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2024-03-28, 9:45 PM |
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Chapter 23: Devahûti's
Lamentation
(1) Maitreya said: 'After the departure of the parents the chaste woman who
understood the desires of her husband constantly served her spouse with
a love as great as that of Pârvatî for S'iva, her Lord. (2)
Intimately, with a pure soul, with great respect and sense-control she
was
of service with love and sweet words o Vidura. (3) Forsaking lust, pride, envy, greed, sinful
actions and vanity she always pleased her powerful husband diligently
with good sense. (4-5) She, the
daughter of Manu fully devoted to him who no doubt was the foremost sage among the divine rishis,
expected greater blessings
from him than from providence. But he saw that she had grown weak and
emaciated because of the protracted religious observance and with an of
love stammering voice he, overcome with compassion, spoke to her. (6) Kardama said: 'At present I am pleased with you o
respectful
daughter of Manu, because of your most excellent, supreme service and
devotion. But you do not properly take care of that body so extremely
dear to this embodiment; you deplete it in my service. (7) The
blessings of the Lord I
achieved myself in my religious life of being fully engaged in
austerity, meditation and fixing my mind in the knowledge, can just as
well be obtained by you in your devotional service to me. Look at them
with the help of the transcendental vision free from fear and
lamentation that I grant you. (8) What
material achievements compare to
this grace of the Lord of Fortune? Those enjoyments find their end in a
single movement of an eyebrow of the Lord of the Great Strides. Thanks
to your conscientious service you can now enjoy the success of the
supernatural gifts which for people who are proud of their lineage are
so difficult to obtain.' (9) After he had spoken this way the woman who
heard him excell in the special knowledge of yoga found satisfaction
and with a voice choked with humility and love and a shining, smiling face
with
a
slightly
bashful
glance,
she
spoke
to
him.
(10) Devahûti
said: 'O best of the brahmins, o
mighty husband, I know of
the mastery of your infallibility in the power of yoga. Let then now
your promise be fulfilled that once we would have united in the
body we may enjoy the greater glory of having progeny which for a
chaste woman is of such a great value. (11) Do for the sake of this that what according to the
scriptures needs to be done and by which
this, because of an unfulfilled passion and by emotions struck,
emaciated, poor body may be rendered fit for
you. And please, o Lord also think
of a suitable mansion.'
(12) Maitreya said: 'Seeking the
pleasure of his dearest, Kardama exercised his yogic power and produced instantly a high
rising palace according to his idea of a desirable place, o Vidura. (13)
It answered
all desires and was wonderfully bedecked with all sorts of jewels, all
kinds of luxury increasing over time and pillars carved out of precious
stone. (14-15) It was equipped with a heaven of paraphernalia and
brought
happiness throughout all seasons, was decorated with festoons and flags
and wreaths of various colors and fabrics, charming sweet flowers
humming with bees, fine cloth of linen and silk and was
embellished with
various tapestries. (16) In stories one over the other there were
separate arrangements of beds, comfortable couches and fanned seats. (17) Here and there various artistic engravings
were displayed with the extraordinary beauty of a floor with emeralds
furnished with coral daises. (18)
The doorways had thresholds of coral and doors beautifully bedecked
with diamonds. Its domes of sapphire were crowned with golden
pinnacles. (19) On the diamond walls there were the choicest rubies
that
seemed to give them eyes and it was furnished with various canopies and
highly valuable gates of gold. (20) The many artfully crafted swans and groups
of
pigeons here and there made the real ones who thought to see their own
kind
repeatedly fly over and vibrate their sounds. (21) The
pleasure
grounds, resting chambers, bedrooms, inner and outer yards designed for
comfort astonished the sage himself.
(22) Kardama, who could understand
the heart of everyone, saw that Devahûti was not very
happy to see such a mansion and then addressed her personally. (23)
'O fearful one, before you
ascend
this high rising palace, please
bathe in the sacred lake created by Lord Vishnu
[Bindu-sarovara] that fulfills all desires of man.' (24) She,
the
lotus-eyed one with her matted hair and dirty clothes, then
complied with the words of her husband. (25) With her body and her breasts grubby and
covered by dirt she
entered the lake containing the sacred waters of the Sarasvatî
river. (26) In the lake she saw a house with a thousand
girls as fragrant as lotuses in the prime of youth. (27) Seeing her all of a sudden the damsels rose
and said with folded hands: 'We are your maidservants, please tell us
what we can do for you.' (28)
After bathing her
with the most costly oils, the respectful girls gave the virtuous wife spotless fine new clothes. (29) They
also gave
her the most valuable ornaments and very excellent splendid food and
sweet intoxicating beverages containing all good qualities. (30)
She next looked at the mirror image of her body that, freed from all
dirt and clad in clean robes,
by the utterly
respectful maidservants
was adorned with a garland and decorated with auspicious marks. (31) Washed from head to toe she was decorated
with a golden necklace with
locket and bangles and tinkling ankle bells made of gold. (32) About
her hips she
wore a girdle made of gold decorated with numerous jewels and she was
also adorned with a
precious pearl necklace and auspicious substances [like saffron,
kunkuma
- which is perfumed red powder for the breasts -, mustard seed oil and
sandelwood pulp]. (33) With her beautiful teeth, charming eyebrows,
lovely moist eyes that defeated the beauty of lotus buds and her bluish
curly hair, she shone all over. (34)
When she thought
of her dear husband, the foremost among the sages, she [all of a
sudden]
found herself
along with her maidservants there where he, the founding father, the
Prajâpati was. (35) With that sudden return to her husband
surrounded by the thousand maidens she was in awe about his yogic
power.
(36-37) The sage, seeing
her washed clean, shining forth with a soul of unprecedented beauty,
girdled, with charming breasts, attended by a thousand celestial
girls and excellently dressed, relished the sight and helped her ascend
that elevated place, o destroyer of the enemy. (38)
Even
though [he appeared to be] attached to his beloved one who was attended
by the girls of
heaven, he did not lose
his glory. Together with her in
the palace his person shone as charmingly
as the moon in the sky surrounded by the stars causing rows of
lilies to open in the night. (39) In that palace, that heavenly vehicle [a vimâna],
he reached the pleasure grounds of the gods of heaven and the valleys of Indra, the
king of the mountains, that are
so beautiful with the falling waters of the Ganges and the cool breezes that arouse the passion. He who like treasurer Kuvera was surrounded
by his damsels thus for
a long time enjoyed his life while the ones of perfection,
the Siddhas, vibrated the
auspicious sounds of their praises.
(40) Loved
by his
wife he enjoyed the gardens of Vais'rambhaka, Surasana, Nandana,
Pushpabhadraka, Caitrarathya and lake Mânasa-sarovara. (41)
With that splendrous and grand palace answering to every desire he moved
through the worlds just like the air that reaches everywhere,
and surpassed therewith the palaces, the heavenly vehicles, of the
greatest gods. (42) What would be difficult to achieve for those
men who are determined, for those
who have taken refuge of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality that
vanquish all danger?
(43) After having shown his wife the entire
universe
with all its arrangements and many wonders, the great yogi returned
to his hermitage. (44) In order to sexually please his wife, the daughter of Manu, he divided
himself in nine forms and enjoyed the many years with her like in a
moment. (45) In the palace
lying on an excellent bed conducive to their love, she in the
company of her most handsome husband did not notice the
passage of time. (46)
Thus for the enjoying couple
immersed in their lusts by the power
of yoga a hundred autumns passed
as in a trice. (47) Powerful
Kardama as a knower of the soul knew each his desire.
He made love to her as her other half and deposited with the body that he had divided in nine
his semen in her. (48) Soon thereafter Devahûti gave birth to
[nine] female children who all in every limb were as
charming
as
a
fragrant
red
lotus.
(49) Seeing
that
her
husband
was
about
to
leave
home,
she
gave
a
beautiful smile but was
innerly upset with
a heart in distress. (50) Suppressing
her
tears,
scratching
the
floor
with
the
radiant,
gemlike
nails
of
her foot
and with her head bent down, she slowly expressed herself in charming
words.
(51) Devahûti
said: 'All that you have
promised my Lord has been fulfilled, but you
should grant the surrendered soul that I am freedom from fear also. (52)
My dear brahmin, it is left to your daughters to find a suitable
husband. But who is there to comfort me when you have left for the
forest? (53) Disregarding the
knowledge of the Supreme Soul so much idle time has passed my
master, with us indulging in pleasing our senses. (54)
Attached to the gratification
of our senses my love for you went without recognizing your
transcendental existence. May that love nevertheless protect me against
all fear. (55) Association
with
those
engaged
in
sense
gratification
is
the
cause
of
the
cycle of birth
and death, while ignorantly
acting like that in
association with a saintly person
leads to liberation. (56) When one's
work here is not performed for the sake of a higher, more righteous
life, when one's righteous life does not lead
to detachment and when one's detachment does not lead to devotional
service at the place where the Lotus Feet are worshipped, one is a zombie, dead while being alive. (57)
It suffers no
doubt that I was [the one who] completely [was] deceived by the outer
material potency of the Lord, because I despite of having achieved you
did not seek liberation from material bondage.'
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