Chapter Twenty-five The Descriptions of the Characteristics of King Puranjana
1. The great sage Maitreya continued speaking to Vidura: My dear Vidura, in this way Lord Siva instructed the sons of King Barhisat. The sons of the King also worshiped Lord Siva with great devotion and respect. Finally, Lord Siva became invisible to the princes.
2. All the Praceta princes simply stood in the water for ten thousand years and recited the prayers given to them by Lord Siva.
3. While the princes were undergoing severe austerities in the water, their father was performing different types of fruitive activities. At this time the great saint Narada, master and teacher of all spiritual life, became very compassionate upon the King and decided to instruct him about spiritual life.
4. Narada Muni asked King Pracinabarhisat: My dear King, what do you desire to achieve by performing these fruitive activities? The chief aim of life is to get rid of all miseries and enjoy happiness, but these two things cannot be realized by fruitive activity.
5. The King replied: O great soul, Narada, my intelligence is entangled in fruitive activities; therefore I do not know the ultimate goal of life. Kindly instruct me in pure knowledge so that I can get out of the entanglement of fruitive activities.
6. Those who are interested only in a so-called beautiful life—namely remaining as a householder entangled by sons and a wife and searching after wealth—think that such things are life’s ultimate goal. Such people simply wander in different types of bodies throughout this material existence without finding out the ultimate goal of life.
7. The great saint Narada said: O ruler of the citizens, my dear King, please see in the sky those animals which you have sacrificed without compassion and without mercy in the sacrificial arena.
8. All these animals are awaiting your death so that they can avenge the injuries you have inflicted upon them. After you die, they will angrily pierce your body with iron horns.
9. In this connection I wish to narrate an old history connected with the character of a king called Puranjana. Please try to hear me with great attention.
10. My dear King, once in the past lived a king named Puranjana, who was celebrated for his great activities. He had a friend named Avijnata [”the unknown one”]. No one could understand the activities of Avijnata.
11. King Puranjana began to search for a suitable place to live, and thus he traveled all over the world. Even after a great deal of traveling, he could not find a place just to his liking. Finally he became morose and disappointed.
12. King Puranjana had unlimited desires for sense enjoyment; consequently he traveled all over the world to find a place where all his desires could be fulfilled. Unfortunately he found a feeling of insufficiency everywhere.
13. Once, while wandering in this way, he saw on the southern side of the Himalayas, in a place named Bharata-varsa [India], a city that had nine gates all about and was characterized by all auspicious facilities.
14. That city was surrounded by walls and parks, and within it were towers, canals, windows and outlets. The houses there were decorated with domes made of gold, silver and iron.
15. The floors of the houses in that city were made of sapphire, crystal, diamonds, pearls, emeralds and rubies. Because of the luster of the houses in the capital, the city was compared to the celestial town named Bhogavati.
16. In that city there were many assembly houses, street crossings, streets, restaurants, gambling houses, markets, resting places, flags, festoons and beautiful parks. All these surrounded the city.
17. On the outskirts of that city were many beautiful trees and creepers encircling a nice lake. Also surrounding that lake were many groups of birds and bees that were always chanting and humming.
18. The branches of the trees standing on the bank of the lake received particles of water carried by the spring air from the falls coming down from the icy mountain.
19. In such an atmosphere even the animals of the forest became nonviolent and nonenvious like great sages. Consequently, the animals did not attack anyone. Over and above everything was the cooing of the cuckoos. Any passenger passing along that path was invited by that atmosphere to take rest in that nice garden.
20. While wandering here and there in that wonderful garden, King Puranjana suddenly came in contact with a very beautiful woman who was walking there without any engagement. She had ten servants with her, and each servant had hundreds of wives accompanying him.
21. The woman was protected on all sides by a five-hooded snake. She was very beautiful and young, and she appeared very anxious to find a suitable husband.
22. The woman’s nose, teeth and forehead were all very beautiful. Her ears were equally very beautiful and were bedecked with dazzling earrings.
23. The waist and hips of the woman were very beautiful. She was dressed in a yellow sari with a golden belt. While she walked, her ankle bells rang. She appeared exactly like a denizen of the heavens.
24. With the end of her sari the woman was trying to cover her breasts, which were equally round and well placed side by side. She again and again tried to cover them out of shyness while she walked exactly like a great elephant.
25. Puranjana, the hero, became attracted by the eyebrows and smiling face of the very beautiful girl and was immediately pierced by the arrows of her lusty desires. When she smiled shyly, she looked very beautiful to Puranjana, who, although a hero, could not refrain from addressing her.
26. My dear lotus-eyed, kindly explain to me where you are coming from, who you are, and whose daughter you are. You appear very chaste. What is the purpose of your coming here? What are you trying to do? Please explain all these things to me.
27. My dear lotus-eyed, who are those eleven strong bodyguards with you, and who are those ten specific servants? Who are those women following the ten servants, and who is the snake that is preceding you?
28. My dear beautiful girl, you are exactly like the goddess of fortune or the wife of Lord Siva or the goddess of learning, the wife of Lord Brahma. Although you must be one of them, I see that you are loitering in this forest. Indeed, you are as silent as the great sages. Is it that you are searching after your own husband? Whoever your husband may be, simply by understanding that you are so faithful to him, he will come to possess all opulences. I think you must be the goddess of fortune, but I do not see the lotus flower in your hand. Therefore I am asking you where you have thrown that lotus.
29. O greatly fortunate one, it appears that you are none of the women I have mentioned because I see that your feet are touching the ground. But if you are some woman of this planet, you can, like the goddess of fortune, who, accompanied by Lord Visnu, increases the beauty of the Vaikuntha planets, also increase the beauty of this city by associating with me. You should understand that I am a great hero and a very powerful king on this planet.
30. Certainly your glancing upon me today has very much agitated my mind. Your smile, which is full of shyness but at the same time lusty, is agitating the most powerful cupid within me. Therefore, O most beautiful, I ask you to be merciful upon me.
