14.009
Indra said.
O Bṛhaspati, do you sleep comfortably? Are your attendants pleasing? O Brāhmaṇa, do you desire the well-being of the gods? And do the gods protect you? (14-9-1)
Bṛhaspati said.
"I lie happily on my bed, O Mahendra; likewise, my attendants are charming. Just so, O Śakra, I desire the happiness of the gods, and the gods protect me very much." (14-9-2)
Indra said.
From where is this suffering, whether mental or bodily? Why are you so pale and discoloured today? Tell me the cause, O twice-born, so that I may destroy all those who cause you pain. (14-9-3)
Bṛhaspati said.
They say Marutta, who is about to offer sacrifice like Maghavat, is performing a great sacrifice with the best gifts. I have heard that Saṁvarta is to make him perform the sacrifice; that I desire, but he should not cause him to perform the sacrifice. (14-9-4)
Indra said.
O brāhmaṇa, you have attained all desires; as the priest who counsels the gods. Both birth and death have been surpassed by you; what destruction can now befall you, O brāhmaṇa? (14-9-5)
Bṛhaspati said.
Together with the gods, you have repelled the asuras and even now seek to destroy them with their followers. Wherever you see prosperity among rivals, that prosperity brings sorrow. (14-9-6)
Therefore, O Indra, I am discoloured; my rival is increasing, having heard that. By all possible means, O Maghavan, restrain either Saṃvarta, the king, or Marutta. (14-9-7)
Indra said.
Come, go! Sent is Agni to surround Bṛhaspati for Marutta. This one, indeed, Bṛhaspati, will make you perform the sacrifice and also make you immortal thus. (14-9-8)
Agni said.
I go, as the messenger of you and the others like Śakra, to bestow Bṛhaspati to Marutta, wishing to fulfill the true promise of Puruhūta and to render honor to Bṛhaspati. (14-9-9)
Vyāsa said;
Then the great-souled Dhūmaketu departed, crushing trees and creepers as he moved on, moving about by his own will, passing through wood and roaring like Mātariśvan. (14-9-10)
Marutta said.
Today, I see a wonder—the fire has arrived in a visible form. O sage, indeed bring a seat, water, water for washing feet, and a cow. (14-9-11)
Agni said.
O sinless one, I greet you with a seat, water, and water for washing your feet. But know me as a messenger who has come, completely directed by Indra. (14-9-12)
Marutta said.
Tell me fully, O god: Is the prosperous king of the gods happy? And is Dhūmaketu pleased with us? Are the gods under his authority as they should be? (14-9-13)
Agni said.
Indra, being greatly delighted, is very happy, O lord of kings; if you desire unaging happiness from him, all the gods are under his control, O king. Now hear the message I bring you from the lord of the gods. (14-9-14)
O Marutta, for the purpose for which I was sent to your presence—to deliver Bṛhaspati—this preceptor, the sacrificial priest, O king, may he make you, though mortal, into an immortal. (14-9-15)
Marutta said.
This Saṁvarta, my priest, is the sacrificer; this offering of joined palms is his to Bṛhaspati. He, having made great Indra the object of sacrifice, would not now shine by making a mortal perform sacrifice. (14-9-16)
Agni said.
Truly, those great worlds in the world of the gods—you will attain them by the grace of the king of the gods. If Bṛhaspati himself were to officiate your sacrifice, you would certainly conquer heaven, endowed with glory. (14-9-17)
Thus, if Bṛhaspati causes you to perform a sacrifice, O king, even the worlds — human and divine — and the great ones of Prajāpati, as well as the entire kingdom of the gods, are conquered. (14-9-18)
Saṁvarta said.
Do not, in this way, come again, in any manner, to surrender Bṛhaspati to Marutta. Let me not burn you with my harsh gaze; I am enraged, O Pāvaka—remember that. (14-9-19)
Vyāsa said.
Then Dhūmaketu (Agni), terrified by the heat and shaken like a leaf of the aśvattha tree, went to the gods; seeing him, Śakra (Indra), the great-souled one, spoke to Havyavāha (Agni) in the presence of Bṛhaspati. (14-9-20)
Since you, O Jātavedas, having been sent, went to Bṛhaspati so he would grant (something) to Marutta, what did that sacrificing king say? Did he accept that word?
Agni said.
Marutta, the word does not please you; he sent the offering of Bṛhaspati. Saṃvarta kept telling me again and again to have him officiate the sacrifice. (14-9-22)
He said this: 'Even if I were to obtain both the human and divine (worlds), and all the great worlds of Prajāpati, having attained relationship with them, still I would not wish for it'—thus he is known. (14-9-23)
Indra said.
Go to that king again and deliver my message, which aligns with his own interests. If he still does not comply with my words, then I shall strike him with the thunderbolt. (14-9-24)
Agni said.
Let this messenger go there from the king of the Gandharvas; O Vāsava, I am afraid to go there. Saṁvarta, full of intense anger and firm in celibacy, angrily spoke these words to me. (14-9-25)
O Śakra, know this: If you come again in this manner to deliver Bṛhaspati to Marutta, I, being highly enraged, would burn you with my terrible gaze. (14-9-26)
Indra said.
O Jātavedas, you alone burn others; indeed, there is no other maker of ashes besides you. By your touch, all beings are afraid; that you say this is hard to believe, O havyavāha (Agni). (14-9-27)
Agni said.
O Indra of the gods, O Śakra, you could envelop heaven, the entire earth and all, by your own strength indeed. Of you, being such here, how then did that Vṛtra previously seize the celestial world? (14-9-28)
Indra said.
I am not Caṇḍikā nor a moving female elephant; I do not drink watered-down soma as a debt, O Fire. I do not hurl the thunderbolt at the weak; who among men would strike me to cause pain? (14-9-29)
I could expel the Kālakeyas from the earth, drag the Dānavas out of the sky, and even bring about the downfall of Prahrāda from heaven; who among mortals could possibly attack me to cause harm? (14-9-30)
Agni said.
Recall, O great Indra, how Cyavana was about to have Śaryāti perform a sacrifice, and, with the Aśvins, alone took the Soma. You, angered, forbade him in the past. Remember that Śaryāti's sacrifice (14-9-31)
Having seized the thunderbolt, O Indra, you struck the very fierce Cyavana. But that sage, becoming enraged through ascetic power, removed your arm along with the thunderbolt. (14-9-32)
Then, overwhelmed by anger, she again produced for you a terrible form on all sides—a rival, named Mada, a demon of universal form, whom, when you beheld, you closed your eyes. (14-9-33)
One jaw of the great demon rested on the earth, while the other reached the sky; he had a thousand teeth, each a hundred yojanas long, very sharp and terrifying in appearance. (14-9-34)
Round, thick, silver-pillar-colored (fangs); his four fangs were each two hundred yojanas long. He rushed at you, gnashing his teeth, with the intention to kill, brandishing a terrible spear. (14-9-35)
At that time, you did not see him in his terrible form; all the others saw (him) as beautiful. Frightened, with folded hands, you, O great sage, sought shelter from the destroyer of demons. (14-9-36)
The power of brahman is indeed greater than that of the kṣatriya; nothing is greater than brahman. Therefore, knowing the true brilliance of brahman, I do not wish to proceed towards dissolution, O Śakra (Indra). (14-9-37)
