12 - Nãräyana Offers a Boon to Supratika

Varäha said:

l. Hearing that so many men were reduced to ashes in the fire of Sudaršhana) disc, king (Supratika) became most unhappy and he thought of what he might do.

2. Then an idea came into his mind: “Vishnu in the form of Sri Räma is here on mount Chitraküta.

3-4. I will extol Vishnu, the Lord of all the world, uttering His names.” Thinking thus, the king went up the sacred mountain Chitraküta and recited a hymn.

Supratika said:

5. “Obeisance to the great God Räma the lord of the people, the imperishable, the ancient, having the form of Shiva (auspicious), the origin of all beings, the destroyer of the enemies of gods, the dispeller of all sorrows of his devotees and the bearer of Lakshmi (goddess of wealth, on his chest).

6-7. O God, it is you bearing the forms of all beings that always bestow lustre to all lustrous things. In earth you (appear) with five qualities (colour, taste, touch, sound and odour); in water with four (omitting odour); in light with three (omitting taste also); in air with two (omitting colour also); and in ether you are present as the person of sound. You are the moon, Sun and fire. It is said that in you this world lies in a latent form.

8-9. As the world rejoices being installed in you, you are well known as Räma (the delighter). The man who has the raft in the form of meditation on you is not drowned in the ocean of the worldly life which is full of waves of pains and terrible with the fish and crocodiles in the form of senses. Therefore, you are contemplated on as Räma in hermitages. O Vishnu, when the Vedas are lost, you take the form of a fish (and recover them).

10. In the end of Yugas, O all-pervading God, you in the form of Fire, take many shapes and cover all directions. Similarly, on the eve of churning the ocean, O Mädhava, you take the form of a tortoise.

11. There is nothing like you anywhere. All the best things are born from you, Janärdana. O great God, you pervade the whole universe, and all worlds, and all directions are your creations.

12. You are the primordial and ultimate lustre, where else can I seek shelter? First, only you were there (in the vast cosmos). Then, out of you, Mahat (Intellect), Ahañkära, (Ego), water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect and three qualities were born. Everything originates from you.

13. All this world is pervaded by you. I take you as the primordial Man. Be victorious, O great God having thousand hands, having the forms of all the worlds and the Lord of all. I bow to you, O great Räma.”

14. Pleased by this hymn, the great God appeared before king Supratika and asked him to choose a boon.

15. Then the king hurriedly prostrated before the great God and requested him: “O God of gods, please give me union with yourself.”

16. As soon as he said this, the great king attained union with the God. Meditating on the supreme soul, the king got liberation from his bondage of enormous actions and attained identity with the supreme soul.

Varäha said:

1 7: Thus I have told you a part of what occurred in the age of Svayambhuva (Manu). No one can tell easily all that occurred then, even if he has thousands of tongues.

18. O auspicious lady, I have told you this ancient story   from mere memory. Drops of water from the ocean which fall in many places form valuable later on.

19. What was narrated by Brahmä and Näräyana cannot be easily narrated by us. It is difficult to picture in the mind his primordial form.

20. In sea there are numerous grains of sand, and in earth numerous particles of dust. Even if they can be counted, it is impossible to count the doings of God.

21. O lovely damsel, I have told you a part of the story of Nàräyana in Krutayuga. What else do you want to know?