SECTION XVI
"Upamanyu said, 'There was in the Krita age, O sire, a Rishi celebrated
under the name of Tandi. With great devotion of heart he adored, with the
aid of Yoga-meditation, the great God for ten thousand years. Listen to
me as I tell thee fruit or reward he reaped of such extraordinary
devotion. He succeeded in beholding Mahadeva and praised him by uttering
some hymns. Thinking, with the aid of his penances, of Him who is the
supreme Soul and who is immutable and undeteriorating, Tandi became
filled with wonder, and said these words,--I seek the protection of Him
whom the Sankhyas describe and the Yogins think of as the Supreme, the
Foremost, the Purusha, the pervader of all things, and the Master of all
existent objects, of him who, the learned say, is the cause of both the
creation and the destruction of the universe; of him who is superior to
all the celestials, the Asuras, and the Munis, of him who has nothing
higher, who is unborn, who is the Lord of all things, who has neither
beginning nor end, and who is endued with supreme puissance, who is
possessed of the highest felicity, and who is effulgent and
sinless.--After he had said these words, Tandi beheld before him that
ocean of penances, that great Deity who is immutable and undeteriorating,
who is without compare, who is inconceivable, who is eternal, and who is
without any change, who is indivisible, who is whole, who is Brahma, who
transcends all attributes, and who is endued with attributes, who is the
highest delight of Yogins, who is without deterioration, who is called
Emancipation, who is the refuge of the Mind, of Indra, of Agni, of the
god of wind, of the entire universe, and of the Grandsire Brahma; who is
incapable of being conceived by the Mind, who is without mutation of any
kind, who is pure, who is capable of being apprehended by understanding
only and who is immaterial as the Mind; who is difficult of
comprehension, who is incapable of being measured, who is difficult of
being attained by persons of uncleansed souls, who is the origin of the
universe, and who transcends both the universe and the attribute of
darkness; who is ancient, who is Purusha, who is possessed of effulgence,
and who is higher than the highest. The Rishi Tandin, desirous of
beholding Him who making himself endued with life-breaths, resides in
what results from it viz., Jiva, in the form of that effulgence which is
called the Mind, passed many years in the practice of the severest
austerities, and having succeeded in beholding Him as the reward of those
penances, he praised the great God in the following terms.'
"Tandi said, 'Thou art the holiest of holies[77] and the refuge of all, O
foremost of all beings endued with intelligence. Thou art the fiercest
energy of all kinds of energy. Thou art the austerest penance of all
penances. Thou, O puissant one, art the liberal giver of blessings. Thou
art the supreme Truth. Salutations to thee, O thou of a thousand rays,
and, O refuge of all felicity. Thou art the giver of that Nirvana which,
O puissant one, Yatis, standing in fear of birth and death, strive for so
hard. The Grandsire Brahma, he of a hundred sacrifices, (viz., Indra)
Vishnu, the Viswadevas, the great Rishis, are incapable of comprehending
thee and thy real nature. How then can persons like ourselves hope to
comprehend thee? From thee flows everything. Upon thee rests everything.
Thou art called Kala, thou art called Purusha, thou art called Brahma.
Celestial Rishis conversant with the Puranas, say that thou hast three
bodies viz., those pertaining to Kalas, those pertaining to Purusha and
those pertaining to Brahma or the three forms namely Brahma, Vishnu and
Rudra. Thou art Adhi-Purusha, (occupying the physical flame from head to
foot) thou art Adhyatma, thou art Adhibhuta, and Adhi-Daivata, thou art
Adhi-loka, Adhi-Vijnanam and Adhi-Yajna.[78] Men of wisdom, when they
succeed in knowing thee that residest in themselves and that art
incapable of being known by the very gods, become freed from all bonds
and pass into a state of existence that transcends all sorrow.[79] They
that do not wish to know thee, O thou of great puissance, have to undergo
innumerable births and deaths. Thou art the door of heaven and of
Emancipation. Thou art he that projectest all beings into existence and
withdrawest them again into thyself. Thou art the great giver. Thou art
heaven, thou art Emancipation, thou art desire (the seed of action). Thou
art wrath that inspires creatures. Thou art Sattwa, thou art Rajas, thou
art Tamas, thou art the nether regions, and thou art the upper regions.
Thou art the Grandsire Brahma, thou art Bhava, thou art Vishnu, thou art
Skanda, thou art Indra, thou art Savitri, thou art Yama, thou art Varuna,
Soma, thou art Dhatri, thou art Manu, thou art Vidhatri and thou art
Kuvera, the Lord of treasures. Thou art Earth, thou art Wind, thou art
Water, thou art Agni, thou art Space, thou art Speech, thou art the
Understanding, thou art Steadiness, thou art Intelligence, thou art the
acts that creatures do, thou art Truth, thou art Falsehood, thou art
existent and thou art non-existent. Thou art the senses, thou art that
which transcends Prakriti, thou art immutable. Thou art superior to the
universe of existent objects, thou art superior to the universe of
non-existent objects, thou art capable of being conceived, thou art
incapable of being conceived. That which is supreme Brahman, that which
is the highest entity, that which is the end of both the Sankhyas and the
Yogins, is, without doubt, identical with thee. Verily, rewarded have I
been today by thee in consequence of thy granting me a sight of thy form.
I have attained the end which the righteous alone attain to. I have been
rewarded with that end which is solicited by persons whose understandings
have been cleansed by Knowledge. Alas, so long I was steeped in
Ignorance; for this long period I was a senseless fool, since I had no
knowledge of thee that art the Supreme Deity, thee that art the only
eternal Entity as can be only known by all persons endued with wisdom. In
course of innumerable lives have I at last succeeded in acquiring that
Devotion towards thee in consequence of which thou hast shown thyself to
me. O thou that art ever inclined to extend thy grace to those that are
devoted to thee. He that succeeds in knowing thee is enable to enjoy
immortality. Thou art that which is ever a mystery with the gods, the
Asuras, and the ascetics. Brahman is concealed in the cave of the heart.
The very ascetics are unable to behold or know Him.[80] Thou art that
puissant deity who is the doer of everything and whose face is turned
towards every direction. Thou art the Soul of all things, thou seest all
things, thou pervadest all things, and thou knowest all things. Thou
makest a body for thyself, and bearest that body. Thou art an embodied
Being. Thou enjoyest a body, and thou art the refuge of all embodied
creatures. Thou art the creator of the life-breaths, thou possessest the
life-breaths, thou art one that is endued with life-breaths, thou art the
giver of the life-breaths, and thou art the refuge of all beings endued
with life-breaths. Thou art that Adhyatma which is the refuge of all
righteous persons that are devoted to Yoga-meditation and conversant with
the Soul and that are solicitous of avoiding rebirth. Verily, thou art
that Supreme Lord who is identical with that refuge. Thou art the giver
unto all creatures of whatever ends become theirs, fraught with happiness
or misery. Thou art he that ordains all created beings to birth and
death. Thou art the puissant Lord who grants success to Rishis crowned
with success in respect of the fruition of their wishes. Having created
all the worlds beginning with Bhu, together with all the denizens of
heaven, that upholdest and cherishest them all, distributing thyself into
thy well-known forms numbering Eight.[81] From thee flows everything.
Upon thee rests all things. All things, again, disappear in thee. Thou
art the sole object that is Eternal. Thou art that region of Truth which
is sought by the righteous and regarded by them as the highest. Thou art
that cessation of individual existence which Yogins seek. Thou art that
Oneness which is sought by persons conversant with the soul. Brahma and
the Siddhas expounding the mantras have concealed thee in a cave for
preventing the deities and Asuras and human beings from beholding
thee.[82] Although thou residest in the heart, yet thou are concealed.
Hence, stupefied by thee, deities and Asuras and human beings are all
unable to understand thee, O Bhava, truly and in all thy details. Unto
those persons that succeed in attaining to thee after having cleansed
themselves by devotion, thou showest thyself of thy own accord, O thou
that residest in all hearts.[83] By knowing thee one can avoid both death
and rebirth. Thou art the highest object of knowledge. By knowing thee no
higher object remains for one to know. Thou art the greatest object of
acquisition. The person that is truly wise, by acquiring thee, thinks
that there is no higher object to acquire. By attaining to thee that art
exceedingly subtile and that art the highest object of acquisition, the
man of wisdom becomes immortal and immutable. The followers of the
Sankhya system, well conversant with their own philosophy and possessing
a knowledge of the attributes (of Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas) and of those
called the topics of enquiry,--those learned men who transcend the
destructible by attaining to a knowledge of the subtile or
indestructible--succeed, by knowing thee, in freeing themselves from all
bonds. Persons conversant with the Vedas regard thee as the one object of
knowledge, which has been expounded in the Vedantas. These men, devoted
to the regulation of the breaths, always meditate on thee and at last
enter into thee as their highest end. Riding on the car made of Om, those
men enter into Maheswara. Of that which is called the Devayana (the path
of the deities) thou art the door called Aditya. Thou art again, the
door, called Chandramas, of that which is called the Pitriyana (the path
of the Pitris).[84] Thou art Kashtha, thou art the points of the horizon,
thou art the year, and thou art the Yugas. Thine is the sovereignty of
the heavens, thine is the sovereignty of the Earth, thou art the Northern
and the Southern declensions. The Grandsire Brahma in days of yore
uttered thy praises, O thou that art called Nilarohita (blue and red), by
reciting diverse hymns and urged thee to create living creatures.
Brahmanas conversant with Richs praise thee by uttering Richs, regarding
thee as unattached to all things and as divested of all forms. Adhyaryus,
in sacrifices, pour libations, uttering Yajushes the while, in honour of
thee that art the sole object of knowledge, according to the three
well-known ways.[85] Persons of cleansed understandings, that are
conversant with Samans, sing thee with the aid of Samans. Those
regenerate persons, again, that are conversant with the Atharvans, hymn
thee as Rita, as Truth, as the Highest, and as Brahma. Thou art the
highest cause, whence Sacrifice has flowed. Thou art the Lord, and thou
art Supreme. The night and day are thy sense of hearing and sense of
sight. The fortnights and months are thy head and arms. The seasons are
thy energy, penances are thy patience, and the year is thy anus, thighs
and feet. Thou art Mrityu. thou art Yama, thou art Hutasana, thou art
Kala, thou art endued with speed in respect of destruction, thou art the
original cause of Time, and thou art eternal Time. Thou art Chandramas
and Aditya. with all the stars and planets and the atmosphere that fills
space. Thou art the pole-star, thou art constellation called the seven
Rishis, thou art the seven regions beginning with Bhu. Thou art Pradhana
and Mahat, thou art Unmanifest, and thou art this world. Thou art the
universe beginning with Brahman and ending with the lowest forms of
vegetation. Thou art the beginning or original cause of all creatures.
Thou art the eight Prakritis.[86] Thou art, again, above the eight
Prakritis. Everything that exists, represents a portion of thy divine
Self. Thou art that supreme Felicity which is also Eternal. Thou art the
end which is attained to by all things. Thou art that highest existence
which is sought for by the Righteous. Thou art that state which is freed
from every anxiety. Thou art eternal Brahman! Thou art that highest state
which constitutes the meditation of persons learned in the scriptures and
the Vedangas. Thou art the highest Kashtha, thou art the highest Kala.
Thou art the highest Success, and thou art the highest Refuge. Thou art
the highest Tranquillity. Thou art the highest cessation of Existence. By
attaining to thee, Yogins think that they attain to the highest success
that is open to them. Thou art Contentment, thou art Success, thou art
the Sruti, and thou art the Smriti. Thou art that Refuge of the Soul
after which Yogins strive, and thou art that indestructible Prapti which
men of Knowledge pursue. Thou art, without doubt, that End which those
persons have in view that are habituated to sacrifices and that pour
sacrificial libations, impelled by specific desires, and that make large
presents on such occasions. Thou art that high End which is sought for by
persons that waste and scorch their bodies with severe penances with
ceaseless recitations, with those rigid vows and fasts that appertain to
their tranquil lives, and with other means of self-affliction. O Eternal
one, thou art that End which is theirs that are unattached to all things
and that have relinquished all acts. Thou, O Eternal one, art that End
which is theirs that are desirous of achieving Emancipation from rebirth,
that live in dissociation from all enjoyments, and that desire the
annihilation of the Prakriti elements. Thou art that high End, O
illustrious one, which is indescribable, which is stainless, which is the
immutable one, and which is theirs that are devoted to knowledge and
science. These are the live Ends that have been declared in the Vedas and
the Scriptures and the Puranas. It is through thy grace that persons
attain to those Ends, or, if they fail to attain to them, it is through
thy grace being denied to them.--It was thus Tandi, who was a vast heap
of penances, praised Isana. And he sang also that high Brahman which in
ancient days was sung by the Creator himself (in honour of Mahadeva).
"Upamanyu continued, 'Thus praised by that utterer of Brahma, Viz.,
Tandi, Mahadeva that illustrious and puissant Deity, who was accompanied
by his spouse lima, said these words. Tandi had further said,--Neither
Brahma, nor Indra nor Vishnu, nor the Viswedevas, nor the great Rishis,
know thee. Gratified at this, Siva said the following words.'
"The holy one said, 'Thou shalt be indestructible and eternal. Thou shalt
be freed from all sorrow. Great fame shall be thine. Thou shalt be endued
with energy. Spiritual knowledge shall be thine. All the Rishis shall
seek thee, and thy son, through my grace, shall become the author of
Sutras, O foremost of regenerate persons. What wishes of thine shall I
grant today? Tell me, O son, what those objects are which thou
desirest.--At this, Tandi joined his hands and said--O Lord, let my
devotion to thee be steady.'
"Upamanyu continued, 'Having given unto Tandi these boons and having
received the adorations of both the deities and the Rishis, the great
Deity disappeared there and then. When the illustrious deity, O lord of
the Yadavas, thus, disappeared with all his followers, the Rishi came to
my asylum and said unto me all that had happened to him. Do thou hear, O
foremost of men, all those celebrated names (of Mahadeva) that Tandi said
unto me for thy spiritual success. The Grandsire had at one time recited
ten thousand names that apply to Mahadeva. In the scriptures, a thousand
names occur of that illustrious deity. These names are not known to all.
O thou that transcendest destruction, in days of yore, the Grandsire
Brahma uttered these names for adoring the high-souled Deity. Having
acquired them through the grace of the Grandsire, Tandi communicated them
to me!'"[87]
