VedaVyasa
Praneetha
The Mad Bhagavatam
Canto 12
Chapter 5
Final Instructions to Mahârâja Parîkchit
(Śukadeva Gosvāmī's Final Instructions to Mahārāja Parīkṣit)
This chapter explains how King Parīkṣit's fear of death from the snakebird Takṣaka was averted by Śukadeva Gosvāmī's brief instructions on the Absolute Truth.
Having in the last chapter described the four processes of annihilation that act in this material world, Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī now reminds Parīkṣit Mahārāja how he had previously, in the Third Canto, discussed the measurement of time and of the various millennia of universal history. During a single day of Lord Brahmā, constituting one thousand cycles of four ages, fourteen different Manus rule and die. Thus death is unavoidable for every embodied being, but the soul itself never dies, being entirely distinct from the material body. Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī then states that in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam he has repeatedly chanted the glories of the Supreme Soul, Lord Śrī Hari, from whose satisfaction Brahmā takes birth and from whose anger Rudra is born. The idea "I will die" is simply the mentality of animals, because the soul does not undergo the bodily phases of previous nonexistence, birth, existence and death. When the body's subtle mental covering is destroyed by transcendental knowledge, the soul within the body again exhibits his original identity. Just as the temporal existence of a lamp comes about by the combination of oil, the vessel, the wick and the fire, the material body comes about by the amalgamation of the three modes of nature. The material body appears at birth and displays life for some time. Finally, the combination of material modes dissolves, and the body undergoes death, a phenomenon similar to the extinguishing of a lamp. Śukadeva addresses the king, saying, "You should fix yourself in meditation upon Lord Vāsudeva, and thus the bite of the snake-bird will not affect you."
12.5.1
atrānuvarṇyate 'bhīkṣṇaḿ
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'In this [narration] I have elaborately described the Supreme Lord Hari, the Soul of Everyone from whose grace Lord Brahmâ was born [3.8] from whose anger Lord S'iva [3.12: 7] took birth.
very elaborate summary of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in his commentary on this verse. The essence of the great ācārya's statement is that unconditional loving surrender to the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, as described by Śukadeva Gosvāmī, is the highest perfection of life. The exclusive purpose of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is to convince the conditioned soul to execute such surrender to the Lord and go back home, back to Godhead.
12.5.2
(2) O King, you who think 'I am going to die', must give up this animalistic mentality; contrary to the body that didn't exist before and shall perish again you never took your birth nor will you ever be destroyed [see also B.G. 2: 12 & 2: 20].
dvijopasṛṣṭaḥ kuhakas takṣako vā
"O brāhmaṇas, just accept me as a completely surrendered soul, and let mother Ganges, the representative of the Lord, also accept me in that way, for I have already taken the lotus feet of the Lord into my heart. Let the snake-bird — or whatever magical thing the brāhmaṇa created — bite me at once. I only desire that you all continue singing the deeds of Lord Viṣṇu."
Even before hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, King Parīkṣit was a mahā-bhāgavata, a great and pure devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. There was actually no animalistic fear of death within the King, but for our sake Śukadeva Gosvāmī is speaking very strongly to his disciple, just as Lord Kṛṣṇa speaks strongly to Arjuna in Bhagavad-gītā.
12.5.3
putra-pautrādi-rūpavān
bījāńkura-vad dehāder
vyatirikto yathānalaḥ
(3) You will not get a new life as a child of yours or in the form of a grandchild the way a plant sprouts from its own seed; you differ from the body and what belongs to it as much as fire [differs from the wood in which it is found *].
Sometimes one dreams of being reborn as the son of one's son, in the hope of perpetually remaining in the same material family. As stated in the śruti-mantra, pitā putreṇa pitṛmān yoni-yonau: "A father has a father in his son, because he may take birth as his own grandson." The purpose of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is spiritual liberation and not the foolish prolonging of the illusion of bodily identification. That is clearly stated in this verse.
12.5.4
(4) Because one, alike in a dream seeing one's head cut off, is the witness of one's own self composed of the five material elements, is therefore the body it's soul undoubtedly unborn and immortal [see also B.G. 2: 22].
12.5.5
(5) When a pot is broken the air in the pot remains the air as before; similarly returns, when the body is given up, the individual soul to his spiritual origin.
12.5.6
tato jīvasya saḿsṛtiḥ
(6) The physical bodies, qualities and actions of the spirit soul are the result of having a materially oriented mind; and it is mâyâ, the illusory potency of the Lord, that brings about the mind with the consequent material existence of an individual living being [through ahankâra, see also 2.5: 25, 3.26: 31-32, 3.27: 2-5].
12.5.7
snehādhiṣṭhāna-varty-agni-
saḿyogo yāvad īyate
(7) The combination of oil, a vessel, a wick and fire is what one sees together in the functioning of a lamp, similarly one finds, developed and destroyed by the action of the modes of passion, ignorance and goodness, the material existence of [an individual soul inhabiting] a functioning body.
12.5.8
yo vyaktāvyaktayoḥ paraḥ
dhruvo 'nantopamas tataḥ
(8) The soul being different from the gross [deha] and the subtle [linga], is self-luminous, and constitutes, because it is as unchanging as the sky, the foundation [âdhâra] that is eternal and beyond comparison.
12.5.9
ātmanaivāmṛśa prabho
buddhyānumāna-garbhiṇyā
vāsudevānucintayā
(9) O prabhu, this way in meditation upon Vâsudeva engaging your intelligence for the sake of that what is true, you should carefully consider your essence that is covered by your physical frame.
12.5.10
mṛtyavo nopadhakṣyanti
(10) Takshaka [the snake-bird] sent by the words of the brahmin [1.18] will not burn you; the messengers of death cannot supersede you who [now] have mastered the causes of death and death itself [see also 11.31: 12].
Real death is the covering of one's eternal Kṛṣṇa consciousness. For the soul, material illusion is just like death, but Parīkṣit Mahārāja had already destroyed all those dangers that threaten one's spiritual life, such as lust, envy and fear. Śukadeva Gosvāmī here congratulates the great saintly king, who, as a pure devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa homeward bound to the spiritual sky, was far beyond the reach of death.
12.5.11-12
lelihānaḿ viṣānanaiḥ
(11-12) 'I am the Original Supreme Spirit, the Abode of the Absolute and the Supreme Destination'; with this consideration placing yourself within the Supreme Self that is free from material designations, you will, with the entire world thus set apart from the self, not even notice Takshaka or your own body when he, licking his lips and with his mouth full of poison, bites your foot.
12.5.13
(12) Dearest soul, is there anything more you want to know, o King, after all that I in response to your questions told you about the pastimes of the Lord?'
In his commentary on this text, it is elaborately demonstrated, by citing many Bhāgavatam verses, the exalted devotional position of King Parīkṣit, who was fully determined to fix his mind upon Lord Kṛṣṇa and go back home, back to Godhead.
Thus end of the Twelfth Canto, Fifth Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "Śukadeva Gosvāmī's Final Instructions to Mahārāja Parīkṣit."
Footnote:
* In the s'ruti-mantra it is said: pitâ putrena pitrimân yoni-yonau: "A father has a father in his son, because he may take birth as his own grandson."
(My humble salutations to the lotus feet of Swamyjis, Philosophers, Scholars and Knowledge Seekers for the collection)
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