Skandha 1 - Yajur Veda Australasia - Resources

40 means by which the darkness of ignorance can be dispelled and the spiritual glory of theJīva restored. 7. Even by starting its study or by listening to it, the mind of man developsBhakti, or devotion to the Supreme Lord, which destroys all his sorrow, infatuation andfear. What then to speak of devoted application to its study or hearing! 8. After composingthe Bhāgavata and carefully revising it, the sage taught it to his son Suka, who wasrenunciation personified.How and why Suka learnt the Bhāgavata (9-11)Saunaka said:– 9. Suka is a contemplative par excellence, a thorough-going renouncer whois not interested in anything but absorption in the Self. How did he then take to the study ofthis very extensive scripture? Suta said:– 10. It is true that sages who are absorbed in theSelf are not in need of book-learning. But they are endowed with spontaneous devotion,motivated by no self-centred desire. Such is the inherent attractiveness of Sri Hari that evensuch contemplatives steeped in the Ātman-consciousness, are drawn to Him. 11. BecauseSri Suka, the son of Badarayana (Vyāsa), was extremely fond of devotees and theircompany, and because he was strongly fascinated by the excellences of the Lord, he tookthe trouble of learning the extensive literature, (so that he might serve the Lord and thedevotees by expounding it).The Revenge of Aśvatthama (12-29)12. I shall now narrate to you as a background for Sri Kṛṣṇa's life-story, an account ofRajarshi Parikṣit's birth, activities and death, as also of the departure-past-return of the sonsof Pāṇḍu. 13-15. When the heroes of the clans of Kauravas and Pāṇḍavas had attained tothe consummation of a hero's desire, that is, dying in the battle field; when Suyodhana, theson of Dhritarashtra, was laid low with his thighs broken by the might of Vrikodara's(Bhima's) macethen did Aśvatthama, the son of Drona, desirous of doing what he thoughtwould please his master Suyodhana, stealthily cut off the heads of the five sons of thePāṇḍavas by Panchali, as they slept in their bivouac at night. But when he presented theseheads, even Suyodhana was not pleased with it; for none would be pleased with such anextremely heinous act. Panchali, when she heard of the very brutal way in which her youngboys had been slaughtered, was overwhelmed with grief and began to weep and wail withtorrents of tears flowing from her eyes. Thereupon the hero Arjuna, the one with a wreathadornedcrown, tried to console her thus: 16. When I have reaped the head of thatdespicable Brāhmaṇa, the murderer, Aśvatthama, with arrows released from my bowGandiva, and put it before you, and when sitting on it, you have attended to the cremationof your sons and after its completion taken your ritual bath — then, O good lady, thenalone shall it be time for me to wipe the tears of your sorrowing self. 17. Thus, somehowcomforting his dear wife with such a flow of words, pleasing and flowery, Arjuna, havingKṛṣṇa as both his friend and charioteer, started in pursuit of Aśvatthama, the son of thepreceptor Drona, holding in his (Arjuna's) hand the terrific bow Gandiva, and seated in hischariot with the figure of a monkey as its flag emblem.18. Seeing the fast-approaching Arjuna from a distance, Aśvatthama, the murderer ofbabes, ascended his chariot with a trembling heart and fled as fast as he could for fear oflife, as Brahma once did out of fear of Rudra. 19. Aśvatthama of Brāhmaṇa parentage,finding his horses exhausted and himself helpless even to escape, now thought of theBrahma missile as the only means to save himself. 20. Though not knowing the withdrawalof the Brahma missile. Aśvatthama confronted as he was with an instant threat to life, now