Verse 1

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You were not born before· Verses 1–5

।

Here Hari, the Bhagavan, the self of everything, is told of again and again: he from whose favour Brahma was born, and out of whose anger came Rudra. But you, king, throw off this animal thought, that you are going to die. You were not born today, not having been before, as the body was, and you will not be destroyed. You will not, having once been, come again in the shape of sons and grandsons, the way a seed comes as a shoot. You stand apart from the body and the rest, as fire does. Since a man in a dream sees for himself the cutting off of his head and his going back to the five, and sees it as the body's, the self is unborn and does not die.

When the pot is broken, the space in the pot is space as it was before. So, when the body dies, the living one comes to be Brahman again.

The commentators

Bhāgavata Vāhini

నందుని ఇంట విడిచి, అక్కడ, అప్పుడే పుట్టిన ఆడబిడ్డను తెచ్చి దేవకి చేతికిచ్చెనో లేదో కెవ్వున ఏడ్వసాగెను" అని చెప్పుచుండగనే పరీక్షిత్ మహారాజు "కృష్ణా! కృష్ణా!" అని గట్టిగ అరవ జొచ్చెను. 'ఏమి' అని అందరూ చెంతచేర, ఒక నాగము కుడికాలు బొటనవ్రేలుపై కాటువేసి సరసర పరుగిడుచుండెను. అది గాంచి మహారాజున కివి అంత్యగడియలని తలంచి, అందరూ కృష్ణా! ద్వారకావాసా! బృందావనవిహారీ! అని అంటూ అందరూ ఒకే స్మరణలు చేయజొచ్చిరి. "కృష్ణా! కృష్ణా! కృష్ణా!" అని మహారాజు నేలవ్రాలెను. పండితులు వేదములు చదివిరి. భక్తులు భజనలు చేసిరి. బుషులు జప, ధ్యానములు మొదలుపెట్టిరి. శుకుడు ఆనంద బాష్పములు రాల్చుచు "మహారాజు గోపాలుని చేరెను" అని చేరిన వారలకు తెలిపి, ముందు కార్యక్రమములు కొనసాగించమని తెలిపి, శుకుడు ఎవరికీ కనిపించక వెడలి పోయెను. వేదమను వృక్షమునుండి భాగవతమను ఫలమును త్రుంచి ప్రజలకందించిన చిలుకయే ఆ శుకుడు. అందించిన ఈ ఫలమును ఆరగించి, జీర్ణించుకొని, ఆత్మానందము నందుదురు గాక! ఆ నందనందనుని పొందుదురు గాక!

In plain words

he left at Nanda's house; and he brought the girl-child born there just then, and no sooner had he placed her in Devakī's hands than she began to cry with a piercing wail" — even as Śuka was saying this, King Parīkṣit began to cry out loudly, "Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa!" As everyone gathered close, asking 'What is it?', a serpent that had bitten him on the big toe of his right foot was slithering swiftly away. Seeing that, and knowing these to be the Mahārāja's final hours, everyone — saying "Kṛṣṇa! Dweller in Dvārakā! You who roam Bṛndāvana!" — all together began the one same remembrance. Crying "Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa!", the Mahārāja sank to the ground. The scholars recited the Vedas. The devotees sang bhajans. The ṛṣis began japa and dhyāna. Śuka, shedding tears of bliss, announced to those gathered there, "The Mahārāja has reached Gopāla," told them to carry on with the rites that were to follow, and went away, seen by no one. That Śuka is the parrot who plucked the fruit called the Bhāgavatam from the tree called the Veda and handed it to the people. May they eat this fruit that has been handed to them, digest it, and attain Ātmānanda! May they attain that Son of Nanda!