Srimad Bhagavatam – day 516
Sankarṣanaya namah
The Brahmin’s wife continued to plead, “I cannot live even for a moment without my husband. Even if I am alive I will exist like a living corpse. Hence, if at all you desire to eat my husband, then at first eat me”. She began to weep piteously.
Despite her heart-rending pleas, Saudāsa who was now a demon did not relent. His stone heart did not melt. Just as a tiger swallows its prey, Saudāsa swallowed the Brahmin.
The chaste Brahmin lady lamented profusely at her misfortune and then angrily cursed King Saudāsa, “O degraded sinner! O wicked man! You gobbled up my husband when he was tormented by the desire of begetting progeny. As such you will die the moment you engage in sensual pleasures”.
This chaste lady was determined to reach those planes that her husband had attained. After having cursed King Saudāsa, she built a huge fire. In that fire she offered her husband’s bones and then entering into the fire she reached those planes to which her husband had travelled.
At the end of the twelve-year period Saudāsa was redeemed from his curse. He got back his previous form and returned to his capital. His chaste wife Madayanti meanwhile came to know of the curse meted out by the Brahmin woman. When the King wanted to spend time with her, she reminded him of the curse and thus forbade him.
From then on, King Saudāsa completely discarded such desires. As a result of the wicked deed called eating a Brahmin he remained childless. The king then begged Maharishi Vasiṣṭha who begot a child for him through Madayanti.
Madayanti carried the child in her womb for seven years but could not deliver the child. She then hit her womb with a stone as a result of which a child was born. For this reason he was called Aśmaka.
Aśmaka’s son was Mūlaka. At the time when Paraśurama went around the globe destroying the warrior (kshatriya) clans, the women protected this infant and saved him from being killed by Paruaśurama. From then, this infant was addressed as Nāri-kavaca.
When all the kshatriyas were destroyed, Mūlaka became the primordial person of that clan. Dasharatha was the son of Mūlaka. Dasharatha’s son was Iḍaviḍa. Iḍaviḍa’s son was Vishwasaha. Vishwasaha’s son was Khatvānga.
Khatvānga, the mighty warrior, was undefeatable in war. When the Devatas sought his help, Khatvānga accompanied the Devatas and destroyed all the demons. Pleased with him, the Devatas asked him to choose any boon. Khatvānga enquired from them the duration of his remaining lifespan. The Devatas replied that he had only an hour’s lifespan remaining.
That very instant Khatvānga returned to his capital. He fixed his mind solely upon the Supreme Lord. He thought, “The learned Vedic Brahmins are worshipped in my family. Neither my life, my sons, my wealth, this earth, my kingdom or my wife are as important to me as these Vedic Brahmin scholars. Even in my childhood my mind never travelled towards unrighteous deeds.
I have never uttered lies, nor swindled anyone. Never have I considered any living entity as separate from the Supreme Lord Srihari. I see the Supreme Lord Srihari as pervading through all objects in this creation. The Devatas, who are the Lords of all the three worlds, have asked me to choose a boon desired by me. However my mind longs for the Supreme Lord Srihari, who is the protector of all living entities. As such I do not desire to seek any boon.
If the senses and the intellect, of any living entity including the Devatas, are drawn towards worldly material comforts, then he fails to see the Lord who resides within his heart as the Self. They are enveloped by ignorance.
The three attributes of Nature are created by the Lord’s illusionary energy. Sound and other sensory perceptions which are the outcomes of the three attributes are as illusory as the Gandharva city. The intellect of the ignorant human beings however is powerfully drawn towards these illusory material attachments. As such, through absolute devotion towards the Supreme Lord, I shall cut these attachments and shall seek refuge under Him alone!”
As his mind was deeply drawn towards Lord Nārāyana, Khatvanga firmly decided in this manner. Straight away he discarded the spiritual ignorance that exists in the form of feelings of duality and merged into the Supreme Lord.
Yat tad brahma paraṁ sūkṣmam aśūnyaṁ śūnya-kalpitam
Bhagavān vāsudeveti yaṁ gṛṇanti hi sātvatāḥ
O Emperor Parikshit! The Supreme Lord is beyond Nature (Prakriti). He remains invisible to the senses. He is not a state of nothingness yet appears as if he is void. Devotees who are predominantly filled with traits of goodness describe this Supreme Essence as Vāsudeva.
With this the ninth chapter of the ninth canto comes to an end.
Ninth Canto Chapter Ten
In this chapter the story of Lord Srirama is covered.
Maharishi Śuka said, “Deerghabāhu was the son of Khatvānga. His son was the supremely famed Raghu. Raghu’s son was Aja. Aja’s son was Dasharatha. In response to the pleas of the Devatas the Supreme Lord Srihari incarnated as the son of King Dasharatha with his complete aspect.
Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrughna were the four sons of King Dasharatha. Maharishis who are well-versed in aspects pertaining to the Supreme Essence have elaborately described the pastimes of Srirama, the husband of Seeta. You too have heard these stories many a time in the past.
In order to fulfill his father’s promise Srirama left the kingdom. He had tender, fragile feet that would shrivel when his wife Seeta even tenderly pressed them. With such delicate, tender feet this Lord walked through innumerable forests”.
Narayanaya namah