Canto 10 - Chapter 14: Brahma extols the Lord

Discourse XIV

Brahmā extols the Lord

Brahmā prayed : I offer my praises, O praiseworthy Lord, to You, the Son of a cowherd, with tender feet, and clad in a costume bright as lightning, endowed with a personality dark as a (rainy) cloud, a face resplendent with ear-rings made of Guñjā seeds and a crest of peacock feathers, and with a garland of sylvan flowers and graced with a morsel of food, a cane, a horn, a flute and other emblems (borne in Your hands). (1)
Even I, Brahmā, cannot truly comprehend with a mind turned inward the glory, O Lord, even of this personality (of Yours, revealed before us)—the instrument of Your grace on me, shaped according to the will of Your devotees and certainly not a product of gross elements—much less directly of Yourself, consisting (as You do) of Truth, Bliss and Consciousness. (2)
O invincible Lord, You stand generally conquered in (all) the three worlds even by them who spend their time solely in venerating with their body, speech and mind Your stories spontaneously told by saints (visiting their house) and fallen on their ears (without any effort on their part), remaining at their own abode and totally giving up (all) effort at (attaining) spiritual enlightenment. (3)
In the case (however) of those who, neglecting Devotion—the fountainhead of (all) blessings (in the shape of worldly prosperity and final beatitude)—to You, O almighty Lord, take pains to attain mere spiritual enlightenment, such enlightenment ultimately proves to be no more than a source of exertion alone, as is the case with those who are engaged in pounding the (mere) coarse husk. (4)

Of yore, O infinite Lord, many a striver adept in numerous Yogas or modes of spiritual discipline) in this world, who (having failed to attain their object by any other Yoga) resigned (all) their activity to You, realized their true nature through Devotion acquired by their own (dedicated) actions and developed by (hearing) Your stories, and forthwith attained Your supreme state, O immortal Lord! (5)
The glory, O Perfect One, of Your Being devoid of attributes can all the same be realized by the pure-hearted—who have turned their senses inward—through the direct perception of their mind, cast into the mould of the Self to the exclusion of (all other) specific moulds and free from objectivity; as a self-effulgent entity (incapable of being objectively perceived) and not otherwise. (6)
Who have (ever) succeeded in reckoning the attributes of the Lord in You, the Controller of the three Guṇas (modes of Prakṛti), come down (to the material plane) for the good of this world ? None, not even they by whom, exceptionally clever as they are, might have been counted the particles of dust on earth, the dew-drops in the air or the rays of luminaries in the heavens. (7)
He has his share ensured in the boon of final beatitude (although he has no use for it and never claims it), who lives on (in this world) eagerly looking forward to Your grace, (nay,) simply enjoying the fruit of his own (virtuous) actions (in a detached manner) and bowing to You with his heart (mind), speech and body. (8)

Look at my wickedness, O Lord, in that I sought to witness my own glory, having (endeavoured to) cast a spell even on You, the infinite Lord, the Cause of all, the supreme Spirit, the Deluder of deluders ! Indeed of what account am I before You any more than a flame before a fire (from which it has emanated)? (9)
Therefore, O immortal Lord, forgive the fault of mine—a product of Rajoguṇa, who accounted myself the almighty Lord independent of You, a fool that I was, with my eyes blinded by crass ignorance in the shape of the egotistic notion that I am the birthless creator—thinking that this fellow deserves Your pity, having a protector in Yourself. (10)
Invested with a body possessing a height of seven spans (according to my own measure) and presiding over this cosmic egg, frail as a pitcher and having (an eightfold) sheath of the Prakṛti (primordial Matter), Mahattattva (the principle of cosmic intelligence), ego, ether, air, fire, water and earth, I stand nowhere when compared to the glory of Your (infinite) Being whose pores resemble air-holes for the passage of countless (such cosmic) eggs (that float in them) like (so many) atoms. (11)
Does the kicking up of heels on the part of a foetus constitute an offence against the mother, O Lord, who are above sense-perception? (And) is there anything whatsoever—falling within the range of positive or negative terms—outside Your bowels? (12)

Surely the statement (of the scriptures) that "Brahmā (the birthless creator) actually sprang from the lotus at the navel of Lord Nārāyaṇa reposing on the deluge water at the time of the dissolution of the three worlds" is certainly not untrue. Have I not, under the circumstance, (You being no other than Nārāyaṇa,) come out of You, O almighty Lord ? (13)
Are You not actually Nārāyaṇa, since You are (the life and) soul of all embodied beings (नारं जीवसमूहः अयनं यस्य) ? (Nay,) You are their Prompter (नारस्य अयनं प्रवृत्तिः यस्मात्) as well as the Witness of all creatures (नारं अयते जानाति). (The celebrated) Lord Nārāyaṇa, so-called because He has His abode in things produced out of Nara (God) as well as in the waters evolved out of Him, constitutes a form of Yours. Your appearing in a finite form (however) is not true; it is a mere sport of Yours. (14)
If that form of Yours, constituting the support of the world, (really) stays in water (and is thus finite), why was it not perceived by me, O almighty Lord, that very time (when I embarked on a quest for it, entering the lotus-stalk, on my failing to trace my origin when I emerged out of the lotus) or why was it clearly seen in the heart at that very moment (when I concluded my austerities) ? And why was it not beheld by me instantaneously again? (This shows that, even though You are all-pervading, Your sight depends entirely on Your pleasure; it does not indicate Your finite character). (15)
It was in this very descent of Yours (as Śrī Kṛṣṇa), O dispeller of (all) delusion, that the undoubtedly illusory character of this entire externally visible universe was actually revealed by You within Your abdomen before Your mother. (16)
(Just) as all this (creation) including Your own Self appears within Your abdomen, so does all this appear in this universe (outside Yourself) too. Is this possible in You except through Your Māyā (deluding potency) ? (17)
Was not the illusory character of (all) this other than Yourself revealed to me by Yourself this very day? At first (before the calves and their keepers were stolen away by me) You alone existed; after that (when the calves and the cowherd boys had been stolen away) You appeared in the form of Your companions in Vraja as well as of the calves and all other paraphernalia (such as their flutes, horns etc.). Then (again) You appeared in as many four-armed forms, waited upon by all categories (in a living form), accompanied by myself. Then again You became as many universes and now remain as the infinite Brahma without a second. (18)

In the eyes of those who are ignorant of Your (supreme) nature You are the Spirit identified with Prakṛti (Matter) and, having spread Māyā by your own Self, appear as myself (Brahmā) for the purpose of creation, as Yourself (Lord Viṣṇu) standing before me for the sake of preservation and as Lord Śiva (the three-eyed) for the dissolution of the universe. (19)
In order to curb the foolish pride of the wicked, O Lord, as well as for showering Your grace on the righteous, O Maker of the universe, You appear among the gods, the Ṛṣis and even so among human beings, as well as among the beasts and birds and even among aquatic creatures, although You are birthless (as a matter of fact), O Master! (20)
When You engage in sports spreading (the curtain of) Your Yogamāyā (enchantment), O infinite Lord, who can know of Your activities in (all) the three worlds—as to where or how or when they come into play and what is their number, O supreme Spirit, the Master of Yoga? (21)
Therefore, appearing and vanishing in Your infinite Self, the embodiment of eternal Bliss and Consciousness, by virtue of Your Māyā, this entire universe, which is unreal by nature like a dream, devoid of intelligence and full of abundant and endless misery, appears as real (as well as eternal, full of bliss and consciousness). (22)
You are the one Self, the most ancient Person, real, self-luminous, infinite, the very first, eternal, imperishable, full of uninterrupted Bliss, taintless (untouched by Māyā), perfect, secondless, devoid of all adjuncts and immortal. (23)
They (surely) cross as it were the false ocean of mundane existence, who perceive through the penetrating eye of wisdom obtained from the sun-like preceptor You as such, the very Self of all living beings, as the Self of their own self. (24)
In the eye of those who fail to perceive the Self in its true character the whole universe is evolved through that very ignorance and again it disappears as a result of spiritual enlightenment, even as the body of a serpent appears and disappears in a rope (through ignorance and knowledge of its real character respectively). (25)
Bondage in the form of mundane existence and release from it—both are as a matter of fact (mere) names given through ignorance. In relation to the absolute transcendent Self, consisting of eternal consciousness, when investigated, they have no existence separate from the Self, which is truth and consciousness combined, any more than day and night have separate existence in relation to the sun. (26)
Oh! such is the folly of the ignorant folk that regarding You, their very Self, as other (than themselves), and the body etc., (which is other than the Self) as their self, they look for the Self (the supreme Spirit) outside (their self). (27)
In this psycho-physical organism (which comes into being), O infinite Lord, the wise indeed seek You alone, rejecting (all) that which is other than You (viz., the body etc., which is ordinarily recognized as one's own self). Could even men of correct judgment perceive the rope (which is mistaken for a snake through ignorance) lying near at hand without negating the snake though non-existent ? (28)

Nevertheless, O self-effulgent Lord, he alone who is blessed with an iota of grace of Thy lotus-feet can in fact realize the essence of Your glory; none other can do so even though investigating it for a long time all alone (in uninterrupted seclusion). (29)
Therefore, O Lord, may that great fortune be mine, whereby in this (the life of Brahmā) or any other life even among the subhuman creatures I may turn out to be anyone of Your devotees and lovingly tend Your feet, tender as a fresh leaf. (30)
Oh, highly blessed are the cows and cowherdesses of Vraja, the nectar-like milk of whose udders and breasts was gladly sucked to Your heart's content by You in the form of their calves and sons, O almighty Lord, to whose gratification sacrifices have not proved equal even to this day ! (31)
Wonderful and remarkable is the fortune and good-luck of the inhabitants of Vraja ruled over by Nanda, the chief of cowherds, whose near and dear one is (none other than) Śrī Kṛṣṇa (the all-perfect eternal Brahma), the Embodiment of supreme Bliss ! (32)
Let the greatness of fortune of these (cowherds), however, be left aside for the time being, O immortal Lord ! Ah, even we eleven* (gods), alone are highly blessed indeed in that through the cups of the Indriyas (senses of perception and organs of action) of these (cowherds) we, Lord Śiva and others (the deities presiding over those Indriyas) repeatedly drink the nectar-like and inebriating honey of Your lotus-feet ! (When even we gods, who enjoy only a part of Your beauty in the shape of the fragrance etc., of Your body through the respective senses and organs of the cowherds of Vraja, deem ourselves highly blessed on that account, how much more blessed are the cowherds themselves who enjoy the beauty of Your entire being through the different senses and organs at once !) (33)

• The names of the deities presiding over the ten Indriyas and the mind (which constitutes the eleventh) are given below:—
  | Name of Indriya | The deity presiding over it |
  | --- | --- |
  | 1. The auditory sense | The deities presiding over the quarters (Digdevatās) |
  | 2. The tactile sense | The wind-god |
  | 3. The sense of sight | The sun-god |
  | 4. The sense of taste | Varuṇa (the god of water) |
  | 5. The olfactory sense | The Aświnikumāras |
  | 6. The organ of speech | Agni (the god of fire) |
  | 7. The hands | Indra (the ruler of the gods) |
  | 8. The feet | Upendra |
  | 9. The organ of defecation | Mitra |
  | 10. The organ of generation | Prajāpati |
  | 11. The mind | The moon-god |
  Brahmā (the deity presiding over Buddhi or the intellect) includes himself among the deities presiding over the Indriyas and mentions the name of Lord Śiva (the deity presiding over Ahaṅkāra) as well in the same connection. Hence, the internal organs of Buddhi and Ahaṅkāra (the ego-sense) should also be taken as included in the list of the eleven gods. Evidently, the deities presiding over the organs of defecation and generation seem to have been left out of consideration by Brahmā because these two organs of the cowherds are of no use to the Lord. The number of the presiding deities thus remains eleven only.

That will be my greatest fortune whereby my birth is ensured in any (subhuman) species whatsoever on this earth, much more so in Gokula (the land of Vraja) and still more in the woodland (of Vṛndāvana) with the privilege of bathing in the dust of feet of any of the residents of Vraja whose life and everything (else) of course is Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa (the Bestower of Liberation), the dust of whose feet as a matter of fact is only being sought after (and has not been attained) by the Śrutis (the Vedas) even to this day. (34)
Our mind is puzzled to think where and what reward other than Yourself, the Embodiment of all rewards, will even You (who are able to give everything and do everything) bestow on these inhabitants of Vraja, whose house, wealth, near and dear ones, body, sons, life, and mind exist for You (alone), when (it is remembered that) even Pūtanā with her (whole) family was called (by You) to Your presence alone, O self-effulgent Lord, by virtue of her merely putting on a loving guise (the guise of a mother). (35)
Attachment etc., play the role of robbers (rob us of our spiritual wealth), the house serves as a prison and infatuation acts as a fetter only so long as we do not become Your devotees, O Kṛṣṇa ! (36)
In order to swell the volume of joy of people that have sought refuge in You, O Lord, You imitate the ways of the world on the earth, though You have no connection with the world. (37)
Let those alone who claim to know You know You. What is to be gained by talking much (about them) ? Your glory (however), O Lord, does not lie within the reach of my mind, body (organs of sense) and speech. (38)
Give me leave (to go), O Kṛṣṇa ! You know everything, O omniscient Lord ! You alone are the Protector of the worlds; (therefore) this world (including this my) body (both of which I have regarded as my own), is (hereby) offered to You. (39)
O glorious Kṛṣṇa—who (like the sun) bring joy to the lotus of Vṛṣṇi's race and (like the moon) swell the ocean in the form of the earth, the gods, the Brāhmaṇas and the cows—the Dispeller of the darkness of pseudoreligion, the Enemy of the Rākṣasas on earth (such as Karīsa), O Lord who are worthy of adoration for all including the sun-god, let my salutations be to You till the end of the cycle. (40)

Śrī Śuka continued : Having thus glorified Śrī Kṛṣṇa (the infinite Lord), Brahmā (the creator of the universe) went round Him (as a mark of respect) thrice and, bowing at His feet, returned to his realm (Brahmaloka), which is adored by all. (41)
Then, granting leave to Brahmā (the self-born) the Lord brought (back) the calves, that stood (grazing) as before (they were stolen by Brahmā), to the bank of His choice (which He had selected for His repast with the cowherd boys and) where His companions had been waiting for Him as before. (42)
And even though a whole year had passed without Śrī Kṛṣṇa (the Lord of their life, in whose absence even a moment hung heavy as a year at other times), the (cowherd) boys, O Parikṣit, regarded it as half a moment, infatuated as they were by the Māyā (deluding potency) of Śrī Kṛṣṇa! (43)
What do they not forget in this world—they whose mind stands deluded by Māyā, infatuated by which the whole creation remains constantly forgetful of itself! (44)
And (lo!) the friends (of Śrī Kṛṣṇa) said, "It is well that You have come (back) with great expedition. Not a morsel has (yet) been swallowed by us; come this side and dine (with us) to your heart's content." (45)
Thereupon Śrī Kṛṣṇa (the Ruler of the senses) laughed (a hearty laugh), took His meal with the (cowherd) boys and; showing them the skin of the python, He returned from the forest to Vraja. (46)
His person picturesquely decked with the plume of a peacock and blossoms and painted with fresh minerals, (nay,) full of joy at the shrill notes of flutes, whistles of leaves and horns, and lovingly shouting to His calves, Śrī Kṛṣṇa (whose very sight brought delight to the eyes of cowherd women) entered Vraja, His purifying glory being sung (all the way) by His followers. (47)
"Today a large serpent has been killed and ourselves saved from it by this son of Yaśodā and Nanda!" So did the (cowherd) boys proclaim in Vraja. (48)

The king (Parikṣit) said : (Pray) tell me, O holy one, how was such a love possible (in the case of the inhabitants of Vraja) for Śrī Kṛṣṇa, born of another, as did not flow before even towards children sprung from themselves ?* (49)

Śrī Śuka replied : To all created beings, O protector of men, their own self alone is dear; others such as one's progeny and wealth are dear only because of the latter being loved by one's own self. (50)
Therefore, O king of kings, the same love as is seen in the heart of embodied beings severally for their own self, they do not have for their son, wealth, house etc., which are regarded as their own. (51)
(Nay,) even in the eyes of men who speak of the body (alone) as their own self, O jewel among the Kṣatriyas, those (men and objects) that are connected with the body are as a matter of fact not so supremely dear as their (own) body. (52)
If even the body (which is ordinarily regarded as one's own self) comes to be recognized (as a result of deep thinking) as one's own (other than one's self), it would not then be loved like the self whereas (previously) the desire to survive was very keen even when the body was worn out. (53)
Therefore, one's own self is supremely dear to all embodied beings; the whole of this creation, mobile as well as immobile, is loved for the sake of the self alone. (54)
Know this Kṛṣṇa to be the Self of all living beings; for the good of the world (alone) even He appears through His Māyā (deluding potency) like one invested with a body. (55)
In the eyes of those who know Śrī Kṛṣṇa in reality (as the Cause of the universe) everything mobile and immobile in this world is a manifestation of the Lord; there is nothing other than Him here. (56)
The essence of all things lies in their cause and Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the (ultimate) cause of the latter. (Hence) what substance other than Him may be affirmed ? (57)
With them who have sincerely taken refuge in the boat-like feet of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa of sacred renown—feet which are tender as a fresh leaf and are the goal of the great (such as Brahmā and Śiva)—the ocean of mundane existence is reduced to the (mere) footprint of a calf. (Nay,) Vaikuṇṭha (the highest realm) becomes their abode and the world (the home of miseries) ceases. (58)

What I was asked by you on this subject has all been narrated by me, viz., how that which had been done by Śrī Hari during His childhood was proclaimed on all sides during His boyhood. (59)
A man hearing or reciting this story of what was done by Śrī Kṛṣṇa (the Slayer of Mura) in the company of His playmates, (viz.,) the destruction of the demon Agha, His dining on the grass, His assuming forms which were other than phenomenal and the grand hymn of praise sung by Brahmā (the birthless one), would attain all his desired ends. (60)
Thus Balarāma and Śrī Kṛṣṇa passed their childhood in Vraja in childlike pastimes such as hide-and-seek, construction of dams and jumping about like monkeys. (61)

Thus ends the fourteenth discourse entitled "Brahmā extols the Lord," in the first half of Book Ten of the great and glorious Bhāgavata-Purāṇa, otherwise known as the Paramahamsa-Sarhhitā.