SECTION XII.Parāçara said—The car of the moon has three wheels and is drawn by ten steeds white as the Jasmine—five on the right half and five on the left. The asterisms upheld by Dhruva move before the sun. And the cords that fasten the moon are tightened or relaxed in the same manner like those of the sun. O foremost of Munis, like the steeds of the sun, the horses of the moon, sprung from the waters, drag its car for a whole Kalpa. O Maitreya, when the moon is reduced, having its rays drunk up by the celestials, to a single Kalā, the radiant sun supplied it with a single ray. And as the moon is gradually exhausted by the celestials it is replenished in the same way every day with his rays by the sun, the plunderer of waters. Thus, O Maitreya, when in the half month the ambrosia is deposited in the moon, the celestials drink it for it constitutes their food, Thirty-six thousand three hundred and thirty three divinities drink the ambrosia of the moon. When two kalās remain the moon enters the orbit of the sun and lives in the ray called Amā and the period is accordingly called Amavasyā. During this period the moon is first immersed for a day and night in the water; thence it enters the branches and shoots of the trees and thence it proceeds to the sun. Hence any person, who cuts off a branch or casts down a leaf when the moon is in the trees is guilty of the crime consequent upon the destruction of a Brāhmin. When the remainder of the moon contains but a fifteenth portion the manes near it in the afternoon and drink the last but sacred Kalā which is composed of ambrosia and contained in the two digits. The nectar that comes from the rays of the moon on the day of conjunction is drunk by the progenitors—and they remain satisfied thereby for a month. The progenitors are divided into three classes:—Saumyas, Varhishadas, and Agnishwātta. In this wise, the moon, with its cooling rays, nourishes the celestials in the light fortnight and Pitris in the dark fortnight. It nourishes the plants with its cool nectary aqueous atoms. And through the development of those plants it sustains men, animals and insects and satisfies them with its radiance.The chariot of Budha, the son of the moon, is made of the wind and fire and is drawn by eight bay horses gifted with the velocity of the wind. The huge car of Sukra (Venus) is carried by earth-borne horses, equipped with a protecting fender and a floor, armed with arrows and adorned with a pennon. The magnificent car of Bhauma (Mars) is made of gold, of an octagonal shape, drawn by eight steeds of a ruby red originated from fire. Vrihaspati (Jupiter) in a golden car drawn by eight pale-coloured steeds, travels, at the end of the year, from one sign to another. The slow-paced Sani (Saturn) travels in a car drawn by piebald horses. O Maitreya, the chariot of Rāhu are drawn by eight black horses, which once harnessed are attached to it for ever. At the time of lunar and solar eclipses the Rāhu travels from the sun to the moon and comes back again from the moon to the sun. The car of Ketu is is drawn by eight horses having fleetness of the wind and of the dusky red colour of lac or of the smoke of burning straw.I have thus described to you, O Maitreya, the chariots of the nine planets all of which are fastened to Dhruva by aerial cords. To Dhruva are attached the orbs of all the planets, asterisms and stars. And they all move in their respective orbits being kept in their places by their respective cords of air. As many are the stars so many are the aerial cords by which they are fastened to Dhruva. As they turn round they cause the pole-star to revolve. As the oilman goes round the spindle and makes it revolve, so the planets revolve suspended by the aerial cords which are also whirling round a centre. The air is called Pravāha because it bears along the planets like a disc of fire driven by the aerial wheel.I have related to you, O foremost of Munis, that Dhruva is fitted to the tail of the celestial porpoise: I shall now describe in detail the constituent parts; hear them as they are of great efficacy. People are freed from the sins committed by them during the day when they behold the celestial porpoise in the hight. And those who behold it live as many years as there are stars in it, in the sky or even more. Uttānpada is the upper jaw and sacrifice the lower jaw of that celestial porpoise. Dhruva is situated on its brow and Nārāyana in its heart. The Aswinis are its two fore-feet and Varuna and Aryamat are its two hinder legs. Samvatsara is its sexual organ and Mitra is its organ of execretion. Agni, Mahendra, Kasyapa and Dhurva are successively placed in its tail; which four stars in this constellation never set.I have thus related to you the situation of the earth and the stars. I had already described to you the Varshas and rivers and the animals living there. I shall again describe them in short: hear them.From the waters which constitute the person of Vishnu originated the lotus-shaped earth with its seas and mountains. The stars are Vishnu, the words are Vishnu: forests, mountains, regions, streams, seas are Vishnu—all that is, all that shall be—all that is not are Vishnu. The glorious Vishnu is identical with knowledge. He has got endless forms but is not a substance. All the mountains, oceans and the various divisions of the earth you must consider to be the illusions of the apprehension. When knowledge is pure, real, universal, independent of actions, freed from defect then the varieties of substance, which are the fruits of the tree of desire, cease to exist in matter. What is substance? What thing is that which has got no beginning, no middle and no end? And which is of one uniform nature? How can that object be called real which is subject to change and which reassumes no more its original character? The earth is seen as a jar; the jar is divided into two halves which are again broken into pieces: they again become dust and the dust is again reduced into atoms. Is this reality? And although it is considered so by man it is because his self-knowledge is obstructed by his own acts. Therefore, O Brahman, there is nothing anywhere, or anything real at any time save discriminative knowledge. On account of the diversity of their actions, people, having diverse temperaments, consider that one knowledge as manifold. Knowledge perfect and pure, freed from pains and renouncing attachments towards all these which cause affliction—knowledge, single and eternal is the supreme Vāsudeva, besides whom there is nothing. I have thus communicated to you the truth—the knowledge which is truth; and all that differs from it is false. That which is seen by the knowledge is but illusion of a temporal and worldly nature. I have also described to you the sacrifice, the victim, the fire, the priests, the acid, juce, the celestials, the desire for heaven, the path followed by acts of devotion and the worlds that are their outcome. In this universe which I have described to you only those people travel who are subject to the influence of actions. But he, who knows Vasudeva to be eternal, immutable, and of one unchanging, universal form, should so perform them that he may enter into the deity.
SECTION XII.Parāçara said—The car of the moon has three wheels and is drawn by ten steeds white as the Jasmine—five on the right half and five on the left. The asterisms upheld by Dhruva move before the sun. And the cords that fasten the moon are tightened or relaxed in the same manner like those of the sun. O foremost of Munis, like the steeds of the sun, the horses of the moon, sprung from the waters, drag its car for a whole Kalpa. O Maitreya, when the moon is reduced, having its rays drunk up by the celestials, to a single Kalā, the radiant sun supplied it with a single ray. And as the moon is gradually exhausted by the celestials it is replenished in the same way every day with his rays by the sun, the plunderer of waters. Thus, O Maitreya, when in the half month the ambrosia is deposited in the moon, the celestials drink it for it constitutes their food, Thirty-six thousand three hundred and thirty three divinities drink the ambrosia of the moon. When two kalās remain the moon enters the orbit of the sun and lives in the ray called Amā and the period is accordingly called Amavasyā. During this period the moon is first immersed for a day and night in the water; thence it enters the branches and shoots of the trees and thence it proceeds to the sun. Hence any person, who cuts off a branch or casts down a leaf when the moon is in the trees is guilty of the crime consequent upon the destruction of a Brāhmin. When the remainder of the moon contains but a fifteenth portion the manes near it in the afternoon and drink the last but sacred Kalā which is composed of ambrosia and contained in the two digits. The nectar that comes from the rays of the moon on the day of conjunction is drunk by the progenitors—and they remain satisfied thereby for a month. The progenitors are divided into three classes:—Saumyas, Varhishadas, and Agnishwātta. In this wise, the moon, with its cooling rays, nourishes the celestials in the light fortnight and Pitris in the dark fortnight. It nourishes the plants with its cool nectary aqueous atoms. And through the development of those plants it sustains men, animals and insects and satisfies them with its radiance.The chariot of Budha, the son of the moon, is made of the wind and fire and is drawn by eight bay horses gifted with the velocity of the wind. The huge car of Sukra (Venus) is carried by earth-borne horses, equipped with a protecting fender and a floor, armed with arrows and adorned with a pennon. The magnificent car of Bhauma (Mars) is made of gold, of an octagonal shape, drawn by eight steeds of a ruby red originated from fire. Vrihaspati (Jupiter) in a golden car drawn by eight pale-coloured steeds, travels, at the end of the year, from one sign to another. The slow-paced Sani (Saturn) travels in a car drawn by piebald horses. O Maitreya, the chariot of Rāhu are drawn by eight black horses, which once harnessed are attached to it for ever. At the time of lunar and solar eclipses the Rāhu travels from the sun to the moon and comes back again from the moon to the sun. The car of Ketu is is drawn by eight horses having fleetness of the wind and of the dusky red colour of lac or of the smoke of burning straw.I have thus described to you, O Maitreya, the chariots of the nine planets all of which are fastened to Dhruva by aerial cords. To Dhruva are attached the orbs of all the planets, asterisms and stars. And they all move in their respective orbits being kept in their places by their respective cords of air. As many are the stars so many are the aerial cords by which they are fastened to Dhruva. As they turn round they cause the pole-star to revolve. As the oilman goes round the spindle and makes it revolve, so the planets revolve suspended by the aerial cords which are also whirling round a centre. The air is called Pravāha because it bears along the planets like a disc of fire driven by the aerial wheel.I have related to you, O foremost of Munis, that Dhruva is fitted to the tail of the celestial porpoise: I shall now describe in detail the constituent parts; hear them as they are of great efficacy. People are freed from the sins committed by them during the day when they behold the celestial porpoise in the hight. And those who behold it live as many years as there are stars in it, in the sky or even more. Uttānpada is the upper jaw and sacrifice the lower jaw of that celestial porpoise. Dhruva is situated on its brow and Nārāyana in its heart. The Aswinis are its two fore-feet and Varuna and Aryamat are its two hinder legs. Samvatsara is its sexual organ and Mitra is its organ of execretion. Agni, Mahendra, Kasyapa and Dhurva are successively placed in its tail; which four stars in this constellation never set.I have thus related to you the situation of the earth and the stars. I had already described to you the Varshas and rivers and the animals living there. I shall again describe them in short: hear them.From the waters which constitute the person of Vishnu originated the lotus-shaped earth with its seas and mountains. The stars are Vishnu, the words are Vishnu: forests, mountains, regions, streams, seas are Vishnu—all that is, all that shall be—all that is not are Vishnu. The glorious Vishnu is identical with knowledge. He has got endless forms but is not a substance. All the mountains, oceans and the various divisions of the earth you must consider to be the illusions of the apprehension. When knowledge is pure, real, universal, independent of actions, freed from defect then the varieties of substance, which are the fruits of the tree of desire, cease to exist in matter. What is substance? What thing is that which has got no beginning, no middle and no end? And which is of one uniform nature? How can that object be called real which is subject to change and which reassumes no more its original character? The earth is seen as a jar; the jar is divided into two halves which are again broken into pieces: they again become dust and the dust is again reduced into atoms. Is this reality? And although it is considered so by man it is because his self-knowledge is obstructed by his own acts. Therefore, O Brahman, there is nothing anywhere, or anything real at any time save discriminative knowledge. On account of the diversity of their actions, people, having diverse temperaments, consider that one knowledge as manifold. Knowledge perfect and pure, freed from pains and renouncing attachments towards all these which cause affliction—knowledge, single and eternal is the supreme Vāsudeva, besides whom there is nothing. I have thus communicated to you the truth—the knowledge which is truth; and all that differs from it is false. That which is seen by the knowledge is but illusion of a temporal and worldly nature. I have also described to you the sacrifice, the victim, the fire, the priests, the acid, juce, the celestials, the desire for heaven, the path followed by acts of devotion and the worlds that are their outcome. In this universe which I have described to you only those people travel who are subject to the influence of actions. But he, who knows Vasudeva to be eternal, immutable, and of one unchanging, universal form, should so perform them that he may enter into the deity.
SECTION XII.Parāçara said—The car of the moon has three wheels and is drawn by ten steeds white as the Jasmine—five on the right half and five on the left. The asterisms upheld by Dhruva move before the sun. And the cords that fasten the moon are tightened or relaxed in the same manner like those of the sun. O foremost of Munis, like the steeds of the sun, the horses of the moon, sprung from the waters, drag its car for a whole Kalpa. O Maitreya, when the moon is reduced, having its rays drunk up by the celestials, to a single Kalā, the radiant sun supplied it with a single ray. And as the moon is gradually exhausted by the celestials it is replenished in the same way every day with his rays by the sun, the plunderer of waters. Thus, O Maitreya, when in the half month the ambrosia is deposited in the moon, the celestials drink it for it constitutes their food, Thirty-six thousand three hundred and thirty three divinities drink the ambrosia of the moon. When two kalās remain the moon enters the orbit of the sun and lives in the ray called Amā and the period is accordingly called Amavasyā. During this period the moon is first immersed for a day and night in the water; thence it enters the branches and shoots of the trees and thence it proceeds to the sun. Hence any person, who cuts off a branch or casts down a leaf when the moon is in the trees is guilty of the crime consequent upon the destruction of a Brāhmin. When the remainder of the moon contains but a fifteenth portion the manes near it in the afternoon and drink the last but sacred Kalā which is composed of ambrosia and contained in the two digits. The nectar that comes from the rays of the moon on the day of conjunction is drunk by the progenitors—and they remain satisfied thereby for a month. The progenitors are divided into three classes:—Saumyas, Varhishadas, and Agnishwātta. In this wise, the moon, with its cooling rays, nourishes the celestials in the light fortnight and Pitris in the dark fortnight. It nourishes the plants with its cool nectary aqueous atoms. And through the development of those plants it sustains men, animals and insects and satisfies them with its radiance.The chariot of Budha, the son of the moon, is made of the wind and fire and is drawn by eight bay horses gifted with the velocity of the wind. The huge car of Sukra (Venus) is carried by earth-borne horses, equipped with a protecting fender and a floor, armed with arrows and adorned with a pennon. The magnificent car of Bhauma (Mars) is made of gold, of an octagonal shape, drawn by eight steeds of a ruby red originated from fire. Vrihaspati (Jupiter) in a golden car drawn by eight pale-coloured steeds, travels, at the end of the year, from one sign to another. The slow-paced Sani (Saturn) travels in a car drawn by piebald horses. O Maitreya, the chariot of Rāhu are drawn by eight black horses, which once harnessed are attached to it for ever. At the time of lunar and solar eclipses the Rāhu travels from the sun to the moon and comes back again from the moon to the sun. The car of Ketu is is drawn by eight horses having fleetness of the wind and of the dusky red colour of lac or of the smoke of burning straw.I have thus described to you, O Maitreya, the chariots of the nine planets all of which are fastened to Dhruva by aerial cords. To Dhruva are attached the orbs of all the planets, asterisms and stars. And they all move in their respective orbits being kept in their places by their respective cords of air. As many are the stars so many are the aerial cords by which they are fastened to Dhruva. As they turn round they cause the pole-star to revolve. As the oilman goes round the spindle and makes it revolve, so the planets revolve suspended by the aerial cords which are also whirling round a centre. The air is called Pravāha because it bears along the planets like a disc of fire driven by the aerial wheel.I have related to you, O foremost of Munis, that Dhruva is fitted to the tail of the celestial porpoise: I shall now describe in detail the constituent parts; hear them as they are of great efficacy. People are freed from the sins committed by them during the day when they behold the celestial porpoise in the hight. And those who behold it live as many years as there are stars in it, in the sky or even more. Uttānpada is the upper jaw and sacrifice the lower jaw of that celestial porpoise. Dhruva is situated on its brow and Nārāyana in its heart. The Aswinis are its two fore-feet and Varuna and Aryamat are its two hinder legs. Samvatsara is its sexual organ and Mitra is its organ of execretion. Agni, Mahendra, Kasyapa and Dhurva are successively placed in its tail; which four stars in this constellation never set.I have thus related to you the situation of the earth and the stars. I had already described to you the Varshas and rivers and the animals living there. I shall again describe them in short: hear them.From the waters which constitute the person of Vishnu originated the lotus-shaped earth with its seas and mountains. The stars are Vishnu, the words are Vishnu: forests, mountains, regions, streams, seas are Vishnu—all that is, all that shall be—all that is not are Vishnu. The glorious Vishnu is identical with knowledge. He has got endless forms but is not a substance. All the mountains, oceans and the various divisions of the earth you must consider to be the illusions of the apprehension. When knowledge is pure, real, universal, independent of actions, freed from defect then the varieties of substance, which are the fruits of the tree of desire, cease to exist in matter. What is substance? What thing is that which has got no beginning, no middle and no end? And which is of one uniform nature? How can that object be called real which is subject to change and which reassumes no more its original character? The earth is seen as a jar; the jar is divided into two halves which are again broken into pieces: they again become dust and the dust is again reduced into atoms. Is this reality? And although it is considered so by man it is because his self-knowledge is obstructed by his own acts. Therefore, O Brahman, there is nothing anywhere, or anything real at any time save discriminative knowledge. On account of the diversity of their actions, people, having diverse temperaments, consider that one knowledge as manifold. Knowledge perfect and pure, freed from pains and renouncing attachments towards all these which cause affliction—knowledge, single and eternal is the supreme Vāsudeva, besides whom there is nothing. I have thus communicated to you the truth—the knowledge which is truth; and all that differs from it is false. That which is seen by the knowledge is but illusion of a temporal and worldly nature. I have also described to you the sacrifice, the victim, the fire, the priests, the acid, juce, the celestials, the desire for heaven, the path followed by acts of devotion and the worlds that are their outcome. In this universe which I have described to you only those people travel who are subject to the influence of actions. But he, who knows Vasudeva to be eternal, immutable, and of one unchanging, universal form, should so perform them that he may enter into the deity.
Parāçara said—The car of the moon has three wheels and is drawn by ten steeds white as the Jasmine—five on the right half and five on the left. The asterisms upheld by Dhruva move before the sun. And the cords that fasten the moon are tightened or relaxed in the same manner like those of the sun. O foremost of Munis, like the steeds of the sun, the horses of the moon, sprung from the waters, drag its car for a whole Kalpa. O Maitreya, when the moon is reduced, having its rays drunk up by the celestials, to a single Kalā, the radiant sun supplied it with a single ray. And as the moon is gradually exhausted by the celestials it is replenished in the same way every day with his rays by the sun, the plunderer of waters. Thus, O Maitreya, when in the half month the ambrosia is deposited in the moon, the celestials drink it for it constitutes their food, Thirty-six thousand three hundred and thirty three divinities drink the ambrosia of the moon. When two kalās remain the moon enters the orbit of the sun and lives in the ray called Amā and the period is accordingly called Amavasyā. During this period the moon is first immersed for a day and night in the water; thence it enters the branches and shoots of the trees and thence it proceeds to the sun. Hence any person, who cuts off a branch or casts down a leaf when the moon is in the trees is guilty of the crime consequent upon the destruction of a Brāhmin. When the remainder of the moon contains but a fifteenth portion the manes near it in the afternoon and drink the last but sacred Kalā which is composed of ambrosia and contained in the two digits. The nectar that comes from the rays of the moon on the day of conjunction is drunk by the progenitors—and they remain satisfied thereby for a month. The progenitors are divided into three classes:—Saumyas, Varhishadas, and Agnishwātta. In this wise, the moon, with its cooling rays, nourishes the celestials in the light fortnight and Pitris in the dark fortnight. It nourishes the plants with its cool nectary aqueous atoms. And through the development of those plants it sustains men, animals and insects and satisfies them with its radiance.
The chariot of Budha, the son of the moon, is made of the wind and fire and is drawn by eight bay horses gifted with the velocity of the wind. The huge car of Sukra (Venus) is carried by earth-borne horses, equipped with a protecting fender and a floor, armed with arrows and adorned with a pennon. The magnificent car of Bhauma (Mars) is made of gold, of an octagonal shape, drawn by eight steeds of a ruby red originated from fire. Vrihaspati (Jupiter) in a golden car drawn by eight pale-coloured steeds, travels, at the end of the year, from one sign to another. The slow-paced Sani (Saturn) travels in a car drawn by piebald horses. O Maitreya, the chariot of Rāhu are drawn by eight black horses, which once harnessed are attached to it for ever. At the time of lunar and solar eclipses the Rāhu travels from the sun to the moon and comes back again from the moon to the sun. The car of Ketu is is drawn by eight horses having fleetness of the wind and of the dusky red colour of lac or of the smoke of burning straw.
I have thus described to you, O Maitreya, the chariots of the nine planets all of which are fastened to Dhruva by aerial cords. To Dhruva are attached the orbs of all the planets, asterisms and stars. And they all move in their respective orbits being kept in their places by their respective cords of air. As many are the stars so many are the aerial cords by which they are fastened to Dhruva. As they turn round they cause the pole-star to revolve. As the oilman goes round the spindle and makes it revolve, so the planets revolve suspended by the aerial cords which are also whirling round a centre. The air is called Pravāha because it bears along the planets like a disc of fire driven by the aerial wheel.
I have related to you, O foremost of Munis, that Dhruva is fitted to the tail of the celestial porpoise: I shall now describe in detail the constituent parts; hear them as they are of great efficacy. People are freed from the sins committed by them during the day when they behold the celestial porpoise in the hight. And those who behold it live as many years as there are stars in it, in the sky or even more. Uttānpada is the upper jaw and sacrifice the lower jaw of that celestial porpoise. Dhruva is situated on its brow and Nārāyana in its heart. The Aswinis are its two fore-feet and Varuna and Aryamat are its two hinder legs. Samvatsara is its sexual organ and Mitra is its organ of execretion. Agni, Mahendra, Kasyapa and Dhurva are successively placed in its tail; which four stars in this constellation never set.
I have thus related to you the situation of the earth and the stars. I had already described to you the Varshas and rivers and the animals living there. I shall again describe them in short: hear them.
From the waters which constitute the person of Vishnu originated the lotus-shaped earth with its seas and mountains. The stars are Vishnu, the words are Vishnu: forests, mountains, regions, streams, seas are Vishnu—all that is, all that shall be—all that is not are Vishnu. The glorious Vishnu is identical with knowledge. He has got endless forms but is not a substance. All the mountains, oceans and the various divisions of the earth you must consider to be the illusions of the apprehension. When knowledge is pure, real, universal, independent of actions, freed from defect then the varieties of substance, which are the fruits of the tree of desire, cease to exist in matter. What is substance? What thing is that which has got no beginning, no middle and no end? And which is of one uniform nature? How can that object be called real which is subject to change and which reassumes no more its original character? The earth is seen as a jar; the jar is divided into two halves which are again broken into pieces: they again become dust and the dust is again reduced into atoms. Is this reality? And although it is considered so by man it is because his self-knowledge is obstructed by his own acts. Therefore, O Brahman, there is nothing anywhere, or anything real at any time save discriminative knowledge. On account of the diversity of their actions, people, having diverse temperaments, consider that one knowledge as manifold. Knowledge perfect and pure, freed from pains and renouncing attachments towards all these which cause affliction—knowledge, single and eternal is the supreme Vāsudeva, besides whom there is nothing. I have thus communicated to you the truth—the knowledge which is truth; and all that differs from it is false. That which is seen by the knowledge is but illusion of a temporal and worldly nature. I have also described to you the sacrifice, the victim, the fire, the priests, the acid, juce, the celestials, the desire for heaven, the path followed by acts of devotion and the worlds that are their outcome. In this universe which I have described to you only those people travel who are subject to the influence of actions. But he, who knows Vasudeva to be eternal, immutable, and of one unchanging, universal form, should so perform them that he may enter into the deity.