Bhagvata 7

Bhagvata  7

To hear the names, praise and stories of Lord Vishnu(1), chant them(2), to remember Him(as well as His names and stories)(3), to wait upon Him(4), to offer worship Him(5), salutation to Him(6), to dedicate one’s actions to Him(7), to cultivate friendship with Him(8) and to offer one’s own body as well as one’s dependants and belongings to Him(9)—if devotion marked by these nine features is practiced by a man as something already offered direct to Lord Vishnu, I reckon that (such Devotion) to be the highest (form) of learning. (5.23-24)

The mind of people fails to approach the feet of Lord Vishnu(possessed of infinite strength)—the object of approaching which is to get rid of evil (in the form of transmigration)—so long as it does not seek a bath in the dust of feet of exalted souls who claim nothing as their own. (5.32)

In this (human)life a wise man should practice virtues conducive to God Realization in his very childhood; (for) birth as a human being alone bestows on us our desired object, (viz, lasting happiness), and (yet) such birth is obtained with(great) difficulty and is transient too. (6.1)

The only course advisable for a man in this world is to betake himself to the feet if Lord Vishnu; for He is the ruler and the beloved friend, the very Self of all created beings. (6.2)

Like suffering, sensual pleasure (too) is obtained by embodied beings in every birth by force of destiny without

connection with a body. (6.3)

No effort for (the acquisition of) such pleasure should (therefore) be made; (for) from such effort follows mere waste of (one’s) life. (moreover) in that way one does not attain to the lotus-feet of Lord Vishnu (the bestower of Liberation), the source of Supreme bliss. (6.4)

Therefore, having fallen into(the whirlpool of) transmigration (the root of all fear), a clever man should strive for (the attainment of) blessedness while the human body is yet sound and does not perish.  (6.5)

Indeed a hundred years is reckoned to be the (full) length of a man’s life.  Half of it i.e. fifty years is of no use to a man who has not been able to subdue his mind ; for consigned to blinding ignorance (in the form of sleep) he remains lying down (in darkness) during the night. (6.6)

Out of remaining fifty years, twenty elapse in (the form of) infancy, when the fellow remains steeped in ignorance, and in (the form of) boyhood, when he remains absorbed in play; and 9another) twenty years roll by in (utter) helplessness, when his bady is in the grip of senility.  (6.7)

The rest (of his life) actually passes away in (gross) negligence, when the man remains attached to his home through desire which cannot be easily sated and through overwhelming infatuation.  (6.8)

The triad which has been spoken of (in the Vedas) as the three objects of human pursuit—viz., religious merit, worldly riches and sensuous enjoyment—as well as the science of Self- Realization, the science of rituals, logic and political science and the diverse means of earning one’s livelihood—all this subject-matter of the Veda I regard as true, (only) it it enables one to offer one’s self to the Supreme Person, one’s Inner Controller. (7.26)

Through the agency of Time, which is by its very nature capable of bringing about transformation, the six well-known states of being commencing with birth (viz., birth, existence, growth, ripeness, decay and destruction) are seen in relation to the body( so long as it is  connected with a soul) and not in relation to the soul, just as they are observed in the fruits of a tree (so long as they exist on the tree, and not in the tree itself, which stands comparatively longer) (7.18)

The spirit is eternal, free from dacay, taintless, one the knowing subject, the ground (of everything), changeless, self-seeing, the cause of the universe, all-pervading, unattached and having no sheath (of Maya) (7.19)  

Devotion can be accomplished by serving one’s preceptor and by offering (to him) with devotion all that is got by one, through the fellowship of pious devotees and worship of God, through reverence for stories of the Lord, by celebrating His virtues and exploits, through contemplation on His lotus-feet and through the sight and worship of His images and so on. (7.30-31)

One should (as far as possible) duly gratify (the various) living beings with their objects of desires under the belief that the almighty Lord Sri Hari is present in  all created beings. (7.32)

A man accounting himself wise (also) invariably obtains results which are quite the opposite of the object aiming at which he performs actions in this world time and again. (7.41)

The very body for which the Jiva (an embodied soul) hankers after enjoyments through actions performed from interested motives actually belongs to others (in that it is sure to be devoured by dogs and jackals, crows, and vultures, if left uncared for after death) and (is something that) hugs the soul and (having served it for a fixed time) departs (leaves it). (7.43)