73 - Vairäjavrutta

Rudra said:

1. O great Brahmin, listen to another interesting wonder.

2. I was created by Brahma and ordered to create beings, but being unable to do it, I immersed myself in water.

3-4. There, while for a moment I was fully absorbed in contemplating on the great lord in the size of the thumb, there arose from the water eleven persons blazing like fire at the time of deluge and heating the water with their radiance.

5. I asked them who they were thus come out of the water and imparting to it much heat and Where they were going. 

6. Though asked thus, those great beings did not speak anything, but simply went away.

7. Then came an effulgent person cloud-like in complexion and with eyes like the lotus.

8. I asked him who he was and who the other persons were and also the purpose with which they came.

The man said:

9. The effulgent persons who came out here and went away are Ädityas who appeared at the meditation of Brahma.

10. Brahma performs creation and they- are for the protection of the created.

Shambhu (Rudra) said:

11. “Please tell me, O lord, how I can know this great Person”.

12-13. Asked thus by Rudra, the Man replied: “I am the eternal lord Näräyana reposing in water. You are given a divine eye, and see me with that carefully”.

14. Told thus, when I looked at him, I found him to be the same as the lord of the size of the thumb (whom) I was meditating on) with a lotus in his navel.

15. I saw Brahma (in that lotus) and myself near him. Seeing that great Being I was full of pleasure.

16-17. O great Brahmin, I had then an urge to extol him, and I accordingly praised that Universal Soul with the following hymn,

Rudra said:

18. I bow to that eternal being, the pure soul, with numerous forms and thousand hands, the foremost among the effulgent, extensive in body and pure in action.

19. I bow to that great Shambhu, resplendent like a thousand suns and blazing like the fire, the remover of all ills of the world, the holder of all knowledge, the bearer of the disc, and praised by all Devas.

20. I bow to you always, the originless and eternal, reposing on the serpent Šhesha, great lord, lord of all beings, the chief of Maruts, the master of all, the lord of the world, the master of the entire universe.

21-22. O Näräyana, lord of water, the bestower of good to the whole world, lord of the universe, the universal eye, the moon, the sun, the eternal, with form to be inferred, the embodiment of ambrosia, the eternal, with effulgence excelling fire, the omnipresent, protect me always who have sought refuge in you, O remover of the perils of Devas.

23. I see your innumerable faces and in their midst Brahma, the creator of the worlds. I bow to you, O my grandfather.

24. O the first and great god, you are resorted to by those with mind purified by following the path of knowledge after numerous births in the cycle of samsära. I bow to you.

25. He who understands you to be the one beyond Prakruti (Matter), is not subject to the activity of the Gunas (the three qualities Sattva, Rajas and Tamas) and realises you in the extensive as well as the minute aspects.

26. You are the root of speech, but you are without organs. You are without action, but you have not given up action. You are not one in Samsära, but you have a body of pure abstracts. 

27. You in your four-armed form are known by those who perform sacrifices, but it is a matter for wonder that your supreme form is not known even by Devas.

28. Therefore, gods like Brahma contemplate on your avatäras. Even Brahma does not know your ultimate form.

29. But I, having been purified by penance, am able to know you, the most ancient. And my father Brahma has become known to many Puränas.

30. Even. those like me cannot know you except through penance. But you, who cannot be known even by those like Brahmä, can be known by continuous meditation on you.

31. Those who know the Vedas gain superior mental power through your grace and they alone know you.

32. To him who has realised you, manhood or godhood is not delectable. You are of universal form. You are minute as well as big.

33. You are expensive as well as minute. O God, still you are quite attainable. Those who keep out from you fall in hell. When you, the lord, are there, why speak of Vasus, Ädityas, Maruts and Bhümi?

34. My praises are all for you who are extensive and supreme soul, and so, O eternal one, be pleased to accept them from me, a staunch devotee.

35. O Vishnu, give me omniscience when you command me to perform creation.

36. Four-faced (Brahmä) or crore-faced, only he who is pure of mind will be able to narrate your countless qualities.

37. He who with pure mind contemplates on you unswervingly, in his mind you remain. I bow to you.

38. O lord, this hymn thus came out of my mind. Be pleased to purify me, fear-stricken by the course of samsära.

Varäha said:

39. Thus praised by the great Rudra, Lord was pleased and spoke in a voice majestic like thunder.

Vishnu said:

 40. O God, husband of Umä, everything is well for you. Please seek a boon. There is no difference between us. We are one and the same.

Rudra said:

  41. I am engaged by Brahma, O lord, to perform creation. Give me for that the threefold knowledge required. 

Vishnu said:

42. “You are the abode of all knowledge. You are doubtless omniscient and worshipped by Devas always”.

43-44. Told thus, Rudra said again, “O lord, give me another boon by which you will take a form with which you will worship me and bear me and get a boon from me, and as a result of that you will become the most worshipful among gods.

Vishnu said:

45. “For the sake of gods, I will take incarnations and then I will worship you and you will give me boons.

46. As for bearing you, O lord of Umä, I shall bear you for a hundred years assuming the form of a cloud”.

47. So saying, Vishnu became a cloud, drew up Rudra from the water, and said:

48. “The eleven persons who Came out earlier, are Vairäjas and they have gone to the earth with the name ‘Ädityas’.

49. The twelfth part of mine has descended on earth with the name ‘Vishnu’ and will worship you”.

50. So saying, Narayana, out of his own part produced a divine cloud full of sound, and it is not known where he disappeared.

Rudra said:

51. Thus this great Hari who is omnipresent and omnipotent, became a giver of boon to me in yore, as a result of which I am supreme among gods.

52. There is no god above Näräyana in the past or future. This is the secret propounded by the Vedas and Puränas.

53. I have thus told you how Vishnu is to be propitiated.