PART VI.

PART VI.SECTION I.Maitreya said:—"Thou hast described unto me in detail, O illustrious sage, the creation of the universe, the genealogies of the Patriarchs, the duration of the Manwantaras and the dynasties of the princes. I am willing to hear from you an account of the dissolution of the universe, the time of total destruction and that which occurs at the expiration of a Kalpa".Parāçara said:—Hear from me exactly, O Maitreya, the circumstances attending the dissolution of the world either at the expiration of a Kalpa or that which occurs at the close of the life of Brahmā. A month of men constitutes a day and night of the progenitors; a year of men is a day and night of the celestials. Twice a thousand aggregates of the four ages is a day and night of Brahmhā. The four ages are the Krita, Treta, Dwāpara and Kali, comprehending altogether twelve thousand years of the celestials. There are infinite successions of those four ages of a similar description, the first of which is always called Krita and the last the Kali. In the first, the Krita is that age which is created by Brahmā; in the last, which is the Kali age, a dissolution of the universe takes place.Maitreya said:—"O venerable Sir, It behoves thee to give a description of the nature of the Kali age in which the four-footed virtue suffers total extinction".Parāçara said:—Hear, O Maitreya, of the nature of the Kali age, regarding which you have enquired and which is now approaching completion.In the Kali age, people will not serve caste, order and institutes, nor the ceremonial enjoined by the Sāma, Rik and Yayur Vedas. Marriages in this age will be celebrated according to the rituals, nor will the rules that connect the spiritual protector and his disciple be in force; the laws that regulate the conduct of husband and wife will be neglected and oblations to the celestials with fire no longer be offered. A powerful and rich man, in whatever family he may be born, will have right to marry maidens of every tribe. In the Kali age, a Brāhmana will be always regarded as such even if he be not initiated properly, and many forms of penance will be prescribed. O Maitreya, O twice-born one, all texts will be considered as Sastras in the Kali age; all celestials will be considered in equal light and all orders of life will be common alike to all persons. In this Kali age, fasting, austerity, liberality practised according to the pleasures of those by whom they are observed will constitute piety. Every trifling property will make men proud of their wealth. Pride of beauty will be inspired by hair. Gold, jewels, diamonds, clothes will all have perished, and then hair will be the only ornament with which women can decorate themselves. Wives will desert their husbands when they will lose their wealth; and the rich only will be considered by woman as their lords. He who will distribute immense wealth, will be considered as master of men and prestige of birth will no longer be a title to supremacy. Accumulated wealth will be spent on ostentatious dwellings. The minds of men will be wholly occupied with earning money and that even will be spent on the gratification of selfish desires. Women will follow their own inclinations and be given up to pleasure-seeking. Men will endeavour to acquire riches even dishonestly. No man will part with the smallest fraction of his wealth at the sacrifice of his own interest even when requested by his friends. In the Kali age all people will consider themselves as equal with the Brāhmanas; and cows will be held in reverence only because they supply milk. People will be always in fear of dearth and scarcity and will watch accordingly the appearances of the sky. They will all live, like anchorets, upon leaves and roots and fruits and put a period to their lives through fear of famine and want. Deprived of wealth, people will be perpetually subject to famine and other afflictions; and they will never enjoy pleasure and happiness. At the advent of the Kali they will take their food without previous ablutions and without worshipping fire, celestials or guests or offering obsequial libations to their progenitors. The women will be fickle, short of stature, gluttonous; they will all have many children and little means. And scratching their heads with both hands they will pay no attention to the commands of their husbands or parents. They will be selfish, abject and slovenly; they will be scolds and liars; they will be indecent and immoral in their conduct and will ever attach themselves to dissolute men. And disregarding the rules of studentship youths will study the Vedas. Householders will neither sacrifice nor practise becoming liberality. Anchorets will live upon food accepted from rustics and mendicants will be influenced by regard for friends and associates. Princes will plunder their subjects instead of protecting them and under the pretext of levying customs they will rob merchants of their property. In the Kali Vuga every one, possessing cars and elephants and horses, will be a Raja; every one who is feeble will be a slave. Vaiçyas will abandon agriculture and commerce and gain a livelihood by servitude or exercise of mechanical arts; Sudras, seeking a subsistence by begging and assuming outward marks of religious mendicants, will become the impure followers of impious and heretical doctrines.Oppressed by famine and taxation men will desert their native countries and repair to the lands which are fit for coarser grains. The path of the Vedas being obliterated and people having deviated into heresy, iniquity will flourish and the duration of life will therefore decrease. On account of the horrible penances enjoined by scripture and of the vices of the rulers, children will die in their infancy. Women will bear children at the age of five, six or seven years and men will beget them when they are eight, nine or ten. Men will grow old at the age of twelve and no one will live more than twenty years. Men will possess little sense, vigour virtue and will therefore die in a short time. O Maitreya, the wise then estimate the approach of Kali when the number of heretics increases. Whenever, O Maitreya, number of the pious devoted to the lessons of the Vedas, diminishes, the efforts, of the individuals who cultivate virtue, become relax; the first of males becomes no longer the object of sacrifice; respect for the teachers of the Vedas declines and regard is cherished for the disseminators of heresy, the wise estimate the augmented influence of the Kali.O Maitreya, in the Kali age corrupted by unbelievers, men will refrain from adoring Vishnu, the lord of sacrifice and the creator and sovereign of all and will say "Of what authority are the Vedas? What are the celestials or Brahmanas? What need there is of purification with water?" At the approach of the Kali, O Vipra, the clouds will yield scanty rain; the corn will be light in ear and the grain will be poor and of little sap: garments will be mostly made of the fibres of the San: the principal of trees will be the Sami; principle caste will be the Sudra; millet will be the more common grain; the milk in use will be chiefly that of goats; unguents will be made of Ushira grass. The mother and father-in-law will be venerated in the place of parents; and a man's friend will be his brother-in-law or one who has a wanton wife. Men will say "Who has a father? Who has a mother? Every one is born according to his deeds"; therefore they will regard the wife's or the husband's parents as their own. Gifted with little sense they will be subject to all sorts of infirmities of mind, speech and body and will daily commit sins; and every thing that is likely to afflict beings, vicious, impure and wretched will be generated in the Kali Yuga. Thus, O Brahman, when holy study, oblations to fire and convocations of the celestials shall be stopped some few people shall live at a holy place. And at this place with the least trouble that piety shall be accumulated which could be acquired with the greatest exertions in the Krita age.SECTION II.Parāçara said:—Hear, O highly illustrious one, I shall describe fully what the great Vyāsa has related upon the subject.Once on a time, the sages assembled and discussed at what season the least morality obtained the greatest reward and by whom it was most easily displayed. In order to terminate the discussion they went to Veda Vyāsa to remove their doubts. They saw the illustrious sage, my son, immersed in the water of the Ganges, and awaiting the close of his ablutions, the sages remained on the banks of the sacred river under the shelter of a grove of trees. As my son plunged into the water and rose up from it the sages heard him exclaim. "Excellent is the Kali age". Again dived he and again did he exclaim in their hearing. "Well done, well done, Sudra, thou art happy". Again he sank down and again did they hear him say "Well done, well done, women, they are happy who are more fortunate than they". After this my son finished his bathing and the sages met him as he approached to welcome them. After they had been seated and offered their respects the son of Satyavati said to them "For what you have come here?" The Rishis said. "Having entertained some doubts regarding a subject we have come here to consult thee; but let that remain at present; explain to us some thing else. We heard you say 'Excellent is the Kali Yuga!' We are anxious to learn why this was said and why you repeatedly called them happy. Explain to us the meaning of it if it be not a mystery. We will then place before you the question that engages our thoughts".Being thus accosted by the ascetics Vyāsa smiled and said to them "Hear excellent sages, why I said 'Well done Well done!' The fruit of penance of continence, of silent prayer and the like, practised in the Krita age for ten years, in the Treta for one year, in the Dwāpara for a month is obtained in the Kali age in a day and night; therefore I did say 'Excellent, excellent is the Kali age'. The reward, which a man obtains in the Krita age by abstract meditation in the Treta by sacrifice, in the Dwāpara by adoration, he receives, in the Kali Yuga by merely reciting the names of Kesava. O pious and great ascetics, in the Kali age, by very little exertion men attain to exalted virtue and it is for this reason I speak highly of the Kali Yuga. Formerly the Vedas were to be acquired by the twice-Born through the diligent observance of self-denial and it was their duty to celebrate sacrifices in accordance with the ritual. Thereafter, idle prayers, idle feats, fruitless ceremonies were performed, only to mislead the twice-born; for although observed by them devoutly, yet in consequence of some irregularity in their celebration sin was incurred in all these works and what they ate or what they drank did not bring about the fulfilment of their desires. In all their objects the twice-born enjoyed no independence and attained their respective spheres only with exceeding pain. On the other hand, the Sudra, more fortunate than they, attains to his assigned station by rendering their service and performing merely the sacrifice of preparing food in which no rules determine what may or may not be eaten, what may or may not be drunk. Therefore, excellent sages, the Sudra is fortunate."Men should acquire wealth by means not incompatible with their religious duties and it should be given to the worthy and spent upon sacrifices. There is great trouble in their acquisition as well as their preservation. And it is equally difficult for them to spend them on pious observances. O excellent Brāhmanas, by undergoing these troubles and other diverse ones people attain to the holy region of Prajāpati. A woman has only to honour her husband in act, thought and speech to reach the same region to which he is elevated and she thus accomplishes her object without any great exertion. This was the meaning of my exclamation ‘Well done' the third time. I have thus related to you what you asked. Now put to me in any way you please the question for which you came and I will make you a clear reply".The ascetics then said to Vyāsa. "The question that we purposed to put to you has already been answered by you in your reply to our subsequent enquiry". Hearing this Krishna-Daipāyana laughed and said to the pious sages who had come to see him whose eyes were wide open with surprise. "By virtue of my divine knowledge I perceived the question you intended to put to me and in reference to this I uttered the expressions 'Well done! Well done!' In fact in the Kali age duty is performed by the mortals with very little trouble, whose sins are all washed away by the water of their individual piety—by Sudras through the diligent service of the twice-born ones and by women through the slight effort of obedience to their husbands. It is for this reason O Brāhmanas, that I did thrice express my admiration of their happiness; for in the Krita and other ages great were the toils of the regenerate to perform their duty. I did not wait for your enquiry but replied at once to the question you wanted to put. Now what do ye, conversant with virtue, wish me to tell you?"Thereupon the ascetics saluted and praised Vyasa and freed by him from uncertainty departed as they came. I have also communicated to you. O excellent Maitreya, the secret—this one great virtue of the otherwise vicious Kali age. I shall now describe to you the dissolution of the world and the aggregation of the elements.SECTION III.Parāçara said The dissolution of existing beings is of three kinds, incidental, elemental and absolute. The incidental is that which relates to Brahmā and takes place at the end of a Kalpa: the elemental is that which occurs after two Parārdhas; the absolute is final liberation from existence.Maitreya said:—"Tell me, O excellent preceptor, what is the enumeration of a Parārdha, the expiration of two of which is the period of elemental dissolution".Parāçara said:—Parardha, O Maitreya, is that number which takes place in the eighteenth place of figures enumerated according to the rule of decimal notation. At the end of twice that period elemental dissolution takes place when all the discrete products of nature are withdrawn into Their indiscrete source. The shortest period of time is Mātrā which is equal to the twinkling of the human eye; fifteen Mātrā make a Kāshthā; thirty Kāshthās one Kalā: fifteen Kalās one Nādhikā. A Nādhikā is determined by a measure of water with a vessel made of twelve Palas and a half of copper in the bottom of which there is to be a hole made with a tube of gold of the weight of four Māshas and four inches long. According to the Māgadha measure the vessel should hold a Prastha (or sixteen Palas) of water. Two of these Nādis make one Muhurta; thirty of which make one day and night. Thirty such periods constitute a month; twelve months make a year, or a day and night of the celestials; and three hundred and sixty such days, constitute a year of the celestials. An aggregate of four ages consists of twelve thousand divine years; and a thousand periods of four ages complete a day of Brahmā. That period is also termed a Kalpa during which fourteen Munis preside and at the end of it takes place the incidental or Brahmā dissolution. The nature of this dissolution is very dreadful; hear, I shall describe this as well as that which takes place as the elemental dissolution.At the end of a thousand period of four ages the earth is for the most part exhausted. A total dearth takes place which lasts for a hundred years; and on account of the failure of food all beings become languid and exanimate and at last entirely die. The eternal Vishnu then takes the character of Rudra the destroyer and comes down to reunite all his creatures with himself. He enters into the seven rays of the sun, drinks up all the waters of the earth and causes all moisture, whatever in living bodies or in the soil to evaporate, thus drying up the whole earth. Thus fed with his intervention with profuse moisture, the seven solar rays dilate to seven suns, whose radiance glows above, below and on every side and sets the three worlds and Pātāla on fire. The three worlds, consumed by these suns, become rugged and deformed all over their mountains, rivers and seas; and the earth bare of verdure, and destitute of moisture alone remains resembling in appearance the back of a tortoise. Hari, the destroyer of all things, in the form of Rudra, who is the flame of time, becomes the scorching breath of the serpent Sesha and thereby reduces Pātāla to ashes. The great fire, when it has reduced all the divisions of Pātāla to ashes, proceeds to the earth and consumes it also. A vast whirlpool of eddying flame then spreads to the region of the atmosphere and the sphere of the celestials and wraps them in ruin. The three spheres shew like a frying pan amidst the surrounding flames that prey upon all movable and stationary things. O great saint, the inhabitants of the two upper spheres, having satisfied their respective duties and being assailed by the heat, repair to Maharloka. When that becomes heated its inhabitants, who after the full period of stay, are desirous of ascending to higher regions depart for the Janaloka.Having consumed the whole universe in the person of Rudra, Janārddana, breathes fourth heavy clouds, and those called Samvartta resembling huge elephants in bulk overspread the sky, roaring and darting lightnings. Some are as white as the water-lily, some are dusky like smoke; some are yellow; some are of a dun colour, like that of an ass; some like ashes sprinkled on the forehead; some are deep blue, as thelapis lazuly; some azure like the sapphire; some are white at the couch or the jasmine; some are black as colly rum; some are like the lady-bird; some are of fierceness of red arsenic and some are like the wing of the painted joy. Such is the colour of these massy clouds; in form some resemble towns, some mountains, some are like houses and hovels and some are like columns. Huge in size and loud in thunder they fill space. Showering down torrents of water, those clouds quench the dreadful fires which involve the three worlds and then rain incessantly a hundred years and deluge the whole universe. Showering down in drops as large as dice these rains overspread the earth and fill the middle region and inundate the celestial sphere. The world is now enshrouded in darkness and all things animate and inanimate having perished, the clouds continue to pour down waters for more than a hundred years.SECTION IV.Parāçara said:—O great ascetic, the waters having reached the region of the seven Rishis the whole of three worlds becomes one ocean. The breath of Vishnu, thereupon, becomes a strong wind, which blows for more than a hundred years until all the clouds are dispersed. The wind is then re-absorbed and he, of whom all beings are made, the lord by whom all things exist, he, who is inconceivable, without beginning of the universe, reposes sleeping upon Sesha in the midst of the ocean. The creator Hari, sleeps upon the ocean in the form of Brahmā glorified by Sanaka and the saints who had departed to the Janaloka and contemplated by the holy inhabitants of Brahmaloka, anxious for final liberation—involved in mystic slumber, the celestial personification of his own illusions and meditating on his own ineffable spirit which is called Vāsudeva. This, O Majtreya, is the dissolution called incidental, because, Hari, in the form of Brahmā, sleeps there as its incidental cause.When the universal spirit wakes, the world revives: when he clears his eyes, all things fall upon the bed of mystic sleep. In the same manner a thousand great eyes comprise a day of Brahmā so his night consists of the same period: during which the world is submerged by a vast ocean. Awaking at the end of his night the unborn Vishnu, in the character of Brahmā, creates the universe anew in the manner formerly described unto you. I have thus related to you the intermediate dissolution of the world taking place at the end of every Kalpa. I will now, O Maitreya, describe to you elemental dissolution. When by dearth and fire all the worlds and Patalas are dried up and the modification of Mahat and other products of nature are by the will of Krishna destroyed the progress of elemental dissolution is begun. At first the waters swallow up the property of earth which is the rudiment of smell; and earth, deprived of its property, proceeds to destruction. Devoid of the rudiment of odour the earth becomes identical with water. The water then being much increased roaring and rushing along fill up all space whether agitated or still. When the universe is thus pervaded by the waves of the watery element its rudimental flavour is licked up by the element of fire and on account of the destruction of these rudiments the waters themselves are destroyed. Devoid of the essential element of flavour they become identical with fire and the universe is therefore entirely filled with flame which drinks up the water on every side and gradually overspreads the whole of the world. While space is envelope in flame above, below and all around the element of the wind seizes upon the rudimental property or form which is the cause of light, and that being withdrawn, all becomes of the nature of air. The rudiment of form being destroyed and fire deprived of its rudiment, air extinguishes fire and spreads resistlessly over space which is deprived of when fire mages into air. Air then accompanied by sound which is the source of ether, extends everywhere throughout the ten regions of space until ether seizes upon contact, its rudimental property; by the loss of which air is destroyed and ether remains unchanged: devoid of form, flavour, touch and smell, it exists unembodied and vast and pervades the whole of space. Ether, whose characteristic property and rudiment is sound exists alone occupying all the vacuity of space. At then the radical element egotism devours sound and all the elements and faculties are at once merged into their original. This primary element is conscientiousness combined with the property of darkness and is itself swallowed up by Mahat whose characteristic property is intelligence; and earth and Mahat are the inner and outer boundaries of the universe. In this manner, as in the creation were the seven forms of nature (Prakriti) reckoned from Mahat to earth; so at the time of elemental dissolution these seven successively re-enter into each other. The egg of Brahmā is dissolved in the waters that surround it, with its seven zones, seven oceans, seven regions, and their mountains. The investure of water is drunk up by fire; the stratum of fire is absorbed by that of air: air blends itself with ether; the primary element of egotism devours the ether and is itself taken up by intellect, which, along with all those, is seized upon by nature. Equilibrium of the three properties, without excess or deficiency, is called nature (Prakriti), origin (Hetu), the chief Principle (Pradhāna) cause (Kārana), supreme (Param). This Prakriti is essentially the same, whether discrete or indiscrete; only that which is discrete finally is lost or absorbed in the indiscrete. Spirit also which is one, pure, imperishable, eternal, all-pervading is a portion of that supreme spirit which is all things. That spirit which is other than embodied spirit, in which there are no attributes of name, species or the like—which is one with all wisdom and is to be understood as sole existence, that is Brahmā, infinite glory, supreme spirit, supreme power, Vishnu, all that is from whence the perfect sage returns no more. Prakriti, which I have described to you as being essentially both discrete and indiscrete and spirit both resolve into spirit, supreme spirit is the upholder of all things and the ruler of all things and is glorified in the Vedas and in the Vedanta by the name of Vishnu.Works as sanctioned by the Vedas are of two kinds, active and quiescent; by both of which the universal person is worshipped by mankind. He, the lord of sacrifice, the male of sacrifice, the most excellent Purusha, is worshipped by men in the active mode, by rites enjoined in the Rik, Yayur and Sama Vedas. The soul of wisdom, the person of wisdom, Vishnu, the giver of emancipation is worshipped by the sages in the quiescent form through meditative devotion. The exhaustless Vishnu is whatever thing that is designated by long, short or prolated syllables or that which is without a name. He is that which is dissolute or that which is indescrete: he is exhaustless spirit, supreme spirit, universal spirit, Hari, the assumer of universal forms. Nature, discrete or indiscrete is absorbed unto him, and spirit also merges into the all diffusive and unobstructed spirit. The period of two Parārdhas, as I have related to you, O Maitreya, constitutes a day of that powerful Vishnu, and whilst the products of nature are merged into this source, nature into spirit and that into the supreme, that period is called his night and is of equal duration with his day. But in reality, to that supreme spirit there is neither day nor night and these distinctions are only figuratively applied to the Almighty. I have thus explained to you the nature of elemental dissolution and will now explain to you which is final.SECTION V.Parāçara said:—O Maitreya, having investigated kinds of worldly pain and having acquired true wisdom and detachment from worldly objects the wise man obtains final liberation. The first of the three pains, or Adhyatmika is of two kinds—physical and mental. Bodily pain, as you shall hear, is of many sorts. Affections of the head, catarrh, fever, cholic, fistula, spleen, hemorrhoids, intumescence, sickness, opthalmia, dysentary, leprosy, and many other diseases constitute physical affliction. Mental pains are love, anger, fear, hate, covetousness, stupefaction, despair, sorrow, malice, disdain, jealousy, envy and many other passions that are created in the mind. These and diverse other afflictions, mental or physical, are comprised under the class of worldly sufferings which is called Adhyatmika, The pain Adhibhautika, O excellent Brāhman, is every kind of evil that is inflicted upon men by beasts, birds, men, goblins, snakes, fiends, or reptiles and the pain that is called Adhidaivika or superhuman is the work of cold, heat, wind, rain, lightning and other phenomena. Affliction, O Maitreya, is multiplied in thousands of shapes in the progress of conception, birth, decay, disease, death and hell. The tender animal exists in the embryo surrounded by abundant filth, floating in water and distorted in its back, neck and bones; enduring severe pain even in the course of its development and disordered by the acid, bitter, pungent and saline articles of its mother's food; incapable of extending or contracting its limbs, reposing amidst slime of ordure and urine; every way incommoded with conciousness and calling to memory many hundred previous births. Thus exists the embryo in profound affliction bound to the worlds by its former works.When the child is about to be born, its face is besmeared by excrement, urine, blood, mucus, and semen; its attachment; to the uterus is ruptured by the Prajāpati wind: it is turned head downwards and violently expelled from the womb by the powerful and painful winds of parturition; and the infant, losing; for a time all sensation when brought in contact with the external air, is immediately deprived of its intellectual knowledge. Then born the child is tortured in every limb, as if pierced with thorns or cut to pieces with a saw, and falls from its fetid lodgement as from a sore, like a crawling thing upon the earth. Unable to feel itself, unable to turn itself, it is dependent on the will of others for being bathed and nourished. Laid upon a dirty bed, it is bitten by insects and mosquitoes and has not power to drive them away. Many are the pangs attending birth and many are those which succeed to birth; and many are the afflictions that are inflicted by elemental and superhuman powers in the state of childhood covered by the gloom of ignorance; and internally bewildered man knows not whence he is, who he is, whither he goeth nor what is his nature; by what bonds he is bound; what is cause and what is not cause; what is to be done and what is to be left undone; what is to be said and what is to be kept silent, what is righteousness and what is iniquity; in what it consists or how; what is right, what is wrong; what is virtue, what is vice. Thus man, like a brute beast addicted only to animal gratification, suffers the pain that ignorance brings about. Ignorance, darkness, inactivity influence those devoid of knowledge so that pious works are neglected; but hell is the consequence of neglect of religious acts, according to the great sages, and the ignorant therefore suffer affliction both in this world and in the next.When old age comes in, the body is infirm, the limbs are relaxed; the face is emaciate and shrivelled; its skin is wrinkled and scantily covers the veins and sinews; the eyes discern not a far off, and the pupil gazes on vacuity: the nostrils are stuffed with hair; the trunk trembles as it moves; the bones appear beneath the surface; the back is bowed and the joints are bent; the digestive fire is extinct and there is little appetite and little vigour; walking, rising sitting, sleeping are all painful efforts; the ear is dull; the eye is dim; the mouth is disgusting with dribbling saliva; the senses no longer are obedient to the will; and as death approaches, the things that are perceived even are immediately forgotten. The utterance of a single sentence is fatiguing and wakefulness is perpetuated by difficult breathing, coughing and painful exhaustion. The old man is lifted up by some body else; he is an object of contempt to his servants, his children and his wife. Incapable of cleanliness, of amusement, or food, or desire, he is laughed at by his dependents, and disregarded by his kin; and dwelling on the exploits of his youth, as on the actions of a past life, he sighs deeply and is sorely distressed. Such are some of the pains to which old age is doomed. I will now describe to you the agonies of death.The neck droops, the feet and hands are relaxed; the man is repeatedly exhausted, subdued and visited with interrupted knowledge; the principle of selfishness afflicts him and he thinks what will become of my wealth, my lands, my children, my wife, my servants, my house? The joints of his limbs are tortured with severe pains as if cut by a saw or as if they were pierced by the sharp arrows of the destroyer; he rolls his eyes and tosses about his hands and feet; his lips and palate are parched and dry and his throat obstructed by foul humours and deranged vital airs, emits a rattling sound; he is afflicted with burning heat, thirst and hunger: and he at last passes away tortured by the servants of the judge of the dead, to undergo a renewal of his sufferings in another body. These are the afflictions to which a man is doomed when he dies. I will now describe to you the tortures which they suffer in hell.Men are bound, when they die, by the servants of the king of Tartarus, with cords, and beaten with their sticks and have then to encounter the fierce aspect of Yama and the horrors of their terrible route. In the different hells there are various intolerable tortures with burning sand, fire, machines, and weapons; some are severed with saws, some roasted in forges, some are chopped with axes, some buried in the ground, some are mounted on stakes, some cast to wild beasts to be devoured, some are gnawed by the vultures, some torn by tigers, some are boiled in oil, some rolled in caustic slime, some are precipitated from great heights, some are tossed upwards by engines. The number of punishments inflicted in hell, which are the consequences of sin, is infinite. But not in hell alone do the souls of the deceased undergo pain: there is no cessation even in heaven for its temporary inhabitant is even tormented with the prospect of descending to earth again. He is again liable to conception and to birth; he is merged again into the embryo and repairs to it when about to be born; then he dies, as soon as born, or in infancy, or in youth, or in manhood or in old age. Death sooner or later is inevitable. As long as he lives he is immersed in manifold afflictions, like the seed of the cotton amidst the down that is to be spun into thread. In acquiring, losing, and preserving wealth there are many griefs; and so there are in the misfortunes of our friends. Whatever is produced that is most acceptable to man; that, Maitreya, becomes a seed whence springs the tree of sorrow. Wife, children, servants, houses, lands, riches, contribute much more to the misery than to the happiness of mankind. Where could man, scorched by fires of the sun of this world, look for felicity, were it not for the shade afforded by the tree of emancipation? Attainment of the divine being is considered by the wise as the remedy of the three-fold class of ills that beset the different stages of life, conception, birth and decay, as characterised by that only happiness which effaces all other kinds of felicity however abundant, and as being absolute and final.It should therefore be the assiduous endeavour of wise men to attain unto god. The means of such attainment are said, great Muni, to be knowledge and works. Knowledge is of two kinds, that which is derived from scripture, and that which is derived from reflection. Brahma that is the word is composed of scripture. Brahma that is supreme is produced of reflection, ignorance is utter darkness, in which knowledge, obtained through any sense, shines like a lamp; but the knowledge that is derived from reflection breaks upon the obscurity. What has been said by Manu, when appealing to the meaning of the Vedas with respect to this subject, I will repeat to you. There are two forms of spirit or god, the spirit, which is word, and spirit, which is supreme. He who is thoroughly imbued with the word of god obtains supreme spirit. The Atharva Veda also states that there are two kinds of knowledge; by the one, which is the supreme, god is attained: the other is that which consists of the Rik and other Vedas. That which is imperceptible, undecaying, inconceivable, unborn, inexhaustable, indescribable; which has neither form, nor hands nor feet; which is almighty, omnipresent, eternal; the cause of all things, and without cause, permeating all, itself unpenetrated, and from which all things proceed, that is the object which the wise behold, that is Brahma, that is the supreme state, that is the thing spoken of by the Vedas, the infinitely subtle, supreme condition of Vishnu. That essence of the supreme is defined by the term Bhagavat: the word Bhagavat is the denomination of that primeval and eternal God: and he who fully understands the meaning of that expression, is possessed of holy wisdom, the sum and substance of the three Vedas. The word Bhagavat is a convenient form to be used in the adoration of that supreme being, to whom no term is applicable; and therefore Bhagavat expresses that supreme spirit which is individual, almighty, and the cause of causes of all things. The letterBhimplies the cherisher and supporter of the universe. Bygais understood the leader, impeller, or creator. The dissyllableBhagaindicate the six properties: dominion, might, glory, splendour, wisdom, and dispassion. The purport of the lettervais that elemental spirit in which all beings exist, and which exists in all beings. And thus this Great word Bhagavān is the name of Vāsudeva, who is one with the Supreme Brahma and of no one else. This word therefore, which is the general denomination of an adorable object, is not used in reference to the supreme in a general but a special signification. When applied to any other thing or person it is used in its customary or general import. In latter case it may purport one who knows the origin and end and revolutions of being and what is wisdom and what ignorance. In the former it denotes wisdom, energy, power, dominion, might, glory, without end and without defect.The term Vāsudeva means that all beings abide in that supreme spirit and that he abides in all beings as was formerly explained by Kesidhwaja to Khāndikya called Janaka when he enquired of him an explanation of the name of the immortal Vāsudeva. He said "He dwelleth internally in all beings and all things dwell in him; and thence the lord Vāsudeva is the creator and preserver of the world. He though identical with all beings is beyond and separate from material nature, from its products, from properties and from imperfection; he is beyond all investing substance; he is universal soul; all the interstices of the universe are filled up by him; he is one with all good qualities; and all created beings are endowed with but a small portion of his individuality. Assuming at with various shapes he bestows benefits on the whole world, which was his work. Glory, might, dominion, wisdom, energy, power and other attributes are collected in him. Supreme of the supreme, in whom no imperfections abide, lord over finite and infinite, god in individuals and universals, visible and invisible, omnipotent, omnipresent, omnicient, almighty. The wisdom, perfect, pure, supreme, undefiled and one only by which he is conceived, contemplated and known, that is wisdom; all else is ignorance".SECTION VI.Parāçara said:—The Purusottama is also known by holy study and devout meditation; and either, as the cause of attaining him, is entitled Brahma. From study let a man proceed to meditation and from meditation to study; by perfection in both supreme spirit becomes manifest. Study is one eye wherewith to behold it and meditation is the other: he who is identical with Brahma sees not with the eye of flesh.Maitreya said:—"Revered preceptor, I am desirous to know what is meant by the term Yoga, by understanding which I may behold the supreme being, the upholder of the universe".Parāçara:—I will repeat to you, O Maitreya, the explanation formerly given by Kesidhwaja to the high-minded Khāndikya also called Janaka.Maitreya: "Tell me, first. Brahman, who Khāndikya was, and who was Kesidhwaja; and how it happened that a conversation relating to the practice of Yoga occurred between them".Parāçara. There was Janaka named Dharmadhwaja who had two sons Amitadhwaja and Kritadhwaja; and the latter was a king ever devoted to the existent supreme spirit; his son was the celebrated Kesidhwaja. The son of Amitadhwaja was Janaka called Khāndikya. Khāndikya was diligent and celebrated on earth for pious observances. Kesidhwaja on the other hand was gifted with spiritual knowledge. These two were engaged in hostilities and Khāndikya was driven from his principality by Kesidhwaja. Expelled from his dominions he wandered with a few followers, his priest and his counsellors, amidst woods and mountains where destitute of true wisdom, he performed many sacrifices expecting thereby to obtain divine truth and to escape from death by ignorance.Once on a time, while Kesidhwaja, the best of those who are skilled in devotion, was engaged in devout practices a fierce tiger slew his milch cow in the lonely forest. When the Raja heard that the cow had been killed he asked the ministering priests what sort of penance would expatiate the crime. They said that they did not know and referred him to Kaseru. And consulted by the king Kaseru told him that he did not know and Sunaka would be able to tell him. Accordingly the Raja went to Sunaka; but he said too. "I am as unable, O great king, to answer your question as Kaseru has been; there is no one on earth who can give you the information except your enemy Khāndikya, whom you have vanquished".Being thus accosted Kesidhwaja said:—"I will go then and pay a visit to my enemy; no matter, if he kill me, for I shall then obtain the reward that attends being slain in a holy cause; whereas if on the other hand he tells me what penance to perform then my sacrifice will be unimpaired in efficacy". Accordingly he ascended his car, having clothed himself in the deerskin and went to the forest where the wise Khāndikya lived. When Khāndikya saw him approach his eyes reddened with ire and he took up his bow and said to him "You have armed yourself with deerskin to bring about my destruction thinking that in such a dress you will be safe from me; but fool, the deer upon whose backs this skin is seen are slain by you and me with sharp arrows so I will slay you; you shall not go free whilst I am living. You are an unprincipled felon, who have robbed me of my kingdom and are deserving of death". To this Kesidhwaja replied: "I have come here Khāndikya, to consult you about my doubts and not with any hostile intention; lay aside therefore both your arrow and anger". Thus addressed Khāndikya retired for a while, with his counsellors and his priest and consulted with them what course to adopt. They strongly urged him to slay Kesidhwaja who was in his grasp and by whose death he would again become the monarch of the whole world. Khāndikya replied to them: "It is undoubtedly true that by such an act I would become the monarch of the whole world but he would thereby conquer the next world: whilst the earth would be mine. And if I do not slay him I shall conquer the world to come and leave him this earth. It appears to me that this world is not so much valuable as the next: for the subjugation of the next world continues for ever while the conquest over this is but temporary. I will therefore not kill him but tell him what he wishes to know".Coming accordingly to Kesidhwaja, Khāndikya asked him to propose his question which he promised to answer. And Kesidhwaja related to him what had taken place, that death of the cow and desired to know what penance be should perform. Khāndikya, in reply, explained to him fully the expiation that was suited to the occasion; and then with his permission Kesidhwaja returned to the place of sacrifice and regularly fulfilled every necessary act. Having completed the ceremony with its supplementary rites Kesidhwaja accomplished all his objects: but he then reflected thus "The priests whom I invited to attend have all been duly honoured; all those who had any request to make have been pleased with my complying with their desires; all that is proper for this world has been effected by me; why then my mind should feel as if my duty had been unfulfilled". Thinking this he remembered that he had not presented to Khāndikya the gift that it is proper to offer to a spiritual preceptor and mounting his chariot he immediately started for the dense forest where the sage resided. Upon his reappearance Khāndikya took up arms to slay him; but Kesidhwaja exclaimed "Forbear, venerable sage; I have not come hither injure you; throw off your wrath, Khāndikya, know that I have come here to offer you that present which is due to you as my instructor. Through your lesson I have fully completed my sacrifice and I am therefore desirous to give you a gift. Demand what it shall be".Having once more consulted his counsellors, Khāndikya told them the purpose of his rival's visit and asked them what he should demand. His friends recommended him to take back his whole kingdom for prudent men acquire them without conflicting hosts. The king Khāndikya reflecting laughed and said to them "Why should a person like me be desirous of a temporary earthly kingdom? Indeed you are very good advisers as regards the present worldly affairs—but you are undoubtedly ignorant of the life to come". Saying this he returned to Kesidhwaja and said to him "Is it true that you wish to make me a gift as to your preceptor?" "Indeed I do" answered Kesidhwaja. Whereto Khāndikya replied "Then, as it is known that you are learned in the spiritual learning that teaches the doctrine of the soul, if you will communicate that knowledge unto me you will have discharged your debt to your preceptor. Communicate unto me what acts are efficacious for the alleviation of human sufferings".SECTION VII.Kesidhwaja said "But why have you not demanded of me my kingdom free from all troubles; what else save dominion is acceptable to the warrior?" Whereto Khāndikya replied "I will tell you why I did not make such a demand nor require that territory which is an object of ignorant ambition. It is the duty of the warrior to protect his subjects in peace and to kill in fight the enemies of his way. It is no fault that you should have taken my kingdom from one who was unable to defend it, to whom it was a bondage and who was thus freed from the incumbrance of ignorance. My desire of dominion originated from my being born to possess it; the ambition of others which proceeds from human frailties, is not compatible with virtue. To solicit gift is not the duty of a prince and warrior. It is for this reason I have not demanded of you the kingdom, a request which is the outcome of ignorance. Those only, who are ignorant, whose minds are attached to selfishness and who are intoxicated with the liquor of self-sufficiency, desire kingdoms; not such as I am".Parāçara said:—Being greatly delighted, the king Kesidhwaja praised Khāndikya and said to him affectionately "Listen to my words. Through the desire of escaping death by the ignorance of works I exercise the regal power, celebrate various sacrifices and enjoy pleasures subversive of purity. Fortunate it is for you that your mind has attached itself to the dominion of discrimination. Pride of your race now listen to the real nature of ignorance. The mistaken notion that self consists in what is not self and that property consists in what is not one's own constitute the double seed of the tree of ignorance. The ill judging embodied being, bewildered by the darkness of fascination situated in a body composed of five elements, loudly asserts 'This is I' but who would ascribe spiritual individuality to a body in which soil is distinct from ether, air, fire, water and earth. What man of understanding assigns to disembodied spirit corporeal fruition or what lands, houses and the like that it should say, 'These are mine?' What wise man entertains the idea of property in sons or grandsons begotten of the body after the spirit has abandoned it? Man performs all acts for the purpose of bodily fruition and the consequence of such acts is another body; so that their result is nothing but confinement to bodily existence. In the same manner as a mansion of clay is plastered with clay and water, so the body which of earth is perpetuated by earth and water. The body consisting of five elements is nourished by substances equally composed of those elements; but since this is the case, what is there in this life that man should be proud of? Travelling the path of the world for many thousands of births, man attains only the weariness of bewilderment and is smothered by the dust of imagination. When that dust is washed away by the bland water of real knowledge, then the weariness of bewilderment, sustained by the wayfarer through repeated births, is removed. When that weariness is relieved the internal man is at peace and he obtains that supreme felicity which is unequalled and undisturbed. This soul is pure and composed of wisdom and happiness. The properties of pain, ignorance and impurity are those of nature and not of soul. O Muni, there is no affinity between fire and water but when the latter is placed over the former in a cauldron, it bubbles and boils and exhibits the properties of fire. In the same manner when soul is associated with Prakriti it is vitiated by egotism and the rest and assumes the qualities of grosser nature although essentially distinct from them and compatible. Such is the seed of ignorance as I have explained it to you: there is but one remedy for earthly sorrows—the practice of devotion; no other is known".Thereupon Khandikya said:—"Do you then the foremost of those versed in contemplative devotion explain to me what that is, for in the race of the descendants of Nimi you are best acquainted with the sacred writings in which it is taught". Whereto Kesidhwaja replied: "Hear the account of the nature of contemplative devotion, which I am imparting to you and by perfection in which the sage attains resolution into Brahma and never suffers birth again. The mind of man is the cause both of his bondage and his liberation its addiction to the objects of sense is the means of his bondage; its separation from objects of sense is the means of his liberation. The sage, who is capable of discriminative knowledge, must therefore restrain his mind from all objects of sense and therewith meditate upon the supreme being, who is identical with spirit, in order to obtain liberation; for that supreme spirit attracts to itself him who meditates upon it, and who is of the same nature, as the lodestone attracts the iron by the virtue which is common to itself and to its products. Contemplative devotion is the union with Brahma effected by that condition of mind which has attained perfection through those exercises which complete the control of self; and he, whose contemplative devotion is characterised by the property of such absolute perfection, is in truth, O sage, expectant of final liberation from the world."The Yogi, when he first gives himself up to the practice of contemplative devotion, is called the novice or practitioner; when he has attained spiritual union, he is called the adept or he whose meditations are accomplished. Should the thoughts of the former be unvitiated by any obstructing imperfection, he will obtain freedom after practising devotion through several lives. The latter speedily obtains liberation in that existence, all his acts being consumed by the fire of contemplative devotion. The sage, who would bring his mind into a proper state for the performance of devout contemplation, must be devoid of desire and observe invariably continence, compassion, truth, honesty, and disinterestedness; he must fix his mind upon the supreme Brahma, practising holy study, purification, contentment, penance and self-control. These virtues, respectively termed the five acts of restraint and five of obligation bestow excellent rewards when practised for the sake of reward and eternal liberation and when they are not prompted by the desire of transient benefits. Endowed with these merits, the sage, self-restrained, should sit in one of the modes termed Bhadrāsana and engage in contemplation. Bringing his vital airs called Prāna under subjection, by frequent repetition is thence called Prānāyāma which is, as it were, a seed with a seed. In this, the breath of expiration and that of inspiration are alternately obstructed constituting the act two-fold; and the suppression of both modes of breathing produces a third. The exercise, of yogi, whilst endeavouring to bring before his thoughts the gross form of the eternal, is denominated Alambana. He is then to perform Pratyāhāra, which consists in restraining his organs of sense from susceptibility to outward impressions, and directing them entirely to mental perceptions. By these means the entire subjugation of the unsteady senses is effected: and if they are not controlled the sage will not accomplish his devotions. When by the Prānāyāma the vital airs are restrained and the senses are subjugated by Pratyāhāra then the sage will be able to keep his mind steady in its perfect asylum".Khāndikya then said to Kesidhwaja "Illustrious sage, inform me what is that perfect asylum of the mind resting on which it destroys all the products of human infirmity". To this Keshidhwaja replied. "The asylum of mind is Brahma, which, of its own nature, is two-fold; as being with or without form; and each of these, is supreme and secondary. Apprehension of Brahma or spirit is again three-fold. I will explain the different kinds to you, they are that which is called Brahma, that which is named from works, and that which comprehends both is the third. So that mental apprehension is three-fold. Sanandana and other were endowed with the apprehension of the nature of Brahma. The celestials and others whether animate or inanimate are possessed of that which regards acts. The apprehension, that comprehends both works and spirit, exists in Hiranyagarbha and others, who are possessed of contemplative knowledge of their own nature and who also exercise certain active functions as creation and the rest. Until all acts, which are the causes of notions of individuality, are discontinued, spirit is one thing and universe is another, to those who contemplate objects as distinct and various; but that is called true knowledge or knowledge of Brahma which recognises no distinctions, which contemplates only simple existence which is undefinable by words and is to be discovered solely in one's own spirit. That is the supreme unborn, imperishable form of Vishnu, who is without form and characterised as a condition of the supreme soul, which is variously modified from the condition of universal form. The sages, in the early stage, cannot perceive this form so they must direct their minds to the gross form of Hari, which is of universal perceptibility. They must meditate upon him as Hiranyagarbha, as the glorious Vāsava, as Prajāpati, as the winds, the Vasus, the Rudras, the suns, stars, planets, Gandharvas, Yakshas, Daityas, all the celestials, and their progenitors, men, animals, mountains, oceans, rivers, trees, all beings and all sources of beings, all modifications of natures, and its products, whether sentient of unconscious, one-footed, two-footed, or many-footed; all these are the sensible form of Hari, to be apprehended by three kinds of apprehension. All this universal world, this world of moving and stationary beings is pervaded by the energy of Vishnu, who is of the nature of supreme Brahma. This energy is supreme, or when it is that of conscious embodied spirit it is secondary. Ignorance, or that which is denominated from works, is a third energy; by which the omnipresent energy of embodied spirit is ever excited and whence it suffers all the pains of repeated worldly existence. Obscured by that energy, the energy that is denominated from embodied spirit, is characterised by different degrees of perfection in all created beings. In inanimate things it exists in a very small degree; it is more in things that have life, but are (without motion); in insects it is still more abundant, and still more in birds: it is more in wild animals and in domestic animals the faculty is still greater: men have more of this faculty than animals, and thence arises their authority over them; the faculty exists in a supreme degree in Nāgas, Gandharvas, Yakshas, celestials, Sakra, Prajāpati and Hiranyagarbha; and is above ail predominant in that male (Vishnu) of whom all these various creatures are but the diversified forms, permeated universally by his energy, as all-pervading as the other."That state of Vishnu, which is without form, is to be meditated upon by the sages and this imperceptible and shapeless form of Brahma is called by the wise 'that which is' and in which all the energies, described before, reside. O lord of men, from this state of Vishnu and which is formless, proceeds his universal form and other great form and other forms endowed with his diverse energies. For the behoof of the universe he assumes various forms, that of the celestial, birds and men—but he is never born being influenced by his pristine actions; he is all-comprehending and irresistible. This universal form of his is to be meditated upon by the sage for the purpose of purification for it washes away all sins. As the fire, combined with wind, consumes twigs with its increased flame, so this form of Vishnu, when meditated upon by the sage in his heart, destroys all sins. Let us therefore fix our mind resolutely upon him who is the asylum of three fold energies and this is the operation of the mind which is called perfect Dhāranā: and thus the perfect asylum of individual as well as universal spirit, that which beyond the three modes of apprehension, is attained for the eternal emancipation of the sage. O foremost of men, the gods and others who rest in the minds are impure and spring from acts. The apprehension by the mild, of that visible form of Vishnu without regard to subsidiary forms is thence called Dhāranā and I will now describe to you the perceptible form of Hari which no mental retention will manifest except in a mind that is fit to become the receptacle of the idea. The meditating sage must think of Vishnu as having a delightful and lovely countenance with eyes like the leaf of the lotus, smooth cheeks, and a broad and brilliant forehead; ears of equal size, the lobes of which are embellished with splendid pendants, a painted neck and a broad breast on which shines the mystic mark of Sribatsa; a belly falling in graceful fold, with a deep-seated navel; eight long arms or else four; and firm and well knit thighs and legs, with well-formed feet and toes. Let him, with well-governed thoughts, contemplate, as long as he can persevere with undivided attention, Hari as clad in a yellow raiment, wearing a rich diadem on his head and brilliant armlets and bracelets on his arms and bearing in his hands, the bow, the shell, the mace, the sword, the discus, the rosary, the lotus and the arrow. The Yogi may believe his retention to be perfect when this image never vanishes from his mind, whether he be going or standing, or be engaged in any other voluntary act. The sage may then meditate upon the form of Vishnu without his arms as the shell, mace, discus and bow and as placid and bearing only his rosary. When the idea of this image is firmly retained, then he may meditate on Vishnu without his diadem, bracelets or other ornaments. He may next contemplate him as having but one single limb and may then fix his whole thoughts upon the body to which the limbs belong. The process of forming a lively image in the mind exclusive of all other objects, constitutes Dhyāna, or meditation, which is perfected by six stages and when an accurate knowledge of self, free from all distinction, is attained by this mental meditation that, is termed Samadhi."After accomplishing this stage the Yogi acquires discriminative knowledge, which is the means of enabling living soul when all the three kinds of apprehension are destroyed to attain the attainable supreme being. Embodied spirit is the user of the instrument, which instrument is true knowledge; and by it that identification of the former is attained. Liberation which is the object to be effected being accomplished discriminative knowledge ceases. When endowed with the apprehension of the nature of the object of enquiry, then there is no difference between the individual and supreme spirit; difference is the outcome of the absence of true knowledge. When that ignorance which is the cause of the difference between the individual and universal spirit b destroyed finally and for ever who shall ever make that distinction between them which does not exist? Thus I have, O Khāndikya, in reply to your question, explained to you what is meant by contemplative devotion both fully and summarily. What else do you wish to hear?"Khāndikya replied to Keshidhwaja and said:—"The explanation that has been given by you of the real nature of contemplative devotion, has satisfied all my wishes and removed all impurity from my mind. The expression 'mine' that I have been accustomed to use is untruth and cannot be otherwise declared by those who know what is to be known. The words 'I' and 'mine' constitute ignorance; but practice is influenced by ignorance. Supreme truth cannot be defined for it is not to be explained by words. Depart, therefore, Keshidwaja; you have done all that is necessary for my real happiness, in teaching me contemplative devotion, the exhaustible bestower of liberation from existence".After receiving becoming homage from Khāndikya, Keshidhwaja came back to his capital. And having made his son Raja he repaired to woods to accomplish his devotions, his whole mind being intent on Govinda. His whole mind being devoted to one object only and being purified by the practice of self-restraint, self-control and the rest he obtained absorption into the pure and perfect spirit which is termed Vishnu. And in order to obtain liberation Keshidhwaja became averse from his own perishable works and lived amidst objects of sense and practised religious rites without expecting any benefit therefrom. Being freed from ail sins by pure and auspicious fruition he obtained that perfection which removes all miseries.SECTION VIII.Parāçara said:—I have thus explained to you the third kind of worldly dissolution, that which is absolute and final which is liberation and resolution into eternal spirit. I have related unto you the primary and secondary creation, the families of patriarchs, the periods of the Manwantaras and the genealogical histories of the kings. I have described briefly to you, who were desirous of hearing it, the imperishable Vaishnava Purāna which destroys all sins, the most excellent of all sacred writings and the means of attaining the great end of man. If you have any thing else to ask, put the question and I will answer it.Maitkeya said:—"Holy preceptor, you have indeed said unto me all I wished to know and I listened to it with devoted attention. O great saint, all my doubts have been removed and my heart has been purified. By thy favour, I have been acquainted with the account of creation, preservation and destruction. I have also learnt from you of Vishnu in his collective fourfold form; his three energies; and the three modes of apprehending the object of contemplation. By thy favour I have acquired a thorough knowledge of all this and there is nothing else worthy to be known when it is once understood that Vishnu and his world are not mutually distinct. By your kindness, O great Muni, you have removed all my doubts since you have instructed in the duties of the several tribes and in other deities; the nature of active life and discontinuance of action and derivation of all that exists from works. And I have nothing else to enquire of you, O Venerable Brahmin; and pardon me, if by answering to my questions you have been fatigued in any way. Pardon me for the trouble I have given you through that amiable quality of the virtuous which makes no distinction between a disciple and a child".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.

PART VI.SECTION I.Maitreya said:—"Thou hast described unto me in detail, O illustrious sage, the creation of the universe, the genealogies of the Patriarchs, the duration of the Manwantaras and the dynasties of the princes. I am willing to hear from you an account of the dissolution of the universe, the time of total destruction and that which occurs at the expiration of a Kalpa".Parāçara said:—Hear from me exactly, O Maitreya, the circumstances attending the dissolution of the world either at the expiration of a Kalpa or that which occurs at the close of the life of Brahmā. A month of men constitutes a day and night of the progenitors; a year of men is a day and night of the celestials. Twice a thousand aggregates of the four ages is a day and night of Brahmhā. The four ages are the Krita, Treta, Dwāpara and Kali, comprehending altogether twelve thousand years of the celestials. There are infinite successions of those four ages of a similar description, the first of which is always called Krita and the last the Kali. In the first, the Krita is that age which is created by Brahmā; in the last, which is the Kali age, a dissolution of the universe takes place.Maitreya said:—"O venerable Sir, It behoves thee to give a description of the nature of the Kali age in which the four-footed virtue suffers total extinction".Parāçara said:—Hear, O Maitreya, of the nature of the Kali age, regarding which you have enquired and which is now approaching completion.In the Kali age, people will not serve caste, order and institutes, nor the ceremonial enjoined by the Sāma, Rik and Yayur Vedas. Marriages in this age will be celebrated according to the rituals, nor will the rules that connect the spiritual protector and his disciple be in force; the laws that regulate the conduct of husband and wife will be neglected and oblations to the celestials with fire no longer be offered. A powerful and rich man, in whatever family he may be born, will have right to marry maidens of every tribe. In the Kali age, a Brāhmana will be always regarded as such even if he be not initiated properly, and many forms of penance will be prescribed. O Maitreya, O twice-born one, all texts will be considered as Sastras in the Kali age; all celestials will be considered in equal light and all orders of life will be common alike to all persons. In this Kali age, fasting, austerity, liberality practised according to the pleasures of those by whom they are observed will constitute piety. Every trifling property will make men proud of their wealth. Pride of beauty will be inspired by hair. Gold, jewels, diamonds, clothes will all have perished, and then hair will be the only ornament with which women can decorate themselves. Wives will desert their husbands when they will lose their wealth; and the rich only will be considered by woman as their lords. He who will distribute immense wealth, will be considered as master of men and prestige of birth will no longer be a title to supremacy. Accumulated wealth will be spent on ostentatious dwellings. The minds of men will be wholly occupied with earning money and that even will be spent on the gratification of selfish desires. Women will follow their own inclinations and be given up to pleasure-seeking. Men will endeavour to acquire riches even dishonestly. No man will part with the smallest fraction of his wealth at the sacrifice of his own interest even when requested by his friends. In the Kali age all people will consider themselves as equal with the Brāhmanas; and cows will be held in reverence only because they supply milk. People will be always in fear of dearth and scarcity and will watch accordingly the appearances of the sky. They will all live, like anchorets, upon leaves and roots and fruits and put a period to their lives through fear of famine and want. Deprived of wealth, people will be perpetually subject to famine and other afflictions; and they will never enjoy pleasure and happiness. At the advent of the Kali they will take their food without previous ablutions and without worshipping fire, celestials or guests or offering obsequial libations to their progenitors. The women will be fickle, short of stature, gluttonous; they will all have many children and little means. And scratching their heads with both hands they will pay no attention to the commands of their husbands or parents. They will be selfish, abject and slovenly; they will be scolds and liars; they will be indecent and immoral in their conduct and will ever attach themselves to dissolute men. And disregarding the rules of studentship youths will study the Vedas. Householders will neither sacrifice nor practise becoming liberality. Anchorets will live upon food accepted from rustics and mendicants will be influenced by regard for friends and associates. Princes will plunder their subjects instead of protecting them and under the pretext of levying customs they will rob merchants of their property. In the Kali Vuga every one, possessing cars and elephants and horses, will be a Raja; every one who is feeble will be a slave. Vaiçyas will abandon agriculture and commerce and gain a livelihood by servitude or exercise of mechanical arts; Sudras, seeking a subsistence by begging and assuming outward marks of religious mendicants, will become the impure followers of impious and heretical doctrines.Oppressed by famine and taxation men will desert their native countries and repair to the lands which are fit for coarser grains. The path of the Vedas being obliterated and people having deviated into heresy, iniquity will flourish and the duration of life will therefore decrease. On account of the horrible penances enjoined by scripture and of the vices of the rulers, children will die in their infancy. Women will bear children at the age of five, six or seven years and men will beget them when they are eight, nine or ten. Men will grow old at the age of twelve and no one will live more than twenty years. Men will possess little sense, vigour virtue and will therefore die in a short time. O Maitreya, the wise then estimate the approach of Kali when the number of heretics increases. Whenever, O Maitreya, number of the pious devoted to the lessons of the Vedas, diminishes, the efforts, of the individuals who cultivate virtue, become relax; the first of males becomes no longer the object of sacrifice; respect for the teachers of the Vedas declines and regard is cherished for the disseminators of heresy, the wise estimate the augmented influence of the Kali.O Maitreya, in the Kali age corrupted by unbelievers, men will refrain from adoring Vishnu, the lord of sacrifice and the creator and sovereign of all and will say "Of what authority are the Vedas? What are the celestials or Brahmanas? What need there is of purification with water?" At the approach of the Kali, O Vipra, the clouds will yield scanty rain; the corn will be light in ear and the grain will be poor and of little sap: garments will be mostly made of the fibres of the San: the principal of trees will be the Sami; principle caste will be the Sudra; millet will be the more common grain; the milk in use will be chiefly that of goats; unguents will be made of Ushira grass. The mother and father-in-law will be venerated in the place of parents; and a man's friend will be his brother-in-law or one who has a wanton wife. Men will say "Who has a father? Who has a mother? Every one is born according to his deeds"; therefore they will regard the wife's or the husband's parents as their own. Gifted with little sense they will be subject to all sorts of infirmities of mind, speech and body and will daily commit sins; and every thing that is likely to afflict beings, vicious, impure and wretched will be generated in the Kali Yuga. Thus, O Brahman, when holy study, oblations to fire and convocations of the celestials shall be stopped some few people shall live at a holy place. And at this place with the least trouble that piety shall be accumulated which could be acquired with the greatest exertions in the Krita age.SECTION II.Parāçara said:—Hear, O highly illustrious one, I shall describe fully what the great Vyāsa has related upon the subject.Once on a time, the sages assembled and discussed at what season the least morality obtained the greatest reward and by whom it was most easily displayed. In order to terminate the discussion they went to Veda Vyāsa to remove their doubts. They saw the illustrious sage, my son, immersed in the water of the Ganges, and awaiting the close of his ablutions, the sages remained on the banks of the sacred river under the shelter of a grove of trees. As my son plunged into the water and rose up from it the sages heard him exclaim. "Excellent is the Kali age". Again dived he and again did he exclaim in their hearing. "Well done, well done, Sudra, thou art happy". Again he sank down and again did they hear him say "Well done, well done, women, they are happy who are more fortunate than they". After this my son finished his bathing and the sages met him as he approached to welcome them. After they had been seated and offered their respects the son of Satyavati said to them "For what you have come here?" The Rishis said. "Having entertained some doubts regarding a subject we have come here to consult thee; but let that remain at present; explain to us some thing else. We heard you say 'Excellent is the Kali Yuga!' We are anxious to learn why this was said and why you repeatedly called them happy. Explain to us the meaning of it if it be not a mystery. We will then place before you the question that engages our thoughts".Being thus accosted by the ascetics Vyāsa smiled and said to them "Hear excellent sages, why I said 'Well done Well done!' The fruit of penance of continence, of silent prayer and the like, practised in the Krita age for ten years, in the Treta for one year, in the Dwāpara for a month is obtained in the Kali age in a day and night; therefore I did say 'Excellent, excellent is the Kali age'. The reward, which a man obtains in the Krita age by abstract meditation in the Treta by sacrifice, in the Dwāpara by adoration, he receives, in the Kali Yuga by merely reciting the names of Kesava. O pious and great ascetics, in the Kali age, by very little exertion men attain to exalted virtue and it is for this reason I speak highly of the Kali Yuga. Formerly the Vedas were to be acquired by the twice-Born through the diligent observance of self-denial and it was their duty to celebrate sacrifices in accordance with the ritual. Thereafter, idle prayers, idle feats, fruitless ceremonies were performed, only to mislead the twice-born; for although observed by them devoutly, yet in consequence of some irregularity in their celebration sin was incurred in all these works and what they ate or what they drank did not bring about the fulfilment of their desires. In all their objects the twice-born enjoyed no independence and attained their respective spheres only with exceeding pain. On the other hand, the Sudra, more fortunate than they, attains to his assigned station by rendering their service and performing merely the sacrifice of preparing food in which no rules determine what may or may not be eaten, what may or may not be drunk. Therefore, excellent sages, the Sudra is fortunate."Men should acquire wealth by means not incompatible with their religious duties and it should be given to the worthy and spent upon sacrifices. There is great trouble in their acquisition as well as their preservation. And it is equally difficult for them to spend them on pious observances. O excellent Brāhmanas, by undergoing these troubles and other diverse ones people attain to the holy region of Prajāpati. A woman has only to honour her husband in act, thought and speech to reach the same region to which he is elevated and she thus accomplishes her object without any great exertion. This was the meaning of my exclamation ‘Well done' the third time. I have thus related to you what you asked. Now put to me in any way you please the question for which you came and I will make you a clear reply".The ascetics then said to Vyāsa. "The question that we purposed to put to you has already been answered by you in your reply to our subsequent enquiry". Hearing this Krishna-Daipāyana laughed and said to the pious sages who had come to see him whose eyes were wide open with surprise. "By virtue of my divine knowledge I perceived the question you intended to put to me and in reference to this I uttered the expressions 'Well done! Well done!' In fact in the Kali age duty is performed by the mortals with very little trouble, whose sins are all washed away by the water of their individual piety—by Sudras through the diligent service of the twice-born ones and by women through the slight effort of obedience to their husbands. It is for this reason O Brāhmanas, that I did thrice express my admiration of their happiness; for in the Krita and other ages great were the toils of the regenerate to perform their duty. I did not wait for your enquiry but replied at once to the question you wanted to put. Now what do ye, conversant with virtue, wish me to tell you?"Thereupon the ascetics saluted and praised Vyasa and freed by him from uncertainty departed as they came. I have also communicated to you. O excellent Maitreya, the secret—this one great virtue of the otherwise vicious Kali age. I shall now describe to you the dissolution of the world and the aggregation of the elements.SECTION III.Parāçara said The dissolution of existing beings is of three kinds, incidental, elemental and absolute. The incidental is that which relates to Brahmā and takes place at the end of a Kalpa: the elemental is that which occurs after two Parārdhas; the absolute is final liberation from existence.Maitreya said:—"Tell me, O excellent preceptor, what is the enumeration of a Parārdha, the expiration of two of which is the period of elemental dissolution".Parāçara said:—Parardha, O Maitreya, is that number which takes place in the eighteenth place of figures enumerated according to the rule of decimal notation. At the end of twice that period elemental dissolution takes place when all the discrete products of nature are withdrawn into Their indiscrete source. The shortest period of time is Mātrā which is equal to the twinkling of the human eye; fifteen Mātrā make a Kāshthā; thirty Kāshthās one Kalā: fifteen Kalās one Nādhikā. A Nādhikā is determined by a measure of water with a vessel made of twelve Palas and a half of copper in the bottom of which there is to be a hole made with a tube of gold of the weight of four Māshas and four inches long. According to the Māgadha measure the vessel should hold a Prastha (or sixteen Palas) of water. Two of these Nādis make one Muhurta; thirty of which make one day and night. Thirty such periods constitute a month; twelve months make a year, or a day and night of the celestials; and three hundred and sixty such days, constitute a year of the celestials. An aggregate of four ages consists of twelve thousand divine years; and a thousand periods of four ages complete a day of Brahmā. That period is also termed a Kalpa during which fourteen Munis preside and at the end of it takes place the incidental or Brahmā dissolution. The nature of this dissolution is very dreadful; hear, I shall describe this as well as that which takes place as the elemental dissolution.At the end of a thousand period of four ages the earth is for the most part exhausted. A total dearth takes place which lasts for a hundred years; and on account of the failure of food all beings become languid and exanimate and at last entirely die. The eternal Vishnu then takes the character of Rudra the destroyer and comes down to reunite all his creatures with himself. He enters into the seven rays of the sun, drinks up all the waters of the earth and causes all moisture, whatever in living bodies or in the soil to evaporate, thus drying up the whole earth. Thus fed with his intervention with profuse moisture, the seven solar rays dilate to seven suns, whose radiance glows above, below and on every side and sets the three worlds and Pātāla on fire. The three worlds, consumed by these suns, become rugged and deformed all over their mountains, rivers and seas; and the earth bare of verdure, and destitute of moisture alone remains resembling in appearance the back of a tortoise. Hari, the destroyer of all things, in the form of Rudra, who is the flame of time, becomes the scorching breath of the serpent Sesha and thereby reduces Pātāla to ashes. The great fire, when it has reduced all the divisions of Pātāla to ashes, proceeds to the earth and consumes it also. A vast whirlpool of eddying flame then spreads to the region of the atmosphere and the sphere of the celestials and wraps them in ruin. The three spheres shew like a frying pan amidst the surrounding flames that prey upon all movable and stationary things. O great saint, the inhabitants of the two upper spheres, having satisfied their respective duties and being assailed by the heat, repair to Maharloka. When that becomes heated its inhabitants, who after the full period of stay, are desirous of ascending to higher regions depart for the Janaloka.Having consumed the whole universe in the person of Rudra, Janārddana, breathes fourth heavy clouds, and those called Samvartta resembling huge elephants in bulk overspread the sky, roaring and darting lightnings. Some are as white as the water-lily, some are dusky like smoke; some are yellow; some are of a dun colour, like that of an ass; some like ashes sprinkled on the forehead; some are deep blue, as thelapis lazuly; some azure like the sapphire; some are white at the couch or the jasmine; some are black as colly rum; some are like the lady-bird; some are of fierceness of red arsenic and some are like the wing of the painted joy. Such is the colour of these massy clouds; in form some resemble towns, some mountains, some are like houses and hovels and some are like columns. Huge in size and loud in thunder they fill space. Showering down torrents of water, those clouds quench the dreadful fires which involve the three worlds and then rain incessantly a hundred years and deluge the whole universe. Showering down in drops as large as dice these rains overspread the earth and fill the middle region and inundate the celestial sphere. The world is now enshrouded in darkness and all things animate and inanimate having perished, the clouds continue to pour down waters for more than a hundred years.SECTION IV.Parāçara said:—O great ascetic, the waters having reached the region of the seven Rishis the whole of three worlds becomes one ocean. The breath of Vishnu, thereupon, becomes a strong wind, which blows for more than a hundred years until all the clouds are dispersed. The wind is then re-absorbed and he, of whom all beings are made, the lord by whom all things exist, he, who is inconceivable, without beginning of the universe, reposes sleeping upon Sesha in the midst of the ocean. The creator Hari, sleeps upon the ocean in the form of Brahmā glorified by Sanaka and the saints who had departed to the Janaloka and contemplated by the holy inhabitants of Brahmaloka, anxious for final liberation—involved in mystic slumber, the celestial personification of his own illusions and meditating on his own ineffable spirit which is called Vāsudeva. This, O Majtreya, is the dissolution called incidental, because, Hari, in the form of Brahmā, sleeps there as its incidental cause.When the universal spirit wakes, the world revives: when he clears his eyes, all things fall upon the bed of mystic sleep. In the same manner a thousand great eyes comprise a day of Brahmā so his night consists of the same period: during which the world is submerged by a vast ocean. Awaking at the end of his night the unborn Vishnu, in the character of Brahmā, creates the universe anew in the manner formerly described unto you. I have thus related to you the intermediate dissolution of the world taking place at the end of every Kalpa. I will now, O Maitreya, describe to you elemental dissolution. When by dearth and fire all the worlds and Patalas are dried up and the modification of Mahat and other products of nature are by the will of Krishna destroyed the progress of elemental dissolution is begun. At first the waters swallow up the property of earth which is the rudiment of smell; and earth, deprived of its property, proceeds to destruction. Devoid of the rudiment of odour the earth becomes identical with water. The water then being much increased roaring and rushing along fill up all space whether agitated or still. When the universe is thus pervaded by the waves of the watery element its rudimental flavour is licked up by the element of fire and on account of the destruction of these rudiments the waters themselves are destroyed. Devoid of the essential element of flavour they become identical with fire and the universe is therefore entirely filled with flame which drinks up the water on every side and gradually overspreads the whole of the world. While space is envelope in flame above, below and all around the element of the wind seizes upon the rudimental property or form which is the cause of light, and that being withdrawn, all becomes of the nature of air. The rudiment of form being destroyed and fire deprived of its rudiment, air extinguishes fire and spreads resistlessly over space which is deprived of when fire mages into air. Air then accompanied by sound which is the source of ether, extends everywhere throughout the ten regions of space until ether seizes upon contact, its rudimental property; by the loss of which air is destroyed and ether remains unchanged: devoid of form, flavour, touch and smell, it exists unembodied and vast and pervades the whole of space. Ether, whose characteristic property and rudiment is sound exists alone occupying all the vacuity of space. At then the radical element egotism devours sound and all the elements and faculties are at once merged into their original. This primary element is conscientiousness combined with the property of darkness and is itself swallowed up by Mahat whose characteristic property is intelligence; and earth and Mahat are the inner and outer boundaries of the universe. In this manner, as in the creation were the seven forms of nature (Prakriti) reckoned from Mahat to earth; so at the time of elemental dissolution these seven successively re-enter into each other. The egg of Brahmā is dissolved in the waters that surround it, with its seven zones, seven oceans, seven regions, and their mountains. The investure of water is drunk up by fire; the stratum of fire is absorbed by that of air: air blends itself with ether; the primary element of egotism devours the ether and is itself taken up by intellect, which, along with all those, is seized upon by nature. Equilibrium of the three properties, without excess or deficiency, is called nature (Prakriti), origin (Hetu), the chief Principle (Pradhāna) cause (Kārana), supreme (Param). This Prakriti is essentially the same, whether discrete or indiscrete; only that which is discrete finally is lost or absorbed in the indiscrete. Spirit also which is one, pure, imperishable, eternal, all-pervading is a portion of that supreme spirit which is all things. That spirit which is other than embodied spirit, in which there are no attributes of name, species or the like—which is one with all wisdom and is to be understood as sole existence, that is Brahmā, infinite glory, supreme spirit, supreme power, Vishnu, all that is from whence the perfect sage returns no more. Prakriti, which I have described to you as being essentially both discrete and indiscrete and spirit both resolve into spirit, supreme spirit is the upholder of all things and the ruler of all things and is glorified in the Vedas and in the Vedanta by the name of Vishnu.Works as sanctioned by the Vedas are of two kinds, active and quiescent; by both of which the universal person is worshipped by mankind. He, the lord of sacrifice, the male of sacrifice, the most excellent Purusha, is worshipped by men in the active mode, by rites enjoined in the Rik, Yayur and Sama Vedas. The soul of wisdom, the person of wisdom, Vishnu, the giver of emancipation is worshipped by the sages in the quiescent form through meditative devotion. The exhaustless Vishnu is whatever thing that is designated by long, short or prolated syllables or that which is without a name. He is that which is dissolute or that which is indescrete: he is exhaustless spirit, supreme spirit, universal spirit, Hari, the assumer of universal forms. Nature, discrete or indiscrete is absorbed unto him, and spirit also merges into the all diffusive and unobstructed spirit. The period of two Parārdhas, as I have related to you, O Maitreya, constitutes a day of that powerful Vishnu, and whilst the products of nature are merged into this source, nature into spirit and that into the supreme, that period is called his night and is of equal duration with his day. But in reality, to that supreme spirit there is neither day nor night and these distinctions are only figuratively applied to the Almighty. I have thus explained to you the nature of elemental dissolution and will now explain to you which is final.SECTION V.Parāçara said:—O Maitreya, having investigated kinds of worldly pain and having acquired true wisdom and detachment from worldly objects the wise man obtains final liberation. The first of the three pains, or Adhyatmika is of two kinds—physical and mental. Bodily pain, as you shall hear, is of many sorts. Affections of the head, catarrh, fever, cholic, fistula, spleen, hemorrhoids, intumescence, sickness, opthalmia, dysentary, leprosy, and many other diseases constitute physical affliction. Mental pains are love, anger, fear, hate, covetousness, stupefaction, despair, sorrow, malice, disdain, jealousy, envy and many other passions that are created in the mind. These and diverse other afflictions, mental or physical, are comprised under the class of worldly sufferings which is called Adhyatmika, The pain Adhibhautika, O excellent Brāhman, is every kind of evil that is inflicted upon men by beasts, birds, men, goblins, snakes, fiends, or reptiles and the pain that is called Adhidaivika or superhuman is the work of cold, heat, wind, rain, lightning and other phenomena. Affliction, O Maitreya, is multiplied in thousands of shapes in the progress of conception, birth, decay, disease, death and hell. The tender animal exists in the embryo surrounded by abundant filth, floating in water and distorted in its back, neck and bones; enduring severe pain even in the course of its development and disordered by the acid, bitter, pungent and saline articles of its mother's food; incapable of extending or contracting its limbs, reposing amidst slime of ordure and urine; every way incommoded with conciousness and calling to memory many hundred previous births. Thus exists the embryo in profound affliction bound to the worlds by its former works.When the child is about to be born, its face is besmeared by excrement, urine, blood, mucus, and semen; its attachment; to the uterus is ruptured by the Prajāpati wind: it is turned head downwards and violently expelled from the womb by the powerful and painful winds of parturition; and the infant, losing; for a time all sensation when brought in contact with the external air, is immediately deprived of its intellectual knowledge. Then born the child is tortured in every limb, as if pierced with thorns or cut to pieces with a saw, and falls from its fetid lodgement as from a sore, like a crawling thing upon the earth. Unable to feel itself, unable to turn itself, it is dependent on the will of others for being bathed and nourished. Laid upon a dirty bed, it is bitten by insects and mosquitoes and has not power to drive them away. Many are the pangs attending birth and many are those which succeed to birth; and many are the afflictions that are inflicted by elemental and superhuman powers in the state of childhood covered by the gloom of ignorance; and internally bewildered man knows not whence he is, who he is, whither he goeth nor what is his nature; by what bonds he is bound; what is cause and what is not cause; what is to be done and what is to be left undone; what is to be said and what is to be kept silent, what is righteousness and what is iniquity; in what it consists or how; what is right, what is wrong; what is virtue, what is vice. Thus man, like a brute beast addicted only to animal gratification, suffers the pain that ignorance brings about. Ignorance, darkness, inactivity influence those devoid of knowledge so that pious works are neglected; but hell is the consequence of neglect of religious acts, according to the great sages, and the ignorant therefore suffer affliction both in this world and in the next.When old age comes in, the body is infirm, the limbs are relaxed; the face is emaciate and shrivelled; its skin is wrinkled and scantily covers the veins and sinews; the eyes discern not a far off, and the pupil gazes on vacuity: the nostrils are stuffed with hair; the trunk trembles as it moves; the bones appear beneath the surface; the back is bowed and the joints are bent; the digestive fire is extinct and there is little appetite and little vigour; walking, rising sitting, sleeping are all painful efforts; the ear is dull; the eye is dim; the mouth is disgusting with dribbling saliva; the senses no longer are obedient to the will; and as death approaches, the things that are perceived even are immediately forgotten. The utterance of a single sentence is fatiguing and wakefulness is perpetuated by difficult breathing, coughing and painful exhaustion. The old man is lifted up by some body else; he is an object of contempt to his servants, his children and his wife. Incapable of cleanliness, of amusement, or food, or desire, he is laughed at by his dependents, and disregarded by his kin; and dwelling on the exploits of his youth, as on the actions of a past life, he sighs deeply and is sorely distressed. Such are some of the pains to which old age is doomed. I will now describe to you the agonies of death.The neck droops, the feet and hands are relaxed; the man is repeatedly exhausted, subdued and visited with interrupted knowledge; the principle of selfishness afflicts him and he thinks what will become of my wealth, my lands, my children, my wife, my servants, my house? The joints of his limbs are tortured with severe pains as if cut by a saw or as if they were pierced by the sharp arrows of the destroyer; he rolls his eyes and tosses about his hands and feet; his lips and palate are parched and dry and his throat obstructed by foul humours and deranged vital airs, emits a rattling sound; he is afflicted with burning heat, thirst and hunger: and he at last passes away tortured by the servants of the judge of the dead, to undergo a renewal of his sufferings in another body. These are the afflictions to which a man is doomed when he dies. I will now describe to you the tortures which they suffer in hell.Men are bound, when they die, by the servants of the king of Tartarus, with cords, and beaten with their sticks and have then to encounter the fierce aspect of Yama and the horrors of their terrible route. In the different hells there are various intolerable tortures with burning sand, fire, machines, and weapons; some are severed with saws, some roasted in forges, some are chopped with axes, some buried in the ground, some are mounted on stakes, some cast to wild beasts to be devoured, some are gnawed by the vultures, some torn by tigers, some are boiled in oil, some rolled in caustic slime, some are precipitated from great heights, some are tossed upwards by engines. The number of punishments inflicted in hell, which are the consequences of sin, is infinite. But not in hell alone do the souls of the deceased undergo pain: there is no cessation even in heaven for its temporary inhabitant is even tormented with the prospect of descending to earth again. He is again liable to conception and to birth; he is merged again into the embryo and repairs to it when about to be born; then he dies, as soon as born, or in infancy, or in youth, or in manhood or in old age. Death sooner or later is inevitable. As long as he lives he is immersed in manifold afflictions, like the seed of the cotton amidst the down that is to be spun into thread. In acquiring, losing, and preserving wealth there are many griefs; and so there are in the misfortunes of our friends. Whatever is produced that is most acceptable to man; that, Maitreya, becomes a seed whence springs the tree of sorrow. Wife, children, servants, houses, lands, riches, contribute much more to the misery than to the happiness of mankind. Where could man, scorched by fires of the sun of this world, look for felicity, were it not for the shade afforded by the tree of emancipation? Attainment of the divine being is considered by the wise as the remedy of the three-fold class of ills that beset the different stages of life, conception, birth and decay, as characterised by that only happiness which effaces all other kinds of felicity however abundant, and as being absolute and final.It should therefore be the assiduous endeavour of wise men to attain unto god. The means of such attainment are said, great Muni, to be knowledge and works. Knowledge is of two kinds, that which is derived from scripture, and that which is derived from reflection. Brahma that is the word is composed of scripture. Brahma that is supreme is produced of reflection, ignorance is utter darkness, in which knowledge, obtained through any sense, shines like a lamp; but the knowledge that is derived from reflection breaks upon the obscurity. What has been said by Manu, when appealing to the meaning of the Vedas with respect to this subject, I will repeat to you. There are two forms of spirit or god, the spirit, which is word, and spirit, which is supreme. He who is thoroughly imbued with the word of god obtains supreme spirit. The Atharva Veda also states that there are two kinds of knowledge; by the one, which is the supreme, god is attained: the other is that which consists of the Rik and other Vedas. That which is imperceptible, undecaying, inconceivable, unborn, inexhaustable, indescribable; which has neither form, nor hands nor feet; which is almighty, omnipresent, eternal; the cause of all things, and without cause, permeating all, itself unpenetrated, and from which all things proceed, that is the object which the wise behold, that is Brahma, that is the supreme state, that is the thing spoken of by the Vedas, the infinitely subtle, supreme condition of Vishnu. That essence of the supreme is defined by the term Bhagavat: the word Bhagavat is the denomination of that primeval and eternal God: and he who fully understands the meaning of that expression, is possessed of holy wisdom, the sum and substance of the three Vedas. The word Bhagavat is a convenient form to be used in the adoration of that supreme being, to whom no term is applicable; and therefore Bhagavat expresses that supreme spirit which is individual, almighty, and the cause of causes of all things. The letterBhimplies the cherisher and supporter of the universe. Bygais understood the leader, impeller, or creator. The dissyllableBhagaindicate the six properties: dominion, might, glory, splendour, wisdom, and dispassion. The purport of the lettervais that elemental spirit in which all beings exist, and which exists in all beings. And thus this Great word Bhagavān is the name of Vāsudeva, who is one with the Supreme Brahma and of no one else. This word therefore, which is the general denomination of an adorable object, is not used in reference to the supreme in a general but a special signification. When applied to any other thing or person it is used in its customary or general import. In latter case it may purport one who knows the origin and end and revolutions of being and what is wisdom and what ignorance. In the former it denotes wisdom, energy, power, dominion, might, glory, without end and without defect.The term Vāsudeva means that all beings abide in that supreme spirit and that he abides in all beings as was formerly explained by Kesidhwaja to Khāndikya called Janaka when he enquired of him an explanation of the name of the immortal Vāsudeva. He said "He dwelleth internally in all beings and all things dwell in him; and thence the lord Vāsudeva is the creator and preserver of the world. He though identical with all beings is beyond and separate from material nature, from its products, from properties and from imperfection; he is beyond all investing substance; he is universal soul; all the interstices of the universe are filled up by him; he is one with all good qualities; and all created beings are endowed with but a small portion of his individuality. Assuming at with various shapes he bestows benefits on the whole world, which was his work. Glory, might, dominion, wisdom, energy, power and other attributes are collected in him. Supreme of the supreme, in whom no imperfections abide, lord over finite and infinite, god in individuals and universals, visible and invisible, omnipotent, omnipresent, omnicient, almighty. The wisdom, perfect, pure, supreme, undefiled and one only by which he is conceived, contemplated and known, that is wisdom; all else is ignorance".SECTION VI.Parāçara said:—The Purusottama is also known by holy study and devout meditation; and either, as the cause of attaining him, is entitled Brahma. From study let a man proceed to meditation and from meditation to study; by perfection in both supreme spirit becomes manifest. Study is one eye wherewith to behold it and meditation is the other: he who is identical with Brahma sees not with the eye of flesh.Maitreya said:—"Revered preceptor, I am desirous to know what is meant by the term Yoga, by understanding which I may behold the supreme being, the upholder of the universe".Parāçara:—I will repeat to you, O Maitreya, the explanation formerly given by Kesidhwaja to the high-minded Khāndikya also called Janaka.Maitreya: "Tell me, first. Brahman, who Khāndikya was, and who was Kesidhwaja; and how it happened that a conversation relating to the practice of Yoga occurred between them".Parāçara. There was Janaka named Dharmadhwaja who had two sons Amitadhwaja and Kritadhwaja; and the latter was a king ever devoted to the existent supreme spirit; his son was the celebrated Kesidhwaja. The son of Amitadhwaja was Janaka called Khāndikya. Khāndikya was diligent and celebrated on earth for pious observances. Kesidhwaja on the other hand was gifted with spiritual knowledge. These two were engaged in hostilities and Khāndikya was driven from his principality by Kesidhwaja. Expelled from his dominions he wandered with a few followers, his priest and his counsellors, amidst woods and mountains where destitute of true wisdom, he performed many sacrifices expecting thereby to obtain divine truth and to escape from death by ignorance.Once on a time, while Kesidhwaja, the best of those who are skilled in devotion, was engaged in devout practices a fierce tiger slew his milch cow in the lonely forest. When the Raja heard that the cow had been killed he asked the ministering priests what sort of penance would expatiate the crime. They said that they did not know and referred him to Kaseru. And consulted by the king Kaseru told him that he did not know and Sunaka would be able to tell him. Accordingly the Raja went to Sunaka; but he said too. "I am as unable, O great king, to answer your question as Kaseru has been; there is no one on earth who can give you the information except your enemy Khāndikya, whom you have vanquished".Being thus accosted Kesidhwaja said:—"I will go then and pay a visit to my enemy; no matter, if he kill me, for I shall then obtain the reward that attends being slain in a holy cause; whereas if on the other hand he tells me what penance to perform then my sacrifice will be unimpaired in efficacy". Accordingly he ascended his car, having clothed himself in the deerskin and went to the forest where the wise Khāndikya lived. When Khāndikya saw him approach his eyes reddened with ire and he took up his bow and said to him "You have armed yourself with deerskin to bring about my destruction thinking that in such a dress you will be safe from me; but fool, the deer upon whose backs this skin is seen are slain by you and me with sharp arrows so I will slay you; you shall not go free whilst I am living. You are an unprincipled felon, who have robbed me of my kingdom and are deserving of death". To this Kesidhwaja replied: "I have come here Khāndikya, to consult you about my doubts and not with any hostile intention; lay aside therefore both your arrow and anger". Thus addressed Khāndikya retired for a while, with his counsellors and his priest and consulted with them what course to adopt. They strongly urged him to slay Kesidhwaja who was in his grasp and by whose death he would again become the monarch of the whole world. Khāndikya replied to them: "It is undoubtedly true that by such an act I would become the monarch of the whole world but he would thereby conquer the next world: whilst the earth would be mine. And if I do not slay him I shall conquer the world to come and leave him this earth. It appears to me that this world is not so much valuable as the next: for the subjugation of the next world continues for ever while the conquest over this is but temporary. I will therefore not kill him but tell him what he wishes to know".Coming accordingly to Kesidhwaja, Khāndikya asked him to propose his question which he promised to answer. And Kesidhwaja related to him what had taken place, that death of the cow and desired to know what penance be should perform. Khāndikya, in reply, explained to him fully the expiation that was suited to the occasion; and then with his permission Kesidhwaja returned to the place of sacrifice and regularly fulfilled every necessary act. Having completed the ceremony with its supplementary rites Kesidhwaja accomplished all his objects: but he then reflected thus "The priests whom I invited to attend have all been duly honoured; all those who had any request to make have been pleased with my complying with their desires; all that is proper for this world has been effected by me; why then my mind should feel as if my duty had been unfulfilled". Thinking this he remembered that he had not presented to Khāndikya the gift that it is proper to offer to a spiritual preceptor and mounting his chariot he immediately started for the dense forest where the sage resided. Upon his reappearance Khāndikya took up arms to slay him; but Kesidhwaja exclaimed "Forbear, venerable sage; I have not come hither injure you; throw off your wrath, Khāndikya, know that I have come here to offer you that present which is due to you as my instructor. Through your lesson I have fully completed my sacrifice and I am therefore desirous to give you a gift. Demand what it shall be".Having once more consulted his counsellors, Khāndikya told them the purpose of his rival's visit and asked them what he should demand. His friends recommended him to take back his whole kingdom for prudent men acquire them without conflicting hosts. The king Khāndikya reflecting laughed and said to them "Why should a person like me be desirous of a temporary earthly kingdom? Indeed you are very good advisers as regards the present worldly affairs—but you are undoubtedly ignorant of the life to come". Saying this he returned to Kesidhwaja and said to him "Is it true that you wish to make me a gift as to your preceptor?" "Indeed I do" answered Kesidhwaja. Whereto Khāndikya replied "Then, as it is known that you are learned in the spiritual learning that teaches the doctrine of the soul, if you will communicate that knowledge unto me you will have discharged your debt to your preceptor. Communicate unto me what acts are efficacious for the alleviation of human sufferings".SECTION VII.Kesidhwaja said "But why have you not demanded of me my kingdom free from all troubles; what else save dominion is acceptable to the warrior?" Whereto Khāndikya replied "I will tell you why I did not make such a demand nor require that territory which is an object of ignorant ambition. It is the duty of the warrior to protect his subjects in peace and to kill in fight the enemies of his way. It is no fault that you should have taken my kingdom from one who was unable to defend it, to whom it was a bondage and who was thus freed from the incumbrance of ignorance. My desire of dominion originated from my being born to possess it; the ambition of others which proceeds from human frailties, is not compatible with virtue. To solicit gift is not the duty of a prince and warrior. It is for this reason I have not demanded of you the kingdom, a request which is the outcome of ignorance. Those only, who are ignorant, whose minds are attached to selfishness and who are intoxicated with the liquor of self-sufficiency, desire kingdoms; not such as I am".Parāçara said:—Being greatly delighted, the king Kesidhwaja praised Khāndikya and said to him affectionately "Listen to my words. Through the desire of escaping death by the ignorance of works I exercise the regal power, celebrate various sacrifices and enjoy pleasures subversive of purity. Fortunate it is for you that your mind has attached itself to the dominion of discrimination. Pride of your race now listen to the real nature of ignorance. The mistaken notion that self consists in what is not self and that property consists in what is not one's own constitute the double seed of the tree of ignorance. The ill judging embodied being, bewildered by the darkness of fascination situated in a body composed of five elements, loudly asserts 'This is I' but who would ascribe spiritual individuality to a body in which soil is distinct from ether, air, fire, water and earth. What man of understanding assigns to disembodied spirit corporeal fruition or what lands, houses and the like that it should say, 'These are mine?' What wise man entertains the idea of property in sons or grandsons begotten of the body after the spirit has abandoned it? Man performs all acts for the purpose of bodily fruition and the consequence of such acts is another body; so that their result is nothing but confinement to bodily existence. In the same manner as a mansion of clay is plastered with clay and water, so the body which of earth is perpetuated by earth and water. The body consisting of five elements is nourished by substances equally composed of those elements; but since this is the case, what is there in this life that man should be proud of? Travelling the path of the world for many thousands of births, man attains only the weariness of bewilderment and is smothered by the dust of imagination. When that dust is washed away by the bland water of real knowledge, then the weariness of bewilderment, sustained by the wayfarer through repeated births, is removed. When that weariness is relieved the internal man is at peace and he obtains that supreme felicity which is unequalled and undisturbed. This soul is pure and composed of wisdom and happiness. The properties of pain, ignorance and impurity are those of nature and not of soul. O Muni, there is no affinity between fire and water but when the latter is placed over the former in a cauldron, it bubbles and boils and exhibits the properties of fire. In the same manner when soul is associated with Prakriti it is vitiated by egotism and the rest and assumes the qualities of grosser nature although essentially distinct from them and compatible. Such is the seed of ignorance as I have explained it to you: there is but one remedy for earthly sorrows—the practice of devotion; no other is known".Thereupon Khandikya said:—"Do you then the foremost of those versed in contemplative devotion explain to me what that is, for in the race of the descendants of Nimi you are best acquainted with the sacred writings in which it is taught". Whereto Kesidhwaja replied: "Hear the account of the nature of contemplative devotion, which I am imparting to you and by perfection in which the sage attains resolution into Brahma and never suffers birth again. The mind of man is the cause both of his bondage and his liberation its addiction to the objects of sense is the means of his bondage; its separation from objects of sense is the means of his liberation. The sage, who is capable of discriminative knowledge, must therefore restrain his mind from all objects of sense and therewith meditate upon the supreme being, who is identical with spirit, in order to obtain liberation; for that supreme spirit attracts to itself him who meditates upon it, and who is of the same nature, as the lodestone attracts the iron by the virtue which is common to itself and to its products. Contemplative devotion is the union with Brahma effected by that condition of mind which has attained perfection through those exercises which complete the control of self; and he, whose contemplative devotion is characterised by the property of such absolute perfection, is in truth, O sage, expectant of final liberation from the world."The Yogi, when he first gives himself up to the practice of contemplative devotion, is called the novice or practitioner; when he has attained spiritual union, he is called the adept or he whose meditations are accomplished. Should the thoughts of the former be unvitiated by any obstructing imperfection, he will obtain freedom after practising devotion through several lives. The latter speedily obtains liberation in that existence, all his acts being consumed by the fire of contemplative devotion. The sage, who would bring his mind into a proper state for the performance of devout contemplation, must be devoid of desire and observe invariably continence, compassion, truth, honesty, and disinterestedness; he must fix his mind upon the supreme Brahma, practising holy study, purification, contentment, penance and self-control. These virtues, respectively termed the five acts of restraint and five of obligation bestow excellent rewards when practised for the sake of reward and eternal liberation and when they are not prompted by the desire of transient benefits. Endowed with these merits, the sage, self-restrained, should sit in one of the modes termed Bhadrāsana and engage in contemplation. Bringing his vital airs called Prāna under subjection, by frequent repetition is thence called Prānāyāma which is, as it were, a seed with a seed. In this, the breath of expiration and that of inspiration are alternately obstructed constituting the act two-fold; and the suppression of both modes of breathing produces a third. The exercise, of yogi, whilst endeavouring to bring before his thoughts the gross form of the eternal, is denominated Alambana. He is then to perform Pratyāhāra, which consists in restraining his organs of sense from susceptibility to outward impressions, and directing them entirely to mental perceptions. By these means the entire subjugation of the unsteady senses is effected: and if they are not controlled the sage will not accomplish his devotions. When by the Prānāyāma the vital airs are restrained and the senses are subjugated by Pratyāhāra then the sage will be able to keep his mind steady in its perfect asylum".Khāndikya then said to Kesidhwaja "Illustrious sage, inform me what is that perfect asylum of the mind resting on which it destroys all the products of human infirmity". To this Keshidhwaja replied. "The asylum of mind is Brahma, which, of its own nature, is two-fold; as being with or without form; and each of these, is supreme and secondary. Apprehension of Brahma or spirit is again three-fold. I will explain the different kinds to you, they are that which is called Brahma, that which is named from works, and that which comprehends both is the third. So that mental apprehension is three-fold. Sanandana and other were endowed with the apprehension of the nature of Brahma. The celestials and others whether animate or inanimate are possessed of that which regards acts. The apprehension, that comprehends both works and spirit, exists in Hiranyagarbha and others, who are possessed of contemplative knowledge of their own nature and who also exercise certain active functions as creation and the rest. Until all acts, which are the causes of notions of individuality, are discontinued, spirit is one thing and universe is another, to those who contemplate objects as distinct and various; but that is called true knowledge or knowledge of Brahma which recognises no distinctions, which contemplates only simple existence which is undefinable by words and is to be discovered solely in one's own spirit. That is the supreme unborn, imperishable form of Vishnu, who is without form and characterised as a condition of the supreme soul, which is variously modified from the condition of universal form. The sages, in the early stage, cannot perceive this form so they must direct their minds to the gross form of Hari, which is of universal perceptibility. They must meditate upon him as Hiranyagarbha, as the glorious Vāsava, as Prajāpati, as the winds, the Vasus, the Rudras, the suns, stars, planets, Gandharvas, Yakshas, Daityas, all the celestials, and their progenitors, men, animals, mountains, oceans, rivers, trees, all beings and all sources of beings, all modifications of natures, and its products, whether sentient of unconscious, one-footed, two-footed, or many-footed; all these are the sensible form of Hari, to be apprehended by three kinds of apprehension. All this universal world, this world of moving and stationary beings is pervaded by the energy of Vishnu, who is of the nature of supreme Brahma. This energy is supreme, or when it is that of conscious embodied spirit it is secondary. Ignorance, or that which is denominated from works, is a third energy; by which the omnipresent energy of embodied spirit is ever excited and whence it suffers all the pains of repeated worldly existence. Obscured by that energy, the energy that is denominated from embodied spirit, is characterised by different degrees of perfection in all created beings. In inanimate things it exists in a very small degree; it is more in things that have life, but are (without motion); in insects it is still more abundant, and still more in birds: it is more in wild animals and in domestic animals the faculty is still greater: men have more of this faculty than animals, and thence arises their authority over them; the faculty exists in a supreme degree in Nāgas, Gandharvas, Yakshas, celestials, Sakra, Prajāpati and Hiranyagarbha; and is above ail predominant in that male (Vishnu) of whom all these various creatures are but the diversified forms, permeated universally by his energy, as all-pervading as the other."That state of Vishnu, which is without form, is to be meditated upon by the sages and this imperceptible and shapeless form of Brahma is called by the wise 'that which is' and in which all the energies, described before, reside. O lord of men, from this state of Vishnu and which is formless, proceeds his universal form and other great form and other forms endowed with his diverse energies. For the behoof of the universe he assumes various forms, that of the celestial, birds and men—but he is never born being influenced by his pristine actions; he is all-comprehending and irresistible. This universal form of his is to be meditated upon by the sage for the purpose of purification for it washes away all sins. As the fire, combined with wind, consumes twigs with its increased flame, so this form of Vishnu, when meditated upon by the sage in his heart, destroys all sins. Let us therefore fix our mind resolutely upon him who is the asylum of three fold energies and this is the operation of the mind which is called perfect Dhāranā: and thus the perfect asylum of individual as well as universal spirit, that which beyond the three modes of apprehension, is attained for the eternal emancipation of the sage. O foremost of men, the gods and others who rest in the minds are impure and spring from acts. The apprehension by the mild, of that visible form of Vishnu without regard to subsidiary forms is thence called Dhāranā and I will now describe to you the perceptible form of Hari which no mental retention will manifest except in a mind that is fit to become the receptacle of the idea. The meditating sage must think of Vishnu as having a delightful and lovely countenance with eyes like the leaf of the lotus, smooth cheeks, and a broad and brilliant forehead; ears of equal size, the lobes of which are embellished with splendid pendants, a painted neck and a broad breast on which shines the mystic mark of Sribatsa; a belly falling in graceful fold, with a deep-seated navel; eight long arms or else four; and firm and well knit thighs and legs, with well-formed feet and toes. Let him, with well-governed thoughts, contemplate, as long as he can persevere with undivided attention, Hari as clad in a yellow raiment, wearing a rich diadem on his head and brilliant armlets and bracelets on his arms and bearing in his hands, the bow, the shell, the mace, the sword, the discus, the rosary, the lotus and the arrow. The Yogi may believe his retention to be perfect when this image never vanishes from his mind, whether he be going or standing, or be engaged in any other voluntary act. The sage may then meditate upon the form of Vishnu without his arms as the shell, mace, discus and bow and as placid and bearing only his rosary. When the idea of this image is firmly retained, then he may meditate on Vishnu without his diadem, bracelets or other ornaments. He may next contemplate him as having but one single limb and may then fix his whole thoughts upon the body to which the limbs belong. The process of forming a lively image in the mind exclusive of all other objects, constitutes Dhyāna, or meditation, which is perfected by six stages and when an accurate knowledge of self, free from all distinction, is attained by this mental meditation that, is termed Samadhi."After accomplishing this stage the Yogi acquires discriminative knowledge, which is the means of enabling living soul when all the three kinds of apprehension are destroyed to attain the attainable supreme being. Embodied spirit is the user of the instrument, which instrument is true knowledge; and by it that identification of the former is attained. Liberation which is the object to be effected being accomplished discriminative knowledge ceases. When endowed with the apprehension of the nature of the object of enquiry, then there is no difference between the individual and supreme spirit; difference is the outcome of the absence of true knowledge. When that ignorance which is the cause of the difference between the individual and universal spirit b destroyed finally and for ever who shall ever make that distinction between them which does not exist? Thus I have, O Khāndikya, in reply to your question, explained to you what is meant by contemplative devotion both fully and summarily. What else do you wish to hear?"Khāndikya replied to Keshidhwaja and said:—"The explanation that has been given by you of the real nature of contemplative devotion, has satisfied all my wishes and removed all impurity from my mind. The expression 'mine' that I have been accustomed to use is untruth and cannot be otherwise declared by those who know what is to be known. The words 'I' and 'mine' constitute ignorance; but practice is influenced by ignorance. Supreme truth cannot be defined for it is not to be explained by words. Depart, therefore, Keshidwaja; you have done all that is necessary for my real happiness, in teaching me contemplative devotion, the exhaustible bestower of liberation from existence".After receiving becoming homage from Khāndikya, Keshidhwaja came back to his capital. And having made his son Raja he repaired to woods to accomplish his devotions, his whole mind being intent on Govinda. His whole mind being devoted to one object only and being purified by the practice of self-restraint, self-control and the rest he obtained absorption into the pure and perfect spirit which is termed Vishnu. And in order to obtain liberation Keshidhwaja became averse from his own perishable works and lived amidst objects of sense and practised religious rites without expecting any benefit therefrom. Being freed from ail sins by pure and auspicious fruition he obtained that perfection which removes all miseries.SECTION VIII.Parāçara said:—I have thus explained to you the third kind of worldly dissolution, that which is absolute and final which is liberation and resolution into eternal spirit. I have related unto you the primary and secondary creation, the families of patriarchs, the periods of the Manwantaras and the genealogical histories of the kings. I have described briefly to you, who were desirous of hearing it, the imperishable Vaishnava Purāna which destroys all sins, the most excellent of all sacred writings and the means of attaining the great end of man. If you have any thing else to ask, put the question and I will answer it.Maitkeya said:—"Holy preceptor, you have indeed said unto me all I wished to know and I listened to it with devoted attention. O great saint, all my doubts have been removed and my heart has been purified. By thy favour, I have been acquainted with the account of creation, preservation and destruction. I have also learnt from you of Vishnu in his collective fourfold form; his three energies; and the three modes of apprehending the object of contemplation. By thy favour I have acquired a thorough knowledge of all this and there is nothing else worthy to be known when it is once understood that Vishnu and his world are not mutually distinct. By your kindness, O great Muni, you have removed all my doubts since you have instructed in the duties of the several tribes and in other deities; the nature of active life and discontinuance of action and derivation of all that exists from works. And I have nothing else to enquire of you, O Venerable Brahmin; and pardon me, if by answering to my questions you have been fatigued in any way. Pardon me for the trouble I have given you through that amiable quality of the virtuous which makes no distinction between a disciple and a child".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.

SECTION I.Maitreya said:—"Thou hast described unto me in detail, O illustrious sage, the creation of the universe, the genealogies of the Patriarchs, the duration of the Manwantaras and the dynasties of the princes. I am willing to hear from you an account of the dissolution of the universe, the time of total destruction and that which occurs at the expiration of a Kalpa".Parāçara said:—Hear from me exactly, O Maitreya, the circumstances attending the dissolution of the world either at the expiration of a Kalpa or that which occurs at the close of the life of Brahmā. A month of men constitutes a day and night of the progenitors; a year of men is a day and night of the celestials. Twice a thousand aggregates of the four ages is a day and night of Brahmhā. The four ages are the Krita, Treta, Dwāpara and Kali, comprehending altogether twelve thousand years of the celestials. There are infinite successions of those four ages of a similar description, the first of which is always called Krita and the last the Kali. In the first, the Krita is that age which is created by Brahmā; in the last, which is the Kali age, a dissolution of the universe takes place.Maitreya said:—"O venerable Sir, It behoves thee to give a description of the nature of the Kali age in which the four-footed virtue suffers total extinction".Parāçara said:—Hear, O Maitreya, of the nature of the Kali age, regarding which you have enquired and which is now approaching completion.In the Kali age, people will not serve caste, order and institutes, nor the ceremonial enjoined by the Sāma, Rik and Yayur Vedas. Marriages in this age will be celebrated according to the rituals, nor will the rules that connect the spiritual protector and his disciple be in force; the laws that regulate the conduct of husband and wife will be neglected and oblations to the celestials with fire no longer be offered. A powerful and rich man, in whatever family he may be born, will have right to marry maidens of every tribe. In the Kali age, a Brāhmana will be always regarded as such even if he be not initiated properly, and many forms of penance will be prescribed. O Maitreya, O twice-born one, all texts will be considered as Sastras in the Kali age; all celestials will be considered in equal light and all orders of life will be common alike to all persons. In this Kali age, fasting, austerity, liberality practised according to the pleasures of those by whom they are observed will constitute piety. Every trifling property will make men proud of their wealth. Pride of beauty will be inspired by hair. Gold, jewels, diamonds, clothes will all have perished, and then hair will be the only ornament with which women can decorate themselves. Wives will desert their husbands when they will lose their wealth; and the rich only will be considered by woman as their lords. He who will distribute immense wealth, will be considered as master of men and prestige of birth will no longer be a title to supremacy. Accumulated wealth will be spent on ostentatious dwellings. The minds of men will be wholly occupied with earning money and that even will be spent on the gratification of selfish desires. Women will follow their own inclinations and be given up to pleasure-seeking. Men will endeavour to acquire riches even dishonestly. No man will part with the smallest fraction of his wealth at the sacrifice of his own interest even when requested by his friends. In the Kali age all people will consider themselves as equal with the Brāhmanas; and cows will be held in reverence only because they supply milk. People will be always in fear of dearth and scarcity and will watch accordingly the appearances of the sky. They will all live, like anchorets, upon leaves and roots and fruits and put a period to their lives through fear of famine and want. Deprived of wealth, people will be perpetually subject to famine and other afflictions; and they will never enjoy pleasure and happiness. At the advent of the Kali they will take their food without previous ablutions and without worshipping fire, celestials or guests or offering obsequial libations to their progenitors. The women will be fickle, short of stature, gluttonous; they will all have many children and little means. And scratching their heads with both hands they will pay no attention to the commands of their husbands or parents. They will be selfish, abject and slovenly; they will be scolds and liars; they will be indecent and immoral in their conduct and will ever attach themselves to dissolute men. And disregarding the rules of studentship youths will study the Vedas. Householders will neither sacrifice nor practise becoming liberality. Anchorets will live upon food accepted from rustics and mendicants will be influenced by regard for friends and associates. Princes will plunder their subjects instead of protecting them and under the pretext of levying customs they will rob merchants of their property. In the Kali Vuga every one, possessing cars and elephants and horses, will be a Raja; every one who is feeble will be a slave. Vaiçyas will abandon agriculture and commerce and gain a livelihood by servitude or exercise of mechanical arts; Sudras, seeking a subsistence by begging and assuming outward marks of religious mendicants, will become the impure followers of impious and heretical doctrines.Oppressed by famine and taxation men will desert their native countries and repair to the lands which are fit for coarser grains. The path of the Vedas being obliterated and people having deviated into heresy, iniquity will flourish and the duration of life will therefore decrease. On account of the horrible penances enjoined by scripture and of the vices of the rulers, children will die in their infancy. Women will bear children at the age of five, six or seven years and men will beget them when they are eight, nine or ten. Men will grow old at the age of twelve and no one will live more than twenty years. Men will possess little sense, vigour virtue and will therefore die in a short time. O Maitreya, the wise then estimate the approach of Kali when the number of heretics increases. Whenever, O Maitreya, number of the pious devoted to the lessons of the Vedas, diminishes, the efforts, of the individuals who cultivate virtue, become relax; the first of males becomes no longer the object of sacrifice; respect for the teachers of the Vedas declines and regard is cherished for the disseminators of heresy, the wise estimate the augmented influence of the Kali.O Maitreya, in the Kali age corrupted by unbelievers, men will refrain from adoring Vishnu, the lord of sacrifice and the creator and sovereign of all and will say "Of what authority are the Vedas? What are the celestials or Brahmanas? What need there is of purification with water?" At the approach of the Kali, O Vipra, the clouds will yield scanty rain; the corn will be light in ear and the grain will be poor and of little sap: garments will be mostly made of the fibres of the San: the principal of trees will be the Sami; principle caste will be the Sudra; millet will be the more common grain; the milk in use will be chiefly that of goats; unguents will be made of Ushira grass. The mother and father-in-law will be venerated in the place of parents; and a man's friend will be his brother-in-law or one who has a wanton wife. Men will say "Who has a father? Who has a mother? Every one is born according to his deeds"; therefore they will regard the wife's or the husband's parents as their own. Gifted with little sense they will be subject to all sorts of infirmities of mind, speech and body and will daily commit sins; and every thing that is likely to afflict beings, vicious, impure and wretched will be generated in the Kali Yuga. Thus, O Brahman, when holy study, oblations to fire and convocations of the celestials shall be stopped some few people shall live at a holy place. And at this place with the least trouble that piety shall be accumulated which could be acquired with the greatest exertions in the Krita age.

Maitreya said:—"Thou hast described unto me in detail, O illustrious sage, the creation of the universe, the genealogies of the Patriarchs, the duration of the Manwantaras and the dynasties of the princes. I am willing to hear from you an account of the dissolution of the universe, the time of total destruction and that which occurs at the expiration of a Kalpa".

Parāçara said:—Hear from me exactly, O Maitreya, the circumstances attending the dissolution of the world either at the expiration of a Kalpa or that which occurs at the close of the life of Brahmā. A month of men constitutes a day and night of the progenitors; a year of men is a day and night of the celestials. Twice a thousand aggregates of the four ages is a day and night of Brahmhā. The four ages are the Krita, Treta, Dwāpara and Kali, comprehending altogether twelve thousand years of the celestials. There are infinite successions of those four ages of a similar description, the first of which is always called Krita and the last the Kali. In the first, the Krita is that age which is created by Brahmā; in the last, which is the Kali age, a dissolution of the universe takes place.

Maitreya said:—"O venerable Sir, It behoves thee to give a description of the nature of the Kali age in which the four-footed virtue suffers total extinction".

Parāçara said:—Hear, O Maitreya, of the nature of the Kali age, regarding which you have enquired and which is now approaching completion.

In the Kali age, people will not serve caste, order and institutes, nor the ceremonial enjoined by the Sāma, Rik and Yayur Vedas. Marriages in this age will be celebrated according to the rituals, nor will the rules that connect the spiritual protector and his disciple be in force; the laws that regulate the conduct of husband and wife will be neglected and oblations to the celestials with fire no longer be offered. A powerful and rich man, in whatever family he may be born, will have right to marry maidens of every tribe. In the Kali age, a Brāhmana will be always regarded as such even if he be not initiated properly, and many forms of penance will be prescribed. O Maitreya, O twice-born one, all texts will be considered as Sastras in the Kali age; all celestials will be considered in equal light and all orders of life will be common alike to all persons. In this Kali age, fasting, austerity, liberality practised according to the pleasures of those by whom they are observed will constitute piety. Every trifling property will make men proud of their wealth. Pride of beauty will be inspired by hair. Gold, jewels, diamonds, clothes will all have perished, and then hair will be the only ornament with which women can decorate themselves. Wives will desert their husbands when they will lose their wealth; and the rich only will be considered by woman as their lords. He who will distribute immense wealth, will be considered as master of men and prestige of birth will no longer be a title to supremacy. Accumulated wealth will be spent on ostentatious dwellings. The minds of men will be wholly occupied with earning money and that even will be spent on the gratification of selfish desires. Women will follow their own inclinations and be given up to pleasure-seeking. Men will endeavour to acquire riches even dishonestly. No man will part with the smallest fraction of his wealth at the sacrifice of his own interest even when requested by his friends. In the Kali age all people will consider themselves as equal with the Brāhmanas; and cows will be held in reverence only because they supply milk. People will be always in fear of dearth and scarcity and will watch accordingly the appearances of the sky. They will all live, like anchorets, upon leaves and roots and fruits and put a period to their lives through fear of famine and want. Deprived of wealth, people will be perpetually subject to famine and other afflictions; and they will never enjoy pleasure and happiness. At the advent of the Kali they will take their food without previous ablutions and without worshipping fire, celestials or guests or offering obsequial libations to their progenitors. The women will be fickle, short of stature, gluttonous; they will all have many children and little means. And scratching their heads with both hands they will pay no attention to the commands of their husbands or parents. They will be selfish, abject and slovenly; they will be scolds and liars; they will be indecent and immoral in their conduct and will ever attach themselves to dissolute men. And disregarding the rules of studentship youths will study the Vedas. Householders will neither sacrifice nor practise becoming liberality. Anchorets will live upon food accepted from rustics and mendicants will be influenced by regard for friends and associates. Princes will plunder their subjects instead of protecting them and under the pretext of levying customs they will rob merchants of their property. In the Kali Vuga every one, possessing cars and elephants and horses, will be a Raja; every one who is feeble will be a slave. Vaiçyas will abandon agriculture and commerce and gain a livelihood by servitude or exercise of mechanical arts; Sudras, seeking a subsistence by begging and assuming outward marks of religious mendicants, will become the impure followers of impious and heretical doctrines.

Oppressed by famine and taxation men will desert their native countries and repair to the lands which are fit for coarser grains. The path of the Vedas being obliterated and people having deviated into heresy, iniquity will flourish and the duration of life will therefore decrease. On account of the horrible penances enjoined by scripture and of the vices of the rulers, children will die in their infancy. Women will bear children at the age of five, six or seven years and men will beget them when they are eight, nine or ten. Men will grow old at the age of twelve and no one will live more than twenty years. Men will possess little sense, vigour virtue and will therefore die in a short time. O Maitreya, the wise then estimate the approach of Kali when the number of heretics increases. Whenever, O Maitreya, number of the pious devoted to the lessons of the Vedas, diminishes, the efforts, of the individuals who cultivate virtue, become relax; the first of males becomes no longer the object of sacrifice; respect for the teachers of the Vedas declines and regard is cherished for the disseminators of heresy, the wise estimate the augmented influence of the Kali.

O Maitreya, in the Kali age corrupted by unbelievers, men will refrain from adoring Vishnu, the lord of sacrifice and the creator and sovereign of all and will say "Of what authority are the Vedas? What are the celestials or Brahmanas? What need there is of purification with water?" At the approach of the Kali, O Vipra, the clouds will yield scanty rain; the corn will be light in ear and the grain will be poor and of little sap: garments will be mostly made of the fibres of the San: the principal of trees will be the Sami; principle caste will be the Sudra; millet will be the more common grain; the milk in use will be chiefly that of goats; unguents will be made of Ushira grass. The mother and father-in-law will be venerated in the place of parents; and a man's friend will be his brother-in-law or one who has a wanton wife. Men will say "Who has a father? Who has a mother? Every one is born according to his deeds"; therefore they will regard the wife's or the husband's parents as their own. Gifted with little sense they will be subject to all sorts of infirmities of mind, speech and body and will daily commit sins; and every thing that is likely to afflict beings, vicious, impure and wretched will be generated in the Kali Yuga. Thus, O Brahman, when holy study, oblations to fire and convocations of the celestials shall be stopped some few people shall live at a holy place. And at this place with the least trouble that piety shall be accumulated which could be acquired with the greatest exertions in the Krita age.

SECTION II.Parāçara said:—Hear, O highly illustrious one, I shall describe fully what the great Vyāsa has related upon the subject.Once on a time, the sages assembled and discussed at what season the least morality obtained the greatest reward and by whom it was most easily displayed. In order to terminate the discussion they went to Veda Vyāsa to remove their doubts. They saw the illustrious sage, my son, immersed in the water of the Ganges, and awaiting the close of his ablutions, the sages remained on the banks of the sacred river under the shelter of a grove of trees. As my son plunged into the water and rose up from it the sages heard him exclaim. "Excellent is the Kali age". Again dived he and again did he exclaim in their hearing. "Well done, well done, Sudra, thou art happy". Again he sank down and again did they hear him say "Well done, well done, women, they are happy who are more fortunate than they". After this my son finished his bathing and the sages met him as he approached to welcome them. After they had been seated and offered their respects the son of Satyavati said to them "For what you have come here?" The Rishis said. "Having entertained some doubts regarding a subject we have come here to consult thee; but let that remain at present; explain to us some thing else. We heard you say 'Excellent is the Kali Yuga!' We are anxious to learn why this was said and why you repeatedly called them happy. Explain to us the meaning of it if it be not a mystery. We will then place before you the question that engages our thoughts".Being thus accosted by the ascetics Vyāsa smiled and said to them "Hear excellent sages, why I said 'Well done Well done!' The fruit of penance of continence, of silent prayer and the like, practised in the Krita age for ten years, in the Treta for one year, in the Dwāpara for a month is obtained in the Kali age in a day and night; therefore I did say 'Excellent, excellent is the Kali age'. The reward, which a man obtains in the Krita age by abstract meditation in the Treta by sacrifice, in the Dwāpara by adoration, he receives, in the Kali Yuga by merely reciting the names of Kesava. O pious and great ascetics, in the Kali age, by very little exertion men attain to exalted virtue and it is for this reason I speak highly of the Kali Yuga. Formerly the Vedas were to be acquired by the twice-Born through the diligent observance of self-denial and it was their duty to celebrate sacrifices in accordance with the ritual. Thereafter, idle prayers, idle feats, fruitless ceremonies were performed, only to mislead the twice-born; for although observed by them devoutly, yet in consequence of some irregularity in their celebration sin was incurred in all these works and what they ate or what they drank did not bring about the fulfilment of their desires. In all their objects the twice-born enjoyed no independence and attained their respective spheres only with exceeding pain. On the other hand, the Sudra, more fortunate than they, attains to his assigned station by rendering their service and performing merely the sacrifice of preparing food in which no rules determine what may or may not be eaten, what may or may not be drunk. Therefore, excellent sages, the Sudra is fortunate."Men should acquire wealth by means not incompatible with their religious duties and it should be given to the worthy and spent upon sacrifices. There is great trouble in their acquisition as well as their preservation. And it is equally difficult for them to spend them on pious observances. O excellent Brāhmanas, by undergoing these troubles and other diverse ones people attain to the holy region of Prajāpati. A woman has only to honour her husband in act, thought and speech to reach the same region to which he is elevated and she thus accomplishes her object without any great exertion. This was the meaning of my exclamation ‘Well done' the third time. I have thus related to you what you asked. Now put to me in any way you please the question for which you came and I will make you a clear reply".The ascetics then said to Vyāsa. "The question that we purposed to put to you has already been answered by you in your reply to our subsequent enquiry". Hearing this Krishna-Daipāyana laughed and said to the pious sages who had come to see him whose eyes were wide open with surprise. "By virtue of my divine knowledge I perceived the question you intended to put to me and in reference to this I uttered the expressions 'Well done! Well done!' In fact in the Kali age duty is performed by the mortals with very little trouble, whose sins are all washed away by the water of their individual piety—by Sudras through the diligent service of the twice-born ones and by women through the slight effort of obedience to their husbands. It is for this reason O Brāhmanas, that I did thrice express my admiration of their happiness; for in the Krita and other ages great were the toils of the regenerate to perform their duty. I did not wait for your enquiry but replied at once to the question you wanted to put. Now what do ye, conversant with virtue, wish me to tell you?"Thereupon the ascetics saluted and praised Vyasa and freed by him from uncertainty departed as they came. I have also communicated to you. O excellent Maitreya, the secret—this one great virtue of the otherwise vicious Kali age. I shall now describe to you the dissolution of the world and the aggregation of the elements.

Parāçara said:—Hear, O highly illustrious one, I shall describe fully what the great Vyāsa has related upon the subject.

Once on a time, the sages assembled and discussed at what season the least morality obtained the greatest reward and by whom it was most easily displayed. In order to terminate the discussion they went to Veda Vyāsa to remove their doubts. They saw the illustrious sage, my son, immersed in the water of the Ganges, and awaiting the close of his ablutions, the sages remained on the banks of the sacred river under the shelter of a grove of trees. As my son plunged into the water and rose up from it the sages heard him exclaim. "Excellent is the Kali age". Again dived he and again did he exclaim in their hearing. "Well done, well done, Sudra, thou art happy". Again he sank down and again did they hear him say "Well done, well done, women, they are happy who are more fortunate than they". After this my son finished his bathing and the sages met him as he approached to welcome them. After they had been seated and offered their respects the son of Satyavati said to them "For what you have come here?" The Rishis said. "Having entertained some doubts regarding a subject we have come here to consult thee; but let that remain at present; explain to us some thing else. We heard you say 'Excellent is the Kali Yuga!' We are anxious to learn why this was said and why you repeatedly called them happy. Explain to us the meaning of it if it be not a mystery. We will then place before you the question that engages our thoughts".

Being thus accosted by the ascetics Vyāsa smiled and said to them "Hear excellent sages, why I said 'Well done Well done!' The fruit of penance of continence, of silent prayer and the like, practised in the Krita age for ten years, in the Treta for one year, in the Dwāpara for a month is obtained in the Kali age in a day and night; therefore I did say 'Excellent, excellent is the Kali age'. The reward, which a man obtains in the Krita age by abstract meditation in the Treta by sacrifice, in the Dwāpara by adoration, he receives, in the Kali Yuga by merely reciting the names of Kesava. O pious and great ascetics, in the Kali age, by very little exertion men attain to exalted virtue and it is for this reason I speak highly of the Kali Yuga. Formerly the Vedas were to be acquired by the twice-Born through the diligent observance of self-denial and it was their duty to celebrate sacrifices in accordance with the ritual. Thereafter, idle prayers, idle feats, fruitless ceremonies were performed, only to mislead the twice-born; for although observed by them devoutly, yet in consequence of some irregularity in their celebration sin was incurred in all these works and what they ate or what they drank did not bring about the fulfilment of their desires. In all their objects the twice-born enjoyed no independence and attained their respective spheres only with exceeding pain. On the other hand, the Sudra, more fortunate than they, attains to his assigned station by rendering their service and performing merely the sacrifice of preparing food in which no rules determine what may or may not be eaten, what may or may not be drunk. Therefore, excellent sages, the Sudra is fortunate.

"Men should acquire wealth by means not incompatible with their religious duties and it should be given to the worthy and spent upon sacrifices. There is great trouble in their acquisition as well as their preservation. And it is equally difficult for them to spend them on pious observances. O excellent Brāhmanas, by undergoing these troubles and other diverse ones people attain to the holy region of Prajāpati. A woman has only to honour her husband in act, thought and speech to reach the same region to which he is elevated and she thus accomplishes her object without any great exertion. This was the meaning of my exclamation ‘Well done' the third time. I have thus related to you what you asked. Now put to me in any way you please the question for which you came and I will make you a clear reply".

The ascetics then said to Vyāsa. "The question that we purposed to put to you has already been answered by you in your reply to our subsequent enquiry". Hearing this Krishna-Daipāyana laughed and said to the pious sages who had come to see him whose eyes were wide open with surprise. "By virtue of my divine knowledge I perceived the question you intended to put to me and in reference to this I uttered the expressions 'Well done! Well done!' In fact in the Kali age duty is performed by the mortals with very little trouble, whose sins are all washed away by the water of their individual piety—by Sudras through the diligent service of the twice-born ones and by women through the slight effort of obedience to their husbands. It is for this reason O Brāhmanas, that I did thrice express my admiration of their happiness; for in the Krita and other ages great were the toils of the regenerate to perform their duty. I did not wait for your enquiry but replied at once to the question you wanted to put. Now what do ye, conversant with virtue, wish me to tell you?"

Thereupon the ascetics saluted and praised Vyasa and freed by him from uncertainty departed as they came. I have also communicated to you. O excellent Maitreya, the secret—this one great virtue of the otherwise vicious Kali age. I shall now describe to you the dissolution of the world and the aggregation of the elements.

SECTION III.Parāçara said The dissolution of existing beings is of three kinds, incidental, elemental and absolute. The incidental is that which relates to Brahmā and takes place at the end of a Kalpa: the elemental is that which occurs after two Parārdhas; the absolute is final liberation from existence.Maitreya said:—"Tell me, O excellent preceptor, what is the enumeration of a Parārdha, the expiration of two of which is the period of elemental dissolution".Parāçara said:—Parardha, O Maitreya, is that number which takes place in the eighteenth place of figures enumerated according to the rule of decimal notation. At the end of twice that period elemental dissolution takes place when all the discrete products of nature are withdrawn into Their indiscrete source. The shortest period of time is Mātrā which is equal to the twinkling of the human eye; fifteen Mātrā make a Kāshthā; thirty Kāshthās one Kalā: fifteen Kalās one Nādhikā. A Nādhikā is determined by a measure of water with a vessel made of twelve Palas and a half of copper in the bottom of which there is to be a hole made with a tube of gold of the weight of four Māshas and four inches long. According to the Māgadha measure the vessel should hold a Prastha (or sixteen Palas) of water. Two of these Nādis make one Muhurta; thirty of which make one day and night. Thirty such periods constitute a month; twelve months make a year, or a day and night of the celestials; and three hundred and sixty such days, constitute a year of the celestials. An aggregate of four ages consists of twelve thousand divine years; and a thousand periods of four ages complete a day of Brahmā. That period is also termed a Kalpa during which fourteen Munis preside and at the end of it takes place the incidental or Brahmā dissolution. The nature of this dissolution is very dreadful; hear, I shall describe this as well as that which takes place as the elemental dissolution.At the end of a thousand period of four ages the earth is for the most part exhausted. A total dearth takes place which lasts for a hundred years; and on account of the failure of food all beings become languid and exanimate and at last entirely die. The eternal Vishnu then takes the character of Rudra the destroyer and comes down to reunite all his creatures with himself. He enters into the seven rays of the sun, drinks up all the waters of the earth and causes all moisture, whatever in living bodies or in the soil to evaporate, thus drying up the whole earth. Thus fed with his intervention with profuse moisture, the seven solar rays dilate to seven suns, whose radiance glows above, below and on every side and sets the three worlds and Pātāla on fire. The three worlds, consumed by these suns, become rugged and deformed all over their mountains, rivers and seas; and the earth bare of verdure, and destitute of moisture alone remains resembling in appearance the back of a tortoise. Hari, the destroyer of all things, in the form of Rudra, who is the flame of time, becomes the scorching breath of the serpent Sesha and thereby reduces Pātāla to ashes. The great fire, when it has reduced all the divisions of Pātāla to ashes, proceeds to the earth and consumes it also. A vast whirlpool of eddying flame then spreads to the region of the atmosphere and the sphere of the celestials and wraps them in ruin. The three spheres shew like a frying pan amidst the surrounding flames that prey upon all movable and stationary things. O great saint, the inhabitants of the two upper spheres, having satisfied their respective duties and being assailed by the heat, repair to Maharloka. When that becomes heated its inhabitants, who after the full period of stay, are desirous of ascending to higher regions depart for the Janaloka.Having consumed the whole universe in the person of Rudra, Janārddana, breathes fourth heavy clouds, and those called Samvartta resembling huge elephants in bulk overspread the sky, roaring and darting lightnings. Some are as white as the water-lily, some are dusky like smoke; some are yellow; some are of a dun colour, like that of an ass; some like ashes sprinkled on the forehead; some are deep blue, as thelapis lazuly; some azure like the sapphire; some are white at the couch or the jasmine; some are black as colly rum; some are like the lady-bird; some are of fierceness of red arsenic and some are like the wing of the painted joy. Such is the colour of these massy clouds; in form some resemble towns, some mountains, some are like houses and hovels and some are like columns. Huge in size and loud in thunder they fill space. Showering down torrents of water, those clouds quench the dreadful fires which involve the three worlds and then rain incessantly a hundred years and deluge the whole universe. Showering down in drops as large as dice these rains overspread the earth and fill the middle region and inundate the celestial sphere. The world is now enshrouded in darkness and all things animate and inanimate having perished, the clouds continue to pour down waters for more than a hundred years.

Parāçara said The dissolution of existing beings is of three kinds, incidental, elemental and absolute. The incidental is that which relates to Brahmā and takes place at the end of a Kalpa: the elemental is that which occurs after two Parārdhas; the absolute is final liberation from existence.

Maitreya said:—"Tell me, O excellent preceptor, what is the enumeration of a Parārdha, the expiration of two of which is the period of elemental dissolution".

Parāçara said:—Parardha, O Maitreya, is that number which takes place in the eighteenth place of figures enumerated according to the rule of decimal notation. At the end of twice that period elemental dissolution takes place when all the discrete products of nature are withdrawn into Their indiscrete source. The shortest period of time is Mātrā which is equal to the twinkling of the human eye; fifteen Mātrā make a Kāshthā; thirty Kāshthās one Kalā: fifteen Kalās one Nādhikā. A Nādhikā is determined by a measure of water with a vessel made of twelve Palas and a half of copper in the bottom of which there is to be a hole made with a tube of gold of the weight of four Māshas and four inches long. According to the Māgadha measure the vessel should hold a Prastha (or sixteen Palas) of water. Two of these Nādis make one Muhurta; thirty of which make one day and night. Thirty such periods constitute a month; twelve months make a year, or a day and night of the celestials; and three hundred and sixty such days, constitute a year of the celestials. An aggregate of four ages consists of twelve thousand divine years; and a thousand periods of four ages complete a day of Brahmā. That period is also termed a Kalpa during which fourteen Munis preside and at the end of it takes place the incidental or Brahmā dissolution. The nature of this dissolution is very dreadful; hear, I shall describe this as well as that which takes place as the elemental dissolution.

At the end of a thousand period of four ages the earth is for the most part exhausted. A total dearth takes place which lasts for a hundred years; and on account of the failure of food all beings become languid and exanimate and at last entirely die. The eternal Vishnu then takes the character of Rudra the destroyer and comes down to reunite all his creatures with himself. He enters into the seven rays of the sun, drinks up all the waters of the earth and causes all moisture, whatever in living bodies or in the soil to evaporate, thus drying up the whole earth. Thus fed with his intervention with profuse moisture, the seven solar rays dilate to seven suns, whose radiance glows above, below and on every side and sets the three worlds and Pātāla on fire. The three worlds, consumed by these suns, become rugged and deformed all over their mountains, rivers and seas; and the earth bare of verdure, and destitute of moisture alone remains resembling in appearance the back of a tortoise. Hari, the destroyer of all things, in the form of Rudra, who is the flame of time, becomes the scorching breath of the serpent Sesha and thereby reduces Pātāla to ashes. The great fire, when it has reduced all the divisions of Pātāla to ashes, proceeds to the earth and consumes it also. A vast whirlpool of eddying flame then spreads to the region of the atmosphere and the sphere of the celestials and wraps them in ruin. The three spheres shew like a frying pan amidst the surrounding flames that prey upon all movable and stationary things. O great saint, the inhabitants of the two upper spheres, having satisfied their respective duties and being assailed by the heat, repair to Maharloka. When that becomes heated its inhabitants, who after the full period of stay, are desirous of ascending to higher regions depart for the Janaloka.

Having consumed the whole universe in the person of Rudra, Janārddana, breathes fourth heavy clouds, and those called Samvartta resembling huge elephants in bulk overspread the sky, roaring and darting lightnings. Some are as white as the water-lily, some are dusky like smoke; some are yellow; some are of a dun colour, like that of an ass; some like ashes sprinkled on the forehead; some are deep blue, as thelapis lazuly; some azure like the sapphire; some are white at the couch or the jasmine; some are black as colly rum; some are like the lady-bird; some are of fierceness of red arsenic and some are like the wing of the painted joy. Such is the colour of these massy clouds; in form some resemble towns, some mountains, some are like houses and hovels and some are like columns. Huge in size and loud in thunder they fill space. Showering down torrents of water, those clouds quench the dreadful fires which involve the three worlds and then rain incessantly a hundred years and deluge the whole universe. Showering down in drops as large as dice these rains overspread the earth and fill the middle region and inundate the celestial sphere. The world is now enshrouded in darkness and all things animate and inanimate having perished, the clouds continue to pour down waters for more than a hundred years.

SECTION IV.Parāçara said:—O great ascetic, the waters having reached the region of the seven Rishis the whole of three worlds becomes one ocean. The breath of Vishnu, thereupon, becomes a strong wind, which blows for more than a hundred years until all the clouds are dispersed. The wind is then re-absorbed and he, of whom all beings are made, the lord by whom all things exist, he, who is inconceivable, without beginning of the universe, reposes sleeping upon Sesha in the midst of the ocean. The creator Hari, sleeps upon the ocean in the form of Brahmā glorified by Sanaka and the saints who had departed to the Janaloka and contemplated by the holy inhabitants of Brahmaloka, anxious for final liberation—involved in mystic slumber, the celestial personification of his own illusions and meditating on his own ineffable spirit which is called Vāsudeva. This, O Majtreya, is the dissolution called incidental, because, Hari, in the form of Brahmā, sleeps there as its incidental cause.When the universal spirit wakes, the world revives: when he clears his eyes, all things fall upon the bed of mystic sleep. In the same manner a thousand great eyes comprise a day of Brahmā so his night consists of the same period: during which the world is submerged by a vast ocean. Awaking at the end of his night the unborn Vishnu, in the character of Brahmā, creates the universe anew in the manner formerly described unto you. I have thus related to you the intermediate dissolution of the world taking place at the end of every Kalpa. I will now, O Maitreya, describe to you elemental dissolution. When by dearth and fire all the worlds and Patalas are dried up and the modification of Mahat and other products of nature are by the will of Krishna destroyed the progress of elemental dissolution is begun. At first the waters swallow up the property of earth which is the rudiment of smell; and earth, deprived of its property, proceeds to destruction. Devoid of the rudiment of odour the earth becomes identical with water. The water then being much increased roaring and rushing along fill up all space whether agitated or still. When the universe is thus pervaded by the waves of the watery element its rudimental flavour is licked up by the element of fire and on account of the destruction of these rudiments the waters themselves are destroyed. Devoid of the essential element of flavour they become identical with fire and the universe is therefore entirely filled with flame which drinks up the water on every side and gradually overspreads the whole of the world. While space is envelope in flame above, below and all around the element of the wind seizes upon the rudimental property or form which is the cause of light, and that being withdrawn, all becomes of the nature of air. The rudiment of form being destroyed and fire deprived of its rudiment, air extinguishes fire and spreads resistlessly over space which is deprived of when fire mages into air. Air then accompanied by sound which is the source of ether, extends everywhere throughout the ten regions of space until ether seizes upon contact, its rudimental property; by the loss of which air is destroyed and ether remains unchanged: devoid of form, flavour, touch and smell, it exists unembodied and vast and pervades the whole of space. Ether, whose characteristic property and rudiment is sound exists alone occupying all the vacuity of space. At then the radical element egotism devours sound and all the elements and faculties are at once merged into their original. This primary element is conscientiousness combined with the property of darkness and is itself swallowed up by Mahat whose characteristic property is intelligence; and earth and Mahat are the inner and outer boundaries of the universe. In this manner, as in the creation were the seven forms of nature (Prakriti) reckoned from Mahat to earth; so at the time of elemental dissolution these seven successively re-enter into each other. The egg of Brahmā is dissolved in the waters that surround it, with its seven zones, seven oceans, seven regions, and their mountains. The investure of water is drunk up by fire; the stratum of fire is absorbed by that of air: air blends itself with ether; the primary element of egotism devours the ether and is itself taken up by intellect, which, along with all those, is seized upon by nature. Equilibrium of the three properties, without excess or deficiency, is called nature (Prakriti), origin (Hetu), the chief Principle (Pradhāna) cause (Kārana), supreme (Param). This Prakriti is essentially the same, whether discrete or indiscrete; only that which is discrete finally is lost or absorbed in the indiscrete. Spirit also which is one, pure, imperishable, eternal, all-pervading is a portion of that supreme spirit which is all things. That spirit which is other than embodied spirit, in which there are no attributes of name, species or the like—which is one with all wisdom and is to be understood as sole existence, that is Brahmā, infinite glory, supreme spirit, supreme power, Vishnu, all that is from whence the perfect sage returns no more. Prakriti, which I have described to you as being essentially both discrete and indiscrete and spirit both resolve into spirit, supreme spirit is the upholder of all things and the ruler of all things and is glorified in the Vedas and in the Vedanta by the name of Vishnu.Works as sanctioned by the Vedas are of two kinds, active and quiescent; by both of which the universal person is worshipped by mankind. He, the lord of sacrifice, the male of sacrifice, the most excellent Purusha, is worshipped by men in the active mode, by rites enjoined in the Rik, Yayur and Sama Vedas. The soul of wisdom, the person of wisdom, Vishnu, the giver of emancipation is worshipped by the sages in the quiescent form through meditative devotion. The exhaustless Vishnu is whatever thing that is designated by long, short or prolated syllables or that which is without a name. He is that which is dissolute or that which is indescrete: he is exhaustless spirit, supreme spirit, universal spirit, Hari, the assumer of universal forms. Nature, discrete or indiscrete is absorbed unto him, and spirit also merges into the all diffusive and unobstructed spirit. The period of two Parārdhas, as I have related to you, O Maitreya, constitutes a day of that powerful Vishnu, and whilst the products of nature are merged into this source, nature into spirit and that into the supreme, that period is called his night and is of equal duration with his day. But in reality, to that supreme spirit there is neither day nor night and these distinctions are only figuratively applied to the Almighty. I have thus explained to you the nature of elemental dissolution and will now explain to you which is final.

Parāçara said:—O great ascetic, the waters having reached the region of the seven Rishis the whole of three worlds becomes one ocean. The breath of Vishnu, thereupon, becomes a strong wind, which blows for more than a hundred years until all the clouds are dispersed. The wind is then re-absorbed and he, of whom all beings are made, the lord by whom all things exist, he, who is inconceivable, without beginning of the universe, reposes sleeping upon Sesha in the midst of the ocean. The creator Hari, sleeps upon the ocean in the form of Brahmā glorified by Sanaka and the saints who had departed to the Janaloka and contemplated by the holy inhabitants of Brahmaloka, anxious for final liberation—involved in mystic slumber, the celestial personification of his own illusions and meditating on his own ineffable spirit which is called Vāsudeva. This, O Majtreya, is the dissolution called incidental, because, Hari, in the form of Brahmā, sleeps there as its incidental cause.

When the universal spirit wakes, the world revives: when he clears his eyes, all things fall upon the bed of mystic sleep. In the same manner a thousand great eyes comprise a day of Brahmā so his night consists of the same period: during which the world is submerged by a vast ocean. Awaking at the end of his night the unborn Vishnu, in the character of Brahmā, creates the universe anew in the manner formerly described unto you. I have thus related to you the intermediate dissolution of the world taking place at the end of every Kalpa. I will now, O Maitreya, describe to you elemental dissolution. When by dearth and fire all the worlds and Patalas are dried up and the modification of Mahat and other products of nature are by the will of Krishna destroyed the progress of elemental dissolution is begun. At first the waters swallow up the property of earth which is the rudiment of smell; and earth, deprived of its property, proceeds to destruction. Devoid of the rudiment of odour the earth becomes identical with water. The water then being much increased roaring and rushing along fill up all space whether agitated or still. When the universe is thus pervaded by the waves of the watery element its rudimental flavour is licked up by the element of fire and on account of the destruction of these rudiments the waters themselves are destroyed. Devoid of the essential element of flavour they become identical with fire and the universe is therefore entirely filled with flame which drinks up the water on every side and gradually overspreads the whole of the world. While space is envelope in flame above, below and all around the element of the wind seizes upon the rudimental property or form which is the cause of light, and that being withdrawn, all becomes of the nature of air. The rudiment of form being destroyed and fire deprived of its rudiment, air extinguishes fire and spreads resistlessly over space which is deprived of when fire mages into air. Air then accompanied by sound which is the source of ether, extends everywhere throughout the ten regions of space until ether seizes upon contact, its rudimental property; by the loss of which air is destroyed and ether remains unchanged: devoid of form, flavour, touch and smell, it exists unembodied and vast and pervades the whole of space. Ether, whose characteristic property and rudiment is sound exists alone occupying all the vacuity of space. At then the radical element egotism devours sound and all the elements and faculties are at once merged into their original. This primary element is conscientiousness combined with the property of darkness and is itself swallowed up by Mahat whose characteristic property is intelligence; and earth and Mahat are the inner and outer boundaries of the universe. In this manner, as in the creation were the seven forms of nature (Prakriti) reckoned from Mahat to earth; so at the time of elemental dissolution these seven successively re-enter into each other. The egg of Brahmā is dissolved in the waters that surround it, with its seven zones, seven oceans, seven regions, and their mountains. The investure of water is drunk up by fire; the stratum of fire is absorbed by that of air: air blends itself with ether; the primary element of egotism devours the ether and is itself taken up by intellect, which, along with all those, is seized upon by nature. Equilibrium of the three properties, without excess or deficiency, is called nature (Prakriti), origin (Hetu), the chief Principle (Pradhāna) cause (Kārana), supreme (Param). This Prakriti is essentially the same, whether discrete or indiscrete; only that which is discrete finally is lost or absorbed in the indiscrete. Spirit also which is one, pure, imperishable, eternal, all-pervading is a portion of that supreme spirit which is all things. That spirit which is other than embodied spirit, in which there are no attributes of name, species or the like—which is one with all wisdom and is to be understood as sole existence, that is Brahmā, infinite glory, supreme spirit, supreme power, Vishnu, all that is from whence the perfect sage returns no more. Prakriti, which I have described to you as being essentially both discrete and indiscrete and spirit both resolve into spirit, supreme spirit is the upholder of all things and the ruler of all things and is glorified in the Vedas and in the Vedanta by the name of Vishnu.

Works as sanctioned by the Vedas are of two kinds, active and quiescent; by both of which the universal person is worshipped by mankind. He, the lord of sacrifice, the male of sacrifice, the most excellent Purusha, is worshipped by men in the active mode, by rites enjoined in the Rik, Yayur and Sama Vedas. The soul of wisdom, the person of wisdom, Vishnu, the giver of emancipation is worshipped by the sages in the quiescent form through meditative devotion. The exhaustless Vishnu is whatever thing that is designated by long, short or prolated syllables or that which is without a name. He is that which is dissolute or that which is indescrete: he is exhaustless spirit, supreme spirit, universal spirit, Hari, the assumer of universal forms. Nature, discrete or indiscrete is absorbed unto him, and spirit also merges into the all diffusive and unobstructed spirit. The period of two Parārdhas, as I have related to you, O Maitreya, constitutes a day of that powerful Vishnu, and whilst the products of nature are merged into this source, nature into spirit and that into the supreme, that period is called his night and is of equal duration with his day. But in reality, to that supreme spirit there is neither day nor night and these distinctions are only figuratively applied to the Almighty. I have thus explained to you the nature of elemental dissolution and will now explain to you which is final.

SECTION V.Parāçara said:—O Maitreya, having investigated kinds of worldly pain and having acquired true wisdom and detachment from worldly objects the wise man obtains final liberation. The first of the three pains, or Adhyatmika is of two kinds—physical and mental. Bodily pain, as you shall hear, is of many sorts. Affections of the head, catarrh, fever, cholic, fistula, spleen, hemorrhoids, intumescence, sickness, opthalmia, dysentary, leprosy, and many other diseases constitute physical affliction. Mental pains are love, anger, fear, hate, covetousness, stupefaction, despair, sorrow, malice, disdain, jealousy, envy and many other passions that are created in the mind. These and diverse other afflictions, mental or physical, are comprised under the class of worldly sufferings which is called Adhyatmika, The pain Adhibhautika, O excellent Brāhman, is every kind of evil that is inflicted upon men by beasts, birds, men, goblins, snakes, fiends, or reptiles and the pain that is called Adhidaivika or superhuman is the work of cold, heat, wind, rain, lightning and other phenomena. Affliction, O Maitreya, is multiplied in thousands of shapes in the progress of conception, birth, decay, disease, death and hell. The tender animal exists in the embryo surrounded by abundant filth, floating in water and distorted in its back, neck and bones; enduring severe pain even in the course of its development and disordered by the acid, bitter, pungent and saline articles of its mother's food; incapable of extending or contracting its limbs, reposing amidst slime of ordure and urine; every way incommoded with conciousness and calling to memory many hundred previous births. Thus exists the embryo in profound affliction bound to the worlds by its former works.When the child is about to be born, its face is besmeared by excrement, urine, blood, mucus, and semen; its attachment; to the uterus is ruptured by the Prajāpati wind: it is turned head downwards and violently expelled from the womb by the powerful and painful winds of parturition; and the infant, losing; for a time all sensation when brought in contact with the external air, is immediately deprived of its intellectual knowledge. Then born the child is tortured in every limb, as if pierced with thorns or cut to pieces with a saw, and falls from its fetid lodgement as from a sore, like a crawling thing upon the earth. Unable to feel itself, unable to turn itself, it is dependent on the will of others for being bathed and nourished. Laid upon a dirty bed, it is bitten by insects and mosquitoes and has not power to drive them away. Many are the pangs attending birth and many are those which succeed to birth; and many are the afflictions that are inflicted by elemental and superhuman powers in the state of childhood covered by the gloom of ignorance; and internally bewildered man knows not whence he is, who he is, whither he goeth nor what is his nature; by what bonds he is bound; what is cause and what is not cause; what is to be done and what is to be left undone; what is to be said and what is to be kept silent, what is righteousness and what is iniquity; in what it consists or how; what is right, what is wrong; what is virtue, what is vice. Thus man, like a brute beast addicted only to animal gratification, suffers the pain that ignorance brings about. Ignorance, darkness, inactivity influence those devoid of knowledge so that pious works are neglected; but hell is the consequence of neglect of religious acts, according to the great sages, and the ignorant therefore suffer affliction both in this world and in the next.When old age comes in, the body is infirm, the limbs are relaxed; the face is emaciate and shrivelled; its skin is wrinkled and scantily covers the veins and sinews; the eyes discern not a far off, and the pupil gazes on vacuity: the nostrils are stuffed with hair; the trunk trembles as it moves; the bones appear beneath the surface; the back is bowed and the joints are bent; the digestive fire is extinct and there is little appetite and little vigour; walking, rising sitting, sleeping are all painful efforts; the ear is dull; the eye is dim; the mouth is disgusting with dribbling saliva; the senses no longer are obedient to the will; and as death approaches, the things that are perceived even are immediately forgotten. The utterance of a single sentence is fatiguing and wakefulness is perpetuated by difficult breathing, coughing and painful exhaustion. The old man is lifted up by some body else; he is an object of contempt to his servants, his children and his wife. Incapable of cleanliness, of amusement, or food, or desire, he is laughed at by his dependents, and disregarded by his kin; and dwelling on the exploits of his youth, as on the actions of a past life, he sighs deeply and is sorely distressed. Such are some of the pains to which old age is doomed. I will now describe to you the agonies of death.The neck droops, the feet and hands are relaxed; the man is repeatedly exhausted, subdued and visited with interrupted knowledge; the principle of selfishness afflicts him and he thinks what will become of my wealth, my lands, my children, my wife, my servants, my house? The joints of his limbs are tortured with severe pains as if cut by a saw or as if they were pierced by the sharp arrows of the destroyer; he rolls his eyes and tosses about his hands and feet; his lips and palate are parched and dry and his throat obstructed by foul humours and deranged vital airs, emits a rattling sound; he is afflicted with burning heat, thirst and hunger: and he at last passes away tortured by the servants of the judge of the dead, to undergo a renewal of his sufferings in another body. These are the afflictions to which a man is doomed when he dies. I will now describe to you the tortures which they suffer in hell.Men are bound, when they die, by the servants of the king of Tartarus, with cords, and beaten with their sticks and have then to encounter the fierce aspect of Yama and the horrors of their terrible route. In the different hells there are various intolerable tortures with burning sand, fire, machines, and weapons; some are severed with saws, some roasted in forges, some are chopped with axes, some buried in the ground, some are mounted on stakes, some cast to wild beasts to be devoured, some are gnawed by the vultures, some torn by tigers, some are boiled in oil, some rolled in caustic slime, some are precipitated from great heights, some are tossed upwards by engines. The number of punishments inflicted in hell, which are the consequences of sin, is infinite. But not in hell alone do the souls of the deceased undergo pain: there is no cessation even in heaven for its temporary inhabitant is even tormented with the prospect of descending to earth again. He is again liable to conception and to birth; he is merged again into the embryo and repairs to it when about to be born; then he dies, as soon as born, or in infancy, or in youth, or in manhood or in old age. Death sooner or later is inevitable. As long as he lives he is immersed in manifold afflictions, like the seed of the cotton amidst the down that is to be spun into thread. In acquiring, losing, and preserving wealth there are many griefs; and so there are in the misfortunes of our friends. Whatever is produced that is most acceptable to man; that, Maitreya, becomes a seed whence springs the tree of sorrow. Wife, children, servants, houses, lands, riches, contribute much more to the misery than to the happiness of mankind. Where could man, scorched by fires of the sun of this world, look for felicity, were it not for the shade afforded by the tree of emancipation? Attainment of the divine being is considered by the wise as the remedy of the three-fold class of ills that beset the different stages of life, conception, birth and decay, as characterised by that only happiness which effaces all other kinds of felicity however abundant, and as being absolute and final.It should therefore be the assiduous endeavour of wise men to attain unto god. The means of such attainment are said, great Muni, to be knowledge and works. Knowledge is of two kinds, that which is derived from scripture, and that which is derived from reflection. Brahma that is the word is composed of scripture. Brahma that is supreme is produced of reflection, ignorance is utter darkness, in which knowledge, obtained through any sense, shines like a lamp; but the knowledge that is derived from reflection breaks upon the obscurity. What has been said by Manu, when appealing to the meaning of the Vedas with respect to this subject, I will repeat to you. There are two forms of spirit or god, the spirit, which is word, and spirit, which is supreme. He who is thoroughly imbued with the word of god obtains supreme spirit. The Atharva Veda also states that there are two kinds of knowledge; by the one, which is the supreme, god is attained: the other is that which consists of the Rik and other Vedas. That which is imperceptible, undecaying, inconceivable, unborn, inexhaustable, indescribable; which has neither form, nor hands nor feet; which is almighty, omnipresent, eternal; the cause of all things, and without cause, permeating all, itself unpenetrated, and from which all things proceed, that is the object which the wise behold, that is Brahma, that is the supreme state, that is the thing spoken of by the Vedas, the infinitely subtle, supreme condition of Vishnu. That essence of the supreme is defined by the term Bhagavat: the word Bhagavat is the denomination of that primeval and eternal God: and he who fully understands the meaning of that expression, is possessed of holy wisdom, the sum and substance of the three Vedas. The word Bhagavat is a convenient form to be used in the adoration of that supreme being, to whom no term is applicable; and therefore Bhagavat expresses that supreme spirit which is individual, almighty, and the cause of causes of all things. The letterBhimplies the cherisher and supporter of the universe. Bygais understood the leader, impeller, or creator. The dissyllableBhagaindicate the six properties: dominion, might, glory, splendour, wisdom, and dispassion. The purport of the lettervais that elemental spirit in which all beings exist, and which exists in all beings. And thus this Great word Bhagavān is the name of Vāsudeva, who is one with the Supreme Brahma and of no one else. This word therefore, which is the general denomination of an adorable object, is not used in reference to the supreme in a general but a special signification. When applied to any other thing or person it is used in its customary or general import. In latter case it may purport one who knows the origin and end and revolutions of being and what is wisdom and what ignorance. In the former it denotes wisdom, energy, power, dominion, might, glory, without end and without defect.The term Vāsudeva means that all beings abide in that supreme spirit and that he abides in all beings as was formerly explained by Kesidhwaja to Khāndikya called Janaka when he enquired of him an explanation of the name of the immortal Vāsudeva. He said "He dwelleth internally in all beings and all things dwell in him; and thence the lord Vāsudeva is the creator and preserver of the world. He though identical with all beings is beyond and separate from material nature, from its products, from properties and from imperfection; he is beyond all investing substance; he is universal soul; all the interstices of the universe are filled up by him; he is one with all good qualities; and all created beings are endowed with but a small portion of his individuality. Assuming at with various shapes he bestows benefits on the whole world, which was his work. Glory, might, dominion, wisdom, energy, power and other attributes are collected in him. Supreme of the supreme, in whom no imperfections abide, lord over finite and infinite, god in individuals and universals, visible and invisible, omnipotent, omnipresent, omnicient, almighty. The wisdom, perfect, pure, supreme, undefiled and one only by which he is conceived, contemplated and known, that is wisdom; all else is ignorance".

Parāçara said:—O Maitreya, having investigated kinds of worldly pain and having acquired true wisdom and detachment from worldly objects the wise man obtains final liberation. The first of the three pains, or Adhyatmika is of two kinds—physical and mental. Bodily pain, as you shall hear, is of many sorts. Affections of the head, catarrh, fever, cholic, fistula, spleen, hemorrhoids, intumescence, sickness, opthalmia, dysentary, leprosy, and many other diseases constitute physical affliction. Mental pains are love, anger, fear, hate, covetousness, stupefaction, despair, sorrow, malice, disdain, jealousy, envy and many other passions that are created in the mind. These and diverse other afflictions, mental or physical, are comprised under the class of worldly sufferings which is called Adhyatmika, The pain Adhibhautika, O excellent Brāhman, is every kind of evil that is inflicted upon men by beasts, birds, men, goblins, snakes, fiends, or reptiles and the pain that is called Adhidaivika or superhuman is the work of cold, heat, wind, rain, lightning and other phenomena. Affliction, O Maitreya, is multiplied in thousands of shapes in the progress of conception, birth, decay, disease, death and hell. The tender animal exists in the embryo surrounded by abundant filth, floating in water and distorted in its back, neck and bones; enduring severe pain even in the course of its development and disordered by the acid, bitter, pungent and saline articles of its mother's food; incapable of extending or contracting its limbs, reposing amidst slime of ordure and urine; every way incommoded with conciousness and calling to memory many hundred previous births. Thus exists the embryo in profound affliction bound to the worlds by its former works.

When the child is about to be born, its face is besmeared by excrement, urine, blood, mucus, and semen; its attachment; to the uterus is ruptured by the Prajāpati wind: it is turned head downwards and violently expelled from the womb by the powerful and painful winds of parturition; and the infant, losing; for a time all sensation when brought in contact with the external air, is immediately deprived of its intellectual knowledge. Then born the child is tortured in every limb, as if pierced with thorns or cut to pieces with a saw, and falls from its fetid lodgement as from a sore, like a crawling thing upon the earth. Unable to feel itself, unable to turn itself, it is dependent on the will of others for being bathed and nourished. Laid upon a dirty bed, it is bitten by insects and mosquitoes and has not power to drive them away. Many are the pangs attending birth and many are those which succeed to birth; and many are the afflictions that are inflicted by elemental and superhuman powers in the state of childhood covered by the gloom of ignorance; and internally bewildered man knows not whence he is, who he is, whither he goeth nor what is his nature; by what bonds he is bound; what is cause and what is not cause; what is to be done and what is to be left undone; what is to be said and what is to be kept silent, what is righteousness and what is iniquity; in what it consists or how; what is right, what is wrong; what is virtue, what is vice. Thus man, like a brute beast addicted only to animal gratification, suffers the pain that ignorance brings about. Ignorance, darkness, inactivity influence those devoid of knowledge so that pious works are neglected; but hell is the consequence of neglect of religious acts, according to the great sages, and the ignorant therefore suffer affliction both in this world and in the next.

When old age comes in, the body is infirm, the limbs are relaxed; the face is emaciate and shrivelled; its skin is wrinkled and scantily covers the veins and sinews; the eyes discern not a far off, and the pupil gazes on vacuity: the nostrils are stuffed with hair; the trunk trembles as it moves; the bones appear beneath the surface; the back is bowed and the joints are bent; the digestive fire is extinct and there is little appetite and little vigour; walking, rising sitting, sleeping are all painful efforts; the ear is dull; the eye is dim; the mouth is disgusting with dribbling saliva; the senses no longer are obedient to the will; and as death approaches, the things that are perceived even are immediately forgotten. The utterance of a single sentence is fatiguing and wakefulness is perpetuated by difficult breathing, coughing and painful exhaustion. The old man is lifted up by some body else; he is an object of contempt to his servants, his children and his wife. Incapable of cleanliness, of amusement, or food, or desire, he is laughed at by his dependents, and disregarded by his kin; and dwelling on the exploits of his youth, as on the actions of a past life, he sighs deeply and is sorely distressed. Such are some of the pains to which old age is doomed. I will now describe to you the agonies of death.

The neck droops, the feet and hands are relaxed; the man is repeatedly exhausted, subdued and visited with interrupted knowledge; the principle of selfishness afflicts him and he thinks what will become of my wealth, my lands, my children, my wife, my servants, my house? The joints of his limbs are tortured with severe pains as if cut by a saw or as if they were pierced by the sharp arrows of the destroyer; he rolls his eyes and tosses about his hands and feet; his lips and palate are parched and dry and his throat obstructed by foul humours and deranged vital airs, emits a rattling sound; he is afflicted with burning heat, thirst and hunger: and he at last passes away tortured by the servants of the judge of the dead, to undergo a renewal of his sufferings in another body. These are the afflictions to which a man is doomed when he dies. I will now describe to you the tortures which they suffer in hell.

Men are bound, when they die, by the servants of the king of Tartarus, with cords, and beaten with their sticks and have then to encounter the fierce aspect of Yama and the horrors of their terrible route. In the different hells there are various intolerable tortures with burning sand, fire, machines, and weapons; some are severed with saws, some roasted in forges, some are chopped with axes, some buried in the ground, some are mounted on stakes, some cast to wild beasts to be devoured, some are gnawed by the vultures, some torn by tigers, some are boiled in oil, some rolled in caustic slime, some are precipitated from great heights, some are tossed upwards by engines. The number of punishments inflicted in hell, which are the consequences of sin, is infinite. But not in hell alone do the souls of the deceased undergo pain: there is no cessation even in heaven for its temporary inhabitant is even tormented with the prospect of descending to earth again. He is again liable to conception and to birth; he is merged again into the embryo and repairs to it when about to be born; then he dies, as soon as born, or in infancy, or in youth, or in manhood or in old age. Death sooner or later is inevitable. As long as he lives he is immersed in manifold afflictions, like the seed of the cotton amidst the down that is to be spun into thread. In acquiring, losing, and preserving wealth there are many griefs; and so there are in the misfortunes of our friends. Whatever is produced that is most acceptable to man; that, Maitreya, becomes a seed whence springs the tree of sorrow. Wife, children, servants, houses, lands, riches, contribute much more to the misery than to the happiness of mankind. Where could man, scorched by fires of the sun of this world, look for felicity, were it not for the shade afforded by the tree of emancipation? Attainment of the divine being is considered by the wise as the remedy of the three-fold class of ills that beset the different stages of life, conception, birth and decay, as characterised by that only happiness which effaces all other kinds of felicity however abundant, and as being absolute and final.

It should therefore be the assiduous endeavour of wise men to attain unto god. The means of such attainment are said, great Muni, to be knowledge and works. Knowledge is of two kinds, that which is derived from scripture, and that which is derived from reflection. Brahma that is the word is composed of scripture. Brahma that is supreme is produced of reflection, ignorance is utter darkness, in which knowledge, obtained through any sense, shines like a lamp; but the knowledge that is derived from reflection breaks upon the obscurity. What has been said by Manu, when appealing to the meaning of the Vedas with respect to this subject, I will repeat to you. There are two forms of spirit or god, the spirit, which is word, and spirit, which is supreme. He who is thoroughly imbued with the word of god obtains supreme spirit. The Atharva Veda also states that there are two kinds of knowledge; by the one, which is the supreme, god is attained: the other is that which consists of the Rik and other Vedas. That which is imperceptible, undecaying, inconceivable, unborn, inexhaustable, indescribable; which has neither form, nor hands nor feet; which is almighty, omnipresent, eternal; the cause of all things, and without cause, permeating all, itself unpenetrated, and from which all things proceed, that is the object which the wise behold, that is Brahma, that is the supreme state, that is the thing spoken of by the Vedas, the infinitely subtle, supreme condition of Vishnu. That essence of the supreme is defined by the term Bhagavat: the word Bhagavat is the denomination of that primeval and eternal God: and he who fully understands the meaning of that expression, is possessed of holy wisdom, the sum and substance of the three Vedas. The word Bhagavat is a convenient form to be used in the adoration of that supreme being, to whom no term is applicable; and therefore Bhagavat expresses that supreme spirit which is individual, almighty, and the cause of causes of all things. The letterBhimplies the cherisher and supporter of the universe. Bygais understood the leader, impeller, or creator. The dissyllableBhagaindicate the six properties: dominion, might, glory, splendour, wisdom, and dispassion. The purport of the lettervais that elemental spirit in which all beings exist, and which exists in all beings. And thus this Great word Bhagavān is the name of Vāsudeva, who is one with the Supreme Brahma and of no one else. This word therefore, which is the general denomination of an adorable object, is not used in reference to the supreme in a general but a special signification. When applied to any other thing or person it is used in its customary or general import. In latter case it may purport one who knows the origin and end and revolutions of being and what is wisdom and what ignorance. In the former it denotes wisdom, energy, power, dominion, might, glory, without end and without defect.

The term Vāsudeva means that all beings abide in that supreme spirit and that he abides in all beings as was formerly explained by Kesidhwaja to Khāndikya called Janaka when he enquired of him an explanation of the name of the immortal Vāsudeva. He said "He dwelleth internally in all beings and all things dwell in him; and thence the lord Vāsudeva is the creator and preserver of the world. He though identical with all beings is beyond and separate from material nature, from its products, from properties and from imperfection; he is beyond all investing substance; he is universal soul; all the interstices of the universe are filled up by him; he is one with all good qualities; and all created beings are endowed with but a small portion of his individuality. Assuming at with various shapes he bestows benefits on the whole world, which was his work. Glory, might, dominion, wisdom, energy, power and other attributes are collected in him. Supreme of the supreme, in whom no imperfections abide, lord over finite and infinite, god in individuals and universals, visible and invisible, omnipotent, omnipresent, omnicient, almighty. The wisdom, perfect, pure, supreme, undefiled and one only by which he is conceived, contemplated and known, that is wisdom; all else is ignorance".

SECTION VI.Parāçara said:—The Purusottama is also known by holy study and devout meditation; and either, as the cause of attaining him, is entitled Brahma. From study let a man proceed to meditation and from meditation to study; by perfection in both supreme spirit becomes manifest. Study is one eye wherewith to behold it and meditation is the other: he who is identical with Brahma sees not with the eye of flesh.Maitreya said:—"Revered preceptor, I am desirous to know what is meant by the term Yoga, by understanding which I may behold the supreme being, the upholder of the universe".Parāçara:—I will repeat to you, O Maitreya, the explanation formerly given by Kesidhwaja to the high-minded Khāndikya also called Janaka.Maitreya: "Tell me, first. Brahman, who Khāndikya was, and who was Kesidhwaja; and how it happened that a conversation relating to the practice of Yoga occurred between them".Parāçara. There was Janaka named Dharmadhwaja who had two sons Amitadhwaja and Kritadhwaja; and the latter was a king ever devoted to the existent supreme spirit; his son was the celebrated Kesidhwaja. The son of Amitadhwaja was Janaka called Khāndikya. Khāndikya was diligent and celebrated on earth for pious observances. Kesidhwaja on the other hand was gifted with spiritual knowledge. These two were engaged in hostilities and Khāndikya was driven from his principality by Kesidhwaja. Expelled from his dominions he wandered with a few followers, his priest and his counsellors, amidst woods and mountains where destitute of true wisdom, he performed many sacrifices expecting thereby to obtain divine truth and to escape from death by ignorance.Once on a time, while Kesidhwaja, the best of those who are skilled in devotion, was engaged in devout practices a fierce tiger slew his milch cow in the lonely forest. When the Raja heard that the cow had been killed he asked the ministering priests what sort of penance would expatiate the crime. They said that they did not know and referred him to Kaseru. And consulted by the king Kaseru told him that he did not know and Sunaka would be able to tell him. Accordingly the Raja went to Sunaka; but he said too. "I am as unable, O great king, to answer your question as Kaseru has been; there is no one on earth who can give you the information except your enemy Khāndikya, whom you have vanquished".Being thus accosted Kesidhwaja said:—"I will go then and pay a visit to my enemy; no matter, if he kill me, for I shall then obtain the reward that attends being slain in a holy cause; whereas if on the other hand he tells me what penance to perform then my sacrifice will be unimpaired in efficacy". Accordingly he ascended his car, having clothed himself in the deerskin and went to the forest where the wise Khāndikya lived. When Khāndikya saw him approach his eyes reddened with ire and he took up his bow and said to him "You have armed yourself with deerskin to bring about my destruction thinking that in such a dress you will be safe from me; but fool, the deer upon whose backs this skin is seen are slain by you and me with sharp arrows so I will slay you; you shall not go free whilst I am living. You are an unprincipled felon, who have robbed me of my kingdom and are deserving of death". To this Kesidhwaja replied: "I have come here Khāndikya, to consult you about my doubts and not with any hostile intention; lay aside therefore both your arrow and anger". Thus addressed Khāndikya retired for a while, with his counsellors and his priest and consulted with them what course to adopt. They strongly urged him to slay Kesidhwaja who was in his grasp and by whose death he would again become the monarch of the whole world. Khāndikya replied to them: "It is undoubtedly true that by such an act I would become the monarch of the whole world but he would thereby conquer the next world: whilst the earth would be mine. And if I do not slay him I shall conquer the world to come and leave him this earth. It appears to me that this world is not so much valuable as the next: for the subjugation of the next world continues for ever while the conquest over this is but temporary. I will therefore not kill him but tell him what he wishes to know".Coming accordingly to Kesidhwaja, Khāndikya asked him to propose his question which he promised to answer. And Kesidhwaja related to him what had taken place, that death of the cow and desired to know what penance be should perform. Khāndikya, in reply, explained to him fully the expiation that was suited to the occasion; and then with his permission Kesidhwaja returned to the place of sacrifice and regularly fulfilled every necessary act. Having completed the ceremony with its supplementary rites Kesidhwaja accomplished all his objects: but he then reflected thus "The priests whom I invited to attend have all been duly honoured; all those who had any request to make have been pleased with my complying with their desires; all that is proper for this world has been effected by me; why then my mind should feel as if my duty had been unfulfilled". Thinking this he remembered that he had not presented to Khāndikya the gift that it is proper to offer to a spiritual preceptor and mounting his chariot he immediately started for the dense forest where the sage resided. Upon his reappearance Khāndikya took up arms to slay him; but Kesidhwaja exclaimed "Forbear, venerable sage; I have not come hither injure you; throw off your wrath, Khāndikya, know that I have come here to offer you that present which is due to you as my instructor. Through your lesson I have fully completed my sacrifice and I am therefore desirous to give you a gift. Demand what it shall be".Having once more consulted his counsellors, Khāndikya told them the purpose of his rival's visit and asked them what he should demand. His friends recommended him to take back his whole kingdom for prudent men acquire them without conflicting hosts. The king Khāndikya reflecting laughed and said to them "Why should a person like me be desirous of a temporary earthly kingdom? Indeed you are very good advisers as regards the present worldly affairs—but you are undoubtedly ignorant of the life to come". Saying this he returned to Kesidhwaja and said to him "Is it true that you wish to make me a gift as to your preceptor?" "Indeed I do" answered Kesidhwaja. Whereto Khāndikya replied "Then, as it is known that you are learned in the spiritual learning that teaches the doctrine of the soul, if you will communicate that knowledge unto me you will have discharged your debt to your preceptor. Communicate unto me what acts are efficacious for the alleviation of human sufferings".

Parāçara said:—The Purusottama is also known by holy study and devout meditation; and either, as the cause of attaining him, is entitled Brahma. From study let a man proceed to meditation and from meditation to study; by perfection in both supreme spirit becomes manifest. Study is one eye wherewith to behold it and meditation is the other: he who is identical with Brahma sees not with the eye of flesh.

Maitreya said:—"Revered preceptor, I am desirous to know what is meant by the term Yoga, by understanding which I may behold the supreme being, the upholder of the universe".

Parāçara:—I will repeat to you, O Maitreya, the explanation formerly given by Kesidhwaja to the high-minded Khāndikya also called Janaka.

Maitreya: "Tell me, first. Brahman, who Khāndikya was, and who was Kesidhwaja; and how it happened that a conversation relating to the practice of Yoga occurred between them".

Parāçara. There was Janaka named Dharmadhwaja who had two sons Amitadhwaja and Kritadhwaja; and the latter was a king ever devoted to the existent supreme spirit; his son was the celebrated Kesidhwaja. The son of Amitadhwaja was Janaka called Khāndikya. Khāndikya was diligent and celebrated on earth for pious observances. Kesidhwaja on the other hand was gifted with spiritual knowledge. These two were engaged in hostilities and Khāndikya was driven from his principality by Kesidhwaja. Expelled from his dominions he wandered with a few followers, his priest and his counsellors, amidst woods and mountains where destitute of true wisdom, he performed many sacrifices expecting thereby to obtain divine truth and to escape from death by ignorance.

Once on a time, while Kesidhwaja, the best of those who are skilled in devotion, was engaged in devout practices a fierce tiger slew his milch cow in the lonely forest. When the Raja heard that the cow had been killed he asked the ministering priests what sort of penance would expatiate the crime. They said that they did not know and referred him to Kaseru. And consulted by the king Kaseru told him that he did not know and Sunaka would be able to tell him. Accordingly the Raja went to Sunaka; but he said too. "I am as unable, O great king, to answer your question as Kaseru has been; there is no one on earth who can give you the information except your enemy Khāndikya, whom you have vanquished".

Being thus accosted Kesidhwaja said:—"I will go then and pay a visit to my enemy; no matter, if he kill me, for I shall then obtain the reward that attends being slain in a holy cause; whereas if on the other hand he tells me what penance to perform then my sacrifice will be unimpaired in efficacy". Accordingly he ascended his car, having clothed himself in the deerskin and went to the forest where the wise Khāndikya lived. When Khāndikya saw him approach his eyes reddened with ire and he took up his bow and said to him "You have armed yourself with deerskin to bring about my destruction thinking that in such a dress you will be safe from me; but fool, the deer upon whose backs this skin is seen are slain by you and me with sharp arrows so I will slay you; you shall not go free whilst I am living. You are an unprincipled felon, who have robbed me of my kingdom and are deserving of death". To this Kesidhwaja replied: "I have come here Khāndikya, to consult you about my doubts and not with any hostile intention; lay aside therefore both your arrow and anger". Thus addressed Khāndikya retired for a while, with his counsellors and his priest and consulted with them what course to adopt. They strongly urged him to slay Kesidhwaja who was in his grasp and by whose death he would again become the monarch of the whole world. Khāndikya replied to them: "It is undoubtedly true that by such an act I would become the monarch of the whole world but he would thereby conquer the next world: whilst the earth would be mine. And if I do not slay him I shall conquer the world to come and leave him this earth. It appears to me that this world is not so much valuable as the next: for the subjugation of the next world continues for ever while the conquest over this is but temporary. I will therefore not kill him but tell him what he wishes to know".

Coming accordingly to Kesidhwaja, Khāndikya asked him to propose his question which he promised to answer. And Kesidhwaja related to him what had taken place, that death of the cow and desired to know what penance be should perform. Khāndikya, in reply, explained to him fully the expiation that was suited to the occasion; and then with his permission Kesidhwaja returned to the place of sacrifice and regularly fulfilled every necessary act. Having completed the ceremony with its supplementary rites Kesidhwaja accomplished all his objects: but he then reflected thus "The priests whom I invited to attend have all been duly honoured; all those who had any request to make have been pleased with my complying with their desires; all that is proper for this world has been effected by me; why then my mind should feel as if my duty had been unfulfilled". Thinking this he remembered that he had not presented to Khāndikya the gift that it is proper to offer to a spiritual preceptor and mounting his chariot he immediately started for the dense forest where the sage resided. Upon his reappearance Khāndikya took up arms to slay him; but Kesidhwaja exclaimed "Forbear, venerable sage; I have not come hither injure you; throw off your wrath, Khāndikya, know that I have come here to offer you that present which is due to you as my instructor. Through your lesson I have fully completed my sacrifice and I am therefore desirous to give you a gift. Demand what it shall be".

Having once more consulted his counsellors, Khāndikya told them the purpose of his rival's visit and asked them what he should demand. His friends recommended him to take back his whole kingdom for prudent men acquire them without conflicting hosts. The king Khāndikya reflecting laughed and said to them "Why should a person like me be desirous of a temporary earthly kingdom? Indeed you are very good advisers as regards the present worldly affairs—but you are undoubtedly ignorant of the life to come". Saying this he returned to Kesidhwaja and said to him "Is it true that you wish to make me a gift as to your preceptor?" "Indeed I do" answered Kesidhwaja. Whereto Khāndikya replied "Then, as it is known that you are learned in the spiritual learning that teaches the doctrine of the soul, if you will communicate that knowledge unto me you will have discharged your debt to your preceptor. Communicate unto me what acts are efficacious for the alleviation of human sufferings".

SECTION VII.Kesidhwaja said "But why have you not demanded of me my kingdom free from all troubles; what else save dominion is acceptable to the warrior?" Whereto Khāndikya replied "I will tell you why I did not make such a demand nor require that territory which is an object of ignorant ambition. It is the duty of the warrior to protect his subjects in peace and to kill in fight the enemies of his way. It is no fault that you should have taken my kingdom from one who was unable to defend it, to whom it was a bondage and who was thus freed from the incumbrance of ignorance. My desire of dominion originated from my being born to possess it; the ambition of others which proceeds from human frailties, is not compatible with virtue. To solicit gift is not the duty of a prince and warrior. It is for this reason I have not demanded of you the kingdom, a request which is the outcome of ignorance. Those only, who are ignorant, whose minds are attached to selfishness and who are intoxicated with the liquor of self-sufficiency, desire kingdoms; not such as I am".Parāçara said:—Being greatly delighted, the king Kesidhwaja praised Khāndikya and said to him affectionately "Listen to my words. Through the desire of escaping death by the ignorance of works I exercise the regal power, celebrate various sacrifices and enjoy pleasures subversive of purity. Fortunate it is for you that your mind has attached itself to the dominion of discrimination. Pride of your race now listen to the real nature of ignorance. The mistaken notion that self consists in what is not self and that property consists in what is not one's own constitute the double seed of the tree of ignorance. The ill judging embodied being, bewildered by the darkness of fascination situated in a body composed of five elements, loudly asserts 'This is I' but who would ascribe spiritual individuality to a body in which soil is distinct from ether, air, fire, water and earth. What man of understanding assigns to disembodied spirit corporeal fruition or what lands, houses and the like that it should say, 'These are mine?' What wise man entertains the idea of property in sons or grandsons begotten of the body after the spirit has abandoned it? Man performs all acts for the purpose of bodily fruition and the consequence of such acts is another body; so that their result is nothing but confinement to bodily existence. In the same manner as a mansion of clay is plastered with clay and water, so the body which of earth is perpetuated by earth and water. The body consisting of five elements is nourished by substances equally composed of those elements; but since this is the case, what is there in this life that man should be proud of? Travelling the path of the world for many thousands of births, man attains only the weariness of bewilderment and is smothered by the dust of imagination. When that dust is washed away by the bland water of real knowledge, then the weariness of bewilderment, sustained by the wayfarer through repeated births, is removed. When that weariness is relieved the internal man is at peace and he obtains that supreme felicity which is unequalled and undisturbed. This soul is pure and composed of wisdom and happiness. The properties of pain, ignorance and impurity are those of nature and not of soul. O Muni, there is no affinity between fire and water but when the latter is placed over the former in a cauldron, it bubbles and boils and exhibits the properties of fire. In the same manner when soul is associated with Prakriti it is vitiated by egotism and the rest and assumes the qualities of grosser nature although essentially distinct from them and compatible. Such is the seed of ignorance as I have explained it to you: there is but one remedy for earthly sorrows—the practice of devotion; no other is known".Thereupon Khandikya said:—"Do you then the foremost of those versed in contemplative devotion explain to me what that is, for in the race of the descendants of Nimi you are best acquainted with the sacred writings in which it is taught". Whereto Kesidhwaja replied: "Hear the account of the nature of contemplative devotion, which I am imparting to you and by perfection in which the sage attains resolution into Brahma and never suffers birth again. The mind of man is the cause both of his bondage and his liberation its addiction to the objects of sense is the means of his bondage; its separation from objects of sense is the means of his liberation. The sage, who is capable of discriminative knowledge, must therefore restrain his mind from all objects of sense and therewith meditate upon the supreme being, who is identical with spirit, in order to obtain liberation; for that supreme spirit attracts to itself him who meditates upon it, and who is of the same nature, as the lodestone attracts the iron by the virtue which is common to itself and to its products. Contemplative devotion is the union with Brahma effected by that condition of mind which has attained perfection through those exercises which complete the control of self; and he, whose contemplative devotion is characterised by the property of such absolute perfection, is in truth, O sage, expectant of final liberation from the world."The Yogi, when he first gives himself up to the practice of contemplative devotion, is called the novice or practitioner; when he has attained spiritual union, he is called the adept or he whose meditations are accomplished. Should the thoughts of the former be unvitiated by any obstructing imperfection, he will obtain freedom after practising devotion through several lives. The latter speedily obtains liberation in that existence, all his acts being consumed by the fire of contemplative devotion. The sage, who would bring his mind into a proper state for the performance of devout contemplation, must be devoid of desire and observe invariably continence, compassion, truth, honesty, and disinterestedness; he must fix his mind upon the supreme Brahma, practising holy study, purification, contentment, penance and self-control. These virtues, respectively termed the five acts of restraint and five of obligation bestow excellent rewards when practised for the sake of reward and eternal liberation and when they are not prompted by the desire of transient benefits. Endowed with these merits, the sage, self-restrained, should sit in one of the modes termed Bhadrāsana and engage in contemplation. Bringing his vital airs called Prāna under subjection, by frequent repetition is thence called Prānāyāma which is, as it were, a seed with a seed. In this, the breath of expiration and that of inspiration are alternately obstructed constituting the act two-fold; and the suppression of both modes of breathing produces a third. The exercise, of yogi, whilst endeavouring to bring before his thoughts the gross form of the eternal, is denominated Alambana. He is then to perform Pratyāhāra, which consists in restraining his organs of sense from susceptibility to outward impressions, and directing them entirely to mental perceptions. By these means the entire subjugation of the unsteady senses is effected: and if they are not controlled the sage will not accomplish his devotions. When by the Prānāyāma the vital airs are restrained and the senses are subjugated by Pratyāhāra then the sage will be able to keep his mind steady in its perfect asylum".Khāndikya then said to Kesidhwaja "Illustrious sage, inform me what is that perfect asylum of the mind resting on which it destroys all the products of human infirmity". To this Keshidhwaja replied. "The asylum of mind is Brahma, which, of its own nature, is two-fold; as being with or without form; and each of these, is supreme and secondary. Apprehension of Brahma or spirit is again three-fold. I will explain the different kinds to you, they are that which is called Brahma, that which is named from works, and that which comprehends both is the third. So that mental apprehension is three-fold. Sanandana and other were endowed with the apprehension of the nature of Brahma. The celestials and others whether animate or inanimate are possessed of that which regards acts. The apprehension, that comprehends both works and spirit, exists in Hiranyagarbha and others, who are possessed of contemplative knowledge of their own nature and who also exercise certain active functions as creation and the rest. Until all acts, which are the causes of notions of individuality, are discontinued, spirit is one thing and universe is another, to those who contemplate objects as distinct and various; but that is called true knowledge or knowledge of Brahma which recognises no distinctions, which contemplates only simple existence which is undefinable by words and is to be discovered solely in one's own spirit. That is the supreme unborn, imperishable form of Vishnu, who is without form and characterised as a condition of the supreme soul, which is variously modified from the condition of universal form. The sages, in the early stage, cannot perceive this form so they must direct their minds to the gross form of Hari, which is of universal perceptibility. They must meditate upon him as Hiranyagarbha, as the glorious Vāsava, as Prajāpati, as the winds, the Vasus, the Rudras, the suns, stars, planets, Gandharvas, Yakshas, Daityas, all the celestials, and their progenitors, men, animals, mountains, oceans, rivers, trees, all beings and all sources of beings, all modifications of natures, and its products, whether sentient of unconscious, one-footed, two-footed, or many-footed; all these are the sensible form of Hari, to be apprehended by three kinds of apprehension. All this universal world, this world of moving and stationary beings is pervaded by the energy of Vishnu, who is of the nature of supreme Brahma. This energy is supreme, or when it is that of conscious embodied spirit it is secondary. Ignorance, or that which is denominated from works, is a third energy; by which the omnipresent energy of embodied spirit is ever excited and whence it suffers all the pains of repeated worldly existence. Obscured by that energy, the energy that is denominated from embodied spirit, is characterised by different degrees of perfection in all created beings. In inanimate things it exists in a very small degree; it is more in things that have life, but are (without motion); in insects it is still more abundant, and still more in birds: it is more in wild animals and in domestic animals the faculty is still greater: men have more of this faculty than animals, and thence arises their authority over them; the faculty exists in a supreme degree in Nāgas, Gandharvas, Yakshas, celestials, Sakra, Prajāpati and Hiranyagarbha; and is above ail predominant in that male (Vishnu) of whom all these various creatures are but the diversified forms, permeated universally by his energy, as all-pervading as the other."That state of Vishnu, which is without form, is to be meditated upon by the sages and this imperceptible and shapeless form of Brahma is called by the wise 'that which is' and in which all the energies, described before, reside. O lord of men, from this state of Vishnu and which is formless, proceeds his universal form and other great form and other forms endowed with his diverse energies. For the behoof of the universe he assumes various forms, that of the celestial, birds and men—but he is never born being influenced by his pristine actions; he is all-comprehending and irresistible. This universal form of his is to be meditated upon by the sage for the purpose of purification for it washes away all sins. As the fire, combined with wind, consumes twigs with its increased flame, so this form of Vishnu, when meditated upon by the sage in his heart, destroys all sins. Let us therefore fix our mind resolutely upon him who is the asylum of three fold energies and this is the operation of the mind which is called perfect Dhāranā: and thus the perfect asylum of individual as well as universal spirit, that which beyond the three modes of apprehension, is attained for the eternal emancipation of the sage. O foremost of men, the gods and others who rest in the minds are impure and spring from acts. The apprehension by the mild, of that visible form of Vishnu without regard to subsidiary forms is thence called Dhāranā and I will now describe to you the perceptible form of Hari which no mental retention will manifest except in a mind that is fit to become the receptacle of the idea. The meditating sage must think of Vishnu as having a delightful and lovely countenance with eyes like the leaf of the lotus, smooth cheeks, and a broad and brilliant forehead; ears of equal size, the lobes of which are embellished with splendid pendants, a painted neck and a broad breast on which shines the mystic mark of Sribatsa; a belly falling in graceful fold, with a deep-seated navel; eight long arms or else four; and firm and well knit thighs and legs, with well-formed feet and toes. Let him, with well-governed thoughts, contemplate, as long as he can persevere with undivided attention, Hari as clad in a yellow raiment, wearing a rich diadem on his head and brilliant armlets and bracelets on his arms and bearing in his hands, the bow, the shell, the mace, the sword, the discus, the rosary, the lotus and the arrow. The Yogi may believe his retention to be perfect when this image never vanishes from his mind, whether he be going or standing, or be engaged in any other voluntary act. The sage may then meditate upon the form of Vishnu without his arms as the shell, mace, discus and bow and as placid and bearing only his rosary. When the idea of this image is firmly retained, then he may meditate on Vishnu without his diadem, bracelets or other ornaments. He may next contemplate him as having but one single limb and may then fix his whole thoughts upon the body to which the limbs belong. The process of forming a lively image in the mind exclusive of all other objects, constitutes Dhyāna, or meditation, which is perfected by six stages and when an accurate knowledge of self, free from all distinction, is attained by this mental meditation that, is termed Samadhi."After accomplishing this stage the Yogi acquires discriminative knowledge, which is the means of enabling living soul when all the three kinds of apprehension are destroyed to attain the attainable supreme being. Embodied spirit is the user of the instrument, which instrument is true knowledge; and by it that identification of the former is attained. Liberation which is the object to be effected being accomplished discriminative knowledge ceases. When endowed with the apprehension of the nature of the object of enquiry, then there is no difference between the individual and supreme spirit; difference is the outcome of the absence of true knowledge. When that ignorance which is the cause of the difference between the individual and universal spirit b destroyed finally and for ever who shall ever make that distinction between them which does not exist? Thus I have, O Khāndikya, in reply to your question, explained to you what is meant by contemplative devotion both fully and summarily. What else do you wish to hear?"Khāndikya replied to Keshidhwaja and said:—"The explanation that has been given by you of the real nature of contemplative devotion, has satisfied all my wishes and removed all impurity from my mind. The expression 'mine' that I have been accustomed to use is untruth and cannot be otherwise declared by those who know what is to be known. The words 'I' and 'mine' constitute ignorance; but practice is influenced by ignorance. Supreme truth cannot be defined for it is not to be explained by words. Depart, therefore, Keshidwaja; you have done all that is necessary for my real happiness, in teaching me contemplative devotion, the exhaustible bestower of liberation from existence".After receiving becoming homage from Khāndikya, Keshidhwaja came back to his capital. And having made his son Raja he repaired to woods to accomplish his devotions, his whole mind being intent on Govinda. His whole mind being devoted to one object only and being purified by the practice of self-restraint, self-control and the rest he obtained absorption into the pure and perfect spirit which is termed Vishnu. And in order to obtain liberation Keshidhwaja became averse from his own perishable works and lived amidst objects of sense and practised religious rites without expecting any benefit therefrom. Being freed from ail sins by pure and auspicious fruition he obtained that perfection which removes all miseries.

Kesidhwaja said "But why have you not demanded of me my kingdom free from all troubles; what else save dominion is acceptable to the warrior?" Whereto Khāndikya replied "I will tell you why I did not make such a demand nor require that territory which is an object of ignorant ambition. It is the duty of the warrior to protect his subjects in peace and to kill in fight the enemies of his way. It is no fault that you should have taken my kingdom from one who was unable to defend it, to whom it was a bondage and who was thus freed from the incumbrance of ignorance. My desire of dominion originated from my being born to possess it; the ambition of others which proceeds from human frailties, is not compatible with virtue. To solicit gift is not the duty of a prince and warrior. It is for this reason I have not demanded of you the kingdom, a request which is the outcome of ignorance. Those only, who are ignorant, whose minds are attached to selfishness and who are intoxicated with the liquor of self-sufficiency, desire kingdoms; not such as I am".

Parāçara said:—Being greatly delighted, the king Kesidhwaja praised Khāndikya and said to him affectionately "Listen to my words. Through the desire of escaping death by the ignorance of works I exercise the regal power, celebrate various sacrifices and enjoy pleasures subversive of purity. Fortunate it is for you that your mind has attached itself to the dominion of discrimination. Pride of your race now listen to the real nature of ignorance. The mistaken notion that self consists in what is not self and that property consists in what is not one's own constitute the double seed of the tree of ignorance. The ill judging embodied being, bewildered by the darkness of fascination situated in a body composed of five elements, loudly asserts 'This is I' but who would ascribe spiritual individuality to a body in which soil is distinct from ether, air, fire, water and earth. What man of understanding assigns to disembodied spirit corporeal fruition or what lands, houses and the like that it should say, 'These are mine?' What wise man entertains the idea of property in sons or grandsons begotten of the body after the spirit has abandoned it? Man performs all acts for the purpose of bodily fruition and the consequence of such acts is another body; so that their result is nothing but confinement to bodily existence. In the same manner as a mansion of clay is plastered with clay and water, so the body which of earth is perpetuated by earth and water. The body consisting of five elements is nourished by substances equally composed of those elements; but since this is the case, what is there in this life that man should be proud of? Travelling the path of the world for many thousands of births, man attains only the weariness of bewilderment and is smothered by the dust of imagination. When that dust is washed away by the bland water of real knowledge, then the weariness of bewilderment, sustained by the wayfarer through repeated births, is removed. When that weariness is relieved the internal man is at peace and he obtains that supreme felicity which is unequalled and undisturbed. This soul is pure and composed of wisdom and happiness. The properties of pain, ignorance and impurity are those of nature and not of soul. O Muni, there is no affinity between fire and water but when the latter is placed over the former in a cauldron, it bubbles and boils and exhibits the properties of fire. In the same manner when soul is associated with Prakriti it is vitiated by egotism and the rest and assumes the qualities of grosser nature although essentially distinct from them and compatible. Such is the seed of ignorance as I have explained it to you: there is but one remedy for earthly sorrows—the practice of devotion; no other is known".

Thereupon Khandikya said:—"Do you then the foremost of those versed in contemplative devotion explain to me what that is, for in the race of the descendants of Nimi you are best acquainted with the sacred writings in which it is taught". Whereto Kesidhwaja replied: "Hear the account of the nature of contemplative devotion, which I am imparting to you and by perfection in which the sage attains resolution into Brahma and never suffers birth again. The mind of man is the cause both of his bondage and his liberation its addiction to the objects of sense is the means of his bondage; its separation from objects of sense is the means of his liberation. The sage, who is capable of discriminative knowledge, must therefore restrain his mind from all objects of sense and therewith meditate upon the supreme being, who is identical with spirit, in order to obtain liberation; for that supreme spirit attracts to itself him who meditates upon it, and who is of the same nature, as the lodestone attracts the iron by the virtue which is common to itself and to its products. Contemplative devotion is the union with Brahma effected by that condition of mind which has attained perfection through those exercises which complete the control of self; and he, whose contemplative devotion is characterised by the property of such absolute perfection, is in truth, O sage, expectant of final liberation from the world.

"The Yogi, when he first gives himself up to the practice of contemplative devotion, is called the novice or practitioner; when he has attained spiritual union, he is called the adept or he whose meditations are accomplished. Should the thoughts of the former be unvitiated by any obstructing imperfection, he will obtain freedom after practising devotion through several lives. The latter speedily obtains liberation in that existence, all his acts being consumed by the fire of contemplative devotion. The sage, who would bring his mind into a proper state for the performance of devout contemplation, must be devoid of desire and observe invariably continence, compassion, truth, honesty, and disinterestedness; he must fix his mind upon the supreme Brahma, practising holy study, purification, contentment, penance and self-control. These virtues, respectively termed the five acts of restraint and five of obligation bestow excellent rewards when practised for the sake of reward and eternal liberation and when they are not prompted by the desire of transient benefits. Endowed with these merits, the sage, self-restrained, should sit in one of the modes termed Bhadrāsana and engage in contemplation. Bringing his vital airs called Prāna under subjection, by frequent repetition is thence called Prānāyāma which is, as it were, a seed with a seed. In this, the breath of expiration and that of inspiration are alternately obstructed constituting the act two-fold; and the suppression of both modes of breathing produces a third. The exercise, of yogi, whilst endeavouring to bring before his thoughts the gross form of the eternal, is denominated Alambana. He is then to perform Pratyāhāra, which consists in restraining his organs of sense from susceptibility to outward impressions, and directing them entirely to mental perceptions. By these means the entire subjugation of the unsteady senses is effected: and if they are not controlled the sage will not accomplish his devotions. When by the Prānāyāma the vital airs are restrained and the senses are subjugated by Pratyāhāra then the sage will be able to keep his mind steady in its perfect asylum".

Khāndikya then said to Kesidhwaja "Illustrious sage, inform me what is that perfect asylum of the mind resting on which it destroys all the products of human infirmity". To this Keshidhwaja replied. "The asylum of mind is Brahma, which, of its own nature, is two-fold; as being with or without form; and each of these, is supreme and secondary. Apprehension of Brahma or spirit is again three-fold. I will explain the different kinds to you, they are that which is called Brahma, that which is named from works, and that which comprehends both is the third. So that mental apprehension is three-fold. Sanandana and other were endowed with the apprehension of the nature of Brahma. The celestials and others whether animate or inanimate are possessed of that which regards acts. The apprehension, that comprehends both works and spirit, exists in Hiranyagarbha and others, who are possessed of contemplative knowledge of their own nature and who also exercise certain active functions as creation and the rest. Until all acts, which are the causes of notions of individuality, are discontinued, spirit is one thing and universe is another, to those who contemplate objects as distinct and various; but that is called true knowledge or knowledge of Brahma which recognises no distinctions, which contemplates only simple existence which is undefinable by words and is to be discovered solely in one's own spirit. That is the supreme unborn, imperishable form of Vishnu, who is without form and characterised as a condition of the supreme soul, which is variously modified from the condition of universal form. The sages, in the early stage, cannot perceive this form so they must direct their minds to the gross form of Hari, which is of universal perceptibility. They must meditate upon him as Hiranyagarbha, as the glorious Vāsava, as Prajāpati, as the winds, the Vasus, the Rudras, the suns, stars, planets, Gandharvas, Yakshas, Daityas, all the celestials, and their progenitors, men, animals, mountains, oceans, rivers, trees, all beings and all sources of beings, all modifications of natures, and its products, whether sentient of unconscious, one-footed, two-footed, or many-footed; all these are the sensible form of Hari, to be apprehended by three kinds of apprehension. All this universal world, this world of moving and stationary beings is pervaded by the energy of Vishnu, who is of the nature of supreme Brahma. This energy is supreme, or when it is that of conscious embodied spirit it is secondary. Ignorance, or that which is denominated from works, is a third energy; by which the omnipresent energy of embodied spirit is ever excited and whence it suffers all the pains of repeated worldly existence. Obscured by that energy, the energy that is denominated from embodied spirit, is characterised by different degrees of perfection in all created beings. In inanimate things it exists in a very small degree; it is more in things that have life, but are (without motion); in insects it is still more abundant, and still more in birds: it is more in wild animals and in domestic animals the faculty is still greater: men have more of this faculty than animals, and thence arises their authority over them; the faculty exists in a supreme degree in Nāgas, Gandharvas, Yakshas, celestials, Sakra, Prajāpati and Hiranyagarbha; and is above ail predominant in that male (Vishnu) of whom all these various creatures are but the diversified forms, permeated universally by his energy, as all-pervading as the other.

"That state of Vishnu, which is without form, is to be meditated upon by the sages and this imperceptible and shapeless form of Brahma is called by the wise 'that which is' and in which all the energies, described before, reside. O lord of men, from this state of Vishnu and which is formless, proceeds his universal form and other great form and other forms endowed with his diverse energies. For the behoof of the universe he assumes various forms, that of the celestial, birds and men—but he is never born being influenced by his pristine actions; he is all-comprehending and irresistible. This universal form of his is to be meditated upon by the sage for the purpose of purification for it washes away all sins. As the fire, combined with wind, consumes twigs with its increased flame, so this form of Vishnu, when meditated upon by the sage in his heart, destroys all sins. Let us therefore fix our mind resolutely upon him who is the asylum of three fold energies and this is the operation of the mind which is called perfect Dhāranā: and thus the perfect asylum of individual as well as universal spirit, that which beyond the three modes of apprehension, is attained for the eternal emancipation of the sage. O foremost of men, the gods and others who rest in the minds are impure and spring from acts. The apprehension by the mild, of that visible form of Vishnu without regard to subsidiary forms is thence called Dhāranā and I will now describe to you the perceptible form of Hari which no mental retention will manifest except in a mind that is fit to become the receptacle of the idea. The meditating sage must think of Vishnu as having a delightful and lovely countenance with eyes like the leaf of the lotus, smooth cheeks, and a broad and brilliant forehead; ears of equal size, the lobes of which are embellished with splendid pendants, a painted neck and a broad breast on which shines the mystic mark of Sribatsa; a belly falling in graceful fold, with a deep-seated navel; eight long arms or else four; and firm and well knit thighs and legs, with well-formed feet and toes. Let him, with well-governed thoughts, contemplate, as long as he can persevere with undivided attention, Hari as clad in a yellow raiment, wearing a rich diadem on his head and brilliant armlets and bracelets on his arms and bearing in his hands, the bow, the shell, the mace, the sword, the discus, the rosary, the lotus and the arrow. The Yogi may believe his retention to be perfect when this image never vanishes from his mind, whether he be going or standing, or be engaged in any other voluntary act. The sage may then meditate upon the form of Vishnu without his arms as the shell, mace, discus and bow and as placid and bearing only his rosary. When the idea of this image is firmly retained, then he may meditate on Vishnu without his diadem, bracelets or other ornaments. He may next contemplate him as having but one single limb and may then fix his whole thoughts upon the body to which the limbs belong. The process of forming a lively image in the mind exclusive of all other objects, constitutes Dhyāna, or meditation, which is perfected by six stages and when an accurate knowledge of self, free from all distinction, is attained by this mental meditation that, is termed Samadhi.

"After accomplishing this stage the Yogi acquires discriminative knowledge, which is the means of enabling living soul when all the three kinds of apprehension are destroyed to attain the attainable supreme being. Embodied spirit is the user of the instrument, which instrument is true knowledge; and by it that identification of the former is attained. Liberation which is the object to be effected being accomplished discriminative knowledge ceases. When endowed with the apprehension of the nature of the object of enquiry, then there is no difference between the individual and supreme spirit; difference is the outcome of the absence of true knowledge. When that ignorance which is the cause of the difference between the individual and universal spirit b destroyed finally and for ever who shall ever make that distinction between them which does not exist? Thus I have, O Khāndikya, in reply to your question, explained to you what is meant by contemplative devotion both fully and summarily. What else do you wish to hear?"

Khāndikya replied to Keshidhwaja and said:—"The explanation that has been given by you of the real nature of contemplative devotion, has satisfied all my wishes and removed all impurity from my mind. The expression 'mine' that I have been accustomed to use is untruth and cannot be otherwise declared by those who know what is to be known. The words 'I' and 'mine' constitute ignorance; but practice is influenced by ignorance. Supreme truth cannot be defined for it is not to be explained by words. Depart, therefore, Keshidwaja; you have done all that is necessary for my real happiness, in teaching me contemplative devotion, the exhaustible bestower of liberation from existence".

After receiving becoming homage from Khāndikya, Keshidhwaja came back to his capital. And having made his son Raja he repaired to woods to accomplish his devotions, his whole mind being intent on Govinda. His whole mind being devoted to one object only and being purified by the practice of self-restraint, self-control and the rest he obtained absorption into the pure and perfect spirit which is termed Vishnu. And in order to obtain liberation Keshidhwaja became averse from his own perishable works and lived amidst objects of sense and practised religious rites without expecting any benefit therefrom. Being freed from ail sins by pure and auspicious fruition he obtained that perfection which removes all miseries.

SECTION VIII.Parāçara said:—I have thus explained to you the third kind of worldly dissolution, that which is absolute and final which is liberation and resolution into eternal spirit. I have related unto you the primary and secondary creation, the families of patriarchs, the periods of the Manwantaras and the genealogical histories of the kings. I have described briefly to you, who were desirous of hearing it, the imperishable Vaishnava Purāna which destroys all sins, the most excellent of all sacred writings and the means of attaining the great end of man. If you have any thing else to ask, put the question and I will answer it.Maitkeya said:—"Holy preceptor, you have indeed said unto me all I wished to know and I listened to it with devoted attention. O great saint, all my doubts have been removed and my heart has been purified. By thy favour, I have been acquainted with the account of creation, preservation and destruction. I have also learnt from you of Vishnu in his collective fourfold form; his three energies; and the three modes of apprehending the object of contemplation. By thy favour I have acquired a thorough knowledge of all this and there is nothing else worthy to be known when it is once understood that Vishnu and his world are not mutually distinct. By your kindness, O great Muni, you have removed all my doubts since you have instructed in the duties of the several tribes and in other deities; the nature of active life and discontinuance of action and derivation of all that exists from works. And I have nothing else to enquire of you, O Venerable Brahmin; and pardon me, if by answering to my questions you have been fatigued in any way. Pardon me for the trouble I have given you through that amiable quality of the virtuous which makes no distinction between a disciple and a child".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.

Parāçara said:—I have thus explained to you the third kind of worldly dissolution, that which is absolute and final which is liberation and resolution into eternal spirit. I have related unto you the primary and secondary creation, the families of patriarchs, the periods of the Manwantaras and the genealogical histories of the kings. I have described briefly to you, who were desirous of hearing it, the imperishable Vaishnava Purāna which destroys all sins, the most excellent of all sacred writings and the means of attaining the great end of man. If you have any thing else to ask, put the question and I will answer it.

Maitkeya said:—"Holy preceptor, you have indeed said unto me all I wished to know and I listened to it with devoted attention. O great saint, all my doubts have been removed and my heart has been purified. By thy favour, I have been acquainted with the account of creation, preservation and destruction. I have also learnt from you of Vishnu in his collective fourfold form; his three energies; and the three modes of apprehending the object of contemplation. By thy favour I have acquired a thorough knowledge of all this and there is nothing else worthy to be known when it is once understood that Vishnu and his world are not mutually distinct. By your kindness, O great Muni, you have removed all my doubts since you have instructed in the duties of the several tribes and in other deities; the nature of active life and discontinuance of action and derivation of all that exists from works. And I have nothing else to enquire of you, O Venerable Brahmin; and pardon me, if by answering to my questions you have been fatigued in any way. Pardon me for the trouble I have given you through that amiable quality of the virtuous which makes no distinction between a disciple and a child".

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.

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