Category:Bhagavatam Verses Spoken by Citraketu Maharaja - Vaniquotes
- Citraketu Mahārāja is the 30th top speaker of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam with 45 verses at Vanisource. He speaks only in the 6th canto (45 verses).
Theme Analysis
The narrative of Citraketu Mahārāja is a profound study in the progression of a soul from material attachment to perfect spiritual equanimity. Initially, Citraketu is the archetype of the pious materialist—a powerful king who is utterly miserable because he lacks a son. His attachment leads to the birth of a child who dies prematurely, plunging him into grief. However, through the intervention of the sages Nārada and Aṅgirā, Citraketu receives the mantra to worship Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa. His prayers to the Lord are some of the most philosophically dense verses in the Bhāgavatam, covering the nature of consciousness (using the analogy of iron and fire), the vastness of the cosmos (universes as mustard seeds), and the superiority of bhāgavata-dharma over fruitive religion. The final phase of his life demonstrates his spiritual maturity: when he accidentally offends Lord Śiva and is cursed by Pārvatī to become a demon (Vṛtrāsura), he accepts the punishment with folded hands, declaring that for a devotee, heaven and hell are equal.
- The Misery of Attachment: Citraketu's initial verses express the agony of a man who has everything material but lacks the one thing he desires—a son. He compares his opulent kingdom to meaningless decorations for a hungry man.
- The Physics of Consciousness: In his prayers to Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa, Citraketu uses the analogy of iron and fire to explain how the material body functions only when infused with the consciousness of the soul, which in turn depends on the Supersoul.
- The Mustard Seed Cosmos: He glorifies Lord Ananta (Saṅkarṣaṇa) by stating that the unlimited universes rest on His hoods like tiny mustard seeds, highlighting the insignificance of material creation compared to the Lord's greatness.
- Bhāgavata-dharma vs. Religion: Citraketu offers a sharp critique of religious systems that encourage envy or material gain. He establishes that true religion (bhāgavata-dharma) leads to the service of the Lord and is free from sectarianism.
- The Paradox of the Curse: Citraketu's criticism of Lord Śiva—though technically correct based on external renunciation—leads to a curse. His acceptance of this curse without protest proves his status as a mahātmā, showing that a devotee accepts all conditions as the Lord's mercy.
- Explore the synthesized essence of the category in this Vanipedia article: Citraketu Mahārāja's Journey from Attachment to Enlightenment.
Pages in category "Bhagavatam Verses Spoken by Citraketu Maharaja - Vaniquotes"
The following 75 pages are in this category, out of 75 total.
A
- Although the Supreme Lord is unattached to our happiness and distress according to karma, and although no one is His enemy or favorite, He creates pious and impious activities through the agency of His material potency
- Although what I have said is not wrong, please let whatever you think is wrong be pardoned
- As a perfect yogi, you can understand everything external and internal regarding embodied, conditioned souls like us
- As a person aggrieved by hunger and thirst is not pleased by the external gratification of flower garlands or sandalwood pulp, I am not pleased with my empire, opulence or possessions, which are desirable even for great demigods, because I have no son
- As iron cannot burn unless heated by fire, the bodily senses cannot act unless favored by the Supreme Brahman
- As iron has the power to burn when made red-hot in the association of fire, so the body, senses, living force, mind & intelligence, although merely lumps of matter, can function in their activities when infused with a particle of consciousness by the SPG
- As pots made completely of earth are situated on earth after being created and are transformed into earth again when broken, this cosmic manifestation is caused by the Supreme Brahman, situated in the SB, and annihilated in the same Supreme Brahman
B
- Being full of contradictions, all forms of religion but bhagavata-dharma work under conceptions of fruitive results and distinctions of "you and I" and "yours and mine"
- Being unattached to the material world, He has no affection for so-called happiness or hatred for so-called distress. The two terms happiness and distress are relative. Since the Lord is always happy, for Him there is no question of distress
- Brahmanas who are exalted to the position of Vaisnavas, the most dear servants of Krsna, sometimes dress like madmen. Just to benefit materialists like us, who are always attached to sense gratification, and just to dissipate our ignorance
- By causing pain to one's own self due to self-envy and by causing pain to others, one arouses Your anger and practices irreligion
C
- Citraketu said: Lord Siva, the spiritual master of the general populace, is the best of all living entities who have accepted material bodies. He enunciates the system of religion
- Citraketu said: My dear mother, with my own hands folded together I accept the curse upon me. I do not mind the curse, for happiness and distress are given by the demigods as a result of one's past deeds
- Citraketu said: O unconquerable Lord, although You cannot be conquered by anyone, You are certainly conquered by devotees who have control of the mind and senses
H
- He (Siva) is seated with his wife on his lap in the midst of saintly persons and is embracing her as if he were a shameless, ordinary human being
- He enunciates the system of religion. Yet how wonderful it is that he is embracing his wife, Parvati, in the midst of an assembly of great saintly persons
- How can a religious system that produces envy of one's self and of others be beneficial for oneself and for them? What is auspicious about following such a system? What is actually to be gained?
I
- In the presence of the sun there is nothing to be revealed by the light of a glowworm. Similarly, because You know everything, in Your presence there is nothing for me to make known
- In this material world, neither the living entity himself nor others (friends and enemies) are the cause of material happiness and distress. But because of gross ignorance, the living entity thinks that he and others are the cause
L
- Living entities are subjected to the repetition of birth and death because they are conditioned by material nature, but since You are transcendental, one who is inclined to associate with You in transcendence escapes the conditions of material nature
- Lord Siva, whose hair is matted on his head, has certainly undergone great austerities and penances. Indeed, he is the president in the assembly of strict followers of Vedic principles
M
- Merely by hearing the holy name of Your Lordship only once, even candalas, men of the lowest class, are freed from all material contamination. Under the circumstances, who will not be freed from material contamination simply by seeing You?
- My dear Lord, it is after You endeavor that Lord Brahma, Indra and the other directors of the cosmic manifestation become occupied with their activities. It is after You perceive the material energy, My Lord, that the senses begin to perceive
- My dear Lord, one's occupational duty is instructed in Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita according to Your point of view, which never deviates from the highest goal of life
- My dear Lord, this cosmic manifestation and its creation, maintenance and annihilation are all but Your opulences
- My dear Lord, You are the creator, maintainer and annihilator of this cosmic manifestation, but persons who are too materialistic and who always see separateness do not have eyes with which to see You
- My Lord, it is not impossible for one to be immediately freed from all material contamination by seeing You. Not to speak of seeing You personally
N
- Narada gave Citraketu the following mantra: O Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, who are addressed by the omkara (pranava), I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. O Lord Vasudeva, I meditate upon You
- Nonetheless, You are eternal, having no beginning, end or middle. You are perceived to exist in these three phases, and thus You are permanent. When the cosmic manifestation does not exist, You exist as the original potency
O
- O great sage, please save me and my forefathers, who are descending to the darkness of hell because I have no progeny. Kindly do something so that I may have a son to deliver us from hellish conditions
- O great soul, you are aware of everything, yet you are asking me why I am full of anxiety. Therefore, in response to your order, let me disclose the cause
- O great souls, I have heard that among the great & perfect persons wandering the surface of the earth to instruct knowledge to people covered by ignorance are Sanat-kumara, Narada, Rbhu, Angira, Devala, Asita, Vyasadeva, Markandeya, Gautama, Vasistha
- O great souls, I have heard that among the great and perfect persons wandering the surface of the earth to instruct knowledge to people covered by ignorance are Bhagavan Parasurama, Kapila, Sukadeva, Durvasa, Yajnavalkya, Jatukarna and Aruni
- O great souls, I have heard that among the great and perfect persons wandering the surface of the earth to instruct knowledge to people covered by ignorance are Pancasikha, Hiranyanabha, Kausalya, Srutadeva and Rtadhvaja. You must certainly be among them
- O great souls, I have heard that among the great and perfect persons wandering the surface of the earth to instruct knowledge to people covered by ignorance are Romasa, Cyavana, Dattatreya, Asuri, Patanjali, the great sage Dhaumya
- O Lord Pradyumna, Lord Aniruddha and Lord Sankarsana, I offer You my respectful obeisances. O reservoir of spiritual potency, O supreme bliss, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You, who are self-sufficient and most peaceful
- O mother (Parvati), you are now unnecessarily angry, but since all my (Citraketu) happiness and distress are destined by my past activities, I do not plead to be excused or relieved from your curse
- O Supreme Lord, if persons obsessed with material desires for sense gratification through material opulence worship You, who are the source of all knowledge and are transcendental to material qualities, they are not subject to material rebirth
- O transcendental Lord, who are situated in the topmost planet of the spiritual world, Your two lotus feet are always massaged by a multitude of the best devotees with their lotus-bud hands
- O ultimate truth, one without a second, You are realized as Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan and are therefore the reservoir of all knowledge. I (Citraketu) offer my respectful obeisances unto You
- O unconquerable one, when You spoke about bhagavata-dharma, which is the uncontaminated religious system for achieving the shelter of Your lotus feet, that was Your victory
- O unlimited Supreme Personality of Godhead, whatever a living entity does in this material world is well known to You because You are the Supersoul
- Ordinary conditioned persons generally embrace their wives and enjoy their company in solitary places. How wonderful it is that Lord Mahadeva, although a great master of austerity, is embracing his wife openly in the midst of an assembly of great saints
P
- Perceiving Your personal bliss, You are always transcendental to the waves of material nature. Therefore, my Lord, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You
- Persons who have no material desires, like the Kumaras, who are self-satisfied sages, worship You to be liberated from material contamination. In other words, they accept the process of bhagavata-dharma to achieve shelter at Your lotus feet
S
- Since Brahma and the other creators are nothing but small portions of a portion of You, their partial power to create does not make them God (isvara). Their consciousness of themselves as separate Lords is therefore merely false prestige. It is not valid
- Sometimes, by knowledge, the living entity is given liberation. In sattva-guna and rajo-guna, he is subjected to happiness and distress
T
- The followers of Srimad-Bhagavatam have no such consciousness. They are all Krsna conscious, thinking that they are Krsna's and Krsna is theirs
- The living entity is put into ignorance and thus into different conditions of bondage because of being contaminated by the material energy
- The mind, intelligence, senses and living force can neither touch Him nor know Him. I offer unto Him my respectful obeisances
- The Supreme Brahman emanates from the Supreme Personality of Godhead and expands like the sky. Although untouched by anything material, it exists within and without
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead holds all the universes on His heads like seeds of mustard. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You, that Supreme Personality, who has thousands of hoods
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead is equally disposed toward all living entities. Therefore no one is very dear to Him, and no one is a great enemy for Him; no one is His friend, and no one is His relative
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead is one. Unaffected by the conditions of the material world, He creates all the conditioned souls by His own personal potency
- The words and mind of the conditioned soul cannot approach the SPG, for material names and forms are not applicable to the Lord, who is entirely spiritual, beyond the conception of gross and subtle forms. The impersonal Brahman is another of His forms
- There are innumerable universes besides this one, and although they are unlimitedly large, they move about like atoms in You. Therefore You are called unlimited (ananta)
- There are other, low-class religious systems, which are contemplated for the killing of enemies or the gain of mystic power, but such religious systems, being full of passion and envy, are impure and temporary
- Therefore, my dear Lord, simply seeing You has now wiped away all the contamination of sinful activities and their results of material attachment and lusty desires, which always filled my mind and the core of my heart
- They can keep You under their control because You are causelessly merciful to devotees who desire no material profit from You. Indeed, You give Yourself to them, and because of this You also have full control over Your devotees
- They cannot understand Your real position & therefore they conclude that the cosmic manifestation is independent of Your opulence. My Lord, You are the supreme pure, & You are full in all six opulences. Therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto You
- This material world resembles the waves of a constantly flowing river. Therefore, what is a curse and what is a favor? What are the heavenly planets, and what are the hellish planets?
- Those who follow their occupational duties under Your supervision, being equal to all living entities, moving and nonmoving, and not considering high and low, are called Aryans. Such Aryans worship You, the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- Thus for the continuation of the materialistic way of life He creates happiness and distress, good fortune and bad, bondage and liberation, birth and death
W
- What is actually happiness, and what is actually distress? Because the waves flow constantly, none of them has an eternal effect
- Whatever is predicted by the great sage Narada Muni cannot be otherwise. In other words, I have obtained Your audience as a result of being trained by Narada Muni
- With the destruction of the entire universe, including the demigods, the benedictions received from the demigods also vanish, just like the nobility when a king is no longer in power
Y
- You are the supreme controller of the senses, and Your expansions of form are unlimited. You are the greatest, and therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto You
- You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, complete in six opulences. You are the supreme person mentioned in the Purusa-sukta prayers. You are the most perfect, self-realized master of all mystic power. Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto You
- You can give me real knowledge because you are great personalities. I am as foolish as a village animal like a pig or dog because I am merged in the darkness of ignorance. Therefore, please ignite the torch of knowledge to save me
- You exist in the beginning, middle and end of everything, from the most minute particle of the cosmic manifestation - the atom - to the gigantic universes and total material energy
- You have both come here dressed like avadhutas, liberated persons, just to cover your identities, but I see that of all men, you are the most elevated in awareness. You know everything as it is. Therefore you are the greatest of all great personalities