The great sage Nārada continued: My dear King Prācīnabarhiṣat, afterward the King of the Yavanas, whose name is fear itself, as well as Prajvāra, Kālakanyā, and his soldiers, began to travel all over the world (1).Once the dangerous soldiers attacked the city of Pu ranjana with great force. Although the city was full of paraphernalia for sense gratification, it was being protected by the old serpent (2). Gradually Kālakanyā, with the help of danger ous soldiers, attacked all the inhabitants of Pu ranjana’s city and thus rendered them useless for all purposes (3).When Kālakanyā, daughter of Time, attacked the body, the dangerous sol diers of the King of the Yavanas entered the city through different gates. They then began to give severe trouble to all the citizens (4).

When the city was thus endangered by the soldiers and Kālakanyā, King Puranjana, being overly absorbed in affection for his family, was placed in difficulty by the attack of Yavana-rāja and Kālakanyā (5). When King Puranjana was embraced by Kālakanyā, he gradually lost all his beauty. Having been too much addicted to sex, he be came very poor in intelligence and lost all his opulence. Being bereft of all possessions, he was conquered forcibly by the Gandharvas and the Yavanas (6).King Puranjana then saw that everything in his town was scattered and that his sons, grandsons, servants and ministers were all gradually opposing him. He also noted that his wife was becoming cold and indifferent (7).When King Puranjana saw that all his fam ily members, relatives, followers, servants, sec retaries and everyone else had turned against him, he certainly became very anxious. But he could not counteract the situation because he was thoroughly overwhelmed by Kālakanyā (8).

The objects of enjoyment became stale by the influence of Kālakanyā. Due to the contin uance of his lusty desires, King Puranjana be came very poor in everything. Thus he did not understand the aim of life. He was still very af fectionate toward his wife and children, and he worried about maintaining them (9).The city of King Puranjana was overcome by the Gandharva and Yavana soldiers, and although the King had no desire to leave the city, he was circumstantially forced to do so, for it was smashed by Kālakanyā (10).Under the circum stances, the elder brother of Yavana-rāja, known as Prajvāra, set fire to the city to please his younger brother, whose other name is fear itself (11). When the city was set ablaze, all the citizens and servants of the King, as well as all family members, sons, grandsons, wives and other rel atives, were within the fire. King Puranjana thus became very unhappy (12).

The city’s su perintendent of police, the serpent, saw that the citizens were being attacked by Kālakanyā, and he became very aggrieved to see his own resi dence set ablaze after being attacked by the Ya vanas (13).As a serpent living within the cavity of a tree wishes to leave when there is a forest fire, so the city’s police superintendent, the snake, wished to leave the city due to the fire’s severe heat (14).The limbs of the serpent’s body were slackened by the Gandharvas and Yavana soldiers, who had thoroughly defeated his bodily strength. When he attempted to leave the body, he was checked by his enemies. Be ing thus baffled in his attempt, he began to cry loudly (15). King Puranjana then began to think of his daughters, sons, grandsons, daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, servants and other associates, as well as his house, his household paraphernalia and his little accumulation of wealth (16).

King Puranjana was overly attached to his family and conceptions of “I” and “mine.” Because he was overly attracted to his wife, he was already quite poverty-stricken. At the time of separa tion, he became very sorry (17).King Puranjana was anxiously thinking, “Alas, my wife is en cumbered by so many children. When I pass from this body, how will she be able to main tain all these family members? Alas, she will be greatly harassed by thoughts of family mainte nance.”(18) King Puranjana then began to think of his past dealings with his wife. He re called that his wife would not take her dinner until he had finished his, that she would not take her bath until he had finished his, and that she was always very much attached to him, so much so that if he would sometimes become angry and chastise her, she would simply re main silent and tolerate his misbehavior (19).

King Puranjana continued thinking how, when he was in a state of bewilderment, his wife would give him good counsel and how she would become aggrieved when he was away from home. Although she was the mother of so many sons and heroes, the King still feared that she would not be able to maintain the responsi bility of household affairs (20).King Puranjana continued worrying: “After I pass from this world, how will my sons and daughters, who are now fully dependent on me, live and con tinue their lives? Their position will be similar to that of passengers aboard a ship wrecked in the midst of the ocean.” (21) Although King Puranjana should not have lamented over the fate of his wife and children, he nonetheless did so due to his miserly intelli gence. In the meantime, Yavana-rāja, whose name was fear itself, immediately drew near to arrest him (22).When the Yavanas were taking King Puranjana away to their place, binding him like an animal, the King’s followers be came greatly aggrieved. While they lamented, they were forced to go along with him (23).

The serpent, who had already been arrested by the soldiers of Yavana-rāja and was out of the city, began to follow his master along with the oth ers. As soon as they all left the city, it was im mediately dismantled and smashed to dust (24).When King Puranjana was being dragged with great force by the powerful Yavana, out of his gross ignorance he still could not remember his friend and well-wisher, the Supersoul (25). That most unkind king, Puranjana, had killed many animals in various sacrifices. Now, taking advantage of this opportunity, all these animals began to pierce him with their horns. It was as though he were being cut to pieces by axes (26).Due to his contaminated association with women, a living entity like King Pu ranjana eternally suffers all the pangs of mate rial existence and remains in the dark region of material life, bereft of all remembrance for many, many years (27).

King Puranjana gave up his body while remembering his wife, and con sequently in his next life he became a very beautiful and well-situated woman. He took his next birth as the daughter of King Vidarbha in the very house of the King (28).It was fixed that Vaidarbhī, daughter of King Vidarbha, was to be married to a very powerful man, Malayadh vaja, an inhabitant of the Pāṇḍu country. After conquering other princes, he married the daughter of King Vidarbha (29).King Malaya dhvaja fathered one daughter, who had very black eyes. He also had seven sons, who later became rulers of that tract of land known as Draviḍa. Thus there were seven kings in that land (30).My dear King Prācīnabarhiṣat, the sons of Malayadhvaja gave birth to many thou sands and thousands of sons, and all of these have been protecting the entire world up to the end of one Manu’s life span and even afterward (31).

The great sage named Agastya married the first-born daughter of Malayadhvaja, the avowed devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. From her one son was born, whose name was Dṛḍhacyuta, and from him another son was born, whose name was Idhmavāha (32). After this, the great saintly King Malayadh vaja divided his entire kingdom among his sons. Then, in order to worship Lord Kṛṣṇa with full attention, he went to a solitary place known as Kulācala (33).Just as the moonshine follows the moon at night, immediately after King Malayadhvaja departed for Kulācala, his devoted wife, whose eyes were very enchant ing, followed him, giving up all homely happi ness, despite family and children (34).In the province of Kulācala, there were rivers named Candravasā, Tāmraparṇī and Vaṭodakā. King Malayadhvaja used to go to those pious rivers regularly and take his bath there. Thus he puri fied himself externally and internally. He took his bath and ate bulbs, seeds, leaves, flowers, roots, fruits and grasses and drank water. In this way he underwent severe austerities. Eventu ally he became very skinny (35-36).Through austerity, King Malayadhvaja in body and mind gradually became equal to the dualities of cold and heat, happiness and distress, wind and rain, hunger and thirst, the pleasant and the unpleas ant. In this way he conquered all relativities (37).

By worshiping, executing austerities and following the regulative principles, King Mala yadhvaja conquered his senses, his life and his consciousness. Thus he fixed everything on the central point of the Supreme Brahman [Kṛṣṇa] (38).In this way he stayed immovable in one place for one hundred years by the calculation of the demigods. After this time, he developed pure devotional attraction for Kṛṣṇa, the Su preme Personality of Godhead, and remained fixed in that position (39).King Malayadhvaja attained perfect knowledge by being able to distinguish the Supersoul from the individual soul. The individual soul is localized, whereas the Supersoul is all-pervasive. He became per fect in knowledge that the material body is not the soul but that the soul is the witness of the material body (40).

In this way King Malayadh vaja attained perfect knowledge because in his pure state he was directly instructed by the Su preme Personality of Godhead. By means of such enlightening transcendental knowledge, he could understand everything from all angles of vision (41).King Malayadhvaja could thus observe that the Supersoul was sitting by his side, and that he, as the individual soul, was sit ting by the side of the Supersoul. Since both were together, there was no need for separate interests; thus he ceased from such activities (42). The daughter of King Vidarbha accepted her husband all in all as the Supreme. She gave up all sensual enjoyment and in complete renunci ation followed the principles of her husband, who was so advanced. Thus she remained en gaged in his service (43).

The daughter of King Vidarbha wore old garments, and she was lean and thin because of her vows of austerity. Since she did not arrange her hair, it became entan gled and twisted in locks. Although she re mained always near her husband, she was as si lent and unagitated as the flame of an undis turbed fire (44).The daughter of King Vidarbha continued as usual to serve her husband, who was seated in a steady posture, until she could ascertain that he had passed away from the body (45).While she was serving her husband by massaging his legs, she could feel that his feet were no longer warm and could thus un derstand that he had already passed from the body. She felt great anxiety upon being left alone. Bereft of her husband’s company, she felt exactly as the deer feels upon being sepa rated from its mate (46).Being now alone and a widow in that forest, the daughter of Vidarbha began to lament, incessantly shedding tears, which soaked her breasts, and crying very loudly (47).O best of kings, please get up! Get up! Just see this world surrounded by water and infested with rogues and so-called kings. This world is very much afraid, and it is your duty to protect her (48).

That most obedient wife thus fell down at the feet of her dead husband and began to cry pitifully in that solitary forest. Thus the tears rolled down from her eyes (49).She then prepared a blazing fire with fire wood and placed the dead body of her husband upon it. When this was finished, she lamented severely and prepared herself to perish in the fire with her husband (50).My dear King, one brāhmaṇa, who was an old friend of King Pu ranjana, came to that place and began to pacify the Queen with sweet words (51). The brāhmaṇa inquired as follows: Who are you? Whose wife or daughter are you? Who is the man lying here? It appears you are la menting for this dead body. Don’t you recog nize Me? I am your eternal friend. You may re member that many times in the past you have consulted Me (52).The brāhmaṇa continued: My dear friend, even though you cannot imme diately recognize Me, can’t you remember that in the past you had a very intimate friend? Un fortunately, you gave up My company and ac cepted a position as enjoyer of this material world (53).

My dear gentle friend, both you and I are exactly like two swans. We live together in the same heart, which is just like the Mānasa Lake. Although we have been living together for many thousands of years, we are still far away from our original home (54).My dear friend, you are now My very same friend. Since you left Me, you have become more and more materialistic, and not seeing Me, you have been traveling in different forms throughout this ma terial world, which was created by some woman (55).In that city [the material body] there are five gardens, nine gates, one protector, three apartments, six families, five stores, five material elements, and one woman who is lord of the house (56).My dear friend, the five gar dens are the five objects of sense enjoyment, and the protector is the life air, which passes through the nine gates. The three apartments are the chief ingredients fire, water and earth. The six families are the aggregate total of the mind and five senses (57).

The five stores are the five working sensory organs. They transact their business through the combined forces of the five elements, which are eternal. Behind all this activity is the soul. The soul is a person and an enjoyer in reality. However, because he is now hidden within the city of the body, he is devoid of knowledge (58).My dear friend, when you enter such a body along with the woman of material desires, you become overly absorbed in sense enjoyment. Because of this, you have forgotten your spiritual life. Due to your material conceptions, you are placed in various miserable conditions (59). Actually, you are not the daughter of Vidar bha, nor is this man, Malayadhvaja, your well wishing husband. Nor were you the actual hus band of Purañjanī. You were simply captivated in this body of nine gates (60).

Sometimes you think yourself a man, sometimes a chaste woman and sometimes a neutral eunuch. This is all because of the body, which is created by the illusory energy. This illusory energy is My potency, and actually both of us you and I are pure spiritual identities. Now just try to under stand this. I am trying to explain our factual po sition (61).My dear friend, I, the Supersoul, and you, the individual soul, are not different in quality, for we are both spiritual. In fact, My dear friend, you are qualitatively not different from Me in your constitutional position. Just try to consider this subject. Those who are actually advanced scholars, who are in knowledge, do not find any qualitative difference between you and Me (62).

As a person sees the reflection of his body in a mirror to be one with himself and not different, whereas others actually see two bodies, so in our material condition, in which the living being is affected and yet not affected, there is a difference between God and the living entity (63). In this way both swans live together in the heart. When the one swan is instructed by the other, he is situated in his constitutional posi tion. This means he regains his original Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which was lost because of his material attraction (64).My dear King Prācīnabarhi, the Supreme Personality of God head, the cause of all causes, is celebrated to be known indirectly. Thus I have described the story of Puranjana to you. Actually it is an in struction for self-realization (65).

The great sage Nārada continued: My dear King, after bewildering her husband in dif ferent ways and bringing him under her control, the wife of King Puranjana gave him all satis faction and enjoyed sex life with him (1).The Queen took her bath and dressed herself nicely with all auspicious garments and ornaments. After taking food and becoming completely satisfied, she returned to the King. Upon seeing her beautifully decorated attractive face, the King welcomed her with all devotion (2).Queen Purañjanī embraced the King, and the King also responded by embracing her shoulders. In this way, in a solitary place, they enjoyed joking words. Thus King Puranjana became very much captivated by his beautiful wife and deviated from his good sense. He for got that the passing of days and nights meant that his span of life was being reduced without profit (3).

In this way, increasingly over whelmed by illusion, King Puranjana, although advanced in consciousness, remained always lying down with his head on the pillow of his wife’s arms. In this way he considered woman to be his ultimate life and soul. Becoming thus overwhelmed by the mode of ignorance, he could not understand the meaning of self-reali zation, whether regarding his own self or the Supreme Personality of Godhead (4). My dear King Prācīnabarhiṣat, in this way King Puranjana, with his heart full of lust and sinful reactions, began to enjoy sex with his wife, and in this way his new life and youth ex pired in half a moment (5).The great sage Nārada then addressed King Prācīnabarhiṣat: O one whose life span is great [virāṭ], in this way King Puranjana begot 1,100 sons within the womb of his wife, Purañjanī. However, in this business he passed away half of his life span (6).

O Prajāpati, King Prācīnabarhiṣat, in this way King Puranjana also begot 110 daughters. All of these were equally glorified like the fa ther and mother. Their behavior was gentle, and they possessed magnanimity and other good qualities (7). After this, King Puranjana, King of the Pañcāla country, in order to increase the descendants of his paternal family, married his sons with qualified wives and married his daughters with qualified husbands (8).Of these many sons, each produced hundreds and hun dreds of grandsons. In this way the whole city of Pañcāla became overcrowded by these sons and grandsons of King Puranjana (9).These sons and grandsons were virtually plunderers of King Puranjana’s riches, including his home, treasury, servants, secretaries and all other par aphernalia. Puranjana’s attachment for these things was very deep-rooted (10).

The great sage Nārada continued: My dear King Prācīnabarhiṣat, like you King Puranjana also became implicated in so many desires. Thus he worshiped demigods, forefathers and social leaders with various sacrifices which were all very ghastly because they were inspired by the desire to kill animals (11).Thus King Pu ranjana, being attached to fruitive activities [karma-kāṇḍīya] as well as kith and kin, and being obsessed with polluted consciousness, eventually arrived at that point not very much liked by those who are overly attached to mate rial things (12). O King! In Gandharvaloka there is a king named Caṇḍavega. Under him there are 360 very powerful Gandharva soldiers (13).Along with Caṇḍavega were as many female Gandharvīs as there were soldiers, and all of them repetitively plundered all the parapherna lia for sense enjoyment (14).When King Gandharva-rāja [Caṇḍavega] and his followers began to plunder the city of Puranjana, a snake with five hoods began to defend the city (15).

The five-hooded serpent, the superinten dent and protector of the city of King Pu ranjana, fought with the Gandharvas for one hundred years. He fought alone, with all of them, although they numbered 720 (16).Be cause he had to fight alone with so many sol diers, all of whom were great warriors, the ser pent with five hoods became very weak. Seeing that his most intimate friend was weakening, King Puranjana and his friends and citizens liv ing within the city all became very anxious (17).King Puranjana collected taxes in the city known as Pañcāla and thus was able to engage in sexual indulgence. Being completely under the control of women, he could not understand that his life was passing away and that he was reaching the point of death (18). My dear King Prācīnabarhiṣat, at this time the daughter of formidable Time was seeking her husband throughout the three worlds. Alt hough no one agreed to accept her, she came (19).

The daughter of Time [Jarā] was very un fortunate. Consequently she was known as Durbhagā [“ill-fated”]. However, she was once pleased with a great king, and because the king accepted her, she granted him a great benedic tion(20).When I once came to this earth from Brahmaloka, the highest planetary system, the daughter of Time, wandering over the universe, met me. Knowing me to be an avowed brah macārī, she became lusty and proposed that I accept her (21).The great sage Nārada contin ued: When I refused to accept her request, she became very angry at me and cursed me se verely. Because I refused her request, she said that I would not be able to stay in one place for a long time (22).After she was thus disap pointed by me, with my permission she ap proached the King of the Yavanas, whose name was Bhaya, or Fear, and she accepted him as her husband (23).

Approaching the King of the Yavanas, Kālakanyā addressed him as a great hero, saying: My dear sir, you are the best of the untouchables. I am in love with you, and I want you as my husband. I know that no one is baffled if he makes friends with you (24).One who does not give charity according to the cus toms or injunctions of the scriptures and one who does not accept charity in that way are considered to be in the mode of ignorance. Such persons follow the path of the foolish. Surely they must lament at the end (25).Kālakanyā continued: O gentle one, I am now present before you to serve you. Please ac cept me and thus show me mercy. It is a gentle man’s greatest duty to be compassionate upon a person who is distressed (26).

After hearing the statement of Kālakanyā, daughter of Time, the King of the Yavanas be gan to smile and devise a means for executing his confidential duty on behalf of providence. He then addressed Kālakanyā as follows (27). The King of the Yavanas replied: After much consideration, I have arrived at a husband for you. Actually, as far as everyone is concerned, you are inauspicious and mischievous. Since no one likes you, how can anyone accept you as his wife? (28) This world is a product of frui tive activities. Therefore you may impercepti bly attack people in general. Helped by my sol diers, you can kill them without opposition (29).The King of the Yavanas continued: Here is my brother Prajvāra. I now accept you as my sister. I shall employ both of you, as well as my dangerous soldiers, to act imperceptibly within this world (30).

The great sage Nārada continued: My dear King, once upon a time King Puranjana took up his great bow, and equipped with golden armor and a quiver of unlimited arrows and accompanied by eleven commanders, he sat on his chariot driven by five swift horses and went to the forest named Pañca-prastha. He took with him in that chariot two explosive ar rows. The chariot itself was situated on two wheels and one revolving axle. On the chariot were three flags, one rein, one chariot driver, one sitting place, two poles to which the har ness was fixed, five weapons and seven cover ings. The chariot moved in five different styles, and five obstacles lay before it. All the decora tions of the chariot were made of gold (1-3).

It was almost impossible for King Puranjana to give up the company of his Queen even for a moment. Nonetheless, on that day, being very much inspired by the desire to hunt, he took up his bow and arrow with great pride and went to the forest, not caring for his wife (4).At that time King Puranjana was very much influenced by demoniac propensities. Because of this, his heart became very hard and merciless, and with sharp arrows he killed many innocent animals in the forest, taking no consideration (5).If a king is too attracted to eating flesh, he may, ac cording to the directions of the revealed scrip tures on sacrificial performances, go to the for est and kill some animals that are recom mended for killing. One is not allowed to kill animals unnecessarily or without restrictions. The Vedas regulate animal-killing to stop the extravagance of foolish men influenced by the modes of passion and ignorance (6).

Nārada Muni continued to speak to King Prācīnabarhiṣat: My dear King, any person who works according to the directions of the Vedic scriptures does not become involved in fruitive activities (7).Otherwise, a person who acts whimsically falls down due to false prestige. Thus he becomes involved in the laws of na ture, which are composed of the three qualities [goodness, passion and ignorance]. In this way a living entity becomes devoid of his real intel ligence and becomes perpetually lost in the cy cle of birth and death. Thus he goes up and down from a microbe in stool to a high position in the Brahmaloka planet (8). When King Puranjana was hunting in this way, many animals within the forest lost their lives with great pain, being pierced by the sharp arrowheads. Upon seeing these devastating, ghastly activities performed by the King, all the people who were merciful by nature became very unhappy. Such merciful persons could not tolerate seeing all this killing (9).In this way King Puranjana killed many animals, including rabbits, boars, buffalo, bison, black deer, por cupines and other game animals. After killing and killing, the King became very tired (10).

After this, the King, very much fatigued, hungry and thirsty, returned to his royal palace. After returning, he took a bath and had an ap propriate dinner. Then he took rest and thus be came freed from all restlessness (11).After this, King Puranjana decorated his body with suita ble ornaments. He also smeared scented sandal wood pulp over his body and put on flower gar lands. In this way he became completely re freshed. After this, he began to search out his Queen (12). After taking his dinner and having his thirst and hunger satisfied, King Puranjana felt some joy within his heart. Instead of being elevated to a higher consciousness, he became captivated by Cupid, and was moved by a de sire to find his wife, who kept him satisfied in his household life (13). At that time King Puranjana was a little anx ious, and he inquired from the household women: My dear beautiful women, are you and your mistress all very happy like before, or not? (14)

King Puranjana said: I do not understand why my household paraphernalia does not at tract me as before. I think that if there is neither a mother nor devoted wife at home, the home is like a chariot without wheels. Where is the fool who will sit down on such an unworkable char iot? (15) Kindly let me know the whereabouts of that beautiful woman who always saves me when I am drowning in the ocean of danger. By giving me good intelligence at every step, she always saves me (16). All the women addressed the King: O master of the citizens, we do not know why your dear wife has taken on this sort of exist ence. O killer of enemies, kindly look! She is lying on the ground without bedding. We can not understand why she is acting this way (17). The great sage Nārada continued: My dear King Prācīnabarhi, as soon as King Pu ranjana saw his Queen lying on the ground, ap pearing like a mendicant, he immediately be came bewildered (18).The King, with ag grieved mind, began to speak to his wife with very pleasing words. Although he was filled with regret and tried to pacify her, he could not see any symptom of anger caused by love within the heart of his beloved wife (19).

Be cause the King was very expert in flattery, he began to pacify his Queen very slowly. First he touched her two feet, then embraced her nicely, seating her on his lap, and began to speak as follows (20). King Puranjana said: My dear beautiful wife, when a master accepts a servant as his own man, but does not punish him for his of fenses, the servant must be considered unfortu nate (21).My dear slender maiden, when a mas ter chastises his servant, the servant should ac cept this as great mercy. One who becomes an gry must be very foolish not to know that such is the duty of his friend (22).My dear wife, your teeth are very beautifully set, and your attrac tive features make you appear very thoughtful. Kindly give up your anger, be merciful upon me, and please smile upon me with loving at tachment. When I see a smile on your beautiful face, and when I see your hair, which is as beautiful as the color blue, and see your raised nose and hear your sweet talk, you will become more beautiful to me and thus attract me and oblige me. You are my most respected mistress (23).

O hero’s wife, kindly tell me if someone has offended you. I am prepared to give such a person punishment as long as he does not be long to the brāhmaṇa caste. But for the servant of Muraripu [Kṛṣṇa], I excuse no one within or beyond these three worlds. No one can freely move after offending you, for I am prepared to punish him (24). My dear wife, until this day I have never seen your face without tilaka deco rations, nor have I seen you so morose and without luster or affection. Nor have I seen your two nice breasts wet with tears from your eyes. Nor have I ever before seen your lips, which are ordinarily as red as the bimba fruit, without their reddish hue (25).My dear Queen, due to my sinful desires I went to the forest to hunt without asking you. Therefore I must ad mit that I have offended you. Nonetheless, thinking of me as your most intimate subordi nate, you should still be very much pleased with me. Factually I am very much bereaved, but being pierced by the arrow of Cupid, I am feeling lusty. But where is the beautiful woman who would give up her lusty husband and re fuse to unite with him? (26)

The great sage Maitreya continued speakingto Vidura: My dear Vidura, in this way Lord Śiva instructed the sons of King Barhiṣat. The sons of the King also worshiped Lord Śiva with great devotion and respect. Fi nally, Lord Śiva became invisible to the princes (1).All the Pracetā princes simply stood in the water for ten thousand years and recited the prayers given to them by Lord Śiva (2). While the princes were undergoing severe austerities in the water, their father was performing differ ent types of fruitive activities. At this time the great saint Nārada, master and teacher of all spiritual life, became very compassionate upon the King and decided to instruct him about spir itual life (3).Nārada Muni asked King Prācīnabarhiṣat: My dear King, what do you desire to achieve by performing these fruitive activities? The chief aim of life is to get rid of all miseries and enjoy happiness, but these two things cannot be realized by fruitive activity (4).

The King replied: O great soul, Nārada, my intelligence is entangled in fruitive activities; therefore I do not know the ultimate goal of life. Kindly instruct me in pure knowledge so that I can get out of the entanglement of fruitive ac tivities (5).Those who are interested only in a so-called dutiful life namely remaining as a householder entangled by sons and a wife and searching after wealth think that such things are life’s ultimate goal. Such people simply wander in different types of bodies throughout this material existence without finding out the ultimate goal of life (6). The great saint Nārada said: O ruler of the citizens, my dear King, please see in the sky those animals which you have sacrificed with out compassion and without mercy in the sacri ficial arena (7).All these animals are awaiting your death so that they can avenge the injuries you have inflicted upon them. After you die, they will angrily pierce your body with iron horns (8).

In this connection I wish to narrate an old history connected with the character of a king called Puranjana. Please try to hear me with great attention (9). My dear King, once in the past lived a king named Puranjana, who was celebrated for his great activities. He had a friend named Avijñāta [“the unknown one”]. No one could understand the activities of Avijñāta (10).King Puranjana began to search for a suitable place to live, and thus he traveled all over the world. Even after a great deal of traveling, he could not find a place just to his liking. Finally he became morose and disappointed (11).King Puranjana had unlim ited desires for sense enjoyment; consequently he traveled all over the world to find a place where all his desires could be fulfilled. Unfor tunately he found a feeling of insufficiency everywhere (12). Once, while wandering in this way, he saw on the southern side of the Himālayas, in a place named Bhārata-varṣa [India], a city that had nine gates all about and was characterized by all auspicious facilities (13).

That city was surrounded by walls and parks, and within it were towers, canals, windows and outlets. The houses there were decorated with domes made of gold, silver and iron (14). The floors of the houses in that city were made of sapphire, crys tal, diamonds, pearls, emeralds and rubies. Be cause of the luster of the houses in the capital, the city was compared to the celestial town named Bhogavatī (15).In that city there were many assembly houses, street crossings, streets, restaurants, gambling houses, markets, resting places, flags, festoons and beautiful parks. All these surrounded the city(16). On the outskirts of that city were many beautiful trees and creepers encircling a nice lake. Also surrounding that lake were many groups of birds and bees that were always chanting and humming (17).

The branches of the trees standing on the bank of the lake re ceived particles of water carried by the spring air from the falls coming down from the icy mountain (18).In such an atmosphere even the animals of the forest became nonviolent and nonenvious like great sages. Consequently, the animals did not attack anyone. Over and above everything was the cooing of the cuckoos. Any passenger passing along that path was invited by that atmosphere to take rest in that nice gar den (19). While wandering here and there in that won derful garden, King Puranjana suddenly came in contact with a very beautiful woman who was walking there without any engagement. She had ten servants with her, and each servant had hundreds of wives accompanying him (20).The woman was protected on all sides by a five-hooded snake. She was very beautiful and young, and she appeared very anxious to find a suitable husband (21).The woman’s nose, teeth and forehead were all very beauti ful. Her ears were equally very beautiful and were bedecked with dazzling earrings (22).

The waist and hips of the woman were very beauti ful. She was dressed in a yellow sārī with a golden belt. While she walked, her ankle bells rang. She appeared exactly like a denizen of the heavens (23).With the end of her sārī the woman was trying to cover her breasts, which were equally round and well placed side by side. She again and again tried to cover them out of shyness while she walked exactly like a great elephant (24). Puranjana, the hero, became attracted by the eyebrows and smiling face of the very beautiful girl and was immediately pierced by the arrows of her lusty desires. When she smiled shyly, she looked very beautiful to Puranjana, who, alt hough a hero, could not refrain from addressing her (25).My dear lotus-eyed, kindly explain to me where you are coming from, who you are, and whose daughter you are. You appear very chaste. What is the purpose of your coming here? What are you trying to do? Please explain all these things to me (26).My dear lotus-eyed, who are those eleven strong bodyguards with you, and who are those ten specific servants? Who are those women following the ten serv ants, and who is the snake that is preceding you? (27)

My dear beautiful girl, you are ex actly like the goddess of fortune or the wife of Lord Śiva or the goddess of learning, the wife of Lord Brahmā. Although you must be one of them, I see that you are loitering in this forest. Indeed, you are as silent as the great sages. Is it that you are searching after your own husband? Whoever your husband may be, simply by un derstanding that you are so faithful to him, he will come to possess all opulences. I think you must be the goddess of fortune, but I do not see the lotus flower in your hand. Therefore I am asking you where you have thrown that lotus (28).O greatly fortunate one, it appears that you are none of the women I have mentioned be cause I see that your feet are touching the ground. But if you are some woman of this planet, you can, like the goddess of fortune who, accompanied by Lord Viṣṇu, increases the beauty of the Vaikuṇṭha planets also in crease the beauty of this city by associating with me. You should understand that I am a great hero and a very powerful king on this planet (29).

Certainly your glancing upon me today has very much agitated my mind. Your smile, which is full of shyness but at the same time lusty, is agitating the most powerful cupid within me. Therefore, O most beautiful, I ask you to be merciful upon me (30). My dear girl, your face is so beautiful with your nice eye brows and eyes and with your bluish hair scat tered about. In addition, very sweet sounds are coming from your mouth. Nonetheless, you are so covered with shyness that you do not see me face to face. I therefore request you, my dear girl, to smile and kindly raise your head to see me (31). Nārada continued: My dear King, when Puranjana became so attracted and impatient to touch the girl and enjoy her, the girl also be came attracted by his words and accepted his request by smiling. By this time she was cer tainly attracted by the King (32).The girl said: O best of human beings, I do not know who has begotten me. I cannot speak to you perfectly about this. Nor do I know the names or the origin of the associates with me (33).

O great hero, we only know that we are existing in this place. We do not know what will come after. Indeed, we are so foolish that we do not care to understand who has created this beautiful place for our residence(34).My dear gentleman, all these men and women with me are known as my friends, and the snake, who always remains awake, protects this city even during my sleep ing hours. So much I know. I do not know any thing beyond this (35). O killer of the enemy, you have somehow or other come here. This is certainly great fortune for me. I wish all auspi cious things for you. You have a great desire to satisfy your senses, and all my friends and I shall try our best in all respects to fulfill your desires (36). My dear lord, I have just arranged this city of nine gates for you so that you can have all kinds of sense gratification. You may live here for one hundred years, and everything for your sense gratification will be supplied (37).

How can I expect to unite with others, who are neither conversant about sex nor capable of knowing how to enjoy life while living or after death? Such foolish persons are like animals because they do not know the process of sense enjoyment in this life and after death (38).The woman continued: In this material world, a householder’s life brings all kinds of happiness in religion, economic development, sense grat ification and the begetting of children, sons and grandsons. After that, one may desire liberation as well as material reputation. The householder can appreciate the results of sacrifices, which enable him to gain promotion to superior plan etary systems. All this material happiness is practically unknown to the transcendentalists. They cannot even imagine such happiness (39).The woman continued: According to au thorities, the householder life is pleasing not only to oneself but to all the forefathers, demi gods, great sages, saintly persons and everyone else. A householder life is thus beneficial (40).

O my dear hero, who in this world will not accept a husband like you? You are so famous, so magnanimous, so beautiful and so easily got ten (41).O mighty-armed, who in this world will not be attracted by your arms, which are just like the bodies of serpents? Actually you relieve the distress of husbandless women like us by your attractive smile and your aggressive mercy. We think that you are traveling on the surface of the earth just to benefit us only (42). The great sage Nārada continued: My dear King, those two the man and the woman supporting one another through mutual under standing, entered that city and enjoyed life for one hundred years (43).Many professional singers used to sing about the glories of King Puranjana and his glorious activities. When it was too hot in the summer, he used to enter a reservoir of water. He would surround himself with many women and enjoy their company (44).

Of the nine gates in that city, seven were on the surface and two were subterranean. A to tal of nine doors were constructed, and these led to different places. All the gates were used by the city’s governor (45).My dear King, of the nine doors, five led toward the eastern side, one led toward the northern side, one led to ward the southern side, and two led toward the western side. I shall try to give the names of these different doors (46).The two gates named Khadyotā and Āvirmukhī were situated facing the eastern side, but they were constructed in one place. Through those two gates the King used to go to the city of Vibhrājita accompanied by a friend whose name was Dyumān (47). Similarly in the east there were two sets of gates named Nalinī and Nālinī, and these were also constructed in one place. Through these gates the King, accompanied by a friend named Avadhūta, used to go to the city of Saurabha (48).

The fifth gate situated on the eastern side was named Mukhyā, or the chief. Through this gate, accompanied by his friends named Rasajña and Vipaṇa, he used to visit two places named Bahūdana and Āpaṇa (49).The southern gate of the city was known as Pitṛhū, and through that gate King Puranjana used to visit the city named Dakṣiṇa-pañcāla, accompanied by his friend Śrutadhara (50).On the northern side was the gate named Devahū. Through that gate, King Puranjana used to go with his friend Śrutadhara to the place known as Uttara pañcāla (51).On the western side was a gate named Āsurī. Through that gate King Pu ranjana used to go to the city of Grāmaka, ac companied by his friend Durmada (52).An other gate on the western side was known as Nirṛti. Puranjana used to go through this gate to the place known as Vaiśasa, accompanied by his friend Lubdhaka (53).

Of the many inhabit ants of this city, there are two persons named Nirvāk and Peśaskṛt. Although King Puranjana was the ruler of citizens who possessed eyes, he unfortunately used to associate with these blind men. Accompanied by them, he used to go here and there and perform various activities (54). Sometimes he used to go to his private home with one of his chief servants [the mind], who was named Viṣūcīna. At that time, illusion, sat isfaction and happiness used to be produced from his wife and children (55). Being thus en tangled in different types of mental concoction and engaged in fruitive activities, King Pu ranjana came completely under the control of material intelligence and was thus cheated. In deed, he used to fulfill all the desires of his wife, the Queen (56).

When the Queen drank liquor, King Puranjana also engaged in drink ing. When the Queen dined, he used to dine with her, and when she chewed, King Pu ranjana used to chew along with her. When the Queen sang, he also sang. Similarly, when the Queen cried, he also cried, and when the Queen laughed, he also laughed. When the Queen talked loosely, he also talked loosely, and when the Queen walked, the King walked behind her. When the Queen would stand still, the King would also stand still, and when the Queen would lie down in bed, he would also follow and lie down with her. When the Queen sat, he would also sit, and when the Queen heard something, he would follow her to hear the same thing. When the Queen saw something, the King would also look at it, and when the Queen smelled something, the King would fol low her to smell the same thing. When the Queen touched something, the King would also touch it, and when the dear Queen was lament ing, the poor King also had to follow her in lamentation. In the same way, when the Queen felt enjoyment, he also enjoyed, and when the Queen was satisfied, the King also felt satisfac tion (57-61).In this way, King Puranjana was captivated by his nice wife and was thus cheated. Indeed, he became cheated in his whole existence in the material world. Even against that poor foolish King’s desire, he re mained under the control of his wife, just like a pet animal that dances according to the order of its master (62).

The great sage Maitreya continued: Vi jitāśva, the eldest son of Mahārāja Pṛthu, who had a reputation like his father’s, became em peror and gave his younger brothers different directions of the world to govern, for he was very affectionate toward his brothers (1).Mahārāja Vijitāśva offered the eastern part of the world to his brother Haryakṣa, the south ern part to Dhūmrakeśa, the western part to Vṛka and the northern part to Draviṇa (2).For merly, Mahārāja Vijitāśva pleased the King of heaven, Indra, and from him received the title Antardhāna. His wife’s name was Śikhaṇḍinī, and by her he begot three good sons (3).

The three sons of Mahārāja Antardhāna were named Pāvaka, Pavamāna and Śuci. Formerly these three personalities were the demigods of fire, but due to the curse of the great sage Vasiṣṭha, they became the sons of Mahārāja Antardhāna. As such, they were as powerful as the fire-gods, and they attained the destination of mystic yoga power, being again situated as the demigods of fire (4). Mahārāja Antardhāna had another wife, named Nabhasvatī, and by her he was happy to beget another son, named Havirdhāna. Since Mahārāja Antardhāna was very liberal, he did not kill Indra while the demigod was stealing his father’s horse at the sacrifice (5).Whenever Antardhāna, the supreme royal power, had to exact taxes, punish his citizens or fine them se verely, he was not willing to do so. Conse quently he retired from the execution of such duties and engaged himself in the performance of different sacrifices (6).

Although Mahārāja Antardhāna was engaged in performing sacri fices, because he was a self-realizedsoul he very intelligently rendered devotional service to the Lord, who eradicates all the fears of His devotees. By thus worshiping the Supreme Lord, Mahārāja Antardhāna, rapt in ecstasy, at tained His planet very easily (7). Havirdhāna, the son of Mahārāja Antardhāna, had a wife named Havirdhānī, who gave birth to six sons, named Barhiṣat, Gaya, Śukla, Kṛṣṇa, Satya and Jitavrata (8).The great sage Maitreya continued: My dear Vidura, Havirdhāna’s very powerful son named Barhiṣat was very expert in performing various kinds of fruitive sacrifices, and he was also expert in the practice of mystic yoga. By his great qualifications, he became known as Prajāpati (9). Mahārāja Barhiṣat executed many sacrifices all over the world. He scattered kuśa grasses and kept the tops of the grasses pointed eastward (10).

Mahārāja Barhiṣat henceforward known as Prācīnabarhi was ordered by the supreme dem igod Brahmā to marry the daughter of the ocean named Śatadruti. Her bodily features were completely beautiful, and she was very young. She was decorated with the proper garments, and when she came into the marriage arena and began circumambulating it, the fire-god Agni became so attracted to her that he desired her company, exactly as he had formerly desired to enjoy Śukī (11).While Śatadruti was thus being married, the demons, the denizens of Gandhar valoka, the great sages, and the denizens of Sid dhaloka, the earthly planets and Nāgaloka, alt hough highly exalted, were all captivated by the tinkling of her ankle bells (12).King Prācīnabarhi begot ten children in the womb of Śatadruti. All of them were equally endowed with religiosity, and all of them were known as the Pracetās (13).

When all these Pracetās were ordered by their father to marry and beget chil dren, they all entered the ocean and practiced austerities and penances for ten thousand years. Thus they worshiped the master of all austerity, the Supreme Personality of Godhead (14).When all the sons of Prācīnabarhi left home to execute austerities, they met Lord Śiva, who, out of great mercy, instructed them about the Absolute Truth. All the sons of Prācīnabarhi meditated upon the instructions, chanting and worshiping them with great care and attention (15). Vidura asked Maitreya: My dear brāhmaṇa, why did the Pracetās meet Lord Śiva on the way? Please tell me how the meeting happened, how Lord Śiva became very pleased with them and how he instructed them. Cer tainly such talks are important, and I wish that you please be merciful upon me and describe them (16).

The great sage Vidura continued: O best of the brāhmaṇas, it is very difficult for liv ing entities encaged within this material body to have personal contact with Lord Śiva. Even great sages who have no material attachments do not contact him, despite their always being absorbed in meditation to attain his personal contact (17).Lord Śiva, the most powerful dem igod, second only to Lord Viṣṇu, is self-suffi cient. Although he has nothing to aspire for in the material world, for the benefit of those in the material world he is always busily engaged everywhere and is accompanied by his danger ous energies like the goddess Kālī and the god dess Durgā (18). The great sage Maitreya continued: My dear Vidura, because of their pious nature, all the sons of Prācīnabarhi very seriously ac cepted the words of their father with heart and soul, and with these words on their heads, they went toward the west to execute their father’s order (19).

While traveling, the Pracetās hap pened to see a great reservoir of water which seemed almost as big as the ocean. The water of this lake was so calm and quiet that it seemed like the mind of a great soul, and its inhabitants, the aquatics, appeared very peaceful and happy to be under the protection of such a watery res ervoir (20).In that great lake there were differ ent types of lotus flowers. Some of them were bluish, and some of them were red. Some of them grew at night, some in the day and some, like the indīvara lotus flower, in the evening. Combined together, the lotus flowers filled the lake so full that the lake appeared to be a great mine of such flowers. Consequently, on the shores there were swans and cranes, cakravākas, kāraṇḍavas and other beautiful wa ter birds standing about (21).

There were vari ous trees and creepers on all sides of the lake, and there were mad bumblebees humming all about them. The trees appeared to be very jolly due to the sweet humming of the bumblebees, and the saffron, which was contained in the lo tus flowers, was being thrown into the air. These all created such an atmosphere that it ap peared as though a festival were taking place there (22).The sons of the King became very much amazed when they heard vibrations from various drums and kettledrums along with other orderly musical sounds pleasing to the ear (23). The Pracetās were fortunate to see Lord Śiva, the chief of the demigods, emerging from the water with his associates. His bodily luster was just like molten gold, his throat was bluish, and he had three eyes, which looked very mer cifully upon his devotees. He was accompanied by many musicians, who were glorifying him. As soon as the Pracetās saw Lord Śiva, they im mediately offered their obeisances in great amazement and fell down at the lotus feet of the lord (24-25).

Lord Śiva became very pleased with the Pracetās because generally Lord Śiva is the protector of pious persons and persons of gentle behavior. Being very much pleased with the princes, he began to speak as follows (26). Lord Śiva said: You are all the sons of King Prācīnabarhi, and I wish all good fortune to you. I also know what you are going to do, and therefore I am visible to you just to show my mercy upon you (27).Lord Śiva continued: Any person who is surrendered to the Supreme Per sonality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, the controller of everything material nature as well as the living entity is actually very dear to me (28). A per son who executes his occupational duty properly for one hundred births becomes qual ified to occupy the post of Brahmā, and if he becomes more qualified, he can approach Lord Śiva. A person who is directly surrendered to Lord Kṛṣṇa, or Viṣṇu, in unalloyed devotional service is immediately promoted to the spiritual planets. Lord Śiva and other demigods attain these planets after the destruction of this mate rial world (29).

You are all devotees of the Lord, and as such I appreciate that you are as respect able as the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. I know in this way that the devotees also respect me and that I am dear to them. Thus no one can be as dear to the devotees as I am (30).Now I shall chant one mantra which is not only transcendental, pure and auspicious, but is the best prayer for anyone who is aspiring to attain the ultimate goal of life. When I chant this mantra, please hear it carefully and atten tively (31). The great sage Maitreya continued: Out of his causeless mercy, the exalted personality Lord Śiva, a great devotee of Lord Nārāyaṇa, continued to speak to the King’s sons, who were standing with folded hands (32). Lord Śiva addressed the Supreme Per sonality of Godhead with the following prayer: O Supreme Personality of Godhead, all glories unto You. You are the most exalted of all self-realized souls. Since You are always auspicious for the self-realized, I wish that You be auspicious for me. You are worshipable by virtue of the all-perfect instructions You give. You are the Supersoul; therefore I offer my obeisances unto You as the supreme living be ing (33).

My Lord, You are the origin of the cre ation by virtue of the lotus flower which sprouts from Your navel. You are the supreme control ler of the senses and the sense objects, and You are also the all-pervading Vāsudeva. You are most peaceful, and because of Your self-illumi nated existence, You are not disturbed by the six kinds of transformations (34). My dear Lord, You are the origin of the subtle material ingredients, the master of all integration as well as the master of all disintegration, the predom inating Deity named Saṅkarṣaṇa, and the mas ter of all intelligence, known as the predomi nating Deity Pradyumna. Therefore, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You (35).My Lord, as the supreme directing Deity known as Aniruddha, You are the master of the senses and the mind. I therefore offer my obeisances unto You again and again. You are known as Ananta as well as Saṅkarṣaṇa because of Your ability to destroy the whole creation by the blazing fire from Your mouth (36).

My Lord, O Aniruddha, You are the authority by which the doors of the higher planetary systems and lib eration are opened. You are always within the pure heart of the living entity. Therefore I offer my obeisances unto You. You are the possessor of semen which is like gold, and thus, in the form of fire, You help the Vedic sacrifices, be ginning with cātur-hotra. Therefore I offer my obeisances unto You (37). My Lord, You are the provider of the Pitṛlokas as well as all the demigods. You are the predominating deity of the moon and the master of all three Vedas. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You be cause You are the original source of satisfac tion for all living entities (38).My dear Lord, You are the gigantic universal form which con tains all the individual bodies of the living en tities. You are the maintainer of the three worlds, and as such You maintain the mind, senses, body, and air of life within them. I therefore offer my respectful obeisances unto You (39).

My dear Lord, by expanding Your transcendental vibrations, You reveal the actual meaning of everything. You are the all-pervad ing sky within and without, and You are the ul timate goal of pious activities executed both within this material world and beyond it. I therefore offer my respectful obeisances again and again unto You (40).My dear Lord, You are the viewer of the results of pious activities. You are inclination, disinclination and their result ant activities. You are the cause of the misera ble conditions of life caused by irreligion, and therefore You are death. I offer You my re spectful obeisances (41).My dear Lord, You are the topmost of all bestowers of all benediction, the oldest and supreme enjoyer amongst all en joyers. You are the master of all the worlds’ metaphysical philosophy, for You are the su preme cause of all causes, Lord Kṛṣṇa. You are the greatest of all religious principles, the su preme mind, and You have a brain which is never checked by any condition. Therefore I re peatedly offer my obeisances unto You (42).

My dear Lord, You are the supreme controller of the worker, sense activities and results of sense activities [karma]. Therefore You are the controller of the body, mind and senses. You are also the supreme controller of egotism, known as Rudra. You are the source of knowledge and the activities of the Vedic in junctions (43). My dear Lord, I wish to see You exactly in the form that Your very dear devotees worship. You have many other forms, but I wish to see Your form that is especially liked by the devo tees. Please be merciful upon me and show me that form, for only that form worshiped by the devotees can perfectly satisfy all the demands of the senses (44).The Lord’s beauty resembles a dark cloud during the rainy season. As the rainfall glistens, His bodily features also glis ten. Indeed, He is the sum total of all beauty. The Lord has four arms and an exquisitely beautiful face with eyes like lotus petals, a beautiful highly raised nose, a mind-attracting smile, a beautiful forehead and equally beauti ful and fully decorated ears (45-46).

The Lord is superexcellently beautiful on account of His open and merciful smile and His sidelong glance upon His devotees. His black hair is curly, and His garments, waving in the wind, appear like flying saffron pollen from lotus flowers. His glittering earrings, shining helmet, bangles, garland, ankle bells, waist belt and various other bodily ornaments combine with conchshell, disc, club and lotus flower to in crease the natural beauty of the Kaustubha pearl on His chest (47-48). The Lord has shoul ders just like a lion’s. Upon these shoulders are garlands, necklaces and epaulets, and all of these are always glittering. Besides these, there is the beauty of the Kaustubha-maṇi pearl, and on the dark chest of the Lord there are streaks named Śrīvatsa, which are signs of the goddess of fortune. The glittering of these streaks excels the beauty of the golden streaks on a gold-test ing stone. Indeed, such beauty defeats a gold testing stone (49).

The Lord’s abdomen is beau tiful due to three ripples in the flesh. Being so round, His abdomen resembles the leaf of a banyan tree, and when He exhales and inhales, the movement of the ripples appears very, very beautiful. The coils within the navel of the Lord are so deep that it appears that the entire uni verse sprouted out of it and yet again wishes to go back (50).The lower part of the Lord’s waist is dark and covered with yellow garments and a belt bedecked with golden embroidery work. His symmetrical lotus feet and the calves, thighs and joints of His legs are extraordinarily beautiful. Indeed, the Lord’s entire body ap pears to be well built (51).

My dear Lord, Your two lotus feet are so beautiful that they appear like two blossoming petals of the lotus flower which grows during the autumn season. Indeed, the nails of Your lotus feet emanate such a great effulgence that they immediately dissipate all the darkness in the heart of a conditioned soul. My dear Lord, kindly show me that form of Yours which always dissipates all kinds of darkness in the heart of a devotee. My dear Lord, You are the supreme spiritual master of everyone; therefore all conditioned souls cov ered with the darkness of ignorance can be en lightened by You as the spiritual master (52). My dear Lord, those who desire to purify their existence must always engage in medita tion upon Your lotus feet, as described above. Those who are serious about executing their oc cupational duties and who want freedom from fear must take to this process of bhakti-yoga (53).

My dear Lord, the king in charge of the heavenly kingdom is also desirous of obtaining the ultimate goal of life devotional service. Similarly, You are the ultimate destination of those who identify themselves with You [ahaṁ brahmāsmi]. However, it is very difficult for them to attain You, whereas a devotee can very easily attain Your Lordship (54).My dear Lord, pure devotional service is even difficult for lib erated persons to discharge, but devotional ser vice alone can satisfy You. Who will take to other processes of self-realization if he is actu ally serious about the perfection of life? (55) Simply by expansion of His eyebrows, invinci ble time personified can immediately vanquish the entire universe. However, formidable time does not approach the devotee who has taken complete shelter at Your lotus feet (56).

If one by chance associates with a devotee, even for a fraction of a moment, he no longer is subject to attraction by the results of karma or Jnana. What interest then can he have in the benedic tions of the demigods, who are subject to the laws of birth and death?(57) My dear Lord, Your lotus feet are the cause of all auspicious things and the destroyer of all the contamina tion of sin. I therefore beg Your Lordship to bless me by the association of Your devotees, who are completely purified by worshiping Your lotus feet and who are so merciful upon the conditioned souls. I think that Your real benediction will be to allow me to associate with such devotees (58).The devotee whose heart has been completely cleansed by the pro cess of devotional service and who is favored by Bhaktidevī does not become bewildered by the external energy, which is just like a dark well. Being completely cleansed of all material contamination in this way, a devotee is able to understand very happily Your name, fame, form, activities, etc (59).

My dear Lord, the im personal Brahman spreads everywhere, like the sunshine or the sky. And that impersonal Brah man, which spreads throughout the universe and in which the entire universe is manifested, is You (60). My dear Lord, You have manifold energies, and these energies are manifested in manifold forms. With such energies You have also cre ated this cosmic manifestation, and although You maintain it as if it were permanent, You ultimately annihilate it. Although You are never disturbed by such changes and altera tions, the living entities are disturbed by them, and therefore they find the cosmic manifesta tion to be different or separated from You. My Lord, You are always independent, and I can clearly see this fact (61).My dear Lord, Your universal form consists of all five elements, the senses, mind, intelligence, false ego (which is material) and the Paramātmā, Your partial ex pansion, who is the director of everything. Yogīs other than the devotees namely the karma-yogī and Jnana-yogī worship You by their respective actions in their respective posi tions. It is stated both in the Vedas and in the śāstras that are corollaries of the Vedas, and in deed everywhere, that it is only You who are to be worshiped. That is the expert version of all the Vedas (62).

My dear Lord, You are the only Supreme Person, the cause of all causes. Before the creation of this material world, Your mate rial energy remains in a dormant condition. When Your material energy is agitated, the three qualities namely goodness, passion and ignorance act, and as a result the total material energy egotism, ether, air, fire, water, earth and all the various demigods and saintly persons becomes manifest. Thus the material world is created (63).My dear Lord, after creating by Your own potencies, You enter within the cre ation in four kinds of forms. Being within the hearts of the living entities, You know them and know how they are enjoying their senses. The so-called happiness of this material crea tion is exactly like the bees’ enjoyment of honey after it has been collected in the honey comb (64).

My dear Lord, Your absolute authority can not be directly experienced, but one can guess by seeing the activities of the world that every thing is being destroyed in due course of time. The force of time is very strong, and everything is being destroyed by something else just as one animal is being eaten by another animal. Time scatters everything, exactly as the wind scatters clouds in the sky (65).My dear Lord, all living entities within this material world are mad after planning for things, and they are al ways busy with a desire to do this or that. This is due to uncontrollable greed. The greed for material enjoyment is always existing in the living entity, but Your Lordship is always alert, and in due course of time You strike him, just as a snake seizes a mouse and very easily swal lows him (66).My dear Lord, any learned per son knows that unless he worships You, his en tire life is spoiled. Knowing this, how could he give up worshiping Your lotus feet? Even our father and spiritual master, Lord Brahmā, un hesitatingly worshiped You, and the fourteen Manus followed in his footsteps (67).

My dear Lord, all actually learned persons know You as the Supreme Brahman and the Supersoul. Alt hough the entire universe is afraid of Lord Ru dra, who ultimately annihilates everything, for the learned devotees You are the fearless desti nation of all (68). My dear sons of the King, just execute your occupational duty as kings with a pure heart. Just chant this prayer fixing your mind on the lotus feet of the Lord. That will bring you all good fortune, for the Lord will be very much pleased with you (69).Therefore, O sons of the King, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, is situated in everyone’s heart. He is also within your hearts. Therefore chant the glories of the Lord and always meditate upon Him con tinuously (70). My dear princes, in the form of a prayer I have delineated the yoga system of chanting the holy name. All of you should take this important stotra within your minds and promise to keep it in order to become great sages. By acting silently like a great sage and by giving attention and reverence, you should practice this method (71).

This prayer was first spoken to us by Lord Brahmā, the master of all creators. The creators, headed by Bhṛgu, were instructed in these prayers because they wanted to create (72).When all the Prajāpatis were or dered to create by Lord Brahmā, we chanted these prayers in praise of the Supreme Person ality of Godhead and became completely free from all ignorance. Thus we were able to create different types of living entities (73).A devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa whose mind is always absorbed in Him, who with great attention and reverence chants this stotra [prayer], will achieve the greatest perfection of life without delay (74).In this material world there are different types of achievement, but of all of them the achieve ment of knowledge is considered to be the high est because one can cross the ocean of nesci ence only on the boat of knowledge. Otherwise the ocean is impassable (75).

Although render ing devotional service to the Supreme Person ality of Godhead and worshiping Him are very difficult, if one vibrates or simply reads this stotra [prayer] composed and sung by me, he will very easily be able to invoke the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead (76).The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the dear most objective of all auspicious benedictions. A human being who sings this song sung by me can please the Supreme Personality of God head. Such a devotee, being fixed in the Lord’s devotional service, can acquire whatever he wants from the Supreme Lord (77).A devotee who rises early in the morning and with folded hands chants these prayers sung by Lord Śiva, and gives facility to others to hear them, cer tainly becomes free from all bondage to fruitive activities (78).My dear sons of the King, the prayers I have recited to you are meant for pleasing the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supersoul. I advise you to recite these pray ers, which are as effective as great austerities. In this way, when you are mature, your life will be successful, and you will certainly achieve all your desired objectives without fail (79).

At the last stage of his life, when Mahārāja Pṛthu saw himself getting old, that great soul, who was king of the world, divided whatever opulence he had accumulated amongst all kinds of living entities, moving and nonmoving. He arranged pensions for everyone according to re ligious principles, and after executing the or ders of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in complete coordination with Him, he dedicated his sons unto the earth, which was considered to be his daughter. Then Mahārāja Pṛthu left the presence of his citizens, who were almost la menting and crying from feeling separation from the King, and went to the forest alone with his wife to perform austerities (1-3).After retir ing from family life, Mahārāja Pṛthu strictly followed the regulations of retired life and un derwent severe austerities in the forest. He en gaged in these activities as seriously as he had formerly engaged in leading the government and conquering everyone (4).

In the tapo-vana, Mahārāja Pṛthu sometimes ate the trunks and roots of trees, sometimes he ate fruit and dried leaves, and for some weeks he drank only wa ter. Finally he lived simply by breathing air (5).Following the principles of forest living and the footsteps of the great sages and munis, Pṛthu Mahārāja accepted five kinds of heating processes during the summer season, exposed himself to torrents of rain in the rainy season and, in the winter, stood in water up to his neck. He also used to simply lie down on the floor to sleep (6).Mahārāja Pṛthu underwent all these severe austerities in order to control his words and his senses, to refrain from discharging his semen and to control the life air within his body. All this he did for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. He had no other purpose (7).

By thus practicing severe austerities, Mahārāja Pṛthu gradually became steadfast in spiritual life and completely free of all desires for fruitive activ ities. He also practiced breathing exercises to control his mind and senses, and by such con trol he became completely free from all desires for fruitive activity (8).Thus the best amongst human beings, Mahārāja Pṛthu, followed that path of spiritual advancement which was ad vised by Sanat-kumāra. That is to say, he wor shiped the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa (9). Mahārāja Pṛthu thus engaged com pletely in devotional service, executing the rules and regulations strictly according to prin ciples, twenty-four hours daily. Thus his love and devotion unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, developed and became un flinching and fixed (10). By regularly discharging devotional service, Pṛthu Mahārāja became transcendental in mind and could therefore constantly think of the lotus feet of the Lord. Because of this, he became completely detached and attained perfect knowledge by which he could transcend all doubt. Thus he was freed from the clutches of false ego and the material conception of life (11).

When he became completely free from the conception of bodily life, Mahārāja Pṛthu real ized Lord Kṛṣṇa sitting in everyone’s heart as the Paramātmā. Being thus able to get all in structions from Him, he gave up all other prac tices of yoga and Jnana. He was not even inter ested in the perfection of the yoga and Jnana systems, for he thoroughly realized that devo tional service to Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate goal of life and that unless the yogīs and jñānīs become attracted to kṛṣṇa-kathā [narrations about Kṛṣṇa], their illusions concerning existence can never be dispelled (12).In due course of time, when Pṛthu Mahārāja was to give up his body, he fixed his mind firmly upon the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, and thus, completely situated on the brahma-bhūta platform, he gave up the material body (13). When Mahārāja Pṛthu practiced a particular yogic sitting posture, he blocked the door of his anus with his ankles, pressed his right and left calves and gradually raised his life air upward, passing it on to the circle of his na vel, up to his heart and throat, and finally pushed it upward to the central position be tween his two eyebrows (14).

In this way, Pṛthu Mahārāja gradually raised his air of life up to the hole in his skull, whereupon he lost all de sire for material existence. Gradually he merged his air of life with the totality of air, his body with the totality of earth, and the fire within his body with the totality of fire (15).In this way, according to the different positions of the various parts of the body, Pṛthu Mahārāja merged the holes of his senses with the sky; his bodily liquids, such as blood and various secre tions, with the totality of water; and he merged earth with water, then water with fire, fire with air, air with sky, and so on (16).He amalga mated the mind with the senses and the senses with the sense objects, according to their re spective positions, and he also amalgamated the material ego with the total material energy, mahat-tattva (17).

Pṛthu Mahārāja then offered the total designation of the living entity unto the supreme controller of illusory energy. Being re leased from all the designations by which the living entity became entrapped, he became free by knowledge and renunciation and by the spir itual force of his devotional service. In this way, being situated in his original constitu tional position of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he gave up this body as a prabhu, or controller of the senses (18). The Queen, the wife of Pṛthu Mahārāja, whose name was Arci, followed her husband into the forest. Since she was a queen, her body was very delicate. Although she did not deserve to live in the forest, she voluntarily touched her lotus feet to the ground (19).Although she was not accustomed to such difficulties, Queen Arci followed her husband in the regulative princi ples of living in the forest like great sages. She lay down on the ground and ate only fruits, flowers and leaves, and because she was not fit for these activities, she became frail and thin. Yet because of the pleasure she derived in serv ing her husband, she did not feel any difficul ties (20).When Queen Arci saw that her hus band, who had been so merciful to her and the earth, no longer showed symptoms of life, she lamented for a little while and then built a fiery pyre on top of a hill and placed the body of her husband on it (21).

After this, the Queen exe cuted the necessary funerary functions and of fered oblations of water. After bathing in the river, she offered obeisances to various demi gods situated in the sky in the different plane tary systems. She then circumambulated the fire and, while thinking of the lotus feet of her husband, entered its flames(22).After observ ing this brave act performed by the chaste wife Arci, the wife of the great King Pṛthu, many thousands of the wives of the demigods, along with their husbands, offered prayers to the Queen, for they were very much satisfied (23).At that time the demigods were situated on the top of Mandara Hill, and all their wives be gan to shower flowers on the funeral pyre and began to talk amongst themselves as follows (24). The wives of the demigods said: All glo ries to Queen Arci! We can see that this queen of the great King Pṛthu, the emperor of all the kings of the world, has served her husband with mind, speech and body exactly as the goddess of fortune serves the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Yajñeśa, or Viṣṇu (25).

The wives of the demigods continued: Just see how this chaste lady, Arci, by dint of her inconceivable pious activities, is still following her husband upward, as far as we can see (26).In this mate rial world, every human being has a short span of life, but those who are engaged in devotional service go back home, back to Godhead, for they are actually on the path of liberation. For such persons, there is nothing which is not available (27). Any person who engages him self within this material world in performing activities that necessitate great struggle, and who, after obtaining a human form of life which is a chance to attain liberation from mis eries undertakes the difficult tasks of fruitive activities, must be considered to be cheated and envious of his own self (28). The great sage Maitreya continued speaking: My dear Vidura, when the wives of the denizens of heaven were thus talking amongst themselves, Queen Arci reached the planet which her husband, Mahārāja Pṛthu, the topmost self-realized soul, had attained (29).

Maitreya continued: The greatest of all devotees, Mahārāja Pṛthu, was very powerful, and his character was liberal, magnificent and magnanimous. Thus I have described him to you as far as possible (30).Any person who de scribes the great characteristics of King Pṛthu with faith and determination whether he reads or hears of them himself or helps others to hear of them is certain to attain the very planet which Mahārāja Pṛthu attained. In other words, such a person also returns home to the Vaikuṇṭha planets, back to Godhead (31).If one hears of the characteristics of Pṛthu Mahārāja and is a brāhmaṇa, he becomes perfectly quali fied with brahminical powers; if he is a kṣat riya, he becomes a king of the world; if he is a vaiśya, he becomes a master of other vaiśyas and many animals; and if he is a śūdra, he be comes the topmost devotee (32).

It does not matter whether one is a man or woman. Anyone who, with great respect, hears this narration of Mahārāja Pṛthu will become the parent of many children if without children, and will become the richest if without money(33).Also, one who hears this narration three times will become very reputable if he is not recognized in society, and he will become a great scholar if he is illit erate. In other words, hearing of the narrations of Pṛthu Mahārāja is so auspicious that it drives away all bad luck (34).By hearing the narration of Pṛthu Mahārāja, one can become great, in crease his duration of life, gain promotion to the heavenly planets and counteract the con taminations of this Age of Kali. In addition, one can promote the causes of religion, economic development, sense gratification and liberation. Therefore from all sides it is advisable for a ma terialistic person who is interested in such things to read and hear the narrations of the life and character of Pṛthu Mahārāja (35).

If a king, who is desirous of attaining victory and ruling power, chants the narration of Pṛthu Mahārāja three times before going forth on his chariot, all subordinate kings will automatically render all kinds of taxes unto him as they rendered them unto Mahārāja Pṛthu simply upon his order (36).A pure devotee who is executing the dif ferent processes of devotional service may be situated in the transcendental position, being completely absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but even he, while discharging devotional ser vice, must hear, read and induce others to hear about the character and life of Pṛthu Mahārāja (37).The great sage Maitreya continued: My dear Vidura, I have as far as possible spoken the narrations about Pṛthu Mahārāja, which en rich one’s devotional attitude. Whoever takes advantage of these benefits also goes back home, back to Godhead, like Mahārāja Pṛthu (38).Whoever, with great reverence and adora tion, regularly reads, chants and describes the history of Mahārāja Pṛthu’s activities will cer tainly increase unflinching faith and attraction for the lotus feet of the Lord. The Lord’s lotus feet are the boat by which one can cross the ocean of nescience (39).

The great sage Maitreya said: While the citizens were thus praying to the most powerful King Pṛthu, the four Kumāras, who were as bright as the sun, arrived on the spot (1). Seeing the glowing effulgence of the four Kumāras, the masters of all mystic power, the King and his associates could recognize them as they de scended from the sky (2). Seeing the four Kumāras, Pṛthu Mahārāja was greatly anxious to receive them. Therefore the King, with all his officers, very hastily got up, as anxiously as a conditioned soul whose senses are immediately attracted by the modes of material nature (3).When the great sages accepted their recep tion, according to the instructions of the śāstras, and finally took their seats offered by the King, the King, influenced by the glories of the sages, immediately bowed down. Thus he worshiped the four Kumāras (4).

After this, the King took the water which had washed the lotus feet of the Kumāras and sprinkled it over his hair. By such respectful actions, the King, as an exemplary personality, showed how to receive a spiritually advanced personality (5).The four great sages were elder to Lord Śiva, and when they were seated on the golden throne, they appeared just like fire blazing on an altar. Mahārāja Pṛthu, out of his great gentleness and respect for them, be gan to speak with great restraint as follows (6). King Pṛthu spoke: My dear great sages, auspiciousness personified, it is very difficult for even the mystic yogīs to see you. Indeed, you are very rarely seen. I do not know what kind of pious activity I performed for you to grace me by appearing before me without diffi culty (7). Any person upon whom the brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas are pleased can achieve anything which is very rare to obtain in this world as well as after death. Not only that, but one also receives the favor of the auspicious Lord Śiva and Lord Viṣṇu, who accompany the brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas (8).

Pṛthu Mahārāja continued: Although you are traveling in all planetary systems, people cannot know you, just as they cannot know the Supersoul, alt hough He is within everyone’s heart as the wit ness of everything. Even Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva cannot understand the Supersoul (9). A person who is not very rich and is attached to family life becomes highly glorified when saintly persons are present in his home. The master and servants who are engaged in offer ing the exalted visitors water, a sitting place and paraphernalia for reception are glorified, and the home itself is also glorified (10).On the contrary, even though full of all opulence and material prosperity, any householder’s house where the devotees of the Lord are never al lowed to come in, and where there is no water for washing their feet, is to be considered a tree in which all venomous serpents live (11).

Mahārāja Pṛthu offered his welcome to the four Kumāras, addressing them as the best of the brāhmaṇas. He welcomed them, saying: From the beginning of your birth you strictly observed the vows of celibacy, and although you are experienced in the path of liberation, you are keeping yourselves just like small chil dren (12).Pṛthu Mahārāja inquired from the sages about persons entangled in this danger ous material existence because of their previous actions. Could such persons, whose only aim is sense gratification, be blessed with any good fortune? (13) Pṛthu Mahārāja continued: My dear sirs, there is no need to ask about your good and bad fortune because you are always absorbed in spiritual bliss. The mental concoc tion of the auspicious and inauspicious does not exist in you (14).I am completely assured that personalities like you are the only friends for persons who are blazing in the fire of material existence. I therefore ask you how in this mate rial world we can very soon achieve the ulti mate goal of life (15).

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is always anxious to elevate the liv ing entities, who are His parts and parcels, and for their special benefit the Lord travels all over the world in the form of self-realized persons like you (16). The great sage Maitreya continued: Thus Sanat-kumāra, the best of the celibates, after hearing the speech of Pṛthu Mahārāja, which was meaningful, appropriate, full of precise words and very sweet to hear, smiled with full satisfaction and began to speak as follows (17). Sanat-kumāra said: My dear King Pṛthu, I am very nicely questioned by you. Such ques tions are beneficial for all living entities, espe cially because they are raised by you, who are always thinking of the good of others. Although you know everything, you ask such questions because that is the behavior of saintly persons. Such intelligence is befitting your position (18).When there is a congregation of devotees, their discussions, questions and answers be come conclusive to both the speaker and the au dience. Thus such a meeting is beneficial for everyone’s real happiness (19).

Sanat-kumāra continued: My dear King, you already have an inclination to glorify the lotus feet of the Su preme Personality of Godhead. Such attach ment is very difficult to achieve, but when one has attained such unflinching faith in the Lord, it automatically cleanses lusty desires from the core of the heart (20).It has been conclusively decided in the scriptures, after due considera tion, that the ultimate goal for the welfare of human society is detachment from the bodily concept of life and increased and steadfast at tachment for the Supreme Lord, who is tran scendental, beyond the modes of material na ture (21).Attachment for the Supreme can be increased by practicing devotional service, in quiring about the Supreme Personality of God head, applying bhakti-yoga in life, worshiping the Yogeśvara, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and by hearing and chanting about the glories of the Supreme Personality of God head. These actions are pious in themselves (22).

One has to make progress in spiritual life by not associating with persons who are simply interested in sense gratification and making money. Not only such persons, but one who as sociates with such persons should be avoided. One should mold his life in such a way that he cannot live in peace without drinking the nectar of the glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari. One can be thus elevated by being disgusted with the taste for sense enjoy ment (23).A candidate for spiritual advance ment must be nonviolent, must follow in the footsteps of great ācāryas, must always remem ber the nectar of the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, must follow the regu lative principles without material desire and, while following the regulative principles, should not blaspheme others. A devotee should lead a very simple life and not be disturbed by the duality of opposing elements. He should learn to tolerate them (24).

The devotee should gradually increase the culture of devotional ser vice by constant hearing of the transcendental qualities of the Supreme Personality of God head. These pastimes are like ornamental dec orations on the ears of devotees. By rendering devotional service and transcending the mate rial qualities, one can easily be fixed in tran scendence in the Supreme Personality of God head (25).Upon becoming fixed in his attach ment to the Supreme Personality of Godhead by the grace of the spiritual master and by awakening knowledge and detachment, the liv ing entity, situated within the heart of the body and covered by the five elements, burns up his material surroundings exactly as fire, arising from wood, burns the wood itself (26).When a person becomes devoid of all material desires and liberated from all material qualities, he transcends distinctions between actions exe cuted externally and internally. At that time the difference between the soul and the Supersoul, which was existing before self-realization, is annihilated. When a dream is over, there is no longer a distinction between the dream and the dreamer (27).

When the soul exists for sense gratification, he creates different desires, and for that reason he becomes subjected to designations. But when one is in the transcendental position, he is no longer interested in anything except ful filling the desires of the Lord (28).Only be cause of different causes does a person see a difference between himself and others, just as one sees the reflection of a body appearing dif ferently manifested on water, on oil or in a mir ror (29).When one’s mind and senses are at tracted to sense objects for enjoyment, the mind becomes agitated. As a result of continually thinking of sense objects, one’s real conscious ness almost becomes lost, like the water in a lake that is gradually sucked up by the big grass straws on its bank (30).When one deviates from his original consciousness, he loses the capac ity to remember his previous position or recog nize his present one. When remembrance is lost, all knowledge acquired is based on a false foundation. When this occurs, learned scholars consider that the soul is lost (31).

There is no stronger obstruction to one’s self-interest than thinking other subject matters to be more pleas ing than one’s self-realization (32). For human society, constantly thinking of how to earn money and apply it for sense grat ification brings about the destruction of every one’s interests. When one becomes devoid of knowledge and devotional service, he enters into species of life like those of trees and stones (33).Those who strongly desire to cross the ocean of nescience must not associate with the modes of ignorance, for hedonistic activities are the greatest obstructions to realization of re ligious principles, economic development, reg ulated sense gratification and, at last, liberation (34).Out of the four principles namely religion, economic development, sense gratification and liberation liberation has to be taken very seri ously. The other three are subject to destruction by the stringent law of nature death (35).

We accept as blessings different states of higher life, distinguishing them from lower states of life, but we should know that such distinctions exist only in relation to the interchange of the modes of material nature. Actually these states of life have no permanent existence, for all of them will be destroyed by the supreme control ler (36). Sanat-kumāra advised the King: Therefore, my dear King Pṛthu, try to understand the Su preme Personality of Godhead, who is living within everyone’s heart along with the individ ual soul, in each and every body, either moving or not moving. The individual souls are fully covered by the gross material body and subtle body made of the life air and intelligence (37).The Supreme Personality of Godhead manifests Himself as one with the cause and ef fect within this body, but one who has trans cended the illusory energy by deliberate con sideration, which clears the misconception of a snake for a rope, can understand that the Paramātmā is eternally transcendental to the material creation and situated in pure internal energy. Thus the Lord is transcendental to all material contamination. Unto Him only must one surrender (38).

The devotees, who are al ways engaged in the service of the toes of the lotus feet of the Lord, can very easily overcome hard-knotted desires for fruitive activities. Be cause this is very difficult, the nondevotees the jñānīs and yogīs although trying to stop the waves of sense gratification, cannot do so. Therefore you are advised to engage in the de votional service of Kṛṣṇa, the son of Vasudeva (39).The ocean of nescience is very difficult to cross because it is infested with many danger ous sharks. Although those who are nondevo tees undergo severe austerities and penances to cross that ocean, we recommend that you simply take shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord, which are like boats for crossing the ocean. Alt hough the ocean is difficult to cross, by taking shelter of His lotus feet you will overcome all dangers (40). The great sage Maitreya continued: Being thus enlightened in complete spiritual knowledge by the son of Brahmā one of the Kumāras, who was complete in spiritual knowledge the King worshiped them in the fol lowing words (41).

The King said: O brāhmaṇa, O powerful one, formerly Lord Viṣṇu showed me His causeless mercy, indicating that you would come to my house, and to confirm that blessing, you have all come (42).My dear brāhmaṇa, you have carried out the order thoroughly because you are also as compassionate as the Lord. It is my duty, therefore, to offer you something, but all I possess are but remnants of food taken by great saintly persons. What shall I give? (43) The King continued: Therefore, my dear brāhmaṇas, my life, wife, children, home, fur niture and household paraphernalia, my king dom, strength, land and especially my treasury are all offered unto you (44).Since only a per son who is completely educated according to the principles of Vedic knowledge deserves to be commander-in-chief, ruler of the state, the first to chastise or the proprietor of the whole planet, Pṛthu Mahārāja offered everything to the Kumāras (45).

The kṣatriyas, vaiśyas and śūdras eat their food by virtue of the brāhmaṇas’ mercy. It is the brāhmaṇas who en joy their own property, clothe themselves with their own property and give charity with their own property (46).Pṛthu Mahārāja continued: How can such persons, who have rendered un limited service by explaining the path of self realization in relation to the Supreme Personal ity of Godhead, and whose explanations are given for our enlightenment with complete conviction and Vedic evidence, be repaid ex cept by folded palms containing water for their satisfaction? Such great personalities can be satisfied only by their own activities, which are distributed amongst human society out of their unlimited mercy (47). The great sage Maitreya continued: Being thus worshiped by Mahārāja Pṛthu, the four Kumāras, who were masters of devotional ser vice, became very pleased. Indeed, they ap peared in the sky and praised the character of the King, and everyone observed them (48).

Amongst great personalities, Mahārāja Pṛthu was the chief by virtue of his fixed posi tion in relation to spiritual enlightenment. He remained satisfied as one who has achieved all success in spiritual understanding (49).Being self-satisfied, Mahārāja Pṛthu executed his du ties as perfectly as possible according to the time and his situation, strength and financial position. His only aim in all his activities was to satisfy the Absolute Truth. In this way, he duly acted (50).Mahārāja Pṛthu completely dedicated himself to be an eternal servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, transcenden tal to material nature. Consequently all the fruits of his activities were dedicated to the Lord, and he always thought of himself as the servant of the Supreme Personality of God head, who is the proprietor of everything (51).Mahārāja Pṛthu, who was very opulent due to the prosperity of his entire empire, remained at home as a householder. Since he was never inclined to utilize his opulences for the gratifi cation of his senses, he remained unattached, exactly like the sun, which is unaffected in all circumstances (52).

Being situated in the liberated position of devotional service, Pṛthu Mahārāja not only performed all fruitive activities but also begot five sons by his wife, Arci. Indeed, all his sons were begotten according to his own desire (53). After begetting five sons, named Vijitāśva, Dhūmrakeśa, Haryakṣa, Draviṇa and Vṛka, Pṛthu Mahārāja continued to rule the planet. He accepted all the qualities of the deities who governed all other planets (54).Since Mahārāja Pṛthu was a perfect devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he wanted to protect the Lord’s creation by pleasing the various cit izens according to their various desires. There fore Pṛthu Mahārāja used to please them in all respects by his words, mentality, works and gentle behavior (55).

Mahārāja Pṛthu became as celebrated a king as Soma-rāja, the king of the moon. He was also powerful and exacting, just like the sun-god, who distributes heat and light and at the same time exacts all the planetary waters (56). Mahārāja Pṛthu was so strong and powerful that no one could disobey his orders, any more than one could conquer fire itself. He was so strong that he was compared to Indra, the King of heaven, whose power is insupera ble. On the other hand, Mahārāja Pṛthu was also as tolerant as the earth, and in fulfilling various desires of human society, he was like heaven itself (57).Just as rainfall satisfies everyone’s desires, Mahārāja Pṛthu used to satisfy every one. He was like the sea in that no one could understand his depths, and he was like Meru, the king of hills, in the fixity of his purpose (58). Mahārāja Pṛthu’s intelligence and education were exactly like that of Yamarāja, the super intendent of death. His opulence was compara ble to the Himālaya Mountains, where all valu able jewels and metals are stocked. He pos sessed great riches like Kuvera, the treasurer of the heavenly planets, and no one could reveal his secrets, for they were like the demigod Var uṇa’s (59).

In his bodily strength and in the strength of his senses, Mahārāja Pṛthu was as strong as the wind, which can go anywhere and everywhere. As far as his intolerance was con cerned, he was just like the all-powerful Rudra expansion of Lord Śiva, or Sadāśiva (60).In his bodily beauty he was just like Cupid, and in his thoughtfulness he was like a lion. In his affec tion he was just like Svāyambhuva Manu, and in his ability to control he was like Lord Brahmā (61).In his personal behavior, Pṛthu Mahārāja exhibited all good qualities, and in spiritual knowledge he was exactly like Bṛhaspati. In self-control he was like the Su preme Personality of Godhead Himself. As far as his devotional service was concerned, he was a great follower of devotees who were attached to cow protection and the rendering of all ser vice to the spiritual master and the brāhmaṇas. He was perfect in his shyness and in his gentle behavior, and when he engaged in some phil anthropic activity, he worked as if he were working for his own personal self (62).Throughout the whole universe in the higher, lower and middle planetary systems Pṛthu Mahārāja’s reputation was loudly de clared, and all ladies and saintly persons heard his glories, which were as sweet as the glories of Lord Rāmacandra (63).

The great sage Maitreya told Vidura: When the King entered his city, it was very beautifully decorated to receive him with pearls, flower garlands, beautiful cloth and golden gates, and the entire city was perfumed with highly fragrant incense (1).Fragrant water distilled from sandalwood and aguru herb was sprinkled everywhere on the lanes, roads and small parks throughout the city, and every where were decorations of unbroken fruits, flowers, wetted grains, varied minerals, and lamps, all presented as auspicious parapherna lia (2).At the street crossings there were bunches of fruits and flowers, as well as pillars of banana trees and betel nut branches. All these combined decorations everywhere looked very attractive (3).

As the King entered the gate of the city, all the citizens received him with many auspicious articles like lamps, flowers and yogurt. The King was also received by many beautiful unmarried girls whose bodies were bedecked with various ornaments, espe cially with earrings which collided with one an other (4).When the King entered the palace, conchshells and kettledrums were sounded, priests chanted Vedic mantras, and profes sional reciters offered different prayers. But in spite of all this ceremony to welcome him, the King was not the least bit affected (5).Both the important citizens and the common citizens welcomed the King very heartily, and he also bestowed upon them their desired blessings (6). King Pṛthu was greater than the greatest soul and was therefore worshipable by everyone. He performed many glorious activities in ruling over the surface of the world and was always magnanimous. After achieving such great suc cess and a reputation which spread throughout the universe, he at last obtained the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead (7).

Sūta Gosvāmī continued: O Śaunaka, leader of the great sages, after hearing Maitreya speak about the various activities of King Pṛthu, the original king, who was fully quali fied, glorified and widely praised all over the world, Vidura, the great devotee, very submis sively worshiped Maitreya Ṛṣi and asked him the following question (8). Vidura said: My dear brāhmaṇa Maitreya, it is very enlightening to understand that King Pṛthu was enthroned by the great sages and brāhmaṇas. All the demigods presented him with innumerable gifts, and he also expanded his influence upon personally receiving strength from Lord Viṣṇu. Thus he greatly de veloped the earth (9).Pṛthu Mahārāja was so great in his activities and magnanimous in his method of ruling that all the kings and demi gods on the various planets still follow in his footsteps. Who is there who will not try to hear about his glorious activities? I wish to hear more and more about Pṛthu Mahārāja because his activities are so pious and auspicious (10).

The great saintly sage Maitreya told Vidura: My dear Vidura, King Pṛthu lived in the tract of land between the two great rivers Ganges and Yamunā. Because he was very op ulent, it appeared that he was enjoying his des tined fortune in order to diminish the results of his past pious activities (11).Mahārāja Pṛthu was an unrivaled king and possessed the scep ter for ruling all the seven islands on the surface of the globe. No one could disobey his irrevo cable orders but the saintly persons, the brāhmaṇas and the descendants of the Supreme Personality of Godhead [the Vaiṣṇavas] (12).Once upon a time King Pṛthu initiated the performance of a very great sacrifice in which great saintly sages, brāhmaṇas, demigods from higher planetary systems and great saintly kings known as rājarṣis all assembled together (13).In that great assembly, Mahārāja Pṛthu first of all worshiped all the respectable visitors according to their respective positions. After this, he stood up in the midst of the assembly, and it appeared that the full moon had arisen amongst the stars (14).

King Pṛthu’s body was tall and sturdy, and his complexion was fair. His arms were full and broad and his eyes as bright as the rising sun. His nose was straight, his face very beautiful, and his personality grave. His teeth were set beautifully in his smil ing face (15).The chest of Mahārāja Pṛthu was very broad, his waist was very thick, and his abdomen, wrinkled by lines of skin, resembled in construction a leaf of a banyan tree. His na vel was coiled and deep, his thighs were of a golden hue, and his instep was arched (16).The black, slick hair on his head was very fine and curly, and his neck, like a conchshell, was dec orated with auspicious lines. He wore a very valuable dhotī, and there was a nice wrapper on the upper part of his body (17).

As Mahārāja Pṛthu was being initiated to perform the sacri fice, he had to leave aside his valuable dress, and therefore his natural bodily beauty was vis ible. It was very pleasing to see him put on a black deerskin and wear a ring of kuśa grass on his finger, for this increased the natural beauty of his body. It appears that Mahārāja Pṛthu ob served all the regulative principles before he performed the sacrifice (18).Just to encourage the members of the assembly and to enhance their pleasure, King Pṛthu glanced over them with eyes that seemed like stars in a sky wet with dew. He then spoke to them in a great voice (19). Mahārāja Pṛthu’s speech was very beautiful, full of metaphorical language, clearly understandable and very pleasing to hear. His words were all grave and certain. It appears that when he spoke, he expressed his personal real ization of the Absolute Truth in order to benefit all who were present (20).

King Pṛthu said: O gentle members of the assembly, may all good fortune be upon you! May all of you great souls who have come to attend this meeting kindly hear my prayer at tentively. A person who is actually inquisitive must present his decision before an assembly of noble souls (21).King Pṛthu continued: By the grace of the Supreme Lord I have been ap pointed the king of this planet, and I carry the scepter to rule the citizens, protect them from all danger, and give them employment accord ing to their respective positions in the social or der established by Vedic injunction (22).Mahārāja Pṛthu said: I think that upon the execution of my duties as king, I shall be able to achieve the desirable objectives described by experts in Vedic knowledge. This destination is certainly achieved by the pleasure of the Su preme Personality of Godhead, who is the seer of all destiny (23).

Any king who does not teach his citizens about their respective duties in terms of varṇa and āśrama but who simply ex acts tolls and taxes from them is liable to suffer for the impious activities which have been per formed by the citizens. In addition to such deg radation, the king also loses his own fortune (24).Pṛthu Mahārāja continued: Therefore, my dear citizens, for the welfare of your king after his death, you should execute your duties properly in terms of your positions of varṇa and āśrama and should always think of the Supreme Personality of Godhead within your hearts. By doing so, you will protect your own interests, and you will bestow mercy upon your king for his welfare after death (25).I request all the purehearted demigods, forefathers and saintly persons to support my proposal, for after death the result of an action is equally shared by its doer, its director and its supporter (26).

My dear respectable ladies and gentlemen, according to the authoritative statements of śāstra, there must be a supreme authority who is able to award the respective benefits of our present ac tivities. Otherwise, why should there be per sons who are unusually beautiful and powerful both in this life and in the life after death? (27) This is confirmed not only by the evidence of the Vedas but also by the personal behavior of great personalities like Manu, Uttānapāda, Dhruva, Priyavrata and my grandfather Aṅga, as well as by many other great personalities and ordinary living entities, exemplified by Mahārāja Prahlāda and Bali, all of whom are theists, believing in the existence of the Su preme Personality of Godhead, who carries a club (28-29).

Although abominable persons like my father, Vena, the grandson of death per sonified, are bewildered on the path of religion, all the great personalities like those mentioned agree that in this world the only bestower of the benedictions of religion, economic develop ment, sense gratification, liberation or eleva tion to the heavenly planets is the Supreme Per sonality of Godhead (30). By the inclination to serve the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, suffering humanity can immediately cleanse the dirt which has accumulated in their minds during innumerable births. Like the Ganges water, which emanates from the toes of the lotus feet of the Lord, such a process immediately cleanses the mind, and thus spiritual or Kṛṣṇa consciousness gradually increases (31).

When a devotee takes shelter at the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he is com pletely cleansed of all misunderstanding or mental speculation, and he manifests renuncia tion. This is possible only when one is strength ened by practicing bhakti-yoga. Once having taken shelter at the root of the lotus feet of the Lord, a devotee never comes back to this mate rial existence, which is full of the threefold mis eries (32).Pṛthu Mahārāja advised his citizens: Engaging your minds, your words, your bodies and the results of your occupational duties, and being always open-minded, you should all ren der devotional service to the Lord. According to your abilities and the occupations in which you are situated, you should engage your ser vice at the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead with full confidence and without reservation. Then you will surely be successful in achieving the final objective in your lives (33).

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is transcendental and not contaminated by this material world. But although He is concen trated spirit soul without material variety, for the benefit of the conditioned soul He neverthe less accepts different types of sacrifice per formed with various material elements, rituals and mantras and offered to the demigods under different names according to the interests and purposes of the performers (34).The Supreme Personality of Godhead is all-pervading, but He is also manifested in different types of bodies which arise from a combination of material na ture, time, desires and occupational duties. Thus different types of consciousness develop, just as fire, which is always basically the same, blazes in different ways according to the shape and dimension of firewood (35).

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the master and en joyer of the results of all sacrifices, and He is the supreme spiritual master as well. All of you citizens on the surface of the globe who have a relationship with me and are worshiping Him by dint of your occupational duties are bestow ing your mercy upon me. Therefore, O my cit izens, I thank you (36).The brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas are personally glorified by their characteristic powers of tolerance, penance, knowledge and education. By dint of all these spiritual assets, Vaiṣṇavas are more powerful than royalty. It is therefore advised that the princely order not exhibit its material prowess before these two communities and should avoid offending them (37).

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the ancient, eternal Godhead, who is foremost amongst all great personalities, ob tained the opulence of His staunch reputation, which purifies the entire universe, by worship ing the lotus feet of those brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas (38).The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is everlastingly independent and who exists in everyone’s heart, is very pleased with those who follow in His footsteps and en gage without reservation in the service of the descendants of brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas, for He is always dear to brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas and they are always dear to Him (39).

By regu lar service to the brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas, one can clear the dirt from his heart and thus enjoy supreme peace and liberation from material at tachment and be satisfied. In this world there is no fruitive activity superior to serving the brāhmaṇa class, for this can bring pleasure to the demigods, for whom the many sacrifices are recommended (40). Although the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Ananta, eats through the fire sacrifices offered in the names of the different demigods, He does not take as much pleasure in eating through fire as He does in ac cepting offerings through the mouths of learned sages and devotees, for then He does not leave the association of devotees (41).In brahminical culture a brāhmaṇa’s transcendental position is eternally maintained because the injunctions of the Vedas are accepted with faith, austerity, scriptural conclusions, full sense and mind con trol, and meditation. In this way the real goal of life is illuminated, just as one’s face is fully re flected in a clear mirror (42).

O respectable per sonalities present here, I beg the blessings of all of you that I may perpetually carry on my crown the dust of the lotus feet of such brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas until the end of my life. He who can carry such dust on his head is very soon relieved of all the reactions which arise from sinful life, and eventually he devel ops all good and desirable qualities (43).Who ever acquires the brahminical qualifications whose only wealth is good behavior, who is grateful, and who takes shelter of experienced persons gets all the opulence of the world. I therefore wish that the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His associates be pleased with the brāhmaṇa class, with the cows and with me (44). The great sage Maitreya said: After hear ing King Pṛthu speak so nicely, all the demi gods, the denizens of Pitṛloka, the brāhmaṇas and the saintly persons present at the meeting congratulated him by expressing their good will (45).

They all declared that the Vedic con clusion that one can conquer the heavenly plan ets by the action of a putra, or son, was fulfilled, for the most sinful Vena, who had been killed by the curse of the brāhmaṇas, was now deliv ered from the darkest region of hellish life by his son, Mahārāja Pṛthu (46).Similarly, Hiraṇyakaśipu, who by dint of his sinful activ ities always defied the supremacy of the Su preme Personality of Godhead, entered into the darkest region of hellish life; but by the grace of his great son, Prahlāda Mahārāja, he also was delivered and went back home, back to God head (47).All the saintly brāhmaṇas thus ad dressed Pṛthu Mahārāja: O best of the warriors, O father of this globe, may you be blessed with a long life, for you have great devotion to the infallible Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the master of all the universe (48).

The audience continued: Dear King Pṛthu, your rep utation is the purest of all, for you are preaching the glories of the most glorified of all, the Su preme Personality of Godhead, the Lord of the brāhmaṇas. Since, due to our great fortune, we have you as our master, we think that we are living directly under the agency of the Lord (49).Our dear lord, it is your occupational duty to rule over your citizens. That is not a very wonderful task for a personality like you, who are so affectionate in seeing to the interests of the citizens, because you are full of mercy. That is the greatness of your character (50).

The citi zens continued: Today you have opened our eyes and revealed how to cross to the other side of the ocean of darkness. By our past deeds and by the arrangement of superior authority, we are entangled in a network of fruitive activities and have lost sight of the destination of life; thus we have been wandering within the uni verse (51).Dear lord, you are situated in your pure existential position of goodness; therefore you are the perfect representative of the Su preme Lord. You are glorified by your own prowess, and thus you are maintaining the en tire world by introducing brahminical culture and protecting everyone in your line of duty as a kṣatriya (52).

The great sage Maitreya continued: My dear Vidura, being very much satisfied by the performance of ninety-nine horse sacrifices, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Viṣṇu, appeared on the scene. Accompanying Him was King Indra. Lord Viṣṇu then began to speak (1). Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, said: My dear King Pṛthu, Indra, the King of heaven, has disturbed your execution of one hundred sacrifices. Now he has come with Me to be forgiven by you. Therefore ex cuse him (2).O King, one who is advanced in intelligence and eager to perform welfare activ ities for others is considered best amongst hu man beings. An advanced human being is never malicious to others. Those with advanced intel ligence are always conscious that this material body is different from the soul (3).

If a person ality like you, who are so much advanced be cause of executing the instructions of the previ ous ācāryas, is carried away by the influence of My material energy, then all your advancement may be considered simply a waste of time (4).Those who are in full knowledge of the bod ily conception of life, who know that this body is composed of nescience, desires and activities resulting from illusion, do not become addicted to the body (5).How can a highly learned per son who has absolutely no affinity for the bod ily conception of life be affected by the bodily conception in regard to house, children, wealth and similar other bodily productions? (6) The individual soul is one, pure, nonmaterial and self-effulgent. He is the reservoir of all good qualities, and He is all-pervading. He is without material covering, and He is the wit ness of all activities. He is completely distin guished from other living entities, and He is transcendental to all embodied souls (7).Alt hough within the material nature, one who is thus situated in full knowledge of the Paramātmā and ātmā is never affected by the modes of material nature, for he is always situ ated in My transcendental loving service (8).

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Viṣṇu, continued: My dear King Pṛthu, when one situated in his occupational duty engages in My loving service without motive for material gain, he gradually becomes very satisfied within (9).When the heart is cleansed of all ma terial contamination, the devotee’s mind be comes broader and transparent and he can see things equally. At that stage of life there is peace, and one is situated equally with Me as sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (10).

Anyone who knows that this material body, made of the five gross elements, the sense organs, the working senses and the mind, is simply supervised by the fixed soul is eligible to be liberated from material bondage (11). Lord Viṣṇu told King Pṛthu: My dear King, the constant change of this material world is due to the interaction of the three modes of ma terial nature. The five elements, the senses, the demigods who control the senses, as well as the mind, which is agitated by the spirit soul all these taken together comprise the body. Since the spirit soul is completely different from this combination of gross and subtle material ele ments, My devotee who is connected with Me in intense friendship and affection, being com pletely in knowledge, is never agitated by ma terial happiness and distress (12).

My dear he roic King, please keep yourself always equi poised and treat people equally, whether they are greater than you, in the intermediate stage or lower than you. Do not be disturbed by tem porary distress or happiness. Fully control your mind and senses. In this transcendental posi tion, try to execute your duty as king in what ever condition of life you may be posted by My arrangement, for your only duty here is to give protection to the citizens of your kingdom (13).To give protection to the general mass of people who are citizens of the state is the pre scribed occupational duty for a king. By acting in that way, the king in his next life shares one sixth of the result of the pious activities of the citizens. But a king or executive head of state who simply collects taxes from the citizens but does not give them proper protection as human beings has the results of his own pious activities taken away by the citizens, and in exchange for his not giving protection he becomes liable to punishment for the impious activities of his subjects (14).

Lord Viṣṇu continued: My dear King Pṛthu, if you continue to protect the citi zens according to the instructions of the learned brāhmaṇa authorities, as they are received by the disciplic succession by hearing from mas ter to disciple, and if you follow the religious principles laid down by them, without attach ment to ideas manufactured by mental concoc tion, then every one of your citizens will be happy and will love you, and very soon you will be able to see such already liberated personali ties as the four Kumāras [Sanaka, Sanātana, Sanandana and Sanat-kumāra] (15).My dear King, I am very captivated by your elevated qualities and excellent behavior, and thus I am very favorably inclined toward you. You may therefore ask from Me any benediction you like. One who does not possess elevated quali ties and behavior cannot possibly achieve My favor simply by performance of sacrifices, se vere austerities or mystic yoga. But I always re main equipoised in the heart of one who is also equipoised in all circumstances (16).

The great saint Maitreya continued: My dear Vidura, in this way Mahārāja Pṛthu, the conqueror of the entire world, accepted the in structions of the Supreme Personality of God head on his head (17).As King Indra was stand ing by, he became ashamed of his own activi ties and fell down before King Pṛthu to touch his lotus feet. But Pṛthu Mahārāja immediately embraced him in great ecstasy and gave up all envy against him for his having stolen the horse meant for the sacrifice (18).King Pṛthu abun dantly worshiped the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who was so merciful to him. While worshiping the lotus feet of the Lord, Pṛthu Mahārāja gradually increased his ecstasy in devotional service (19).

The Lord was just about to leave, but because He was so greatly inclined toward the behavior of King Pṛthu, He did not depart. Seeing the behavior of Mahārāja Pṛthu with His lotus eyes, He was de tained because He is always the well-wisher of His devotees (20).The original king, Mahārāja Pṛthu, his eyes full of tears and his voice falter ing and choked up, could neither see the Lord very distinctly nor speak to address the Lord in any way. He simply embraced the Lord within his heart and remained standing in that way with folded hands (21).The Supreme Personal ity of Godhead stood with His lotus feet almost touching the ground while He rested the front of His hand on the raised shoulder of Garuḍa, the enemy of the snakes. Mahārāja Pṛthu, wip ing the tears from his eyes, tried to look upon the Lord, but it appeared that the King was not fully satisfied by looking at Him. Thus the King offered the following prayers (22).

My dear Lord, You are the best of the dem igods who can offer benedictions. Why, there fore, should any learned person ask You for benedictions meant for living entities bewil dered by the modes of nature? Such benedic tions are available automatically, even in the lives of living entities suffering in hellish con ditions. My dear Lord, You can certainly be stow merging into Your existence, but I do not wish to have such a benediction (23).My dear Lord, I therefore do not wish to have the bene diction of merging into Your existence, a ben ediction in which there is no existence of the nectarean beverage of Your lotus feet. I want the benediction of at least one million ears, for thus I may be able to hear about the glories of Your lotus feet from the mouths of Your pure devotees (24).My dear Lord, You are glorified by the selected verses uttered by great person alities. Such glorification of Your lotus feet is just like saffron particles. When the transcen dental vibration from the mouths of great dev otees carries the aroma of the saffron dust of Your lotus feet, the forgetful living entity grad ually remembers his eternal relationship with You. Devotees thus gradually come to the right conclusion about the value of life. My dear Lord, I therefore do not need any other bene diction but the opportunity to hear from the mouth of Your pure devotee (25).

My dear highly glorified Lord, if one, in the association of pure devotees, hears even once the glories of Your activities, he does not, unless he is noth ing but an animal, give up the association of devotees, for no intelligent person would be so careless as to leave their association. The per fection of chanting and hearing about Your glo ries was accepted even by the goddess of for tune, who desired to hear of Your unlimited ac tivities and transcendental glories (26).Now I wish to engage in the service of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and to serve just like the goddess of fortune, who car ries a lotus flower in her hand, because His Lordship, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the reservoir of all transcendental qualities. I am afraid that the goddess of fortune and I would quarrel because both of us would be at tentively engaged in the same service (27).

My dear Lord of the universe, the goddess of for tune, Lakṣmī, is the mother of the universe, and yet I think that she may be angry with me be cause of my intruding upon her service and act ing on that very platform to which she is so much attached. Yet I am hopeful that even though there is some misunderstanding, You will take my part, for You are very much in clined to the poor, and You always magnify even insignificant service unto You. Therefore even though she becomes angry, I think that there is no harm for You, because You are so self-sufficient that You can do without her (28).Great saintly persons who are always lib erated take to Your devotional service because only by devotional service can one be relieved from the illusions of material existence. O my Lord, there is no reason for the liberated souls to take shelter at Your lotus feet except that such souls are constantly thinking of Your feet (29).

My dear Lord, what You have said to Your unalloyed devotee is certainly very much bewildering. The allurements You offer in the Vedas are certainly not suitable for pure devo tees. People in general, bound by the sweet words of the Vedas, engage themselves again and again in fruitive activities, enamored by the results of their actions (30).My Lord, due to Your illusory energy, all living beings in this material world have forgotten their real consti tutional position, and out of ignorance they are always desirous of material happiness in the form of society, friendship and love. Therefore, please do not ask me to take some material ben efits from You, but as a father, not waiting for the son’s demand, does everything for the ben efit of the son, please bestow upon me whatever You think best for me (31). The great sage Maitreya continued by saying that the Lord, the seer of the universe, after hearing Pṛthu Mahārāja’s prayer, ad dressed the King: My dear King, may you al ways be blessed by engaging in My devotional service. Only by such purity of purpose, as you yourself very intelligently express, can one cross over the insurmountable illusory energy of māyā (32).

My dear King, O protector of the citizens, henceforward be very careful to exe cute My orders and not be misled by anything. Anyone who lives in that way, simply carrying out My orders faithfully, will always find good fortune all over the world (33). The great saint Maitreya told Vidura: The Supreme Personality of Godhead amply appre ciated the meaningful prayers of Mahārāja Pṛthu. Thus, after being properly worshiped by the King, the Lord blessed him and decided to depart (34).King Pṛthu worshiped the demi gods, the great sages, the inhabitants of Pitṛloka, the inhabitants of Gandharvaloka, and those of Siddhaloka, Cāraṇaloka, Pannagaloka, Kinnaraloka, Apsaroloka, the earthly planets and the planets of the birds. He also worshiped many other living entities who presented them selves in the sacrificial arena. With folded hands he worshiped all these, as well as the Su preme Personality of Godhead and the personal associates of the Lord, by offering sweet words and as much wealth as possible. After this func tion, they all went back to their respective abodes, following in the footsteps of Lord Viṣṇu (35-36).

The infallible Supreme Person ality of Godhead, having captivated the minds of the King and the priests who were present, returned to His abode in the spiritual sky (37).King Pṛthu then offered his respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the Supreme Lord of all dem igods. Although not an object of material vi sion, the Lord revealed Himself to the sight of Mahārāja Pṛthu. After offering obeisances to the Lord, the King returned to his home (38).

The great sage Maitreya continued: My dear Vidura, King Pṛthu initiated the perfor mance of one hundred horse sacrifices at the spot where the river Sarasvatī flows towards the east. This piece of land is known as Brahmāvarta, and it was controlled by Svāyambhuva Manu (1). When the most pow erful Indra, the King of heaven, saw this, he considered the fact that King Pṛthu was going to exceed him in fruitive activities. Thus Indra could not tolerate the great sacrificial ceremo nies performed by King Pṛthu (2). The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Viṣṇu, is present in everyone’s heart as the Supersoul, and He is the proprietor of all planets and the enjoyer of the results of all sacrifices. He was personally present at the sacrifices made by King Pṛthu (3).

When Lord Viṣṇu appeared in the sacrifi cial arena, Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and all the chief predominating personalities of every planet, as well as their followers, came with Him. When He appeared on the scene, the res idents of Gandharvaloka, the great sages, and the residents of Apsaroloka all praised Him (4).The Lord was accompanied by the residents of Siddhaloka and Vidyādhara-loka, all the de scendants of Diti, and the demons and the Yakṣas. He was also accompanied by His chief associates, headed by Sunanda and Nanda (5). Great devotees, who were always engaged in the service of the Supreme Personality of God head, as well as the great sages named Kapila, Nārada and Dattātreya, and masters of mystic powers, headed by Sanaka Kumāra, all at tended the great sacrifice with Lord Viṣṇu (6).

My dear Vidura, in that great sacrifice the entire land came to be like the milk-producing kāma-dhenu, and thus, by the performance of yajña, all daily necessities for life were sup plied (7).The flowing rivers supplied all kinds of tastes sweet, pungent, sour, etc. and very big trees supplied fruit and honey in abundance. The cows, having eaten sufficient green grass, supplied profuse quantities of milk, curd, clari fied butter and similar other necessities (8). King Pṛthu was presented with various gifts from the general populace and predominating deities of all planets. The oceans and seas were full of valuable jewels and pearls, and the hills were full of chemicals and fertilizers. Four kinds of edibles were produced profusely (9).

King Pṛthu was dependent on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is known as Adhokṣaja. Because King Pṛthu performed so many sacrifices, he was superhumanly en hanced by the mercy of the Supreme Lord. King Pṛthu’s opulence, however, could not be tolerated by the King of heaven, Indra, who tried to impede the progress of his opulence (10). When Pṛthu Mahārāja was performing the last horse sacrifice [aśvamedha-yajña], King Indra, invisible to everyone, stole the horse in tended for sacrifice. He did this because of his great envy of King Pṛthu (11). When King In dra was taking away the horse, he dressed him self to appear as a liberated person. Actually this dress was a form of cheating, for it falsely created an impression of religion. When Indra went into outer space in this way, the great sage Atri saw him and understood the whole situa tion (12).

When the son of King Pṛthu was in formed by Atri of King Indra’s trick, he imme diately became very angry and followed Indra to kill him, calling, “Wait! Wait!” (13) King In dra was fraudulently dressed as a sannyāsī, hav ing knotted his hair on his head and smeared ashes all over his body. Upon seeing such dress, the son of King Pṛthu considered Indra a reli gious man and pious sannyāsī. Therefore he did not release his arrows (14).When Atri Muni saw that the son of King Pṛthu did not kill Indra but returned deceived by him, Atri Muni again instructed him to kill the heavenly King be cause he thought that Indra had become the lowliest of all demigods due to his impeding the execution of King Pṛthu’s sacrifice (15). Being thus informed, the grandson of King Vena immediately began to follow Indra, who was fleeing through the sky in great haste. He was very angry with him, and he chased him just as the king of the vultures chased Rāvaṇa (16).

When Indra saw that the son of Pṛthu was chasing him, he immediately abandoned his false dress and left the horse. Indeed, he disap peared from that very spot, and the great hero, the son of Mahārāja Pṛthu, returned the horse to his father’s sacrificial arena (17).My dear Lord Vidura, when the great sages observed the won derful prowess of the son of King Pṛthu, they all agreed to give him the name Vijitāśva (18). My dear Vidura, Indra, being the King of heaven and very powerful, immediately brought a dense darkness upon the sacrificial arena. Covering the whole scene in this way, he again took away the horse, which was chained with golden shackles near the wooden instru ment where animals were sacrificed (19).

The great sage Atri again pointed out to the son of King Pṛthu that Indra was fleeing through the sky. The great hero, the son of Pṛthu, chased him again. But when he saw that Indra was car rying in his hand a staff with a skull at the top and was again wearing the dress of a sannyāsī, he still chose not to kill him (20).When the great sage Atri again gave directions, the son of King Pṛthu became very angry and placed an arrow on his bow. Upon seeing this, King Indra immediately abandoned the false dress of a sannyāsī and, giving up the horse, made him self invisible (21).Then the great hero, Vi jitāśva, the son of King Pṛthu, again took the horse and returned to his father’s sacrificial arena. Since that time, certain men with a poor fund of knowledge have adopted the dress of a false sannyāsī. It was King Indra who intro duced this (22).

Whatever different forms Indra assumed as a mendicant because of his desire to seize the horse were symbols of atheistic phi losophy (23).In this way King Indra, in order to steal the horse from King Pṛthu’s sacrifice, adopted several orders of sannyāsa. Some sannyāsīs go naked, and sometimes they wear red garments and pass under the name of kāpālika. These are simply symbolic represen tations of their sinful activities. These so-called sannyāsīs are very much appreciated by sinful men because they are all godless atheists and very expert in putting forward arguments and reasons to support their case. We must know, however, that they are only passing as adher ents of religion and are not so in fact. Unfortu nately, bewildered persons accept them as reli gious, and being attracted to them, they spoil their life (24-25). Mahārāja Pṛthu, who was celebrated as very powerful, immediately took up his bow and ar rows and prepared to kill Indra himself, be cause Indra had introduced such irregular sannyāsa orders (26).

When the priests and all the others saw Mahārāja Pṛthu very angry and prepared to kill Indra, they requested him: O great soul, do not kill him, for only sacrificial animals can be killed in a sacrifice. Such are the directions given by śāstra (27).Dear King, In dra’s powers are already reduced due to his at tempt to impede the execution of your sacrifice. We shall call him by Vedic mantras which were never before used, and certainly he will come. Thus by the power of our mantra, we shall cast him into the fire because he is your enemy (28). My dear Vidura, after giving the King this advice, the priests who had been engaged in performing the sacrifice called for Indra, the King of heaven, in a mood of great anger. When they were just ready to put the oblation in the fire, Lord Brahmā appeared on the scene and forbade them to start the sacrifice (29).

Lord Brahmā addressed them thus: My dear sacrifi cial performers, you cannot kill Indra, the King of heaven. It is not your duty. You should know that Indra is as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Indeed, he is one of the most pow erful assistants of the Personality of Godhead. You are trying to satisfy all the demigods by the performance of this yajña, but you should know that all these demigods are but parts and parcels of Indra, the King of heaven. How, then, can you kill him in this great sacrifice? (30) In order to make trouble and impede the performance of King Pṛthu’s great sacrifice, King Indra has adopted some means that in the future will de stroy the clear path of religious life. I draw your attention to this fact. If you oppose him any fur ther, he will further misuse his power and intro duce many other irreligious systems (31).“Let there be only ninety-nine sacrificial perfor mances for Mahārāja Pṛthu,” Lord Brahmā concluded. Lord Brahmā then turned towards Mahārāja Pṛthu and informed him that since he was thoroughly aware of the path of liberation, what was the use in performing more sacri fices? (32)

Lord Brahmā continued: Let there be good fortune to both of you, for you and King Indra are both part and parcel of the Su preme Personality of Godhead. Therefore you should not be angry with King Indra, who is nondifferent from you (33).My dear King, do not be agitated and anxious because your sacri fices have not been properly executed due to providential impediments. Kindly take my words with great respect. We should always re member that if something happens by provi dential arrangement, we should not be very sorry. The more we try to rectify such reversals, the more we enter into the darkest region of ma terialistic thought (34).Lord Brahmā continued: Stop the performance of these sacrifices, for they have induced Indra to introduce so many irreligious aspects. You should know very well that even amongst the demigods there are many unwanted desires (35).

Just see how Indra, the King of heaven, was creating a disturbance in the midst of the sacrifice by stealing the sacri ficial horse. These attractive sinful activities he has introduced will be carried out by the people in general (36).O King Pṛthu, son of Vena, you are the part-and-parcel expansion of Lord Viṣṇu. Due to the mischievous activities of King Vena, religious principles were almost lost. At that opportune moment you descended as the incarnation of Lord Viṣṇu. Indeed, for the protection of religious principles you have appeared from the body of King Vena (37). O protector of the people in general, please con sider the purpose of your being incarnated by Lord Viṣṇu. The irreligious principles created by Indra are but mothers of so many unwanted religions. Please therefore stop these imitations immediately (38). The great sage Maitreya continued: When King Pṛthu was thus advised by the supreme teacher, Lord Brahmā, he abandoned his eager ness to perform yajñas and with great affection concluded a peace with King Indra (39).

After this, Pṛthu Mahārāja took his bath, which is customarily taken after the performance of a yajña, and received the benedictions and due blessings of the demigods, who were very pleased by his glorious activities (40).With great respect, the original king, Pṛthu, offered all kinds of rewards to the brāhmaṇas present at the sacrifice. Since all these brāhmaṇas were very much satisfied, they gave their heartfelt blessings to the King (41).All the great sages and brāhmaṇas said: O mighty King, by your invitation all classes of living entities have at tended this assembly. They have come from Pitṛloka and the heavenly planets, and great sages as well as common men have attended this meeting. Now all of them are very much satisfied by your dealings and your charity to wards them (42).