Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 4 Chapter 7:46-61

Book 4: Chapter 7

Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 4: Chapter 7: Verses 46-61 Completion of Daksa's Sacrifice Appearing as the mighty Boar, it was You who sportfully lifted the earth out of the depths of the ocean on Your tusks-even as a lordly elephant would lift a lotus plant-roaring and being glorified by the Yogis. Nay, the Vedas constitute Your very body and You are both the institution of sacrifice and the vow to perform a sacrifice. Therefore, be gracious to us, whose noble undertaking (in the shape of this sacrifice) was interrupted and who were (therefore) longing for Your sight. Interruptions in sacrificial performances disappear when, O Lord of sacrifices, Your name is chanted by men. Hail to You ! Maitreya resumed : While Lord Visnu (the Controller of the senses and) the Protector of sacrifices was thus being extolled, the wise Daksa, O blessed Vidura, renewed the sacrifice that had been wrecked by Virabhadra. Propitiated as it were by His share of oblations (in the shape of Purodasa offered in three receptacles, vide verse 17 above), O sinless Vidura, the Lord who is the Enjoyer of all oblations, being the Self of all, accosted Daksa and spoke to him (as follows). The Lord said : The supreme cause of the universe, I am also Brahma (the creator) and Lord Siva (the Destroyer of the universe). I am the Self, the Lord and the Witness (of all), self-effulgent and unqualified. Embracing My own Maya (deluding potency), consisting of the three Gunas (modes of Prakrti), it is I who create, protect and destroy the universe and have assumed (diverse) names (such as Brahma, Visnu and Siva) appropriate to My functions, O Brahmana ! It is in such a Brahma (the Absolute), the supreme Spirit, who is one without a second, that the ignorant fool views Brahma, Rudra and other beings as distinct entities. Just as a man never conceives his own head, hands and other limbs as belonging to anyone else, even so he who is devoted to Me does not regard his fellow-creatures as distant from himself. He who sees no difference between Us three (Brahma, Rudra and Myself)-who are identical in essence and the very selves of all living beings-attains (everlasting) peace, O Daksa. Maitreya went on : Thus enlightened by the Lord, Daksa ( the chief of the lords of created beings) worshipped Sri Hari through the sacrifice sacred to Himself (viz., the Trikapalesti), and then the other gods both through the principal and secondary types of sacrifices. With a concentrated mind he also waited upon Lord Rudra with the share due to Him (in the form of the remains of the sacrifice) and (even so) upon the other gods, including those that drink the Soma juice and those that do not, through the rite called Udavasana (which is performed at the end of a sacrifice); and, having (thus) concluded the sacrifice, he then performed along with the priests the sacred ablutions known by the name of Avabhrtha. And having blessed Daksa-who had by his own greatness attained supernatural powers--with devotion to righteousness the gods ascended to heaven. Having thus cast off her previous body, Sati, daughter of Daksa, was reborn through Mena, the spouse of Himavan (the deity presiding over the Himalaya mountains) this is what we have heard. Just as having lain dormant (during the final Dissolution), the Divine Energy, embraces the Lord (at the dawn of the next creation), Ambika (mother Sati) sought union once more with her beloved Spouse (Lord Siva), her only resort, exclusively devoted as she was to Him. This story of Lord Siva (the Source of Bliss), who wrecked Daksa's sacrificial performance, was heard by me from the (great) devotee of the Lord, Uddhava, a disciple of the sage Brhaspati (the preceptor of the gods). The man who with a feeling of devotion daily listens to and repeats this (most) sanctifying story of Lord Siva-which confers renown and longevity and wipes out a multitude of sins-shakes off all sin, O Vidura (a descendant of Kuru). Thus ends the seventh discourse entitled "The revival of Daksa's sacrificial performance", in Book Four of the great and glorious Bhagavata-Purana, otherwise known as the Paramahamsa-Samhita.