Markandeya Purana — Chapter 38
MkP 38.1
दत्तात्रेयं ततो विप्रं प्रणिपत्य स पार्थिवः । प्रत्युवाच महात्मानं प्रश्रयावनतो वचः
dattātreyaṃ tato vipraṃ praṇipatya sa pārthivaḥ / pratyuvāca mahātmānaṃ praśrayāvanato vacaḥ
Then that king, bowing down to the brahmin Dattātreya, the great soul, bent low in reverence, spoke these words in reply:
AI translation rendered from the Sanskrit, not a published edition
MkP 38.2
सम्यक् प्रपश्यतो ब्रह्मन् ! मम दुः खं न किञ्चन । असम्यग्दर्शिना मग्नाः सर्वदैवासुखार्णवे
samyak prapaśyato brahman ! mama duḥ khaṃ na kiñcana / asamyagdarśinā magnāḥ sarvadaivāsukhārṇave
"For me, seeing rightly, O brahman, there is no suffering at all; it is those who see wrongly who are always sunk in the ocean of unhappiness.
AI translation rendered from the Sanskrit, not a published edition
MkP 38.3
यस्मिन् यस्मिन्ममासक्ता बुद्धिः पुंसः प्रजायते । ततस्ततः समादाय दुः खान्येव प्रयच्छति
yasmin yasminmamāsaktā buddhiḥ puṃsaḥ prajāyate / tatastataḥ samādāya duḥ khānyeva prayacchati
In whatever object a man's mind becomes attached with the sense of 'mine', from that very object it gathers up and hands over nothing but sufferings.
AI translation rendered from the Sanskrit, not a published edition
MkP 38.4
मार्जारभक्षिते दुः खं यादृशं गृहकुक्कुटे । न तादृङ्ममताशून्ये कलविङ्के ऽथ मूषिके
mārjārabhakṣite duḥ khaṃ yādṛśaṃ gṛhakukkuṭe / na tādṛṅmamatāśūnye kalaviṅke 'tha mūṣike
The grief (one feels) when a house-fowl is eaten by a cat is not like (the grief one feels) over a sparrow or a mouse, in which there is no sense of "mine."
AI translation rendered from the Sanskrit, not a published edition
MkP 38.5
सो ऽहं न दुः खी न सुखी यतो ऽहं प्रकृतेः परः । यो भूताभिभवो भूतैः सुखदुः खात्मको हि सः
so 'haṃ na duḥ khī na sukhī yato 'haṃ prakṛteḥ paraḥ / yo bhūtābhibhavo bhūtaiḥ sukhaduḥ khātmako hi saḥ
Therefore I am neither sorrowful nor happy, since I am beyond primal nature; whatever is subject to being overpowered by the elements — that indeed is of the nature of pleasure and pain.
AI translation rendered from the Sanskrit, not a published edition
MkP 38.6
एवमेतन्नरव्याघ्र ! यथैतद्व्याहृतं त्वया । ममेति मूलं दुः कस्य न ममेति च निर्वृतेः
evametannaravyāghra ! yathaitadvyāhṛtaṃ tvayā / mameti mūlaṃ duḥ kasya na mameti ca nirvṛteḥ
It is just so, O tiger among men, as this has been declared by you: "mine" is the root of sorrow, and "not mine" (the root) of peace.
AI translation rendered from the Sanskrit, not a published edition
MkP 38.7
मत्प्रश्नादेव ते ज्ञानमुत्पन्नमिदमुत्तमम् । ममेति प्रत्ययो येन क्षिप्तः शाल्मलितूलवत्
matpraśnādeva te jñānamutpannamidamuttamam / mameti pratyayo yena kṣiptaḥ śālmalitūlavat
From my very question this supreme knowledge has arisen in you, by which the notion "mine" has been cast off like the down of the silk-cotton tree.
AI translation rendered from the Sanskrit, not a published edition
MkP 38.8
अहमित्यङ्कुरोत्पन्नो ममेति स्कन्धवान् महान् । गृहक्षेत्रोच्चशाखश्च पुत्रदारादिपल्लवः
ahamityaṅkurotpanno mameti skandhavān mahān / gṛhakṣetroccaśākhaśca putradārādipallavaḥ
(The tree) sprouted as "I", great, having "mine" for its trunk, with house and field for its lofty branches, and sons, wife and the rest for its shoots,
AI translation rendered from the Sanskrit, not a published edition
MkP 38.9
धनधान्यमहापत्रो नैककालप्रवर्धितः । पुण्यापुण्याग्रपुष्पश्च सुखदुः खमहाफलः
dhanadhānyamahāpatro naikakālapravardhitaḥ / puṇyāpuṇyāgrapuṣpaśca sukhaduḥ khamahāphalaḥ
having wealth and grain for its great leaves, made to grow at more than one season, with merit and demerit for the flowers at its tips, and pleasure and pain for its great fruit.
AI translation rendered from the Sanskrit, not a published edition
MkP 38.10
तत्र मुक्तिपथव्यापि मूढसम्पर्कसेचनः । विधित्साभृङ्गमालाढ्यो कृत्यज्ञानमहातरुः
tatra muktipathavyāpi mūḍhasamparkasecanaḥ / vidhitsābhṛṅgamālāḍhyo kṛtyajñānamahātaruḥ
There (stands) the great tree of the knowledge of what is to be done, spreading over the path to liberation, watered by contact with the deluded, rich with swarms of bees that are the desires to act.
AI translation rendered from the Sanskrit, not a published edition — the model flagged this verse as uncertain
MkP 38.11
संसाराध्वपरिश्रान्ता ये तच्छायां समाश्रिताः । भ्रान्तिज्ञानसुखाधीनास्तेषामात्यन्तिकं कुतः
saṃsārādhvapariśrāntā ye tacchāyāṃ samāśritāḥ / bhrāntijñānasukhādhīnāsteṣāmātyantikaṃ kutaḥ
Those who, worn out by the road of transmigration, have taken refuge in its shade become dependent on the pleasure of deluded knowledge — how should the final (release) be theirs?
AI translation rendered from the Sanskrit, not a published edition
MkP 38.12
यैस्तु सत्सङ्गपाषाणशितेन ममतातरुः । छिन्नो विद्याकुठारेण ते गतास्तेन वर्त्मना
yaistu satsaṅgapāṣāṇaśitena mamatātaruḥ / chinno vidyākuṭhāreṇa te gatāstena vartmanā
But those by whom the tree of "mine" has been cut down with the axe of knowledge, whetted on the stone of company with the good — they have gone by that road,
AI translation rendered from the Sanskrit, not a published edition
MkP 38.13
प्राप्य ब्रह्मवनं शीतं नीरजस्कमकण्टकम् । प्राप्नुवन्ति परां प्राज्ञा निर्वृतिं वृत्तिवर्जिताः
prāpya brahmavanaṃ śītaṃ nīrajaskamakaṇṭakam / prāpnuvanti parāṃ prājñā nirvṛtiṃ vṛttivarjitāḥ
and reaching the cool forest of brahman, dustless and thornless, the wise, freed from mental activity, attain supreme peace.
AI translation rendered from the Sanskrit, not a published edition
MkP 38.14
भूतेन्द्रियमयं स्थूलं न त्वं राजन्न चाप्यहम् । न तन्मात्रमयावावां नैवान्तः करणात्मकौ
bhūtendriyamayaṃ sthūlaṃ na tvaṃ rājanna cāpyaham / na tanmātramayāvāvāṃ naivāntaḥ karaṇātmakau
The gross (body), made of elements and senses, is not you, O king, nor is it I; nor are we two made of the subtle elements, nor are we of the nature of the inner organ.
AI translation rendered from the Sanskrit, not a published edition
MkP 38.15
कं वा पश्यामि राजेन्द्र ! प्रधानमिदमावयोः । यतः परो हि क्षेत्रज्ञः सङ्घातो हि गुणात्मकः
kaṃ vā paśyāmi rājendra ! pradhānamidamāvayoḥ / yataḥ paro hi kṣetrajñaḥ saṅghāto hi guṇātmakaḥ
Or which of these two of ours do I see as primary, O lord of kings? For the knower of the field is beyond (them), while the aggregate consists of the constituents (guṇas).
AI translation rendered from the Sanskrit, not a published edition — the model flagged this verse as uncertain
MkP 38.16
मशकोडुम्बरेषीकामुञ्जमत्स्याम्भसां यथा । एकत्वे ऽपि पृथग्भावस्तथा क्षेत्रात्मनोर्नृप !
maśakoḍumbareṣīkāmuñjamatsyāmbhasāṃ yathā / ekatve 'pi pṛthagbhāvastathā kṣetrātmanornṛpa !
As with the gnat and the fig, the reed and the muñja-grass, the fish and the water — though there is unity, there is yet separateness — so it is, O king, with the field and the self.
AI translation rendered from the Sanskrit, not a published edition
MkP 38.17
भगवंस्त्वत्प्रसादेन ममाविर्भूतमुत्तमम् । ज्ञानं प्रधानचिच्छक्ति-विवेककरमीदृशम्
bhagavaṃstvatprasādena mamāvirbhūtamuttamam / jñānaṃ pradhānacicchakti-vivekakaramīdṛśam
Lord, by your favor there has arisen in me such supreme knowledge as effects the discrimination between primal matter and the power of consciousness.
AI translation rendered from the Sanskrit, not a published edition
MkP 38.18
किन्त्वत्र विषयाक्रान्ते स्थैर्यवत्त्वं न चेतसि । न चापि वेद्मि मुच्येयं कथं प्रकृतिबन्धनात्
kintvatra viṣayākrānte sthairyavattvaṃ na cetasi / na cāpi vedmi mucyeyaṃ kathaṃ prakṛtibandhanāt
But here, in a mind overrun by the objects of sense, there is no steadiness; nor do I know how I might be released from the bondage of primal nature,
AI translation rendered from the Sanskrit, not a published edition
MkP 38.19
कथं न भूयां भूयश्च कथं निर्गुणतामियाम् । कथञ्च ब्रह्मणैकत्वं व्रजेयं शाश्वतेन वै
kathaṃ na bhūyāṃ bhūyaśca kathaṃ nirguṇatāmiyām / kathañca brahmaṇaikatvaṃ vrajeyaṃ śāśvatena vai
how I might not come to be again and again, how I might attain freedom from the guṇas, and how I might go to oneness with the eternal brahman.
AI translation rendered from the Sanskrit, not a published edition
MkP 38.20
तन्मे योगन्तथा ब्रह्मन् ! प्रणतायाभियाचते । सम्यग् ब्रूहि महाप्राज्ञ ! सत्सङ्गो ह्युपकृन्नृणाम्
tanme yogantathā brahman ! praṇatāyābhiyācate / samyag brūhi mahāprājña ! satsaṅgo hyupakṛnnṛṇām
Therefore, brahman, tell me rightly that yoga, to me who bow down and entreat you, O greatly wise one — for the company of the good is a benefit to men.
AI translation rendered from the Sanskrit, not a published edition