Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 6 Chapter 16:16-29

Book 6: Chapter 16

Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 6: Chapter 16: Verses 16-29 Citraketu realizes (his oneness with) the Supreme Spirit Having performed his ablutions in the water of) the (holy) Yamuna with due ceremony and gone through other sacred rites accomplished with water, and with his senses entirely subdued, he bowed in silence at the feet of the two (celebrated) sons of Brahma (the creator). Then the divine sage Narada joyously taught, it is said, the following prayer to that devotee (Citraketu), who had resorted to him (for protection) and had fully controlled his mind:- "Hail to You, the divine Vasudeva (presiding over the intellect and) denoted by the mystical syllable OM, and obeisance to You as Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Sankarsana (presiding over reason, the mind and ego respectively). We contemplate on You (in all these four manifestations). Hail to You, who are absolute consciousness and an embodiment of supreme bliss, who revel in Your own Self and are (perfectly) tranquil and whose eye is (ever) turned away from duality (who look upon everything as non-different from Yourself). Hail to You, who have kept aloof by the very realization of Your, blissful character (all) disturbances (in the shape of likes and dislikes) caused by Your Maya (deluding potency)! Hail to You, the mighty Controller of the senses, having the cosmos for Your body. May He protect us--He, who is absolute Consciousness without any name or form and lies beyond the cause and the effect, and who shines all by Himself when speech (as well as the other Indriyas) along with the mind has withdrawn, failing to reach (comprehend) Him. Hail to You, the selfsame Brahma, in which this universe stays and (finally) gets merged (at the time of universal dissolution) and from which it evolves (at the time of creation) and that pervades all even as earth pervades all earthen vessels. I bow to that (transcendent Reality) which the organs of action fail to reach (through their active power) and the mind, intellect and the senses of perception fail to comprehend (by their cognitive faculty), and which extends (both) within and without like ether. The body, Indriyas (senses of perception and organs of action), vital airs, mind and intellect-these are stirred into activity only when charged with a ray of the (aforesaid all-conscious) Spirit (viz., during the waking and dream states alone) and not at other times (during deep sleep, unconsciousness etc., when they are not so charged), even as iron which is not fully heated cannot burn. (How, then, can they reach or comprehend that which is the source of their activity ?) And it is Brahma alone that acquires the name of 'subject' (the conscious Self) during the waking and other states (Hence there is no question even of the Jiva's knowing the supreme Brahma). Hail to Lord Sankarsana (the Supreme Person), denoted by (the mystical syllable) OM and possessed of supreme might, the Spouse of Goddess Mahalaksmi (who embodies in Herself the highest glory and fortune) ! Hail to You, O supreme Ruler of the universe, whose lotus-like feet are fondly and softly kneaded by all the hosts of principal devotees with the lotus-buds of their hands. Sri Suka went on : Having taught the aforesaid prayer to that devotee (Citraketu), who had sought his protection, the (celestial) sage Narada returned with the sage Angira, O king (Pariksit), to the abode of Brahma (the self-born); while Emperor Citraketu duly repeated that prayer taught by Narada for seven days (consecutively) with perfect concentration of mind, subsisting on (mere) water. And then at the expiry of seven nights the aforesaid king attained the permanent lordship of the Vidyadharas (the artists of heaven) by virtue of the prayer being (still) repeated (by him). After that, in a few days, the course of his mind having been (fully) the illumined through (the repetition of) the same prayer, Citraketu betook himself to the (holy) feet of Lord Sesa (the serpent-god), the adored (even) of the gods.