Prayers By Vedas
Uttama
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto 10: The Summum Bonum
Chapter 87: The Prayers of the Personified Vedas
Text 21 - 41
Text 21
duravagamātma-tattva-nigamāya tavātta-tanoś carita-mahāmṛtābdhi-parivarta-pariśramaṇāḥ
na parilaṣanti kecid apavargam apīśvara te caraṇa-saroja-haṁsa-kula-saṅga-visṛṣṭa-gṛhāḥ
My Lord, some fortunate souls have gotten relief from the fatigue of material life by diving into the vast nectar ocean of Your pastimes, which You enact when You manifest Your personal forms to propagate the unfathomable science of the self. These rare souls, indifferent even to liberation, renounce the happiness of home and family because of their association with devotees who are like flocks of swans enjoying at the lotus of Your feet.
Text 22
tvad-anupathaṁ kulāyam idam ātma-suhṛt-priya-vac
carati tathonmukhe tvayi hite priya ātmani ca
na bata ramanty aho asad-upāsanayātma-hano
yad-anuśayā bhramanty uru-bhaye ku-śarīra-bhṛtaḥ
When this human body is used for Your devotional service, it acts as one’s self, friend and beloved. But unfortunately, although You always show mercy to the conditioned souls and affectionately help them in every way, and although You are their true Self, people in general fail to delight in You. Instead they commit spiritual suicide by worshiping illusion. Alas, because they persistently hope for success in their devotion to the unreal, they continue to wander about this greatly fearful world, assuming various degraded bodies.
Text 23
nibhṛta-marun-mano-’kṣa-dṛḍha-yoga-yujo hṛdi yan
munaya upāsate tad arayo ’pi yayuḥ smaraṇāt
striya uragendra-bhoga-bhuja-daṇḍa-viṣakta-dhiyo
vayam api te samāḥ sama-dṛśo ’ṅghri-saroja-sudhāḥ
śrutaya ūcuḥ
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
brahmovāca
Simply by constantly thinking of Him, the enemies of the Lord attained the same Supreme Truth whom sages fixed in yoga worship by controlling their breath, mind and senses. Similarly, we śrutis, who generally see You as all-pervading, will achieve the same nectar from Your lotus feet that Your consorts are able to relish because of their loving attraction to Your mighty, serpentine arms, for You look upon us and Your consorts in the same way.
Text 24
ka iha nu veda batāvara-janma-layo ’gra-saraṁ
yata udagād ṛṣir yam anu deva-gaṇā ubhaye
tarhi na san na cāsad ubhayaṁ na ca kāla-javaḥ
kim api na tatra śāstram avakṛṣya śayīta yadā
Everyone in this world has recently been born and will soon die. So how can anyone here know Him who existed prior to everything else and who gave rise to the first learned sage, Brahmā, and all subsequent demigods, both lesser and greater? When He lies down and withdraws everything within Himself, nothing else remains — no gross or subtle matter or bodies composed of these, no force of time or revealed scripture.
Text 25
janim asataḥ sato mṛtim utātmani ye ca bhidāṁ
vipaṇam ṛtaṁ smaranty upadiśanti ta ārupitaiḥ
tri-guṇa-mayaḥ pumān iti bhidā yad abodha-kṛtā
tvayi na tataḥ paratra sa bhaved avabodha-rase
Supposed authorities who declare that matter is the origin of existence, that the permanent qualities of the soul can be destroyed, that the self is compounded of separate aspects of spirit and matter, or that material transactions constitute reality — all such authorities base their teachings on mistaken ideas that hide the truth. The dualistic conception that the living entity is produced from the three modes of nature is simply a product of ignorance. Such a conception has no real basis in You, for You are transcendental to all illusion and always enjoy perfect, total awareness.
Text 26
sad iva manas tri-vṛt tvayi vibhāty asad ā-manujāt
sad abhimṛśanty aśeṣam idam ātmatayātma-vidaḥ
na hi vikṛtiṁ tyajanti kanakasya tad-ātmatayā
sva-kṛtam anupraviṣṭam idam ātmatayāvasitam
The three modes of material nature comprise everything in this world — from the simplest phenomena to the complex human body. Although these phenomena appear real, they are only a false reflection of the spiritual reality, being a superimposition of the mind upon You. Still, those who know the Supreme Self consider the entire material creation to be real inasmuch as it is nondifferent from the Self. Just as things made of gold are indeed not to be rejected, since their substance is actual gold, so this world is undoubtedly nondifferent from the Lord who created it and then entered within it.
Text 27
tava pari ye caranty akhila-sattva-niketatayā
ta uta padākramanty avigaṇayya śiro nirṛteḥ
parivayase paśūn iva girā vibudhān api tāṁs
tvayi kṛta-sauhṛdāḥ khalu punanti na ye vimukhāḥ
The devotees who worship You as the shelter of all beings disregard Death and place their feet on his head. But with the words of the Vedas You bind the nondevotees like animals, though they be vastly learned scholars. It is Your affectionate devotees who can purify themselves and others, not those who are inimical to You.
Text 28
tvam akaraṇaḥ sva-rāḍ akhila-kāraka-śakti-dharas
tava balim udvahanti samadanty ajayānimiṣāḥ
varṣa-bhujo ’khila-kṣiti-pater iva viśva-sṛjo
vidadhati yatra ye tv adhikṛtā bhavataś cakitāḥ
Though You have no material senses, You are the self-effulgent sustainer of everyone’s sensory powers. The demigods and material nature herself offer You tribute, while also enjoying the tribute offered them by their worshipers, just as subordinate rulers of various districts in a kingdom offer tribute to their lord, the ultimate proprietor of the land, while also enjoying the tribute paid them by their own subjects. In this way the universal creators faithfully execute their assigned services out of fear of You.
Text 29
sthira-cara-jātayaḥ syur ajayottha-nimitta-yujo
vihara udīkṣayā yadi parasya vimukta tataḥ
na hi paramasya kaścid aparo na paraś ca bhaved
viyata ivāpadasya tava śūnya-tulāṁ dadhataḥ
O eternally liberated, transcendental Lord, Your material energy causes the various moving and nonmoving species of life to appear by activating their material desires, but only when and if You sport with her by briefly glancing at her. You, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, see no one as an intimate friend and no one as a stranger, just as the ethereal sky has no connection with perceptible qualities. In this sense You resemble a void.
Text 30
aparimitā dhruvās tanu-bhṛto yadi sarva-gatās
tarhi na śāsyateti niyamo dhruva netarathā
ajani ca yan-mayaṁ tad avimucya niyantṛ bhavet
samam anujānatāṁ yad amataṁ mata-duṣṭatayā
If the countless living entities were all-pervading and possessed forms that never changed, You could not possibly be their absolute ruler, O immutable one. But since they are Your localized expansions and their forms are subject to change, You do control them. Indeed, that which supplies the ingredients for the generation of something is necessarily its controller because a product never exists apart from its ingredient cause. It is simply illusion for someone to think that he knows the Supreme Lord, who is equally present in each of His expansions, since whatever knowledge one gains by material means must be imperfect.
Text 31
na ghaṭata udbhavaḥ prakṛti-pūruṣayor ajayor
ubhaya-yujā bhavanty asu-bhṛto jala-budbuda-vat
tvayi ta ime tato vividha-nāma-guṇaiḥ parame
sarita ivārṇave madhuni lilyur aśeṣa-rasāḥ
Neither material nature nor the soul who tries to enjoy her are ever born, yet living bodies come into being when these two combine, just as bubbles form where water meets the air. And just as rivers merge into the ocean or the nectar from many different flowers blends into honey, so all these conditioned beings eventually merge back into You, the Supreme, along with their various names and qualities.
Text 32
nṛṣu tava mayayā bhramam amīṣv avagatya bhṛśaṁ
tvayi su-dhiyo ’bhave dadhati bhāvam anuprabhavam
katham anuvartatāṁ bhava-bhayaṁ tava yad bhru-kuṭiḥ
sṛjati muhus tri-nemir abhavac-charaṇeṣu bhayam
The wise souls who understand how Your Māyā deludes all human beings render potent loving service to You, who are the source of liberation from birth and death. How, indeed, can fear of material life affect Your faithful servants? On the other hand, Your furrowing eyebrows — the triple-rimmed wheel of time — repeatedly terrify those who refuse to take shelter of You.
Text 33
vijita-hṛṣīka-vāyubhir adānta-manas tura-gaṁ
ya iha yatanti yantum ati-lolam upāya-khidaḥ
vyasana-śatānvitāḥ samavahāya guroś caraṇaṁ
vaṇija ivāja santy akṛta-karṇa-dharā jaladhau
The mind is like an impetuous horse that even persons who have regulated their senses and breath cannot control. Those in this world who try to tame the uncontrolled mind, but who abandon the feet of their spiritual master, encounter hundreds of obstacles in their cultivation of various distressful practices. O unborn Lord, they are like merchants on a boat in the ocean who have failed to employ a helmsman.
Text 34
svajana-sutātma-dāra-dhana-dhāma-dharāsu-rathais
tvayi sati kiṁ nṛṇām śrayata ātmani sarva-rase
iti sad ajānatāṁ mithunato rataye caratāṁ
sukhayati ko nv iha sva-vihate sva-nirasta-bhage
To those persons who take shelter of You, You reveal Yourself as the Supersoul, the embodiment of all transcendental pleasure. What further use have such devotees for their servants, children or bodies, their wives, money or houses, their land, good health or conveyances? And for those who fail to appreciate the truth about You and go on pursuing the pleasures of sex, what could there be in this entire world — a place inherently doomed to destruction and devoid of significance — that could give them real happiness?
Text 35
bhuvi puru-puṇya-tīrtha-sadanāny ṛṣayo vimadās
ta uta bhavat-padāmbuja-hṛdo ’gha-bhid-aṅghri-jalāḥ
dadhati sakṛn manas tvayi ya ātmani nitya-sukhe
na punar upāsate puruṣa-sāra-harāvasathān
Sages free from false pride live on this earth by frequenting the sacred pilgrimage sites and those places where the Supreme Lord displayed His pastimes. Because such devotees keep Your lotus feet within their hearts, the water that washes their feet destroys all sins. Anyone who even once turns his mind toward You, the ever-blissful Soul of all existence, no longer dedicates himself to serving family life at home, which simply robs a man of his good qualities.
Text 36
sata idaṁ utthitaṁ sad iti cen nanu tarka-hataṁ
vyabhicarati kva ca kva ca mṛṣā na tathobhaya-yuk
vyavahṛtaye vikalpa iṣito ’ndha-paramparayā
bhramayati bhāratī ta uru-vṛttibhir uktha-jaḍān
It may be proposed that this world is permanently real because it is generated from the permanent reality, but such an argument is subject to logical refutation. Sometimes, indeed, the apparent nondifference of a cause and its effect fails to prove true, and at other times the product of something real is illusory. Furthermore, this world cannot be permanently real, for it partakes of the natures of not only the absolute reality but also the illusion disguising that reality. Actually, the visible forms of this world are just an imaginary arrangement resorted to by a succession of ignorant persons in order to facilitate their material affairs. With their various meanings and implications, the learned words of Your Vedas bewilder all persons whose minds have been dulled by hearing the incantations of sacrificial rituals.
Text 37
na yad idam agra āsa na bhaviṣyad ato nidhanād
anu mitam antarā tvayi vibhāti mṛṣaika-rase
ata upamīyate draviṇa-jāti-vikalpa-pathair
vitatha-mano-vilāsam ṛtam ity avayanty abudhāḥ
Since this universe did not exist prior to its creation and will no longer exist after its annihilation, we conclude that in the interim it is nothing more than a manifestation imagined to be visible within You, whose spiritual enjoyment never changes. We liken this universe to the transformation of various material substances into diverse forms. Certainly those who believe that this figment of the imagination is substantially real are less intelligent.
Text38
sa yad ajayā tv ajām anuśayīta guṇāṁś ca juṣan
bhajati sarūpatāṁ tad anu mṛtyum apeta-bhagaḥ
tvam uta jahāsi tām ahir iva tvacam ātta-bhago
mahasi mahīyase ’ṣṭa-guṇite ’parimeya-bhagaḥ
The illusory material nature attracts the minute living entity to embrace her, and as a result he assumes forms composed of her qualities. Subsequently, he loses all his spiritual qualities and must undergo repeated deaths. You, however, avoid the material energy in the same way that a snake abandons its old skin. Glorious in Your possession of eight mystic perfections, You enjoy unlimited opulences.
Text 39
yadi na samuddharanti yatayo hṛdi kāma-jaṭā
duradhigamo ’satāṁ hṛdi gato ’smṛta-kaṇṭha-maṇiḥ
asu-tṛpa-yoginām ubhayato ’py asukhaṁ bhagavann
anapagatāntakād anadhirūḍha-padād bhavataḥ
Members of the renounced order who fail to uproot the last traces of material desire in their hearts remain impure, and thus You do not allow them to understand You. Although You are present within their hearts, for them You are like a jewel worn around the neck of a man who has totally forgotten it is there. O Lord, those who practice yoga only for sense gratification must suffer punishment both in this life and the next: from death, who will not release them, and from You, whose kingdom they cannot reach.
Text 40
tvad avagamī na vetti bhavad-uttha-śubhāśubhayor
guṇa-viguṇānvayāṁs tarhi deha-bhṛtāṁ ca giraḥ
anu-yugam anv-ahaṁ sa-guṇa gīta-paramparayā
śravaṇa-bhṛto yatas tvam apavarga-gatir manu-jaiḥ
When a person realizes You, he no longer cares about his good and bad fortune arising from past pious and sinful acts, since it is You alone who control this good and bad fortune. Such a realized devotee also disregards what ordinary living beings say about him. Every day he fills his ears with Your glories, which are recited in each age by the unbroken succession of Manu’s descendants, and thus You become his ultimate salvation.
Text 41
dyu-pataya eva te na yayur antam anantatayā
tvam api yad-antarāṇḍa-nicayā nanu sāvaraṇāḥ
kha iva rajāṁsi vānti vayasā saha yac chrutayas
tvayi hi phalanty atan-nirasanena bhavan-nidhanāḥ
Because You are unlimited, neither the lords of heaven nor even You Yourself can ever reach the end of Your glories. The countless universes, each enveloped in its shell, are compelled by the wheel of time to wander within You, like particles of dust blowing about in the sky. The śrutis, following their method of eliminating everything separate from the Supreme, become successful by revealing You as their final conclusion.