Canto 4 - Chapter 29: The Dialogue between king Pracinabarhi and the sage Nārada (continued) ...

Discourse XXIX

The Dialogue between king Prācinabarhi and the sage Nārada (continued)

Prācinabarhi said : O divine sage, we are unable to follow your teaching correctly. It is the wise alone who can rightly grasp it; not we, who are deluded by attachment to the rituals. (1)

Nārada replied : One should understand Purañjana (lit., the maker of a city) to be the Jīva (an embodied soul), inasmuch as it is the Jīva that produces a stronghold for itself in the shape of a body with one, two, three, four or numerous feet or without any feet. (2)
The friend of the Jīva referred to under the name of Avijñāta is (no other than) God, so-called because He is not fully known by the Jīvas as having names, actions or attributes. (3)
When the Jīva wished to enjoy all material objects, it thought the human body endowed with two hands and two feet and nine apertures as the best among all. (4)
One should understand the young woman (Purañjanī) to be (no other than) the (human) intellect, which gives rise to the notions of 'I' and 'mine'. Identifying himself with it the Jīva in this body enjoys the (various) sense-objects through the senses. (5)
The (ten) Indriyas (the five senses of perception and the five organs of action), which bring about (all) knowledge and action, are the male companions (of Purañjanī); their activities are her female companions and the vital air with its fivefold activity is referred to as a (five-hooded) serpent. (6)
One should understand Bṛhadbala (the eleventh mighty warrior waiting on Purañjanī) to be (no other than) the mind, the ruler of both the types of Indriyas. The kingdom of Pañcāla represents the five sense-objects, in the midst of which stands the city with nine gates. (7)

The two eyes, the two nostrils, the two ears and the penis and the anus are the (four) pairs of entrances with the mouth (as the ninth). (It is through these gates that) the Jīva goes out (to the objects of senses) accompanied by the Indriyas (located in these appertures). (8)
(Of these) the two eyes, the two nostrils and the mouth are the five gates located in the east (in front of the head). The right ear has been spoken of as the southern and the left, the northern gate. (9)
The two openings below have been called the western gates and they are designated here (is the present context) as the penis and the anus. The (two gates) Khadyotā and Āvirmukhī (declared as) constructed at one place (side by side) in this city correspond to the two eyes; and through these, aided by the faculty of vision, the Jīva (the master of the body) perceives colour, which corresponds to (the realm called) Vibhrājita. (10)
The two nostrils are (the gates) Nalinī and Nālinī and odour has been spoken of as (the territory of) Saurabha. The olfactory sense is (the companion of Purañjana known by the name of) Avadhūta; the mouth is (the gate called Mukhyā); the faculty of speech is (the companion going by the name of) Vipaṇa and the organ of taste is (the friend known as) Rasajña. (11)
The use of the tongue is the territory mentioned in this story by the name of Āpaṇa and the food of various kinds is the realm known as Bahūdana. The right ear is the gate called Pitṛhū and the left has been referred to under the name of Devahū (the northern gate). (12)
The scriptures dealing with the path of worldly activity (the cult of rituals) and those preaching quietism (the cult of worship) have been spoken of as (the dominions of) South Pañcāla and North Pañcāla respectively. Listening to these through the ear, which has been spoken of as (a companion of Purañjana under the name of) Śrutadhara, the Jīva takes severally to the path of the manes (leading to the realm of the moon-god or heaven) and the path of the gods (leading to the divine Abode). (13)
The membrum virile is the western gate called Āsuri; the act of copulation is the territory called Grāmaka (which is only another name for carnal delight). The faculty of procreation has been spoken of as (a companion of Purañjana under the name of) Durmada; while the anus has been referred to under the name of Nirṛti (the other gate in the west). (14)
The Infernal region is the territory called Vaiśasa, while the organ of defecation (located in the rectum) is the companion named Lubdhaka. (Now) hear from me about the two entrances leading to blind alleys. They are the hands and feet wherewith the human soul severally works and moves about. (15)
(The region of) the heart is the gynaeceum and the mind has been spoken of as (the principal waiter in the gynaeceum under the name of) Viṣūcī (Viṣūcina). Identifying itself with the qualities (Sattva, Rajas and Tamas) of the mind, the Jīva gives way herein severally to complacency, joy and infatuation. (16)
According as the equilibrium of the intellect is disturbed (in the dreaming state) or it disturbs the senses in its turn (in the waking state), the Jīva (the embodied soul), that is affected by its qualities, is compelled to follow its changes, although (by its essential nature) the Jīva is a (mere) witness. (17)

The body is the chariot having the senses of perception for its horses and coursing swiftly (on the face of it) like the year, though (really) motionless. The two varieties of Karma (good and evil actions) are its two wheels; the three Guṇas (Sattva, Rajas and Tamas) are its three flagstaffs and the five vital airs (Prāṇa, Apāna, Vyāna, Udāna and Samāna) are its five cords. (18)
The mind is its (single) rein; the intellect, the charioteer; the heart, the seat (for the occupant of the chariot); the pairs of opposites (just as joy and sorrow, honour and ignominy and so on), the poles (to which the yoke is fixed); the objects of the five senses, the recesses (into which the weapons are deposited); the seven constituent elements (viz., chyle, blood, flesh, fat, bone, marrow and semen) make the seven protective sheaths; and the five organs of action (the tongue, the hands and feet and the organs of copulation and defecation) are its five kinds of outward motion. (In this way) the Jīva runs after the mirage (of sense-gratification), followed by the ten Indriyas (the five senses of perception and the five organs of action) and the mind (the inner sense) as his army and unlawfully enjoying the five forms of sensuous pleasure, which have been figuratively spoken of as the slaughtering of animals. (19-20)

The year, which symbolizes the (passage of) time, is (referred to under the name of) Caṇḍavega (the chief of the Gandharvas); the days and nights (comprising the year) have been spoken of as the three hundred and sixty male and the same number of female Gandharvas, forming his retinue, who steal the life (of a human being) by rotation. (21)
Old age is personified as the daughter of Kāla (Time), whom the world does not welcome. Death in the person of the Yavana chief (Bhaya) accepted her as a sister for (help in) the destruction of the world. (22)
Mental anguishes and physical disorders are the Yavanas, the mobilized troops (of the Yavana chief). And the fever of two kinds* is (personified as) Prajwāra (the brother of the Yavana chief) who is described as having a swift career in tormenting living beings. (23)

Afflicted thus by manifold sufferings, brought about by divine agencies or other fellow-beings as well as those relating to one's own body or mind, and enveloped in ignorance, the Jīva dwells in the (human) body for a hundred years, bound by the sense of 'I' and 'mine'. (Essentially) attributeless, the Jīva ascribes to itself the qualities of the vital airs, the Indriyas and the mind and remains contemplating on the trivial pleasures of sense and performing actions of various kinds (in order to secure them). (24-25)
(Thus) not realizing the Lord, its supreme teacher and very self, when the Jīva, that is (really) self-seeing, gets attached to the modes of Prakṛti, it identifies itself with those qualities and helplessly performs Sāttvika, Rājasika and Tāmasika actions and is born (in the various species of life) according to those actions. (26-27)
Sometimes through Sāttvika actions it attains to spheres abounding in light; now (through Rājasika pursuits) it goes to worlds which lead to suffering and involve exertion through action and now (through Tāmasika actions) it is hurled into regions dense with darkness (ignorance) and sorrow. (28)
The deluded Jīva is sometimes (born as) a male, now (as) a female, and now it is (born) without sex either as a god or as a human being or in the sub-human species, the birth being determined by its past actions and the mode of Prakṛti (predominating in it at the time of death preceding that birth). (29)
Just as a poor dog seized with hunger and wandering from door to door (in quest of food) receives (good beating with) a cudgel or cooked rice—whatever is ordained by fate—so does the Jīva whose heart is possessed by (the demon of) desire reaps a welcome or unwelcome destiny, ranging by paths high and low through the upper (celestial) or the lower (infernal) or the middle (terrestrial) regions. (30-31)

• Śītajwara (fever accompanied with fits of cold) and Dāhajwara (inflammatory fever) are the two types of fever obviously referred to here.

There is no (such thing as absolute) freedom for the Jīva from even one of the three types of sufferings, viz., those brought about by divine agencies, those inflicted by one's fellow-beings and those relating to one's own body or mind. Even if there is a remedy in particular cases, it only proves to be the precursor of another suffering. (32)
Just as a man carrying a heavy load on his head may place it on one of his shoulders (in order to get relieved of the burden), so are all remedies. (The remedy, employed to counteract an evil, itself proves to be a source of fresh trouble). (33)
Even as a dream in a dream constitutes only a change from one dream experience to another, but does not bring about the cessation of the dream, so mere action (divorced from the realization of Truth) is no ultimate remedy for (the sufferings brought about by one's own) actions, both being conceived in ignorance, O pure-hearted monarch ! (34)
Just as for a man roving about in the dream-world with the mind, which conditions his soul, there is no cessation of dream experiences, so also (the vicious circle of) transmigration does not cease (for the man who is buried in the sleep of ignorance) even though the phenomena of the world have no reality. (35)
Now freedom from ignorance—ignorance, which brings in its train a chain of evils in the form of transmigration to the eternally existent soul, is secured through supreme devotion to the Lord, the (supreme) Guru. (36)
Contact firmly established with the Lord through Devotion will automatically induce aversion to the pleasures of sense and bring enlightenment. (37)
That contact through Bhakti, depending as it does on the stories of the immortal Lord, becomes an accomplished fact before long, O royal sage, for him who devoutly listens to or reads such stories everyday. (38)
In a place where there are pious and pure-hearted devotees whose mind is impatient to repeat and listen to the praises of the Lord, O king, there flow in all directions streams of pure nectar-like stories of Lord Viṣṇu (the Slayer of the demon Madhu) recited by exalted souls. Hunger and thirst, fear, grief and infatuation never afflict those who drink in such stories with intent ears knowing no satiation, O Prācinabarhi ! (39-40)
Ever harassed by these natural enemies, people do not indeed take delight in the ocean of the nectarine stories of Śrī Hari. (41)
Brahmā (the lord of all divinities presiding over procreation) himself, Lord Śiva (who lives on Mount Kailāsa), Swāyamabhuva Manu, Dakṣa and the other lords of creation, Sanaka and other sages vowed to perpetual celibacy and expositors of the Vedas—Marīci, Atri, Aṅgirā, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Bhrgu, and Vasiṣṭha, including myself—all masters of speech—have not been able even to this day to behold the supreme Lord, the Seer (of all), in spite of our efforts to perceive Him through asceticism, worship and concentration of mind. (42—44)
Moving about (freely) in the vast expanse of the Veda, the depth of which cannot be easily sounded, and worshipping the forms of Indra and other gods endowed with characteristics (such as the thunderbolt etc.) as indicated in the texts of the Vedas, we fail to know the Supreme. (45)
When, contemplated upon in the heart, the Lord showers His grace on some particular individual, the devotee so blessed gives up his faith, however deep-rooted, in the worldly usage as well as in the Vedic rituals. (46)

Therefore, O Prācinabarhi, do not regard rituals as real—rituals which, though their accounts are alluring to hear, have no relation whatsoever with the (ultimate) Reality. They appear as real only through ignorance. (47)
Men of impure (clouded) understanding, who speak of the Vedas as devoted to rituals, are not (really) conversant with the Vedas, inasmuch as they do not know the truth about the Spirit, that is their own essence and where dwells Lord Janārdana—in other words, which is the same as Lord Janārdana. (48)
Having strewn the whole terrestrial globe with blades of Kuśa grass, their ends turned towards the east, you have grown arrogant and proud of your extensive slaughter of animals. You know nothing about the ritual nor of what is higher than that (viz., wisdom). That alone is (classed as) the ritual, which conduces to the pleasure of Śrī Hari; (and) that alone is wisdom, which leads to faith in Him. (49)
Śrī Hari is the Self as well as the lord of (all) embodied beings, and He is their independent Cause (too). The soles of His feet (alone) are their (true) asylum; for in them lies the safety of men in this world. (50)
Indeed He is the most loved one, nay, the (very) Self, from whom there is not the least fear. (And) as a matter of fact he (alone) is wise, who knows this (truth); (and) he who is wise is the (true) preceptor, nay Śrī Hari (Himself). (51)

Nārada continued : Thus (far) indeed has your question been answered, O jewel among men! Now hear from me as I tell you a hidden truth which has been fully ascertained. (52)
(Just) find (the identity of) the deer fondly consorting (with its female companion) in a garden of flowers grazing tiny blades of grass with its ears charmed by the sweet humming of swarms of bees, going about unmindful of the blood-thirsty wolves before it and pierced from behind by the shaft of a hunter. (53)

(The import of this is given below.)
O king, you would do well to perceive yourself as one seeking after a dose of sense-delights such as the pleasures of taste and copulation—obtained as a result of actions done with an interested motive, and most insignificant like the odour of the honey in flowers—in a house full of women sharing the nature of blossoms (that fade too soon)! Nay, pairing with women, you have given your mind to them, your ears completely lured by the exceedingly charming talks of beloved women and children, resembling the sweet humming of swarms of bees. You enjoy life at home setting no value on the moments of time culminating in days and nights that prey upon your life like a pack of wolves ahead of you; and here is Death, the hunter, stalking you and striking you with his veiled arrow from a distance an lo! your heart has been pierced with the same. (54)
Thus pondering the career of the deer, restrain your mind within the four walls of your heart and (the outward flow of) the stream of your ear in the mind. Bid adieu to the life of a householder, where you (mostly) hear stories of unrighteous (libidinous) people; (try to) please the Lord (the shelter of all living beings) and gradually withdraw from everything else. (55)

King Prācīnabarhi said : I have heard and pondered, O holy sage, on what you have said. (Surely) my preceptors (who instructed me in the rituals) are not aware of this; (for) had they known it, wherefore should they have failed to teach the same to me? (56)
The great doubt raised in my mind by their words on this subject has been fully resolved (by you), O (worthy) Brāhmaṇa. Even sages are bewildered in a domain which is beyond the reach of the senses. (57)
Leaving here the body by which the Jiva performs (certain) actions, he reaps the (good and evil) consequences (of those actions) in a future life through another body. (58)
This doctrine of the knowers of Veda is heard of everywhere. (But how can this be ?) (Moreover) whatever action, recommended in the Vedas, is (actually) performed goes out of sight and is no longer visible. (How can a thing which has altogether disappeared yield good or evil consequences?) (59)

Nārada replied : The Jiva itself experiences (the good and evil) consequences of its actions hereafter through the same subtle body, (mainly consisting of) the mind, by which he performs (those) actions and which continues uninterrupted (even in the lives to come). (60)
Just as (in a dream) a man ceases to identify himself with this (physical body)—which remains lying asleep and breathing (as heretofore)—and experiences the fruit of his actions, which are stored in his mind (in the form of impressions), so does he reap the fruit of his actions done in a previous life through another body similar to this or belonging to a different species. (61)
Whatever body the Jiva cleaves to with his mind, saying: "These (wife and children) are mine and this (body) is I", he (also) ascribes to himself the actions performed through that body, whence follows his rebirth. (62)
Just as (the existence of) a (directing) mind is inferred from both the types of activities of the Indriyas (viz., perception of the objective world and reacting upon the same), so are the actions wrought through a previous body (and surviving in the form of impressions) inferred from the (diverse) propensities of the mind. (63)
What has nowhere been experienced and is unseen and unheard of in this life is sometimes perceived with the mind in its actual form and character (in a dream or a reverie). (64)
Therefore, O king, be positive in your mind that such an object was experienced in a previous life by that Jiva identified with a subtle body; for an object that has not been experienced (before) can never (even) flash on the mind. (65)

The very mind of a man, God bless you, reveals (the nature of) his former existences as well as the future ones in the case of the man who is going to be reborn and even so (indicates) the liberation of the man who is not going to be so reborn. (66)
Sometimes (in a dream) a thing (altogether) unseen and unheard of in this world in relation to a particular place, time or action (such as a sprout of barley on a burning flame, the sun shining at dead of night or the flying of a creature living on dry land) is seen flashing on (one's) mind. How this happens should be inferred (from the attendant circumstances, e.g., a disturbed sleep) and does not disprove in any way the proposition enunciated in verse 65 above. (67)
Such objects alone as are perceptible by the senses flash on the mind in groups in order of succession and disappear (when they have been enjoyed). (For) all embodied beings are (invariably) endowed with a mind (full of impressions of past experiences). (68)
(As a rule, things appear before the mind only successively; but) on a mind established in the quality of Sattva unmixed with Rajas and Tamas and staying by the side (in the presence) of the Lord (during meditation) the whole of this universe flashes (simultaneously sometimes), being united as it were with the Lord, just as Rāhu (which has been recognized as a planet in Hindu astronomy and is nothing but a mass of darkness) appears (before our eyes) in conjunction with the moon (during a lunar eclipse). (69)
The feeling of 'I' and 'mine' (with regard to the physical body), inhering in the Jīva, does not cease so long as the subtle body—which has existed from time without beginning and which is a product of the three Guṇas and a conglomerate of the intellect, the mind, the Indriyas, (the five senses of perception and the five organs of action) and the five subtle elements—persists. (70)
During sleep, in the unconscious state and in agony as well as at the time of death and high fever the I-consciousness (though persisting) does not manifest itself due to the suspension of sense-activity. (71)
The senses being not fully developed during gestation and infancy too, the conditioning ego appearing in the form of the ten Indriyas and the mind in a young man is not (distinctly) perceived in those periods any more than the orb of the moon on the last night of a lunar month. (72)
Even though the world of senses does not (really) exist, (the cycle of) birth and death does not cease, for the Jīva who is (ever) engrossed in the thought of the pleasures of senses, any more than the reverses experienced in a dream (until one wakes up). (73)

In this way the subtle body, made up of the five subtle elements, and (further) developed into sixteen modifications (in the form of the five vital airs, the mind and the ten Indriyas), and which is a product of the three Guṇas (Sattva, Rajas and Tamas), is spoken of as the Jīva when the same is endowed with consciousness. (74)
It is through this (subtle body) that the Jīva assumes and casts off (physical) bodies and (again) it is through this that he experiences joy and sorrow, fear, pleasure and pain. (75)
Just as a caterpillar does not leave its foothold (until it has caught at another) and leaves it (only) after it has firmly set its foot on another, the Jīva does not give up (its) identification with the previous body (the one he casts off) even while dying until it takes another body (earthly or aerial and so on) with the exhaustion of Karma (responsible for the existence of the previous body). It is the mind alone, O ruler of men, that brings about the birth (and death) of living beings. (76-77)
When a Jīva resorts to actions again and again, thinking of the pleasures enjoyed (by it) through the it through ignorance. (78)
Therefore, in order to get rid of this bondage, worship Śrī Hari with all your being, looking on this universe as one with Him inasmuch as it proceeds from Him, stays in Him and is (also) dissolved in Him. (79)

Maitreya continued : Having (thus) revealed the truth about the swans (in the shape of the soul and the Oversoul) and taking leave of king Prācinabarhi, the glorious Nārada, the foremost among the devotees of the Lord, then proceeded to the abode of the Siddhas (a class of superhuman beings naturally endowed with mystic powers). (80)
Leaving instructions for his sons to take care of the people, the royal sage Prācinabarhi (too) retired to the hermitage of the sage Kapila (at the mouth of the Gaṅgā) for practising asceticism. (81)
Constantly and devoutly adoring the lotus-feet of Lord Govinda with a concentrated mind and completely rid of attachment, the hero attained (after death) a form similar to the Lord's. (82)

He who reads (to others) and (even so) he who listens to this allegorical dissertation on the Spirit, delivered by the celestial sage (Nārada), O pure-hearted Vidura, is rid once for all of his subtle body. (83)
He who assimilates, as sung (by others), this self-purifying discourse—that issued from the lips of the sage Nārada (the foremost of celestial seers) and sanctifies the whole world through the glory of Lord Viṣṇu and which confers the highest reward (in the form of final beatitude)—is freed from all bondage and no longer revolves in (the whirligig of) metempsychosis. (84)
Thus have I understood the meaning of this wonderful allegorical teaching on the subject of the Spirit. With the help of this the self-identification of a Jīva (embodied soul) with Buddhi (that has been depicted here as a woman) is eradicated and all doubts regarding life after death resolved. (85)

Thus ends the twenty-ninth discourse entitled "The Dialogue between king Prācinabarhi and the sage Nārada," forming part of the Dialogue between Vidura and Maitreya, in Book Four of the great and glorious Bhāgavata-Purāṇa, otherwise known as the Paramahārṣa-Sarhhitā.