Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 5 Chapter 3:10-20

Book 5: Chapter 3

Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 5: Chapter 3: Verses 10-20 The descent of Lord Rsabha Now that You-the foremost of those who grant boons (to their votaries)-have manifested Yourself before the eyes of Your own devotees at the sacrificial performance of this royal sage (Nabhi), this itself constitutes a (unique) benediction, O most adorable one. O Lord, Your hosts of virtues are incessantly recounted (even) by sages revelling in the Self-who have burnt all their sins with the fire of wisdom fanned by detachment (dispassion) and who have (as a consequence) imbibed Your nature-inasmuch as the uttering of Your praises is the (only) source of the highest blessings for them (since they too are not easily graced with Your sight). Therefore, while stumbling, sneezing, falling down and yawning, when placed in a sad plight and so on even in (high) fever and while dying-when we are powerless to remember You-let Your name descriptive of Your virtues and dispelling (all) our sins somehow appear on our tongue. Moreover, this royal sage (Nabhi), who is desirous of (obtaining) progeny, has resorted to You-competent as You are to grant (all) desired boons, including (an abode in) heaven and (even) release (from the toils of birth and death)-with the hope of (having) a son like You, and regarding progeny as the (highest) object of human pursuit, even as a pauper would approach Kubera (the god of riches) with the hope of obtaining husk. Who is there on this earth that has not waited on the feet of exalted souls and (yet) who has not been worsted by Your invincible and inscutable Maya, whose understanding has (accordingly) not been clouded by that Maya and whose nature has not been obscured by the vehemence of poison in the shape of pleasures of sense? Be pleased to ignore, by (Your) undifferentiating outlook towards all, 0 God of gods, the disrespect shown by us ignorant people to You, the Supreme Deity, in the sense that You, O Lord of unlimited activity, have been duly (respectfully) called here by us, who are so stupid as to look upon progeny as the (highest) object of human pursuit. Sri Suka resumed : While He was thus being extolled through a hymn couched in prose and when those priests (the adored of king Nabhi, the ruler of an entire subdivision of Jambudwipa) bowed at His feet, Lord Visnu (the foremost of the gods) graciously spoke the following words. The Lord said : Oh, sages, (you have indeed placed Me in a difficult predicament in that) you, whose speech is infallible, have asked Me the rare boon that a son like Me may be born to this royal sage; (for you know) I alone am My compeer, matchless as I am. Nonetheless the words of Brahmanas should not prove false either, inasmuch as it is My own mouth that is represented by the Brahmana race (the adored of all the other twice-born classes). Therefore, not finding My equal (anywhere), I shall descend (on earth) through Nabhi (the son of Agnidhra), exhibiting a part of My own. Sri Suka went on : Having thus addressed the consort of queen Merudevi within her hearing, the Lord disappeared (then and there). Propitiated by great seers at that very sacrifice, O Pariksit (who had been restored to life by Lord Sri Krsna, manifestation of Lord Visnu-vide I. xii. 7-10), the Lord descended (on earth) in the gynaeceum of king Nabhi in a divine form (consisting of Sattva unmixed with Rajas and Tamas) with a view to obliging that monarch and (also) with intent to teach to the world (by personal example) the sacred vows observed by sages that have no covering on their body except the atmosphere, lead an ascetic life and are pledged to perpetual celibacy (lit., have directed the flow of their generative fluid upwards). Thus ends the third discourse entitled "The descent of Lord Rsabha , forming part of the narrative of king Nabhi, in Book Five of the great and glorious Bhagavata-Purana, otherwise known as the Paramahamsa-Samhita.