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08-02-2008, 10:49 PM
SB 4.7.34<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:" /><o:p></o:p>
The sages prayed: Dear Lord, Your activities are most wonderful, and although You do everything by Your different potencies, You are not at all attached to such activities. You are not even attached to the goddess of fortune, who is worshiped by the great demigods like Brahmä, who pray to achieve her mercy.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.35<o:p></o:p>
The Siddhas prayed: Like an elephant that has suffered in a forest fire but can forget all its troubles by entering a river, our minds, O Lord, always merge in the nectarean river of Your transcendental pastimes, and they desire never to leave such transcendental bliss, which is as good as the pleasure of merging in the Absolute.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.36<o:p></o:p>
The wife of Dakña prayed as follows: My dear Lord, it is very fortunate that You have appeared in this arena of sacrifice. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You, and I request that You be pleased on this occasion. The sacrificial arena is not beautiful without You, just as a body is not beautiful without the head.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.37<o:p></o:p>
The governors of various planets spoke as follows: Dear Lord, we believe only in our direct perception, but under the circumstances we do not know whether we have actually seen You with our material senses. By our material senses we can simply perceive the cosmic manifestation, but You are beyond the five elements. You are the sixth. We see You, therefore, as a creation of the material world.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.38<o:p></o:p>
The great mystics said: Dear Lord, persons who see You as nondifferent from themselves, knowing that You are the Supersoul of all living entities, are certainly very, very dear to You. You are very favorable toward those who engage in devotional service, accepting You as the Lord and themselves as the servants. By Your mercy, You are always inclined in their favor.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.39<o:p></o:p>
We offer our respectful obeisances unto the Supreme, who has created varieties of manifestations and put them under the spell of the three qualities of the material world in order to create, maintain and annihilate them. He Himself is not under the control of the external energy; in His personal feature He is completely devoid of the variegated manifestation of material qualities, and He is under no illusion of false identification.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.40<o:p></o:p>
The personified Vedas said: We offer our respectful obeisances unto You, the Lord, the shelter of the quality of goodness and therefore the source of all religion, austerity and penance, for You are transcendental to all material qualities and no one knows You or Your actual situation.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.41<o:p></o:p>
The fire-god said: My dear Lord, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You because by Your favor I am as luminous as blazing fire and I accept the offerings mixed with butter and offered in sacrifice. The five kinds of offerings according to the Yajur Veda are all Your different energies, and You are worshiped by five kinds of Vedic hymns. Sacrifice means Your Supreme Personality of Godhead.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.42<o:p></o:p>
The demigods said: Dear Lord, formerly, when there was a devastation, You conserved all the different energies of material manifestation. At that time, all the inhabitants of the higher planets, represented by such liberated souls as Sanaka, were meditating on You by philosophical speculation. You are therefore the original person, and You rest in the water of devastation on the bed of the Çeña snake. Now, today, You are visible to us, who are all Your servants. Please give us protection.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.43<o:p></o:p>
The Gandharvas said: Dear Lord, all the demigods, including Lord Çiva, Lord Brahmä, Indra and Maréci and the great sages, are all only differentiated parts and parcels of Your body. You are the Supreme Almighty Great; the whole creation is just like a plaything for You. We always accept You as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and we offer our respectful obeisances unto You.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.44<o:p></o:p>
The Vidyädharas said: Dear Lord, this human form of body is meant for attaining the highest perfectional objective, but, impelled by Your external energy, the living entity misidentifies himself with his body and with the material energy, and therefore, influenced by mäyä, he wants to become happy by material enjoyment. He is misled and always attracted by temporary, illusory happiness. But Your transcendental activities are so powerful that if one engages in the hearing and chanting of such topics, he can be delivered from illusion.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.45<o:p></o:p>
The brähmaëas said: Dear Lord, You are sacrifice personified. You are the offering of clarified butter, You are the fire, You are the chanting of Vedic hymns by which the sacrifice is conducted, You are the fuel, You are the flame, You are the kuça grass, and You are the sacrificial pots. You are the priests who perform the yajïa, You are the demigods headed by Indra, and You are the sacrificial animal. Everything that is sacrificed is You or Your energy.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.46<o:p></o:p>
Dear Lord, O personified Vedic knowledge, in the past millennium, long, long ago, when You appeared as the great boar incarnation, You picked up the world from the water, as an elephant picks up a lotus flower from a lake. When You vibrated transcendental sound in that gigantic form of a boar, the sound was accepted as a sacrificial hymn, and great sages like Sanaka meditated upon it and offered prayers for Your glorification.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.47<o:p></o:p>
Dear Lord, we were awaiting Your audience because we have been unable to perform the yajïas according to the Vedic rituals. We pray unto You, therefore, to be pleased with us. Simply by chanting Your holy name, one can surpass all obstacles. We offer our respectful obeisances unto You in Your presence.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.48<o:p></o:p>
Çré Maitreya said: After Lord Viñëu was glorified by all present, Dakña, his consciousness purified, arranged to begin again the yajïa which had been devastated by the followers of Lord Çiva.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.49<o:p></o:p>
Maitreya continued: My dear sinless Vidura, Lord Viñëu is actually the enjoyer of the results of all sacrifices. Yet because of His being the Supersoul of all living entities, He was satisfied simply with His share of the sacrificial offerings. He therefore addressed Dakña in a pleasing attitude.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.50<o:p></o:p>
Lord Viñëu replied: Brahmä, Lord Çiva and I are the supreme cause of the material manifestation. I am the Supersoul, the self sufficient witness. But impersonally there is no difference between Brahmä, Lord Çiva and Me.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.51<o:p></o:p>
The Lord continued: My dear Dakña Dvija, I am the original Personality of Godhead, but in order to create, maintain and annihilate this cosmic manifestation, I act through My material energy, and according to the different grades of activity, My representations are differently named.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.52<o:p></o:p>
The Lord continued: One who is not in proper knowledge thinks that demigods like Brahmä and Çiva are independent, or he even thinks that the living entities are independent.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.53<o:p></o:p>
A person with average intelligence does not think the head and other parts of the body to be separate. Similarly, My devotee does not differentiate Viñëu, the all-pervading Personality of Godhead, from any thing or any living entity.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.54<o:p></o:p>
The Lord continued: One who does not consider Brahmä, Viñëu, Çiva or the living entities in general to be separate from the Supreme, and who knows Brahman, actually realizes peace; others do not.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.55<o:p></o:p>
The sage Maitreya said: Thus Dakña, the head of all Prajäpatis, having been nicely instructed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, worshiped Lord Viñëu. After worshiping Him by performing the prescribed sacrificial ceremonies, Dakña separately worshiped Lord Brahmä and Lord Çiva.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.56<o:p></o:p>
With all respect, Dakña worshiped Lord Çiva with his share of the remnants of the yajïa. After finishing the ritualistic sacrificial activities, he satisfied all the other demigods and the other people assembled there. Then, after finishing all these duties with the priests, he took a bath and was fully satisfied.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.57<o:p></o:p>
Thus worshiping the Supreme Lord Viñëu by the ritualistic performance of sacrifice, Dakña was completely situated on the religious path. Moreover, all the demigods who had assembled at the sacrifice blessed him that he might increase his piety, and then they left.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.58<o:p></o:p>
Maitreya said: I have heard that after giving up the body she had received from Dakña, Däkñäyaëé (his daughter) took her birth in the kingdom of the Himalayas. She was born as the daughter of Menä. I heard this from authoritative sources.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.59<o:p></o:p>
Ambikä [goddess Durgä], who was known as Däkñäyiëé [Saté], again accepted Lord Çiva as her husband, just as different energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead act during the course of a new creation.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.60<o:p></o:p>
Maitreya said: My dear Vidura, I heard this story of the Dakña yajïa, which was devastated by Lord Çiva, from Uddhava, a great devotee and a disciple of Båhaspati.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.7.61<o:p></o:p>
The great sage Maitreya concluded: If one hears and again narrates, with faith and devotion, this story of the Dakña yajïa as it was conducted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viñëu, then certainly one is cleared of all contamination of material existence, O son of Kuru.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the Fourth Canto, Seventh Chapter, of the Çrémad-Bhägavatam.<o:p></o:p>
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