Srimad Bhagavatam, Book One, Chapter 6

(Suta said)

O brahmans! when Vyasa the sage had heard

The god-like seers' birth and deeds was stirred;

Then Satyavati's son, much delighted,

Again with further questions to him said, 1

(Vyasa said)

When they who live on alms away had sped,

And knowledge of the truth had imparted,

How did you spend that antedated time,

Before you gained your present form divine? 2

O son of the self-born, how did you spend,

Your life endued with wisdom to the end?

And how did you that old body forsake,

And in times' course your present body take? 3

How is it you remember, holy one,

The events of a previous aeon?

Remembrance of previous lives and states,

The passage of great time eradicates! 4

(Narada said)

When they who live on alms had departed,

And unto me wisdom had imparted,

While still a boy, after those vipras went,

This is the way that prior life I spent. 5

I was my mothers' one and only son,

And she a maid and ignorant woman,

I had no other to look to for care,

And she the fondest affection did bare. 6

Nor did she have independence beside,

And found it hard maintenance to provide;

Since all the will of providence controls,

Impelled as if they were but wooden dolls. 7

And so we dwelt with the good brahmans there,

And I depended on my mothers' care;

I had no knowledge of the outside world,

O time or place, since I was five years old. 8

One day at night to milk a cow she went,

The poor woman was bit by a serpent;

Death comes in the due season and the time,

Influenced by the supreme will divine. 9

I took it as a blessing upon me,

From the Great Lord who loves the devotee,

And thinking in this way I journeyed forth,

With eager aspiration to the north. 10

I came to where the multitudes abound,

The city, village and the pasture ground,

I passed quarries and crossed the hills and vales,

The bosky forests and the flowery dales. 11

I came to where the rocky mountains glowed,

Which varied bright mineral pigments showed,

I saw the stately trees with branches rent

And torn by tramping tusker elephant;

There lakes with pellucid water I viewed,

With odours of the bright lily endued,

The feathered choristers perched on the trees,

Sent forth sweet notes that blended with the bees;

A most agreeable charming display,

Where gods descend to frolic and to play. 12

I passed through dense cane bowers, then I stood

Upon the confines of a darksome wood;

With reeds and bamboo and sharp blades of grass;

Alone the way was difficult to pass.

I traversed dreary glade and jungle dread,

And gloomy caves and grottoes visited;

Where owls screeched and slith'ring serpents stray,

And jackals wander round in search of prey. 13

Thus spent with weariness along the path,

Hungry and thirsty; then I took my bath

In a pool by the river and partook,

The waters and my weariness forsook. 14

Thus in that place devoid of humankind,

I set to contemplation in my mind,

Seated beneath a shady banyan tree,

According to precepts given to me. 15

Contemplating those lotus-feet I sate,

And thence perceived a wondrous blissful state;

In eagerness tears from my eyes did start,

And Hari then appeared within my heart. 16

My hair all stood on end in loves' excess,

And I was drowned in joy and happiness;

Then in such blinding ecstasy absorbed,

I could see neither myself nor the Lord. 17

When I no more his beauteous form could see,

Which pleases the mind, allays misery,

I then stood up, in perturbation tossed,

Like one who has the rarest treasure lost! 18

Desiring to see that form again,

My mind in contemplation did restrain,

And though with earnest endeavour I tried,

I saw him not and was dissatisfied. 19

Marking my attempts in that lonely place,

The Lord divine was fain to show his grace,

And though of words he is beyond the reach,

He spoke words of comfort in charming speech. 20

(The Illustrious one said)

Ah! you are not eligible to see

In this birth a vision divine of me;

Those yogis who are yet tainted with stain,

The vision of myself cannot attain. 21

With this brief vision you must be content,

O sinless one, love for me to augment;

Then little by little you will be free

From desire and be my devotee. 22

By serving holy ones for a short time,

You have attained firm faith in me divine;

And when you abandon this lower state,

You shall become my own associate. 23

When consciousness is firmly fixed in me,

Thereafter separation cannot be;

Nor in creation nor at destruction,

Is recollection lost, O my dear one. 24

This much he said and spoke no more to me,

The imperceptible divinity;

I bowed to that Great One in gratitude

For mercies gained, in humble attitude. 25

Awaiting thus the time I did abide,

Without ill will, immensely satisfied;

I did his most auspicious deeds recite,

And in his mystery took much delight,

Remembered I his exploits of high worth,

And thus care free I wandered o'er the earth. 26

In Krishna, thus, my mind I did maintain,

Without attachments and devoid of stain;

And when the destined season approached nigh,

Death came sudden as lightning from the sky. 27

Invested with a god-like form and pure,

Release from prior acts I did procure;

The body formed of elemental clay,

With its' five evolutes then dropped away. 28

When thus the previous aeon ended,

The Lord reposed on his watery bed,

And with his inward breath he all withdrew,

The demiurgic god and myself too. 29

After passage of a thousand aeons,

Brahma emerged and generated sons,

Marichi and the great seers revered,

And from his person I also appeared. 30

Thereafter, in the three worlds and without,

Quite unrestricted I wander about;

By grace of Almighty Vishnu divine,

I am not impeded at any time. 31

And thus with this God-gifted Veena I

In verses celebrate his glory high;

And the sweet accounts of Hari declare,

In song as I roam about anywhere. 32

And when I sing his mighty deeds divine,

Who joys to hear, whose feet are like a shrine;

Straightway within my heart himself he shows,

Like one invited, and his grace bestows. 33

Indeed, the minds of those fraught with desire,

Whose faculties to sense-objects aspire,

Can safely cross this existential sea

On the boat of remembrance of Hari. 34

By yoga practices strictly maintained,

Lust and greed are not easily restrained,

As by satisfaction derived complete,

In service to Mukunda's holy feet. 35

Thus all I have related to the full,

As you have questioned me, O sinless soul!

My birth and deeds and the great mystery,

But for your pleasure and felicity. 36

(Suta said)

Thus Narada, the illustrious one,

Concluded his speech to Vasavi's son;

And plucked on his veena the warbling string,

And continued his care-free wandering. 37

Ah me! how blessed is the god-like seer!

Who praises him who the horn-bow doth rear,

Upon his veena, in ecstasy hurled,

And brings joy to this miserable world. 38

Thus ends Chapter Six in Book One

of the great and glorious

Bhagavata Purana,

the text beloved of swan-like saints,

sung by the son of Vyasa.