Chapter Nine
The Dynasty of Aṁśumān
TEXT 2
dilīpas tat-sutas tadvad
aśaktaḥ kālam eyivān
bhagīrathas tasya sutas
tepe sa sumahat tapaḥ
SYNONYMS
dilīpaḥ—named Dilīpa; tat-sutaḥ—the son of Aṁśumān; tat-vat—like his father; aśaktaḥ—being unable to bring the Ganges to the material world; kālam eyivān—became a victim of time and died; bhagīrathaḥ tasya sutaḥ—his son Bhagīratha; tepe—executed penance; saḥ—he; su-mahat—very great; tapaḥ—austerity.
TRANSLATION
Like Aṁśumān himself, Dilīpa, his son, was unable to bring the Ganges to this material world, and he also became a victim of death in due course of time. Then Dilīpa’s son, Bhagīratha, performed very severe austerities to bring the Ganges to this material world.
TEXT 3
darśayām āsa taṁ devī
prasannā varadāsmi te
ity uktaḥ svam abhiprāyaṁ
śaśaṁsāvanato nṛpaḥ
SYNONYMS
darśayām āsa—appeared; tam—unto him, King Bhagīratha; devī—mother Ganges; prasannā—being very much satisfied; varadā asmi—I shall bless with my benediction; te—unto you; iti uktaḥ—thus being addressed; svam—his own; abhiprāyam—desire; śaśaṁsa—explained; avanataḥ—very respectfully bowing down; nṛpaḥ—the King (Bhagīratha).
TRANSLATION
Thereafter, mother Ganges appeared before King Bhagīratha and said, “I am very much satisfied with your austerities and am now prepared to give you benedictions as you desire.” Being thus addressed by Gaṅgādevī, mother Ganges, the King bowed his head before her and explained his desire.
PURPORT
The King’s desire was to deliver his forefathers, who had been burnt to ashes because of disrespecting Kapila Muni.
TEXT 4
ko ’pi dhārayitā vegaṁ
patantyā me mahī-tale
anyathā bhū-talaṁ bhittvā
nṛpa yāsye rasātalam
SYNONYMS
kaḥ—who is that person; api—indeed; dhārayitā—who can sustain; vegam—the force of the waves; patantyāḥ—while falling down; me—of me; mahī-tale—upon this earth; anyathā—otherwise; bhū-talam—the surface of the earth; bhittvā—piercing; nṛpa—O King; yāsye—I shall go down; rasātalam—to Pātāla, the lower part of the universe.
TRANSLATION
Mother Ganges replied: When I fall from the sky to the surface of the planet earth, the water will certainly be very forceful. Who will sustain that force? If I am not sustained, I shall pierce the surface of the earth and go down to Rasātala, the Pātāla area of the universe.
TEXT 5
kiṁ cāhaṁ na bhuvaṁ yāsye
narā mayy āmṛjanty agham
mṛjāmi tad aghaṁ kvāhaṁ
rājaṁs tatra vicintyatām
SYNONYMS
kim ca—also; aham—I; na—not; bhuvam—to the planet earth; yāsye—shall go; narāḥ—the people in general; mayi—in me, in my water; āmṛjanti—cleanse; agham—the reactions of their sinful activity; mṛjāmi—I shall wash; tat—that; agham—accumulation of sinful reactions; kva—unto whom; aham—I; rājan—O King; tatra—on this fact; vicintyatām—please consider carefully and decide.
TRANSLATION
O King, I do not wish to go down to the planet earth, for there the people in general will bathe in my water to cleanse themselves of the reactions of their sinful deeds. When all these sinful reactions accumulate in me, how shall I become free from them? You must consider this very carefully.
PURPORT
The Supreme Personality of Godhead says:
sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ
“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.” (Bg. 18.66) The Supreme Personality of Godhead can accept the reactions of anyone’s sinful deeds and neutralize them because He is pavitra, pure, like the sun, which is never contaminated by any worldly infection. Tejīyasāṁ na doṣāya vahneḥ sama-bhujo yathā (Bhāg. 10.33.29). One who is very powerful is not affected by any sinful activity. But here we see that mother Ganges fears being burdened with the sins of the people in general who would bathe in her waters. This indicates that no one but the Supreme Personality of Godhead is able to neutralize the reactions of sinful deeds, whether one’s own or those of others. Sometimes the spiritual master, after accepting a disciple, must take charge of that disciple’s past sinful activities and, being overloaded, must sometimes suffer—if not fully, then partially—for the sinful acts of the disciple. Every disciple, therefore, must be very careful not to commit sinful activities after initiation. The poor spiritual master is kind and merciful enough to accept a disciple and partially suffer for that disciple’s sinful activities, but Kṛṣṇa, being merciful to His servant, neutralizes the reactions of sinful deeds for the servant who engages in preaching His glories. Even mother Ganges feared the sinful reactions of the people in general and was anxious about how she would counteract the burden of these sins.
TEXT 6
śrī-bhagīratha uvāca
sādhavo nyāsinaḥ śāntā
brahmiṣṭhā loka-pāvanāḥ
haranty aghaṁ te ’ṅga-saṅgāt
teṣv āste hy agha-bhid dhariḥ
SYNONYMS
śrī-bhagīrathaḥ uvāca—Bhagīratha said; sādhavaḥ—saintly persons; nyāsinaḥ—sannyāsīs; śāntāḥ—peaceful, free from material disturbances; brahmiṣṭhāḥ—expert in following the regulative principles of Vedic scripture; loka-pāvanāḥ—who are engaged in delivering the entire world from a fallen condition; haranti—shall remove; agham—the reactions of sinful life; te—of you (mother Ganges); aṅga-saṅgāt—by bathing in the Ganges water; teṣu—within themselves; āste—there is; hi—indeed; agha-bhit—the Supreme Personality, who can vanquish all sinful activities; hariḥ—the Lord.
TRANSLATION
Bhagīratha said: Those who are saintly because of devotional service and are therefore in the renounced order, free from material desires, and who are pure devotees, expert in following the regulative principles mentioned in the Vedas, are always glorious and pure in behavior and are able to deliver all fallen souls. When such pure devotees bathe in your water, the sinful reactions accumulated from other people will certainly be counteracted, for such devotees always keep in the core of their hearts the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who can vanquish all sinful reactions.
PURPORT
Mother Ganges is available to everyone for bathing. Therefore, not only will sinful persons bathe in the Ganges water, but in Hardwar and other holy places where the Ganges flows, saintly persons and devotees will also bathe in the waters of the Ganges. Devotees and saintly persons advanced in the renounced order can deliver even the Ganges. Tīrthī-kurvanti tīrthāni svāntaḥ-sthena gadābhṛtā (Bhāg. 1.13.10). Because saintly devotees always keep the Lord within the core of their hearts, they can perfectly cleanse the holy places of all sinful reactions. Therefore, people in general must always respectfully honor saintly persons. It is ordered that as soon as one sees a Vaiṣṇava, or even a sannyāsī, one should immediately offer respects to such a holy man. If one forgets to show respect in this way, one must observe a fast for that day. This is a Vedic injunction. One must be extremely careful to refrain from committing offenses at the lotus feet of a devotee or saintly person.
There are methods of prāyaścitta, or atonement, but they are inadequate to cleanse one of sinful reactions. One can be cleansed of sinful reactions only by devotional service, as stated in regard to the history of Ajāmila:
kecit kevalayā bhaktyā
vāsudeva-parāyaṇāḥ
aghaṁ dhunvanti kārtsnyena
nīhāram iva bhāskaraḥ
“Only a rare person who has adopted complete, unalloyed devotional service to Kṛṣṇa can uproot the weeds of sinful actions with no possibility that they will revive. He can do this simply by discharging devotional service, just as the sun can immediately dissipate fog by its rays.” (Bhāg. 6.1.15) If one is under the protection of a devotee and sincerely renders service unto him, by this process of bhakti-yoga one is certainly able to counteract all sinful reactions.
TEXT 7
dhārayiṣyati te vegaṁ
rudras tv ātmā śarīriṇām
yasminn otam idaṁ protaṁ
viśvaṁ śāṭīva tantuṣu
SYNONYMS
dhārayiṣyati—will sustain; te—your; vegam—force of the waves; rudraḥ—Lord Śiva; tu—indeed; ātmā—the Supersoul; śarīriṇām—of all embodied souls; yasmin—in whom; otam—is situated in its longitude; idam—this whole universe; protam—latitude; viśvam—the whole universe; śāṭī—a cloth; iva—as; tantuṣu—in threads.
TRANSLATION
Like a cloth woven of threads extending for its length and breadth, this entire universe, in all its latitude and longitude, is situated under different potencies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Śiva is the incarnation of the Lord, and thus he represents the Supersoul in the embodied soul. He can sustain your forceful waves on his head.
PURPORT
The water of the Ganges is supposed to rest on the head of Lord Śiva. Lord Śiva is an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who sustains the entire universe by different potencies. Lord Śiva is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.45):
kṣīraṁ yathā dadhi vikāra-viśeṣa-yogāt
sañjāyate na hi tataḥ pṛthag asti hetoḥ
yaḥ śambhutām api tathā samupaiti kāryād
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
“Milk changes into yogurt when mixed with a yogurt culture, but actually yogurt is constitutionally nothing but milk. Similarly, Govinda, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, assumes the form of Lord Śiva for the special purpose of material transactions. I offer my obeisances at Lord Govinda’s lotus feet.” Lord Śiva is the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the same sense that yogurt is also milk although at the same time it is not milk. For the maintenance of the material world there are three incarnations—Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśvara (Lord Śiva). Lord Śiva is Viṣṇu in an incarnation for the mode of ignorance. The material world exists predominantly in the mode of ignorance. Therefore Lord Śiva is compared here to the longitude and latitude of the entire universe, which resembles a cloth woven of threads extending for both its length and breadth.
TEXT 8
ity uktvā sa nṛpo devaṁ
tapasātoṣayac chivam
kālenālpīyasā rājaṁs
tasyeśaś cāśv atuṣyata
SYNONYMS
iti uktvā—after saying this; saḥ—he; nṛpaḥ—the King (Bhagīratha); devam—unto Lord Śiva; tapasā—by executing austerities; atoṣayat—pleased; śivam—Lord Śiva, the all-auspicious; kālena—by time; alpīyasā—which was not very long; rājan—O King; tasya—upon him (Bhagīratha); īśaḥ—Lord Śiva; ca—indeed; āśu—very soon; atuṣyata—became satisfied.
TRANSLATION
After saying this, Bhagīratha satisfied Lord Śiva by performing austerities. O King Parīkṣit, Lord Śiva was very quickly satisfied with Bhagīratha.
PURPORT
The words āśv atuṣyata indicate that Lord Śiva was satisfied very soon. Therefore another name for Lord Śiva is Āśutoṣa. Materialistic persons become attached to Lord Śiva because Lord Śiva bestows benedictions upon anyone and everyone very quickly, not caring to know how his devotees prosper or suffer. Although materialistic persons know that material happiness is nothing but another side of suffering, they want it, and to get it very quickly they worship Lord Śiva. We find that materialists are generally devotees of many demigods, especially Lord Śiva and mother Durgā. They do not actually want spiritual happiness, for it is almost unknown to them. But if one is serious about being happy spiritually, he must take shelter of Lord Viṣṇu, as the Lord personally demands:
sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ
“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.” (Bg. 18.66)
TEXT 9
tatheti rājñābhihitaṁ
sarva-loka-hitaḥ śivaḥ
dadhārāvahito gaṅgāṁ
pāda-pūta-jalāṁ hareḥ
SYNONYMS
tathā—(let it be) so; iti—thus; rājñā abhihitam—having been addressed by the King (Bhagīratha); sarva-loka-hitaḥ—the Personality of Godhead, who is always auspicious to everyone; śivaḥ—Lord Śiva; dadhāra—sustained; avahitaḥ—with great attention; gaṅgām—the Ganges; pāda-pūta-jalām hareḥ—whose water is transcendentally pure because of emanating from the toes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Viṣṇu.
TRANSLATION
When King Bhagīratha approached Lord Śiva and requested him to sustain the forceful waves of the Ganges, Lord Śiva accepted the proposal by saying, “Let it be so.” Then, with great attention, he sustained the Ganges on his head, for the water of the Ganges is purifying, having emanated from the toes of Lord Viṣṇu.
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