Description of Gadhapur and pious family of King Abhay.
Description of Gadhapur and pious family of King Abhay.
Suvrat said:-
In the land of western Panchal, there is a very clean pure river, which washes away the sins of the people. 1.
In this holy river Achyut (Lord Krishna) took bath and enjoyed playing with sages many times, and for reason of having come in contact with Lord Krishna and the sages, the river has become the destroyer of greatest sins. 2.
On the bank of this holy river is a town named Durga, where the people of all the four castes live. 3.
This town was a suburb of the city of Dvaraka and was a place of enjoyment for Lord Vasudev. 4.
There was a religious minded king verily devoted to Shri Hari called Abhay. He had a great liking for listening to scriptural texts. He was brave and followed the duties of a warrior (Ksatriya) religiously. 5.
King Abhay had married princess Suraprabha, daughter of King Nagesh and his wife Purna of Kariyanapur. 6.
His other wife was Somadevi, the daughter of King Ranagami of Buttadpur. 7.
Both the queens were loyal to their husband. Suraprabha had four daughters named Jaya, Lalita, Panchali and the youngest one Nani. 8 - 9.
Queen Somadevi had a son, who was well behaved, virtuous, of high morals, soft spoken, calm and of good intellect like Prahlad. 10.
Jaya and Lalita had lost their husbands in their childhood and the two widows were disinterested in worldly affairs. They were pious, strictly followed religious code, lead a celibate life and obse- rved vows like Krcchra etc. and lived in their father’s house. 11-12.
King Abhay had a sister named Soma and her husband, the king’s brother in law, was Galav. All of them were very religious minded and intently devoted to Krishna. 13.
Along with them the king used to listen to Srimad Bhaga- vat(Purana)Katha, every day regularly with great respect. 14.
Listening to Bhagavata Katha during daytime, he used to narrate and discuss those episodes at evenings to them and meditated upon the purport again and again. 15.
On completion of the reading of Purana, he gave dakshina (monetary honorarium) to the speaker (a Brahmin) and asked to listen to it again. Thus he listened to the Purana for seven consecutive times. 16.
As he went on listening and thinking about the meaning of such lines as ‘Yada Yada hi Dharmasya’ to himself, he assuredly thought that whenever irreligion is increasingly dominant and religion declining, the Lord dons yet another incarnation to visit this earth. 17 - 18.
At present, irreligious practices are witnessed to be increasing fast. Now is the time for Shri Hari to come down to earth. 19.
Each time such thoughts came to king’s mind, his detachment to worldly things grew stronger. 20.
Once, in the month of Shravan, on Ekadashi, the eleventh day of dark the fortnight, he offered grand worship to Lord Krishna according to the rituals. Following the rules of Ekadashi vow strictly, He sang many hymns and songs to Lord Krishna. 21 - 22.
In the afternoon, he listened to the Bhagavad-Gita with respect and devotion; then he discussed it with others. 23.
He said ‘O brothers, please listen to what I wish to say. It is good and favourable to all human beings to dedicate themselves to Krishna alone. 24.
It is assumed that devotion and service to Lord Krishna in person, becomes fruitful instantaneously, and devotional service to His image has a long lasting result. 25.
Those are really blessed who have actually seen Him, served and worshipped Him according to their ability. They attained the highest goal of life. 26
To offer direct service and worship Him is possible if and when incarnation of Lord Krishna is an actuality on this earth. But it is a very rare occurrence for human beings to be witness to it. 27.
Rise and fall of religion.
Regress of righteousness and progress of unrighteousness on the earth is the cause of incarnation of Krishna. As the Lord Krishna has Himself said: 28.
‘Whenever religion declines, religion is at stake and irreligion ascends, for the resurrection and reestablishment of religion, I come again; to protect saints and punish the sinners; I take birth age after age.’ 29.- 30.
At the advent of Kaliyug, when irreligious forces were power- ful, Lord Krishna took birth as the son to Vasudev and Devaki. 31.
Destroying the sinful and cruel demons in thousands, He promulgated the true religion based on caste and stage, on this earth. 32.
The religious traditions established by Him were protected by kings of the Lunar dynasty like Parikshit and Sahadev, up to the end of King Ripunjay. Then King Brhdran and others up to the end of King Sumitr of the Solar dynasty preserved and promoted them according to their abilities. 33 - 34.
Then during the course of time, when it again weakened, King Vikramaditya and Shalivahan kept it alive and furthered it. 35.
Then came Shankaracharya who defeated the heretics and restored the religious order on his own valour. 36.
Then preceptors like Vishnu Swami, the valiant Ramanujacharya, Nimbarka and Madhvacharya, and then Vallabhacharya with Gosvami promoted the religious ideals giving impetus to devotion of Krishna. 37 - 38.
Blemishes of Kaliyug; King Abhay’s prayer.
When these foremost preachers disappeared from the earth, and since Kaliyug’s advent, irreligious tendencies have increased among commoners, ascetics and kings. 39.
The traditional caste and stage system has been polluted. The people of the higher class have developed taste for irreligious acts. 40.
The low caste Shudras are behaving like Brahmins, and abandoning their religious duties the Brahmins have taken to a lower way of life. Ascetics have become commoners and commoners have become mendicants. 41.
Women have shown infidelity to their husbands and are engaged in immoral activities with men clandestinely. And men belonging to good families are fond of eating meat, drinking wine and violent acts. 42.
Under the pretext of devotion, penance, Yoga and religiosity, people are seen apprehending women, money and tasty food O brethren! 43.
Widows are interested in chatting and joking with men and seeking their intimacy. They (widows) want tasty food and they decorate themselves with fine clothes and ornaments. 44.
Such are the irreligious tendencies, and the effects of Kali seen everywhere on this earth agonize the saintly people. 45.
I think, as predicted by the Shastras, the suitable time has come for the incarnation of Lord Krishna, who has taken a vow of protect religion. 46.
It is certain that the Lord is born somewhere, to uproot irreligion, as per the prediction of the sacred scriptures. 47.
May Lord Krishna mind us as His own people, His close devotees and protect us from the ills of heretics; and may the merciful lord appear before us! 48.
Suvrat said:-
As King Abhay was uttering these words, his good old friend and well wisher King-sage Khatvang arrived there. King Abhay heartily welcomed and honored him. 49.
Thus ends the twenty second chapter entitled ‘King Khatvang’s arrival at Abhay’s mansion’ in the second Prakarana of Satsangijivan, the life story of Lord Narayan, also titled as ‘Dharmashastra’ (the rules of the code of conduct). 22.
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