Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 6 Chapter 15:1-16

Book 6: Chapter 15

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Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 6: Chapter 15: Verses 1-16
Citraketu consoled

Sri Suka began again : Enlightening, by means of wise utterances, king Citraketu, who was lying by the side of the dead babe like a dead man, overwhelmed as he was with grief, the sages Angira and Narada spoke (as follows):-- "In what relation did the boy whom you are lamenting (just now), 0 king of kings, stand to you in a previous birth, what is he to you at present and what will he be to you hereafter ? Again, what were you to him in a former incarnation, what are you at present and what will you be hereafter ? Just as stands part (from one another) and come together by the current of a stream, so are embodied beings brought together and parted by Time. Just as seeds do spring up from (other) seeds (in some cases), and do not spring up (in other cases), so do living beings prompted by the Lord's Maya evolve from (other) living beings (in some cases) and do not (in other cases). You and we and all these mobile and immobile creatures belonging to the present time do not (really) exist even now (just) as we did not before birth and shall not be after death, O Citraketu l It is God (the Lord of created beings) who, though unborn (and imperishable) and (absolutely) unconcerned, creates, protects and destroys living beings (sportfully) as a child through (other) beings evolved by Himself and (therefore) not independent. The body of one embodied being (in the shape of a son), O king, is evolved from the body of another embodied being (in the shape of the mother) united with the body of a third embodied being (in the shape of the father), just as one seed springs up from another seed: while the soul inhabiting all these bodies is eternal like God (the only Reality).

The aforesaid distinction of body and soul has existed from eternity and has been conceived through ignorance even as the distinction of the generic property and the individuality of a thing assumed as inhering in the thing itself (although the two are interdependent and cannot therefore be really distinguished)." Sri Suka continued : Thus consoled by the words of the (holy) Brahmanas (Angira and Narada), king Chitraketu wiped his face, withered through mental anguish (caused by his son's death) with his hand and spoke (as follows). The king said : Who are you, rich in wisdom and the most adored of the adorable, that have come here, disguised in the form of ascetics absolutely unconcerned with the world ? Indeed Brahmanas (lit., those identified with Brahma), who are beloved of the Lord, go about the earth at will, disguised as mad men, for admonishing sensually-minded people like me. Sanatkumara, Narada, Rbhu, Angira, Devala, Asita, Apantaratama, Vyasa, Markandeya and Gautama, Vasistha, the glorious Parasurama, Kapila, Suka (son of Badarayana), Durvasa and Yajnavalkya, Jatukarnya and Aruni, Romasa, Cyavana, Dattatreya, Asuri with Patanjali, the seer Vedasira, the sage Bodhya, Pancasira, Hiranyanabha, Kausalya, Srutadeva, and Rtadhwaja these and other lords of Siddhas (enlightened souls) range (over the earth) with the object of imparting wisdom (to qualified souls). Therefore, you two are the masters of my stupid self, a sensual brute. (Pray,) hold aloft the lamp of wisdom to me, plunged in blinding darkness (in the shape of ignorance).

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