Canto 6 - Chapter 15: Citraketu consoled

Sanskrit (संस्कृतम्)	English Translation
॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥ ॥ पञ्चदशोऽध्यायः - १५ ॥	Discourse XV Citraketu consoled (Preamble)
श्रीशुक उवाच । ऊचतुर्मृतकोपान्ते पतितं मृतकोपमम् । शोकाभिभूतं राजानं बोधयन्तौ सदुक्तिभिः ॥ १॥ कोऽयं स्यात्तव राजेन्द्र भवान् यमनुशोचति । त्वं चास्य कतमः सृष्टौ पुरेदानीमतः परम् ॥ २॥ यथा प्रयान्ति संयान्ति स्रोतोवेगेन वालुकाः । संयुज्यन्ते वियुज्यन्ते तथा कालेन देहिनः ॥ ३॥ यथा धानासु वै धाना भवन्ति न भवन्ति च । एवं भूतेषु भूतानि चोदितानीशमायया ॥ ४॥ वयं च त्वं च ये चेमे तुल्यकालाश्चराचराः । जन्ममृत्योर्यथा पश्चात्प्राङ् नैवमधुनापि भोः ॥ ५॥ भूतैर्भूतानि भूतेशः सृजत्यवति हन्त्यजः । आत्मसृष्टैरस्वतन्त्रैरनपेक्षोऽपि बालवत् ॥ ६॥ देहेन देहिनो राजन् देहाद्देहोऽभिजायते । बीजादेव यथा बीजं देह्यर्थ इव शाश्वतः ॥ ७॥ देहदेहिविभागोऽयमविवेककृतः पुरा । जातिव्यक्तिविभागोऽयं यथा वस्तुनि कल्पितः ॥ ८॥	Śrī Śuka began again : Enlightening, by means of wise utterances, king Citraketu, who was lying by the side of the dead babe like a dead man, overwhelmed as he was with grief, the sages Aṅgirā and Nārada spoke (as follows):—(1) "In what relation did the boy whom you are lamenting (just now), O king of kings, stand to you in a previous birth, what is he to you at present and what will he be to you hereafter ? Again, what were you to him in a former incarnation, what are you at present and what will you be hereafter ? (2) Just as stands part (from one another) and come together by the current of a stream, so are embodied beings brought together and parted by Time. (3) Just as seeds do spring up from (other) seeds (in some cases), and do not spring up (in other cases), so do living beings prompted by the Lord's Māyā evolve from (other) living beings (in some cases) and do not (in other cases). (4) You and we and all these mobile and immobile creatures belonging to the present time do not (really) exist even now (just) as we did not before birth and shall not be after death, O Citraketu ! (5) It is God (the Lord of created beings) who, though unborn (and imperishable) and (absolutely) unconcerned, creates, protects and destroys living beings (sportfully) as a child through (other) beings evolved by Himself and (therefore) not independent. (6) The body of one embodied being (in the shape of a son), O king, is evolved from the body of another embodied being (in the shape of the mother) united with the body of a third embodied being (in the shape of the father), just as one seed springs up from another seed: while the soul inhabiting all these bodies is eternal like God (the only Reality). (7) The aforesaid distinction of body and soul has existed from eternity and has been conceived through ignorance even as the distinction of the generic property and the individuality of a thing assumed as inhering in the thing itself (although the two are interdependent and cannot therefore be really distinguished)." (8) (1-8)
श्रीशुक उवाच । एवमाश्वासितो राजा चित्रकेतुर्द्विजोक्तिभिः । प्रमृज्य पाणिना वक्त्रमाधिम्लानमभाषत ॥ ९॥	Śrī Śuka continued : Thus consoled by the words of the (holy) Brāhmaṇas (Aṅgirā and Nārada), king Citraketu wiped his face, withered through mental anguish (caused by his son's death) with his hand and spoke (as follows). (9) (9)
राजोवाच । कौ युवां ज्ञानसम्पन्नौ महिष्ठौ च महीयसाम् । अवधूतेन वेषेण गूढाविह समागतौ ॥ १०॥ चरन्ति ह्यवनौ कामं ब्राह्मणा भगवत्प्रियाः । मादृशां ग्राम्यबुद्धीनां बोधायोन्मत्तलिङ्गिनः ॥ ११॥ कुमारो नारद ऋभुरङ्गिरा देवलोऽसितः । अपान्तरतमो व्यासो मार्कण्डेयोऽथ गौतमः ॥ १२॥ वसिष्ठो भगवान् रामः कपिलो बादरायणिः । दुर्वासा याज्ञवल्क्यश्च जातूकर्ण्यस्तथारुणिः ॥ १३॥ रोमशश्च्यवनो दत्त आसुरिः सपतञ्जलिः । ऋषिर्वेदशिरा बोध्यः मुनिः पञ्चशिरास्तथा ॥ १४॥ हिरण्यनाभः कौसल्यः श्रुतदेव ऋतध्वजः । एते परे च सिद्धेशाश्चरन्ति ज्ञानहेतवः ॥ १५॥ तस्माद्युवां ग्राम्यपशोर्मम मूढधियः प्रभू । अन्धे तमसि मग्नस्य ज्ञानदीप उदीर्यताम् ॥ १६॥	The king said : Who are you, rich in wisdom and the most adored of the adorable, that have come here, disguised in the form of ascetics absolutely unconcerned with the world ? (10) Indeed Brāhmaṇas (lit., those identified with Brahma), who are beloved of the Lord, go about the earth at will, disguised as mad men, for admonishing sensually-minded people like me. (11) Sanatkumāra, Nārada, Rbhu, Aṅgirā, Devala, Asita, Apāntaratama, Vyāsa, Mārkaṇḍeya and Gautama, Vasiṣṭha, the glorious Paraśurāma, Kapila, Śuka (son of Bādarāyaṇa), Durvāsā and Yājñavalkya, Jātūkarṇya and Āruṇi, Romaśa, Cyavana, Dattātreya, Āsuri with Patañjali, the seer Vedaśirā, the sage Bodhya, Pañcaśirā, Hiranyanābha, Kausalya, Śrutadeva, and Rtadhwaja—these and other lords of Siddhas (enlightened souls) range (over the earth) with the object of imparting wisdom (to qualified souls). (12—15) Therefore, you two are the masters of my stupid self, a sensual brute. (Pray,) hold aloft the lamp of wisdom to me, plunged in blinding darkness (in the shape of ignorance). (16) (10-16)
अङ्गिरा उवाच । अहं ते पुत्रकामस्य पुत्रदोऽस्म्यङ्गिरा नृप । एष ब्रह्मसुतः साक्षान्नारदो भगवान् ऋषिः ॥ १७॥ इत्थं त्वां पुत्रशोकेन मग्नं तमसि दुस्तरे । अतदर्हमनुस्मृत्य महापुरुषगोचरम् ॥ १८॥ अनुग्रहाय भवतः प्राप्तावावामिह प्रभो । ब्रह्मण्यो भगवद्भक्तो नावसीदितुमर्हति ॥ १९॥ तदैव ते परं ज्ञानं ददामि गृहमागतः । ज्ञात्वान्याभिनिवेशं ते पुत्रमेव ददावहम् ॥ २०॥ अधुना पुत्रिणां तापो भवतैवानुभूयते । एवं दारा गृहा रायो विविधैश्वर्यसम्पदः ॥ २१॥ शब्दादयश्च विषयाश्चला राज्यविभूतयः । मही राज्यं बलं कोशो भृत्यामात्यसुहृज्जनाः ॥ २२॥ सर्वेऽपि शूरसेनेमे शोकमोहभयार्तिदाः । गन्धर्वनगरप्रख्याः स्वप्नमायामनोरथाः ॥ २३॥ दृश्यमाना विनार्थेन न दृश्यन्ते मनोभवाः । कर्मभिर्ध्यायतो नानाकर्माणि मनसोऽभवन् ॥ २४॥ अयं हि देहिनो देहो द्रव्यज्ञानक्रियात्मकः । देहिनो विविधक्लेशसन्तापकृदुदाहृतः ॥ २५॥ तस्मात्स्वस्थेन मनसा विमृश्य गतिमात्मनः । द्वैते ध्रुवार्थविश्रम्भं त्यजोपशममाविश ॥ २६॥	The sage Aṅgirā said : I am (the same) Aṅgirā, who blessed you with a son when you longed for one, O king ! (And) here is the divine sage Nārada, son of Brahmā (the creator) himself. (17) Knowing you, a devotee of Lord Viṣṇu (the Supreme Person), plunged in (a sea of) despondency—difficult to get through—due to grief caused by the loss of your son, though not fit to be drowned in it, we have come down here to shower our grace on you, O Citraketu ! (For) a votary of the Brāhmaṇas and a devotee of the Lord does not deserve to be despondent. (18-19) I was going to impart the highest wisdom to you even then when I visited your house (for the first time). Coming to know of your insistence on having something else (however), I conferred on you (the boon of) a son alone. (20) Now the agony of those blessed with a son is being directly experienced by you. Even so a wife, house, riches, power and prosperity of various kinds, sound and the other objects of sense, the fleeting glories of sovereignty, lands, kingdom, army, treasury, dependants and ministers and friends and relations—all these, O ruler of the Śūrasena territory, are sources of grief, infatuation, fear and affliction. (Nay,) they are (of a momentary nature) like an imaginary city seen in the sky and are of the nature of (similar in character to) a dream, illusion, and fancy. (21—23) They are (merely) conceptual in that they are perceived without reality and disappear (the very next moment). (If it is urged that the acquisitions mentioned above are rewards of meritorious acts done in a previous life and not merely conceptual), the various actions (too) proceed from the mind of a man thinking of such material possessions under the force of tendencies of action (acquired in former existences). (24) As a matter of fact, this body (alone)—consisting of the gross elements, the senses of perception and the organs of action—has been spoken of (by the knowers of truth) as causing afflictions and agonies of various kinds to the embodied soul who regards it as his own self. (25) Therefore, investigating with a composed mind the true nature of the Self, give up faith in the abiding reality of the objective world (implying duality) and resort to quietism. (26) (17-26)
नारद उवाच । एतां मन्त्रोपनिषदं प्रतीच्छ प्रयतो मम । यां धारयन् सप्तरात्राद्द्रष्टा सङ्कर्षणं प्रभुम् ॥ २७॥ यत्पादमूलमुपसृत्य नरेन्द्र पूर्वे शर्वादयो भ्रममिमं द्वितयं विसृज्य । सद्यस्तदीयमतुलानधिकं महित्वं प्रापुर्भवानपि परं न चिरादुपैति ॥ २८॥ इति श्रीमद्भागवते महापुराणे पारमहंस्यां संहितायां षष्ठस्कन्धे चित्रकेतुसान्त्वनं नाम पञ्चदशोऽध्यायः ॥ १५॥	Nārada said : Having been purified (through a bath and other purificatory rites after disposing of the dead body), receive from me the following sacred text (quoted in xvi. 18—25) as an abode of the highest blessing. By repeating and fixing your thought on it you will be able to behold Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa (only) after seven nights. (27) By resorting to the soles of His feet, O king of kings, devotees belonging to the (remotest) past—Lord Śiva (the Destroyer of the universe) and others—got rid of the illusion of this world (implying duality) and forthwith attained to (oneness with) His unsurpassed, nay, unequalled greatness, and you too will attain before long the same supreme result. (28) Thus ends the fifteenth discourse entitled "Citraketu consoled", in Book Six of the great and glorious Bhāgavata-Purāṇa, otherwise known as the Paramahārṣa-Sarhhitā. (27-28)

Sanskrit (संस्कृतम्)

English Translation

॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥

॥ पञ्चदशोऽध्यायः - १५ ॥

Discourse XV

Citraketu consoled

(Preamble)

श्रीशुक उवाच ।

ऊचतुर्मृतकोपान्ते पतितं मृतकोपमम् ।
शोकाभिभूतं राजानं बोधयन्तौ सदुक्तिभिः ॥ १॥
कोऽयं स्यात्तव राजेन्द्र भवान् यमनुशोचति ।
त्वं चास्य कतमः सृष्टौ पुरेदानीमतः परम् ॥ २॥
यथा प्रयान्ति संयान्ति स्रोतोवेगेन वालुकाः ।
संयुज्यन्ते वियुज्यन्ते तथा कालेन देहिनः ॥ ३॥
यथा धानासु वै धाना भवन्ति न भवन्ति च ।
एवं भूतेषु भूतानि चोदितानीशमायया ॥ ४॥
वयं च त्वं च ये चेमे तुल्यकालाश्चराचराः ।
जन्ममृत्योर्यथा पश्चात्प्राङ् नैवमधुनापि भोः ॥ ५॥
भूतैर्भूतानि भूतेशः सृजत्यवति हन्त्यजः ।
आत्मसृष्टैरस्वतन्त्रैरनपेक्षोऽपि बालवत् ॥ ६॥
देहेन देहिनो राजन् देहाद्देहोऽभिजायते ।
बीजादेव यथा बीजं देह्यर्थ इव शाश्वतः ॥ ७॥
देहदेहिविभागोऽयमविवेककृतः पुरा ।
जातिव्यक्तिविभागोऽयं यथा वस्तुनि कल्पितः ॥ ८॥

Śrī Śuka began again : Enlightening, by means of wise utterances, king Citraketu, who was lying by the side of the dead babe like a dead man, overwhelmed as he was with grief, the sages Aṅgirā and Nārada spoke (as follows):—(1)
"In what relation did the boy whom you are lamenting (just now), O king of kings, stand to you in a previous birth, what is he to you at present and what will he be to you hereafter ? Again, what were you to him in a former incarnation, what are you at present and what will you be hereafter ? (2)
Just as stands part (from one another) and come together by the current of a stream, so are embodied beings brought together and parted by Time. (3)
Just as seeds do spring up from (other) seeds (in some cases), and do not spring up (in other cases), so do living beings prompted by the Lord's Māyā evolve from (other) living beings (in some cases) and do not (in other cases). (4)
You and we and all these mobile and immobile creatures belonging to the present time do not (really) exist even now (just) as we did not before birth and shall not be after death, O Citraketu ! (5)
It is God (the Lord of created beings) who, though unborn (and imperishable) and (absolutely) unconcerned, creates, protects and destroys living beings (sportfully) as a child through (other) beings evolved by Himself and (therefore) not independent. (6)
The body of one embodied being (in the shape of a son), O king, is evolved from the body of another embodied being (in the shape of the mother) united with the body of a third embodied being (in the shape of the father), just as one seed springs up from another seed: while the soul inhabiting all these bodies is eternal like God (the only Reality). (7)
The aforesaid distinction of body and soul has existed from eternity and has been conceived through ignorance even as the distinction of the generic property and the individuality of a thing assumed as inhering in the thing itself (although the two are interdependent and cannot therefore be really distinguished)." (8)

(1-8)

श्रीशुक उवाच ।

एवमाश्वासितो राजा चित्रकेतुर्द्विजोक्तिभिः ।
प्रमृज्य पाणिना वक्त्रमाधिम्लानमभाषत ॥ ९॥

Śrī Śuka continued : Thus consoled by the words of the (holy) Brāhmaṇas (Aṅgirā and Nārada), king Citraketu wiped his face, withered through mental anguish (caused by his son's death) with his hand and spoke (as follows). (9)

(9)

राजोवाच ।

कौ युवां ज्ञानसम्पन्नौ महिष्ठौ च महीयसाम् ।
अवधूतेन वेषेण गूढाविह समागतौ ॥ १०॥
चरन्ति ह्यवनौ कामं ब्राह्मणा भगवत्प्रियाः ।
मादृशां ग्राम्यबुद्धीनां बोधायोन्मत्तलिङ्गिनः ॥ ११॥
कुमारो नारद ऋभुरङ्गिरा देवलोऽसितः ।
अपान्तरतमो व्यासो मार्कण्डेयोऽथ गौतमः ॥ १२॥
वसिष्ठो भगवान् रामः कपिलो बादरायणिः ।
दुर्वासा याज्ञवल्क्यश्च जातूकर्ण्यस्तथारुणिः ॥ १३॥
रोमशश्च्यवनो दत्त आसुरिः सपतञ्जलिः ।
ऋषिर्वेदशिरा बोध्यः मुनिः पञ्चशिरास्तथा ॥ १४॥
हिरण्यनाभः कौसल्यः श्रुतदेव ऋतध्वजः ।
एते परे च सिद्धेशाश्चरन्ति ज्ञानहेतवः ॥ १५॥
तस्माद्युवां ग्राम्यपशोर्मम मूढधियः प्रभू ।
अन्धे तमसि मग्नस्य ज्ञानदीप उदीर्यताम् ॥ १६॥

The king said : Who are you, rich in wisdom and the most adored of the adorable, that have come here, disguised in the form of ascetics absolutely unconcerned with the world ? (10)
Indeed Brāhmaṇas (lit., those identified with Brahma), who are beloved of the Lord, go about the earth at will, disguised as mad men, for admonishing sensually-minded people like me. (11)
Sanatkumāra, Nārada, Rbhu, Aṅgirā, Devala, Asita, Apāntaratama, Vyāsa, Mārkaṇḍeya and Gautama, Vasiṣṭha, the glorious Paraśurāma, Kapila, Śuka (son of Bādarāyaṇa), Durvāsā and Yājñavalkya, Jātūkarṇya and Āruṇi, Romaśa, Cyavana, Dattātreya, Āsuri with Patañjali, the seer Vedaśirā, the sage Bodhya, Pañcaśirā, Hiranyanābha, Kausalya, Śrutadeva, and Rtadhwaja—these and other lords of Siddhas (enlightened souls) range (over the earth) with the object of imparting wisdom (to qualified souls). (12—15)
Therefore, you two are the masters of my stupid self, a sensual brute. (Pray,) hold aloft the lamp of wisdom to me, plunged in blinding darkness (in the shape of ignorance). (16)

(10-16)

अङ्गिरा उवाच ।

अहं ते पुत्रकामस्य पुत्रदोऽस्म्यङ्गिरा नृप ।
एष ब्रह्मसुतः साक्षान्नारदो भगवान् ऋषिः ॥ १७॥
इत्थं त्वां पुत्रशोकेन मग्नं तमसि दुस्तरे ।
अतदर्हमनुस्मृत्य महापुरुषगोचरम् ॥ १८॥
अनुग्रहाय भवतः प्राप्तावावामिह प्रभो ।
ब्रह्मण्यो भगवद्भक्तो नावसीदितुमर्हति ॥ १९॥
तदैव ते परं ज्ञानं ददामि गृहमागतः ।
ज्ञात्वान्याभिनिवेशं ते पुत्रमेव ददावहम् ॥ २०॥
अधुना पुत्रिणां तापो भवतैवानुभूयते ।
एवं दारा गृहा रायो विविधैश्वर्यसम्पदः ॥ २१॥
शब्दादयश्च विषयाश्चला राज्यविभूतयः ।
मही राज्यं बलं कोशो भृत्यामात्यसुहृज्जनाः ॥ २२॥
सर्वेऽपि शूरसेनेमे शोकमोहभयार्तिदाः ।
गन्धर्वनगरप्रख्याः स्वप्नमायामनोरथाः ॥ २३॥
दृश्यमाना विनार्थेन न दृश्यन्ते मनोभवाः ।
कर्मभिर्ध्यायतो नानाकर्माणि मनसोऽभवन् ॥ २४॥
अयं हि देहिनो देहो द्रव्यज्ञानक्रियात्मकः ।
देहिनो विविधक्लेशसन्तापकृदुदाहृतः ॥ २५॥
तस्मात्स्वस्थेन मनसा विमृश्य गतिमात्मनः ।
द्वैते ध्रुवार्थविश्रम्भं त्यजोपशममाविश ॥ २६॥

The sage Aṅgirā said : I am (the same) Aṅgirā, who blessed you with a son when you longed for one, O king ! (And) here is the divine sage Nārada, son of Brahmā (the creator) himself. (17)
Knowing you, a devotee of Lord Viṣṇu (the Supreme Person), plunged in (a sea of) despondency—difficult to get through—due to grief caused by the loss of your son, though not fit to be drowned in it, we have come down here to shower our grace on you, O Citraketu ! (For) a votary of the Brāhmaṇas and a devotee of the Lord does not deserve to be despondent. (18-19)
I was going to impart the highest wisdom to you even then when I visited your house (for the first time). Coming to know of your insistence on having something else (however), I conferred on you (the boon of) a son alone. (20)
Now the agony of those blessed with a son is being directly experienced by you. Even so a wife, house, riches, power and prosperity of various kinds, sound and the other objects of sense, the fleeting glories of sovereignty, lands, kingdom, army, treasury, dependants and ministers and friends and relations—all these, O ruler of the Śūrasena territory, are sources of grief, infatuation, fear and affliction. (Nay,) they are (of a momentary nature) like an imaginary city seen in the sky and are of the nature of (similar in character to) a dream, illusion, and fancy. (21—23)
They are (merely) conceptual in that they are perceived without reality and disappear (the very next moment). (If it is urged that the acquisitions mentioned above are rewards of meritorious acts done in a previous life and not merely conceptual), the various actions (too) proceed from the mind of a man thinking of such material possessions under the force of tendencies of action (acquired in former existences). (24)
As a matter of fact, this body (alone)—consisting of the gross elements, the senses of perception and the organs of action—has been spoken of (by the knowers of truth) as causing afflictions and agonies of various kinds to the embodied soul who regards it as his own self. (25)
Therefore, investigating with a composed mind the true nature of the Self, give up faith in the abiding reality of the objective world (implying duality) and resort to quietism. (26)

(17-26)

नारद उवाच ।

एतां मन्त्रोपनिषदं प्रतीच्छ प्रयतो मम ।
यां धारयन् सप्तरात्राद्द्रष्टा सङ्कर्षणं प्रभुम् ॥ २७॥
यत्पादमूलमुपसृत्य नरेन्द्र पूर्वे
शर्वादयो भ्रममिमं द्वितयं विसृज्य ।
सद्यस्तदीयमतुलानधिकं महित्वं
प्रापुर्भवानपि परं न चिरादुपैति ॥ २८॥
इति श्रीमद्भागवते महापुराणे पारमहंस्यां संहितायां
षष्ठस्कन्धे चित्रकेतुसान्त्वनं नाम पञ्चदशोऽध्यायः ॥ १५॥

Nārada said : Having been purified (through a bath and other purificatory rites after disposing of the dead body), receive from me the following sacred text (quoted in xvi. 18—25) as an abode of the highest blessing. By repeating and fixing your thought on it you will be able to behold Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa (only) after seven nights. (27)
By resorting to the soles of His feet, O king of kings, devotees belonging to the (remotest) past—Lord Śiva (the Destroyer of the universe) and others—got rid of the illusion of this world (implying duality) and forthwith attained to (oneness with) His unsurpassed, nay, unequalled greatness, and you too will attain before long the same supreme result. (28)

Thus ends the fifteenth discourse entitled "Citraketu consoled",
in Book Six of the great and glorious Bhāgavata-Purāṇa,
otherwise known as the Paramahārṣa-Sarhhitā.

(27-28)