Bhagavatam, day 200
Srimad Bhagavatam - day 200
Dhruva continued, “O Lord who rushes to the aid of those who are in trouble! Soon upon waking, the person perceives the world. This happens solely because You, as the inner consciousness, illumine the senses and intelligence due to which the person is able to perceive the world.
With the aid of the knowledge blessed by You, Lord Brahma was able to see this world. Only by taking shelter in You, who reside as the inner Self, the human being is able to see this world.
A wise man remembers favours received from others. How can such wise man ever forget Your lotus feet, when You are the inner Self that teaches about the real existence? Your devotees, who truly seek liberation, surrender wholly to Your lotus feet.
You are the wish fulfilling Kalpavriksha tree. You liberate people from this endless cycle of births and deaths. Despite this there are people who, influenced by Your illusory power, worship You for other small favours. Such ignorant people crave for trivial sensory pleasures that can be experienced through the medium of this gross body, which in reality is nothing but a corpse. Isn’t it true that such sensory comforts can be experienced, in greater or smaller degrees, even in ***?
O Lord! The joy that is experienced by your ardent devotees by meditating upon Your lotus feet or by listening to Your glorious pastimes from other devotees, cannot be obtained even through Parabrahma. In other words, joy thus obtained far surpasses the supreme bliss known as Brahmānanda.
Through the medium of their wealth called merit (punya), virtuous persons travel to heaven in their celestial airplanes. When the sword called ‘time’ cuts through their merit i.e. when their merit depletes, they fall down to earth. Is there any special need to emphasize that such people, who travel to heavenly planets on the strength of their merit, do not experience this special joy that is obtained by Your pure devotees?
Bhaktiṁ muhuḥ pravahatāṁ tvayi me prasaṅgo
Bhūyād ananta mahatām amalāśayānām
Yenāñjasolbaṇam uru-vyasanaṁ bhavābdhiṁ
Neṣye bhavad-guṇa-kathāmṛta-pāna-mattaḥ
O infinite Lord! Supreme Mahatmas, who possess a very pure mind, tie down all their mental activities and divert them towards You. They have absolute devotion towards You. Bless me that I can associate with such Supreme Mahatmas. When such Supreme Mahatmas render Your divine glories I will drink in that nectar and obtain limitless bliss. Lost in this infinite bliss, I will easily cross this fearful, dreaded ocean of samsāra.
O lotus-eyed Lord! You are my Lord. The devotee’s heart is attracted by the divine fragrance that emerges from the lotus called Your feet. Association with supreme devotees is an exceptionally great opportunity. Those who associate with such devotees do not bother about this gross body, which is very dear to to a materialistic person and which is subject to destruction. Neither do they attach any importance to house and other material possessions; children, spouse and other associations which come along with a gross body.
O Lord, You are birthless! This entire universal form of Yours is filled with animals, birds, snakes, Devatas, demons, humans and many other types of creatures. In this creation differences such as earth, water, fire, air, space (gross elements), smell, taste, form, touch and sound (subtle elements) are visible. Mahat and all other principles have an existence within the universal form itself. I know only about the Mahat tattva. However I have no knowledge about the formless, traitless Lord, who exists beyond it. This is because the Supreme Essence is beyond the scope of the mind, speech and imagination.
The Self-illuminating, primordial Lord Srihari retains the entire creation within His *** at the time of dissolution. He sleeps on Adi-śesha, the snake-bed. His navel is as vast as an ocean. From that navel, the three worlds emerge in the form of a golden lotus. In the centre of that golden lotus, Lord Brahma will be seated. He will be shining radiantly. I offer my obeisance to that Supreme Lord Srihari.
You are the Self which is eternally pure (nitya śuddha), eternally liberated (nitya mukta), changeless (nirvikara), eternally omniscient (nitya buddha). You are the cause for the entire creation. You are an embodiment of completeness. You are replete with the six auspicious qualities. You are the Lord of Nature, which is composed of the trigunas. You are the Lord of all the three worlds. You are the eternal witness to all the various individual activities. Your Self-illumination is indivisible.
During the existence of the universe You are the presiding deity for Yagna. Even though this world exists within You and gets absorbed into You, You remain aloof from it.
Yasmin viruddha-gatayo hy aniśaṁ patanti
Vidyādayo vividha-śaktaya ānupūrvyāt
Tad brahma viśva-bhavam ekam anantam ādyam
Ānanda-mātram avikāram ahaṁ prapadye
Knowledge and ignorance, creation and dissolution and such other opposite energies, which are mutually contradictory, keep manifesting suddenly one after another within the non-dual Parabrahma.
Trivikramaāya namah