Canto 5 - Chapter 5: Lord Rṣabhadeva instructs His sons and Himself takes to the life of an ascetic who has shaken off worldly feeling and obligation ...

Discourse V

Lord Ṛṣabhadeva instructs His sons and Himself takes to the life of an ascetic who has shaken off worldly feeling and obligation

Lord Rṣabha began : This (human) body in the mortal world does not deserve to be given up to (the pursuit of) sensuous pleasures, which are (really) a source of misery and which are enjoyed even by swine, dogs and other animals (that feed on ordure). It is worthy of being devoted, My beloved sons, to sublime austerities whereby the mind is purified; and from purity of mind follows the unending bliss of absorption into the Absolute. (1)
The wise speak of service rendered to exalted souls as an open gate to liberation and the fellowship of those who are fond of women as the door opening into hell. (And) they alone are (really) great who are even-minded, exceptionally calm and composed, free from anger, kind-hearted and pious or again they who regard love offered to Me as the (only) object of human pursuit, who take no delight in (the company of) men (solely) engaged in pursuits (merely) calculated to nourish their body nor in a household consisting of wife, children and (earthly) riches, and who have no selfish interest in the world beyond the maintenance of their body. (2-3)
An erring soul commits sin only when he endeavours to gratify his senses. I (however) do not regard those actions as good, from which has followed this body, which though (really) non-existent, is (yet) a source of misery to the Jiva. (4)
The real nature of the soul remains obscure due to ignorance only so long as the Jiva does not enquire into the truth about the Spirit. (Again) so long as actions continue to be performed, the mind remains disposed to activity, and it is due to such a mind that the Jiva remains tied to a body. (5)
(The true nature of) the Spirit being thus veiled by ignorance, the past actions of a man render his mind prone to activity. And so long as there is no love for Me, Lord Vāsudeva, the Jiva is not rid of its identification with a body. (6)
So long as the Jiva, oblivious of its (real) self-interest, does not come to its senses and realize the activity of the Indriyas (the senses of perception and the organs of action) as unreal (something not belonging to it), the fool soon forgets its own essential nature and finding a home providing sexual enjoyment (as a characteristic feature), suffers torments (of various kinds) there. (7)

The union as husband and wife of a man with a woman, the wise speak of it as another knot binding their hearts together (apart from the subtle knot, in the shape of identification with the body, already existing in their heart individually). It is due to this (other knot) that (over and above the body, mind and senses etc.), a man erroneously regards a house, fields, children, kinsmen and wealth as either himself or his own. (8)
When (however) the hard knot in the shape of mind—formed in the heart of this Jiva by its Karmas (past actions)—gets loose, then (and then alone) does it turn its back on this relation of husband and wife and, shedding its ego (the cause of transmigration) and freed from all bondage, reaches the Supreme. (9)
By adoring Me and depending on Me, the pure Self and Preceptor (of all); through freedom from thirst for enjoyment as well as by enduring pairs of opposites (such as heat and cold, pleasure and pain); by realizing the fact that a living being is beset with calamities everywhere (even in the other world); through a spirit of enquiry (into the truth of things) through asceticism and by abstaining from actions done with some interested motive; through actions done for My sake by hearing My stories everyday; through the fellowship of those who look upon Me as their sole deity; by singing My praises; through even-mindedness, tranquillity and freedom from animosity; through a desire to give up identifying himself with the body, house etc., through a careful study of scriptures dealing with the Spirit; by living in solitude; by thoroughly controlling the breath, the Indriyas (the senses of perception as well as the organs of action) and the mind; through faith in saints and the holy books; through continence, through constant vigilance (in performing one's sacred duties); through control of the tongue; through wisdom illumined with realization and penetrating enough to perceive My presence everywhere; and through deep meditation, My sons, and equipped with firmness, diligence and discretion, a clever man should (endeavour to) tear the veil known by the name of Ego. (10—13)
Remaining vigilant (all the time), he should completely shake off by this means, as taught by his preceptor the bondage in the shape of the knot (of egotism) in the heart, which has been brought about by ignorance and which, again, is the storehouse where (all) the latencies of Karma lie deposited. Then he should desist even from this endeavour. (14)

A king or a father or a preceptor, whoever aspires to reach My abode or looks upon My grace as the (sole) object of human pursuit, should thus instruct his ignorant subjects, sons or pupils, and should in no case urge them to actions (done with an interested motive), getting not angry with them (even if they do not listen to him and persist in doing such actions), knowing that they erroneously regard such actions as the only way to happiness. What object would a man gain by directing a fellow-man to such actions? For thereby he would be throwing the blind fellow into the abyss of metempsychosis. (15)
Men who crave for objects of sensuous enjoyment alone, possessed as they are by an inordinate lust for such enjoyment, are (really) themselves blind to their (real) well-being. That is why they enter into enmity with one another for crumbs of pleasure and have no idea of the endless misery (which lies in store for them as a result of such enmity), deluded as they are. (16)
Seeing such foolish men steeped in ignorance (in the form of worldly activity), no sensible and compassionate man, who is himself aware of his own (real) interests, would urge them to resort to such ignorance again, any more than he would direct a blind man who is following a wrong track to continue on that path. (17)
A preceptor is no preceptor, a relation is no relation, a father is no father, a mother is no mother, a deity is no deity, nor is a husband a husband, who is unable to redeem his pupil, relation, son, votary or wife fallen into (the whirlpool of) transmigration. (18)

(The mystery of) this human semblance of Mine (assumed of My own free will) cannot be easily understood. Indeed (pure) Sattva is My heart, where resides Dharma (righteousness), and unrighteousness has been left far behind by Me. That is why worthy souls call Me Rṣabha (the foremost). (19)
You are sprung from My heart (which as I have told you is made up of Sattva unmixed with Rajas and Tamas): therefore, with a mind free from envy, wait upon that brother of yours, Bharata, who is a very noble soul; that will be (as good as) rendering service to Me and (tantamount to) taking care of the people. (20)
Mobile creatures are higher than plants, which in their turn are by far the best among (other) created beings (such as minerals and stones); and among these (again) beasts etc., (who are endowed with intelligence) are the highest. Higher than these are human beings; while Pramathas (spirits and genii forming the retinue of Lord Rudra, the god of destruction) are higher even than human beings. Still higher are the Gandharvas (celestial musicians); the Siddhas (a class of demigods who are naturally endowed with mystic powers) come next; while higher still are the (other) attendants of gods (such as the Kinnaras). (21)
(Still higher are the Asuras or demons;) the gods with Indra as their leader are superior (even) to the Asuras and higher still rank the (mind-born) sons of Brahmā—Dakṣa and others. Of these (again) Lord Śiva (the Source of the universe) ranks the foremost and He in His turn is an offspring of Brahmā (the creator, who is, therefore, naturally higher than Śiva). I am superior (even) to Brahmā (the creator), while the Brāhmaṇas (the adored of the other twice-born classes) are worthy of adoration even to Me (and therefore superior to Me). (22)

I place no other living being on a par with the Brāhmaṇas; what (other) creature, then, can I regard as higher than they, O Brāhmaṇas (assembled here)? I eat My fill the food offered to them by men in liberal quantities with reverence, but not so the oblations poured into the sacred fire at a sacrifice. (23)
It is by the Brāhmaṇa that My glorious and eternal body (in the form of the Vedas) has been maintained on earth and it is in him that the most sanctifying quality of Sattva, control of the mind and the senses, truthfulness and compassion, asceticism, endurance and wisdom are found. (24)
The Brāhmaṇas who are rich in devotion to Me, though destitute of worldly possessions, have nothing to seek even from Me, the Lord possessed of infinite power and higher than the highest (Brahmā and others) and the Bestower of heavenly bliss and final beatitude ! What can they have to do with anything else? (25)

With a pure (ungrudging) mind all living beings, mobile (animate) as well as immobile (inanimate), My sons, ought to be respected by you at every step as (so many) abodes of Mine; that alone will be My true worship at your hands. (26)
My propitiation is the (only) reward of the activities of the mind, tongue, eyes and the other Indriyas. For, without propitiating Me a man cannot hope to escape from the greatly confounding noose of Death. (27)

Śrī Śuka continued : Having thus admonished his sons, who were themselves (thoroughly) disciplined, for the guidance of the world, the most glorious Lord Rṣabha, their greatest friend (and well-wisher) installed on the throne the eldest of His hundred sons, Bharata—who was not only a great devotee of the Lord but was devoted to His servants as well—for the protection of the earth (His kingdom). (Then) in order to exemplify (in Himself) the mode of life of recluses, characterized by Devotion, Self-Realization and aversion for the pleasures of sense, and followed by great ascetics given to self-control and retired from (worldly) activity, He Himself renounced even at home everything except His body, which was the only possession left with Him, and, having absorbed the sacrificial fires into Himself, and taking to the life of a recluse, departed from Brahmāvarta as if mad, with dishevelled hair and having no covering on His body except the sky. (28)
Behaving like a stupid, blind, dumb, deaf or madman or (even like) a goblin, he put on the appearance of one who had lost all sense of the body and, having taken a vow of silence, remained mute even when accosted by the people. (29)
In towns and villages, mines and hamlets, flower-gardens and habitations at the foot of hills, military encampments and cow-pens, in hutments of cowherds as well as in the midst of caravans, in mountains and forests, hermitages and other places, wherever He happened to be, He was insulted on every road—even as a wild elephant is assailed by bees—by vile men, who threatened and (even) beat Him, passed urine and spat on Him threw stones, dust and (even) ordure on Him, farted (in His face) and showered abuses on Him. He (however) ignored (all) this inasmuch as He never looked upon, as His own self or (even) as His own, this illusory habitat in the shape of a body, (wrongly) called as real—established as He was in His own glory (glorious essence) consisting in the realization of both being and non-being—and roamed about all alone on (this) earth with an undivided (undistracted) mind. (30)
Appearing in a (charming) form with very soft hands and feet and chest, long and rounded arms, shoulders, and neck, an attractive face and other limbs (all) symmetrically disposed, and a lovely mouth lit up with a spontaneous and naturally captivating smile, He appeared (all the more) lovely with His reddish and large refreshing eyes resembling the petals of a fresh, blown lotus. His cheeks, ears, neck and nostrils were not only beautiful but uniformly shaped. By the extraordinary gracefulness of His face adorned with an enigmatic smile He kindled love in the heart of the women of the city, and with the curly yet matted and auburn luxuriant hair flowing over His face as well as with His uncared for and unclean body He looked like one possessed by a demon. (31)

When, however, the Lord saw this world directly opposed to His practice of Yoga as it were, and the counteraction of such opposition reprehensible, He adopted the mode of life of a python (remaining fixed to one spot and working out one's destiny) and not only ate, drank and chewed (crisp articles of food) but also passed urine and stool lying down, rolling in the faeces till all His limbs were thoroughly daubed with it. (32)
The wind perfumed by the fragrance of His excrement indeed surcharged with sweet smell the whole area within a radius of eighty miles. (33)
Similarly, living the life of a bull, deer or crow, he behaved (just) like a bull, deer or crow and ate, drank and passed urine while moving about, standing, sitting or lying down. (34)
Thus adopting various modes of life helpful to the practice of Yoga (in order to set an example before Yogis striving to surmount obstacles in the way of their practice of Yoga), Lord Rābhadeva, the Dispenser of final beatitude—who embodied in Himself the constant realization of the highest bliss—was endowed in the fullest measure with all the objects of human pursuit, which were naturally present in Him, inasmuch as no veil in the form of a subtle body existed between Him and Lord Vāsudeva, the Soul of all living beings, with whom He was perfectly identified. That is why, O king, He did not welcome at heart the (extraordinary) powers of Yoga that actually came to Him unsolicited in the form of ability to traverse the air, acquiring the swiftness of thought, the power of remaining invisible and entering a dead body, the faculty of seeing distant objects and hearing distant sounds and so on. (35)

Thus ends the fifth discourse forming part of the Narrative of Ṛṣabhadeva,
in Book Five of the great and glorious Bhāgavata-Purāṇa,
otherwise known as the Paramahārṣa-Sarhhitā.