The Bhagavata Purana 3

by Bibek Debroy

  Chapter 12(2)

  Shri-Shuka said, ‘O king! Thereafter, because of the force of time, day after day, dharma, truth, purity, forgiveness, compassion, lifespan, strength and memory will decay. In kali yuga, wealth will connote nobility of birth, good conduct and all the qualities for men. The determinant of dharma and rule of law will be strength. The reason for a couple to live together will be mutual liking alone. Deceit will be the foundation of business. Masculinity and femininity will be decided on the basis of sexual dexterity. The test of being a brahmana will only be the sacred thread. External signs will be the only indications of following an ashrama and that will be the basis for mutual exchanges. For those without a means of subsistence, the delivery of justice will be weak. Garrulity in speech will be an indicator of learning. A person without wealth will be regarded as one without virtue. Insolence will become an indicator of virtue. Mutual consent will be sufficient for marriage. Adornments will become a substitute for bathing. A distant place with water will be regarded as a tirtha. Long hair will become a sign of beauty. The filling of the stomach will be the only selfish pursuit. Audacity will become a substitute for veracity. A person who can maintain his family will be regarded as accomplished. Dharma will only be followed for the purpose of establishing one’s fame. The surface of the earth will thus be filled with wicked subjects. The strongest among brahmanas, kshatriyas, vaishyas and shudras will become the king. The subjects will be deprived of their wives and wealth by avaricious and merciless kings who will be like bandits who follow adharma. They will flee to mountains and forests and survive on leaves, roots, meat, wild honey, fruits, flowers and seeds. They will be devastated by drought and famine, suffering from taxes. Suffering from cold, wind, heat, rain, ice, hunger, thirst and tormented by thoughts, subjects will quarrel with each other. In kali yuga, the human lifespan will be fifty years. Because of the sins of kali, the bodies of embodied beings will become emaciated. The dharma of varnas and ashramas will become lost and men will deviate from the path of the Vedas. In the name of dharma, there will be many heretics. The kings will generally be like bandits. Men will earn many kinds of living through theft, falsehood and pointless violence. All the varnas will be like shudras. The cows will be like goats. All the ashramas will be reduced to garhasthya. Relatives will mean those connected through marriage. Medicinal herbs will generally be reduced in size. Trees will become as small as shami trees. Clouds will only yield lightning. The houses will generally be empty.

  ‘Vishnu is the lord and preceptor of all mobile and immobile objects. He is the atman of everything. He takes birth for the protection of dharma and the virtuous and for the cessation of karma. In the house of the great-souled and foremost brahmana, Vishnuyasha, in the village of Shambhala, Kalki will manifest himself. The lord of the universe will mount his swift steed, Devadatta. He will possess the eight potencies and the eight qualities. 1321 The immensely radiant one will quickly travel around the earth on his horse, wielding his sword and chastising the wicked. He will slaughter crores of bandits who have disguised themselves as kings. After all the bandits have been killed, the inhabitants of the cities and the countryside will have their minds purified, as the extremely sacred fragrance from the decorations on Vasudeva’s body is borne along by the wind and touches them. When the illustrious Vasudeva is based in their hearts in the form of sattva, an abundance of subjects will be created. When the illustrious Hari descends as Kalki, the lord of dharma, there will be krita yuga and the offspring who are born will be inclined towards sattva. Krita yuga will commence when Chandra, Surya and Brihaspati are simultaneously in the nakshatra Tishya. 1322 The kings of the past and the future, belonging to the solar and the lunar dynasties, have been briefly mentioned to you. One thousand one hundred and fifteen years will elapse between your birth and the coronation of Nanda.

  ‘Among the saptarshis, two are first seen to rise in the eastern sky. 1323 If a straight line is drawn between them, in the night, a nakshatra is seen at the midpoint. Those two rishis will be associated with that nakshatra for one hundred human years. Right now, at the present time, those two brahmanas are in Magha nakshatra. The illustrious Vishnu, as radiant as the sun and known by the name of Krishna, went to heaven. At that time, Kali entered the world and people started to take delight in evil. As long as the lotus feet of Rama’s consort touched the earth, Kali was incapable of overcoming her. When the saptarshis enter Magha nakshatra, Kali will commence and will last for twelve hundred years. 1324 When these great rishis proceed from Magha to Purvashadha, starting with Nanda’s dynasty, Kali will become more powerful. Those who know about the ancient accounts state that kali yuga commenced on the precise day and the exact time that Krishna left for heaven. When the fourth yuga of one thousand divine years is over, krita yuga will commence again. 1325 At that time, the minds of men will reveal the atman. I have thus enumerated Manu’s lineage on earth. In the same way, from one yuga to another yuga, brahmanas, vaishyas and shudras can also be understood. The names are the only means of remembering these great-souled ones. Only some parts of their accounts remain, but their deeds are established on earth. Shantanu’s brother, Devapi, and Maru are descended from the Ikshvaku lineage. They are powerful and great yogis and reside in the village of Kalapa. At the end of kali yuga, they will be instructed by Vasudeva and will re-establish the dharma of varnas and ashramas, just as it had existed earlier. Beings on earth progressively exist in accordance with the four yugas—krita, treta, dvapara and kali. O king! The kings that I have spoken about, and others, will claim ownership over the earth. But at the end, they will be killed and depart, giving this up. Even if a person is known as a king, it will be known as worms, excrement or ashes. One is selfish for the sake of this physical body. Does one not know that one is going to hell? “This unrestricted earth was earlier ruled over by my forefathers. 1326 It now belongs to me and will subsequently belong to my son and my grandson, those from my lineage.” The ignorant accept the view that their physical bodies, made out of heat, water and food, is “mine” and think of the earth as “mine”. However, at the end, they must give up both and disappear from sight. O king! There were kings who used their energy to enjoy the earth. However, because of time, all of them have only become accounts that are spoken about.’

  Chapter 12(3)

  Shri-Shuka said, ‘Seeing that the kings were eager to conquer her, the earth laughed. “These kings are puppets before Death, but they wish to conquer me. Despite being learned, because of their desire, these Indras among men fail. The kings have a lot of trust in their own physical bodies, but are like bubbles in foam. ‘I will first vanquish the six. 1327 I will then conquer the royal ministers, the advisers, the citizens, relatives, the elephant keepers 1328 and other thorns. In this way, I will gradually conquer the earth, right up to the girdle of the ocean.’ With such hopes in their hearts, they do not perceive that Death is near. After conquering me, bounded by the ocean, they use their energy to enter the ocean. Where is their victory over their own selves? Victory over one’s own self is for the fruit of emancipation.” O extender of the Kuru lineage! “In the past, humans and their sons have left, just as they had come. 1329 The ignorant ones fight in an attempt to conquer me. For my sake, fathers and sons fight and so do brothers. There is a sense of ownership in the unreal kingdom and their minds are attached to this. Those foolish ones say, ‘This entire earth belongs to me.’ For my sake, the kings rival each other. They kill and are killed. There were Prithu, Pururava, Gadhi, Nahusha, Bharata, Arjuna, 1330 Mandhata, Sagara, Rama, Khatvanga, Dhundhumara, Raghu, Trinabindu, Yayati, Sharyati, Shantanu, Gaya, Bhagiratha, Kuvalayashva, Kakutstha, Naishadha, 1331 Nriga, Hiranyakashipu, Vritra, Ravana, the one who made the worlds scream, Namuchi, Shambara, Bhouma, 1332 Hiranyaksha, Taraka, many other daityas and great lords among kings. All of them possessed knowledge. All of them were brave. All of them conquered everything and were unvanquished. They followed the dharma of mortals. However, because of a sense of ownership, they tried to
excessively possess me.” O king! They were unsuccessful in their objectives. Due to the progress of time, they have only remained as accounts. O lord! I have spoken to you about these great ones. Their fame was spread throughout the world, but they have departed. I have spoken to you about them with a desire to impart vijnana and vairagya to you. These words represent the power of the supreme objective. A person who desires unblemished devotion to Krishna should always hear Uttamashloka’s qualities being chanted and sung. They destroy everything that is inauspicious.’

  The king asked, ‘O illustrious one! How can people who live in kali yuga destroy the accumulated contamination of kali yuga? 1333 Tell me about the yugas and the dharma of the yugas. What are the dimensions of creation and destruction? What is the nature of time? What is the progress and form of the great-souled Vishnu?’

  Shri-Shuka continued, ‘O king! In the beginning, during krita yuga, dharma is nurtured by people and possesses its four legs. The four legs of truth, compassion, austerities and donations represent its power. The people are generally satisfied, compassionate, friendly, serene, self-controlled, tolerant, impartial in attitude and enterprising and find happiness in their atmans. During treta, a fourth part of each of the legs of dharma is gradually destroyed by each of the four legs of adharma—falsehood, violence, discontentment and dissension. O king! The people are devoted to rituals and austerities. They are not exceedingly violent or lascivious. They pursue three objectives 1334 and obtain prosperity through the three. 1335 Among varnas, brahmanas are regarded as superior. During dvapara, austerities, truth, compassion and donations are reduced by half. This happens because of the attributes of adharma—violence, discontentment, falsehood and hatred. People are great in conduct, but strive for fame. They are devoted to studying and teaching. They are happy and possess large families. Among varnas, brahmanas and kshatriyas are regarded as superior. Because of increase of adharma, during kali, each of dharma’s feet is reduced by one-fourth and only one-fourth remains. Towards the end, whatever remains will also be diminished and eventually destroyed. Subjects are avaricious, wicked in conduct, cruel and quarrel without any reason. They are unfortunate and preoccupied with many kinds of desires. Shudras and dasas 1336 are regarded as superior. The gunas of sattva, rajas and tamas are seen among men. Urged by time, their influence over a person varies. When the mind, intelligence and senses are under the influence of sattva, that should be known as a sign of krita yuga. Knowledge and austerities bring pleasure. O intelligent one! When the conduct of embodied beings is based on karma, desire and liking for fame, know that under the influence of rajas, this is treta. When one desires to undertake tasks because of greed, discontentment, pride, insolence and jealousy, that is dvapara, under the influence of rajas and tamas. When there is maya, falsehood, lassitude, sleep, violence, depression, sorrow, delusion, fear and misery, this is said to be kali, under the influence of tamas. Therefore, mortals become short-sighted, unfortunate, given to eating, addicted to desire and devoid of riches. The women are unchaste and svairinis. The countryside is infested with bandits. The Vedas are polluted by heretics. The kings devour subjects. Brahmanas love their penises and their stomachs. Brahmacharis do not observe their vows and are unclean. Householders become beggars. Ascetics reside in villages. Sannyasis become greedy for wealth. The women are short in stature, but eat a lot. They lose their shame and have a lot of offspring. They are always harsh in speech. They are thieves, deceitful and full of excessive rashness. Inferior people become traders. Merchants are fraudulent. Even when there is no calamity, people consider it virtuous to earn a living from condemned pursuits. Even if a master is excellent in every possible way, when he is without wealth, servants abandon him. Masters abandon distressed servants who have worked for the family for a long time and cows that no longer yield milk. Because of friendships based on sex, people abandon fathers, brothers, well-wishers and kin. Consulting sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law, 1337 people are wretched. During kali, men are attached to women. Shudras accept donations and earn a living in the disguise of ascetics. Those who know about adharma speak about dharma and ascend the best of seats. Minds are always agitated, suffering from famines and taxes. O king! No food can be found on the surface of the earth. People suffer from drought and fear. They are devoid of garments, food, drink, beds, sexual satisfaction, bathing and ornaments. During kali, people are like pishachas. During kali, people abandon and fight with their friends even for a few measly coins. 1338 For this, they will even kill their own relatives, or give up their own beloved lives. Men do not protect their aged parents, sons or wives. Even if they are born in noble lineages, they are inferior and only interested in satisfying the penis and the stomach. O king! During kali, people generally do not worship the illustrious Achyuta, the supreme preceptor of the universe, whose lotus feet are worshipped by the guardians of the three worlds. Instead, with their intelligence perverted, they offer sacrifices to heretics. During kali, a man will not chant his name or worship him even when he is dying, distressed, falling down, faltering or helpless, though this frees him from the fetters of karma and secures a supreme destination for him. Because of kali, men, objects, regions and innate nature are contaminated. However, if the mind is immersed in the illustrious Purushottama, all this can be dispelled. The illustrious one is in the heart. If a man hears about him, chants about him, meditates on him, worships him, or even shows him respect, everything inauspicious that has been accumulated over tens of thousands of births, is destroyed. This is like fire destroying impurities resulting from other metals which are inside gold, robbing it of its lustre. In that way, Vishnu is in the atman of yogis and swiftly destroys everything inauspicious. Learning, austerities, control of prana, friendliness, bathing in tirthas, vows, donations and meditation do not grant as much purification of the inner atman as does the illustrious Ananta who is inside the heart. O king! Therefore, with all your soul, concentrate and place Keshava in your heart. Thus, even at the time of death, you will obtain the supreme destination. O dear one! He is in all atmans and is the refuge for everyone. Those who are about to die must meditate on the supreme and illustrious lord and he will lead them to his own atman. O king! There is an ocean of taints in kali, but there is one great quality. Even if one chants Krishna’s name, one is freed from attachment and goes to the supreme destination. What is achieved in krita by meditating on Vishnu, what is achieved in treta by performing sacrifices and what is achieved in dvapara through serving him, can be obtained in kali by chanting Hari’s name.’

  Chapter 12(4)

  Shri-Shuka said, ‘O king! The measurement of time, beginning with paramanu and ending with twice a parardha have been described to you and so has the measurement of yugas. Now hear about kalpa and laya. One thousand cycles of the four yugas is said to constitute Brahma’s day. O lord of the earth! This is kalpa, within which, there are fourteen Manus. After this, there is Brahma’s night, which is said to be of the same duration. This is pralaya. 1339 At the end of the kalpa, these three worlds are destroyed. This is said to be naimittika pralaya. During this, the creator of the universe lies down on Ananta, 1340 withdrawing the universe and the self-created one 1341 into his atman. When the two parardhas are over, the seven elements of Prakriti 1342 and Parameshthi Brahma are destroyed. This has been thought of as prakritika pralaya. 1343 O king! When there is prakritika pralaya, the cosmic egg also faces destruction, since the primordial matter that has led to its creation is destroyed. O king! Parjanya does not shower down on the earth for one hundred years. There is lack of food. Subjects suffer from hunger and devour each other. Thus, afflicted by time, they gradually head towards destruction. The samvartaka 1344 sun’s rays are fierce and drink up all the water in the ocean and the moisture in the earth and within embodied beings, releasing nothing in return. 1345 The samvartaka fire arises from Samkarshana’s mouth. Aided by the force of the wind, it burns down the worlds and the intervening space, which have already been emptied. The flames of the fire and the sun scorch
from every direction, above and below. The cosmic egg is burnt like a ball of cow dung. A terrible storm rages for more than one hundred years. This samvartaka storm envelopes the sky in smoke and dust. O dear one! After this, many masses of clouds gather and they are multicoloured. They thunder with a terrible roar and shower down for one hundred years. The universe, inside the shell of the cosmic egg, becomes a single deluge of water. The flood of water takes away the quality of smell from the earth. 1346 When the quality of smell has been taken away, the earth ceases to exist. The fire takes away the quality of taste from water. Without the quality of taste, water ceases to exist. The wind takes away the quality of form from fire. Without the quality of form, fire ceases to exist. Space takes away the quality of touch from the wind. O king! Without the quality of touch, the wind ceases to exist and merges into space. Tamasika ahamkara takes away the quality of sound from space and space ceases to exist. O dear one! Taijasa ahamkara absorbs the senses and vaikarika ahamkara absorbs the divinities who preside over the senses. Mahat absorbs ahamkara and sattva and the other gunas absorb Mahat. O king! Thereafter, urged by time, the unmanifest Prakriti absorbs the gunas. Pradhana has no form. It is not subject to the modifications of time and does not have any attributes. It is without beginning and without end. It is not manifest and is eternal. It is without decay and is the cause behind everything. There is no speech and no mind. Sattva, rajas, tamas and Mahat and the others do not exist. Prana, intelligence, the senses and their presiding deities do not exist. Indeed, there is no structure there that can be called the world. There is no state of remaining awake, sleeping or in sushupti. The sky, space, water, earth, fire and the sun do not exist. The emptiness is somewhat similar to the state of sushupti. But it is a state that cannot be thought about. It is said that this state is the root cause behind creation. Urged by time, the potencies of Purusha and Prakriti are disabled and merge into each other. This is said to be prakritika pralaya. Jnana is manifest as the only form of intelligence, the senses and the objects of the senses. Anything with a beginning and an end no longer has any meaning, since whatever is perceived can no longer be distinguished from its cause. Light, the eye that sees the light and the form of the light are not different from the original element of fire. In that way, intelligence, the senses and the objects of the senses are not distinct from the brahman, which however is distinct from them. 1347 The three states of intelligence are said to be wakefulness, sleep and sushupti. O king! However, these are based on maya and are not experienced by the pure atman. Sometimes, clouds exist in the sky and sometimes, they do not. In that way, the appearance and disappearance of different parts of the universe occur within the brahman. O dear one! Even if a piece of cloth does not exist, its potential existence can be inferred from the existence of threads that make it up. In that way, the potential existence of all the forms in the world can be inferred from the truth that is the foundation. Anything generally perceived as cause or effect is an illusion, since the two are linked. Anything with a beginning or an end is actually unreal. Without reference to the pure atman, all apparent transformations are inexplicable. For even an anu to be identified as real, it must be like the atman. 1348 Truth has no diversity. It is only the ignorant person who thinks otherwise. That is like two skies, two suns or two winds. 1349 Depending on what they want to do with it and the way in which it is used, men use different names for gold. In that way, the illustrious Adhokshaja is addressed in different ways by ordinary people and those who know about the Vedas. The cloud is created by the powers of the sun 1350 and is made visible by the sun. But it can lead to darkness and prevent the eye, which is a portion of the sun, from seeing the sun. In that way, ahamkara evolves from the brahman’s attributes and obtains its powers from the brahman. However, this portion of the brahman can also lead to bonds and prevent the jivatman from perceiving the brahman. When clouds, created by the powers of the sun, are dispersed, the eye can see the sun, which is its own form. In that way, when the jivatman investigates and destroys the covering of ahamkara, it regains its memory. In this way, the sword of discrimination can be used to sever the maya of ahamkara, the bond created for the jivatman. One is then firmly established in realizing the atman. O dear one! This is said to be the ultimate 1351 destruction. O scorcher of enemies! Those who know about subtle matters have averred that there is always a continuous creation and destruction of living beings, beginning with Brahma. Anything with transformation is always subject to being quickly taken away by the speedy flow of time. That is the cause behind creation and destruction. This time is without beginning and without end and is the lord’s form. Its momentary movements are imperceptible, like the movement of stellar bodies in the sky. The progress of time has been described in terms of these kinds of laya—nitya, 1352 naimittika, prakritika and atyantika. O best among the Kuru lineage! Narayana is the reservoir of all kinds of existence. He is the creator of the universe. I have briefly described the account of his pastimes to you. Even the lord Aja 1353 is incapable of describing all of them. The ocean of samsara is extremely difficult to cross. If a person desires to cross it, no boat other than the illustrious Purushottama is appropriate. One must constantly serve him and listen to the account of his pastimes. That is the way for a man who is suffering because of many kinds of misery and affliction. In ancient times, the undecaying rishi Narayana told Narada about this Purana samhita 1354 and Narada told Krishna Dvaipayana about it. O great king! The illustrious Badarayana was pleased with me and taught me this Bhagavata samhita, as revered as the Vedas. O best among the Kuru lineage! When the rishis undertake a great sacrifice in the forest of Naimisha and Shounaka and the others ask him about it, this Suta will narrate it to them.’