Canto 3 - Chapter 7: Vidura's questions ...

Discourse VII

Vidura's questions

Śrī Śuka continued : When Maitreya spoke thus, the enlightened Vidura, son of Dwaipāyana (Vedavyāsa) further asked him as follows, delighting him by his speech as it were. (1)

Vidura asked : O holy sage, how can the Lord, who is pure consciousness, immutable and unqualified (absolute), come to be associated with attributes and activity even in sport? (2)
It is the hankering (for pleasure) and the desire to play with another (child or plaything) that impels a child to betake itself to play. But how can the Lord, who is satisfied in Himself and is ever one without a second, take to play? (3)
It was through His own Māyā, consisting of the three Guṇas (Sattva, Rajas and Tamas), that the Lord created the universe. Nay, it is through the same Māyā that He sustains it and shall finally withdraw it. (4)
How can He whose knowledge—which is His very nature—is never obscured by space, time or circumstance either by itself or through any other external cause, be associated with Māyā? (5)
It is the Lord alone who is present in all bodies (as the enjoyer); how can there be any ill luck for Him, and how can He suffer any agony due to Karmas? (6)
My mind, O sage, is much distracted, stuck as it is in this morass of ignorance. Remove, my lord, this great confusion of my mind. (7)

Śrī Śuka went on: Interrupted thus by Vidura, who was keen to know the truth, the sage, who was free from all conceit replied as though smiling (at him), his mind fixed on the Lord. (8)

Maitreya said : That the Spirit, who is the ruler (of Prakṛti) and ever free, should feel miserable and fall into bondage is against all logic; yet such is the Lord's Māyā (deluding potency). (9)
It is because of this Māyā that the Jīva appears to be bound etc., (which is something contrary to its nature), even though such bondage does not exist in reality, just as a man sees himself beheaded in a dream (even though in reality his head has not been severed). (10)
Again, just as trembling and other characteristics, which are attributable to water alone, are seen in the moon (as reflected) in water, though really non-existent therein, so the attributes (birth etc.) of the body (which is not the soul) appear in the soul that has identified itself with a body. (11)
That false identification gradually disappears through the practice of devotion to the Lord, which is possible only by the grace of Lord Vāsudeva (Śrī Kṛṣṇa), which in its turn is secured by discharging one's duties in a disinterested spirit in this world. (12)
When the senses have withdrawn from their objects and get exclusively devoted to Śrī Hari, the Supreme Spirit and Seer, all the distractions of the soul (in the shape of attachment and aversion etc.) vanish as in the case of a man buried in deep sleep. (13)
All one's afflictions are got rid of by uttering and hearing the praises of Śrī Kṛṣṇa (the Slayer of the demon Mura); what wonder, then, that such a result should be brought about by fondness developed in one's heart for worshipping the dust of His lotus-feet? (14)

Vidura said : My doubts have been eradicated by the sword of your reasoned exposition, my lord. My mind has now clearly grasped both the points (the Lord's freedom and the Jiva's dependence). (15)
You have rightly observed, O sage, that the bondage etc., of the Jiva is attributable to Śrī Hari's own Māyā (deluding potency). Such bondage is only apparent without any reality or foundation; for the universe itself has no foundation except the Lord's Māyā. (16)
He who is the most ignorant and he who has realized God, who is beyond the reach of mind, both these lead a care-free life in this world; while he who stands between the two (is full of doubt) lives in misery. (17)
Having concluded that the material world, though appearing to exist, is not real, I shall now, by the service of your feet, get rid even of that false appearance (mental illusion). (18)
Through the service of these feet can be had the feast of intense devotion to the feet of the immutable Lord, the Slayer of the demon Madhu—devotion that puts an end to the agony of birth and death. (19)
The service of the Lord's devotees, who are living approaches to Lord Viṣṇu (or His divine realm) and in whose company are ever sung the praises of Lord Janārdana (lit., He who is invoked by His devotees), who is adored even by gods, cannot be easily secured by men of little penance. (20)

(You have just told me that) at the dawn of creation the almighty Lord brought forth in their order of sequence the Mahat-tattva and other categories along with their evolutes and, having evolved the Cosmic Body out of those categories, eventually entered the same. (21)
It is that Cosmic Being whom the Vedas call the most ancient Person, who is endowed with thousands of (a myriad) feet, thighs and arms and in whom all these different worlds abide with ample space about them. (22)
Nay, it is in that Cosmic Being, as you declare, that the ten vital airs, each of which again manifests itself in three forms (viz., vigour, will-power and bodily strength) abide along with the Indriyas and their objects as well as the deities presiding over them; and from the same Being have emanated the four classes of society. Pray, speak to me now about the glorious manifestations (Brahmā and others) of that Cosmic Being, from whom were evolved along with their sons and grandsons, great grandsons and kinsmen, living beings of various forms and shapes, who filled this universe. (23-24)
Who are the Prajāpatis (lords of created beings) that were evolved by Brahmā (that lord of Prajāpatis)? Again, what are the main categories of beings that he created and what are their subdivisions? And in what order did he evolve the fourteen Manus (Swāyambhuva and others), that preside over one full Manvantara each? (25)
Pray, also let me know their lines of descent and narrate the doings of their descendants; and further describe, O Maitreya (son of Mitrā), the relative position and dimensions of the spheres that are located above and below the earth, as well as of the terrestrial region, and the detailed process of creation of beasts, human beings and gods, reptiles and birds, in short, of all living beings—viviparous and oviparous, those born of sweat and those sprouting from the soil (such as trees and plants). (26-27)
Also kindly recount at length the glorious exploits—connected with the creation, preservation and dissolution of the universe—of the Lord who is the abode of Śrī (the goddess of beauty and prosperity), and who bodied Himself forth as Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva, His manifestations with reference to a particular Guṇa (mode of Prakṛti). (28)
O lord, further tell me the grouping of society into so many Varṇas (grades or classes) and Āśramas (stages of life) on the basis of outward marks, conduct and temperament, the birth and doings etc., of the Ṛṣis (seers) and the division of the Vedas, the extensive details of sacrifices, the path of Yoga (disinterested action), the path of renunciation and the path of Knowledge or discrimination between Matter and Spirit, the Vaiṣṇava Cult (the Pāñcarātra Āgama) taught by the Lord (to the sage Nārada), the heterogeneity caused by the dissemination of heretic doctrines, the descent of races through a mother belonging to a higher caste than the father, and the nature and variety of destinies reached by men after their death according to their Guṇas (characteristics) and Karma (doings). (29—31)

Also tell me, O holy Brāhmaṇa, the means conducive severally to religious merit, worldly riches, sensuous enjoyment and final beatitude without prejudice to one another, the methods, one by one, of agriculture, trade etc., as well as of administration of justice and study of the Vedas, the method of performing Śrāddha (a ceremony in honour and for the benefit of dead relatives) and even so the evolution of the Pīṭṭs (the manes), and likewise the relative position of the planets, lunar mansions and other stars among the heavenly bodies as determining the divisions of time. (32-33)
What is the reward of charitable gifts, austere penance, sacrificial acts and works of public utility (such as the digging of wells and tanks, the construction of roads and temples, the cultivation of gardens etc.)? What are the duties of one living abroad as well as of a man in adverse circumstances? (34)
Also tell me, O sinless Maitreya, the means by which Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa (who is invoked by His devotees), the source of piety, can be propitiated, and what type of men are able to win His pleasure. (35)
Teachers who are kind to the meek, O chief of the Brāhmaṇas, tell their devoted pupils and sons even what they may not have asked. (36)
In how many ways, O worshipful sage, do these elements (earth etc.) return to their source (Primordial Matter)? And who wait on Him even during a Pralaya and who get merged in Him while He is in Yoganidrā? (37)
What is the true nature of the Jīva (embodied soul) and the essential character of the Supreme? What is the wisdom taught by the Upaniṣads and what, again, is the use a teacher has for his pupil and vice versa? (38)
Then, what are the means suggested by the wise, O sinless one, for attaining that wisdom? For neither spiritual enlightenment nor Devotion nor dispassion can be had by itself. (39)
Therefore, being friendly disposed towards me, kindly answer these questions of mine, that I have asked with intent to acquaint myself with the exploits of Śrī Hari, ignorant as I am and blinded by Māyā. (40)
(The study of) all the Vedas, sacrificial acts and austere penance and charitable gifts. O holy one, cannot equal even a fraction of the merit that one acquires by rendering a Jīva (embodied soul) immune from the fear of birth and death (through instruction in the truth about God). (41)

Śrī Śuka continued : When Vidura (the foremost of the Kurus) asked Maitreya (the chief of the sages) questions bearing on the theme of the Purāṇas, the latter was immensely delighted on being urged to narrate the stories of the Lord, and smilingly spoke as follows. (42)

Thus ends the seventh discourse in Book Three of the great and glorious Bhāgavata-Purāṇa, otherwise known as the Paramahamsa-Sarhhitā.