Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 4 Chapter 12:1-16

Book 4: Chapter 12

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Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 4: Chapter 12: Verses 1-16
Kubera confers a boon on Dhruva, who ascends to the abode of Lord Visnu

Maltreya continued : Having come to know that Dhruva's anger had been appeased and that he had desisted from (further) bloodshed, the worshipful Kubera (the god of riches) arrived there, glorified by the Caranas (celestial bards), Yaksas and Kinnaras, and spoke to Dhruva, who stood (before him) with joined palms. The god of riches said : O Ksatriya prince, I am highly pleased with you since at the remonstrance of your grandfather (Swayambhuva Manu)' you have renounced the feeling of animosity, so difficult to give up, O sinless one. (As a matter of fact), it was not you who killed the Yaksas nor did the Yaksas slay your brother (Uttama). The Time-spirit alone is responsible for the birth and death of living beings. Like the dream-consciousness, the false notion of 'I' and 'you' arises in man through ignorance (of his essential nature) and as a result of his self-identification with the body; and it is due to this notion that he has to suffer bondage as well as miseries. Therefore, God bless you, Dhruva, go and worship for the sake of freedom from birth (and death) the Lord-who is above sense-perception and yet manifest in the form of all living beings, whose feet are the only object worth resorting to, who puts an end to birth (and death) and who, though united (for the purposes of creation etc.), with His own energy known by the name of Maya and consisting of the three Gunas (Sattva, Rajas and Tamas), is yet devoid of it (in His absolute aspect)-treating all living beings as your own self. Freely and unhesitatingly ask of me, 0 king, a boon which is foremost in your mind, O son of Uttanapada, you being (eminently) fit to receive a boon (from me); for we have heard, dear Dhruva, that you are so near the feet of the Lord (who has a lotus sprung from His navel). Maitreya went on : When the great-minded Dhruva, an eminent devotee of the Lord, was egged on by Kubera (the king of the Yaksas) to ask for a boon, he sought to be blessed with constant remembrance of Sri Hari, with the help of which one is easily able to cross the ocean of worldly existence (which is an outcome of ignorance, and) which is so difficult to get over. With a glad heart Kubera (the son of Idavida) conferred on him the boon of constant remembrance of the Lord and thereafter vanished before his very eyes; and Dhruva too returned to his own capital (Barhismati). Then he propitiated, through (the performance of) a number of sacrifices attended with liberal fees (to the officiating priests), the Lord of sacrifices, who is the reward of ritual acts-performed with the help of material substances (clarified butter etc.), sacrificial activity (the work of the priests) and the deities (such as the fire-god, Indra and others) worshipped in the course of a sacrifice-as well as the dispenser of their fruit. Maintaining an ardent flow of Devotion to the immortal Lord, who is the Inner Controller of all and yet who excludes all, he saw seated in himself as well as in all (other) beings the same all-pervading Lord. The people looked upon him as their own father-him, who was thus possessed of a lofty character, devoted to the Brahmana and tender to the afflicted, and who preserved the bounds of propriety. Exhausting (the stock of) his merit through luxuries (permitted by the Sastras) and neutralizing evil by practising self-denial (in the form of charity and the performance of sacrifices etc.), he ruled over the terrestrial globe for thirty-six thousand years (the span of life of a god). Having thus spent along period as a means to (the attainment of) the three objects of human pursuit, (viz., religious merit, worldly prosperity and sensuous enjoyment) with his senses fully controlled, the high-souled Dhruva (eventually) made over the throne to his son (Utkala). Regarding this universe-which is no more real than a dream or a hallucination caused by ignorance-as super-imposed on his own self by Maya (illusion), and realizing his own body, wives, progeny and kinsfolk, as well as his army, rich treasury, gynaeceum, delightful pleasure-grounds and (his dominion over) the sea-girt terrestrial globe as overtaken by Death, he left for Visala (the forest of Badarikasrama, the modern Badrinatha).

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