{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/db/bk09ch29.htm","path":"hin/db/bk09ch29.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/db/bk09ch29.htm","text":"THE NINTH BOOK\nChapter XXIX\nOn the anecdote of S\u00e2vitr\u00ee, on gifts and on the effects of Karmas\n1. N\u00e2r\u00e2yana said :-- Yama got thunderstruck at these queries of S\u00e2vitr\u00ee. He then began to describe, with a smiling countenance, the fruition of the several works of the J\u00eevas.\n2-8. He said :-- \u201cO Child! You are now a daughter only twelve years old. But you speak of wisdom like the Highest J\u00f1\u00e2nins and Yogis, Sanaka and others. O Child! By virtue of the boon granted by S\u00e2vitr\u00ee, you have become incarnate of Her in part. The King As\u2019vapati got you before by performing severe penances. As Laksm\u00ee is dear and fortunate with regard to Visnu, as Mah\u00e2devi is to Mah\u00e2deva, Aditi to Kas\u2019yapa, Ahaly\u00e2 to Gautama, so you are to Satyav\u00e2na in respect of affection and good-luck and other best qualities. As S\u2019ach\u00ee is to Mahendra, as Rohin\u00ee is to Moon, as Rati is to K\u00e2ma, as Sv\u00e2h\u00e2 is to Fire, as Svadh\u00e2 is to the Pitris, as Sanj\u00f1\u00e2 is to the Sun, as Varun\u00e2n\u00ee is to Varuna, as Daksin\u00e2 is to Yaj\u00f1\u00e2, as Earth is to Var\u00e2ha, as Devasen\u00e2 is to K\u00e2rtika, so you are fortunate and blessed with respect to Satyav\u00e2na. O S\u00e2vitr\u00ee! I myself grant you this boon of my own accord. Now ask other boons. O highly fortunate One! I will fulfil all your desires.\u201d\n9-12. S\u00e2vitr\u00ee said :-- \u201cO Noble One! Let there be one hundred sons of mine by Satyav\u00e2na. This is the boon that I want. Let there be one hundred sons of my Father as well; let my Father-in-law get back his (lost) eyesight and may he get back his lost kingdom. This is another boon that I want. Thou art the Lord of the world. So grant me this boon, too, that I may have this my very body for a lakh years when I may go to Vaikuntha with Satyav\u00e2na. Now I am eager to hear the various fruitions of Karmas of several J\u00eevas. Kindly narrate them and oblige.\u201d\n13-70. Dharma said :-- You are very chaste. So what you have thought will verily come to pass. Now I describe the fruition of Karmas of the J\u00eevas. Listen. Excepting this holy land of Bh\u00e2rata, nowhere do the people enjoy wholly the fruition of their two-fold Karmas, good and bad. It is only the Suras, Daityas, D\u00e2navas, Gandharvas, R\u00e2ksasas, and men that do Karmas. The beasts and the other J\u00eevas do not do Karmas. The special J\u00eevas, e.g., men, etc., experience the fruition of their Karmas in Heavens, hells and in all the other Yonis (wombs). Specially, as the J\u00eevas\nroam in all the different Yonis, they enjoy their Karmas, good or bad, as the case may be, carved in their previous births. The good works get fructified in Heavens; and the bad works lead the J\u00eevas to hells. This Karma can be got rid of by Bhakti. This Bhakti is of two kinds :-- (1) Nirgun\u00e2 of the nature of Nirv\u00e2na; and (2) towards Prakriti, of the astute of Brahm\u00e2, and with M\u00e2y\u00e2 inherent. Diseases come as the result of bad and ignorant actions and healthiness comes from good and certain scientific Karmas. Similar are the remarks for short and long lives for happiness and pain. By bad works, one becomes blind or deformed in body. So by doing excellent Karmas, one acquires Siddhis, etc.. These are spoken generally. I will now speak in detail; listen. This is very secret even in Pur\u00e2nas and Smritis. In this Bh\u00e2ratavarsa men are the best of all the various classes of beings. The Br\u00e2hmans are the best of men and are best in all Kinds of Karmas. They are responsible, too, for their actions. O Chaste One! Of the Br\u00e2hmins, again, those that are attached to the Br\u00e2hmanas are the best. The Br\u00e2hmanas are of two kinds as they are Sak\u00e2ma (with desires) or Nisk\u00e2ma (without desires). The Nisk\u00e2m\u00ee Br\u00e2hmanas are superior to the Sak\u00e2m\u00ee Br\u00e2hmanas. For the Sak\u00e2m\u00ees are to enjoy the fruits of their Karmas, while the Nisk\u00e2m\u00ee Br\u00e2hmanas are perfectly free from any such disturbances (they have not to come back to this field of Karma). The Nisk\u00e2ma Bhakta after they quit their bodies, go to a place free from sickness or disease, pure and perfect. From there they do not come back. The Nisk\u00e2ma Bhaktas assuming the divine forms go to the Goloka and worship the Highest God, the Highest Self, the two-armed Krisna. The Sak\u00e2m\u00ee Vaisnavas go to Vaikuntha; but they come back in Bh\u00e2rata and get into the wombs of the twice-born. By degrees they also become Nisk\u00e2ma when they certainly acquire pure undefiled Bhakti. The Br\u00e2hmanas and Vaisnavas that are Sak\u00e2m\u00ees in all the births, never get that pure undefiled intellect and never get the devotion to Visnu. The Br\u00e2hmanas, living in the T\u00eerthas (sacred places of pilgrimages) and attached to Tapas go to Brahmaloka (the region of Brahm\u00e2); they again come down to Bh\u00e2rata. Those that are devotedly attached to their own Dharma (religion) and reside in places other than T\u00eerthas, go to Satyaloka and again come to Bh\u00e2rata. The Br\u00e2hmanas, following their own Dharma and devoted to the Sun go to the world of the Sun and again come to Bh\u00e2rata. And those who are devoted to M\u00fbla Prakriti and devoted to Nisk\u00e2ma Dharma go to Mani Dv\u00eepa and have not to come back from thither. The Bhaktas of S\u2019iva, S\u2019akti, and Gane\u2019sa, and attached to their own Dharmas respectively go to the S\u2019iva Loka and return from thence. Those Br\u00e2hmanas that worship the other Devas and attached to their\nown Dharmas go to those regions of theirs respectively and again come to Bh\u00e2rata. Attached to their own Dharmas, the Nisk\u00e2m\u00ee Bhaktas of Hari go by their Bhakti step by step to the region of S\u2019r\u00ee Hari. Those that are not attached to their own Dharmas and do not worship the Devas and always bent on doing things as they like without any regard to their \u00c2ch\u00e2ras go certainly to hells. No doubt in this. The Br\u00e2hmanas and the other three Varnas, attached to their own Dharmas all enjoy the fruits of their good works. But those who do not do their Svadharma, go verily down into hells. They do not came to Bh\u00e2rata for their rebirth, they enjoy their fruits of Karmas in hells! Therefore the four Varnas ought to follow their own Dharmas of the Br\u00e2hmanas, they are to remain attached to their own Dharmas and give their daughters in marriage to the similarly qualified Br\u00e2hmanas. They then go to the Chandraloka (the region of the Moon). There they remain for the life periods of the fourteen Indras. And if the girl be given, with ornaments, the results obtained would be twice. If the girl be given with a desire in view, then that world is obtained; but if the girl be given without any desire but to fulfil the God\u2019s will and God\u2019s satisfaction only, then one would not have to go to that world. They go to Visnu Loka, bereft of the fruits of all Karmas. Those that give to the Br\u00e2hmanas pasture ground and cattle, silver, gold, garment, fruits and water, go to the Chandraloka and live there for one Manvantara. They live long in those regions by virtue of that merit. Again those that give gold, cows, copper, etc., to the holy Br\u00e2hmanas, go to the S\u00fbrya Loka (the region of the Sun) and live there for one Ayuta years (10,000 years), free from diseases, etc., for a long time. Those that give lands and lots of wealth to the Br\u00e2hmins, go to the Visnu Loka and to the beautiful S\u2019veta Dv\u00eepa (one of the eighteen minor divisions of the known continents). And there they live as long as the Sun and Moon exist. O Muni! The meritorious persons live long in that wide region. Note :-- S\u2019veta Dv\u00eepa may mean Vaikuntha, where Visnu resides. Those who give with devotion dwelling places to the Br\u00e2hmanas, go to the happy Visnu Loka. And there, in that great Visnu Loka, they live for years equal to the number of molecules, in that house. He who offers a dwelling house in honour of any Deva, goes to the region of that Deva and remains there for a number of years equivalent to the number of particles in that house. The lotus-born Brahm\u00e2 said that if one offers a royal palace, one obtains a result four times and if one offers a country, one gets the result one hundred times that; again if one offers an excellent country, twice as much merit one acquires. One who dedicates a tank for the expiation of\nall one\u2019s sins, one lives in Janar Loka (one of the pious regions) for a period equivalent to the number of particles therein). If any man offers a V\u00e2p\u00ee (a well) in preference to other gifts, one gets ten fold fruits thereby. If one offers seven V\u00e2p\u00ees, one acquires the fruits of offering one tank. A V\u00e2p\u00ee is one which is four thousand Dhanus long and which is as much wide or less (Note :-- Dhanu equals a measure of four hastas). If offered to a good bridegroom, then the giving of a daughter in marriage is equivalent to a dedication of ten V\u00e2p\u00ees. And if the girl be offered with ornaments, twice the merits accrue. The same merit accrues in clearing the bed of the mud of a pond as in digging it. So for the V\u00e2p\u00ee (well). O Chaste One! He who plants an As\u2019vattha tree and dedicates it to a godly purpose, lives for one Ayuta years in Tapar Loka. O S\u00e2vitr\u00ee! He who dedicates a flower garden for the acquirement of all sorts of good, lives for one Ayuta years in Dhruva Loka.\nO Chaste One! He who gives a V\u00eem\u00e2na (any sort of excellent carriage) in honour of Visnu, in this Hindoosth\u00e2n, lives for one Manvantara in Visnuloka. And if one gives a V\u00eem\u00e2na of variegated colours and workmanship, four times the result accrues. And one who gives a palanquin, acquires half the fruits. Again if anybody gives, out of devotion, a swinging temple (the Dol Mandir) to Bhagav\u00e2n S\u2019r\u00ee Hari, lives for one hundred Manvantras, in the region of Visnu. O Chaste One! He who makes a gift of a royal road, decorated with palatial buildings on either side, lives with great honour and love in that Indraloka for one Ayuta years. Equal results follow whether the above things are offered to the Gods or to the Br\u00e2hmanas. He enjoys that which he gives. No giving, no enjoying. After enjoying the heavenly pleasures, etc., the virtuous person takes birth in Bh\u00e2rata as a Br\u00e2hmin or in other good families, in due order, and ultimately in the Br\u00e2hmana families. The virtuous Br\u00e2hmana, after he has enjoyed the heavenly pleasures, takes his birth again in Bh\u00e2rata in Br\u00e2hmana, Ksattriya or in Vais\u2019ya families. A Ksattriya or a Vais\u2019ya can never obtain Br\u00e2hmanahood, even if he performs asceticism for one Koti Kalpas. This is stated in the S\u2019rutis. Without enjoying the fruits, no Karma can be exhausted even in one hundred Koti Kalpas. So the fruits of the Karmas must be enjoyed, whether they be auspicious or inauspicious. By the help of seeing the Devas and seeing the T\u00eerthas again and again, purity is acquired. O S\u00e2vitr\u00ee! So now I have told you something. What more d o you want to hear? Say.\nHere ends the Twenty-Ninth Chapter of the Ninth Book on the anecdote of S\u00e2vitr\u00ee on the fruits of making gifts and on the effects of Karmas in S\u2019r\u00ee Mad Dev\u00ee Bh\u00e2gavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda Vy\u00e2sa.","title":"The Devi Bhagavatam: The Ninth Book: Chapter 29","type":"page"}