Reading section 36

Parāçara said:—I have related to you this Purāna which is equally as sacred as the Vedas by hearing which all sins are expatiated. In this, have been described to you the primary and secondary creation, the families of the patriarchs, the Manwantaras, the regal dynasties; the celestials, Daityas, Gandharvas, serpents, Rākshasas, Yakshas, Vidhyidharas, Siddhas, and heavenly nymphs; ascetics, endowed with spiritual wisdom and practisers of devotion, the distinctions of four castes, and the actions of the most eminent amongst men; holy places on the earth, holy rivers and oceans, sacred mountains, and legends of the truly wise, the deities of the different tribes and observances enjoined in the Vedas. By hearing this, all sins are obliterated. In this also the glorious Hari has been revealed the cause of the creation, preservation and destruction of the world; the soul of all things and himself all things; by the repetition of whose name man is freed from all sins which fly to the wolves that are frightened by a lion. The repetition of his name with devout faith is the best remover of all sins, destroying them as fire purifies the metal from the dross. By the mere recollection of the name of Hari all the stains of Kali Yuga are removed and piety is increased. That Hari, who is all existing things, who is Hiranyagarbha, Indra, Rudra, the Adityas, the Aswins, the winds, the Kinnaras, the Vasus, the Sādhyas, Viswadevas the celestials, the Yakshas, serpents, Kikshasas, the Sidhas; Daityas, Gandharyas, Dānavas, nymphs, the stars, asterism, planets, the seven Rishis, the regents and warders of the quarters, men, Brāhmans and the rest, animals tame and wild, insects, birds, ghosts and goblins, trees, mountains, woods, rivers, oceans, legions living underneath the earth, the divisions of the earth and all perceptible object—he who is identical with all things, who knoweth all things, who is the form of all things being himself without form and who is everything from the mount Meru to an atom, he the glorious Vishnu and the destroyer of all sins, is described in this Purāna. The reward, which one obtains by hearing this Purāna, is equal to that obtained by the performance of a horse-sacrifice or by fasting at the holy places of Pryaga, Pushkara, Kurukshetra or Arbuda, Hearing this Purāna once only is as efficacious as offering oblations in a perpetual fire for one year.

The man, who having controlled his passions, bathes at Mathurā on the twelfth day of the month of Jyeshtha and beholds the image of Hari, obtains a great reward and so does he who with his mind devoted to Kesava, recites this Purāna. The man, who bathes in the river Jamunā, on the twelfth lunation of the light fortnight of the month in which the moon is in the mansion Jyeshtha, and who fasts and worships Achyuta in the city of Mathurā, receives the recompense of an uninterrupted horse-sacrifice. Beholding the ancestors of some eminent amongst men, attaining prosperity by the pious observances of their descendants, another man's parents and their parents exclaim, "If any of our descendants, having bathed in the Jamunā and fasted, worships Govinda in Mathurā, in the light fortnight of Jyestha, he will secure for us an elevated position". Having worshipped Janārddana in the light fortnight of Jyeshtha a man of good birth will offer cakes to his fortunate ancestors in the Yamunā. By reading with devotion one section of this Purāna one can acquire the same merit which he will reap by bathing in the Yamunā during the light fortnight of Jyeshtha, by giving gifts to the manes and worshipping Janārddana with a devoted merit. Those who have fallen into the ocean of worldliness and been stricken with terror, may be liberated by reading this Purāna which frees one from bad dreams and imperfections.

This Purāna was originally composed by the Rishi Nārāyana and was communicated by Brahmā to Ribhu; he described it to Pryabrata who again related it to Bhāguri. Bhāguri recited it to Tambamitra, and he to Dadicha, who gave it to Sāraswata. Bhrigu received it, who imparted it to Purukutsa and he taught it to Narmadā, The goddess gave it to the Nāga King, Dhritarashtra and to Purāna of the same race, by whom it was given to their king Vāsuki. He imparted it to Vatsa and he to Ashawtara from whom it successively proceeded the Kambala and Elapatra. When the ascetic Vedasiras descended to Pātāla, he there received the whole Purāna from the Nāgas and communicated it to Pramati. Pramati imparted it to the wise Jātukarna and he taught it to many other holy persons. By the blessing of Vasistha I have been acquainted with it and I have faithfully related it to you. O Maitreya, you will teach it at the end of the Kali age to Samika. Whoever hears this great mystery which removes the stain of Kali shall be freed from his sins. He who hears this every day acquits himself of his obligations to his manes, celestials and men. Hearing ten chapters of this Purāna one obtains the rare and great merit that a man acquires by the gift of a brown cow. He who hears the whole of this Purāna meditating on his mind, Achyuta, who is all things and of whom all things are made, who is the stay of the whole universe—the asylum of spirit; who is knowledge and that which is to be known; who is without beginning or end and the benefactor of the celestials—certainly obtains the reward which can be acquired by the uninterrupted celebration of the horse-sacrifice. He who recites and retains with faith this Purāna in the beginning, middle and end of which is described the glorious Achyuta, the lord of the universe in every stage—the master of all that is stationary or movable composed of spiritual knowledge acquires such purity as exists not in any world the eternal state of perfection which is Hari. The man who fixes his mind on Achyuta does not go to hell; he who meditates upon him considers even celestial bliss as an impediment; he, in whose mind he abides, thinks little of the region of Brahmā; for when present in the minds of those who are pure, he bestows upon them eternal freedom. What wonder is there that all sins shall be removed by chanting the name of this Vishnu? What else should be heard of but that Hari, whom, those devoted to acts worship with sacrifices continually as the god of sacrifice; whom those devoted to meditation contemplate as primary and secondary; composed of spirit; by obtaining whom man is not born, nor nourished nor subjected to death; who is both cause and effect; who as the progenitors receives the libations made to them; who, as the gods, accepts the offerings addressed to them, the glorious being who is without beginning or end; whose name is both Swāhā and Swadhā; who is the asylum of all spiritual power; in whom the limits of finite, things cannot be measured, and who, when he enters the ear destroys all sin.

Salutation unto the first of gods, Purusottama who is without end and beginning, without growth and decay and death, who is substance that knows no change. Salutation unto that undecaying Purusha, Vishnu who assumed sensible qualities, who though pure became as if impure, assuming various shapes, who is gifted with divine wisdom and who is the lord of the preservation of all creatures. Salutation unto him who is the instrument of meditative wisdom and active virtue, who confers enjoyments upon human beings; who is identical with three-fold qualities; who is without any change and is the cause of the evolution of the world and who is without any birth or decay. Salutations unto him who is called heaven, air, fire, water, earth and who confers all objects that satisfy sense, who benefits mankind, and who is perceptible, subtle, and imperceptible. May that unborn eternal Hari, who is seen in manifold forms, whose essence consists of both nature and spirit, confer humanity that blessed condition which is without birth or decay.

FINIS.

[1] This mystic monosyllable plays a prominent part in Sanskrit scriptural literature. Composed, according to some, of the letters a, u, and ma. signifying Brahmā, Creator; Vishnu, Preserver; and Siva, Destroyer;—it expresses the three in One; and is said to possess great power spiritually.—T.

[2] In this translation, such epithets as, although compounded of general terms, have through usage come to mean some particular individual, have been retained untranslated, their renderings being only appended in footnotes.—Vasudeva is Vasudeva's son, an appellation of Krishna; which, again, although the name of the most celebrated incarnation of Vishnu, means—dark blue or brown.—T.

[3] Pundarika-aksha—having eyes resembling the pale lotus.—T.

[4] Hrishika—organ of sense, and ica—lord. Hirshikesha—sovereign of the senses,—i.e. the cause of their action and abstention.—T.

[5] Vishnu means all-pervading.—T.

[6] The three cardinal qualities—goodness, passion and darkness.—T.

[7] Unformed Nature is designated by several epithets—Pradhana, Prakriti, Avyakta (unmanifested), etc.—T.

[8] Wealth is of eight kinds, viz., animā, laghimā, prāpti, prākamya, mahimā, içitwa, vaçitwa, and kāmāvaçāyitā.—Animā is the power of reducing one's self to the minutest proportions; laghimā is that of rendering one's self exceedingly light,—prāpti is the power of obtaining anything that is wished; prākamya is irresistibility of the Will; içitwa is supremacy; vaçitwa is the power of bringing all under sway; and Kāmāvaçāyitā is the power of suppressing desire.—T.

[9] A Purāna treats of these five subjects, viz., (1) the creation, (2) destruction and renovation of the world, (3) royal dynasties, (4) reigns of the Manus, and (5) geneologies.—T.

[10] The reigns of Manus.

[11] A kalpa is a day and night of Brahmā, consisting of 4,320,000,000 solar sidereal years, or years of mortals, measuring the duration of the world.—T.

[12] An order of saints.

[13] The text has puman—male beings.—T.

[14] An oblation of various ingredients offered by way of respect.—T.

[15] An arrangement of the text of the Vedas into short sentences; or a compilation.—T.

[16] Vasudeva is named from his residing in all objects and his endowing them with splendour. Moksha Dharma.—T.

[17] Vyakta and Avyakta—the names respectively of formed and unformed matter.—T.

[18] According to the Sankhya system, which the author follows in his cosmogony, prior to creation, the Universe existed in Nature like a mangoe tree existing latent in a mangoe-stone; and in the fullness of time, favored by the Primeval male and Time, the evolution of all was brought about.—T.

[19] Male being.—T.

[20] Followers of the Sankhya Philosophy hold that the equilibrium of the three principles or modes, is Prakriti—Primal nature.—T.

[21] "Here let us remind our readers of the argument by which we are led to conclude that the visible system (vyakta) is not the whole universe, and that there must be an invisible order of things (Avyakta) which will remain and possess energy when the present system has passed away. It is, moreover, very closely connected with the present system, inasmuch as this may be looked upon as come into being through its means". The italics are mine. Unseen Universe, p. 157.

[22] Emanation of Divinity.

[23] Or Buddhi—the Intellect. This is also called Mahat—the Great one. It is the substance or essence by which the soul obtains a knowledge of external things.—T.

[24] Ahankara is the substance or ens connected with thought Buddhi, in which consciousness inheres. It is the Mid-stuff of Prof. Clifford, assumed as the original ground of our being i.e. of all formal being.—T.

[25] Connected successively with goodness, passion and foulness.—T.

[26] Ahankara relating to foulness.

[27] Cardinal Point, Wind, Sun, Pracheta [regent of water], Acwini Kumara, Fire, Indra, Upendra, Krishna, Mitra, and Prajāpati.—T.

[28] "Mind" says Maudesley in Physiology of mind "used in the sense of substance or essence, and brain used in the sense of organ of mental function, are, at bottom, names of the same substance". In the system of Kapila, which the author follows, everything connected in function with sensuous objects, is as material as the objects themselves, being equally an emanation from Prakriti—T.

[29] As Hiranyagarbha.—T.

[30] Lit. the Great one—so consciousness or egoism is styled.—T.

[31] Vide ante.—T.

[32] The three gunas—generally translated qualities,—but more properly modes or principles—have a physical as well as a moral significance in the sacred literature of the Hindus. "They are not mere accidents of nature, but are of its essence and enter into its composition". Davis' Hindu Philosophy.—T.

[33] Vide ante.—T.

[34] This is an appellation of Vishnu, meaning, he who is worshipped. This Purana as the locus classicus of the Vaishnavas, recognises Vishnu as in one the Greater and the Destroyer, without assigning the function of destruction to Siva.—T.

[35] The hundred-hooded serpent, Sesha or Ananta, also conceived as a form of Vishnu himself.—T.

[36] The acts of human beings, etc., are also his property.

[37] A nimesha is the twinkling of an eye.

[38] Dwāpara and Kali.

[39] The division of the Yugas.

[40] A generic name of the Progenitors of mankind.

[41] I fail to perceive the sense of this, unless it meant as they have been created aforetime.—T.

[42] Lacs.

[43] One million.

[44] Ten millions.

[45] Manwantaras.

[46] Extending over as many Manwantaras.

[47] Persons practising a certain process entitled Yoga.

[48] The time of creation.

[49] A divine personage sprung from Brahmā.—T.

[50] A name of Vishnu.—T.

[51] This term, a common appellation of Krishna, is derived variously. Go—language [the language of the Vedas] and vinda—who knows; or go—heaven or a cow, and vid—to obtain,—by whom heaven is obtained, or who obtains felicity by protecting kine.—T.

[52] Madhava being one of the names of Krishna, Madhavi means related to Madhava.—T

[53] Oblation into fire with the utterence of Vashata.—T.

[54] The utterence of Om.—T,

[55] Another appellation of Krishna, from the root, hri—to take or seize. Hari possibly means he that takes men's hearts.—T.