॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
Thursday, 24 November 2022 IV.30 - The Prachetas get the Darshan of Bhagavan Maha Vishnu after performing a severe penance as taught to them by Lord Shiva. They marry and continue the progeny.
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Vidura wants to know about the Prachetas, the ten sons of Prachinabarhi, who were taught by Lord Shiva himself the Rudra Geeta. What Tapas did they do and how did they receive Bhagavan's grace?
Sage Maitreya was happy to tell their story.
"The Prachetas did severe penance for ten thousand years, under the ocean, following the Rudra Geeta. At last, Bhagavan Sri Maha Vishnu Himself appeared before them."
काशिष्णुना कनकवर्णविभूषणेन भ्राजत्कपोलवदनो विलसत्किरीटः।
अष्टायुधैरनुचरैर्मुनिभिः सुरेन्द्रैरासेवितो गरुडकिन्नरगीतकीर्तिः॥
T: "The Lord appeared effulgent like the sun rising on Mount Meru, and He was seated on His vehicle, Garuda. The Lord was wearing the most lustrous ornaments of gold, His face and cheeks were radiant, and He wore a great diadem crown. His eight hands sported various divine weapons, and He was surrounded by attendants, Indra and other gods, and divine sages, all serving Him and singing His glories."
The Prachetas were stunned in ecstasy as they beheld the Lord. He was sporting a lovely garland of forest flowers that competed with Goddess Sri herself on His broad chest. They saw how the Lord was endowed with mighty arms.
They bowed low in surrender, and the Lord spoke to them in words dripping with grace and bliss.
"Dear Prachetas, I am most pleased with you and grant you any boon you want. The transparent filial cordiality among all of you ten brothers is exemplary, and anyone remembering you will get rid of brotherly differences and develop mutual affection. The great prayer Rudra Geeta that Bhagavan Shiva taught you is sacred. Anyone who recites it at dawn and dusk will be granted by Me both his wishes and also a clarity of intellect."
"You have dutifully acted in accordance with your father's wish. You have performed great Tapas. This has earned you significant merit. You shall rule the kingdom well for a long time, garner great fame, and extend the family lineage very well. You will beget a great son. He will be equal to Lord Brahma in glory and extend the population of mankind well."
"Let me tell you a story now." Even Bhagavan tells stories in Bhagavatam!
"Once Indra wanted to disturb the ascetic Kandu in his Tapas. So he sent down an apsara called Pramlochaa. Kandu and Pramlochaa lived together and begot a lovely daughter. Afterwards, the apsara went away to heaven, leaving the child behind. That child was fostered and cared for by the trees of that forest. The trees fed her the best of their fruits and juices and protected her from all dangers. Even the god Chandra came down and fed the baby with ambrosia using his finger."
"Your father Prachinabarhi has now taken to austerity and is meditating on Me. It is his wish that you people now extend the family. Therefore you ten brothers should together wed that gem of a young damsel of divine origin that I now spoke about. You all have such cordiality that it will be an ideal union for her too. "
"Dear Prachetas, you shall rule for ten thousand years well and thereafter enjoy the fruits of your merit in heaven."
अथ मय्यनपायिन्या भक्त्या पक्वगुणाशया: । उपयास्यथ मद्धाम निर्विद्य निरयादत: ॥
T: "Thereafter, as a result of your unceasing and single-minded practice of Bhakti towards Me, you will all be ripe for liberation. You will develop extreme dispassion and finally attain to My abode."
"A true devotee offers all that he does, thinks or speaks, as an offering to the Supreme in Bhakti.
Even though such a person may be participating in family life, he is not affected by the results of his actions. Bhagavan will make such people ever fresh and ever efficient. This state is called Brahma-bhuta and confers clarity about the world and grants total equanimity."
The Prachetas were overwhelmed. They diffidently began to speak in total surrender and devotion.
"Oh, Lord, You always confer liberation from distress and Your grace and Your name are transcendental."
शुद्धाय शान्ताय नमः स्वनिष्ठया मनस्यपार्थं विलसद्द्वयाय। नमो जगत्स्थानलयोदयेषु गृहीतमायागुणविग्रहाय॥
T: "Oh, Bhagavan of divine purity and peace, we see that if anyone is engaged in dedicated prayer to You, all the dualities of this world disappear for him, as You are the Supreme Reality. That also happens through Your grace. Our obeisances to You, oh, Lord, who, by becoming the Trinity - Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, respectively create, sustain and dissolve this entire universe through Your Maya!"
"You are omnipresent, oh Lord. You are Paramatma, You are Vasudeva. You become Bhagavan Krishna as the son of Vasudeva (वसुदेव)! You are the Lord worshipped by all devotees!"
रूपं भगवता त्वेतदशेषक्लेशसङ्क्षयम्। आविष्कृतं नः क्लिष्टानां किमन्यदनुकम्पितम्॥
T: " Dear Bhagavan, Your Darshan in this divine form has instantly removed all miseries from our lives. You have been gracious to us despite all our shortcomings and qualities of lust, greed, and so on. What more can anyone wish for as a boon?"
"There needs to be no more proof of Your compassion, oh, Lord, when we see that You are always caring for the lowly and the miserable!"
"Oh, Lord, You dwell in all of the beings, Won't You know our innermost thoughts and cravings? You are beyond Prakriti, and You are Ananta, and we know that You can grant any wish."
"Oh, Lord, our lives have been sanctified by Your Darshan. A bee having discovered the flowering Parijata tree would think of going nowhere else! Similarly, we have nothing more to ask for. Yet, perhaps, we wish to ask for one thing as a boon!"
यावत्ते मायया स्पृष्टा भ्रमाम इह कर्मभिः। तावद्भवत्प्रसङ्गानां सङ्गः स्यान्नो भवे भवे॥
T: "Oh, Lord, this is our request. Whenever we are entrenched in Maya and suffer from worldly Karmas, kindly grant us that we get the company of Your exalted devotees! That Satsang will relieve us of our ills!"
तुलयाम लवेनापि न स्वर्गं नापुनर्भवम्। भगवत्सङ्गिसङ्गस्य मर्त्यानां किमुताशिषः॥
T: "We consider even heaven and liberation to be equal to a trifle blade of grass, when compared to the glory of the company of Your exalted devotees! Hence how can we think of asking for any worldly boons after presenting this desire of ours!?"
"Dear Lord, Your exalted devotees are constantly chanting Your holy names, recounting Your endless glories and pastimes. They do this with no reward in mind. निर्वैरं यत्र भूतेषु नोद्वेगो यत्र कश्चन The effect of their company is such that nobody harbours malice in their company, and nobody feels any anxiety or distress!"
"It seems, oh, Lord, that such devotees tread this earth and visit holy places of pilgrimage to sanctify those places! Therefore, a worldly man cannot ask for anything better than their company!"
वयं तु सक्षात्भगवन्भवस्य प्रियस्य सख्युः क्षणसङ्गमेन।
सुदुश्चिकित्स्यस्य भवस्य मृत्योर्भिषक्तमं त्वाद्य गतिं गताः स्मः॥
T: "Dear Bhagavan, by the grace of Your dear friend, Lord Shiva, we were in his presence for a very short while. We see how that has itself augured our receiving Your Darshan, a sure cure for the terminal illness of this world, viz. the cycle of birth and death! What an overwhelming grace we have been granted, indeed!"
"Dear Lord, we gave up the company of near and dear ones, our royal comforts, and conveniences like food and water, just to undertake this long Tapas. If it has pleased You, what more can we ask for?"
"Dear Bhagavan, we know that even Brahma and Shiva cannot comprehend the vastness of Your powers or glories, and yet, they constantly pray to You! Therefore we want also to be constantly in prayer to You, within our own limitations of body and intellect!"
नमः समाय शुद्धाय पुरुषाय पराय च। वासुदेवाय सत्त्वाय तुभ्यं भगवते नमः॥
T: "Our obeisances to the Omniscient, Pure, Supreme Being Vasudeva, the Essence of all creation, to You, oh, Lord!"
Thus ended the prayer of the Prachetas. Bhagavan simply smiled and said, "Be it so! (तथास्तु) and then disappeared (Antardhana), even as the Prachetas were hankering for Him to remain there.
***
When the Prachetas emerged from the ocean, they beheld an unbelievable density of forests that had simply overpowered the earth, giving no room for any movement or activity. They felt a sudden rage that the trees had no business to stifle all other life like this. Using their spiritual powers, they emitted an infernal fire and whirlwind from their mouths that began to burn down the forest. A large number of trees perished instantly. Just then Lord Brahma came there and asked the Prachetas to cool down. He also directed the trees to offer as the bride to Prachetas the divine damsel born there called Marishaa. Marishaa wed them gladly. This was the divine plan already explained by Bhagavan to the Prachetas.
Soon Marishaa gave birth to Daksha, who had lost his life earlier after his unpardonable act of offending Lord Shiva. This reborn Daksha turned out to be a great Prajapati, and created new generations of human beings as ordered by Bhagavan. He truly lived up to his name Daksha which means, in Sanskrit, "The Efficient One".
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॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
