Glorification of Gita Chapter XV
King Kripananarasimha & his horse
(Chapter 189, Padma Purana, Part-IX)The lord said:
O you large-eyed one, O you daughter of the Himalaya mountain, I shall tell (you) the importance of the fifteenth chapter of the Gita. Listen to it. In the Gauda country there was a kind king named Narasimha. In the war by the edge of his sword the divine groups were killed. The earth could bear the agony due to the heat of the sun, even in summer, by means of the water of the stream of rut of his intoxicated elephants. Intoxicated elephants, frightened due to being challenged and seeking his refuge, shone like moving mountains. The mountains respectfully echoed the trumpets of the intoxicated elephants of him, the kind protector. It was a wonder how the earth was not reduced to pieces, when it was shattered with the multitudes of (the strokes of) the hoofs of his running horses. When he, a friend of Indra, emancipated the earth, Phanisvara (Sesa; Patanjali) again brightened Mahabhasya. He had an intelligent soldier named Sarabhabherunda, who was an abode of weapons, holy texts and arts, and had large round arms. By means of his treasure, horses, brave soldiers, and very inaccessible forts he was equal to the king. Some time the sinful one made up his mind to rule over the kingdom after having forcibly killed the king together with the princes. With a desire to do like this he was determined (to kill the king with the princes). Due to the disease of cholera he died. (1-11)
O you of a thin belly, after death the sinful one was born, due to that act, as a bright horse in Sindhu country. A certain vaisya-son, knowing the facts about horses, bought him at a great price and took him (to his place) with great effort. After his death the king got old in course of time and looked after his kingdom with (the help of) his grandsons. The vaisya-son came to give the horse to the king. He remained at the king's door waiting to meet him. Though the vaisya was already known, he was presented (before the king) by the doorkeeper. "Speak why (you have come)." Thus asked by the king, he told (everything) clearly. "Thinking that this horse is a gem of the three worlds, I (bought) this horse of auspicious marks at a price of a million coins." Then looking at the faces of those seated by his side, the king ordered the vaisya: "Bring the horse here." The great horse made the heads of those knowing the marks of a horse, nod, and exciting the minds of the brave, ejecting his very bright fame earned by many speedy runs across, the entire earth, as it were, in the form of saliva and foam, he actually became comparable to Uccaisravas by means of the similarity in virtues (with him). The very bright one bent his neck, as it were, through bashfulness. Constantly being fanned by chowries, white like the moon, he was like Uccaisravas, unsteady like the Milky Ocean. Like the beauty of the clouds he had a pair of blue umbrellas, and the beauty of the peak of the Himalaya, with clouds touching it. Repeatedly raising his handsome neck, he was, as it were, turned into fire by the contact with the earth. He tore all the enemies; he brought prosperity in the form of victory with his loud neighing; he declared glory in (all) quarters. He was a very high heap of vitality; was, as it were, the treasure of gaits. He was actually the abode of beauty; he was the ocean of (auspicious) marks. (12-26)
The vaisya brought the horse ; and the king saw him. The ministers knowing the (auspicious) marks described him in various ways. Giving the merchant as much gold as desired and asked for by him, the king, full of extreme joy, quickly took the horse. Then having called the horsegroom, and carefully instructing him the king dismissed the assembly and went into his house after being taken leave of in many ways by (the members of) the assembly. He (took) the king, having the ornaments in the form of rows of scars of wounds made in battle, and resembling sattva (energy?). Once, the king, full of curiosity, having the sport of hunting (in mind), mounted him, and entered a forest. Leaving his soldiers behind, all of whom were running around, the king, being attracted by deer, was oppressed with thirst. Then the king got down from the horse, and looking for water, tied the horse to the branch of a tree, and ascended a rock. He saw half the verse from the fifteenth chapter of the Gita written, and fallen where he looked into a fissure. When the king was reading the line of letters, the horse, hearing it, obtained salvation, and quickly fell. Then having cut off the knot, and dropping the saddle, he, being lifted by the king did not get up, (but) was dead. Then Sarabhabherunda, talking to the king in a sweet tone, got into a celestial aeroplane, and went to heaven. Then going up the mountain, he saw an excellent hermitage. It was full of the trees of punnaga, plantain, mango and coconut. It had groves of grapes and sugarcanes, and trees like nuts, nagakesara and champaka. It had young elephants and deer playing in it. It had the flocks of peacocks dancing. The king, being free from the desire for worldly existence, saluted the brahmana who was in the hut, and asked him with great devotion: (27-40)
"(Please) tell me, with what purpose the horse went to heaven." Having heard these words of the king, the brahmana said : "Due to his sin, he became a horse after a long time. Having heard half a verse from the fifteenth chapter of the Gita written somewhere, when you read it, the horse went to heaven." Then the king, surrounded by his attendants who had come there, with horripilation due to joy, saluted the brahmana and left. The king, with his eyes dilating due to joy, read that writing having (half the verse from) the fifteenth (chapter) of the Gita and he, along with the ministers, the counsellors, consecrated his son powerful like a lion, on the throne, and he of a pure mind, obtained salvation. (41-46)
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SUMMARY
The glories of the fifteenth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita were narrated by Lord Shiva to Parvati as follows.
In Gaudadesha there lived a king named Kripana-narasimha, who could defeat the demigods. This king had a greedy commander named Sarabha-bherunda, who, together with the prince, was conspiring to assassinate the king. But before Sarabha-bherunda could execute the plan, he died of cholera. In his next life, Sarabha-bherunda took birth as an excellent horse.
One day a merchant bought this horse and went to the capital of Gaudadesha to sell it to the king. Upon reaching the palace, the merchant came before the king and explained that he had an incomparable horse to sell. The king took an interest and asked to see the horse at once. He examined it and without hesitation paid the sum the merchant asked.
After some days the king decided to go to the forest to hunt. As he rode on this horse he saw a deer and began chasing it. The chase went on and on, but finally the king became tired and thirsty, so he stopped to rest. He tied the horse to a tree and sat on a large rock.
A little later, a piece of parchment landed next to the king. On it was written half aKing_on_the_horse verse of the fifteenth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, and as the king read it aloud, the horse fell on the ground and at once gave up its body. Instantaneously, it attained a transcendental four-armed form. This liberated soul then sat down in a Vaikuntha airplane and returned the spiritual world.
After calming down, the king noticed that close by there was a beautiful hermitage. Entering hermitage, the king found that a brahmana lived there named Vishnusharma who had complete control over his senses. The king offered respects to that brahmana and inquired how it was possible that his horse had attained Vaikuntha. The brahmana replied, “O king, previously you had a commander in your army named Sarabha-bherunda. Together with the prince, he had planned to usurp the throne. But before he could do so, he died of cholera. He took birth as that outstanding horse, and when he heard some words from the fifteenth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita he attained Vaikuntha. The king there upon again offered respects to that and returned to his capital.
Back in his capital, the king repeatedly read what was written on that piece of parchment. After a short time he installed his son as the king of Gaudadesha and retired to the forest. There he regularly recited the fifteenth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita and quickly attained the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu.
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Online Sources:
1a) Padma Purana, Uttarkhandam : West Bengal Public Library Network
1b) Padma Purana, Uttarkhandam : Digital Library of India
1c) Padma Purana, Uttarkhandam : Derived from 1a,b
Hard Copy Source: (scanned "PDF"s from Online Source#1a,b)
"The Padma-Purana (English)" by Veda Vyasa, 1954 & 1956. Translated by Sri N.A. Deshpande, Indian Translation Series of the UNESCO Collection of Representative Works, jointly sponsored by UNESCO & Government of India. Part VIII & IX, First Edition. 2906-2970p. Published by Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt.Ltd., Bungalow Road, Jawahar Nagar, Delhi-1110007. Printed by Jainendra Prakash Jain at Jainendra Press, A-45 Naraina Industrial Area, Phase 1, New Delhi-110028.
Online References:
- http://www.bhagavad-gita.us
- http://www.gita-society.com/scriptures/GitaMahatmya.IGS.pdf
- http://www.iskconbangalore.org/gitamahatmya-introduction
- https://archive.org/details/puran_padam
संस्कृत श्लोक - Sanskrit Padmapuran-15
বাংলা অনুবাদ - Bengali Padmapuran-15
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বাংলা অনুবাদ - Bengali Padmapuran-15
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Typed, OCR-ed, edited and uploaded by rk
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