Brahmavākya (Brahmā’s Pronouncement on Hari-nāma and the Non-punishability of Viṣṇu’s Devotees)

Verse 1

ब्रह्मोवाच । किमाश्चर्यं त्वया दृष्टं कथं वा खिद्यते भवान् । सद्गुणेषु च संतापः स तापो मरणांतिकः ॥ १ ॥

Brahmā said: “What wonder have you seen, and why are you distressed? Even anguish arising in connection with good qualities—such burning grief—can end only in death.”

Verse 2

यस्योच्चारणमात्रेण प्राप्यते परमं पदम् । तमुपोष्य कथं सौरे न गच्छति नरस्त्विति ॥ २ ॥

“By the mere utterance of whose name the supreme state is attained—if a man observes a fast for Him on the Saura (Sun-related) occasion, how could he not reach that goal?”

Verse 3

एको हि कृष्णस्य कृतः प्रणामो दशाश्वमेधावभृथेन तुल्यः । दशाश्वमेधी पुनरेति जन्म कृष्णप्रणामी न पुनर्भवाय ॥ ३ ॥

A single act of bowing to Krishna is equal to the concluding bath (avabhṛtha) of ten Aśvamedha sacrifices. But the performer of ten Aśvamedhas returns again to birth, whereas one who bows to Krishna does not return to rebirth.

Verse 4

कुरुक्षेत्रेण किं तस्य किं काश्या विरजेन वा । जिह्वाग्रे वर्तते यस्य हरिरित्यक्षरद्वयम् ॥ ४ ॥

What need has he of Kurukṣetra? What need of Kāśī, or even of the sacred Virajā?—he upon whose tongue’s tip abides the two-syllabled Name: “Hari.”

Verse 5

ब्राह्मणः श्वपचीं गच्छन् विशेषेण रजस्वलाम् । अन्नमश्नन्सुरापक्वं मरणे यो हरिं स्मरेत् ॥ ५ ॥

Even if a brāhmaṇa goes to a woman of a dog-eater caste—especially one in her menstrual period—and even if he eats food cooked with liquor, if at the time of death he remembers Hari (Viṣṇu), he is delivered.

Verse 6

अभक्ष्यागम्ययोर्जातं विहाय पापसंचयम् । स याति विष्णुसायुज्यं विमुक्तो भवबंधनैः ॥ ६ ॥

Abandoning the accumulated heap of sins that arises from consuming what is forbidden and from going to what is forbidden, one attains union (sāyujya) with Viṣṇu and becomes freed from the bonds of worldly existence.

Verse 7

यन्नामोच्चारणान्मोक्षः कथं न तदुपोषणे । यस्मिन्संगीयते सोऽपि चिंत्यते पुरुषोत्तमः ॥ ७ ॥

If liberation arises merely from the utterance of His Name, how could it not arise from fasting undertaken for Him? And when His Name is sung, that Supreme Person, Puruṣottama, is indeed contemplated as well.

Verse 8

लीलया चोच्चरेद्देवं श्रृणुयाच्च जनार्दनम् । गंगांभः पूतपुण्यत्वे स नरः समतां व्रजेत् ॥ ८ ॥

Even playfully, if a person utters the Lord’s Name and listens to (the glories of) Janārdana, then by the purifying, merit-bestowing power of the waters of the Gaṅgā, that person attains equanimity.

Verse 9

अस्माकं जगतांनाथो जन्मदः पुरुषोत्तमः । कथं शासति दुर्मेधास्तस्य वासरसेविनम् ॥ ९ ॥

For us, Puruṣottama—the Supreme Person—is the Lord of all worlds and the giver of birth. How then can a foolish man presume to command one who serves His sacred days?

Verse 10

यस्त्वं न चूर्णितस्तैस्तु यस्त्वं बद्धो न तैर्दृढम् । तदस्माकं कृतं मानं मे तत्त्वं नावबुध्यसे ॥ १० ॥

You are the one whom those forces could not crush; you are the one whom they could not bind firmly. Yet you take what we have done as an affront, and you do not understand the truth of me.

Verse 11

यो नियोगी न जानाति नृपभक्तान्वरान् क्षितौ । कृत्स्नायासेन संयुक्तः स तैर्निग्राह्यते पुनः ॥ ११ ॥

That appointed officer who does not recognize the excellent devotees of the king upon the earth—though burdened with every kind of exertion—will in the end be checked and punished again by those very persons.

Verse 12

राजेष्टा न नियोक्तव्याः सापराधा नियोगिना । स्वामिप्रसादात्सिद्धास्ते विनिन्युर्व्वै नियोगिनम् ॥ १२ ॥

The king’s appointed agents should not be further pressed into service by an official when they have committed an offence. Those agents, having gained success through their lord’s favour, indeed brought the appointing officer down to ruin.

Verse 13

एवं हि पापकर्तारः प्रणता ये जनार्दने । कथं संयमिता तेषां बाल्याद्भास्करनंदन ॥ १३ ॥

Indeed, those who have committed sins yet have bowed down to Janārdana—how could restraint and self-control not arise in them from childhood onward, O son of Bhāskara?

Verse 14

शैवैर्भास्करभक्तैर्वा मद्भक्तैर्वा दिवाकरे । करोमि तव साहाय्यं हरिभक्तैर्न भास्करे ॥ १४ ॥

O Divākara (Sun), I shall aid you through Śaivas, through devotees of Bhāskara, or through my own devotees; but not through devotees of Hari (Viṣṇu), O Bhāskara.

Verse 15

सर्वेषामेव देवानामादिस्तुपुरुषोत्तमः ॥ १५ ॥

For all the gods indeed, Puruṣottama, the Supreme Person, is the primordial origin.

Verse 16

मधुसूदनभक्तानां निग्रहो नोपपद्यते । व्याजेनापि कृता यैस्तु द्वादशी पक्षयोर्द्वयोः ॥ १६ ॥

Restraint or punishment is not proper in the case of devotees of Madhusūdana (Viṣṇu). Even if the Dvādaśī observance is performed only under some pretext, when done in both fortnights it still carries sanctifying power.

Verse 17

तैः कृते अवमाने तु तव नाहं सहायवान् । कृते सहाये तव सूर्यसूनो भवेदनीतिर्मम देहघातिनी । विपर्ययो ब्रह्मपदात्सुपुण्यात्कृतेव मार्गे सह विष्णुभक्तैः ॥ १७ ॥

If, because of what they have done, you are dishonoured, I cannot stand as your helper. But if I were to help you, O son of Sūrya, that would become adharma, striking down my very body; it would cause a reversal from the supremely meritorious state that leads to Brahman, and from the path walked in the Kṛta age together with the devotees of Viṣṇu.

Verse 18

इति श्रीबृहन्नारदीयपुराणोत्तरभागे ब्रह्मवाक्यं नाम षष्ठोऽध्यायः ॥ ६ ॥

Thus ends the sixth chapter, called “Brahmavākya,” in the Uttara-bhāga (later section) of the venerable Bṛhan-Nāradīya Purāṇa.