Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.4.1, SB 2.3.1---25 Recitation , Los Angeles , 1972-06-24
Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. We chant all the verses in this chapter, all together, starting from the beginning.
[Prabhupāda and devotees chant all verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.3.1---25].
Everyone can chant together:
evam etan nigaditaṁ
pṛṣṭavān yad bhavān mama
nṛṇāṁ yan mriyamāṇānāṁ
manuṣyeṣu manīṣiṇām
[SB 2.3.1]
[Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said = Mahārāja Parīkṣit, as you have inquired from me as to the duty of the intelligent man who is on the threshold of death, so I have answered you.]
yajeta brahmaṇaḥ patim
indram indriya-kāmas tu
prajā-kāmaḥ prajāpatīn
tejas-kāmo vibhāvasum
vasu-kāmo vasūn rudrān
vīrya-kāmo 'tha vīryavān
svarga-kāmo 'diteḥ sutān
viśvān devān rājya-kāmaḥ
sādhyān saṁsādhako viśām
puṣṭi-kāma ilāṁ yajet
pratiṣṭhā-kāmaḥ puruṣo
rodasī loka-mātarau
strī-kāmo 'psara urvaśīm
ādhipatya-kāmaḥ sarveṣāṁ
yajeta parameṣṭhinam
kośa-kāmaḥ pracetasam
vidyā-kāmas tu giriśaṁ
dāmpatyārtha umāṁ satīm
[SB 2.3.2–7]
[One who desires to be absorbed in the impersonal brahma-jyoti effulgence should worship the master of the Vedas (Lord Brahmā or Bṛhaspati, the learned priest), one who desires powerful sex should worship the heavenly King, Indra, and one who desires good progeny should worship the great progenitors called the Prajāpatis. One who desires good fortune should worship Durgādevī, the superintendent of the material world. One desiring to be very powerful should worship fire, and one who aspires only after money should worship the Vasus.
One should worship the Rudra incarnations of Lord Śiva if he wants to be a great hero. One who wants a large stock of grains should worship Aditi. One who desires to attain the heavenly planets should worship the sons of Aditi. One who desires a worldly kingdom should worship Viśvadeva, and one who wants to be popular with the general mass of population should worship the Sādhya demigod. One who desires a long span of life should worship the demigods known as the Aśvinī-kumāras, and a person desiring a strongly built body should worship the earth. One who desires stability in his post should worship the horizon and the earth combined.
One who desires to be beautiful should worship the beautiful residents of the Gandharva planet, and one who desires a good wife should worship the Apsarās and the Urvaśī society girls of the heavenly kingdom. One who desires domination over others should worship Lord Brahmā, the head of the universe. One who desires tangible fame should worship the Personality of Godhead, and one who desires a good bank balance should worship the demigod Varuṇa. If one desires to be a greatly learned man he should worship Lord Śiva, and if one desires a good marital relation he should worship the chaste goddess Umā, the wife of Lord Śiva.]
tantuḥ tanvan pitṝn yajet
rakṣā-kāmaḥ puṇya-janān
ojas-kāmo marud-gaṇān
[SB 2.3.8]
[One should worship Lord Viṣṇu or His devotee for spiritual advancement in knowledge, and for protection of heredity and advancement of a dynasty one should worship the various demigods.]
nirṛtiṁ tv abhicaran yajet
kāma-kāmo yajet somam
akāmaḥ puruṣaṁ param
[SB 2.3.9]
[One who desires domination over a kingdom or an empire should worship the Manus. One who desires victory over an enemy should worship the demons, and one who desires sense gratification should worship the moon. But one who desires nothing of material enjoyment should worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead.]
mokṣa-kāma udāra-dhīḥ
tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena
yajeta puruṣaṁ param
[A person who has broader intelligence, whether he be full of all material desire, without any material desire, or desiring liberation, must by all means worship the supreme whole, the Personality of Godhead.]
iha niḥśreyasodayaḥ
bhagavaty acalo bhāvo
yad bhāgavata-saṅgataḥ
[All the different kinds of worshipers of multidemigods can attain the highest perfectional benediction, which is spontaneous attraction unflinchingly fixed upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead, only by the association of the pure devotee of the Lord.]
ātma-prasāda uta yatra guṇeṣv asaṅgaḥ
kaivalya-sammata-pathas tv atha bhakti-yogaḥ
ko nirvṛto hari-kathāsu ratiṁ na kuryāt
[Transcendental knowledge in relation with the Supreme Lord Hari is knowledge resulting in the complete suspension of the waves and whirlpools of the material modes. Such knowledge is self-satisfying due to its being free from material attachment, and being transcendental it is approved by authorities. Who could fail to be attracted?]
ity abhivyāhṛtaṁ rājā
niśamya bharatarṣabhaḥ
kim anyat pṛṣṭavān bhūyo
vaiyāsakim ṛṣiṁ kavim
[Śaunaka said = The son of Vyāsadeva, Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, was a highly learned sage and was able to describe things in a poetic manner. What did Mahārāja Parīkṣit again inquire from him after hearing all that he had said?]
sūta no 'rhasi bhāṣitum
kathā hari-kathodarkāḥ
satāṁ syuḥ sadasi dhruvam
[O learned Sūta Gosvāmī! Please continue to explain such topics to us because we are all eager to hear. Besides that, topics which result in the discussion of the Lord Hari should certainly be discussed in the assembly of devotees.]
pāṇḍaveyo mahā-rathaḥ
bāla-krīḍanakaiḥ krīḍan
kṛṣṇa-krīḍāṁ ya ādade
[Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the grandson of the Pāṇḍavas, was from his very childhood a great devotee of the Lord. Even while playing with dolls, he used to worship Lord Kṛṣṇa by imitating the worship of the family Deity.]
vāsudeva-parāyaṇaḥ
urugāya-guṇodārāḥ
satāṁ syur hi samāgame
[Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the son of Vyāsadeva, was also full in transcendental knowledge and was a great devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, son of Vasudeva. So there must have been discussion of Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is glorified by great philosophers and in the company of great devotees.]
udyann astaṁ ca yann asau
tasyarte yat-kṣaṇo nīta
uttama-śloka-vārtayā
[Both by rising and by setting, the sun decreases the duration of life of everyone, except one who utilizes the time by discussing topics of the all-good Personality of Godhead.]
bhastrāḥ kiṁ na śvasanty uta
na khādanti na mehanti
kiṁ grāme paśavo 'pare
[Do the trees not live? Do the bellows of the blacksmith not breathe? All around us, do the beasts not eat and discharge semen?]
saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ
na yat-karṇa-pathopeto
jātu nāma gadāgrajaḥ
[Men who are like dogs, hogs, camels and asses praise those men who never listen to the transcendental pastimes of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the deliverer from evils.]
na śṛṇvataḥ karṇa-puṭe narasya
jihvāsatī dārdurikeva sūta
na copagāyaty urugāya-gāthāḥ
[One who has not listened to the messages about the prowess and marvelous acts of the Personality of Godhead and has not sung or chanted loudly the worthy songs about the Lord is to be considered to possess earholes like the holes of snakes and a tongue like the tongue of a frog.]
apy uttamāṅgaṁ na namen mukundam
śāvau karau no kurute saparyāṁ
harer lasat-kāñcana-kaṅkaṇau vā
[The upper portion of the body, though crowned with a silk turban, is only a heavy burden if not bowed down before the Personality of Godhead who can award mukti [freedom]. And the hands, though decorated with glittering bangles, are like those of a dead man if not engaged in the service of the Personality of Godhead Hari.]
liṅgāni viṣṇor na nirīkṣato ye
pādau nṛṇāṁ tau druma-janma-bhājau
kṣetrāṇi nānuvrajato harer yau
[The eyes which do not look at the symbolic representations of the Personality of Godhead Viṣṇu [His forms, name, quality, etc.] are like those printed on the plumes of the peacock, and the legs which do not move to the holy places [where the Lord is remembered] are considered to be like tree trunks.]
na jātu martyo 'bhilabheta yas tu
śrī-viṣṇu-padyā manujas tulasyāḥ
śvasañ chavo yas tu na veda gandham
[The person who has not at any time received the dust of the feet of the Lord's pure devotee upon his head is certainly a dead body. And the person who has never experienced the aroma of the tulasī leaves from the lotus feet of the Lord is also a dead body, although breathing.]
yad gṛhyamāṇair hari-nāma-dheyaiḥ
na vikriyetātha yadā vikāro
netre jalaṁ gātra-ruheṣu harṣaḥ
[Certainly that heart is steel-framed which, in spite of one's chanting the holy name of the Lord with concentration, does not change even when signs of transformation take place such as tears in the eyes and ecstatic standing of the hairs on end.]
prabhāṣase bhāgavata-pradhānaḥ
yad āha vaiyāsakir ātma-vidyā-
viśārado nṛpatiṁ sādhu pṛṣṭaḥ
[O Sūta Gosvāmī, your words are pleasing to our minds. Please therefore explain this to us as it was spoken by the great devotee Śukadeva Gosvāmī, who is very expert in transcendental knowledge, and who spoke to Mahārāja Parīkṣit upon being asked.]
[07:25]
Prabhupāda: So it takes not more than five minutes. If you practice, then you become learned scholars simply by chanting these mantra, and the translation, transcendental vibration, will keep you fit for spiritual advancement. Every verse in Vedic literatures, especially Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, they are not ordinary sounds.
Simply if you chant the mantras, you become purified. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ [SB 1.2.17]. Puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ. Simply by hearing and chanting you become pious. Puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ. Even you don't understand the meaning, the very sound vibration will help you.
Now we have finished one chapter within five minutes. How much time it took? I don't think more than five minutes. So everyone should chant every day at least one chapter.
Then? Next chapter?
Pradyumna: Text number one. [leads chanting of verse]
Prabhupāda: Which chapter?
vaiyāsaker iti vacas
tattva-niścayam ātmanaḥ
upadhārya matiṁ kṛṣṇe
auttareyaḥ satīṁ vyadhāt
[SB 2.4.1]
Prabhupāda: [corrects pronunciation of devotees' chanting] Any of the girls? [Prabhupāda corrects pronunciation] All right. Word meaning.
Pradyumna: [leads chanting of synonyms]
sūtaḥ uvāca---Sūta Gosvāmī said; vaiyāsakeḥ---of Śukadeva Gosvāmī; iti---thus; vacaḥ---speeches; tattva-niścayam---that which verifies the truth; ātmanaḥ---in the self; upadhārya---just having realized; matim---concentration of the mind; kṛṣṇe---unto Lord Kṛṣṇa; auttareyaḥ---the son of Uttarā; satīm---chaste; vyadhāt---applied.
[14:28] [break]
Translation = "Sūta Gosvāmī said = Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the son of Uttarā, after hearing the speeches of Śukadeva Gosvāmī, which were all about the truth of the self, applied his concentration faithfully upon Lord Kṛṣṇa."
Prabhupāda: So here is, vacas tattvam ātmā ni..., ātmā, vacas tattva niścayam ātmā. Vacas tattva-niścayam ātmanaḥ. Vaiyāsaki. So ātma-tattva, self-realization, this is required. So we have to approach a person like Vaiyāsaki, Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Niścayam. Vacas tattva-niścayam. If you want to know positively, niścayam, without any mistake, then we have to approach a person like Śukadeva Gosvāmī or the paramparā system, who is coming in disciplic succession of paramparā system.
The paramparā system means... Just like we claim paramparā system from Kṛṣṇa. So whatever Kṛṣṇa says, or He said five thousand years ago, we are repeating the same thing. That is called paramparā system. Not that "The world has changed. Scientific advancement is very great. Now we can interpret in this way and that way." This is all nonsense. All nonsense. You cannot change a single alphabet. They are all unmistakable. They cannot be changed. So that is niścayam ātmanaḥ.
If you want to know positively what is God, then we should take lesson from a self-realized soul who has understood, who has seen. Jñānina tattva-darśinaḥ [Bg. 4.34]. Just like here it is tattva-niścayam ātmanaḥ. So tattvam, the truth, so one must have seen the truth, realized the truth. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet [MU 1.2.12]. That is guru, means one who has seen the truth. How he has seen the truth? Through the paramparā system.
Kṛṣṇa said this, and then Brahmā said the same thing, then Nārada said the same thing, Vyāsadeva said the same thing, and then disciplic succession, Madhvācārya, Mādhavendra Purī, Īśvara Purī, Lord Caitanya, ṣaḍ-gosvāmī, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura---in this way---Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī, Gaura Kiśora dāsa Bābājī, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī. Then we are speaking. The same thing.
Not that "Because we are modernized... Your modern science has changed." Nothing has changed. It is all foolishness. That change is a scheduled change. Just like day after night, and again night after day, again day after night. This is not change; this is a system. So because our poor fund of knowledge... Just like there are many insects, their birth, death, marriage and everything is finished within night. They never see the day.
So if they see day by chance, they will say, "Oh, it has changed." Because their experience is they have never seen day. Their experience with night. So all of a sudden, if he sees that there is daylight, "Oh, what is this? Oh, the whole world has changed." No. You have not seen. The so-called scientific discovery, they are seeing something, but the next stage they have no power to see, and they think, when they see the next item, "Oh, the world has changed." There is no question of changing. It is on the process.
Just like another example can be given = the film. If you see the film as it is, each picture you will see different picture. But actually, it is not different; it is the same. It is the process. How the hands and legs will move, the picture is made in such a way that when it is put into the machine, you'll find the hands and legs are moving. So change... Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya. Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya.
There are three kinds of changes. First of all change is the sṛṣṭi. Sṛṣṭi means creation. Creation. This material world... There was no material world; simply there was spiritual world. Just like when all of a sudden cloud appears in the sky. The sky was there; the cloud has appeared. Similarly, this material creation is like that. It is just like a cloud in the vast spiritual ocean..., sky.
The sky is spiritual. This sky in which we are now existing, that is not spiritual. Just like the sky covered by the cloud is the same sky, but it is covered, similarly, we are living within the covered sky, and if you penetrate the cover, then you go to the spiritual sky.
While going to the spiritual sky, you have to give up your body. The body is a combination of five elements. So there is stock in the... This universe is covered by seven layers = earth, water, fire, air, like that. When we shall be going to the spiritual sky, we have to pass through the seven layers. And each layer is ten times bigger than the first.
Suppose we pass the air layer; the next layer, the fire, is ten times bigger. Then water, ten times. In this way, we have to pass through. We are so much tightly packed up. It is not so easy that I take a sputnik and go anywhere. No. That requires sādhana-bhajana, practice, how to give up this encagement of seven layers, and then completely pure spirit soul, you enter into the spiritual sky. That is merging in the spiritual effulgence, brahmajyoti.
Then you can go further and enter into the spiritual planet, if you are fit for that. Otherwise, you'll remain in the brahmajyoti, nirviśeṣa, without any variety, simply light, as the jñānīs, they want.
But you cannot stay there. Because you are a living entity, you are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, so actually you are trying to go to Kṛṣṇa. Just like a child is crying. The idea is that the child wants mother or mother's breast milk. That is his demand. But sometimes we do not know. We try to make the child comfortable in different ways.
Similarly, all of us are searching after Kṛṣṇa. That is the fact. Kṛṣṇa, being the Supreme, we are all, being parts and parcel, our natural tendency is to approach Kṛṣṇa. Manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ. Mama vartmānuvartante manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ [Bg. 4.11]. In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find this. Mama vartmānu... "They are all trying to come to Me, but they are being hampered by different types of māyā."
So the spiritual advancement means ultimately to approach Kṛṣṇa. This is very nicely explained by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The bhakti-latā, the creeper of bhakti, is growing, but it will go on growing, growing, growing until the bhakti-latā, I mean to say, catches the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa.
You will see the creepers, they grow, they try to catch something small. And as soon as they get a pillar or wood, immediately, by nature... Similarly, you go on increasing your bhakti creeper. The bhakti creeper...
guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
[Cc. Madhya 19.151]
Bīja. Bīja means seed. Guru-kṛṣṇa: Kṛṣṇa and guru. When both of them are merciful, then you can get the seed of bhakti-latā creeper. Mālī hañā sei bīja kare āropaṇa [Cc. Madhya 19.152]. When you get a nice seed... Just like you are growing, nursing, the tulasī seed very carefully. Tulasī seed, that is the example of bhakti seed. Similarly, you have to nurse the bhakti seed by giving all protection, watering daily. So what is your watering process? This watering process. [devotees recite mahā-mantra] Śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana.
śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana
[Cc. Madhya 19.152]
You have to become a gardener and...
[aside:] Where is that Pravīṇacandra? He's not here? Yes. That's all right.
Śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana: hearing. If you want to come to the right conclusion, then you have to hear from persons authorized, not from the nonsense rascals, politicians, diplomats. No. Just like here it is said vaiyāsakeḥ. You have to hear from Vaiyāsaki or his representative. Vaiyāsaker iti vacas tattva-niścayam ātmanaḥ.
If you hear from the right person, then tattva-niścayam, then positively you can realize self. And if you hear from some rascals, they have no connection with Vaiyāsaki, simply by dint of mental speculation interpreting, "I think this may be this. I think this..." What you are, nonsense? You think? We don't accept such nonsense things. It must be positively authorized. As it is said here, vaiyāsaker iti vacas tattva-niścayam ātmanaḥ.
When we hear from the right person...
paripraśnena sevayā
upadekṣyanti tad jñānaṁ
jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ
[Bg. 4.34]
Jñāna and tattva-darśī. Simply jñānī, simply A-B-C-D knowledge, academic education, will not help. You must be jñānī, at the same time, tattva-darśī. That tattva-darśana cannot be possible by mental speculation. Ciraṁ vicinvan.
prasāda-leśānugṛhīta eva hi
jānāti tattvaṁ... jānāti tattvaṁ
[bhagavan-mahimno]
na cānya eko 'pi ciraṁ vicinvan
Who knows the tattva. Athāpi te deva padāmbuja-dvaya-prasāda-leśānugṛhīta: "One person who has got a slight benediction from Your lotus feet." Not that all. A slight. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt. If you get a slight, a glance, then your life is perfect, immediately.
Not that you have to get all the mercies of the Lord. Even little, very insignificant part. That means, insignificant, that is Kṛṣṇa is teaching Himself = "Just surrender."
So this much mercy every one of us, we can take. How? "Kṛṣṇa, I was wandering throughout the whole universe in so many lives. I did not know that You are my supreme master. Now, from this day, I surrender unto You." Kṛṣṇa is ready = ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi [Bg. 18.66] = "Yes, you do it. I shall give you protection from all sinful resultant action. Immediately."
A simple process. So this much mercy we can take, if we will. But we are not willing. We surrender to some rascal, but not to Kṛṣṇa. That is our position. We shall surrender to this man, that man, this man, this one... Why not Kṛṣṇa? "No." Māyā will say, "No, no, no. What is Kṛṣṇa? You surrender to such big politician, big yogī, big bluffer, cheater. You surrender there."
Māyā is always after you to bewilder you. Because we have forgotten Kṛṣṇa by our independence, misusing our independence, so māyā wants to give us some good lesson, that "Forgetting Kṛṣṇa, you are trying to be happy. All right, I shall give you nice happiness." This is going on.
Therefore, māyā is very strong. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā = daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā [Bg. 7.14]. You cannot get out of the clutches of māyā so easily. Then? How it is possible? Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te [Bg. 7.14]. The same thing. "If anyone fully surrenders unto Me, then he can get out of the clutches of māyā."
So here, Parīkṣit Mahārāja is fully surrendered to his spiritual master. Vaiyāsaker iti vacas. Whatever he said... Vaiyāsaki, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he placed the whole thing before him, how to concentrate one's mind on Kṛṣṇa. So upadhārya matiṁ kṛṣṇe. Then immediately this is the result. If you approach a bona fide representative, then, taking lessons from him, the result will be upadhārya matiṁ kṛṣṇe---your surrender will be on Kṛṣṇa.
Read the purport.
Pradyumna: "The word satīm is very significant. This means 'existing' and 'chaste,' and both imports are perfectly applicable in the case of Mahārāja Parīkṣit. The whole Vedic adventure is to draw one's attention entirely unto the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa without any diversion, as it is instructed in the Bhagavad-gītā [Bg. 15.15].
Fortunately, Mahārāja Parīkṣit had already been attracted to the Lord from the very beginning of his body, in the womb of his mother. In the womb of his mother he was struck by the brahmāstra atomic bomb released by Aśvatthāmā, but by the grace of the Lord he was saved from being burnt by the fiery weapon, and since then the King continually concentrated his mind upon Lord Kṛṣṇa, which made him perfectly chaste in devotional service. So by natural sequence he was a chaste devotee of the Lord, and when he further heard..."
Prabhupāda: Here, one important matter is there, that Parīkṣit Mahārāja, while he was in the womb of his mother, there was brahmāstra targeted upon him by Aśvatthāmā. And he was to be killed. Practically he was killed. His mother felt miscarriage and immediately approached Kṛṣṇa, that "I am feeling like this.
The only son of this Pāṇḍava dynasty is going to be lost." So Kṛṣṇa immediately entered the womb of Uttarā and saved the baby. Now, Parīkṣit Mahārāja is recognized devotee; otherwise Kṛṣṇa would not have taken so much trouble. He wanted that Parīkṣit Mahārāja.
Now, when he was cursed by a brāhmaṇa to die within seven days, why Kṛṣṇa did not save him, or why he did not seek Kṛṣṇa's protection? This question may be raised. He was young man. He was not old man. He could live. That question was made also = "The Parīkṣit Mahārāja, such a nice king, his life was dedicated for the welfare of his subjects. So actually, his body was meant for the benefit of others. Why did he leave it, did he quit it?" This question was there.
Because anyone who has dedicated his body for the service of all humanity, that is, means, that means he has dedicated the body for Kṛṣṇa, because Kṛṣṇa, He is suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām [Bg. 5.29]. Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām. Kṛṣṇa is the sincere friend of everyone, so one who is trying to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that means he's also trying to make others to feel that Kṛṣṇa is the supreme friend. So that body is Kṛṣṇa's body.
Now, why Parīkṣit Mahārāja decided that? He could counteract the brāhmaṇa boy. It was not difficult for him. But he did not act it counter, and he agreed to die. And Kṛṣṇa also, from within, dictated, "Parīkṣit, now agree to die." Why? If Parīkṣit Mahārāja was not in this position, that he was to die within seven days, this Bhāgavata would not have come. This is the purport. That was the purpose. Otherwise, he could counteract.
He could save himself---personally or with the help of Kṛṣṇa. He didn't care for any curse, but if he would not have taken this position, this Bhāgavata would not have come. It was for Parīkṣit Mahārāja.
So we have to study in this way. Thank you very much.
Devotees: Jaya. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. [devotees offer obeisances] [end]