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I replied, “First, my lord, let me suffer my sinful reactions,” and Yamarāja said, “Then fall!” At once I fell, and while falling I saw myself becoming a lizard, O master.
Содержание книги
- The sons of Nāgnajitī were Vīra, Candra, Aśvasena, Citragu, Vegavān, Vṛṣa, Āma, Śaṅku, Vasu and the opulent Kunti.
- Mādrā’s sons were Praghoṣa, Gātravān, Siṁha, Bala, Prabala, Ūrdhaga, Mahāśakti, Saha, Oja and Aparājita.
- Mystic yogīs can perfectly see that which has not yet happened, as well as things in the past or present, beyond the senses, remote or blocked by physical obstacles.
- O King, Balī, the son of Kṛtavarmā, married Rukmiṇī’s young daughter, large-eyed Cārumatī.
- Urged on by the wicked kings, Rukmī ignored the divine voice. In fact destiny itself was urging Rukmī on, and thus he ridiculed Lord Balarāma as follows.
- Rukmī said:] You cowherds who wander about the forests know nothing about dice. Playing with dice and sporting with arrows are only for kings, not for the likes of You.
- The Meeting of Ūṣā and Aniruddha
- These one thousand arms you bestowed upon me have become merely a heavy burden. Besides you, I find no one in the three worlds worthy to fight.
- In a dream Bāṇa’s daughter, the maiden Ūṣā, had an amorous encounter with the son of Pradyumna, though she had never before seen or heard of her lover.
- said:] In my dream I saw a certain man who had a darkblue complexion, lotus eyes, yellow garments and mighty arms. He was the kind who touches women’s hearts.
- Citralekhā said: I will remove your distress. If He is to be found
- Very agitated to hear of his daughter’s corruption, Bāṇāsura rushed at once to the maidens’ quarters. There he saw the pride of the Yadus, Aniruddha.
- Lord Kṛṣṇa Fights with Bāṇāsura
- ukadeva Gosvāmī said: O descendant of Bharata, the relatives of Aniruddha, not seeing Him return, continued to lament as the four rainy months passed.
- Lord Balarāma fought with Kumbhāṇḍa and Kūpakarṇa, Sāmba with Bāṇa’s son, and Sātyaki with Bāṇa.
- Lord Kārtikeya was distressed by the flood of Pradyumna’s arrows raining down from all sides, and thus he fled the battlefield on his peacock as blood poured from his limbs.
- Excited to a frenzy by the fighting, Bāṇa simultaneously pulled taut all the strings of his five hundred bows and fixed two arrows on each string.
- As Bāṇa continued hurling weapons at Him, the Supreme Lord began using His razor-sharp cakra to cut off Bāṇāsura’s arms as if they were tree branches.
- One who has attained this human form of life as a gift from God, yet who fails to control his senses and honor Your feet, is surely to be pitied, for he is only cheating himself.
- That mortal who rejects You—his true Self, dearmost friend, and Lord—for the sake of sense objects, whose nature is just the opposite, refuses nectar and instead consumes poison.
- The Supreme Lord said: My dear lord, for your pleasure We must certainly do what you have requested of Us. I fully agree with your conclusion.
- I will not kill this demonic son of Vairocani, for I gave Prahlāda Mahārāja the benediction that I would not kill any of his descendants.
- Whoever rises early in the morning and remembers Lord Kṛṣṇa’s victory in His battle with Lord Śiva will never experience defeat.
- The lotus-eyed Supreme Lord, maintainer of the universe, went to the well and saw the lizard. Then with His left hand He easily lifted it out.
- King Nṛga said: I am a king known as Nṛga, the son of Ikṣvāku. Perhaps, Lord, You have heard of me when lists of charitable men were recited.
- I replied, “First, my lord, let me suffer my sinful reactions,” and Yamarāja said, “Then fall!” At once I fell, and while falling I saw myself becoming a lizard, O master.
- Whether it be his own gift or someone else’s, a person who steals a brāhmaṇa’s property will take birth as a worm in feces for sixty thousand years.
- I do not desire brāhmaṇas’ wealth. Those who lust after it become short-lived and are defeated. They lose their kingdoms and become snakes, who trouble others.
- Having thus instructed the residents of Dvārakā, Lord Mukunda, purifier of all the worlds, entered His palace.
- The cowherds said:] O Rāma, are all our relatives doing well? And Rāma, do all of you, with your wives and children, still remember us?
- Sent by the demigod Varuṇa, the divine Vāruṇī liquor flowed from a tree hollow and made the entire forest even more fragrant with its sweet aroma.
- The wind carried to Balarāma the fragrance of that flood of sweet liquor, and when He smelled it He went [to the tree]. There He and His female companions drank.
- The Lord played in the water to His full satisfaction, and when He came out Goddess Kānti presented Him with blue garments, precious ornaments and a brilliant necklace.
- Thus for Lord Balarāma all the nights passed like a single night as He enjoyed in Vraja, His mind enchanted by the exquisite charm and beauty of Vraja’s young ladies.
- Pauṇḍraka, the False Vāsudeva
- Arriving in Dvārakā, the messenger found lotus-eyed Kṛṣṇa in His royal assembly and relayed the King’s message to that almighty Lord.
- ukadeva Gosvāmī said: King Ugrasena and the other members of the assembly laughed loudly when they heard this vain boasting of unintelligent Pauṇḍraka.
- Upon observing Lord Kṛṣṇa’s preparations for battle, the mighty warrior Pauṇḍraka quickly went out of the city with two full military divisions.
- Lord Kṛṣṇa then addressed Pauṇḍraka: My dear Pauṇḍraka, the very weapons you spoke of through your messenger, I now release unto you.
- On legs as tall as palm trees, the monster raced toward Dvārakā in the company of ghostly spirits, shaking the ground and burning the world in all directions.
- Any mortal who recounts this heroic pastime of Lord Uttamaḥ-śloka’s, or who simply hears it attentively, will become freed from all sins.
- Lord Balarāma Slays Dvivida Gorilla
- To avenge the death of his friend [Naraka], the ape Dvivida ravaged the land, setting fires that burned cities, villages, mines and cowherd dwellings.
- The mischievous ape climbed a tree branch and then revealed his presence by shaking the trees and making the sound kilakilā.
- Mighty Dvivida also came forward to do battle. Uprooting a śāla tree with one hand, he rushed toward Balarāma and struck Him on the head with the tree trunk.
- Thus fighting the Lord, who again and again demolished the trees He was attacked with, Dvivida kept on uprooting trees from all sides until the forest was left treeless.
- The furious Lord of the Yādavas then threw aside His club and plow and with His bare hands hammered a blow upon Dvivida’s collarbone. The ape collapsed, vomiting blood.
- The angry Kurus said: This ill-behaved boy has offended us, forcibly kidnapping our unmarried daughter against her will.
- Seeing Duryodhana and his companions rushing toward him, Sāmba, the great chariot-fighter, took up his splendid bow and stood alone like a lion.
- But they forced him down from his chariot, and thereupon four of them struck his four horses, one of them struck down his chariot driver, and another broke his bow.
TRANSLATION
Young, brown, milk-laden cows, who were well behaved, beautiful and endowed with good qualities, who were all acquired honestly, and who had gilded horns, silver-plated hooves and decorations of fine ornamental cloths and garlands—such were the cows, along with their calves, that I gave in charity.
COMMENTARY
In this verse the king describes the particulars of the cows he gave in charity.
|| 10.64.14-15 ||
sv-alaṅkṛtebhyo guṇa-śīlavadbhyaḥ sīdat-kuṭumbebhya ṛta-vratebhyaḥ
tapaḥ-śruta-brahma-vadānya-sadbhyaḥ prādāṁ yuvabhyo dvija-puṅgavebhyaḥ
go-bhū-hiraṇyāyatanāśva-hastinaḥ kanyāḥ sa-dāsīs tila-rūpya-śayyāḥ
vāsāṁsi ratnāni paricchadān rathān iṣṭaṁ ca yajñaiś caritaṁ ca pūrtam
TRANSLATION
I first honored the brāhmaṇas who were recipients of my charity by decorating them with fine ornaments. Those most exalted brāhmaṇas, whose families were in need, were young and possessed of excellent character and qualities. They were dedicated to truth, famous for their austerity, vastly learned in the Vedic scriptures and saintly in their behavior. I gave them cows, land, gold and houses, along with horses, elephants and marriageable girls with maidservants, as well as sesame, silver, fine beds, clothing, jewels, furniture and chariots. In addition, I performed Vedic sacrifices and executed various pious welfare activities.
COMMENTARY
This verse gives the details of Nṛga’s acts of charity. King Nṛga said, “I gave to brāhmaṇas who were well known for austerity (tapa śruta), and well-versed in the Vedas (brahma-vadānya) because of their diligent studies.”
Verse fifteen describes other things he gave in charity. Besides giving (prādāṁ) to the brāhmaṇas, he also built (caritaṁ) water tanks and wells for the general populace.
|| 10.64.16 ||
kasyacid dvija-mukhyasya bhraṣṭā gaur mama go-dhane
sampṛktāviduṣā sā ca mayā dattā dvijātaye
TRANSLATION
Once a cow belonging to a certain first-class brāhmaṇa wandered away and entered my herd. Unaware of this, I gave that cow in charity to a different brāhmaṇa.
COMMENTARY
“Please tell us what sin led to your becoming a lizard?” King Nṛga answers in this verse: “One cow belonging to a brāhmaṇa strayed from the herd and mixed with my herd. Not knowing (āviduṣā) that it belonged to that brāhmaṇa, I gave the cow to another brāhmaṇa.”
|| 10.64.17 ||
tāṁ nīyamānāṁ tat-svāmī dṛṣṭrovāca mameti tam
mameti parigrāhy āha nṛgo me dattavān iti
TRANSLATION
When the cow’s first owner saw her being led away, he said, “She is mine!” The second brāhmaṇa, who had accepted her as a gift, replied, “No, she’s mine! Nṛga gave her to me.”
|| 10.64.18 ||
viprau vivadamānau mām ūcatuḥ svārtha-sādhakau
bhavān dātāpaharteti tac chrutvā me ’bhavad bhramaḥ
TRANSLATION
As the two brāhmaṇas argued, each trying to fulfill his own purpose, they came to me. One of them said, “You gave me this cow,” and the other said, “But you stole her from me.” Hearing this, I was bewildered.
COMMENTARY
The second brāhmaṇa who had accepted the gift said, “You have given the cow to me.” The first owner said, “You took her away from me.” Hearing that, I was put in extreme perplexity (bhramaḥ).
|| 10.64.19-20 ||
anunītāv ubhau viprau dharma-kṛcchra-gatena vai
gavāṁ lakṣaṁ prakṛṣṭānāṁ dāsyāmy eṣā pradīyatām
bhavantāv anugṛhṇītāṁ kiṅkarasyāvijānataḥ
samuddharataṁ māṁ kṛcchrāt patantaṁ niraye ’śucau
TRANSLATION
Finding myself in a terrible dilemma concerning my duty in the situation, I humbly entreated both the brāhmaṇas: “I will give one hundred thousand of the best cows in exchange for this one. Please give her back to me. Your good selves should be merciful to me, your servant. I did not know what I was doing. Please save me from this difficult situation, or I’ll surely fall into a filthy hell.”
|| 10.64.21 ||
nāhaṁ pratīcche vai rājann ity uktvā svāmy apākramat
nānyad gavām apy ayutam icchāmīty aparo yayau
TRANSLATION
The present owner of the cow said, “I don’t want anything in exchange for this cow, O King,” and went away. The other brāhmaṇa declared, “I don’t want even ten thousand more cows [than you are offering],” and he too went away.
COMMENTARY
“I do not accept gifts from kings.” Saying this, the brāhmaṇa gave up his cow and left. The other brāhmaṇa refused also saying, “I am not willing to give up this cow for the lakh of cows you mention or even for another ten thousand cows in addition to that.” He also left.
|| 10.64.22 ||
etasminn antare yāmair dūtair nīto yama-kṣayam
yamena pṛṣṭas tatrāhaṁ deva-deva jagat-pate
TRANSLATION
O Lord of lords, O master of the universe, the agents of Yamarāja, taking advantage of the opportunity thus created, later carried me to his abode. There Yamarāja himself questioned me.
COMMENTARY
The description in this verse took place after Nṛga died. The Yamadūtas brought him to the abode of Yamarāja (yama-kṣayam) known as Saṁyamanī.
|| 10.64.23 ||
pūrvaṁ tvam aśubhaṁ bhuṅkṣa utāho nṛpate śubham
nāntaṁ dānasya dharmasya paśye lokasya bhāsvataḥ
TRANSLATION
[Yamarāja said:] My dear King, do you wish to experience the results of your sins first, or those of your piety? Indeed, I see no end to the dutiful charity you have performed, or to your consequent enjoyment in the radiant heavenly planets.
COMMENTARY
Yamarāja said, “Do you first want to experience the sinful reaction for unknowingly taking away the brāhmaṇa’s cow, or the pious reactions of your charities? I do not see an end to the results of your charity. Nor do I see an end to your living in Svargaloka (bhāsvataḥ lokasya).”
|| 10.64.24 ||
pūrvaṁ devāśubhaṁ bhuñja iti prāha pateti saḥ
tāvad adrākṣam ātmānaṁ kṛkalāsaṁ patan prabho
TRANSLATION
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