Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 1 Chapter 16:24-36

Book 1: Chapter 16

Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 1: Chapter 16: Verses 24-36 Conquest of the world by king Pariksit and the dialogue between Dharma (the god of piety) and Mother Earth Tell me, Earth (sterhouse of all riches) ! the cause of your mental agony, on account of which you look so emaciated. or is it that Time, who is more powerful than all powerful beings, has robbed you, mother, of your good fortune, which was once extolled even by the gods? Earth replied:- Dharma, you surely know all that you as me. It was due to Him (Sri Krsna) that you were endowed (till the other day) with all your four feet, that were conducive to the happiness of the world. nay, truthfulness, purity, compassion, forbearance, liberality, contentment, guilelessness, compsure of mind, subjugation of the senses, austerity, evenness of temper, endurance, quietism, sacred knowledge, self- realization, dispassion (absence of thirst for sensuous enjoyment), lordship (power to rule), heroism, majesty, strength, right judgment, independence (absolute freedom), dexterity, loveliness of form, fortitude, gentleness of disposition, exceptional intelligence, modestym, amiability, quicknes of mind, acuteness of the senses and bodily vigour, good furtune, sobriety, steadiness, revernce, good reputation, respectability and absence of egotism--these and many other excellent virtues, which are sought by men aspiring for greatness, are ever present in Him and never decline, O blessed one. By him, who is the receptacele of all noble qualitites and the abode of Sri (the goddess of prosperity) has the world been deserted today and has thus fallen under the eye of the wicked kali. It is such a world that iam grieving for. I am equally concerned for myself, for you, the chief of divinities, and the other gods, manes sages and holy men as well as for the gererality of men belonging to all grades of society and stages of life. Though exclusively devoted to the Lord, Brahma and the other gods practised austere penance for a long time in order to secure a kind look from Sri (the goddess of prosperity). Even that Sri seeks with excessive fondness the lovely shade of His feet, leaving Her home in the bed of lotuses. Exquisitely adorned by the glorious feet of the same divine Lord, that bore the marks of a lotus, thunderbolt, goad and flag, and deriving great splendour through them, I once outshone all the three worlds; and when that good luck ceased, He forsook me, proud as I was (of my great good fortune). Absolutely independent as He is, He assumed a charming personality in the race of Yadu in order to make you whole (with all your feet restored) as a part of His own Being by His own might, finding you grieved at the loss of your two feet. Nay, He removed my oppressive burden in the shape of a hundred Aksauhinis of kings who belonged to the demon race in their previous incarnation. (34) What woman could bear separation from that Supreme Person, who stole away by His endearing looks, bright smiles and sweet words the patience as well as the pride of loving and proud ladies (like Satyabhama and others), and adorned by whose footprints I felt a thrill of joy?" As mother Earth and Dharma (the god of virtue) were thus talking, the royal sage Pariksit arrived at the bank of the Saraswati where it flows towards the east. Thus ends the sixteenth discourse entitled "The Dialogue between goddess Earth and Dharma", in Book One of the great and glorious Bhagavata-Purana, otherwise known as the Paramahamsa-Samhita.