{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/db/bk09ch41.htm","path":"hin/db/bk09ch41.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/db/bk09ch41.htm","text":"THE NINTH BOOK\nChapter XLI\nOn the churning of the ocean and on the appearing of Laksm\u00ee\n1-2. N\u00e2r\u00e2yana said :-- O Twice-born! Indra then remembered Hari and took Brihaspati, the Guru of the Devas, to the assembly of Brahm\u00e2, accompanied by the other Devas. They soon reached the region of Brahm\u00e2 and no sooner they saw Him, than Indra and the other Devas and Bihaspati all bowed down to Him.\n3-25. Brihaspati, the \u00c2ch\u00e2rya of the Devas, then communicated all to Brahm\u00e2. Hearing this, He smiled and spoke, addressing Indra :-- O Indra! You have been born in My race; nay, you are My grandson; the \u00c2rya Brihaspati is your Guru; you yourself are the ruler of the Devas and you are very wise and sagacious; the mother of your father is the powerful Daksa, a great Visnu Bhakta. How is it, then that when the three sides of the family are pure, one would turn out so haughty and arrogant! Whose mother is so much devoted to her husband, whose father, mother\u2019s father and mother\u2019s brother are self-controlled and of pure Sattva Guna, he is not expected to be so very haughty! Every man may be guilty to Hari for the three faults :-- For some fault due to that of his father, or of his mother\u2019s father, or of Guru, the Spiritual Teacher. Bhagav\u00e2n N\u00e2r\u00e2yana, resides in this great holy temple of our this physical body controlling the hearts of all. At whatever moment, S\u2019r\u00ee N\u00e2r\u00e2yana quits this temple-body, at that moment this body becomes dead. I myself am the mind; S\u2019ankara is the Knowledge, Visnu is the vital\nbreaths, Bhagavat\u00ee Durg\u00e2 is the intelligence (Buddhi), sleep, etc., the powers of Prakriti; when these are being reflected on by the \u00c2tman, J\u00eeva is formed with a body for enjoyment called Bhoga S\u2019ar\u00eerabhrit. When a king departs, his attendants also follow him; so when this \u00c2tman departs from this temple of body, his attendants mind, buddhi, etc., instantly depart from this body and follow the \u00c2tman. O Indra! We all, are verily, the parts of S\u2019r\u00ee Krisna. I myself, S\u2019iva, Ananta Deva, Visnu, Dharma, Mah\u00e2 Vir\u00e2t, you all are His parts and entirely devoted to Him. And you have shown contempt for His flower. Bhagav\u00e2n S\u2019ankara, the Lord of the Bh\u00fbtas, worshipped the lotus-feet of S\u2019r\u00ee Krisna with that flower. The Risi Durv\u00e2s\u00e2 gave you that flower. But you showed disrespect to it. The flower, P\u00e2rij\u00e2ta, after being offered at the lotus-feet of Krisna, should be placed on the head of an Immortal; His worship is to be done first; and it is the foremost amongst the Devas. So you are now being afflicted by the inevitable course of Fate; Fate is the most powerful of all. Who can save that unlucky man against whom Fate has turned? Seeing that you have rejected the flower offered to S\u2019r\u00ee Krisna, S\u2019r\u00ee Laksm\u00ee Dev\u00ee has left you out of anger. Now come with Me and with your family priest Brihaspati to Vaikuntha and worship the Lord of Laksm\u00ee; then by His grace you may get back your Heavens. Thus saying, Brahm\u00e2 with Indra and all the other Devas, went to the Eternal Purusa, Bhagav\u00e2n N\u00e2r\u00e2yana and saw that He was full of Fire and Energy like one hundred koti summer midday Suns, yet perfectly cool and calm. He has no beginning, and no end, nor any middle. He is Infinite. The four-armed P\u00e2risadas, Sarasvat\u00ee, the four Vedas, and the Ganges, all were surrounding Him. Seeing Him, Brahm\u00e2 and the other Devas bowed down with devotion and began to chant hymns to Him with tears in their eyes. Brahm\u00e2, then, informed Him of everything when all the Devas, dispossessed of their places, began to weep before Him. N\u00e2r\u00e2yana saw that the Devas were very afraid and much distressed. They had no jewel ornaments as before, no vehicles (V\u00e2hanas), nor the Daivic splendour as before, not that brillance; always fearful. Then N\u00e2r\u00e2yana, the Destroyer of fear, seeing the Devas in that state, addressed Brahm\u00e2 and the other Devas :-- O Br\u00e2hman! O Devas! Discard all fears. What fear can overcome you? I am here. I will give you again the immoveable prosperous R\u00e2jya Laksm\u00ee (the Laksm\u00ee of the kings).\n26-47. But for the present, I give you some advice proper for this moment. Listen. There are endless universes where exist innumerable persons. All of them are under Me. So know verily, that\nI am under them also. My devotees regard Me as the Highest. They know no other than Me; they are fearless; so I do not remain in that house where My devotees are dissatisfied. I instantly quit that house with Laksm\u00ee. Durv\u00e2s\u00e2 Risi is born in part of S\u2019ankara. He is highly devoted to Me. He is a pakk\u00e2 Vaisnava. He cursed you and, as a matter of fact, I and Laksm\u00ee instantly left your house.\nLaksm\u00ee does not reside in that house where conch shells are not blown, where there are no Tulas\u00ee trees, where there is no worship of S\u2019iva and S\u2019iv\u00e2, where the Br\u00e2hmanas are not fed. O Br\u00e2hman! O Devas! Where I and My Bhaktas are blamed, Mah\u00e2 Laksm\u00ee becomes greatly displeased. She instantly goes away out of that house. Laksm\u00ee does not stay even for a moment in that house where the stupid person, without any devotion for me, takes his food on the Hariv\u00e2sara Ek\u00e2das\u2019\u00ee day (the eleventh day of the moon\u2019s wane or increase) or on My anniversary birthday. If anybody sells My name or his own daughter, where the guests are not served, Laksm\u00ee quits that house instantly and goes away.\n(Note :-- That Guru is the Real Guru, who, being capable, imparts the name of God to worthy persons without taking any fee at all.)\nIf the son of an unchaste woman be a Br\u00e2hmana, he and the husband of an unchaste woman are great sinners. If anybody goes to such a person\u2019s house or eats the food of a S\u2019\u00fbdra during a Sr\u00e2ddha ceremony, Laksm\u00ee becomes very angry and vacates that house. Being a Br\u00e2hmin, if one burns a S\u2019\u00fbdra\u2019s corpse, one becomes very wretched and the vilest of the Br\u00e2hmins. Laksm\u00ee never stays for a moment more in that house. Being a Br\u00e2hmin, if he be a S\u2019\u00fbdra\u2019s cook and drives oxen, Laksm\u00ee fears to drink water there and quits his house. Being a Br\u00e2hmin, if his heart be unholy, if he be cruel, envies others and blames persons, if he officiates as a priest for the S\u2019\u00fbdra, Laksm\u00ee Dev\u00ee never stays in his house. The World-Mother never stays even for a moment in his house who eats at the house of one who marries an unmarried girl twelve years old in whom menstruation has commenced. He who cuts grass by his nails, or writes on the ground with his nails, or from whose house a Br\u00e2hmana guest goes back disappointed, Laksm\u00ee never stays in his house. If any Br\u00e2hmana eats food at the early sunrise, sleeps during the day or engages in a sexual intercourse during the day, Laksm\u00ee never stays in his house. Laksm\u00ee slips away from that Br\u00e2hmana who is devoid of \u00c2ch\u00e2ra (rules of conduct), who accepts gifts from S\u2019\u00fbdras, from him who remains uninitiated in his Mantram. The ignorant man who sleeps naked and with his feet wet, who laughs always, and always\ntalks at random on disconnected subjects like a mad man, is forsaken at once by Laksm\u00ee. Laksm\u00ee becomes angry and goes away from the house of that man who applies oil all over his body first and then touches the bodies of others and always makes some sounding noise on several parts of his body. If any Br\u00e2hmana forsakes observing vows, fastings, the Sandhy\u00e2 ceremony, purity and devotion to Visnu, Kamal\u00e2 (Laksm\u00ee) does not remain in his house any longer. If anybody blames always the Br\u00e2hmanas and shews his hatred always towards the Br\u00e2hmanas, if he does injury to the animals, and if he does not indulge in his heart anything of pity, kindness, Laksm\u00ee, the Mother of the Worlds, quits him. O Lotus-born! But where Hari is worshipped and Hari\u2019s Name is chanted, Laksm\u00ee, the Mother of all auspiciousness, remains there. Laksm\u00ee remains where the glories of S\u2019r\u00ee Krisna and His Bhaktas are sung.\n48-59. Laksm\u00ee always remains there with the greatest gladness where conch-shells are blown, where there are conchsells, the S\u2019\u00e2lagr\u00e2ma stone, the Tulas\u00ee leaves and the service and meditation of Laksm\u00ee are daily done.\nWhere the phallic emblem of S\u2019iva is worshipped, and His glories sung, where S\u2019r\u00ee Durg\u00e2 is worshipped and Her glories are sung, Laksm\u00ee, the Dweller in the Lotus, remains there. Where the Br\u00e2hmanas are honoured and they are gladly feasted, where all the Devas are worshiped; the chaste Laksm\u00ee, the Lotus-faced, remains there. Thus saying to the Devas, the Lord of Laksm\u00ee said :-- O Dev\u00ee! Go without any any delay to the Ksiroda Ocean and incarnate there in part. He then addressed Brahm\u00e2 and said :-- \u201cO Lotus-born! You also better go there and churn the Ksiroda Ocean; when Laksm\u00ee will arise, give her to the Devas.\u201d O Devarsi! Thus saying, the Lord Kamal\u00e2 went to His inner compartment. On the other hand the Devas, after a long time, reached the shores of the Ksiroda Ocean. The Devas and the Daityas then made the Golden Mountain (the Sumeru) the churning rod, the Deva Kurma (the tortoise), the churning pot and Ananta Deva (the thousand headed serpent) the churning cord and began to churn the ocean. While churning was going on, by and by arose Dhanvantar\u00ee, Amrita (the nectar), the horse Uchchaihs\u2019rav\u00e2, various other invaluable jewels that were desired, the elephant Air\u00e2vata and the beautiful eyed Laksm\u00ee. Visnupriy\u00e2, S\u2019r\u00ee Laksm\u00ee Dev\u00ee, no sooner She got up from the ocean, she, the chaste woman, presented on the neck of N\u00e2r\u00e2yana, of beautiful appearance, the Lord of all, Who slept on the Ksiroda ocean the garland (indicative of accepting Him for her bridegroom). Then Brahm\u00e2 and Mahes\u2019vara and the other Devas gladly worshipped Her and chanted hymns. At this time Laksm\u00ee Dev\u00ee being pleased, cast a favourable glance towards the homes of the Devas,\nin order to free them from their curse. Then, by the grace of Mah\u00e2 Laksm\u00ee and by the granting of the boon by Brahm\u00e2, the Devas got back their own possessions from the hands of the Daityas. O N\u00e2rada! Thus I have described to you the story of Laksm\u00ee Dev\u00ee, the Essence of all Essences, and very pleasant to hear. Now what more do you want to hear? Say.\nHere ends the Forty-first Chapter of the Ninth Book on the churning of the ocean and on the appearing of Laksm\u00ee in the Mah\u00e2 Pur\u00e2nam 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 41","type":"page"}