Vyasadev
Praneetha
The Mad Bhagavatam
Canto 9
Chapter 8
The Sons of Sagara Meet Lord Kapiladeva
In this Eighth Chapter the descendants of Rohita are described. In the dynasty of Rohita there was a king named Sagara, whose history is described in relation to Kapiladeva and the destruction of the sons of Sagara.
The son of Rohita was known as Harita, and the son of Harita was Campa, who constructed a township known as Campāpurī. The son of Campa was Sudeva, the son of Sudeva was Vijaya, the son of Vijaya was Bharuka, and the son of Bharuka was Vṛka. Bāhuka, the son of Vṛka, was greatly disturbed by his enemies, and therefore he left home with his wife and went to the forest. When he died there, his wife wanted to accept the principles of satī, dying with her husband, but when she was about to die a sage named Aurva found that she was pregnant and forbade her to do so. The co-wives of this wife of Bāhuka gave her poison with her food, but still her son was born with the poison. The son was therefore named Sagara (sa means "with," and gara means "poison"). Following the instructions of the great sage Aurva, King Sagara reformed many clans, including the Yavanas, Śakas, Haihayas and Barbaras. The king did not kill them, but reformed them. Then, again following the instructions of Aurva, King Sagara performed aśvamedha sacrifices, but the horse needed for such a sacrifice was stolen by Indra, the King of heaven. King Sagara had two wives, named Sumati and Keśinī. While searching for the horse, the sons of Sumati extensively dug up the surface of the earth and in this way dug a trench, which later became known as the Sāgara Ocean. In the course of this search, they came upon the great personality Kapiladeva and thought Him to have stolen the horse. With this offensive understanding, they attacked Him and were all burned to ashes. Keśinī, the second wife of King Sagara, had a son named Asamañjasa, whose son Aḿśumān later searched for the horse and delivered his uncles. Upon approaching Kapiladeva, Aḿśumān saw both the horse meant for sacrifice and a pile of ashes. Aḿśumān offered prayers to Kapiladeva, who was very pleased by his prayers and who returned the horse. After getting back the horse, however, Aḿśumān still stood before Kapiladeva, and Kapiladeva could understand that Aḿśumān was praying for the deliverance of his forefathers. Thus Kapiladeva offered the instruction that they could be delivered by water from the Ganges. Aḿśumān then offered respectful obeisances to Kapiladeva, circumambulated Him, and left that place with the horse for sacrifice. When King Sagara finished his yajña, he handed over the kingdom to Aḿśumān and, following the advice of Aurva, attained salvation.
9.8.1
harito rohita-sutaś
campas tasmād vinirmitā
campāpurī sudevo 'to
vijayo yasya cātmajaḥ
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'Hârîta was the son of King Rohita [see previous chapter] and his son Campa built a city called Campâpurî. After him there was Sudeva who also had a son called Vijaya.
9.8.2
bharukas tat-sutas tasmād
vṛkas tasyāpi bāhukaḥ
(2) Bharuka was the son of Vijaya, he had one called Vrika and Vrika had Bâhuka of whom all the land he had was taken away by his enemies so that the king had to enter the forest with his wife.
9.8.3
mahiṣy anumariṣyatī
aurveṇa jānatātmānaḿ
prajāvantaḿ nivāritā
(3) When he had died of old age wanted his queen to die along with him but sage Aurva, who understood that she was pregnant with a son in her womb, forbade it.
9.8.4
ājñāyāsyai sapatnībhir
garo datto 'ndhasā saha
sagaraś cakravarty āsīt
(4) The co-wives finding out gave her poison with her food, but with the poison was Sagara ['with poison'] born, who became an emperor of great repute. His sons were responsible for the place called Gangâsâgara.
9.8.5-6
yas tālajańghān yavanāñ
mukta-keśārdha-muṇḍitān
anantar-vāsasaḥ kāḿścid
abahir-vāsaso 'parān
(5-6) He didn't kill the antisocial [Tâlajanghas, or tree-people], the ones opposing [the Yavanas, also: invaders like the Muslims and the Europeans], the godless [the S'akâs], the ruffians [Haihayas] nor the barbarians [Barbaras]. Instead made he, to the orders of the guru, them appear in odd dresses, shaved clean, wearing mustaches or sometimes tolerated he them as people with loose hair, being half-shaven, without any underwear or not being clad at all.
9.8.7
so 'śvamedhair ayajata
aurvopadiṣṭa-yogena
jahārāśvaḿ purandaraḥ
(7) He was to the words of Aurva in yoga with the Supersoul of all vedic knowledge and the enlightened, and with horse sacrifices of worship unto the Lord, the Original Self and Controller. Some day he discovered that the horse that was used for the sacrifice had been stolen by Purandara [Indra, see also 4.19: 17].
9.8.8
(8) The proud sons born from Sumati [a wife of Sagara] then were ordered by their father to turn the entire country up side down to find out where the horse had gone to.
9.8.9-10
dadṛśuḥ kapilāntike
udāyudhā abhiyayur
(9-10) In the northeastern direction they saw the horse near the âs'rama of Kapila and said: 'Now we know where that horse-thief with his eyes closed lives; kill him, kill him that sinner!' While thus the sixty thousand men of Sagara with their weapons raised approached him, opened the muni at that very moment his eyes.
9.8.11
mahad-vyatikrama-hatā
(11) With their minds stolen [by Indra] and in offense with such a great personality [as Kapila see also 3.25-33], self-ignited their bodies instantly and turned they to ashes.
The material body is a combination of earth, water, fire, air and ether. There is already fire within the body, and our practical experience is that the heat of this fire sometimes increases and sometimes decreases. The fire within the bodies of the sons of Sagara Mahārāja became so much hotter that all of them burned to ashes. The fire's increased heat was due to their misbehavior toward a great personality. Such misbehavior is called mahad-vyatikrama. They were killed by the fire of their own bodies because of insulting a great personality.
9.8.12
kathaḿ tamo roṣamayaḿ vibhāvyate
(12) It is not the opinion of the saintly to say that the sons of the emperor were thus burnt to ashes by the anger of the muni, for how could with him [Him] as the abode of goodness by whose grace the entire universe is purified, the mode of ignorance dominate and anger rise - how can earthly dust pollute the ether?
9.8.13
yasyeritā sāńkhyamayī dṛḍheha naur
(13) With him who so thoroughly explained the world analytically [see 3.25-33] and in this world is there as a boat with which a seeker can cross over the ocean of nescience that in one's mortal existence is so hard to overcome - how can there, with a learned person elevated in transcendence, be a sense of distinction between friend and foe? [such a one is always jubilant: prasannâtmâ]
One who is promoted to the transcendental position (brahma-bhūta) is always jubilant (prasannātmā). He is unaffected by the false distinctions between good and bad in the material world. Therefore, such an exalted person is samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu; that is to say, he is equal toward everyone, not distinguishing between friend and enemy. Because he is on the absolute platform, free from material contamination, he is called parātma-bhūta or brahma-bhūta. Kapila Muni, therefore, was not at all angry at the sons of Sagara Mahārāja; rather, they were burnt to ashes by the heat of their own bodies.
9.8.14
sa keśinyā nṛpātmajaḥ
(14) He who born from Kes'inî [Sagara's other wife] was called Asamañjasa had as a prince a son of his own known as Ams'umân who always did the best he could for his grandfather.
9.8.15-16
asamañjasa ātmānaḿ
darśayann asamañjasam
yogī yogād vicālitaḥ
(15-16) Formerly a yogi, as he could remember from another life, had Asamañjasa fallen down from the path of yoga because of bad association and personally proven himself a most disturbing way. Behaving badly was he of trouble for everybody in the society and had he, sporting with his relatives, been acting unkind throwing all the boys into the river the Sarayû.
9.8.17
yogaiśvaryeṇa bālāḿs tān
darśayitvā tato yayau
(17) Of these acts [the boys had disappeared] was he by his father banned who gave up his love for him. By the power of yoga [though] managed he to present the boys and went he away.
Asamañjasa was a jāti-smara; because of his mystic power, he did not forget his previous consciousness. Thus he could give life to the dead. By exhibiting wonderful activities in relation to the dead children, he certainly attracted the attention of the King and the people in general. Then he left that place immediately.
9.8.18
rājā cāpy anvatapyata
(18) O King, the inhabitants of Ayodhyâ were astound to see their sons turning up again while the king was truly sorry [now that his son was gone].
9.8.19
aḿśumāḿś codito rājñā
turagānveṣaṇe yayau
pitṛvya-khātānupathaḿ
(19) Ams'umân ordered by the king to search for the horse went for it following the tracks his uncles had left behind and found the horse near a pile of ashes.
9.8.20
kapilākhyam adhokṣajam
prāñjaliḥ praṇato mahān
(20) Seeing the one from the beyond [the Vishnu avatâra] known as Kapila, offered the great personality attentively prayers with folded hands prostrating himself.
9.8.21
(21) Ams'umân said: 'No one of us living beings can envision You as the Transcendental One. To the day of today can not even Lord Brahmâ fathom You and by what meditation or guesswork would others, we creatures of the material world who, taking the body for the self, miss the transcendence [see also B.G. 7: 27]?
"O scion of Bharata [Arjuna], O conqueror of the foe, all living entities are born into delusion, overcome by the dualities of desire and hate." (Bg. 7.27) All living beings in the material world are influenced by the three modes of material nature. Even Lord Brahmā is in the mode of goodness. Similarly, the demigods are generally in the mode of passion, and living entities lower than the demigods, such as human beings and animals, are in the mode of ignorance, or in mixed goodness, passion and ignorance. Therefore Aḿśumān wanted to explain that because his uncles, who had burnt to ashes, were under the modes of material nature, they could not understand Lord Kapiladeva. "Because You are beyond even the direct and indirect intelligence of Lord Brahmā," he prayed, "unless we are enlightened by Your Lordship it will not be possible for us to understand You."
"My Lord, if one is favored by even a slight trace of the mercy of Your lotus feet, he can understand the greatness of Your personality. But those who speculate to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead are unable to know You, even though they continue to study the Vedas for many years." (Bhāg. 10.14.29) The Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, can be understood by one who is favored by the Lord; the Lord cannot be understood by others.
9.8.22
(22) They who accepted a material body under the influence of the three modes [the gunas, see also B.G. 14: 5] can only see those modes so one says and bewildered by the illusory energy not know You who resides in goodness in the core of the heart of one's body; they see but the external byproducts.
9.8.23
sanandanādyair munibhir vibhāvyaḿ
(23) By Sanandana and other worshipable sages free from the contaminating and bewildering illusory differentiation caused by the gunas, is all wisdom with the original nature [svabhâva] rolled in one [see B.G. 14: 26 & 2: 45], but how can I as a fool of matter keep You, the Personality [of that unity], in mind?
The word svabhāva refers to one's own spiritual nature or original constitutional position. When situated in this original position, the living entity is unaffected by the modes of material nature. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (Bg. 14.26). As soon as one is freed from the influence of the three modes of material nature, he is situated on the Brahman platform. Vivid examples of personalities thus situated are the four Kumāras and Nārada. Such authorities can by nature understand the position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but a conditioned soul not freed from the influence of material nature is unable to realize the Supreme. In Bhagavad-gītā (2.45), therefore, Kṛṣṇa advises Arjuna, traiguṇya-viṣayā vedā nistraiguṇyo bhavārjuna: one must rise above the influence of the three modes of material nature. One who stays within the influence of the three material modes is unable to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
9.8.24
(24) O Peaceful One, I offer my obeisances unto You, the Original Supreme Personality, who without a name and form, transcendental to the temporal and eternal, in order to distribute the transcendental knowledge, to the modes of matter has assumed a material body symptomized by fruitive action.
"By serving You constantly, one is freed from all material desires and is completely pacified. When shall I engage as Your permanent eternal servant and always feel joyful to have such a fitting master?"
Manorathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ: [SB 5.18.12] one who acts on the mental platform must descend to material activities. Material contamination, however, is completely absent from the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His pure devotee. Therefore the Lord is addressed as praśānta, completely peaceful, free from the disturbances of material existence. The Supreme Lord has no material name or form; only the foolish think that the Lord's name and form are material (avajānanti māḿ mūḍhā mānuṣīḿ tanum āśritam [Bg. 9.11]). The identity of the Supreme Lord is that He is the original person. Nonetheless, those who have but a poor fund of knowledge think that the Lord is formless. The Lord is formless in the material sense, but He has His transcendental form (sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1]).
9.8.25
(25) In their hearth and home, accepting Your material energy as the real thing, do they [birth after birth] wander around in this world in their hearts bewildered by lust, greed, envy and illusion.
9.8.26
kāma-karmendriyāśayaḥ
moha-pāśo dṛḍhaś chinno
(26) O Supreme Lord, by simply seeing You has today this hard and tight knot of our illusion been broken of which one in one's sensuality is influenced by lust and the profitmind, o Soul of All beings!'
9.8.27
aḿśumantam uvācedam
(27) S'rî S'uka said: 'O master of man, the great sage and Supreme Lord Kapila this way having been glorfied, told Ams'umân mercifully the following about the path of knowledge.
9.8.28
gańgāmbho 'rhanti netarat
(28) The Supreme Lord said: 'Take this horse, my son, it is the sacrificial animal of your grandfather, but all these bodies of your forefathers burnt to ashes can by no other means be saved but by Ganges-water.'
9.8.29
(29) After circumambulating him bowing to his satisfaction brought he the horse back to Sagara and was by means of that animal the concluding ceremony performed.
9.8.30
niḥspṛho mukta-bandhanaḥ
aurvopadiṣṭa-mārgeṇa
(30) Following the path laid out by Aurva handed he [Sagara], freed from attachments and desires, the kingdom over to Ams'umân and attained he the supreme destination.'
(My humble salutations to the lotus feet of Swamyjis, Philosophers, Scholars and Knowledge Seekers for the collection)
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