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(5)
He said: 'Oh my King, the Personality of Godhead Hari who treated me
like His intimate friend has left me. Now I am bereft of the astounding
power that even astonished the gods. (6)
I lost Him from whom being
separated but for a moment all universes appear unfavorable and void of all life, like they are all
dead bodies. (7) By the strength of His mercy I could
vanquish all the princes who lusted for power during the selection of
the bridegroom at King Drupada's palace where I gained Draupadî's
hand by piercing the fish-target with my bow. (8) Because of His support I was able to defeat
Indra and his godly associates, I managed to enable the god of fire to
set ablaze his forest, and we could realize our wonderfully decorated
assembly house built by Maya [out of gratitude for saving him from that
fire in the forest named Khândava] where all the princes
assembled to your honor bringing presents collected from everywhere. (9) Under
His influence our younger brother [Bhîma], who has the strength
of a thousand elephants, for the sake of the [râjasûya]
sacrifice
managed
to
kill
him
[Jarâsandha]
who
was
worshiped by
many a king. It was He who saved the kings who by Jarâsandha had
been brought [to his capital] to be sacrificed to the lord of the
ghosts [Mahâbhairava]. They all paid you tribute afterwards. (10)
He [in turn] took the life of the husbands of the wives [of the Kurus] whose hair was condemned to be loosened because of the fact
that the cluster of your wife's [Draupadî's] hair had been
loosened, which was beautifully dressed and blessed for the great
ceremony. Being caught by the miscreants [the Kurus headed by
Duhs'âsana] she in tears fell down at the Feet. (11) He
protected us when we ran into trouble, being endangered in the forest
by the intrigue of our enemies in association with Durvâsâ
Muni who arrived there to eat with his ten thousand disciples. By
simply before they came to it accepting the remnants of the food, He
satisfied the three worlds as well as the munis who at the
moment were bathing, by giving them the thought that they had been fed
already. (12) Under His influence I once could astonish
the Personality of God with the Trident [Lord S'iva] and his wife the
daughter of the Himalaya, because of which he and other gods rewarded
me with their own weapons. And thus I living in this body succeeded to
obtain a half-elevated seat in the House of Indra. (13) As a guest of that heaven I could with both
my arms, with my bow Gândîva, Indra and all the gods,
because of being empowered by Him, the Supreme Personality whom at
present I am bereft of, kill the demon Nivâtakavaca oh descendant of King Ajamîdha. (14)
Because of His friendship
alone I, seated on the chariot, could cross the insurmountable ocean of
the invincible existence of the military strength of the Kauravas, and
thanks alone to His friendship, I could return with the enormous wealth
of the enemy; the brilliance of all the jewels I by force took from
their heads. (15) It was He who by the power of His glance
ended the mental agitation that sprouted from the motivation for
results of all the fighters who with the wealth of their chariots were
positioned on the battlefield oh great King, and from whose ranks I
stepped forward with before my eyes the immensity of great royal
personalities like Bhîshma, Karna, Drona and S'alya. (16) Under His protection the very powerful
invincible weapons wielded by Drona, Bhîshma, Karna,
Bhûris'ravâ, King Sus'armâ, S'alya, King Jayadratha,
Bâhlika [a brother of Bhîshma] etc., could not touch me,
just like when Prahlâda [the famous devotee of Nrisimhadev, the
lion-incarnation] was threatened by the demons. (17) Thinking erroneously of Him as being only my
chariot driver He to whose feet the
intelligent
ones
for
the
sake
of
salvation render
service delivered
me. By His mercy my enemies were
absentminded and did not attack me when I alighted for my thirsty
horses. (18) With His smiling face He made jokes and being frank
with me
He addressed me with 'son of Prithâ', 'friend' and 'son of the
Kuru dynasty' and such; heartfelt sayings of my Mâdhava [Krishna]
that touch and overwhelm my soul as I remember them. (19)
When we were sleeping, sitting, walking and dining together and
truthfully confronted each other and so on, I took Him by mistake for a
friend just like me, while He, despite of my seeing Him lower in my
offenses, tolerated me in the glory of His magnanimity the way a friend
accepts a friend or a father accepts his child. (20) Oh
Emperor, without the Supreme Personality, my dear most friend and
well-wisher, my heart and soul are vacant. Recently I, just like a weak
woman, was defeated by infidel cowherds while I was protecting
Krishna's wives. (21) Having the same bow, arrows, chariot and
horses, and being the same Arjuna and chariot fighter to whom all the
kings offered their respects, all of this in a single moment, with me
missing Him, has become as useless as butter offered to ashes, as money
obtained by magic or as seeds sown on barren land.(22-23) Oh King, in reply to your question about our friends and relatives in Dvârakâ I can say that they were cursed by the brahmins. As a consequence of that curse they, being drunk with rice wine, like fools killed one another with sticks, not even recognizing each other in that intoxicated state. Only four or five of them remained. (24) It is the Supreme Personality, our Lord, His program that sometimes the living beings kill and at other times protect each other. (25-26) Like in the ocean where the bigger ones eat the smaller and the stronger ones devour the weaker oh King, the same way the Omnipotent One removed the burden of all the Yadus in one stroke from the earth by having the stronger Yadu kill the weaker one and the bigger Yadu kill the smaller one in a fight. (27) Bearing in mind the words spoken by Govinda, I remember how attractive they are, and how they, imbued with importance and appropriate to the time and circumstance, put an end to the pain in the heart.' "
(28) Sûta said: "Thus thinking of the lotus feet of the Lord and what He had instructed in the intimacy of deep friendship, Arjuna with his mind freed from all material concerns found his calm. (29) Constantly remembering the feet of Vâsudeva, Arjuna's devotion increased rapidly and the endless ruminations ended. (30) Recalling the instructions of the Supreme Lord about the transcendental in the midst of the battle and thinking of His time and actions he dispelled the darkness of his ignorance and became master of his senses. (31) Free from lamentation, by his spiritual capacity managing to cut with the doubts that were raised by the duality of being identified with the material world, he, due to the transcendence of being without a material form, was freed from the entanglement of birth and death. (32) Listening to the deliberations about the disappearance of the Supreme Lord to His abode and the end of the Yadu dynasty, Yudhishthhira for the sake of the soul decided to withdraw and also left. (33) Also Queen Kuntî, who had overheard what Arjuna told about the end of the Yadus and the disappearance of the Lord, found, as well as all the others did who were undivided in their devotion for the Lord's transcendence, in her soulful commitment release from her material existence. (34) By taking away the burden of the world that body [of the Yadu dynasty] by the Unborn One was relinquished the way a thorn is thrown away after having been used to extract another thorn, because all those thorns to the Lord are one and the same. (35) Just like with His Matsya incarnation and other incarnations, as a magician giving up one body in order to accept another, He relinquished the body He manifested to diminish the burden of the world. (36) When Mukunda [the Lord of Liberation] the Fortunate One so worthwhile to hear about, left this earth from that very day on Kali[-yuga] manifested itself in full, being inauspicious to all whose minds have not awakened.
(37) Yudhishthhira who keenly in his capital, state
and home as also in the self saw things grow worse with the vicious
circle of avarice, falsehood, dishonesty, irreligion and violence and
such, understood that it was time to leave and dressed himself
accordingly. (38) His grandson [Parîkchit], who was
properly trained and as for his qualities was alike himself in all
respects, was by the emperor for the occasion in the capital of
Hastinâpura enthroned as the master of all land bordered by the
seas. (39) At
Mathurâ he made Vajra [the son of Aniruddha] king of
S'ûrasena, after which he had a prâjâpatya
sacrifice performed for being able to find the fire in himself in order
to attain his goal. (40)
Renouncing his belt, ornaments and all of that, he became uninterested
perfectly being detached from the unlimited bondage. (41) He withdrew his speech into his mind, his
mind with his other senses into his breath, his breath he withdrew in
death, and in full dedication he united that with the body made of the
five elements. (42)
Having offered those five elements to the three qualities of nature, he
united the thoughtfulness in one indifference, fixing the sum total of
that in the soul directed to the spiritual soul of the inexhaustible
Brahman. (43) Accepting
torn clothes, refusing solid food, stopping to talk and untying his
hair, he began to look like a dumb madman and an unengaged urchin not
listening to anyone as if he had become deaf. (44) Heading for the north he trod, as all others
do who go there, the path of his mindful forefathers, passing his days
constantly thinking from within his heart of the Supreme Beyond
wherever he went.
(45) In accord with their friend
seeing that the Age of Kali and its irreligion had overtaken the
citizens on earth, all the brothers followed the eldest one and left
home. (46) All of them having performed with all the
virtue and knowledge of holiness, kept themselves, with the ultimate
goal of the living being in mind, steadfast to the lotus feet of the
Lord of Vaikunthha. (47-48) That is the destination of those who by positive meditation
being purified in devotion found liberation in fixing their mind on the
transcendental feet of the One Nârâyana. They with their
material contaminations washed away, attained in the same bodies as
they were born with, the abode which for the materialists absorbed in
material concerns is so very difficult to attain. (49) Also Vidura who with his mind and actions
was devoted to Krishna returned
to his own abode [Yama's realm] after
quitting
his
physical
self
at
Prabhâsa
in
the
company of his
forefathers. (50)
Also
Draupadî who realized that her husbands did not care anymore, concentrated on Lord Vâsudeva, the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, and reached Him thus. (51)
Anyone who with devotion hears about this departure for the ultimate
goal of the sons of Pându who are so dear to the Supreme Lord,
will
find nothing but good fortune and purity and will, gaining in
perfection, thus arrive at the devotional service of the Lord."
