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bath today borne fruit, since I am staying now in the presence of Him who is the Master of both the deities and the Asuras! |
Who else is more praiseworthy than I, since I am beholding with these eyes of mine, Him of immeasurable prowess whom the |
very deities are unable to behold without first paying hearty worship? That which they that are possessed of learning and |
wisdom say is the highest of all topics, which is Eternal, which is distinguished from all else, which is unborn, which is |
Knowledge, which is indestructible, is identical with thee, O puissant and illustrious one, thee that art the beginning of all the |
topics, thee that art indestructible and changeless, thee that art conversant with the ordinances which govern all the topics, thee |
that art the foremost of Purushas, thee that art the highest of the high. Thou art he that hadst created from thy right side the |
Grandsire Brahma, the Creator of all things. Thou art he that hadst created from thy left side Vishnu for protecting the |
Creation. Thou art that puissant Lord who didst create Rudra when the end of the Yuga came and when the Creation was once |
more to be dissolved. That Rudra, who sprang from thee destroyed the Creation with all its mobile and immobile beings, |
assuming the form of Kala of great energy, of the cloud Samvartaka (charged with water which myriads of oceans are not |
capacious enough to bear), and of the all consuming fire. Verily, when the period comes for the dissolution of the universe, that |
Rudra stands, ready to swallow up the universe. Thou art that Mahadeva, who is the original Creator of the universe with all its |
mobile and immobile entities. Thou art he, who, at the end of the Kalpa, stands, withdrawing all things into thyself. Thou art he |
that pervadest all things, that art the Soul of all things, thou art the Creator of the Creator of all entities. Incapable of being seen |
by even any of the deities, thou art he that exists, pervading all entities. If, O lord, thou hast been gratified with me and if thou |
wouldst grant me boons, let this be the boon, O Lord of all the deities, that my devotion to thee may remain unchanged. O best |
of the deities, let me, through thy grace, have knowledge of the Present, the Past, and the Future. I shall also, with all my |
kinsmen and friends, always eat food mixed with milk. And let thy illustrious self be for ever present at our retreat.--Thus |
addressed by me, the illustrious Maheswara endued with supreme energy, that Master of all mobile and immobile, viz., Siva, |
worshipped of all the universe, then said unto me these words.' |
"The illustrious Deity said, 'Be thou free from every misery and pain, and be thou above decrepitude and death. Be thou |
possessed of fame, be thou endued with great energy, and let spiritual knowledge be thine. Thou shalt, through my grace, be |
always sought for by the Rishis. Be thy behaviour good and righteous, be every desirable attribute thine, be thou possessed of |
universal knowledge, and be thou of agreeable appearance. Let undecaying youth be thine, and let thy energy be like that of |
fire. Wherever, again, thou mayst desire the presence of the ocean of milk that is so agreeable to thee, there shall that ocean |
appear before thee (ready for being utilised by thee and thy friends for purposes of thy food). Do thou, with thy friends, always |
obtain food prepared with milk, with the celestial nectar besides being mixed with it.[67] After the expiration of a Kalpa thou |
shalt then obtain my companionship. Thy family and race and kinsmen shall be exhaustless. O foremost of regenerate ones, thy |
devotion to me shalt be eternal. And. O best of Brahmanas, I shall always accord my presence to thy asylum. Live, O son, |
whithersoever thou likest, and let no anxiety be thine. Thought of by thee, I shall, O learned Brahmana, grant thee a sight of |
myself again.--Having said these words, and granted me these boons, the illustrious Isana, endued with the effulgence of |
millions of Suns, disappeared there and then. It was even thus, O Krishna, that I beheld, with the aid of austere penances, that |
God of gods. I also obtained all that was said by the great Deity endued with supreme intelligence. Behold, O Krishna, before |
thy eyes, these Siddhas residing here and these Rishis and Vidyadharas and Yakshas and Gandharvas and Apsaras. Behold |
these trees and creepers and plants yielding all sorts of flowers and fruits. Behold them bearing the flowers of every season, |
with beautiful leaves, and shedding a sweet fragrance all around. O thou of mighty arms, all these are endued with a celestial |
nature through the grace of that god of gods, that Supreme Lord, that high-souled Deity.' |
"Vasudeva continued, 'Hearing these words of his and beholding, as it were, with my own eyes all that he had related to me, I |
became filled with wonder. I then addressed the great ascetic Upamanyu and said unto him,--Deserving of great praise art thou, |
O foremost of learned Brahmanas, for what righteous man is there other than thou whose retreat enjoys the distinction of being |
honoured with the presence of that God of gods? Will the puissant Siva, will the great Sankara, O chief of ascetics, grant me |
also a sight of his person and show me favour.' |
"Upamanyu said, 'Without doubt, O thou of eyes like lotus-petals, thou wilt obtain a sight of Mahadeva very soon, even as, O |
sinless one, I succeeded in obtaining a sight of him. O thou of immeasurable prowess, I see with my spiritual eyes that thou |
wilt, in the sixth month from this, succeed in obtaining a sight of Mahadeva, O best of all persons. Thou, O foremost of the |
Yadus, wilt obtain from Maheswara and his spouse, four and twenty boons. I tell thee what is true. Through the grace of that |
Deity endued with supreme wisdom, the Past, the Future and the Present are known to me. The great Hara has favoured these |
Rishis numbering by thousands and others as numerous. Why will not the puissant Deity show favour to thee, O Mahadeva? |
The meeting of the gods is always commendable with one like thee, with one that is devoted to the Brahmanas, with one that is |
full of compassion and that is full of faith. I shall give thee certain Mantras. Recite them continuously. By this thou art certain |
to behold Sankara.' |
"The blessed Vishnu continued, 'I then said unto him, O regenerate one, through thy grace, O great ascetic. I shall behold the |
lord of the deities, that grinder of multitudes of Diti's sons. Eight days, O Bharata, passed there like an hour, all of us being thus |
occupied with talk on Mahadeva. On the eighth day, I underwent the Diksha (initiation) according to due rites, at the hands of |
that Brahmana and received the staff from his hands. I underwent the prescribed shave. I took up a quantity of Kusa blades in |
my hand. I wore rags for my vestments. I rubbed my person with ghee. I encircled a cord of Munja grass round my loins. For |
one month I lived on fruits. The second month I subsisted upon water. The third, the fourth and the fifth months I passed, living |
upon air alone. I stood all the while, supporting myself upon one foot and with my arms also raised upwards, and foregoing |
sleep all the while. I then beheld, O Bharata, in the firmament an effulgence that seemed to be as dazzling as that of a thousand |
Suns combined together. Towards the centre of that effulgence, O son of Pandu, I saw a cloud looking like a mass of blue hills, |
adorned with rows of cranes, embellished with many a grand rainbow, with flashes of lightning and the thunder-fire looking |
like eyes set on it.[68] Within that cloud was the puissant Mahadeva. himself of dazzling splendour, accompanied by his |
spouse Uma. Verily, the great Deity seemed to shine with his penances, energy, beauty, effulgence, and his dear spouse by his |
side. The puissant Maheswara, with his spouse by his side, shone in the midst of that cloud. The appearance seemed to be like |
that of the Sun in the midst of racking clouds with the Moon by his side. The hair on my body, O son of Kunti, stood on its end, |
and my eyes expanded with wonder upon beholding Hara, the refuge of all the deities and the dispeller of all their griefs. |
Mahadeva was adorned with a diadem on his head. He was armed with his Sula. He was clad in a tiger-skin, had matted locks |
on his head, and bore the staff (of the Sanyasin) in one of his hands. He was armed, besides with his Pinaka and the |
thunderbolt. His teeth was sharp-pointed. He was decked with an excellent bracelet for the upper arm. His sacred thread was |
constituted by a snake. He wore an excellent garland of diversified colours on his bosom, that hung down to his toes. Verily, I |
beheld him like the exceedingly bright moon of an autumnal evening. Surrounded by diverse clans of spirits and ghosts, he |
looked like the autumnal Sun difficult of being gazed at for its dazzling brightness. Eleven hundred Rudras stood around that |
Deity of restrained soul and white deeds, then seated upon his bull. All of them were employed in hymning his praises. The |
Adityas, the Vasus, the Sadhyas, the Viswedevas, and the twin Aswins praised that Lord of the universe by uttering the hymns |
occurring in the scriptures. The puissant Indra and his brother Upendra, the two sons of Aditi, and the Grandsire Brahma, all |
uttered, in the presence of Bhava, the Rathantara Saman. Innumerable masters of Yoga, all the regenerate Rishis with their |
children, all the celestial Rishis, the goddess Earth, the Sky (between Earth and Heaven), the Constellations, the Planets, the |
Months, the Fortnights, the Seasons, Night, the Years, the Kshanas, the Muhurtas, the Nimeshas, the Yugas one after another, |
all the celestial Sciences and branches of knowledge, and all beings conversant with Truth, were seen bowing down unto that |
Supreme Preceptor, that great Father, that giver (or origin) of Yoga. Sanatkumara, the Vedas, the Histories, Marichi, Angiras, |
Atri, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, the seven Manus, Soma, the Atharvans, and Vrihaspati, Bhrigu, Daksha, Kasyapa, Vasishtha, |
Kasya, the Schandas, Diksha, the Sacrifices, Dakshina, the Sacrificial Fires, the Havis (clarified butter) poured in sacrifices, |
and all the requisites of the sacrifices, were beheld by me, O Yudhishthira, standing there in their embodied forms. All the |
guardians of the worlds, all the Rivers, all the snakes, the mountains, the celestial Mothers, all the spouses and daughters of the |
celestials, thousands upon thousands and millions of ascetics, were seen to bow down to that puissant Lord who is the soul of |
tranquillity. The Mountains, the Oceans, and the Points of the compass also did the same, the Gandharvas and the Apsaras |
highly skilled in music, in celestial strains, sang and hymned the praises of Bhava who is full of wonder. The Vidyadharas, the |
Danavas, the Guhyakas, the Rakshasas, and all created beings, mobile and immobile, adorned, in thought, word and deed, that |
puissant Lord. Before me, that Lord of all the gods viz., Sarva, appeared seated in all his glory. Seeing that Isana had showed |
himself to me by being seated in glory before my eyes, the whole universe, with the Grandsire and Sakra, looked at me. I, |
however, had not the power to look at Mahadeva. The great Deity then addressed me saying, 'Behold, O Krishna, and speak to |
me. Thou hast adorned me hundreds and thousands of times. There is no one in the three worlds that is dearer to me than thou.' |
After I had bowed unto him, his spouse, viz., the goddess Uma, became gratified with me. I then addressed in these words the |
great God whose praises are hymned by all the deities with the Grandsire Brahma at their head.' |
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