Prayers By Demigods

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto 10: The Summum Bonum

Chapter 2: Prayers by the Demigods for Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Womb

Text 26 - 41

Text 26

satya-vrataṁ satya-paraṁ tri-satyaṁ

satyasya yoniṁ nihitaṁ ca satye

satyasya satyam ṛta-satya-netraṁ

satyātmakaṁ tvāṁ śaraṇaṁ prapannāḥ

The demigods prayed: O Lord, You never deviate from Your vow, which is always perfect because whatever You decide is perfectly correct and cannot be stopped by anyone. Being present in the three phases of cosmic manifestation — creation, maintenance and annihilation — You are the Supreme Truth. Indeed, unless one is completely truthful, one cannot achieve Your favor, which therefore cannot be achieved by hypocrites. You are the active principle, the real truth, in all the ingredients of creation, and therefore You are known as antaryāmī, the inner force. You are equal to everyone, and Your instructions apply for everyone, for all time. You are the beginning of all truth. Therefore, offering our obeisances, we surrender unto You. Kindly give us protection.

Text 27

ekāyano ’sau dvi-phalas tri-mūlaś

catū-rasaḥ pañca-vidhaḥ ṣaḍ-ātmā

sapta-tvag aṣṭa-viṭapo navākṣo

daśa-cchadī dvi-khago hy ādi-vṛkṣaḥ

The body [the total body and the individual body are of the same composition] may figuratively be called “the original tree.” From this tree, which fully depends on the ground of material nature, come two kinds of fruit — the enjoyment of happiness and the suffering of distress. The cause of the tree, forming its three roots, is association with the three modes of material nature — goodness, passion and ignorance. The fruits of bodily happiness have four tastes — religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation — which are experienced through five senses for acquiring knowledge in the midst of six circumstances: lamentation, illusion, old age, death, hunger and thirst. The seven layers of bark covering the tree are skin, blood, muscle, fat, bone, marrow and semen, and the eight branches of the tree are the five gross and three subtle elements — earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego. The tree of the body has nine hollows — the eyes, the ears, the nostrils, the mouth, the rectum and the genitals — and ten leaves, the ten airs passing through the body. In this tree of the body there are two birds: one is the individual soul, and the other is the Supersoul.

Text 28

tvam eka evāsya sataḥ prasūtis

tvaṁ sannidhānaṁ tvam anugrahaś ca

tvan-māyayā saṁvṛta-cetasas tvāṁ

paśyanti nānā na vipaścito ye

The efficient cause of this material world, manifested with its many varieties as the original tree, is You, O Lord. You are also the maintainer of this material world, and after annihilation You are the one in whom everything is conserved. Those who are covered by Your external energy cannot see You behind this manifestation, but theirs is not the vision of learned devotees.

Text 29

bibharṣi rūpāṇy avabodha ātmā

kṣemāya lokasya carācarasya

sattvopapannāni sukhāvahāni

satām abhadrāṇi muhuḥ khalānām

O Lord, You are always in full knowledge, and to bring all good fortune to all living entities, You appear in different incarnations, all of them transcendental to the material creation. When You appear in these incarnations, You are pleasing to the pious and religious devotees, but for nondevotees You are the annihilator.

Text 30

tvayy ambujākṣākhila-sattva-dhāmni

samādhināveśita-cetasaike

tvat-pāda-potena mahat-kṛtena

kurvanti govatsa-padaṁ bhavābdhim

O lotus-eyed Lord, by concentrating one’s meditation on Your lotus feet, which are the reservoir of all existence, and by accepting those lotus feet as the boat by which to cross the ocean of nescience, one follows in the footsteps of mahājanas [great saints, sages and devotees]. By this simple process, one can cross the ocean of nescience as easily as one steps over the hoofprint of a calf.

Text 31

svayaṁ samuttīrya sudustaraṁ dyuman

bhavārṇavaṁ bhīmam adabhra-sauhṛdāḥ

bhavat-padāmbhoruha-nāvam atra te

nidhāya yātāḥ sad-anugraho bhavān

O Lord, who resemble the shining sun, You are always ready to fulfill the desire of Your devotee, and therefore You are known as a desire tree [vāñchā-kalpataru]. When ācāryas completely take shelter under Your lotus feet in order to cross the fierce ocean of nescience, they leave behind on earth the method by which they cross, and because You are very merciful to Your other devotees, You accept this method to help them.

Text 32

ye ’nye ’ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas

tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ

āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ

patanty adho ’nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ

Someone may say that aside from devotees, who always seek shelter at the Lord’s lotus feet, there are those who are not devotees but who have accepted different processes for attaining salvation. What happens to them? In answer to this question, Lord Brahmā and the other demigods said:] O lotus-eyed Lord, although nondevotees who accept severe austerities and penances to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence is impure. They fall down from their position of imagined superiority because they have no regard for Your lotus feet.

Text 33

tathā na te mādhava tāvakāḥ kvacid

bhraśyanti mārgāt tvayi baddha-sauhṛdāḥ

tvayābhiguptā vicaranti nirbhayā

vināyakānīkapa-mūrdhasu prabho

O Mādhava, Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord of the goddess of fortune, if devotees completely in love with You sometimes fall from the path of devotion, they do not fall like nondevotees, for You still protect them. Thus they fearlessly traverse the heads of their opponents and continue to progress in devotional service.

Text 34

sattvaṁ viśuddhaṁ śrayate bhavān sthitau

śarīriṇāṁ śreya-upāyanaṁ vapuḥ

veda-kriyā-yoga-tapaḥ-samādhibhis

tavārhaṇaṁ yena janaḥ samīhate

O Lord, during the time of maintenance You manifest several incarnations, all with transcendental bodies, beyond the material modes of nature. When You appear in this way, You bestow all good fortune upon the living entities by teaching them to perform Vedic activities such as ritualistic ceremonies, mystic yoga, austerities, penances, and ultimately samādhi, ecstatic absorption in thoughts of You. Thus You are worshiped by the Vedic principles.

Text 35

sattvaṁ na ced dhātar idaṁ nijaṁ bhaved

vijñānam ajñāna-bhidāpamārjanam

guṇa-prakāśair anumīyate bhavān

prakāśate yasya ca yena vā guṇaḥ

O Lord, cause of all causes, if Your transcendental body were not beyond the modes of material nature, one could not understand the difference between matter and transcendence. Only by Your presence can one understand the transcendental nature of Your Lordship, who are the controller of material nature. Your transcendental nature is very difficult to understand unless one is influenced by the presence of Your transcendental form.

Text 36

na nāma-rūpe guṇa-janma-karmabhir

nirūpitavye tava tasya sākṣiṇaḥ

mano-vacobhyām anumeya-vartmano

deva kriyāyāṁ pratiyanty athāpi hi

O Lord, Your transcendental name and form are not ascertained by those who merely speculate on the path of imagination. Your name, form and attributes can be ascertained only through devotional service.

Text 37

śṛṇvan gṛṇan saṁsmarayaṁś ca cintayan

nāmāni rūpāṇi ca maṅgalāni te

kriyāsu yas tvac-caraṇāravindayor

āviṣṭa-cetā na bhavāya kalpate

Even while engaged in various activities, devotees whose minds are completely absorbed at Your lotus feet, and who constantly hear, chant, contemplate and cause others to remember Your transcendental names and forms, are always on the transcendental platform, and thus they can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Text 38

diṣṭyā hare ’syā bhavataḥ pado bhuvo

bhāro ’panītas tava janmaneśituḥ

diṣṭyāṅkitāṁ tvat-padakaiḥ suśobhanair

drakṣyāma gāṁ dyāṁ ca tavānukampitām

O Lord, we are fortunate because the heavy burden of the demons upon this earth is immediately removed by Your appearance. Indeed, we are certainly fortunate, for we shall be able to see upon this earth and in the heavenly planets the marks of lotus, conchshell, club and disc that adorn Your lotus feet.

Text 39

na te ’bhavasyeśa bhavasya kāraṇaṁ

vinā vinodaṁ bata tarkayāmahe

bhavo nirodhaḥ sthitir apy avidyayā

kṛtā yatas tvayy abhayāśrayātmani

O Supreme Lord, You are not an ordinary living entity appearing in this material world as a result of fruitive activities. Therefore Your appearance or birth in this world has no other cause than Your pleasure potency. Similarly, the living entities, who are part of You, have no cause for miseries like birth, death and old age, except when these living entities are conducted by Your external energy.

Text 40

matsyāśva-kacchapa-nṛsiṁha-varāha-haṁsa-

rājanya-vipra-vibudheṣu kṛtāvatāraḥ

tvaṁ pāsi nas tri-bhuvanaṁ ca yathādhuneśa

bhāraṁ bhuvo hara yadūttama vandanaṁ te

O supreme controller, Your Lordship previously accepted incarnations as a fish, a horse, a tortoise, Narasiṁhadeva, a boar, a swan, Lord Rāmacandra, Paraśurāma and, among the demigods, Vāmanadeva, to protect the entire world by Your mercy. Now please protect us again by Your mercy by diminishing the disturbances in this world. O Kṛṣṇa, best of the Yadus, we respectfully offer our obeisances unto You.

Text 41

diṣṭyāmba te kukṣi-gataḥ paraḥ pumān

aṁśena sākṣād bhagavān bhavāya naḥ

mābhūd bhayaṁ bhoja-pater mumūrṣor

goptā yadūnāṁ bhavitā tavātmajaḥ

O mother Devakī, by your good fortune and ours, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, with all His plenary portions, such as Baladeva, is now within your womb. Therefore you need not fear Kaṁsa, who has decided to be killed by the Lord. Your eternal son, Kṛṣṇa, will be the protector of the entire Yadu dynasty.