Verse 21

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What the gods envy· Verses 21–26

एतदेव हि देवा गायन्ति -अहो अमीषां किमकारि शोभनंप्रसन्न एषां स्विदुत स्वयं हरिः ।यैर्जन्म लब्धं नृषु भारताजिरेमुकुन्दसेवौपयिकं स्पृहा हि नः

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And this is what the gods sing: What fine thing did these people do? Or was Hari himself pleased with them, that they were given birth among men in the courtyard of Bharata, which is the way to serve Mukunda? That is what we long for. What are they worth to us, our hard rites, our austerities and vows, our giving and the rest, or our small winning of heaven, where the remembering of Narayana's lotus feet is stolen away by too much festival for the senses? For those whose lives last an age, winning a station only to be born again is worth less than the winning of the ground of Bharata by those whose lives last a moment. Men of mind give up what has been done with a mortal moment and go to the fearless station of Hari.

Where there is no river of the nectar of the story of him whom nothing hinders, no good men who are the Lord's own and take shelter in it, no great festivals of offering to the lord of sacrifice, let no one serve that place, even if it is the world of the lord of the gods. Creatures who have got a birth here among men, well supplied with knowledge and rite and the things they need: if they do not strive for an end of being born again, they go back into bondage as animals of the forest do. Those who with faith pour out the offering on the sacrificial grass, share by share, as rule and spell and substance require — he who is one, called by separate names, gladly takes it, being full in himself, the master of all blessings.