VedaVyasa
Praneetha
The Mad Bhagavatam
Canto 12
Chapter 9
Mârkandeya is Shown the Lord's Bewildering Potency
(Mārkaṇḍeya Ṛṣi Sees the Illusory Potency of the Lord)
This chapter describes Mārkaṇḍeya Ṛṣi's vision of the Supreme Personality of Godhead's illusory energy.
Satisfied by the prayers Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya had offered, the Supreme Lord told him to ask for a benediction, and the sage said he wanted to see the Lord's illusory energy. The Supreme Lord Śrī Hari, present before Mārkaṇḍeya in the form of Nara-Nārāyaṇa, replied, "So be it," and then left for Badarikāśrama. One day, as Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya was offering his evening prayers, the water of devastation suddenly flooded the three worlds. With great difficulty Mārkaṇḍeya moved about all alone in this water for a long time, until he came upon a banyan tree. Lying upon a leaf of that tree was an infant boy glowing with a charming effulgence. As Mārkaṇḍeya moved toward the leaf, he was pulled by the boy's inhalation and, just like a mosquito, drawn within His body.
Inside the boy's body, Mārkaṇḍeya was amazed to see the entire universe just as it had been before the annihilation. After a moment the sage was carried out by the force of the child's exhalation and hurled back into the ocean of annihilation. Then, seeing that the child on the leaf was actually Śrī Hari, the transcendental Lord situated within his own heart, Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya tried to embrace Him. But at that moment Lord Hari, the master of all mystic power, disappeared. Then the waters of annihilation disappeared as well, and Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya found himself in his own āśrama, just as before.
12.9.1
(1) S'rî Sûta said: "The Supreme Lord Nârâyana, Nara's Friend, this way by Mârkandeya, the intelligent sage, properly respected, spoke satisfied to the eminent descendant of Bhrigu.
12.9.2
mayi bhaktyānapāyinyā
(2) The Supreme Lord said: 'O My pleasure, you, perfect in your fixation upon the soul, are the best of all brahmin seers; not deviating in your devotional service, austerities, recitations and concentration you are directed towards Me.
12.9.3
(3) We have become perfectly satisfied with you in your keeping to a vow of lifelong celibacy; please choose a benediction to your desire, for I am the Giver of All Benedictions wishing you the best'.
that the Lord used the plural form in the beginning of this verse — "We are satisfied" — because He was referring to Himself along with Śiva and Umā, who will later be glorified by Mārkaṇḍeya. The Lord then used the singular — "I am the bestower of benedictions" — because ultimately only Lord Nārāyaṇa (Kṛṣṇa) can award the highest perfection of life, eternal Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
12.9.4
prapannārti-harācyuta
vareṇaitāvatālaḿ no
(4) The honorable rishi said: 'You o Lord of Lords, o Infallible One, are victorious as the Remover of the Distress of the One Surrendered and with as much as the benediction of us having seen Your good Self we are satisfied.
12.9.5
gṛhītvājādayo yasya
(5) Brahmâ and others with a mind matured in yoga all acquired the sight of Your omnipotent lotus feet and now You in person are visible before my eyes.
Mārkaṇḍeya Ṛṣi points out that exalted demigods like Lord Brahmā achieved their positions simply by glimpsing the Lord's lotus feet, and yet Mārkaṇḍeya Ṛṣi was now able to see Lord Kṛṣṇa's entire body. Thus he could not even imagine the extent of his good fortune.
12.9.6
athāpy ambuja-patrākṣa
(6) Nonetheless o Lotus-eyed Crest Jewel of Fame, I would like to witness the illusory potency because of which the entire world along with its rulers is of respect for the material differentiation of the absolute.' [compare B.G. 11: 3-4]
A conditioned soul sees the material world to be constituted of independent, separate entities. Actually, all things are united, being potencies of the Supreme Lord. Mārkaṇḍeya Ṛṣi is curious to witness the exact process by which māyā, the Lord's bewildering potency, casts living beings into illusion.
12.9.7
itīḍito 'rcitaḥ kāmam
(7) Sûta said: 'By the rishi glorified with these words He, the Supreme Lord, to His satisfaction being worshiped said smiling, 'So be it'. Thereupon the Lord departed for Badarikâs'rama.
The words bhagavān and īśvara in this verse refer to the Supreme Lord in His incarnation as the twin sages Nara and Nārāyaṇa. According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, the Supreme Lord smiled ruefully, because He prefers that His pure devotees stay away from His illusory energy. Curiosity to see the illusory energy of the Lord sometimes develops into sinful material desire. Nonetheless, to please His devotee Mārkaṇḍeya, the Lord granted his request, just as a father who cannot convince his son to give up pursuing a harmful desire may let him experience some painful reaction so that he will then voluntarily desist. Thus, understanding what would soon happen to Mārkaṇḍeya, the Lord smiled as He prepared to display the illusory potency to him.
12.9.8-9
vasann agny-arka-somāmbu-
(8-9) The rishi keeping only that [desire to witness the energy of the Lord] in mind thus remained at his hermitage to meditate under all circumstances upon the Lord with all that he had: the fire, the sun, the moon, the water, the earth, the wind, the lightning as well as his own heart. Thus being of worship he sometimes forgot to prove his respect at the moments he drowned in the flood of pure love of Godhead [prema].
It is apparent from these verses that Mārkaṇḍeya Ṛṣi was a great devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa; therefore he wanted to see the illusory energy of the Lord not to fulfill some material ambition but to learn how His potency is working.
12.9.10
(10) One day, o best of Bhrigu, when the sage was performing his evening worship on the bank of the Pushpabhadrâ o brahmin, a great wind arose.
12.9.11
akṣa-sthaviṣṭhā mumucus taḍidbhiḥ
(11) It created a terrible sound followed by the appearance of threatening clouds as solid as wagon wheels that resounding loudly with lightning showered torrents of rain everywhere.
12.9.12
(12) Then from all sides the four oceans appeared swallowing up the surface of the earth with wind-tossed waves in which, along with ominous sounds, there were terrible sea monsters and fearful whirlpools.
12.9.13
śatahradābhir upatāpitaḿ jagat
(13) Perplexed the sage got afraid seeing how the earth flooded and all the four types of inhabitants of the universe [as born from moist, seed, embryos and eggs] including himself innerly and materially were plagued by the water rising higher than the sky, the fierce winds, the bolts of lightning, and the great waves towering higher than heaven.
Here the word catur-vidham refers to the four sources of birth for conditioned souls: embryos, eggs, seeds and perspiration.
12.9.14
tasyaivam udvīkṣata ūrmi-bhīṣaṇaḥ
prabhañjanāghūrṇita-vār mahārṇavaḥ
āpūryamāṇo varaṣadbhir ambudaiḥ
(14) As he was looking on the waters of the great ocean were by hurricanes swirled around in frightening waves as they swelled with the rain from the clouds that covered the entirety of the earth with its continents, islands and mountains.
12.9.15
SYNONYMS
(15) With the three worlds, the earth, outer space, the celestial bodies and heavenly places flooded in all directions the great sage, as the only one remaining, wandered about like a dumb and blind person, with his matted locks scattered.
12.9.16
upadruto vīci-nabhasvatāhataḥ
(16) In the grip of hunger and thirst, attacked by monsterous crocodiles and whale-eaters and plagued by the winds he, tormented by the waves, moved overcome by fatigue and not knowing which direction of the sky or the earth he went, through the infinite darkness he had fallen into.
12.9.17-18
kracin magno mahāvarte
yādobhir bhakṣyate kvāpi
kvacic chokaḿ kvacin mohaḿ
vyādhy-ādibhir utārditaḥ
(17-18) Sometimes drowning in a great whirlpool and then beaten by the waves he was at times threatened by monsters who wanted to eat him and at other times were attacking each other. He in distress sometimes felt sick and suffered pains with occasional depressions and bewilderment, misery, incidental happiness and fear of death at other times.
12.9.19
ayutāyata-varṣāṇāḿ
vyatīyur bhramatas tasmin
viṣṇu-māyāvṛtātmanaḥ
(19) Countless and countless, hundreds and thousands of years passed while he with a clouded mind wandered around in that mâyâ, that deluding material energy of Vishnu.
12.9.20
(20) Once, as he roamed out there, the twice-born one saw upon a raised mound of earth a beautiful young banyan tree with fruits and blossoms.
12.9.21
(21) Upon a branch of that tree toward the northeast he in addition saw an infant boy lying within the fold of a leaf swallowing the darkness with His effulgence [see also 3.33: 4].
12.9.22-25
śvāsaijad-alakābhātaḿ
vidrumādhara-bhāseṣac-
padma-garbhāruṇāpāńgaḿ
hṛdya-hāsāvalokanam
cārv-ańgulibhyāḿ pāṇibhyām
unnīya caraṇāmbujam
(22-25) Amazed the king among the scholars drank with his eyes from the sight of His complexion that was as dark blue as a great emerald, His beautiful lotus face, His conchshell striped throat, His broad chest, fine nose and beautiful eyebrows. He relished His splendid hair which trembled to His breath, His beautiful shell-shaped ears resembling pomegranate flowers, His coral lips that by their effulgence slightly reddened His nectarean smile, His countenance with a charming smile and with the corners of His eyes like the reddish whorl of a lotus, the by His breath moved lines of His abdomen contorted by His deep leaf like navel, and also... how the infant with the graceful fingers of His two hands grabbed one of His lotus feet and placed it in His mouth [*].The infant's dark-blue complexion was the color of a flawless emerald, His lotus face shone with a wealth of beauty, and His throat bore marks like the lines on a conchshell. He had a broad chest, a finely shaped nose, beautiful eyebrows, and lovely ears that resembled pomegranate flowers and that had inner folds like a conchshell's spirals. The corners of His eyes were reddish like the whorl of a lotus, and the effulgence of His coral-like lips slightly reddened the nectarean, enchanting smile on His face. As He breathed, His splendid hair trembled and His deep navel became distorted by the moving folds of skin on His abdomen, which resembled a banyan leaf. The exalted brāhmaṇa watched with amazement as the infant took hold of one of His lotus feet with His graceful fingers, placed a toe within His mouth and began to suck.
The young child was the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Kṛṣṇa wondered, "So many devotees are hankering for the nectar of My lotus feet. Therefore let Me personally experience that nectar." Thus the Lord, playing like an ordinary baby, began to suck on His toes.
12.9.26
protphulla-hṛt-paulma-vilocanāmbujaḥ
(26) The moment he saw the baby his weariness was dispelled and out of pleasure the lotus of his heart and his lotus eyes spread wide open. Confused about the identity of that wonderful appearance he, with his hair standing on end, approached the child from the front to find an answer.
Mārkaṇḍeya wanted to ask the child about His identity and therefore approached Him.
12.9.27
so 'ntaḥ śarīraḿ maśako yathāviśat
(27) That very moment the man of Bhrigu with a breath of the infant was drawn into His body like a mosquito whereupon he utterly surprised stood perplexed to see from that position the entire universe the way it was before.
12.9.28-29
(28-29) The sage saw the entire universe: the sky, heavens and earth, the stars, mountains, oceans, great islands and continents, the expanses in every direction, the saintly and demoniac living beings, the forests, countries, rivers, cities and mines, the agricultural villages and cow pastures, and the occupational and spiritual activities of the various social divisions. He also saw the basic elements of creation along with all their by-products, as well as time itself, which regulates the progression of countless ages within the days of Brahmā. In addition, he saw everything else created for use in material life. All this he saw manifested before him as if it were real.
12.9.30
bahir nirasto nyapatal layābdhau
(30) Seeing the Himâlayas, the Pushpabhadrâ River and his hermitage where he had seen the rishis [Nara and Nârâyana], he, thus observing the universe, was by the breath of the infant again thrown outside to fall back into the ocean of dissolution.
12.9.31-32
nirīkṣito 'pāńga-nirīkṣaṇena
abhyayād ati-sańkliṣṭaḥ
(31-32) On the raised stretch of land in the water where the banyan grew, there, lying in the fold of its leaf, was the child again, glancing at him with a nectarean smile of love from the corner of His eyes. Placing the infant by that vison within his heart he ran greatly excited to embrace the Lord of the Beyond.
12.9.33
antardadha ṛṣeḥ sadyo
yathehānīśa-nirmitā
(33) That moment He, the Supreme Lord, the Original One of Yoga who is hidden in the heart of all living beings in person, suddenly became invisible for the rishi, the same way as that what by an incompetent person is made suddenly may fail to serve.
12.9.34
(34) O brahmin, after Him next the banyan disappeared as well as the waters of the annihilation of the world, and the next moment he found himself as before in front of his own âs'rama."
Thus end of the Twelfth Canto, Ninth Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "Mārkaṇḍeya Ṛṣi Sees the Illusory Potency of the Lord."
Footnote:
* The infant putting its foot into its mouth is by S'rîla Vis'vanâtha Cakravartî Thhâkura interpreted as the Lord saying, 'see how sweet my feet are to the taste of the devotee'.
(My humble salutations to the lotus feet of Swamyjis, Philosophers, Scholars and Knowledge Seekers for the collection)
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