Mahabharata Anushasna Parva Chapter 17:4

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Mahabharata Anushasna Parva (Dana Dharma Parva) Chapter 17:4

[1]Thou art he that causest all righteous creatures assume shapes of glory for shining in the firmament. Thou art Chandramas, thou art Surya, thou art the planet Saturn, thou art the descending node (of the moon), thou art the ascending node, thou art Mangala (Mars), and thou art Vrihaspati (Jupiter) and Sukra (Venus), thou art Vudha (Mercury) thou art the worshipper of Atri's wife, thou art he who shot his shaft in wrath at Sacrifice when Sacrifice fled away from him in the form of a deer. Thou art sinless.[2] Thou art possessed of penances that have conferred upon thee the power of creating the universe. Thou art possessed of penances that have rendered thee capable of destroying the universe. Thou art high minded (in consequence of thy great liberality towards thy devotees). Thou fulfillest the wishes of all who resign themselves to thee. Thou art the maker of the year (for it is thou who settest the wheel of Time revolving, by assuming the form of the sun and the planets). Thou art Mantra (in the form of Pranava and other sacred words and syllables). Thou art the authority for all acts (in the form of the Vedas and the scriptures). Thou art the highest Penance. Thou art devoted to Yoga. Thou art he who merges himself in Brahman (by Yoga-abstraction).
Thou art the great seed (being the cause of causes). Thou art the displayer of what is unmanifest in the manifest form in which the universe exists. Thou art possessed of infinite might. Thou art he whose seed is gold.[3] Thou art omniscient, (being as thou art all things and the great knower). Thou art the cause of all things. Thou art he that has the seed of action (viz., ignorance and desire) for the means of sojourning from this world to the other and the other to this.[4] Thou hast ten arms. Thou hast winkless eyes (for thou seest at all times). Thou hast a blue throat (in consequence of thy bearing in thy throat the poison that arose upon churning the ocean and which, if not so borne, was capable of destroying the universe). Thou art the Lord of Uma. Thou art the origin of all the infinite forms that occur in the universe. Thou art he whose superiority is due to thyself. Thou art a hero in might (in consequence of thy having achieved such grand feats as the quick destruction of the triple city of the Asuras). Thou art inert matter (which cannot move unless co-existing with the Soul). Thou art all the tattwas (subjects of enquiry as counted by the Sankhyas). Thou art the ordainer and ruler of the tattwas. Thou art the chief of those beings that wait upon thee and are called Ganas.[5] Thou coverest infinite space.[6] Thou art Kama, the God of Desire. Thou art conversant with Mantras (in the sense of knowledge being thy penance).[7] Thou art the highest Mantra for thou art that philosophy which consists in the ascertainment of the nature and attributes of the soul (and its differences from the Non-soul).

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References

  1. ↑ Sahasraksha is either Indra or possessor of innumerable eyes in consequence of Mahadeva's being identical with the universe. Visalaksha is one whose eyes are of vast power, because the Past and the Future are seen by them even as the Present. Soma implies either the Moon or the juice of the Soma i.e. the libations poured in the sacrificial fire. All righteous persons, again, become luminaries in the firmament. It is Mahadeva that makes them so i.e., he is the giver of glorious forms to those that deserve them.
  2. ↑ Many of these names require comments to be intelligible. Ketu is no plant but Hindu astronomers name the descending node of the Moon by that name. Hence Rahu is the ascending node of the Moon. Graha, is that which seizes; Grahapati is Mangala, so called for its malevolence, Varah is Vrihaspati or Jupiter, who is the counterself of Sukra or Venus. In Hindu mythology, Sukra is a male person, the preceptor of the Daityas and Asuras. Atri is Vudha or Mercury, represented as the sons of Atri. Atryahnamaskarta is Durvasas who was the son of Atri's wife, got by the lady through a boon of Mahadeva. Daksha's Sacrifice sought to fly away from Siva, but the latter pursued it and shot his arrow at it for destroying it downright.
  3. ↑ Suvarna-retas is explained by the commentator as follows: At first he created water and then cast his seed into it. That seed became a golden egg. It may also mean that Mahadeva is Agni or the deity of fire, for gold represents the seed of Agni.
  4. ↑ The sense is this: Jiva carries that seed of acts, i.e., Ignorance and Desire, with him. In consequence of this seed, Jiva travels from one world into another ceaselessly. This seed, therefore, is the conveyance or the means of locomotion of Jiva. Mahadeva is Jiva.
    The soul is called the rider, and the body is the car that bears the Soul on it.
  5. ↑ Ganapati is Ganesa, the eldest son of Mahadeva. The Ganas are mighty beings that wait upon Mahadeva. This make up the first hundred names. The commentator takes Avala and Gana together.
  6. ↑ . Digvasas means nude. The Puranas say that for stupefying the wives of certain ascetics, Mahadeva became nude on one occasion. The real meaning, however, is that he is capable of covering and does actually cover even infinite space.
    In the sense of nude, the word means one that has empty space for his cover or vestments.
  7. ↑ The meaning is that with thee Knowledge is penance instead of actual physical austerities being so. This is only another way of saying that thou hast Jnanamayam Tapah.