Vasudeva of Sacrifice to the Sages at Kurukshetra Explaining the Path of Success

(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'Prithâ, the daughter of the king of Subala [Gândhârî] and Draupadî, Subhadrâ and the wives of
the kings as well as His gopîs, hearing of the loving attachment [of the wives] to Krishna, Lord Hari, the Soul of
All, fell all, with tears filling their eyes, in great amazement. (2-5) As the women were thus conversing with the
women and the men with the men, arrived, eager to see Krishna and Râma at the place, the sages Dvaipâyana,
Nârada, Cyavana, Devala and Asita; Vis'vâmitra, S'atânanda, Bharadvâja and Gautama; Lord Paras'urâma and his
disciples, Vasishthha, Gâlava, Bhrigu, Pulastya and Kas'yapa; Atri, Mârkandeya and Brihaspati; Dvita, Trita, Ekata
and the sons of Brahmâ [the four Kumâras] as also Angirâ, Âgastya, Yâjñavalkya and others headed by Vâmadeva.
(6) Seeing them stood the Pândavas, Krishna, Râma, the kings and others till then seated, immediately up to bow
down to those honored throughout the universe. (7) They all, including Râma and Acyuta, properly worshiped
them with greetings, sitting places, water to wash their feet and to drink, flower garlands, incense and sandalwood
paste. (8) The Supreme Lord in the flesh defending the dharma, addressed in the with rapt attention listening
assembly the great souls being comfortably seated. (9) The Supreme Lord said: 'We altogether who got born now
obtained the fruit of it: the sight of the masters of yoga rarely won even by the demigods. (10) How is it that
human beings with eyes for God as the temple-deity, now in audience may touch, ask questions, bow down and be
of worship at the feet and such? (11) Purified by just seeing you, the saints, are it not the holy places consisting of
water nor the deities made of clay that take so long for it to happen [1.13: 10]. (12) Not the fire, nor the sun, the
moon nor the firmament, not the earth, the water, the ether, the breath, the speech nor the mind take, being
worshiped, away the sins of the one setting things apart; they are wiped out by a few moments of service to the
men of [brahminical] learning. (13) He with the idea of himself as being the body stinking with its three elements
[of mucus, bile and air], with the notion of a wife and that all as being his property, with the view of clay as being
something worshipable, with the thought of water as being a place of pilgrimage, is, [going for appearances but]
never to the wise in men, indeed like a cow or an ass.'

(14) S'rî S'uka said: 'Hearing this being said by the Supreme Lord Krishna Unlimited of Wisdom, were the learned
silent, confounded by the words hard to follow. (15) The sages for some time pondering over the Supreme
Controller and [His assuming] the position of being controlled, concluding that it was meant to enlighten the
people, smiling addressed Him, the Spiritual Master of the Universe. (16) The honorable sages said: 'Ah, we the
best knowers of the truth and chief creators of the universe, are bewildered by the power of the material illusion of
the activities of the Supreme Lord, who so amazingly covert in His operations pretends to be the one controlled.
(17) Effortless He creates, all by Himself, the manifold of this universe and maintains and destroys without getting
entangled, indeed just like the earth does not in its transformations having many forms and names; ah, what a
pretense the activities of the Almighty [see also 8.6: 10]! (18) Nonetheless does Your good Self, the Original
Personality of the Soul, at times, to protect Your people and to chastise the wicked, assume the mode of goodness,
by Your pastimes maintaining the eternal vedic path of the varnâs'rama statusoriëntations [see also sanâtana
dharma]. (19) The spiritual [the 'brahma'] is Your pure heart in which by austerities, study and turning inward in
concentrated meditation the eternal manifest and unmanifest is realized as also the transcendental to that [see
also: B.G. 7: 5]. (20) For that reason do You, o Absolute of the Truth, prove Your respect for the community of the
brahmins, through the perfect of whom the revealed scriptures are realized, and so are You the leader of those in
respect of the brahminical. (21) Today there is [indeed] the fruition of our birth, education, austerities and vision;
with You to obtain association is the goal of the saintly since You are the Limit, the Ultimate of all Welfare. (22)
Our obeisances to Him, the Supreme Lord ever fresh in His wisdom, [You] Krishna, the Supersoul who by His
yoga-mâyâ covered His own greatness. (23) None of these kings enjoying with You, nor the Vrishnis know You,
cloaked by the curtain of mâyâ, as the Supreme Soul, the Time and the Controller [B.G. 6: 26]. (24-25) The way a
sleeping person envisioning himself an alternate reality with names and forms with what he manifests through his
mind does not know of a separate reality beyond it, does one with You similarly having names and forms, by the
activity of the senses of Your mâyâ getting bewildered in one's consciousness, have no clue because of the
discontinuity of one's memory [compare B.G. 4.5 and 4.29:1b, 10.1: 41 and 7.7: 25]. (26) That of You, the feet, the
source of the Ganges, washing away floods of sins, have we seen today; [with them] well installed in the heart is by
those whose yoga practice matured and the devotional service fully developed, the material mentality, the covering
of their individual souls, destroyed and the destination of You attained - so please, show Your devotees Your
mercy.'

(27) S'uka said: 'With this taking permission to leave Dâs'ârha [Krishna], Dhritarâshthra and Yudhishthhira, o
sage among kings, contemplated the sages their return to their hermitages. (28) Seeing this approached the
greatly renown Vasudeva them and took he bowing down hold of their feet expressing the following careful choice
of words. (29) S'rî Vasudeva said: 'My obeisances to you representing all the gods [*], o seers, please listen, tell us
this: how can we be purged of karma by doing work?'

(30) S'rî Nârada said: 'O learned ones, this with the desire to learn asking of Vasudeva about the highest good for
himself, is not so surprising, given the fact that he thinks of Krishna as being a child [of his, his son]. (31) For
mortals to be close out here is a cause of disregard as e.g. with someone living at the Ganges leaving to purify
elsewhere. (32-33) [The Lord] His awareness is for no reason, nor on its own nor due to some other agency, in its
qualities ever disrupted by the destructive and creative that is caused by the time of this [universe, see B.G. 4.14
and 10.30]; He, the Controller without a Second, whose consciousness is unaffected by hindrances, material
activities and their consequences and the modes and their flow of changes [kles'a, karma and guna], is by someone
else [ignorantly] considered as being covered by His own expansions of prâna and other elements, just like the sun
is being covered by clouds, snow or eclipses.'

(34) Then, o King, said the sages, addressing Vasudeva with all the kings as also Acyuta and Râma listening: (35)
'As correct has been ascertained that the karma is counteracted by this work: that one with faith with sacrifices
[sprightly, as in a kirtan] worships Vishnu, the Lord of all Sacrifices. (36) This indeed is what the scholars through
the eye of the s'âstras demonstrated as the easiest way to pacify the mind; it is the yoga-dharma which brings
pleasure to the heart. (37) The one twice-born performing sacrifices at home should pure and selfless with the
entrusted possessions be of worship for the Personality of Godhead; this is the path that brings success [**]. (38)
One who is intelligent should renounce the desire for wealth by sacrifices and charity, the desire for a wife and
kids by engaging in household affairs and the desire for a world for himself [or an other life], o Vasudeva, by
means of the Time [in studying its effects, see also 9.5 and B.G. 3: 16]; all the ones sober renounced their desires
for a household life and went for penance into the forest [see also B.G. 2: 13]. (39) Prabhu, someone twiceborn is
born with three debts: the debt to the gods, the sages and the forefathers; not liquidating them by [respectively]
sacrifice [celibacy e.g.], studying the scriptures and with byproducts [children, pupils or books see ***] will he,
leaving the body, fall down [again into the material world]. (40) But with you verily freed from the two of them to
the sages and the forefathers, o magnanimous one, may you now, to be without debt, relieve yourself by sacrificing
to the gods and renounce your homestead. (41) O Vasudeva since He took the role of your son must your good self
[in a previous life] indeed with devotion thoroughly have been of worship for the Supreme Lord and Controller of
All Worlds [see also 1o.3: 32-45 and 11.5: 41].'

(42) S'rî S'uka said: 'Having heard their words thus spoken, chose Vasudeva the sages as his priests, propitiating
them by bowing his head. (43) The rishis, o King, being chosen by him so religiously to the principles with that,
engaged him in fire rituals at the holy field [of Kurukshetra] with superfine ritual arrangements. (44-45) When the
initiation of him was about to begin, came joyfully the Vrishnis, bathed and well-dressed, wearing garlands and
being elaborately ornamented, together with their queens with lockets around their necks, in the finest clothes and
smeared with sandalwood paste to the sacrificial pavilion, o King, with items of worship in their hands. (46) Clay
tom-toms and tabors, kettle drums and drums, conchshells and other musical instruments sounded, male and
female dancers danced and bards and panegyrists sang sweet voiced along with the female singers of heaven and
their husbands. (47) According the scriptures by the priests sprinkled with sacred water [for his initiation], looked
he with his eyes decorated black and his body smeared with fresh butter, with his eighteen wives [see 9.24: 21-23
& 45] as if [he was the moon] surrounded by the stars. (48) With them all finely decorated wearing silk sârîs and
bangles, necklaces, ankle bells and earrings shone he, initiated being wrapped in deerskin, brilliantly. (49) O great
King, his supervisors and priests radiated with their jewels and garments of silk as if they were standing in the
sacrificial arena of the killer of Vritra [Indra, see 6.11]. (50) At that time did also the two Lords Râma and Krishna
appear as splendid, each accompanied by Their own might of wives, sons and family members as expansions of
Themselves. (51) He to the rules worshiped with each kind of sacrifice characterized as primary [to the s'ruti] and
secondary [modified to other sources, see *4], with offerings in the fire and so on the Lord of the Paraphernalia,
the Mantras and the Rituals. (52) Next gave he, at the designated time, to the priests already richly decorated, gifts
of gratitude decorating them even more, as also marriageable girls, cows and land of great value. (53) Having
executed the ritual performed by the sponsor [patni-samyâja] and the concluding ritual [avabhrithya] bathed the
great sages, placing the learned and the sponsor of the yajna in front, in the lake of Lord Paras'urâma [9.16: 18-
19]. (54) Having bathed gave he jewelry and clothing to the bards and the women and honored he next in his
finest apparel all the classes of people and even the dogs with food. (55-56) With the wealth of gifts did his
relatives and their wives and children, the leaders of the Vidarbhas, Kos'alas, Kurus, Kâs'îs, Kekayas and
Sriñjayas; the supervisors, the priests, the different types of enlightened souls, the ordinary humans, the
paranormal ['the ghostly'], the forefathers and the venerable ones, all take leave from the Abode of S'rî to depart
filled with praise for the sacrifice performed. (57-58) The immediate family members Dhritarâshthra and his
younger brother [Vidura], Prithâ and her sons [Arjuna, Bhîma and Yudhishthhira], Bhîshma, Drona, the twins
[Nakula and Sahadeva], Nârada, and Bhagavân Vyâsadeva and other relatives embracing their friends and
relatives, the Yadus, then, with hearts melting of affection on the separation, with difficulty returned to their
respective places as did also the rest of the guests. (59) Nanda together with the cowherds out of affection for his
relatives stayed and was by Krishna, Râma, Ugrasena and the rest in worship honored most generously. (60)
Vasudeva with ease having crossed over the ocean of his great ambition [see also 10.3: 11-12], felt most pleased
and addressed, surrounded by his well-wishers, Nanda, touching his hand as he spoke.

(61) S'rî Vasudeva said: 'The by God forged bond of men which is named affection is, I think, for warriors as
difficult to relinquish as for yogîs. (62) Even though the friendship offered by you so very saintly is not
reciprocated by us so forgetful of what you did, does it never cease as it is beyond compare. (63) Formerly [sitting
in Kamsa's prison] were we incapable to act on your behalf and now well-to-do, o brother, do we with you right in
front of us fail to see you with our eyes blind intoxicated of the opulence. (64) Let there for a person after the real
benefit of life never arise the fortune of kings, o respectful one, as he with his vision clouded by that doesn't even
see his own kinsmen or friends [compare 10.10: 8].'

(65) S'rî S'uka said: 'Thus with tears filling his eyes remembering what he all had done in friendship, had
Ânakadundubhi, with his heart softened by the intimacy, to weep. (66) Nanda then to his overtly affectionate
friend, out of love for Govinda and Râma thus saying 'I'll go later, I'll go tomorrow', remained, honored by the
Yadus, for three months. (67-68) Satiated with desirables like the most valuable ornaments, finest linen and
various priceless pieces of furniture, he thereafter, seen off by the Yadus, departed together with the people of
Vraja and his family, taking with him the gifts given by Krishna, Uddhava and others. (69) Nanda, the gopas and
the gopîs being unable to put Govinda's lotus feet out of their minds, accordingly [many a time] looking back,
returned to Mathurâ. (70) With their relatives departed went the Vrishnis who had Krishna as their Godhead,
seeing that the rainy season was about to begin, back to Dvârakâ. (71) To the people [there] they gave an account
of the great festivity and all that of the lord of the Yadus [Vasudeva] had taken place and of all the well-wishers
they had seen during the pilgrimage [see 10.82].