Twenty Four Gurus - Translation with Select Transliteration (from Bhagavatham)
Krishna’s Exhortation
(1-3)
The Lord said: 1. What you have said about my intention to depart from the world to my abode is, indeed, true. Brahma,
Parameswara and other Divinities too are desirous of this. . I have accomplished all the purposes of the Devas for which,
at the request of Brahma, I incarnated in part (or with Balarama as a part of mine).
3. This clan of the Yadavas, doomed by the fire of the
holy men’s curse, will perish through mutual strife among its members. And
this city of Dwaraka will be inundated by the sea on the seventh day from now.
4. On my ascension, this world denuded
of its good fortune, will be subject to the sway of Kali, the
spirit of the evil age.
5. After I have left it, do not stay in this land. For in the age of Kali that is to follow, men will all be unrighteous in their outlook.
6. Abandoning all attachment for your own people and
relatives, resign yourself to
Me and wander over the world, recognising My presence in everything.
7. Know this world, grasped by the mind, speech, eyes,
ears and other senses, to
be insubstantial and transitory, being like mental projection in a magic show.
8. For the man of uncontrolled mind, there is the erroneous
perception of multiplicity; a person with such perception is subject to the
notion of good and evil. And for one with that notion arises the
distinction between ordinary
action, inaction and prohibited action.
tasmād yuktendriya-grāmo yukta-citta idam jagat
ātmanīkṣasva vitatam ātmānaṁ mayy adhīśvare || 9 ||
9. Therefore, with the mind and the senses con- trolled,
you must see the world in the Atman, and that all-pervading Atman
in Me (or to be non-different from Me), the Supreme Lord.
jñāna-vijñāna-saṁyukta ātma-bhūtaḥ śarīriṇām
atmānubhava-tuṣṭātmā nāntarāyair vihanyase || 10 ||
10. One who is endowed with the knowledge of
the scriptures and with enlightenment, who feels as one with the Atman in
all, and is full of the joy of the Spirit, meets with no obstruction from any source.
11. Even when one has transcended the distinction
between the harmful and the favorable, he avoids the harmful not be- cause
of the compulsion of Vedic injunction; nor does he promote the favorable
because they are advantageous. His reactions are spontaneous and unmotivated like those of an infant.
sarva-bhūta-suhṛc chānto jñāna-vijñāna-niścayaḥ
paśyan mad-ātmakaṁ viśvaṁ na vipadyeta vai punaḥ || 12||
12. Illumined, peaceful and established in universal
benevolence, he sees the Lord as the essence of the world or recognises the
whole of the manifested existence as ensouled by Him and becomes free from
the travails of Samsara.
Sri Suka said: 13. Being thus addressed by the worshipful Lord, Uddhava, the great
devotee and aspirant for the knowledge of Truth, said to Achyuta with due
prostrations.
Uddhava seeks Instruction
(14-18)
Uddhava said: 14. O Thou bestower of the fruits of Yoga! O Thou the wealth of Yogins! O Thou who revealest Thyself through
Yoga! O Thou the originator of Yoga! Thou hast, for my spiritual welfare,
instructed me in abandonment of all attachments through Sannyasa (renunciation).
15. O all-powerful one! This abandonment of all objects of desire is very
difficult for those who are in the midst of enjoyments. I think it is
well-nigh impossible for those who have no devotion to Thee, the soul of all.
16. The ignorant fool that I am, Maya has bound me with the feeling that I am the body, and
all those connected with it are mine. O worshipful Lord! Instruct me, Thy
servant, how I could soon achieve that abandonment of all attachments commended by Thee.
satyasya te sva-dṛśa ātmana ātmano 'nyaṁ
vaktāram īśa vibudheṣv api nānucakṣe
sarve vimohita-dhiyas tava māyayeme
brahmādayas tanu-bhṛto bahir-artha-bhāvāḥ || 17||
17. There is none except Thee even among the Divinities who is
capable of instructing me about that Atman who is the self-effulgent and
self-conscious Truth. For, as far as this subject is concerned, all
embodied beings including Brahma are con- founded owing to Thy Maya which
makes them feel that what is external alone is the true.
tasmād bhavantam
anavadyam ananta-pāraṁ
sarva-jñam īśvaram
akuṇṭha-vaikuṇṭha-dhiṣṇyam || 18 ||
18. Therefore, buffeted by the difficulties of worldly life and thereby filled with disgust for the same, I seek refuge
in Thee Narayana, the friend of the Jiva—Thou who art pure, infinite,
all-knowing, and the Lord of all, and art established in the eternal
Vaikuntha.
The Spiritual Essence in
Man (19-23)
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
prāyeṇa manujā
loke loka-tattva-vicakṣaṇāḥ
samuddharanti hy
ātmānam ātmanaivāśubhāśayāt || 19||
The worshipful Lord said: 19. Generally speaking, persons endowed with the capacity to
investigate the truth of things, lift themselves from the evils of instinctive
life by their own discriminative power. They need no teacher for this.
20. While even all lower creatures are to some extent capable of looking after their own welfare, man, who is endowed with
intelligence and discriminative power, can surely be his own teacher. For,
by observation and inference he is able to understand what contributes to his ultimate good.
21. When a Jiva obtains a human birth, and becomes proficient in the path of
knowledge and devotion, he comes to clearly understand Me, the Spirit
endowed with all powers.
22. Many are the types of bodies created—some with one, two, three or four legs, some with many legs, and some with no legs at
all. Of all these, the human body is the dearest to Me.
23. Unable to find Me, the Pure Spirit, by sense perception, earnest spiritual aspirants seek Me
in this body through presumption and inference. The presumption is that the
Buddhi and other instruments functioning in the creation of knowledge are in
themselves lifeless. The display of consciousness in them, can be explained
only by accepting a consciousness behind them. The inference is that as the
Buddhi and the senses are in the nature of instruments, they must be
functioning for the purposes of an intelligent agent. (These however can
point only to an intelligent principle in the individual, but not to a
Supreme Spirit).
Avadhuta questioned by
Yadu (24-30)
atrāpy udāharantīmam itihāsaṁ
purātanam
avadhūtasya saṁvādaṁ yador amita-tejasaḥ ||24 ||
24. In illustration of this, great men cite an ancient anecdote
in the shape of a conversation between Dattātreya, the Avadhuta of blazing
spiritual power, and King Yadu.
25. King Yadu, a knower of Dharma, once met this Avadhuta wandering everywhere fearlessly as he chose. He
was young and bore the signs of the highest enlightenment.
King Yadu said: 26. O holy one! Though possessed of great wisdom, you are found merely to roam about in the world like a young
boy. How then did you, who do not do any work, cultivate this outlook,
which requires great training?
27. Men are found to enage themselves in the observance of duties and in the pursuit of wealth, pleasures and moral values. In
all this they are motivated by their desire for longevity, fame and prosperity.
28. You are strong, learned, capable, handsome and eloquent. But you show no
desire for anything, nor do you care to do any work. You merely wander
about sometimes like a senseless man, sometimes as one inebriated, and sometimes like one possessed.
29. While
all men are being burnt in the fire of sexual craving and greed, you
re- main unaffected by it like an elephant that has plunged into the
waters of the Ganga.
30. O holy one! Kindly tell me what it is that fills your heart always with joy, though you are without any object of sense
enjoyment and are companionless and alone.
Gurus of the Avadhuta:
Earth (31-38)
The Lord said: 31. Being thus questioned after due prostrations and in all humility by King Yadu, who was highly intelligent
and devoted to holy men, the Avadhuta said to him as follows:
The Avadhuta said: 32. O King! I have several Gurus, whom I have mentally accepted
as such. Learning many lessons from them, I have become free from desires
and bondages, and am roaming on the earth at large. Hear about
those Gurus.
pṛthivī vāyur ākāśam āpo 'gniś candramā raviḥ
kapoto 'jagaraḥ sindhuḥ pataṅgo madhukṛd gajaḥ
madhu-hā hariṇo mīnaḥ piṅgalā kuraro 'rbhakaḥ
kumārī śara-kṛt sarpa ūrṇanābhiḥ supeśakṛt
ete me guravo rājan catur-viṁśatir āśritāḥ
śikṣā vṛttibhir eteṣām anvaśikṣam ihātmanaḥ
33-35. There are twenty-four
Gurus whom I have resorted to. From their ways and characteristics, I have
learnt the lessons I need. These twenty-four are: the earth, air, space, water,
fire, sun, moon, Kapota (dove), python, ocean, river, moth, honey-bee, elephant,
honey-gatherer, deer, fish, Pingala the courtesan, Kurara (osprey), maiden,
arrow-smith, snake, spider and wasp.
36. O grandson of Nahusha! Hear now from me which Guru taught me what and how.
37. A man of self-control should not move away from his chosen path even when attacked by beings under the sway of their
primordial tendencies, knowing it to be due to their own destiny (Prārabdha).
This lesson I learnt from the earth.
śaśvat
parārtha-sarvehaḥ parārthaikānta-sambhavaḥ
sādhuḥ
śikṣeta bhū-bhṛtto naga-śiṣyaḥ parātmatām || 38 ||
38. Further a spiritual aspirant should learn from the mountains of the earth and the trees on them to strive unselfishly
for the good of others and find the meaning of his existence in such
striving. Becoming a disciple of trees, he should live for others.
Air, Sky,
Water and Fire (39-47)
39.
The sage should be satisfied with as much of food as is required to maintain
his Prana, to keep his knowledge bright and the faculties of his mind and
senses intact. He should not crave for tasty food.
40.
Even if the Yogi happens to be in contact with sense objects of various
descriptions, he should re- main like the air, untouched by the good and bad
effects of such contacts.
pārthiveṣv
iha deheṣu praviṣṭas tad-guṇāśrayaḥ
guṇair
na yujyate yogī gandhair vāyur ivātma-dṛk || 41||
41. A
Yogi who is established in Atman-consciousness, even if he is embodied in a
material body and performs the various functions appropriate to such a body, is
never affected by the sense objects, as air is not by the smell it carries.
antarhitaś
ca sthira-jaṅgameṣu brahmātma-bhāvena samanvayena
vyāptyāvyavacchedam asaṅgam ātmano munir
nabhastvaṁ vitatasya bhāvayet || 42 ||
42.
Identifying himself with Brahman, the sage should realize that, like the space,
the Self (the Atman) is uncircumscribed and unaffected by the body, because the
Self indwells all beings moving and unmoving, and because he is an invariable
presence everywhere in all beings.
43. Just as the clouds wafted
by the wind do not affect the space, so the Atman is not tainted by abidance in
the body which is a combination of the various elements like fire, water and
earth into which the Gunas of Prakriti evolve when stirred into activity by
Time.
44. Pure, holy and naturally
loving and sweet, the sage exercises a sanctifying influence or men, in which
respect he resembles the holy waters of the Ganga which purify men by sight,
contact and praise.
tejasvī
tapasā dīpto durdharṣodara-bhājanaḥ
sarva-bhakṣyo 'pi yuktātmā nādatte malam
agni-vat || 45 ||
45. Impressive and replenished by the fire of Tapas,
inviolable in his greatness, having no possessions—not even a bowl but only his
stomach as a receptacle for food—eating anything and everything, the sage, who
is ever in communion with Brahman, remains unpolluted like the all-consuming
fire.
46. Sometimes hiding his identity, sometimes revealing it as
worthy of worship by those desiring their own welfare, the sage consumes the
food offered by donors in order to burn up their past and future sins, as fire
does with all matters put into it.
47. This world, which is of the nature of cause and effect,
has been created by the all-powerful Lord by His power of Maya. He has entered
into it and is manifesting Himself in different forms through the adjunct of
the body-mind, just as fire does, residing in the fuel.
Moon, Fire and Sun (48-51)
48. The changes that Time, the inscrutable, brings on an individual from the time of
conception to the events at the cremation ground, affect only the body and
not the Atman, just as the waxing and the waning of the moon are only of its digits and not of the moon itself.
49. The torrential speed of Time is, every moment, effecting the birth and death of the
bodies that the Atman assumes, but the changes involved are not noticed at the
time, just like the emer- gence and subsidence of tongues of flames in a raging fire.
50. Just as the sun absorbs water
with his rays and releases it in proper time as rain, so the Yogi accepts
objects of the senses with the senses, not for his own enjoyment, but to
release them to needy people at the proper time.
51. To those who regard the gross physical body as Atman, the
Atman though essentially one, is regarded as different due to the different
bodies wherein he abides, just as the Sun, though One, but when reflected in
different reflecting media, appears as many (& different) to persons of
gross understanding – the Atman appears as many (due to Upadhis).
Lesson from the Bird
Kapota (52-74)
52. One should
not have excessive love or attachment to anyone. Otherwise he will be subjected
to excruciating suffering like the afflicted bird Kapota (Pigeon) of the story.
53. On the
branch of a tree in a forest, a Kapota had built its nest and had been staying
in it with his wife for sometime.
54. Following
the ways of householders, the Kapota couple were bound together by intense
love, their eyes, limbs and thought being closely united.
55. Ever
inseparable in lying, sit- ting, moving about, standing, playing and eating,
they merrily spent their time in sporting amidst the trees, without the least
suspicion of any danger over- taking them.
56. Catering to
his pleasures and loved by him, the female bird had all the needs fulfilled,
even under difficult circumstances, by her husband, the male Kapota, who for
want of self-control was a slave to her.
57. When the
time came for that faithful female bird to lay eggs for the first time, she did
so in her nest in the presence of her husband.
58. In due time,
thanks to the working of the mysterious power of Sri Hari, lovely fledglings
with charming limbs and feathers came out of those eggs.
59. The fond
parent birds brought them up with proper care, lost in love on hearing their
chirpings and indistinct twittering.
60. Those parent
birds derived the highest delight to see their fluttering soft wings, their
sweet sound, their immature movements, and their eager advance to meet them
when they returned to the nest.
61. Infatuated
by the Lord’s Maya, and bound together by strong bonds of love, they anxiously
nourished their offspring.
62. One day they
had gone out into the forest to collect food for their fledglings and were away for a long time from their nest.
63. A fowler who
was moving about in the forest, happened to see these chicks fluttering about
their nest. He thereupon cast his net and caught them in it.
64. Now the
Kapota and its wife, ever enthusiastic about nourishing their off- spring,
returned to their nest with food for feeding the infant birds.
65. Seeing her
young chicks crying, entangled in the fowler’s net, the female bird rushed to
them screeching in great distress.
66. Bound by
cords of love by the Lord’s Yoga Maya, the sight of her endangered offspring
made her doubly desperate with sorrow. Forgetful of the danger posed by the net
and in spite of seeing her children’s condition, she rushed in only to be
entangled in the net.
67. Seeing the
perilous condition of his wife whom he loved as much as himself, and of his
offspring who were dearer to him than life, the male bird began to bemoan his
fate.
68. He said:
Alas! Look at the great danger that my luckless, unfortunate self is in. I am
not yet satisfied with the enjoyments of life, nor have I gained the means of
my spiritual welfare in the hereafter. And now my home, which is the means to
attain virtue, wealth, and pleasure, is threatened with total destruction.
69-70. When my
wife, so well-matched, obedient and faithful, has chosen to leave me alone in
an empty house in order to go to heaven with her dear offspring, why should I
live, alone and grief-stricken, in an empty nest devoid of wife and children?’
71. Seeing them
all entangled in the meshes of the nest and struggling in the throes of death,
that male bird, senseless and piteous with grief, threw itself also into the
net.
72. Having thus
got all the birds, the father, mother and the fledglings, the cruel fowler went
home with them, fully satisfied.
73. Thus a
householder whose senses are uncontrolled and mind restless, who is always
engaged in the concerns of the family, runs the risk of perishing with the
whole family like the Kapota parents and their fledglings.
yaḥ prāpya mānuṣaṁ lokaṁ
mukti-dvāram apāvṛtam
gṛheṣu khaga-vat saktas
tam ārūḍha-cyutaṁ viduḥ || 74 ||
74. A person, who, having attained to human birth in which the doors
of the mansion of Mukti lie open for him, still continues to be wholly attached
to his home and worldly concerns like the birds mentioned above, is looked
upon by great men as one who falls down into a bottomless abyss,
after attaining to a great height.
Chapter 8: AVADHUTA’S
SERMON ON HIS TEACHERS II
Lesson from the Python
(1-4)
The Avadhuta said: 1. Just as the heaven affords sensuous pleasures to
creatures, so does the hell too, along with the sufferings predominating it.
(For example, the life of lower creations like dogs, pigs, worms etc., appear
hellish to us. But such creatures too get sense enjoyments appropriate to their
life). So a wise man should not hanker after sense enjoyments.
2.
Whatever food comes to one by chance, irrespective of whether it is tasty or
not, adequate or inadequate, one should consume it like a python, without
making any effort to obtain it.
3. If
he fails to get any food sometimes, the aspirant should not make any effort for
it. Recognizing it as one’s Prārabdha (destiny), he should lie quietly in a
place like a python, making no search for food.
4.
Though endowed with full powers of the senses, mind and body, the aspirant
should not engage them in action, but lie quiet in a place, his mind awake and
vigilant in respect of his ultimate objective in life.
Lesson from
the Ocean and the Moth (5-8)
muniḥ
prasanna-gambhīro durvigāhyo duratyayaḥ
ananta-pāro
hy akṣobhyaḥ stimitoda ivārṇavaḥ || 5 ||
5. The
Muni should be like the ocean, still and calm but deep and profound,
unfathomable, inviolable, boundless and unperturbed.
6. The
sage whose mind is absorbed in the contemplation of Narayana is neither
exhilarated by the plentiful supply of objects of enjoyment nor dejected in
their absence, just like the ocean that keeps its bounds, neither overflowing
nor shrinking, irrespective of whether water flows in or evaporates.
7. At
the sight of woman, the Lord’s instrument of delusion, the man of uncontrolled
senses, who is attracted by her charms, falls into the blinding darkness of
ignorance, just as the moth attracted by the glow of fire falls into it and
perishes.
8.
Woman, gold, ornaments, clothes etc., the creations of Maya, offer attraction
to man as objects of enjoyment. Their infatuation deprives him of his
discriminative vision and generates in him intense attachment to them. He thus
falls a victim to the sense objects as moths to fire, and perishes
Lesson from the Honey bee
(9-12)
stokaṁ
stokaṁ grased grāsaṁ deho varteta yāvatā
gṛhān
ahiṁsann ātiṣṭhed vṛttiṁ mādhukarīṁ
muniḥ || 9 ||
9.
Following the way of the honey-gathering bee, the sage may collect
small quantities of food from house to house, just enough for the up-keep
of his body, and even that without being a burden on the householders.
aṇubhyaś
ca mahadbhyaś ca śāstrebhyaḥ kuśalo naraḥ
sarvataḥ
sāram ādadyāt puṣpebhya iva ṣaṭpadaḥ || 10 ||
10. An intelligent man should seek the essential teachings of all
scriptural texts of varying importance, just as a honey-bee sucks the essence of all flowers.
11. An ascetic should not store food, got as holy alms, for the
evening or for the next day. His palm should be his receiving plate and
the stomach, the preserving vessel. He should not accumulate like the bee.
12. A mendicant should not store anything even for the morrow. For, if he accumulates, he
is likely to perish like the bee along with that accumulated
property.
Lesson from the Elephant
(13-14)
13. An ascetic should not allow even his feet to contact a young
woman. He should not allow it even in the case of a wooden image of a woman. By
such contact he will get bound, as a bull elephant is entrapped through
physical contact with a cow-elephant.
14. A
wise man should not go for intimacy with a woman, as she may prove death to him
at the hands of a more powerful rival, just as in the case of an elephant
competing with another for a female.
Lesson from the
Honey-gatherer (15-16)
15. The wealth accumulated by a miser without himself enjoying it
or making charitable gifts of it, is knocked away by some one who knows about
it, just as the honey gathered by bees is taken away by the honey-collector.
16. The first portion of what a householder cooks with
things procured with great difficulty for his household purposes, is
consumed by ascetics, just as the honey gathered by bees is first consumed
by the honey-gatherer. For it is the duty of the householder to give the
best portion of what he cooks as Bhiksha to ascetics. An ascetic need not
therefore worry about his food.
Lesson from the Deer
(17-18)
grāmya-gītaṁ na śṛṇuyād yatir
vana-caraḥ kvacit
śikṣeta hariṇād baddhān mṛgayor gīta-mohitāt ||
17 ||
17. A forestdwelling ascetic or a Sannyasin should not listen to vulgar music, lest he should thereby get entangled. This
he should learn from the example of the deer which is captured through the
hunter’s imitative cry of the doe.
18. The Rishi Rishyasringa, the son of Mrigi, was enslaved by women and became a mere toy in their hands, because of
witnessing their sensuous dances and listening to their songs and
instrumental music.
Lesson from the Fish
(19-21)
jihvayāti-pramāthinyā jano rasa-vimohitaḥ
mṛtyum ṛcchaty asad-buddhir mīnas tu baḍiśair yathā || 19 ||
19. Just as fish perish by swallowing the angler’s baited hook, so do men perish through the attraction of the palate which
causes intense excitement to the mind.
indriyāṇi jayanty āśu nirāhārā manīṣiṇaḥ
varjayitvā tu rasanaṁ tan nirannasya vardhate ||
20 ||
20. By
fasting wise men conquer all the senses except the faculty of taste, whose
craving only becomes intensified by much fasting.
tāvaj jitendriyo na syād vijitānyendriyaḥ pumān
na jayed rasanaṁ yāvaj jitaṁ sarvaṁ jite rase ||
21 ||
21. Even if a person has gained mastery over all the other senses, he
cannot be called a conqueror of the senses, until he has subdued the palate. If
the palate is conquered, all the other senses are as good as conquered.
Lesson from Pingala
(22-29)
22. O
Prince! Once there lived a well-known courtesan named Pingala in the city of
Videha. I learnt a great lesson from her. Listen.
23.
Once dressed in all her finery this libertine of a woman stationed herself
outside her door, ready to receive any lover who wanted her service in privacy.
24.
Viewing the passers- by, that greedy woman thought that some among them,
beautiful and capable of paying her handsomely, would come seeking her.
25-26.
Potential clients came and went away, as that woman, whose livelihood came from
offering her body as object of enjoyment, expected the arrival of some man
still more wealthy and capable of making her a still more handsome payment.
Motivated by greed, she waited out- side, went in, and came out again, thus
foregoing sleep till midnight.
27. To
her thus despondent and downcast with unfulfilled greed, a great feeling of
revulsion against worldliness came, making her thoughtful and full of peace.
28. Hear
from me the song that Pingala sang at the dawn of renunciation, showing how
dispassion proves to be a sword that cuts the bonds of desire in man.
na hy
aṅgājāta-nirvedo deha-bandhaṁ jihāsati
yathā
vijñāna-rahito manujo mamatāṁ nṛpa || 29 ||
29. O
King! Just as one without spiritual knowledge will not abandon the sense of ‘I’
and ‘mine’, so also a man without dispassion will not give up, nay even desire
to give up, the feeling that he is the body and nothing but the body.
Pingala on Renunciation (30-44)
Pingala said: 30. Alas! See the enormity of ignorance of a woman of uncontrolled mind like myself! Under its promptings, I, the
stupid woman that I am, have been seeking satisfaction for my passions
through worthless paramour.
31.
Lo! Giving up the delight-giving and bounteous Lover seated closest to me in
the heart, I, ignorant woman, have been running after petty creatures who
cannot fulfil my desires, but only confers sorrow, fear, worry and delusion.
32.
Alas! Vain and vile has been my struggle in life to gain a livelihood through selling
my body—a most detestable way of life in which by selling my body to lustful,
miserly and despicable addicts, I hoped to gain wealth and pleasure.
33. Who else but a fool like me would approach
as a lover—this hutment of a male body having a bony ridgepole of a spine,
rafters of ribs and pillars of limbs; roofed with a mantle of skin, hair and nails;
rent with nine perpetually leaking bodily orifices; and filled with excreta,
urine and other dirty things
34. In
this holy city of the Videhas, I, an impure woman, am the only fool who has
been after objects of love other than the Supreme Lord Achyuta, who gives
Himself over to those who are devoted to Him.
suhṛt preṣṭhatamo nātha ātmā cāyaṁ śarīriṇām
taṁ
vikrīyātmanaivāhaṁ rame 'nena yathā ramā || 35||
35.
The Supreme Being Achyuta is the friend, the innermost essence, and the dearest
of the dear of all beings. I shall dedicate my body, mind and soul to Him, and
just like His consort RamA, seek delight in Him.
36. To
what extent can men, subject to birth and death, and gods who are overtaken by
Time, give pleasures to their wives (for all pleasures have a beginning and an
end).
nūnaṁ me bhagavān prīto viṣṇuḥ kenāpi karmaṇā
nirvedo
'yaṁ durāśāyā yan me jātaḥ sukhāvahaḥ || 37||
37. By
virtue of some good and pious work done in the past, the Lord Vishnu has now
been gracious to me. Otherwise how can I, who have been greedy and vicious, now
attain this spirit of non-attachment and renunciation, which has conferred on
me great joy!
maivaṁ syur manda-bhāgyāyāḥ kleśā nirveda-hetavaḥ
yenānubandhaṁ
nirhṛtya puruṣaḥ śamam ṛcchati || 38||
38. If
I were really an unfortunate woman devoid of the Lord’s grace, this misfortune
of not getting income would not have befallen me generating renunciation. It is
through renunciation that man breaks the bonds of home, wealth, relatives etc.,
and attains to supreme peace.
tenopakṛtam ādāya śirasā grāmya-saṅgatāḥ
tyaktvā
durāśāḥ śaraṇaṁ vrajāmi tam adhīśvaram || 39||
39.
Accepting the great blessing He has conferred on me, I give up here and now all
my hankerings for sense pleasures and take refuge in Him, the Lord of all.
santuṣṭā śraddadhaty etad yathā-lābhena jīvatī
viharāmy
amunaivāham ātmanā ramaṇena vai || 40||
40.
Satisfied with whatever I have and having unfailing faith in the Lord, I shall
delight in the company of this Lover who is none but the Atman.
saṁsāra-kūpe patitaṁ viṣayair muṣitekṣaṇam
grastaṁ
kālāhinātmānaṁ ko 'nyas trātum adhīśvaraḥ || 41||
41.
Who else except the Supreme Lord Mahavishnu can lift up and save the Jiva that
has fallen into the deep pit of the transmigratory existence with his eyes of
discrimination blinded by sense objects and himself caught in the jaws of the
serpent of Time?
ātmaiva hy ātmano goptā nirvidyeta yadākhilāt
apramatta
idaṁ paśyed grastaṁ kālāhinā jagat || 42||
42.
One should realize that this whole universe is in the jaws of the serpent of
Time. When, with this awareness, man becomes alert to his real situation in
life, he develops renunciation. He realizes that Atman is the protector of
himself.
43. The Avadhuta said: Resolving like this, Pingala gave up her perverse de- sire to attract lovers, and went to sleep with a peaceful mind.
44. Desire is the source of the most poignant of sorrows, and
desirelesness, of the most in- tense delight. Here is the example of
Pingala for this—how on giving up her desire for lovers, she could sleep
happily.
Chapter
9 AVADHUTA’S SERMON ON HIS TEACHERS III
Lesson from Osprey and
Child (1-4)
śrī-brāhmaṇa
uvāca
parigraho
hi duḥkhāya yad yat priyatamaṁ nṛṇām
anantaṁ
sukham āpnoti tad vidvān yas tv akiñcanaḥ ||1||
The Avadhuta continued: 1. The more a sense object is considered desirable and sought after by men, the more is it a
source of sorrow and suffering for them. A man who knows this and owns
nothing (including his body and his sense of identification with it) attains to infinite joy.
2. An osprey (Kurara) that was in possession of a piece of meat was attacked
by other powerful birds who had no meat. When it gave up that piece of
meat, it was at peace, being free from such attacks.
na me
mānāpamānau sto na cintā geha-putriṇām
ātma-krīḍa
ātma-ratir vicarāmīha bāla-vat || 3||
3. I
care not for honor or insult, nor have I the worry of family men, possessing
houses and children. Like a child I roam about, having my sport and joy in
the Self only.
dvāv
eva cintayā muktau paramānanda āplutau
yo
vimugdho jaḍo bālo yo guṇebhyaḥ paraṁ gataḥ ||4||
4.
These two alone are free from worries and immersed in bliss—the ignorant child
without any purposive effort, and the sage who has gone beyond the three Gunas
of Prakriti.
Lesson from a girl’s
bangles (5-10)
5. In
a certain place, some people arrived in a house with marriage proposals for a
girl of that house. As all the elders of the house had gone out somewhere, the
girl herself received the visitors.
6. O
King! For extending proper hospitality to them, the girl now began to husk
paddy in a solitary place. While doing so, the conch bangles on her arms made a
loud clanging sound by mutual impact.
7. The
intelligent girl now felt ashamed that the sound of the conch bangles (a poor
girl’s ornament) would betray the poverty of the house. So she broke those
bangles, one after another except a pair on each arm.
8.
Even these pairs of bangles on the arms produced noise while she continued
husking. So she broke one more bangle on each arm. Then there was no sound,
there being only one bangle on each arm.
9.
Wandering, as I do, to learn truths directly from life in the world, I learnt
the following lesson from that girl.
vāse
bahūnāṁ kalaho bhaved vārtā dvayor api
eka
eva vaset tasmāt kumāryā iva kaṅkaṇaḥ ||10||
10. If
too many people live together, quarrel will be the result. If there are two
only, even then time will be taken with mutual conversations and not
contemplation on the Atman. So I would travel alone, like the single bangle on
the girl’s arm, conversing with none.
Lesson from The
Arrow-smith (11-13)
mana
ekatra saṁyuñjyāj jita-śvāso jitāsanaḥ
vairāgyābhyāsa-yogena
dhriyamāṇam atandritaḥ || 11||
11. After gaining
mastery over a sitting posture and the vital energy, one should try to fix the
mind on a single object of meditation (like an archer on a target). Through
dispassion one should check all the outgoing tendencies of the mind, and
through practice, its tendency to lapse into sleepy absorption. The mind should
thus be held to the object of concentration with great vigilance.
yasmin
mano labdha-padaṁ yad etac chanaiḥ śanair muñcati karma-reṇūn
sattvena
vṛddhena rajas tamaś ca vidhūya nirvāṇam upaity anindhanam || 12||
12. The mind should be concentrated on
that Being, by getting absorbed in whom all tendencies of work get
gradually eliminated. Further such meditation enhances Sattva leading to the
elimination of Rajas and Tamas, which cause agitation and inertia in the
mind. When this is accomplished, the mind subsides like the fire that
has consumed its fuel.
tadaivam
ātmany avaruddha-citto na veda kiñcid bahir antaraṁ vā
yatheṣu-kāro
nṛpatiṁ vrajantam iṣau gatātmā na dadarśa pārśve || 13||
13. This state of mind is comparable to that of a smith making an arrow-head.
His mind being fully concentrated on the arrow-head he is forging, he is
unaware even of a king with his retinue passing by. Even so, the sage
whose mind is absorbed in the Atman as pure Self-awareness is without any
experience of inside and outside and of objects pertaining to them
Lesson from the Snake
(14-15)
14. Like the serpent, the sage should be a lone wanderer,
homeless, always vigilant, residing in caves*, difficult to recognize by
externals, solitary, without assistants, and reserved in the mode of speech.
*cave è
Yogi withdraws himself to his
15. With the life-span so uncertain, it is a folly to
undertake the painful task of building a house. Look at the serpent. It makes
no home but goes into the holes made by other creatures and rests there
happily. So, should a Yogi have no home of his own, but rest in other people’s
homes temporarily.
Lesson from the Spider
(16-21)
19. When the creative cycle begins, Time, which is but His
will, agitates His own Maya constituted of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas,
and manifests the Sūtratman, the Pervading Spirit known otherwise as Mahattattva.
20. He, the Sūtratman formed of the three Gunas, is looked upon by great men as
the creator of this multifarious universe. This whole universe is threaded
on Him, and the Jiva transmigrates because of Him.
yathorṇanābhir hṛdayād
ūrṇāṁ santatya vaktrataḥ
tayā vihṛtya bhūyas tāṁ
grasaty evaṁ maheśvaraḥ || 21 ||
Ref: Mundaka Upanisad
1.1.7
yathorṇa-nābhiḥ sṛjate gṛhṇate ca,
yathā pṛthivayām oṣadhayas sambhavanti,
yathā sataḥ puruṣāt keśalomāni
tathākṣarāt sambhavatīha viśvam.|| 1.1.7||
यथोर्णनाभिः
सृजते गृह्णते च
यथा पृथिव्यामोषधयः संभवन्ति।
यथा सतः पुरूषात्केशलोमानि
तथाक्षरात्संभवतीह विश्वम्।।1.1.7।।
As a spider spreads out and
withdraws (its thread), as on the earth grow the herbs (and trees), and as from
a living man issues out hair (on the head and body), so out of the Imperishable
does the Universe emerge here (in this phenomenal creation).
Lesson
from the Worm (22-24)
yatra yatra mano dehī
dhārayet sakalaṁ dhiyā
snehād dveṣād bhayād
vāpi yāti tat-tat-svarūpatām ||22||
22. On whatever objects a person concentrates his mind, whether it be from love, animosity or
fear, that person attains the state of that object.
23. The worm, placed in
a hole by the wasp and continually frightened by its buzzing sound, turns
into the shape of the wasp, even without giving up its old body.
24. These are the lessons I learnt from teachers. Now hear what I learnt from my
own body.
Lesson
from one’s Body (25-29)
26.
Man supports his wife, sons, cattle, servants, dependents and relatives with
hard-earned money, in order to nurture this body (with which he has identified
himself). In the end this body, nurtured with such great difficulty, perishes,
leaving behind, like a tree, the seeds of future bodies in the shape of the
effects of Karma.
jihvaikato 'mum apakarṣati karhi tarṣā
śiśno 'nyatas tvag udaraṁ śravaṇaṁ kutaścit
ghrāṇo 'nyataś capala-dṛk kva ca karma-śaktir
bahvyaḥ sapatnya iva geha-patiṁ lunanti || 27 ||
sṛṣṭvā
purāṇi vividhāny ajayātma-śaktyā
vṛkṣān
sarīsṛpa-paśūn khaga-dandaśūkān
tais
tair atuṣṭa-hṛdayaḥ puruṣaṁ vidhāya
brahmāvaloka-dhiṣaṇaṁ
mudam āpa devaḥ || 28 ||
28.
In the early stages of the creative cycle, the Lord brought into existence by
His power various types of beings—trees, serpents, animals, birds, insects,
fish etc. Not being satisfied with any of these forms, He felt pleased when he
brought into existence the human body endowed with the type of intelligence
suited for intuiting Brahman, the Supreme Being.
labdhvā
su-durlabham idaṁ bahu-sambhavānte
mānuṣyam
artha-dam anityam apīha dhīraḥ
tūrṇaṁ
yateta na pated anu-mṛtyu yāvan
niḥśreyasāya
viṣayaḥ khalu sarvataḥ syāt || 29 ||
29.
This human body, which is attainable only after countless births in various
species, is a very rare blessing that one could get. In spite of its
impermanence, it is very precious, as the knowledge of the Supreme Truth as
also the other great values can be had only through it. A wise man should
therefore strive, as long as the body lasts, for the attainment of the Ultimate
Good, namely liberation from the transmigratory cycle. To do otherwise will be
a great loss; for, sense enjoyments are possible in other bodies too.
The Avadhuta on himself
(30-33)
30. Learning many lessons in this
way from several Gurus, dispassion has dawned on me, and I have obtained the
light of discriminative intelligence. So I am wandering in this world, established
in the Atman, devoid of any attachments, and without any sense of ‘I’, or
feeling of agency and possession.
31. With one Guru alone,
knowledge may not be firmly and completely established1. (So while there is one
Supreme Guru, there may be Upagurus or subsidiary teachers, for instructing on
various aspects of spiritual doctrine and practice). For, the subject is so
profound that this very non-dual Brahman has been presented very differently by
various Rishis in the scriptures as acosmic and as the cause of all causes.
SR: Sridhara Swami who is the
Bhasyakaara for Bhagavatham.
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
ity uktvā sa yaduṁ vipras tam āmantrya
gabhīra-dhīḥ
vanditaḥ sv-arcito rājñā yayau prīto yathāgatam
The Lord said: 32. So saying and
much pleased, that sage Dattātreya of deep understanding took leave of King
Yadu after receiving the latter’s respectful obeisance. As he came by chance,
so he went away without any particular destination.
33. Instructed by the sage in this way, Yadu, the
ancestor of my clan, became completely free from all attachments and
established in equanimity.
Sri Gurubyo Namaha
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥
Comments
Post a Comment