Bhagvata 4
The
pride of the arrogant is heightened and their mind perverted by learning,
austerity, opulence, charming personality, youth and pedigree, which are the
six embellishments for the noble but curse to the most wicked; and deprived of
their judgement, they fail to perceive the glory of the most exalted. (4.17)
When
the great-minded Dhruya, an en eminent devotee of the Lord, was egged on by
Kubera (the king of Yaksha) to ask for a boon. He sought to be blessed with
constant remembrance of Sri Hari, with the help of which one is easily able to
cross the ocean of worldly existence (which is an outcome of ignorance and )
which is so difficult to get over. (12.8)
If
even people are bewildered by My (divine) Maya (deluding potency), services
rendered to the elderly (in point of wisdom) for a long time should be regarded
as sheer fruitless labour. (20.4)
Hence
the awakened soul who knows this body to be a product of ignorance (about one’s
own self), desires and action never gets attached to it. (20.5)
Having
no attachment to this body, what wise man should entertain a feeling of mineness
with the house, progeny or wealth, produced by that body. (20.6)
The
self is one without change, pure (untainted by Maya), self-effulgent beyond the
three Gunas, the substratum of divine attributes, all-pervading, unveiled, the
witness (of all), having no other soul and distinct from the body (20.7)
The
man who knows the Self, existing in the body, as described is never tainted by
the modes of Prakruti, though abiding in Prakruti established as he is in Me
(the supreme Spirit). (20.8)
The
mind of man who daily worships Me with reverence through (the performance of )
his own duty (as enjoined by the Sastra), expecting nothing (from Me), is
gradually purified. (20.9)
He
whose mind is purified dissociates himself from the world of matter and,
attaining true wisdom, enjoys (eternal) peace, which is the same as My equipoised
state and is also known by the name of brahma (the Absolute) or final
beatitude. (20.10)
He
who knows this immutable Self as if it were unconcerned, though presiding over
the body, the senses of perception, the organs of action and the mind, attains
blessedness. (20.11)
Transmigration
takes place only of the subtle body—which is made of five subtle elements,
senses and the deities presiding over the same and a reflection of the
Spirit—and which is distinct from the Spirit. Enlightened souls who have
conceived a strong attachment to Me never give way to the morbid feelings of
joy and grief, when they meet with affluent or adverse circumstances. (20.12)
Viewing
the exalted, the middling and the vile alike and balanced in joy and sorrow,
and having conquered the senses and the mind(therefore) protect all the worlds
with the help and co-operation of all the people made available by Me. (20.13)
Protection
of the people is the only way to the salvation of a ruler; for thereby he gains
hereafter one-sixth of the merit (earned by the people); while he, on the other
hand, who fails to protect the people and yet levies taxes on them, forfeits
his merits and eats sin. (20.14)
Kindly
lend your hearty support to this (prayer of Mine), O pure-hearted manes, gods
and sages for the fruit which accrues hereafter to the doer, the instructor and
the countenancer is (just) the same (21.26)
The
meeting of pious soul is thought highly of both by themselves and by those who
meet them; for worthy questions put to and the noble answer given by them
enhance the happiness of all. (22.19)
In
the scriptures, which have made a through enquiry (into the truth) absence of
attachment to things other than the Self and intense love for one’s real Self,
the attributeless Brahma, have been finally concluded to be the only way to
salvation for men. (22.21)
That
love for the attributeless Brahma as well as the absence of attachment to the
world of matter, both as cause and effect, is easily developed through
(intense) faith, through the discharge of duties consecrated to the Lord,
through a desire to know the higher truths and by being firmly established in
the Yoga of Knowledge, through worship of the Lord of Yoga and by ever
listening to the hallowed stories of the Lord of sacred renown, through a
distaste for the company of those delighting in lucre and sense-enjoyments and
by eschewing wealth and sense-gratification esteemed by such people, through
love for seclusion when finding delight in the Self, but not such occasions
when a potion of the nectarine drink of Sri Hari’s glories is had, through
harmlessness and by living the life of an ascetic, through an enquiry into that
which is conducive to one’s spiritual welfare and by drinking the peerless
nectar of Lord Mukunda’s glories, by practicing the twelve forms of
self-discipline (viz., non-violence, truthfulness, non-thieving, absence of
attachment, modesty, non-accumulation of wealth and luxuries except in the
interests of others, belief in God,
continence, habit of meditation on God, firmness, forgiveness and fearlessness)
and observing the twelve religious vows (of internal and external purity,
muttering the divine names and sacred texts, austerity, offering oblations into
the sacred fire, reverence, worship of the Lord, pilgrimage to holy places,
endeavour for the good of others, contentment and waiting upon the preceptor)
by refraining from calumny and abandoning all activity ( for the acquisition and
preservation of worldly goods) by enduring pairs of opposites (like heat and
cold etc.) and by devotion to Sri Hari, growing through the utterance of His
praises, which (ever) adorn the ears of His devotees. (22.22-25)
(22.21)
(22.21)
(22.21)
(22.21)
(22.21)
(22.21)
(22.21)
(22.21)
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(22.21)
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