Practice English Speaking&Listening with: Srimad-Bhagavatam 05.18 - The Prayers Offered to the Lord by the Residents of Jambudvipa

Sri Sukadeva Gosvami said: Bhadrasrava, the son of Dharmaraja, rules the tract of land

known as Bhadrasva-varsa. Just as Lord Siva worships Sankarsana in Ilavrta-varsa, Bhadrasrava,

accompanied by his intimate servants and all the residents of the land, worships the plenary

expansion of Vasudeva known as Hayasirsa. Lord Hayasirsa is very dear to the devotees,

and He is the director of all religious principles. Fixed in the topmost trance, Bhadrasrava and

his associates offer their respectful obeisances to the Lord and chant the following prayers

with careful pronunciation. The ruler Bhadrasrava and his intimate associates

utter the following prayer: We offer our respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of

Godhead, the reservoir of all religious principles, who cleanses the heart of the conditioned

soul in this material world. Again and again we offer our respectful obeisances unto Him.

Alas! How wonderful it is that the foolish materialist does not heed the great danger

of impending death! He knows that death will surely come, yet he is nevertheless callous

and neglectful. If his father dies, he wants to enjoy his fathers property, and if his

son dies, he wants to enjoy his sons possessions as well. In either case, he heedlessly tries

to enjoy material happiness with the acquired money.

O unborn one, learned Vedic scholars who are advanced in spiritual knowledge certainly

know that this material world is perishable, as do other logicians and philosophers. In

trance they realize the factual position of this world, and they preach the truth as well.

Yet even they are sometimes bewildered by Your illusory energy. This is Your own wonderful

pastime. Therefore, I can understand that Your illusory energy is very wonderful, and

I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. O Lord, although You are completely detached

from the creation, maintenance and annihilation of this material world and are not directly

affected by these activities, they are all attributed to You. We do not wonder at this,

for Your inconceivable energies perfectly qualify You to be the cause of all causes.

You are the active principle in everything, although You are separate from everything.

Thus we can realize that everything is happening because of Your inconceivable energy.

At the end of the millennium, ignorance personified assumed the form of a demon, stole all the

Vedas and took them down to the planet of Rasatala. The Supreme Lord, however, in His

form of Hayagriva retrieved the Vedas and returned them to Lord Brahma when he begged

for them. I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Lord, whose determination

never fails. Sukadeva Gosvami continued: My dear King,

Lord Nrsimhadeva resides in the tract of land known as Hari-varsa. In the Seventh Canto

of Srimad-Bhagavatam, I shall describe to you how Prahlada Maharaja caused the Lord

to assume the form of Nrsimhadeva. Prahlada Maharaja, the topmost devotee of the Lord,

is a reservoir of all the good qualities of great personalities. His character and activities

have delivered all the fallen members of his demoniac family. Lord Nrsimhadeva is very

dear to this exalted personality. Thus Prahlada Maharaja, along with his servants and all

the denizens of Hari-varsa, worships Lord Nrsimhadeva by chanting the following mantra.

I offer my respectful obeisances unto Lord Nrsimhadeva, the source of all power. O my

Lord who possesses nails and teeth just like thunderbolts, kindly vanquish our demonlike

desires for fruitive activity in this material world. Please appear in our hearts and drive

away our ignorance so that by Your mercy we may become fearless in the struggle for existence

in this material world. May there be good fortune throughout the universe,

and may all envious persons be pacified. May all living entities become calm by practicing

bhakti-yoga, for by accepting devotional service they will think of each others welfare.

Therefore let us all engage in the service of the supreme transcendence, Lord Sri Krsna,

and always remain absorbed in thought of Him. My dear Lord, we pray that we may never feel

attraction for the prison of family life, consisting of home, wife, children, friends,

bank balance, relatives and so on. If we do have some attachment, let it be for devotees,

whose only dear friend is Krsna. A person who is actually self-realized and who has

controlled his mind is perfectly satisfied with the bare necessities of life. He does

not try to gratify his senses. Such a person quickly advances in Krsna consciousness, whereas

others, who are too attached to material things, find advancement very difficult.

By associating with persons for whom the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Mukunda, is the all

in all, one can hear of His powerful activities and soon come to understand them. The activities

of Mukunda are so potent that simply by hearing of them one immediately associates with the

Lord. For a person who constantly and very eagerly hears narrations of the Lords powerful

activities, the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead in the form of sound vibrations,

enters within his heart and cleanses it of all contamination. On the other hand, although

bathing in the Ganges diminishes bodily contaminations and infections, this process and the process

of visiting holy places can cleanse the heart only after a long time. Therefore who is the

sane man who will not associate with devotees to quickly perfect his life?

All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge and renunciation,

become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme

Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva. On the other hand, a person devoid of devotional service

and engaged in material activities has no good qualities. Even if he is adept at the

practice of mystic yoga or the honest endeavor of maintaining his family and relatives, he

must be driven by his own mental speculations and must engage in the service of the Lords

external energy. How can there be any good qualities in such a man?

Just as aquatics always desire to remain in the vast mass of water, all conditioned living

entities naturally desire to remain in the vast existence of the Supreme Lord. Therefore

if someone very great by material calculations fails to take shelter of the Supreme Soul

but instead becomes attached to material household life, his greatness is like that of a young,

low-class couple. One who is too attached to material life loses all good spiritual

qualities. Therefore, O demons, give up the so-called

happiness of family life and simply take shelter of the lotus feet of Lord Nrsimhadeva, which

are the actual shelter of fearlessness. Entanglement in family life is the root cause of material

attachment, indefatigable desires, moroseness, anger, despair, fear and the desire for false

prestige, all of which result in the repetition of birth and death.

Sukadeva Gosvami continued: In the tract of land called Ketumala-varsa, Lord Visnu lives

in the form of Kamadeva, only for the satisfaction of His devotees. These include Laksmiji [the

goddess of fortune], the Prajapati Samvatsara and all of Samvatsaras sons and daughters.

The daughters of Prajapati are considered the controlling deities of the nights, and

his sons are considered the controllers of the days. The Prajapatis offspring number

36,000, one for each day and each night in the lifetime of a human being. At the end

of each year, the Prajapatis daughters become very agitated upon seeing the extremely

effulgent disc of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and thus they all suffer miscarriages.

In Ketumala-varsa, Lord Kamadeva [Pradyumna] moves very graciously. His mild smile is very

beautiful, and when He increases the beauty of His face by slightly raising His eyebrows

and glancing playfully, He pleases the goddess of fortune. Thus He enjoys His transcendental

senses. Accompanied during the daytime by the sons

of the Prajapati [the predominating deities of the days] and accompanied at night by his

daughters [the deities of the nights], Laksmidevi worships the Lord during the period known

as the Samvatsara in His most merciful form as Kamadeva. Fully absorbed in devotional

service, she chants the following mantras. Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto

the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Hrsikesa, the controller of all my senses and the origin

of everything. As the supreme master of all bodily, mental and intellectual activities,

He is the only enjoyer of their results. The five sense objects and eleven senses, including

the mind, are His partial manifestations. He supplies all the necessities of life, which

are His energy and thus nondifferent from Him, and He is the cause of everyones bodily

and mental prowess, which is also nondifferent from Him. Indeed, He is the husband and provider

of necessities for all living entities. The purpose of all the Vedas is to worship Him.

Therefore let us all offer Him our respectful obeisances. May He always be favorable toward

us in this life and the next. My dear Lord, You are certainly the fully

independent master of all the senses. Therefore all women who worship You by strictly observing

vows because they wish to acquire a husband to satisfy their senses are surely under illusion.

They do not know that such a husband cannot actually give protection to them or their

children. Nor can he protect their wealth or duration of life, for he himself is dependent

on time, fruitive results and the modes of nature, which are all subordinate to You.

He alone who is never afraid but who, on the contrary, gives complete shelter to all fearful

persons can actually become a husband and protector. Therefore, my Lord, you are the

only husband, and no one else can claim this position. If you were not the only husband,

You would be afraid of others. Therefore persons learned in all Vedic literature accept only

Your Lordship as everyones master, and they think no one else a better husband and

protector than You. My dear Lord, You automatically fulfill all

the desires of a woman who worships Your lotus feet in pure love. However, if a woman worships

Your lotus feet for a particular purpose, You also quickly fulfill her desires, but

in the end she becomes broken-hearted and laments. Therefore one need not worship Your

lotus feet for some material benefit. O supreme unconquerable Lord, when they become

absorbed in thoughts of material enjoyment, Lord Brahma and Lord Siva, as well as other

demigods and demons, undergo severe penances and austerities to receive my benedictions.

But I do not favor anyone, however great he may be; unless he is always engaged in the

service of Your lotus feet. Because I always keep You within my heart, I cannot favor anyone

but a devotee. O infallible one, Your lotus palm is the source

of all benediction. Therefore Your pure devotees worship it, and You very mercifully place

Your hand on their heads. I wish that You may also place Your hand on My head, for although

You already bear my insignia of golden streaks on Your chest, I regard this honor as merely

a kind of false prestige for me. You show Your real mercy to Your devotees, not to me.

Of course, You are the supreme absolute controller, and no one can understand Your motives.

Sukadeva Gosvami continued: In Ramyaka-varsa, where Vaivasvata Manu rules, the Supreme Personality

of Godhead appeared as Lord Matsya at the end of the last era [the Caksusa-manvantara].

Vaivasvata Manu now worships Lord Matsya in pure devotional service and chants the following

mantra. I offer my respectful obeisances unto the

Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is pure transcendence. He is the origin of all life,

bodily strength, mental power and sensory ability. Known as Matsyavatara, the gigantic

fish incarnation, He appears first among all the incarnations. Again I offer my obeisances

unto Him. My dear Lord, just as a puppeteer controls

his dancing dolls and a husband controls his wife, Your Lordship controls all the living

entities in the universe, such as the brahmanas, ksatriyas, vaisyas and sudras. Although You

are in everyones heart as the supreme witness and commander and are outside everyone as

well, the so-called leaders of societies, communities and countries cannot realize You.

Only those who hear the vibration of the Vedic mantras can appreciate You.

My Lord, from the great leaders of the universe, such as Lord Brahma and other demigods, down

to the political leaders of this world, all are envious of Your authority. Without Your

help, however, they could neither separately nor concertedly maintain the innumerable living

entities within the universe. You are actually the only maintainer of all human beings, of

animals like cows and asses, and of plants, reptiles, birds, mountains and whatever else

is visible within this material world. O almighty Lord, at the end of the millennium

this planet earth, which is the source of all kinds of herbs, drugs and trees, was inundated

by water and drowned beneath the devastating waves. At that time, You protected me along

with the earth and roamed the sea with great speed. O unborn one, You are the actual maintainer

of the entire universal creation, and therefore You are the cause of all living entities.

I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. Sukadeva Gosvami continued: In Hiranmaya-varsa,

the Supreme Lord, Visnu, lives in the form of a tortoise [kurma-sarira]. This most dear

and beautiful form is always worshiped there in devotional service by Aryama, the chief

resident of Hiranmaya-varsa, along with the other inhabitants of that land. They chant

the following hymns. O my Lord, I offer my respectful obeisances

unto You, who have assumed the form of a tortoise. You are the reservoir of all transcendental

qualities, and being entirely untinged by matter, You are perfectly situated in pure

goodness. You move here and there in the water, but no one can discern Your position. Therefore

I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. Because of Your transcendental position, You

are not limited by past, present and future. You are present everywhere as the shelter

of all things, and therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto You again and again.

My dear Lord, this visible cosmic manifestation is a demonstration of Your own creative energy.

Since the countless varieties of forms within this cosmic manifestation are simply a display

of Your external energy, this virat-rupa [universal body] is not Your real form. Except for a

devotee in transcendental consciousness, no one can perceive Your actual form. Therefore

I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. My dear Lord, You manifest Your different

energies in countless forms: as living entities born from wombs, from eggs and from perspiration;

as plants and trees that grow out of the earth; as all living entities, both moving and standing,

including the demigods, the learned sages and the pitas; as outer space, as the higher

planetary system containing the heavenly planets, and as the planet earth with its hills, rivers,

seas, oceans and islands. Indeed, all the stars and planets are simply manifestations

of Your different energies, but originally You are one without a second. Therefore there

is nothing beyond You. This entire cosmic manifestation is therefore not false but is

simply a temporary manifestation of Your inconceivable energy.

O my Lord, Your name, form and bodily features are expanded in countless forms. No one can

determine exactly how many forms exist, yet You Yourself, in Your incarnation as the learned

scholar Kapiladeva, have analyzed the cosmic manifestation as containing twenty-four elements.

Therefore if one is interested in Sankhya philosophy, by which one can enumerate the

different truths, he must hear it from You. Unfortunately, nondevotees simply count the

different elements and remain ignorant of Your actual form. I offer my respectful obeisances

unto You. Sukadeva Gosvami said: Dear King, the Supreme

Lord in His boar incarnation, who accepts all sacrificial offerings, lives in the northern

part of Jambudvipa. There, in the tract of land known as Uttarakuru-varsa, mother earth

and all the other inhabitants worship Him with unfailing devotional service by repeatedly

chanting the following Upanisad mantra. O Lord, we offer our respectful obeisances

unto You as the gigantic person. Simply by chanting mantras, we shall be able to understand

You fully. You are yajna [sacrifice], and You are the kratu [ritual]. Therefore all

the ritualistic ceremonies of sacrifice are part of Your transcendental body, and You

are the only enjoyer of all sacrifices. Your form is composed of transcendental goodness.

You are known as tri-yuga because in Kali-yuga You appeared as a concealed incarnation and

because You always fully possess the three pairs of opulences.

By manipulating a fire-generating stick, great saints and sages can bring forth the fire

lying dormant within wood. In the same way, O Lord, those expert in understanding the

Absolute Truth try to see You in everythingeven in their own bodies. Yet you remain concealed.

You are not to be understood by indirect processes involving mental or physical activities. Because

You are self-manifested, only when You see that a person is wholeheartedly engaged in

searching for You do You reveal Yourself. Therefore I offer my respectful obeisances

unto You. The objects of material enjoyment [sound,

form, taste, touch and smell], the activities of the senses, the controllers of sensory

activities [the demigods], the body, eternal time and egotism are all creations of Your

material energy. Those whose intelligence has become fixed by perfect execution of mystic

yoga can see that all these elements result from the actions of Your external energy.

They can also see Your transcendental form as Supersoul in the background of everything.

Therefore I repeatedly offer my respectful obeisances unto You.

O Lord, You do not desire the creation, maintenance or annihilation of this material world, but

You perform these activities for the conditioned souls by Your creative energy. Exactly as

a piece of iron moves under the influence of a lodestone, inert matter moves when You

glance over the total material energy. My Lord, as the original boar within this

universe, You fought and killed the great demon Hiranyaksa. Then You lifted me [the

earth] from the Garbhodaka Ocean on the end of Your tusk, exactly as a sporting elephant

plucks a lotus flower from the water. I bow down before You.