Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 6 Chapter 11:14-24

Book 6: Chapter 11

Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 6: Chapter 11: Verses 14-24 Vrtra's teaching to Indra Vrtra said : Luckily enough (for me) you, who slew a Brahmana, your (own) preceptor and my brother (all in the person of Viswarupa), have firmly stood before me as my adversary. How glad am I that through you, O most wicked one, when your stone-like heart has been pierced through before long by my trident, I shall have discharged my debt (to my brother) today. You ruthlessly lopped off with a sword the heads of my innocent brother-who besides being a Brahmana and your preceptor, had realized the Self and reposing (full) confidence in you, was (duly) engaged in a sacrifice (on your behalf), (even) as one aspiring to (an abode in) heaven would sever the head of an animal to be sacrificed. When your body has been torn asunder by my trident, vultures will feast (before long) on you-forsaken as you are by shame, grace, compassion and glory and fit to be censured (even) by Raksasas (who devour human beings) because of your sinful deeds-since you will get no fire (to burn you). Nay, I shall indeed propitiate the god Bhairava and others (the leaders of ghosts) with their retinue through (the blood of) those other foolish gods who, following (the lead of) your cruel self, have raised their missiles to strike me on this field of battle and whose neck will be (presently) pierced through with my sharpened trident. If, on the other hand, O valiant Indra, you actually succeed in crushing my army and severing my (own) head with your thunderbolt in this encounter, I shall in that case offer my body as a (propitiatory) oblation to birds and beasts (such as vultures and jackals) and (thus) freed from all debts (of Karma), attain to the dust of feet (destiny or abode) of enlightened souls (Narada and others). O ruler of gods, wherefore do you not hurl your unfailing thunderbolt at me, your enemy, stationed before you? (Pray) do not entertain any misgiving (in your mind). (Rest assured that) the thunderbolt will not prove ineffectual as your mace or as an entreaty seeking its fulfilment from a miser. Surely this thunderbolt of yours, O Indra, has been whetted by the energy of Sri Hari as well as by the asceticism of the sage Dadhici. Prompted by Lord Visnu, get rid of your enemy (myself) with the selfsame weapon; (for) victory, fortune and virtues lean to that side alone on which stands Sri Hari. Concentrating my mind on the lotus-feet of Lord Sankarsana (even) as He has instructed me, and with the cords of attachment to the pleasures of sense cut asunder by the force of your thunderbolt, and having (thus) cast off the body, I shall attain to the destiny of a sage given to contemplation. The Lord does not of course bestow on His own people, exclusively devoted to Him, the riches that are available in heaven (the higher worlds), on earth or in the subterranean regions, and from which follow (as a matter of course) hatred, fear, mental anguish, arrogance, discord, suffering and toil. Our Master (on the other hand), O Indra, frustrates the efforts of His servant for the attainment of the three objects of human pursuit (viz., religious merit, worldly riches and sensuous enjoyment). From such frustration is to be inferred the grace of the Lord, which is the lot of (only) those who have nothing (to call their own) and is difficult to attain for others. (Turning mentally towards the Lord,) May I, O Hari, be born again (after death) as a servant of those devotees who have solely taken refuge in Your (lotus) feet. Let my mind ponder and tongue celebrate the excellences of the Lord of my life (Yourself) and let my body do Your service (alone).