Radha Krishna - Chapter 19: King Yayâti Achieves Liberation: the Goats of Lust

(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'He [Yayâti] who being moved by lust thus was ruled by women, for the sake of his well-being acted against it with intelligence. In resignation he narrated the following story to his wife [Devayânî].

(2) 'Oh daughter of S'ukra, please listen to this tale about someone behaving like me in this world, someone sticking to his class and because of whom the sober ones of the forest [they who retired] are repentant. (3) There was a goat in the forest searching for some food for his cherished self. He happened to meet a she-goat that as a consequence of her own actions had fallen into a well. (4) Motivated for lust the he-goat thought of a way to free her. With the tip of his horns he then engaged in digging into the earth around the well. (5-6) She thus got out of the well. The he-goat thought she had nice hips and she from her side fancied him as a sexual partner too, just as all the other she-goats did that were looking on. Stout, with a nice beard being a first class seed donor and master lover, that he-goat, the number one goat of them all, forgot himself completely like someone haunted. As the only male enjoying the great number of them, he was always overwhelmed by his lusts [compare 6.5: 6-20]. (7) When the she-goat he had freed from the well saw him, her beloved, engaged in delighting with another one, she could not tolerate that. (8) She considered him a lusty, cruel-hearted pretender, a friend to the occasion who is only interested in sensual matters. Aggrieved she gave him up to return to her former master. (9) Controlled by her the he-goat in pain followed her miserably and tried to pacify her on the road with utterances that goats are used to practice, but he could not satisfy her. (10) Some brahmin who was the master of the she-goat angrily cut off the he-goat's dangling testicles. Later on though the expert yogi reattached them out of self-interest.

(11) Oh dearest wife, the he-goat with his testicles restored, for many, many years enjoyed the she-goat he had saved from the well, but up to the present day his lusty desires are not satisfied. (12) I am a poor miser just like that. In the company of you with your beautiful eyebrows I am tied in love and I could as yet, bewildered as I am by your outer appearance, [therefore] not be of self-realization [compare 3.30: 6-12, 4.25: 56, 4.28: 17, 5.4: 18, 7.14 and 8.16: 9]. (13) The mind of someone who is a victim of lust cannot find satisfaction in all the food grains, barley, gold, animals and women of this world. (14) The lust of the lusty will never ever be pacified by enjoyment, it will just like a fire that again and again is fed with butter only increase. (15) When someone does not want to teach anybody a lesson, nor goes at the detriment of any living being, for such a person who is of an equal vision towards all, all directions will appear equally happy [see also B.G. 2: 56, 2: 71, & 4: 10]. (16) The desire that is so difficult to forsake for ignorant people, that root cause of all tribulation that is not so quickly overcome, should be given up by the one who seeks happiness. (17) One should not [even] be seated indiscriminately with one's mother, with one's sister or one's daughter, because the senses in combination are so very strong that they even will agitate the most learned one. (18) Even though I for a thousand years without interruption enjoyed the gratification of my senses, that desire still develops constantly. (19) I will therefore give up on these desires and fix my mind upon the Absolute Truth. Free from duality and without falsely identifying myself, I [thus] will wander with the [freedom of the] animals in nature. (20) When one perceives [one's desires] and listens [to them] one should know them to be of a temporary nature. One should not give it any further thought or strive for it. He who is mindful of the fact that they lead to the prolongation of a worldly existence and to forgetfulness about the real self, is a self-realized soul [see also B.G. 2: 13].'

(21) 'After the son of Nahusha had said this to his wife, he being freed from desires accepted his old age and gave Pûru his youth back [see 9.18: 45]. (22) He made [of his other, faithful sons] Druhyu king over the southeastern direction, Yadu over the southern side, Turvasu over the western part and Anu over the north. (23) The entire planet's riches and wealth he placed under the control of Pûru as the most admirable one of all the citizens. He crowned him emperor over his elder brothers and thus having arranged his affairs he left for the forest. (24) All those years he with the six of his ways of engagement [his senses and mind] without interruption had enjoyed life. That he all gave up in a single moment [see also 2.4: 18], just like a bird that leaves its nest when its wings have grown. (25) Doing this he was instantly freed from all his attachments and was, now that he derived from his original self, free from [the influence of] the three modes [see also 1.2: 17]. Pure in his transcendence he achieved the Absolute Truth of Vâsudeva that was his destination as a confident associate of the Supreme Lord. (26) When Devayânî heard the story [about the he-goat and his she-goats] that for a laugh was presented in the exchange of love between husband and wife, she saw that it referred to [her] self-realization. (27-28) She understood that living with friends and relatives who are all subjected to the control of the rigid laws of nature [Time], is alike associating with travelers at a water place that [according to one's karma] was created by the Lord's illusory potency. The daughter of S'ukrâcârya gave up all her attachments in this dreamlike world, fixed her mind fully on Lord Krishna and shook off the worries [of both the gross and the subtle nature; the linga] of her self. (29) I offer You my obeisances, oh Supreme Lord Vâsudeva, Creator of All who reside in all beings and abodes. My respects for You who in perfect peace are the Greatest of All!'