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seeing which thou worshippest them, O king? O thou of high vows, beholding what prosperity attaching to the worship of the |
Brahmanas dost thou worship them? Tell me all this, O thou of mighty arms! |
"Bhishma said, 'Here is Kesava endued with great intelligence. He will tell thee everything. Of high vows and endued with |
prosperity, even he will tell you what the prosperity is that attaches to the worship of Brahmanas. My strength, ears, speech, |
mind, eyes, and that clear understanding of mine (are all clouded today). I think, the time is not distant when I shall have to cast |
off my body. The sun seems to me to go very slowly.[611] Those high duties, O king, that are mentioned in the Puranas as |
observed by Brahmanas and Kshatriyas and Vaisyas and Sudras, have all been recited by me. Do thou, O son of Pritha, learn |
from Krishna what little remains to be learnt on that head. I know Krishna truly. I know who he is and what his ancient might |
is. O chief of the Kauravas, Kesava is of immeasurable soul. Whenever doubts arise, it is he who upholds Righteousness |
then.[612] It is Krishna who created the earth, and sky, and the heavens. Indeed, the earth has sprung from Krishna's body. Of |
terrible prowess and existing from the beginning of time, it is Krishna who became the mighty Boar and raised the submerged |
Earth. It is He who created all the points of the compass, together with all the mountains. Below Him are the welkin, heaven, |
the four cardinal points, and the four subsidiary points. It is from him that the entire creation has flowed. It is He who has |
created this ancient universe. In His navel appeared a Lotus. Within that Lotus sprang Brahma himself of immeasurable |
energy. It was Brahma, O son of Pritha, who rent that darkness which existed surpassing the very ocean (in depth and extent). |
In the Treta age, O Partha, Krishna existed (on the earth), in the form of Righteousness. In the Treta age, he existed in the form |
of Knowledge. In the Dwapara age, he existed in the form of might. In the Kali age he came to the earth in the form of |
unrighteousness. It is He who in days of yore slew the Daityas. It is He who is the Ancient God. It is He who ruled the Asuras |
in the form of their Emperor (Valin). It is He who is the Creator of all beings. It is He who is also the future of all created |
Beings. It is He who is also the protector of this universe fraught with the seed of destruction. When the cause of Righteousness |
languishes, this Krishna takes birth in the race of either the gods or among men. Staying on Righteousness, this Krishna of |
cleansed soul (on such occasion) protects both the higher and the lower worlds. Sparing those that deserve to be spared, |
Krishna sets himself to the slaughter of the Asura, O Partha! It is he who is all acts proper and improper and it is he who is the |
cause. It is Krishna who is the act done, the act to be done, and the act that is being done. Know that that illustrious one is Rahu |
and Soma and Sakra. It is he that is Viswakarma. It is he that is of universal form. He is the destroyer and he is the Creator of |
the universe. He is the wielder of the Sula (lance); He is of human form; and He is of terrible form. All creatures sing his |
praises, for he is known by his acts. Hundreds of Gandharvas and Apsaras and deities always accompany him. The very |
Rakshasas hymn his praise. He is the Enhancer of Wealth; He is the one victorious Being in the universe. In Sacrifices, |
eloquent men hymn His praises. The singers of Samans praise Him by reciting the Rathantaras. The Brahmanas praise Him |
with Vedic Mantras. It is unto Him that the sacrificial priests pour their libations. The deities with Indra at their head hymned |
His praise when He lifted up the Gobardhana mountains for protecting the cow-herds of Brindavana against the incessant |
showers that Indra poured in rage. He is, O Bharata, the one Blessing unto all creatures. He, O Bharata, having entered the old |
Brahma cave, beheld from that place the original cover of the world in the beginning of Time.[613] Agitating all the Danavas |
and the Asuras, this Krishna of foremost feats rescued the earth. It is unto Him that people dedicate diverse kinds of food. It is |
unto Him that the warriors dedicate all kinds of their vehicles at the time of war. He is eternal, and it is under that illustrious |
one that the welkin, earth, heaven, all things exist and stay. He it is who has caused the vital seed of the gods Mitra and Varuna |
to fall within a jar, whence sprang the Rishi known by the name of Vasishtha. It is Krishna who is the god of wind; it is He |
who is the puissant Aswins; it is He who is that first of gods, viz., the sun possessed of a thousand rays. It is He by whom the |
Asuras have been subjugated. It is He who covered the three worlds with three steps of His. He is the soul of the deities and |
human beings, and Pitris. It is He who is the Sacrifice performed by those persons that are conversant with the rituals of |
sacrifices. It is He who rises every day in the firmament (in the form of the sun) and divides Time into day and night, and |
courses for half the year northwards and for half the year southwards. Innumerable rays of light emanate from Him upwards |
and downwards and transversely and illumine the earth. Brahmanas conversant with the Vedas adore Him. Taking a portion of |
His rays the sun shines in the firmament. Month after month, the sacrificer ordains Him as a sacrifice. Regenerate persons |
conversant with the Vedas sing His praises in sacrifices of all kinds. He it is that constitutes the wheel of the year, having three |
naves and seven horses to drag it. It is in this way that He supports the triple mansion (of the seasons), Endued with great |
energy, pervading all things, the foremost of all creatures, it is Krishna who alone upholds all the worlds. He is the sun, the |
dispeller of all darkness. He is the Creator of all. Do thou, O hero, approach that Krishna! Once on a time, the high-souled and |
puissant Krishna dwelt, for a while, in the form of Agni in the forest of Khandava among some straw or dry grass. Soon was |
He gratified (for he consumed all the medicinal herbs in that forest). Capable of going everywhere at will, it was Krishna who, |
having subjugated the Rakshasas and Uragas, poured them as libations upon the blazing fire. It is Krishna who gave unto |
Arjuna a number of white steeds. It is He who is the creator of all steeds. This world (or, human life) represents his car. He it is |
that yokes that car for setting it in motion. That car has three wheels (viz., the three attributes of Sattwa, Rajas, and Tamas). It |
has three kinds of motion (for it goes upwards or downwards or transversely, implying superior, inferior, and intermediate birth |
as brought about by acts). It has four horses yoked to it (viz., Time, Predestiny, the will of the deities, and one's own will). It |
has three naves (white, black, and mixed, implying good acts, evil acts and acts that are of a mixed character). It is this Krishna |
who is the refuge of the five original elements with the sky among them. It is He who created the earth and heaven and the |
space between. Indeed, it is this Krishna of immeasurable and blazing energy who has created the forests and the mountains. It |
is this Krishna who, desirous of chastising Sakra who was about to hurl his thunder at him, crossed the rivers and once |
paralysed him. He is the one great Indra that is adored by the Brahmanas in great sacrifices with the aid of a thousand old Riks. |
It was this Krishna, O king, who alone was able to keep the Rishi Durvasa of great energy as a guest for some time in his |
house. He is said to be the one ancient Rishi. He is the Creator of the universe. Indeed, He creates everything from His own |
nature. Superior to all two deities it is He who teaches all the deities. He scrupulously observes all ancient ordinances. Know, |
O king, that this Krishna, who is called Vishwaksena, is the fruit of all acts that relate to pleasure, of all acts that are founded |
on the Vedas, and of all acts that appertain to the world. He is the white rays of light that are seen in all the worlds. He is the |
three worlds. He is the three Regents of all the worlds. He is the three sacrificial fires. He is the three Vyahritis; indeed, this son |
of Devaki is all the gods together. He is the year; He is the Seasons; He is the Fortnights; He is the Day and the Night; He is |
those divisions of time which are called Kalas, and Kashthas, and Matras, and Muhurtas, and Lavas, and Kshanas. Know that |
this Vishwaksena is all these. The Moon and the Sun, the Planets, the Constellations, and the Stars, all the Parva days, |
including the day of the full moon, the conjunctions of the constellations and the seasons, have, O son of Pritha, flowed from |
this Krishna who is Vishwaksena. The Rudras, the Adityas, the Vasus, the Aswins, the Sadhyas, the Viswedevas, the diverse |
Maruts, Prajapati himself, the mother of the deities, viz., Aditi, and the seven Rishis, have all sprung from Krishna. |
Transforming Himself into the Wind, He scatters the universe. Of Universal form, He becomes Fire that burns all things. |
Changing Himself into Water, He drenches and submerges all, and assuming the form of Brahman, He creates all the diverse |
tribes of animate and inanimate creatures. He is Himself the Veda, yet he learns all the Vedas. He is Himself all the ordinances, |
yet He observes all the ordinances that have been laid down in matters connected with Righteousness and the Vedas and that |
force or might which rules the world. Indeed, know, O Yudhishthira, that this Kesava is all the mobile and immobile universe. |
He is of the form of the most resplendent light. Of universal form, this Krishna is displayed in that blazing effulgence. The |
original cause of the soul of all existent creatures, He at first created the waters. Afterwards He created this universe. Know |
that this Krishna is Vishnu. Know that He is the soul of the universe. Know that He is all the seasons; He is these diverse |
wonderful vegetations of Nature which we see; He is the clouds that pour rain and the lightening that flashes in the sky. He is |
the elephant Airavata. In fact, He is all the immobile and mobile universe. The abode of the universe and transcending all |
attributes, this Krishna is Vasudeva. When He becomes Jiva He comes to be called Sankarshana. Next, He transforms Himself |
into Pradyumna and then into Aniruddha. In this way, the high-souled Krishna, who has Himself for His origin divides (or |
displays) Himself in fourfold form. Desirous of creating this universe which consists of the fivefold primal elements. He sets |
himself to his task, and causes it to go on in the fivefold form of animate existence consisting of deities and Asuras and human |
beings and beasts and birds. He it is that then creates the Earth and the Wind, the Sky, Light, and also Water, O son of Pritha! |
Having created this universe of immobile and mobile objects distributed into four orders of being (viz., viviparous, oviparous, |
vegetable and filth-born), he then created the earth with her fivefold seed. He then created the firmament for pouring copious |
showers of water on the earth.[614] Without doubt, O king, it is this Krishna who has created this universe. His origin is in his |
own self; it is He who causes all things to exist through his own puissance. He it is that has created the deities, the Asuras, the |
human beings, the world, the Rishis, the Pitris, and all creatures. Desirous of creating, that Lord of all creatures duly created |
the whole universe of life. Know that good and evil, mobile and immobile, have all flowed from this One who is Vishwaksena. |
Whatever exists, and whatever will spring into existence, all is Kesava. This Krishna is also the death that overtakes all |
creatures when their end comes. He is eternal and it is He who upholds the cause of Righteousness. Whatever existed in the |
past, and whatever we do not know, verily, all that also is this Vishwaksena. Whatever is noble and meritorious in the universe, |
indeed, whatever of good and of evil exists, all that is Kesava who is inconceivable. Hence, it is absurd to think of anything |
that is superior to Kesava. Kesava is even such. More than this, He is Narayana, the highest of the high, immutable and |
unfading. He is the eternal and immutable cause of the entire mobile and immobile universe with its beginning, middle, and |
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