Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 4 Chapter 8:45-60

Book 4: Chapter 8

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Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 4: Chapter 8: Verses 45-60
Dhruva's departure for the woods

With an ever cheerful face and eyes, He is always disposed to shower His grace (on His devotees). He has a shapely nose, charming brows and lovely cheeks and is the most enchanting of all the gods. (Eternally) youthful and possessed of charming limbs, He has rosy lips and reddish eyes and is the (sole) resort of his suppliants. Nay, He is supremely delihtful, fit to protect all and an ocean of tenderness. Bearing (on His breast) the mark of Srivatsa (a golden curl of hair) and swarthy as a cloud, He has all the features of an extraordinary personage and wears a garland of sylvan flowers (about His neck). And His four arms are distinguished by a conch, a discus, a mace and a lotus. He wears a diadem and a pair of ear-rings and is adorned with armlets and bracelets; His neck adds to the beauty of the Kaustubha gem and He has a piece of yellow silk wrapped about His loins. Encircled (at the waist) by a girdle of many strings, He has a shining pair of gold anklets, is most charming to look at wears a serene aspect and brings delight to the mind and eyes. He stands in the mental horizon of those who worship Him, His feet-resplendent with a row of gems in the form of nails-installed in the pericarp of their lotus-like heart. With a steadied and concentrated mind he should visualize the Lord, the foremost of all bestowers of boons, as smiling and casting a loving glance at the devotee. The mind of a man who thus contemplates on the Lord's most blessed form is soon immersed in supreme bliss and never gives up the meditation. Also hear from me, O prince, the most secret formula (which should be muttered along with the meditation and) by repeating which for seven days and nights a man is able to behold the Siddhas moving in the air. The Mantra is : " anta "(Obeisance to Lord Vasudeva). While repeating this sacred formula, a wise man should perform the Lord's worship with the help of material substances, using various articles with due regard to the differences of place and time. He should worship the Lord with undefiled water, (sylvan) flowers, wild roots and fruits etc., sprouts of approved plants, barks of trees and with (the leaves of) the Tulasi (the basil plant), so beloved( of the Lord). Having secured an image of stone or any other substance, he should worship the Lord through the same or (else) through the medium of earth, water and so on, and with his mind and speech duly controlled, he should subsist on a limited quantity of wild fruits etc., and remain calm and collected and absorbed in contemplation. He should also, mentally survey the soul-stirring deeds the glorious Lord will perform in the course of the manifestations He assumes according to His pleasure by His own incomprehensible Maya (creative power), One should offer to the Lord, who stands revealed in the form of a Mantra, all the articles of worship prescribed for Him by the ancients, while repeating this very Mantra (consisting of twelve letters). Being thus waited upon with body, mind and speech through loving worship according to one's choice, the Lord heightens the devotion of men who adore Him in the right way and in a guileless spirit, and bestows on them the boon of their liking from among Dharma(religious merit) and the other objects of human persuit.

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