Srimad Bhagavatam, Volume 3

SIXTEENTH CHAPTER
How Parikshit Received the Age of Kali
Suta Uvacha:
Tatah parikshit dwijavarya siksaya
Mahim mahabhagwatah sasahsha ha.
Yatha hi sutyam abhijat akovidah
Samadishan vipra mahadgun as tatha.
Suta Uvcha: Suata Goswami Said, Tatah—thereafter, Parikshit—Maharaj
Parikshit, Dwijavarya—the great twice born Brahmins, Sikshaya—by their
instructions, Mahim—the earth, Mahabhagawatah—the great devotee,
Sasasha—ruled, Ha—in the past, Yatha—as they told it, Hi—Certainly,
Sutyam—at the tirne of his birth, Abhijatakavidah—Expert astrologers at the
time of birth, Samadi shan—gave their opinions, Vipra—oh the Brahmins,
Mahadgunas—great qualities, Tatha—true to that.
Suta Goswami said, oh the learned Brahmins, Maharaj Parikshit then
began to rule over the world just as a great devotee of the Lord, under
the instructions of the best of the twice born Brahmins and exactly by
those great qualities as was foretold by the expert astrologers at the time
of his birth.
At the time of Maharaj Parikshit's birth the expert astrologer Brahmins
foretold some of his great Pualities and Maharaj Parikshit developed all those
qualities as great devotee of the Lord he was. The real qualification is to
become a devotee of the Lord and gradually all the good qualities, worth to
possess develop in the person of the devotee. Maharaj Parikshit was a
Mahabhagwat or the first class devotee who is not only well versed in the
science of devotion but also able to convet others to become a devotee by
transcendental instructions. Maharaj parikshit was, therefore, a devotee of the
first order and as such he used to consult great sages and learned Brahmins
who could advice him in terms of the Shastras in the matter of executing the
State administration. Such great Kings were more responsible than the
modern eleced executive head because they obligad the great authorities by
following their instructons standard in terms of the instructions left in Vedic
literatures. There was no need of enacting daily a new legislature bill by
impractical fools and alter it again and again conveniently to serve some
purpose. The rules and regulations were already done by great sages like
Manu, Yajnvalka, Parasar and other liberated great sages and the enactments
were all suitable for all the ages in all the places. Therefore the rules and
regulations were standard to the point without any flaw defect or mistake.
Kings like Maharaja Parikshit had their council of advisers and all the
members of those council were either great sages or Brahmins of the first
order. They did not accept any salary nor they had any necessity for such
salaries. The state would get the best advice without any expenditure of
exchequer. They were themselves Samadarsi equal to every one both man and
animal. They would not advise the king to give protection to man member of
the state and instruct him to kill the poor animals. Such council members were
not fools or representatives to compose a fool's paradise; but, they were all
self-realised souls and they knew perfectly well how all living beings in the
state would be happy both in this life as well as in the next. They were not
concerned with the hedonic philosophy of pleasure hunters to eat drink be
merry and enjoy. They were philosophers in the real sense and they knew it
well what is the mission of human life. Under all these obligations the
advisory council of the King would give correct direction and the King or
executive head being himself a qualified devotee of the Lord would
scrutinizingly follow them for the welfare of the state. The state in the days of
Maharaj Yudhisthir or that of Maharaj Parikshit were welfare state in the real
sense of the term because no body was unhappy in that state may he be a man
or animal. Maharaj Parikshit was an ideal king of an welfare state of the
world.
Sa uttarasya tanayam upayeme irabatim
Janmejandins chaturas tasyam upapadayat sutan.
Sa—he, Uttarasya—of king Uttar, Tanayam—daughter, Upayeme—married,
Iravatim—of the name, Janmejaydins,—headed by, Maharaj Janmejaya,
Chaturas—four in number, Sutam—sons.
King Parikshit married the daughter of King Uttara and begot four sons
headed by Maharaj Janmejaya by his wife.
Maharaj Uttar was the son of Virata and maternal uncle of Maharaj Parikshit.
Iravati being the daughter of Maharaj Uttar, she was the cousin sister of
Maharaj Parikshit but such cousin brothers and sisters are allowed to get
married because they do not belong to the same Gotra or family. In the Vedic
system of marriage importance on different Gotra or family is stressed. Arjuna
also married Subhadra although she was his maternal cousin sister.
Janmejay.—One of the Rajarshi kings and the famous-son of Maharaj
Parikshit. His mother's name is Iravati or according to some Madravati.
Maharaj Janmejay begot two sons only of the names Jnatanika and
Sankukarna. He celebrated several sacrifices in the Kurukshetra pilgrimage
and he had three younger brothers of the names Srutasena, Ugrasena and
Bhimsena II. He invaded Taxshila (Ajanta) and he decided to retaliate the
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unlawful curse upon his great father Maharaj Parikshit and performed a great
sacrifice of the name Sarpa Yajna to kill the race of serpents including the
Takshak who had bitten his father to death. On request from many influential
demigods and sages he had to change his decision for finishing the race of
snakes but inspite of stopping the sacrifice he satisfied every one concerned in
the sacrifice by rewarding them properly and stopped further procedure of the
sacrifices. In the ceremony Mahamuni Vyasdeva also was present and he
personally narrated the history of battle of Kurukshetra before the king. Later
on by the order of Vyasdeva his disciple Vaisampayana narrated before the
king about the subject matter of Mahabharata. He was much afflicted by his
great father's untimely death and was too much anxious to see him again and
he expressed his desire before the great sage Vyasdeva. Vyasdeva also
fullfilled his desire. His father being present before him he worshipped both
his father and Vyasdeva with great respect and pomp. Being fully satisfied
about his great father he made charities most munificently to the Brahmins
present in the sacrifice.
Ajahara aswamedhan strin gangayam bhun dakshinan
Savdbatam gurum kritwa devayatra akshigocharah.
Ajahara—performed, Aswamedhan—horse-sacrifices, Strin—three
Gangayam—the bank of the Ganges, Bhuri—sufficiciently, Dakshinam—
rewards, Sardbatam—unto Kripacharya, Gurnm—Spiritual master, Kritwa—
having selected, Deva—the demigods, Yatra—wherein, Akshi—eyes,
Gocharah—within the purview.
Maharaj Parikshit after having selected Kripacharya as his spiritual
master, for guidance, performed three horse-sacrifices on the bank of the
Ganges executed with sufficient rewards for the attendants. And in these
sacrifices even the common man could see demigods within the purview
of their vision.
It appears from this verse that interplanetary travel by the denizens of higher
planets is easier than that of the inhabitants of this earth. In many places in the
statements of Bhagwatam, we have observed that the demigods from heaven
used to visit this earth to attend sacrifices performed by influential kings and
emperors. Herein also we find that during the time of horsesacrifice ceremony
of Maharaj Parikshit the demigods from other planets were visible even for
the common man on account of the sacrificial ceremony. The demigods are
net generally visible to common as much as the Lord is not visible But as the
Lord also, by His causeless mercy, descends to be visible by the common
man, similarly the demigods also become visible to the common man by their
own grace. Although Celestial beings are not visible to the naked eyes of the
inhabitants of this earth, it was due to the influence of Maharaj Parikshit that
the demigods also agreed to be visible. The Kings used to spend very lavishly
during such sacrifices as much as the cloud distribute rains. The cloud is
nothing but another state of the reservoires of waters or in other words the sea
waters of the earth transform into cloud, similarly the charity made by the
kings in such sacrifices is but another form of the taxes collected from the
citizens. But as the rains fall down very lavishly and it appears to be more
than the necessity, similarly the charity made by such kings, do also seem to
be more than what the citizen needs. Such satisfied citizens of the state can
never organize any sort of agitation against the king and thus there was no
need of changing the monarchical state in to oligarchical state of a few
diplomats.
Even for a king like Maharaj Yudhisthir there was need of the spiritual
master for guidance. Without such guidance no body can make any progress
in spiritual values The spiritual master must be bonafide and one who wants
to have self-realisation must approach and take shelter of such bonafide
spiritual master for achieving real success.
Nijagraha ojasa virah kalim digvi jeye kwacnit
Nripalingadharam sudram ghnantam gomithunam pada.
Nijagraha—sufficiently punished, Ojasa—by prowess, Virah—valient hero,
Kalim—unto kali the master of the age, Digvijaye—on his way for
conquering the world, Kwachit—once upon a time, Nripalingadharam—one
who passes on in the dress of a king, Sudram—the lower class, Ghnantam—
hurting, Gomithunam—a pair of cow and bull, Pada—by the leg.
Once upon a time when Maharaj Parikshit was on his way to conquering
the world he saw the master of Kali Age as lower as a Sudra but in the
dress of a king hunting a pair of cow and bull by the leg. The king at once
caught hold of him and sufiiciently punished.
The purpose of a king's going out for conquering the world is not for selfaggrandisement.
Maharaj Parikshit went out for conquering the world after his
ascendance on the throne, was not for the purpose of aggression on other
states. He was the emperor of the world and all small states were already
under his regime. His purpose of going out for conquering the world was to
see how things were going on in terms of Godly-state. The king being the
representative of the Lord, he has to execute the will of the Lord duly and
there was no question of self-aggrandisement. As such Maharaj Parikshit as
soon as, saw it thata lower class man in the dress of a king was hurting by leg
to the pair of cow and bull at once he arrested him and punished. The king
cannot tolerate insult to the most important animal the cow as much as he