the Kalpa, the sage Nārāyaṇa has been engaged in performing penance coupled with righteousness, spiritual knowledge, self-control and mental tranquility for the prosperity of the people here and their spiritual good hereafter.
7. Nārada paid obeisance to Nārāyaṇa who was seated in his hermitage surrounded by sages, residents of the village called Kalāpa, and put him this very question, O scion of the Kuru family.
8. In reply to him, the glorious sage Nārāyaṇa, in the midst of the sages who were listening, told Nārada, the gist of the discussion on the para Brahman, which took place between the residents of Janaloka.[4]
The Venerable Lord (Nārāyaṇa) said:
9. O son of the Self-born god Brahmā, in the days of yore in Jana-Ioka, there was held a seminar on the para Brahman (i. e. it was a discussion in which participants both listened and spoke and thus shared their views and experiences about the nature of the para Brahman with others) among the mind-born sons of Brahmā who were sages observing lifelong celibacy.
10. When you had been away to Śveta-dvīpa to see the the Aniruddha form of mine, a thorough and well-rounded discussion on the para Brahman took place—a discussion in which all the Śrutis were discussed, co-ordinated and synthesized. In that seminar this was definitely the very question you put to me.
11.Although they (The mind-born sons of Brahmā) were all equal in status from the point of learning, austere penance, virtuousness and so much unparalleled in abounding grace that to them friends, enemies and the indifferent ones were equal. They made one of them, viz. Sanandana as the expounder[5] while others became eager listeners.
11(A). I shall explain to you all your queries, O sinless one. Now listen to me.
Sanandana said:
12-13. After swallowing up (at the time of the Pralaya) all the universe created by him, the Supreme person along with all his (creative and protective) potencies (such as prakṛti puruṣa, kāla) was as if lying asleep (in his yogic trance). At the end of the period of Pralaya, Śrutis (i.e. the deities presiding over them which were created by his first exhalations at the beginning of the creation of the universe), awakened that Supreme person singing the hymns which appropriately described his true nature, just as bards and attendants of an emperor approach to wait upon him early in the morning while he is still asleep, and awaken him by singing sweet songs eulogising his famous heroic exploits.
Śrutis said:
14.[6] Be gracious to manifest your glorious exalted nature O invincible Lord. Be pleased to exterminate the beginningless Avidyā (Nescience) of all those beings which are vested with mobile and immobile bodies, as the guṇas (like Sattva, rajas and tamas) possessed by Avidyā are exhibited with the evil object (of obscuring the ever-blissful nature of the Soul). You are, by your very nature, endowed with all the powers, blissfulness and authority (and hence you have kept Māyā or Avidyā under control.) O Lord! who as their indwelling controller evoke all the powers in all beings! It is only the Veda which can describe you to some extent as (some times—such as at the beginning of creation) you (appeared to) work by way of sport in conjunction with Māyā but as a matter of fact you always abide in your ever blissful state of infinite knowledge and delight.
15.[7] The sages recognize that the universe that is perceived is the perfect Brahman (yourself) as it is the Reality (Brahman) that remains in the end (at the time of Pralaya). The Brahman is not subject to modifications. It is from the Brahman that the rising and setting i. e. evolution and dissolution of the universe of modifications take place, just as the clay (the material cause) remains constant though its modifications (the earthen-ware like pot, pitchers, etc.) are made and unmade. Hence, sages have concentrated their mind and speech on you and not on the modifications (things in the world). How can the feet placed by men (on stones, bricks etc.) not be regarded ultimately as rested on the terra firma itself. (Similarly, if Śrutis describe some modifications of yours, they ultimately describe you who form the basis, the substratum of them all).
16.[8] It is, hence, O Lord of Māyā (constituted of the three guṇas viz. (Sattva, Rajas and Tamas) that spiritually wise and thoughtful people immerse themselves into the nectarian sea of your stories which completely wash off the dirt (sins or impurities) of the entire world and have rid themselves of sins and (all types of) afflictions.[9] Need it be said, O Supreme Lord, that those who, by virtue of their self-realization, have cleansed all passions and evil propensities from their heart and have warded off the effects of Time (such as old age) will enjoy your state of eternal, infinite bliss?
17.[10] Persons are alive (lit. bearers of life) in the real sense of the term only if they are your devoted followers, otherwise they are merely respiring bellows. It is due to your grace (i.e. presence or interpenetration) that (insentient) Principles like Mahat (cosmic intelligence), Ahaṃkāra (cosmic ‘I’-ness’) and others could create this egg of the universe or body (macrocosm as well as microcosm). You are that Supreme Being that enter into and animate the five vestures of the body enshrining the soul (the virtues consisting of food, vital breath, mind Vijñāna and bliss) and assuming their form, he knows them all. But factually you are not connected with them and abide in the last (called Brahma-puccha[11] in Tait. Up. (2. 1.5). You are distinct from the gross and the subtle—the ultimate eternal Reality which alone remains after the destruction of all others.
18. Out of those paths (of Brahma-realization explored and laid down) by (ancient) sages[12], those whose eyes are blinded by gravel or rajas i. e. have gross outlook, contemplate Brahman as being at the abdomen (as presiding over the plexus called Maṇipūra, located at the navel). Followers of Āruṇi who have subtler vision contemplate Brahman in the cavity of the heart (at the plexus or nerve centre known as Anāhata Cakra). O infinite Lord, the meditator thence proceeds upward (by the channel or path called Suṣumṇā) upto the crown of the head (to the plexus called sahasrāra the exalted position of the lustre of Brahman[13]. He who reaches this position does not recede to fall again into the jaws of death.
19.[14] You enter the various living species evolved by you, though as their (material) cause, you were already existing there. Of your own accord, you assume those forms like fire (lying dormant in the fuel and appearing similar to the size and shape of the fire-wood though as Fire it is undifferentiated one) and appear smaller or greater, higher or lower. Hence, persons whose judgment is clear and who do not expect any return (either here or hereafter) for their acts realize your true nature as being the only Reality, Pure, undifferentiated immutable in all these unreal forms.[15]
20. (The scriptures say) that the individual soul abiding in the body created and shaped by his former acts, is not limited by anything that may be termed as cause and effect. It is a part or ray of yourself who are endowed with all potencies. Having come to this conclusion regarding the nature of the individual Soul, wise men in this world, with unflinching faith and devotion, contemplate on your feet to which all righteous acts prescribed in the Vedas are dedicated and in consequence of which they attain to liberation from Saṃsāra (lit. State of getting no rebirth again).
21.[16] O controller of the universe! You have assumed a corporeal form for shedding light on the true nature of the self which is difficult to comprehend. Those persons who have recouped from their exhaustion (caused by whirling in the cycle of Saṃsāra) by immersing themselves in the ocean of the nectarine stories of your glorious deeds and have renounced their homes (relatives, property, etc.) through their association with your swan-like votaries who take shelter in your lotus-feet, do not covet even for liberation from Saṃsāra.
22.[17] When the nest[18] (in the form of the body in which the soul dwells) follows the path that leads to you, it is useful as one’s own self, well-wisher and a beloved person. Though you are always ready to help and are thus favourably disposed and the real well-wisher and loving, it is unfortunate that people of suicidal mentality do not take any delight or interest in you and do not worship you with some form of devotion. They wrongly entertain attachment, etc. to the physical body which is so wretched and wander in this Saṃsāra which is extremely fearful.
23.[19] That state of yours which sages, the practitioners of rigorous Yogic path, contemplated in their hearts by restraining their vital breath, the mind and senses thoroughly, is also attained by your adversaries by constantly thinking of you, and also by the women (Gopīs of Vraja) whose hearts were enamoured of and attached to your mighty arms which were like the body of Śeṣa. The Lord of serpents, as well as we (the presiding deities of Śrutis) who realise you as equal to all and omnipresent and cling to your lotus-like feet, are the same (i.e. equal) in your eyes.
24.[20] Alas! O Lord, how can one who has come into existence and passed away, at a later stage after you, can possibly presume to know you who existed anterior to all creation. It is from you that the sage (god Brahmā) was born. After Brahmā came into existence both the classes of deities (viz. (1) ādhyātmika—deities presiding over sense-organs, mind and (2) ādhidaivika—those presiding over the celestial world). When, withdrawing every thing within you, you go to sleep, at that time, there exists neither Sat (the gross phenomena) nor Asai (their subtle causes like Mahat, Ahaṃkāra, etc.) nor the product of these two viz. this psycho-physical organism called body, nor the velocity of Time, nor any Śāstras (Śruti texts) from which your nature can be known.[21]
25.[22] Those who postulate the evolution of the universe or being from non-being or the non-existent (as the Vaiśeṣika school does) or who believe in the cessation of the existent (twenty one types of miseries as Mokṣa or Liberation (as the Nyāya school does) or who posit the distinctness and plurality of Souls (as the Sāṅkhyas and Naiyāyikas, etc. do) and those who affirm that the fruit of (sacrificial and other) Karmas are real (as the followers of the Mīmāṃsā school hold)—all these propagate their misconceptions. It is due to ignorance about you (which leads persons to believe in the misconcept of diversity that the Puruṣa is comprised of the three guṇas or modifications of Prakṛti. It cannot exist in you as you are the embodiment of pure knowledge and absolute consciousness.[23]
26.[24] All the universe including the Jīva, comprised of the three guṇas (modifications of Prakṛti) is a projection of the mind. It appears to have a real existence as it is superimposed on you. Those who have realized the Ātman (the soul) regard all this (subjective and objective) universe as Sat, i.e. really existent as it is the projection of the Ātman Himself. Just as persons seeking gold do not discard (ornaments which are) the modifications (of gold) as they are essentially gold, the knowers of the Self come to the conclusion that this Universe (both subjective and objective) is their very self as he (the Ātman) made it and then entered into it.
27.[25] Only those persons who devotedly serve (i.e. worship) you as abiding in all beings as their Indwelling soul, disregarded Death and planting their foot on the head of Death attain Liberation (from the cycle of births and deaths). But to those who turn away their face from you, howsoever, learned they be, you bind them down like beasts by your commandments (of injunctions and interdictions ordained in the Śrutis). Only those who cherish devoted love to you purify themselves well as others but not those who are averse to you!
28.[26] Being self-illuminating as the embodiment of knowledge as you are, you control the power of the sense-organs of all beings, Plough you yourself are devoid of senses[27] (in your formless aspect). Hence gods who are bound by Nescience (Avidyā) and who partake of the offerings oblated to them by men (under their dominance) offer worship and homage to you (just as tributary princes collect revenue from their subjects and pay tribute to their overlord, the emperor). The progenitors of the world execute the duties of their offices to which they are appointed through your fear[28] just as tributary kings do unto their emperor in this world.
29.[29] O Lord! You are eternally free and far beyond the reach of Māyā. But when you are pleased to sport with that beginningless Māyā or Avidyā by your mere glance (without coming into contact with her), all the mobile and immobile beings invested with their subtle bodies come into being. But their bodies depend on the causal (latent) karmas of those beings which have come into existence by your (above- mentioned) glance. You are beyond the ken of sense-organs and the mind. Like the sky, you are impartial—equal to all. None kindred to you, none stranger.
[From the point of subtleness and impartiality] you are comparable to rhe Void2 (śūnya in its positive aspect), incomprehensible to speech and mind.
30.[30] O Eternal Lord! If (it is postulated as Sāṅkhyas and schoolmen of similar views do, that) individual souls be infinite in number, each eternally existent and all-pervading, their being under control (of another i.e. you) is not possible. (It is illogical to hold that equals are sub-ordinate to equals.) And, hence, (the statement) that you control them or they are controlled by you is not possible. Their being controlled is possible only if the contrary is true (i.e. if the jīvas be limited or conditioned, finite and non-eternal). That (i.e. you or Brahman) which originates or produces as an evolute anything (viz. the jīva in this case) and thus forms its part (as the material cause) and is thus immanent in it, can control that evoluce (the jīva). And this controlling power is not known to them who pose to know it, for it, being beyond the range of words and thoughts, what they come to know is defective.
31.[31] To postulate the creation of the jīva either from the beginningless Prakṛti (i.e. to regard the jīva as a product or transformation of Prakṛti) or from the eternal (birthless) Puruṣa or from a combination of both Prakṛti and Puruṣa is not tenable (for Prakṛti is jaḍa—inert—while the jīva is the intelligent, animating principle of life and as such it cannot be created by the inert Prakṛti. The second and the third alternative subjects Puruṣa to modifications). Just as bubbles are apparently formed out of interaction of water and air, jīvas apparently seem to come into existence through the Prakṛti and Puruṣa (as the material and instrumental causes. But the Brahman is the only reality and) the so-called creation of jīvas being unreal, they, with all their several names and forms, merge in you as the rivers merge into the sea (and lose their identity) or all juices (from various flowers collected by bees) get dissolved into (what is ultimately called) honey.
32.[32] Comprehending thoroughly that misapprehension (viz. the identification of the body with the Soul) has been implanted by your Māyā (leading to repeated births in Saṃsāra) intelligent and discerning persons cherish profound love and devotion to you who emancipate them from the cycle of births (and deaths). How can there be any fear of Saṃsāra to those who have resorted to you for refuge? For your brow of three ‘tyres’ (i.e. Time or a year consisting of three seasons, viz. the summer, the rains and the winter) strikes terror constantly in the heart of those who do not seek asylum with you.
33. Persons who, neglecting the feet of one’s spiritual preceptor, try to control the extremely restless, unbroken horse in the form of their mind, by trying to subdue the senses and controlling the breath, undergo great troubles for the means of controlling the mind, and are beset with hundreds of miseries in the Saṃsāra. Such persons are like merchants embarking on a voyage without securing the services of a helmsman (to pilot the boat.)
34. What (happiness) can men derive from one’s kith, and kin, sons, wives, wealth, houses, landed property, chariots and other vehicles—nay the very life-breath itself—when you, the very embodiment of every kind of blessing, are easily available by his side in the form of Ātman, ready to confer blessings on him who seeks asylum with you? What thing in this Saṃsāra which is by its nature transient and essentially devoid of any substance, can give pleasure to a person who is ignorant of the above-mentioned truth (about your blissful nature) and endeavours to get sexual pleasure.
35.[33] Sages who have enthroned you on the lotus of their heart and hence the water with which their feet are washed, is capable of destroying all sins, are completely free from lust and pride and they go on pilgrimage to various sacred places and holy waters on the earth. Those who have but once set their heart on you, the Ātman, the receptacle of everlasting bliss never again turn their mind to (the enjoyment of) the household life which robs man of his excellent virtues (like fortitude, serenity of mind, etc.)
36.[34] (The following is a refutation of the view of the Mīmāṃsakas regarding the reality of the world).
If you agree that as this (world) is evolved out of the Reality (Brahman), it must be real, (we say that) that is not the case. This (your) argument is fallacious. In some instances, no invariable concomitance is observed. (The effect does not necessarily follow the nature of the cause, e.g. A son is found different from the father.) In some cases, the so-called evolute is false (e.g. the “mis-perception” of a rope (a reality) as a serpent (which is unreal). Hence the world is not real like the (Brahman). If (you argue that the “mis-perception” of a serpent is caused by the presence of the rope and ignorance about the reality, similarly) the world is the product of both (Brahman and Avidyā), we reply that still the world is not real. It is superimposed on the Reality called Brahman. We appreciate the usefulness of this theory. The illusion theory is admitted as it explains the transactions of the phenomenal world, and such transactions are carried on by blindly following traditions. Your speech (Vedic texts promising reward for ritualistic acts such as performance of sacrifice, etc.) deludes through the manifold powers of words (such as lakṣaṇā, vyañjanā, etc.) persons who have become dull-witted by blind faith in Vedic rituals.[35]
37.[36] This phenomenal world was not in existence at the beginning before its creation. After the dissolution, the world shall cease to exist. In the intervening period, being superimposed on you, the Absolute Existence, it appears to be real. Hence, the world is compared with various modifications of material substances (e.g. bangles, armlets, crowns of gold, a pitcher or a dish of earth). It is like a figment of imagination with no basis in reality. But ignorant people regard it as the Reality
38.[37] When the individual soul (Jīva) embraces Māyā under the influence of Nescience (Avidyā), he assumes her guṇas and wrongly identifies himself with the body, sense-organs etc. Thus losing (forgetting) his pristine glory and blissful nature, he succumbs to death (and is involved in the cycle of birth and death i.e., Saṃsāra). On the contrary, even as a serpent casts off his slough, you discard Māyā. Hence, you have preserved within you divine nature, infinite power and eight supra-human mystical powers. Thus you shine with your infinite power and glory.
39.[38] If the Yogins who try to control their senses do not exterminate the roots of passions from their heart, you, even though abiding in the hearts of these hypocrites, are not accessible to them, are like a diamond (necklace) worn round the neck but forgotten by the wearer. These yogins, after gratifying their own senses are flanked with miseries on both the sides, O Lord—One from Death i.e., Saṃsāra that has not been overcome and on the other hand, from you who still remain unrealized.
40.[39] O glorious Lord (endowed with six excellences); he who has realized you, does not feel the effect of pleasure or pain as a consequence of meritorious or sinful acts as determined by you. Hence, he is not aware of the Vedic injunctions and interdictions which are binding on other embodied beings. (They are not binding on him as he has realized that the soul is distinct from the body.) You are every day ushered through the ears into the heart and are enshrined there in the hearts of men with sage advice and precepts transmitted from generation to generation. And you are ultimately attained by them as you are the final goal called Mokṣa.
41. Even lords of celestial regions (like god Indra, Brahmā) have not been able to fathom you or know your limit as you are Infinite. Even you have not done so, due to your infiniteness, as within you abide heaps of innumerable Eggs of Universes each along with its seven protective sheaths, which propelled by Time float about like particles of dust (driven by the wind) in the sky. Due to the infinite greatness of yours, Śrutis, finding that they end in you (as their goal), convey you indirectly by negating everything else than you.
The glorious Lord (Nārāyaṇa) said:
42. Having thus heard the exposition of the Śrutis regarding the Soul—Sanaka and other (mind-born) sons of Brahmā who had already accomplished their spiritual perfection, now worshipped Sanandana (who was their guide or resource person at the spiritual seminar).
43. The essence of all the Vedas, Purāṇas and Upaniṣads was in this manner churned out and extracted by those noble- souled Sanaka and other brothers who were the earliest creation of god Brahmā and who traversed through the sky.
44. O son of god Brahmā (Nārada)! You bear in mind with faith this exposition about the (nature of the) soul which is capable of reducing to ashes all the desires of men and then you may move about, at will, anywhere in the world.
Śrī Śuka said:
45. Having received with faith and reverence what was thus expounded to him by the Sage Nārāyaṇa, Nārada, the selfcontrolled observer of life-long celibacy who could retain in memory what he had heard but once, and had already accomplished his purpose (in life), humbly submitted as follows:
Nārada submitted:
46. “Obeisance to that celebrated Lord Kṛṣṇa (Nārāyaṇa) of spotless hallowing glory, who assumes charming forms for the non-recurrence of birth (i.e. emancipation from Saṃsāra) of all beings.
47. Having thus respectfully bowed that first Sage Nārāyaṇa and his other high-souled disciples, Nārada straight-way arrived at the hermitage of my father, Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana.
48. He was warmly received by the worshipful sage Vyāsa. Seating himself comfortably, he described to him (Vyāsa) in details what he heard from the lips of the sage Nārāyaṇa.
49. O king Parīksit! I have in this way replied to you in details the question that you put to me (by reporting to you the hymn sung by Śrutis) with a view to bringing out how far the Brahman which is attributeless and undefinable, can be reached by the mind.
50. One should constantly contemplate Lord Hari who keeps the Māyā at a distance from him due to his absolute state; Who is the architect of the universe, planning its beginning, middle and end. He is the Controller of the unmanifest Prakṛti and of Jīvas. After creating the universe, He entered into it along with Jīvas and controls them. Having taken asylum with him, the Jīva protects himself against the Māyā. Having attained to him, the Jīva sheds his ignorance, just as a man who falls deep asleep loses the consciousness of his person (body).
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
[2]:
akiñcana—A person who regards nothing as worth praying for or worth attaining—Bhāgavata Candrikā
[3]:
Kṣemaṃ gacchet—Getting all his doubts resolved by pondering over the Upaniṣads should attain to the Lord.
[5]:
KD: This was a Brahma-Makha “sacrifice in the form of spiritual discussion.” Just as in sacrifices, though the sacrificial priests know the whole of the Veda, the priests recite only that much portion of the Veda appropriate for the rite and that too pertaining to the part of the duty (Kṣaṇa) assigned to them, similarly, in this Brahma-makha although all of them were equal in all respects, they gave the Kṣaṇa of ‘speakership’ to Sanandana.
[6]:
The gist of Bhāgavata Candrikā’s lengthy explanation:
O invincible Lord, be pleased to free all beings from Avidyā, as you, being merciful by nature, take cognisance of only the good qualities ignoring the defects or evil qualities in beings (sā'parādha-janeṣvapi kaścid guṇa-leśo'sti cet tarn apekṣya'nugrahaśīlas tvam /). Avidyā, by the three guṇas causes the jīvas to whirl in Saṃsāra investing them with evil. You are all powerful and. are endowed with six excellences (as enumerated in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa.) implied in your epithet Bhagavān. You invest all powers in mobile and immobile corporeal beings. At the time of gross creation, when you work in association with Prakṛti and Puruṣa, Vedas can describe you.
Bhāgavata Candrikā: Concludes his Commentary stating his Viśiṣṭādvaita stance, as follows:—
anena prakṛti - sambandha-mocakatva - niyata - tatsambandhāpādakatva - jñā- panāya sarva - kāraṇatvaṃ tasva nirvikāre'nupa-pannatvāttasmin cid - acid - vaiśiṣṭyaṃ viśiṣṭa - kāraṇatvādeva viśiṣṭa - kāryāṇām viśiṣṭa - kāraṇānyatvāt śarīrātma- bhāvācca kārya-sarīra. bhūta - cid-acid-vāci-śabdānāṃ viśeṣyātma - paryantābhidhāya- katvāc co'ktam
[14-1]
Bhāvāratha Dīpikā quotes the following Śruti (i.e. Upaniṣadic) texts attributing creation to the Supreme Person:
(1) vato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante / yena jātāni jīvanti / yat prayantya- bhisaṃviśanti / tad vijijñāsasva—Taitt. Up. 3.1.
Here creation, subsistence and dissolutions of all bhūtas is attributed to Brahman.
(2) To Brahmāṇaṃ vidadhāti pūrvaṃ yo vai vedāṃśca prahiṇoti tasmai / taṃ ha devātma-buddhi-prakāśam mumukṣur vaiśaraṇam ahaṃ prapadye—Śvetāśvatara Up. 6.18).
Here god Brahmā’s creation and his trustee-ship of the Vedas by the Supreme Man is mentioned.
(3) satyaṃ jñānam anantam brahma /
yaḥ sarvajñaḥ sa sarva-vit / Taittirīya Up. 2, 1r
The infinite knowledge and omniscience of the Reality is stated.
(4) ta ātmani tiṣṭhan ātmānam niyamavati /
God’s being the inner controller is described.
Padaratnāvalī: (The gist only):
Be pleased to manifest your glory by being compassionate to your votaries. O invincible Lord! Remove the screen to your will-power and do away with the cover of Prakṛti which obscures Jīva’s qualities under the sufferings in Saṃsāra. Due to Prakṛti the inner qualities like infinite power, of Jīva which is your reflection, do not shine. You invest all beings such as Śrī, Brahmā, and others in this universe when you are associated with Prakṛti (which according to Smṛtis is one-eighth of the time of the dissolved state). The Vedas can follow you i.e. your commands and interdictions while during the stage of Pralaya, the Śrutis remain as mere hymns of your praise. Padaratnāvalī ends his com. with a quotation from Madhva Ācārya which affirms the equivalence of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa with Śrutis.
[7]:
[15* (1)
As Pūrvapakṣa Bhāvāratha Dīpikā quotes Ṛg Veda Saṃhitā 8.44.16a. (which is repeated in all the Vedas e.g. Tait. Sam. 1.55.1a. Vāj. Sam. 3.12a) and states that the Śrutis refer to Agni and Indra and not to me (Para Brahman). The uttara pakṣa (the reply) is given in this verse.
(2) KD closely follows SS.
(3) Sudarśana Sūri and Bhāgavata Candrikā:
When all the things evolved out of Brahman at the time of creation are withdrawn at the time of Pralaya and only Brahman (the cause of all things) remains. Just as earthen wares are created out of and ultimately reduced to the earth (their material cause), the gross perceptible universe is said to be Brahman from which the universe and all things included in it are created and of which they are constituted and within which they are withdrawn. Hence, the knowers (the seers of the Vedas) have devoted their mind and speech to you (who are the firm support). The foot-steps resting on bed-steads are as good as placed on the ground as the bedsteads have the earth (floor) as their support.
[15*A. Padaratnāvalī’s Text reads the I st half differently:]
You are beyond the eternal darkness called Mūlaprakṛti. It is through Vedas that your real nature is known. You are not subject to modifications. Hence, sages i.e. learned persons like Brahmā and others resigned their thoughts, words and actions to you. Just as the feet of men resting on the firm earth get full support and do not fall, the thoughts, words and actions of these sages do not prove untrue as you, to whom they have dedicated them, are the Supreme-most.
[15* Subodhinī ( Summary):]
The universe itself is Brahman—Śrutis and experience support this. When all modifications cease to be, Brahman remains. Subodhinī quotes:
Yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante, etc. (Tait. Up. 3.1.1).
Just as earthen wares are made out of and ultimately reduced to earth, so it is Brahman out of which everything is evolved, and the reality that remains is Brahman. Hence, the seers of the Vedas have made you the centre of their thought, word and deed. Even misapprehensions are also intrinsically Brahman:
(bhramād api svī-kṛto viṣayaḥ paramārthataḥ bhagavān eva bhavati /)
Just as foot-step placed anywhere rests in the ultimate analysis, on the earth.
[8]:
Padaratnāvalī: O Lord of three worlds! Persons deeply learned in philosophy (darśaṇas) take a plunge in the sea of nectar of your stories which wash off the impurities of all people, have rid themselves of all the miseries of the world. Need it be said, O Supreme Lord, that the Liberated Souls whose afflictions from their hearts and the effects like birth, old age etc. caused by Time are wiped out by God himself and who resort to and worship you [???] enjoy the state of eternal, infinite bliss, have not to undergo any sufferings.
[9]:
[10]:
Padaratnāvalī: It is by your entry into Brahmā, Rudra and other presiding deities of Mahat, Ahaṅkāra and other principles that they could create this Egg of the universe. Those who bore ill feeling towards you (asuhṛdaḥ [asuhṛd]) believe that everything is unreal. And their life is nothing but respiring like bellows and their exhalations are sighs expressive of their suffering in hell. The three categories the lowest i.e. human beings, middle i.e. sages and Gandharvas, the highest i.e. Indra and other gods and their leader god Brahmā knows and disseminates by his teaching the knowledge of your eternal, infinite, unparalleled blissful nature and your being transcendental to Sat and Asat (sad-asataḥ param /). He is eligible to attain to a form similar to the Lord.
[11]:
Bhāgavata Candrikā: has stoutly opposed the idea of Brahmapuccha. According to Bhāgavata Candrikā: this verse emphasizes that the human life is useless if not devoted to the Lord. Persons who, though endowed with sound sense organs, indulge in enjoying objects of senses instead of engaging themselves in propitiating the Lord merely live and breathe like bellows.
[12]:
Bhāgavata Candrikā: 1. ṛṣi-vartamasu—The paths of worship as prescribed in the Vedānta—Bhāgavata Candrikā
[13]:
Paramaṃ dhāma—The highest position is the centre between the eyebrows.
Bhāgavata Candrikā: classifies these worshippers as follows:—
(1) Vaiśuānara-vidyā-niṣṭha: Those who look upon gastral fire as a form of Brahman.
(2) Dahara—vidyā-niṣṭha—Followers of Aruṇi who look upon God as being in the cavity of the heart (hṛdaya-puṇḍarīkāntargata'kāśarūpaṃ tvām upāsate)
(3) 3) Those who follow the parisara paddhati i.e. the path of suṣumṇā.
(ii) 18* Padaratnāvalī: also classifies the contemplatists on Brahman as follows:—
(1) Possessors of subtle insight (kūrpadṛśaḥ sūkṣma dṛṣṭayaḥ) into Brahman and his attributes contemplate Brahman as Udara (udarapūrṇam brahman) or Perfect, full, infinite, Brahman.
(2) Followers of Aruṇi meditate upon Brahman as hṛdaya (one abiding in the heart).
(3) The followers of the sage Maṇḍūka contemplate Brahman as dahara i.e. subtler than the sky and our vital breath lead to It. But those who follow the Parisara method and contemplate Brahman as passing from the heart through Brahmanāḍī to the crown of the head such meditators do not fall a victim to kṛtānta—God of death.
[14]:
Padaratnāvalī (Only the difference is noted) quotes Tantra Bhāgavata as his authority. In the innumerable living species you are like jīva in them and assimilate yourself with those beings like fire in fire-wood. The Vital breath knows you. Great persons mentally go near you who are the eternal principle in the decaying forms and contemplate on you.
[15]:
Śvet Up. 6.11.
[16]:
KD: gives a gist of this and states that the quality between God and the votary is synthesized into one-ness by intense devotion and exhorts to renounce the Karmas—religious rites prescribed by the Veda and engage oneself completely in the devotion to God.
(ii) Padaratnāvalī: O Lord whose essential nature is extremely incomprehensible those who have deeply studied the Vedas who have exhausted themselves in churning the extensively vast ocean of your glorious deeds and have been thereby released from Saṃsāra, have come to realize that you are the source of the Vedas and the “fruit” to be conveyed by them, and worship you by performance of sacrifices and meditation.
[17]:
Bhāgavata Candrikā construes differently:
(i) If this nest i.e. the physical body is placed in your way (by devoting to your worship, etc.) you are just like the very soul, a well-wisher and a beloved person always ready to help.
(ii) KD: Poetically illustrates how a person forgets the Lord and engages himself into Saṃsāra and finally comes to grief. Hence, one should be absorbed in the devotion and worship of Ātman.
[18]:
Kulāya—that which dissolves into the earth i.e. this physical body.
(iii) Padaratnāvalī reads differently.
Through the association of and for worshipping sannyāsins or Swanlike ascetics who are attached to your lotus-feet, some have renounced their houses, kith & kin and do not aspire to attain Mokṣa (liberation from Saṃsāra) which is the fruit of propitiating you, O Lord. They are devoted to you who are the most beloved one. They look upon this transient nest (This physical body) as good and dear and a selfless relative who guides by the path leading to you.
[19]:
Padaratnāvalī’s Text combines the last two lines in verse 22 and the first two lines in verse 23 of Bhāvāratha Dīpikā’s text. (The gist only): Persons with wrong beliefs and course of meditation do not realise the Supreme Soul. Their minds being rooted in wrong notions suffer eternally in Hell and are invested with a condemned body from hell to hell. The enemies of sages who directed by Mukhya Prāṇa (Chief vital breath) know the way to Mokṣa and worship you as (present in) the hṛdaya (heart).
[20]:
KD: You, being the author of the creation and dissolution of the universe, are anterior to all. Hence, you are beyond the comprehension of all. If we submit to your feet and follow the nine-fold path of devotion, you impart spiritual knowledge out of Grace. Hence, the path of devotion is the best of all. (HV Hari-Varadā) 87.488-510
(1) Bhāgavata Candrikā (Summary):
devagaṇā ubhaye:—Two groups of sages: (i) Sanaka and others leading ascetic life and (ii) Marīci and others engaged in propagating species and world activity. When you withdraw even the Śāstra (Vedic Lore) within you and go to sleep, there is neither Sat (phenomenal intelligent being) nor Asat (phenomenal intelligent creation (the rest similar to Bhāvāratha Dīpikā).
(2) Padaratnāvalī’s Text is a combination of the latter half of verse 23 and the first half of the present (No. 24) verse (only the gist of different interpretation is given.) You alone know your essential nature. The eternal Vedas seek the nectar of your lotus-feet but cannot properly comprehend you who are characterised by existence, consciousness and bliss. You are very kind to Jīvas who devoutly remember you.
[21]:
[22]:
KD: elucidates Bhāvāratha Dīpikā’s refutation of the view of Patañjali that the Brahman evolves out of Asat i.e. the Jīva attains Brahmahood though originally he did not possess it. He has incorporated the translation of the quotations from Upaniṣads (that are given below) into his lucid commentary.
Bhāgavata Candrikā: Only the difference from Bhāvāratha Dīpikā is noted as Bhāgavata Candrikā is a long Commentary (second half): Those who think that Prakṛtis of three guṇas and the jīvas (intelligent beings) are distinct and are not controlled by Supreme Brahman are under the influence of Avidyā (nescience). But you transcend Prakṛti and Puruṣa and yourself are Perfect, Infinite consciousness.
[23]:
In refuting the other schools of thought the author of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa. based this verse on Śruti Texts like the following:—
(i) sad-eva som yedam agra āsīt/—Chāndogya Up. 6.2.1
(ii) brahmaiva san brahmāpnoti /—Bṛhad. Up. 4.4.6.
(iii) avidyāyām antare vartamānāḥ /
svayaṃ dhīrāḥ paṇḍitaṃ manyamānāḥ //
jaṅghanyamānāḥ pariyanti mūḍhāḥ /
andhenaiva nīyamānā yathāndhāḥ //
—Muṇḍaka 1.2.8.
Bhāvāratha Dīpikā was a follower of the advaita school of Śaṅkara. But like Śaṅkara, he was an ardent devotee at heart. After every verse of the Śruti gītā he composes one verse conveying the gist of that verse. At the end of his rendering in a verse the gist of this 25th verse, he expresses his ardent desire for Liberation by repeating the names of God who is both Śiva and Viṣṇu.
He prays:
śrīman madhava vāmana trinayana śrī śaṅkara śrīpate /
govindeti mudā vadan madhupate muktaḥ kadā syām aham //
[24]:
(i) Bhāgavata Candrikā: The mind of all beings including that of a human being, constitute?? as it is of three guṇas????? apparently shows to produce some effects cannot do so in your case (It cannot realize you). But your devotees who worship you and meditate upon you, purify their heart and realize that the Universe is Sat—a Reality as it is not different from Paramātman or Brahman —the universe, which is the effect or a synthesized whole of the subtle principles of sentient and non-sentient beings is Brahman.
(iii) Padaratnāvalī’s: Text combines the last two lines of Verse 25 with the 1st two lines of the present verse:—To regard that the jīva is bound by three guṇas like Sattva and others is ignorance. Only the unrighteous postulate that your mind is constituted of three guṇas. Supra-human beings like gods with better insight, know that you transcend these guṇas and are an embodiment of supreme bliss and it is the Jīvas that suffer from miseries.
[25]:
(1) KD: extends this devotion to the spiritual preceptors as well.
(2) Bhāgavata Candrikā: Out of mercy for those averse to you you control them like cattle and bring to the right path by teaching them the path of righteousness. Those who are not averse to you and are your votaries purify other ignorant persons.
(iii) Padaratnāvalī: the text is a combination of the last two lines of verse 26 and the first half of verse 27 of Bhāvāratha Dīpikā
As gold is the material cause of an ornament of gold which is its modification and as such it is not discarded as separate from gold, the Lord who interpenetrated and illumined the universe after its creation has his own essential nature unchanged. The permeator of the universe is the same absolute God. those who serve you as abiding in every principle of reality set their foot on the head of death and become Liberated.
[26]:
Bhāgavata Candrikā: It is by your will-power that you bring about creation, etc. of the universe. You have all the powers of the sense-organs concentrated in your hands as you are the absolute.
[27]:
[28]:
[29]:
(1) KD refutes ‘voidness’ conveyed by the term śūnya. Śūnya means ‘un-manifest’ ‘beyond the range of word’. He discusses fundamental problems about the nature and size (whether atomic or co-terminus with the body) of the soul. He discusses the concepts of ‘bondage and ‘liberation’, ‘plurality’ and ‘oneness’ of the soul. (The discussion is too lengthy to be compressed in a foot-note],
asad vā idam agro āsīt / tato vai sad ajāyata /
—Tait. up. 2.7.1
(2) Bhāgavata Candrikā: (Summary only).
All beings mobile and immobile are invested with a body through which they are made to suffer agonies caused by Prakṛti. Emancipation from these sufferings is possible only by the gracious glance of the Lord. All sentient (and non-sentient) beings constitute your body. As nobody can be separate and distinct from you, you are their Protector. None is equal to you. Nothing pre-existed you. You are all-pervading like the sky and are not tainted by any contact.
(3) Padaratnāvalī’s text combines verse 28 c, d and 29 a, b of Bhāvāratha Dīpikā’s text. The gist of 29 a, b: Padaratnāvalī quotes with approval Śāṇḍilya’s opinion. If one were to hold that Liberation (from saṃsāra) is secured through the gracious glance of Viṣṇu, then it must be admitted that all beings whirl into saṃsāra due to the will of God.
[30]:
Bhāgavata Candrikā: (only the difference from Bhāvāratha Dīpikā is noted).
The view that that which permeates the universe is both the ruler and the ruled, is not correct and the holders of the view have failed to see the truth.
[31]:
(1) jaṣyāmataṃ mataṃ tasya, mataṃ yasya na veda saḥ /
avijñātam avijānatām, vijñātam avjānatām //
—Kena Up. 2.3
(2) Bhāgavata Candrikā: Just as bubbles (temporary by nature) are created by the inter-action of water and wind (which are as compared with bubbles—permanent in nature), jīvas are formed from the combination of Prakṛti and Puruṣa both of which are birthless (eternal). It is due to your support that they bear different names and forms as a god, a man, etc. At the time of Pralaya (dissolution of the world) they merge in you leaving their names and forms as rivers do, etc.
(3) Padaratnāvalī: Prakṛti and Puruṣa are eternal, unborn and inseparable. Jīvas come into existence conditioned with a body (like that of bubbles on water).
[32]:
Padaratnāvalī: How will your brows inspire fear of Saṃsāra in the hearts of those who completely submit themselves for your grace?
[33]:
Padaratnāvalī: Sages, gods and others who through holy scriptures realize that you alone are Saī, the Real, independent existence, and concentrate their heart on your lotus-feet which annihilate all sins, O Supreme Man, such persons do not even once approach the abode of Hara i.e. are not at all a fleeted by Ahaṃkāra (Egotism).
It is noteworthy that Padaratnāvalī specifically uses “Hara” and “Rudra” for Ahaṃkāra.
[34]:
Bhāgavata Candrikā differs: If as you say, whatever is born of Sat—real existence—may not be real, you must show where this view fails and where it is totally disproved. The dull-witted followers of the path of Karma, are deluded through blind tradition.
[35]:
[36]:
Bhāgavata Candrikā differs:
It is only the ignorant who believe that this universe did not exist before creation and it will be non-existent in future and, therefore, it is not existing at present also and that it is unreal like a figment of fiction.
[37]:
Bhāgavata Candrikā: (The gist only).
The Jīva, being deluded by Māyā is invested with a body (which is product of Prakṛti). Through the body he enjoys objects of senses and identifies himself with it and is subjected to death. He is thus robbed of his inherent knowledge and other qualities.
[38]:
As usual Padaratnāvalī’s text is a combination of verse 38.c.d and 32. a, b.: Yogins who are desireless and firm in the path of renunciation are blessed by the Lord with a life-free death and he grants them blissful Mokṣa.