Chapter 30: The Activities of the Pracetâs

(1) Vidura said: 'The sons of Prâcînabarhi you before spoke about oh brahmin, all successfully satisfied the Lord with the song of Lord S'iva [see 4: 24]; what did they achieve that way? (2) Oh disciple of Brihaspati, what was it that the Pracetâs arrived at after meeting the god of mountain Kailâsa [S'iva] who is so dear to the Lord of Emancipation and Beatitude? They must have attained the transcendental position, but what did they by chance obtain in this life or a next one?'

(3) Maitreya said: 'The Pracetâs who at the lake carried out the orders of their father, satisfied by chanting mantras with their austerity the Indweller [the Supreme Lord]. (4) After the ten thousand years of their severe austerity [see also 4.24: 14] the Original Person of the Eternal Reality then appeared before them, satisfying and pacifying them with His beauty. (5) Sitting on the back of His carrier bird [Garuda] looking like a cloud on the summit of Mount Meru, He, wearing yellow garments and the jewel around His neck, dissipated all darkness around. (6) Shining with golden ornaments He radiated with His helmet on His head, His dazzling face and His eight weapons while assiduously being served by an entourage of sages and demigods, with Garuda singing His glories like a superhuman being [a Kinnara]. (7) With in the midst of His eight stout arms hanging a flower garland that challenged the beauty of the Goddess of Fortune, the Original Personality of Godhead glancing mercifully addressed the surrendered sons of Prâcînabarhi with a voice resounding like thunder. (8) The Supreme Lord said: 'I am very pleased about your mutual friendship, about your occupation as friends in the same sense of duty oh sons of the king. You therefore to your good fortune may ask Me for a boon. (9) The human being who consequently remembers you every day in the evening will find friendship with his brothers and equality of soul with all living beings. (10) Those persons who in the morning and the evening praise Me attentively with the song of S'iva, I shall reward with the fulfillment of all their wishes and a bright intellect. (11) Your shining glory will be known the world all over because you so gladly accepted your father's order. (12) There will be a famous son [of yours called Vis'ruta] who, in his qualities no way inferior to Lord Brahmâ, will populate the three worlds with his progeny. (13) The lotus-eyed daughter sage Kandu had from [the girl of heaven named] Pramlocâ, was left to the care of the [divinity of the] trees, oh sons of Prâcînabarhi. (14) When she distressed with hunger cried, Soma, the King of the Moon, by means of his index finger poured the nectar compassionately into her mouth. (15) To fulfill the command of your father who follows My path, to beget children, without delay marry that daughter with the beautiful hips. (16) May this well-behaved, slender-waisted girl be a wife fully dedicated to all of you, with the same character and sense of duty honoring the same righteous way as you do. (17) By My mercy, for millions of heavenly years [one year on earth is one day in heaven see 3: 11] your power will exist without interruption and you will enjoy all the pleasures of heaven and earth. (18) Be therefore steadfast unto Me by means of devotional service; with your mind free from being contaminated by the modes, you will, not attached to a material existence attain My abode. (19) Even for persons who have entered a household life such a family existence is not considered a cause of bondage, when one spends every minute of one's time on [engaging in] good works and [listening to and recounting] the stories about Me. (20) Having attained this ever fresh Knower present in the heart as the Supreme Spirit of God the knowers of the Absolute Truth speak about, one will be free from bewilderment, lamentation and jubilation.'

(21) Maitreya said: 'When they heard Him, the Lord, the remover of all obstacles, thus speak about the supreme purpose of life, the Pracetâs in His presence were liberated from the darkness of the contamination of passion whereupon they with faltering voices and folded hands offered prayers to the greatest of all friends. (22) The Pracetâs said: 'Again and again we offer the destroyer of all distress our obeisances who established His name as the magnanimous One of the qualities always ahead of the fastest mind and tongue; all glories to Him whose course cannot be perceived by means of the senses.  (23) Unto the Most Peaceful and Pure One we offer our respects. With one's mind fixed on that what is His, the dual world appears meaningless. Our obeisances unto Him who, according to the modes of matter assumed the forms for the maintenance, creation and annihilation of the universe. (24) We bow before You, the perfect virtue of goodness, before You oh Lord Hari whose intelligence liberates. You are the all-pervading Lord of consciousness Vâsudeva, Krishna, the promoter of all devotees. (25) Our respects for You as the One with the lotus navel, the One with the lotus garland, the One of the lotus feet and the One with the lotus eyes. (26) We offer our obeisances unto Him whose garment with the saffron color of a lotus heart is spotless, unto the Supreme Witness, the shelter of all living beings.  (27) The form You revealed to us who suffer the material condition oh Lord, puts an end to an unlimited amount of troubles; what greater mercy can one expect from You? (28) You who in Your compassion by Your expansions [and teachers] are visible to the humble devotees, are - with the necessary respect of time -  only this much [ - by Your beautiful embodiment and not by thousands of mantras -] always remembered in someone's devotional service oh destroyer of all inauspiciousness.  (29) Therewith [with that form] all desires of the living beings are quieted, however deep they may have fallen in their laboring; why would You, hidden in our hearts, fail to know about all [those forms] that we desire? (30) That You, oh Father of the Universe, You as the Supreme Lord and spiritual master with whom one on the path of liberation reaches the ultimate goal, are satisfied with us, is the blessing we are looking for. (31) Nevertheless we pray for a boon from You oh Lord of transcendence above everything else. There is no limit to Your greatness and thus You are celebrated as Ananta [the Unlimited One]. (32) A bee completely happy in achieving the Pârijâta tree [the honey dripping celestial wish-fulfilling tree or kalpa-vriksha] doesn't resort to another tree, so, having approached Your lotus feet, with the root of everything directly before our eyes, what, oh what would we further ask for? (33) [It is about the following request:] as long as we are contaminated by Your illusory energy [mâyâ], we have to wander around in this world according to our workload [our karma]. Grant us [therefore], for as long as that is the case, the association of Your loving devotees, whatever the life [or world] we may have found. (34) To enjoy but for a moment the company of those who are attached to the Supreme Lord bears no comparison with the attainment of heaven, nor with the love of not being born again, not even mentioning the [so-called] benedictions reserved for mortal beings. (35) In that company the delightful stories are discussed because of which all material hankering is appeased and among the members there is no question of any envy or fear.  (36) There where Lord Nârâyana, the ultimate goal of the renunciates, is worshiped, the Supreme Lord is personally present by dint of the repeated conversations about the truth of the ones who managed to break free from their attachments. (37) How can meeting those devotees who on foot travel to the holy places to bring there the purity, not be a pleasure to the ones who live in fear? (38) We for a moment personally having been in the presence of Lord S'iva, Your dearest friend oh Lord, today  [therewith] have achieved the destination that You are, You the expert physician to cure us by Your company from death, the most difficult to cure disease of material existence. (39-40) We who studied the scriptures, who pleased the teachers, the brahmins and the elderly; we who were good to the spiritually advanced ones [the civilized ones, the âryans] and who free from any envy honored their friends, brothers and all living beings; we who were of all that severe penance oh Lord and for a long time by the water abstained from food, did all of that only for the benediction of seeing You, the most exalted Personality of God, satisfied. (41) Manu, Brahmâ, the mighty Lord S'iva as also others purified their existence by austerity and knowledge but in the end couldn't see the full extent of Your glory. Nevertheless we offered our prayers to You to the best of our ability. (42) Our obeisances unto You, the Supreme transcendental Person equal towards everyone and always pure, the Supreme omnipresent Lord of eternal goodness.' 

(43) Maitreya said: 'Thus praised by the Pracetâs the Lord, the protector of the surrendered souls, being pleased said: 'So be it [may your prayers be fulfilled]', and  left for His heavenly abode, but they didn't desire His departure, for they hadn't seen enough of Him whose prowess is never defeated. (44) Thereafter the Pracetâs moved away from the water of the lake, but when they saw that the world had been covered by trees that had grown very tall as if they wanted to obstruct the way to heaven, they became frantic. (45) Like with the fire of devastation at the end of time, they then in their bitterness oh King [Vidura as a ruler over the senses], with the help of the wind started a fire in order to remove the trees from the earth. (46) Seeing that they had turned [almost] all the trees into ashes, the Great Father [Brahmâ] came to pacify the sons of Barhishmân by means of reason. (47) The remaining trees who were very afraid, then, on the advise of Brahmâ, delivered their daughter to the Pracetâs [see verse 13]. (48) By the order of Brahmâ they all married her, named Mârishâ, from whom the son of the Instigator [the son of Brahmâ] again took his birth because he had disrespected the Great One [S'iva see 4: 2]. (49) He was no one but Daksha, the one who inspired by God during the previous manvantara [period of Manu*] called Câkshusha [the present one being called Vaivasvata*] had put as much people on earth as he liked and was destroyed in the course of time. (50-51) He who just after his birth with the brilliance of his luster outshone the brilliance of everyone else, was for being a great expert in fruitive activities [sacrifices] called Daksha ['the expert']. He, appointed by the first living being, by Brahmâ, to generate and sustain all the people on earth, also made sure he engaged all the other founding fathers in the process.