Mahābhārata

M. N. Dutt: How did the grandfather of Bharatas, who lay on a bed of arrows, cast off his body and what sort of Yoga did he adopt?

M. N. Dutt: Listen, O king, with pure heart and rapt attention, as to how, O foremost of the Kurus, the great Bhishma renounced his body.

M. N. Dutt: As soon as the Sun, passing the solstitial point entered in his northerly course, Bhishma with rapt attention, caused his soul (as connected with and independent of the body) to enter into the Universal Soul.

M. N. Dutt: Surrounded by many foremost of Brahmanas, that hero, his body cut with innumerable arrows, shone like the sun with his innumerable rays.

M. N. Dutt: Surrounded by Vyasa conversant with the Vedas, by the celestial Rishi Narada, by Devasthana, by Ashmakasumantu, by Jaimini, by the great Paila, by Shandilya, by Devarata, by the highly intelligent Maitreya, by Asita and Vasishtha and the great Kaushika, by Harita and Lomasa and the highly intelligent Atri's son, by Brihaspati and Shukra and the great sage Chyavana, by Sanatkumara and Kapila and Valmiki and Tumvuru and Kuru, By Maudgalya and Rama of Bhrigu's race, and the great sage Trinavindu, by Pippalada and Vayu and Samvarta and Pulaha and Kacha, by Kashyapa and Pulastya and Kratu and Daksha and Parashara, by Marichi and Angiras and Kashyapa and Gautama and the sage Galava, by Dhaumya and Vibhanda and Mandavya and Dhaumra and Krishnanubhautika, by Uluka, that foremost of Brahmanas and the great sage Markandeya, by Bhaskari and Purana and Krishna and Suta, —that foremost of pious men, surrounded by these and many other saintly sages of great souls and endued with faith and self-control and equanimity of mind, the Kuru hero looked like the Moon surrounded by the planets and the stars.

M. N. Dutt: Lying on his bed of arrows, that foremost of men, Bhishma, with pure hearts and joined hands, thought of Krishna in mind, word, and deed.

M. N. Dutt: With a cheerful and strong voice he sang the encomium of the destroyer of Madhu, that lord of Yoga, the lotus-navelled deity, that lord of the universe, called Vishnu and Jishnu.

M. N. Dutt: With joined hands, that foremost of orators, that powerful Bhishma of highly virtuous soul, thus praised Vasudeva.

M. N. Dutt: Bhishma said "O Krishna, O foremost of Beings, be pleased with words with I utter, in brief and in full, from desire of singing your praises.

M. N. Dutt: You are pure and purity. You transcend all. You are what people say to be THAT. You are the Supreme Lord. With my entire heart I seek your refuge, O universal Soul and Lord of all creatures!

M. N. Dutt: You are without beginning and without end. You are the greatest of the great and Brahma. Neither the celestials nor the Rishis know you. The divine Creator, Narayana or Hari, alone knows you.

M. N. Dutt: Through Narayana, the Rishis, the Siddhas, the great Nagas, the gods, and the celestial Rishis, know a little of you. You are the greatest of the great and undecaying.

M. N. Dutt: The celestials, the Danavas, the Gandharvas, the Yakshas, the Pannagas, do not know who you are and whence you have sprung.

M. N. Dutt: All the worlds and all created things live in you and enter you at the time of dissolution. Like gems strung together in a thread, all things possessing attributes exist in you, the Supreme Lord.

M. N. Dutt: Having the universe for your work and the universe for your limbs, this universe consisting of mind and matter exists in your eternal and all-pervading soul like flowers strung together in a strong thread.

Corresponding verse not found in M. N. Dutt's version.

M. N. Dutt: You are called Hari, have a thousand heads, thousand feet, thousand eyes, thousand arms, thousand crowns, and thousand effulgent faces. You are called Narayana, the deity, and the refuge of the universe.

M. N. Dutt: You are the subtilest of the subtile, grossest of the gross, the heaviest of the heavy, and the highest of the high.

M. N. Dutt: You are the subtilest of the subtile, grossest of the gross, the heaviest of the heavy, and the highest of the high. In the Vaks, the Anuvaks, the Nishads, and the Upanishads, you are regarded as the Supreme Being of irresistible power. In the Samans also, which are always true, you are known as Truth's self. You are of quadruple soul, Supreme soul, individual soul, mind and consciousness. You manifest yourself only in the understanding of all creatures. You are the Lord of your votaries. O god, you are worshipped under four good, high, and secret names, Vasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha. Penances are always present in you, penances, live in your form. You are the Universal Soul. You are omniscient. You are the universe. You are the creator of everything in the universe.

M. N. Dutt: Like two sticks creating a blazing fire, you have been born of the divine Devaki and Vasudeva for the protection of Brahma on Earth.

M. N. Dutt: Like two sticks creating a blazing fire, you have been born of the divine Devaki and Vasudeva for the protection of Brahma on Earth. For his eternal liberation, the devout worshipper, withdrawing his mind from everything else and renouncing all desires, beholds you, O Govinda, who are the pure Soul, in his own soul. You excel the sun in glory. You are beyond the perception of the senses and the understanding. O lord of all creatures, I place myself in your hands.

M. N. Dutt: In the Puranas, you have been described as Purusha. In the beginning of cycles, you are said to be Brahma, and at the time of universal dissolution you are spoken of as Sankarshana. You are worshipful therefore I worship you. are

Corresponding verse not found in M. N. Dutt's version.

M. N. Dutt: Though one, you have yet many forms. You have your passions under complete control. Faithfully performing the rites laid down in the scriptures, your votaries sacrifice to you, O giver of every wish.

M. N. Dutt: You are designated the sac within which the universe lies. All created things reside in you. Like swans and ducks swimming on the water, all the worlds are seen floating in you.

M. N. Dutt: You are Truth. Truth. You One and Undecaying. You are Brahma. You are beyond mind and matter. You are without beginning, middle, and end. Neither the gods nor the Rishis know you.

M. N. Dutt: The gods, the Asuras, the Gandharvas, the Siddhas, the Rishis, and the great Uragas, with concentrated minds, always worship you. You are the great panacea for all sorrow.

M. N. Dutt: You are without birth and death. You are Divine. You are self-born. You are eternal. You are invisible and beyond perception. You are called Hari and Narayana, O powerful one.

M. N. Dutt: The Vedas describe you as the Creator of the universe and the Lord of everything existing in the universe. You are the Supreme Protector of the universe. You are Undecaying and that which is called the Highest.

M. N. Dutt: You are gold-hued. You are the killer of Asuras. Though One, Aditi gave birth to you in twelve forms. Salutations to you who are the Soul of the Sun.

M. N. Dutt: Salutations to you in your form of Soma who is the highest of Rishis and who gratified with nectar the gods in the light fortnight and the Pitris in the dark fortnight.

M. N. Dutt: You are the One Being of transcendent effulgence dwelling beyond darkness Knowing you one has no fear of death. Salutations of you in that form which is an object of knowledge.

M. N. Dutt: In the grand Ukthya sacrifice, the Brahmanas worship you as the great Rich. In the great fire-sacrifice, they describe you as the chief (priest). You are the soul of the Vedas. Salutations to you.

M. N. Dutt: The Rishis, the Yajus, and the Samans are your habitation. You are the five sorts of pure libations. You are the five sorts of pure libations. You are the seven words used in the Vedas. Salutations to you in your form of Sacrifice.

M. N. Dutt: Libations are poured on the Homa fire accompanied with seventeen Mantras. You are the soul of the Homa. Salutations to you.

M. N. Dutt: You are the Purusha described in the Vedas. Your name is Yajus. The Vedic metres are your limbs. The sacrifices laid down in the three Vedas forın your three heads. The great sacrifices called Rathantara is your voice expressing your gratification. Salutations to you in your form of sacred hymns.

M. N. Dutt: You are the Rishi who had appeared in the great sacrifice extending for a thousand years celebrated by the Patriarchs. You are the great swan with wings of gold. Salutations to you in your form of a swan.

M. N. Dutt: Roots with all kinds of affixes and suffixes form your limbs. The Sandhis are your joints. The consonants and vowels are your ornaments. The Vedas have described you as the divine word. Salutations to you in your form as the Word.

M. N. Dutt: Assuming the form of a boar whose limbs were Sacrifice, you had raised the submerged Earth for the behoof of the three worlds. Salutations to you in your form of infinite power.

M. N. Dutt: You sleep in Yoga on your snake sofa formed by the thousand hoods (of the Naga). Salutations to you in your forms of sleep.

M. N. Dutt: You make the bridge for crossing the sea of life with Truth, with the means of emancipation, and with the means by which the senses may be controlled. Salutations to thee in your form of Truth.

M. N. Dutt: Men following various religions moved by desire of various fruits, worship you with various rites. Salutations to you in your form of religion.

M. N. Dutt: From you have originated all things. You move all creatures having physical frames and cherishing desires to action. Salutations to thee in your form of Excitement.

M. N. Dutt: The great Rishis seek your unmanifest self within the manifest. Called Kshetrajna, you sit in Kshetra. Salutations to you in your form of Kshetra.

M. N. Dutt: Though always conscious and present in self, the Sankhyas still describe you as existing in the three states of wakefulness, dream and sleep. They further describe you as possessed of sixteen attributes and representing the number seventeen. Salutations to your form as described by the Sankhyas.

M. N. Dutt: Casting off sleep, restraining vital airs, Yogins of controlled senses see you as eternal light. Salutations to you in your Yoga form.

M. N. Dutt: Peaceful Sannyasins, freed from fear of rebirth on account of the extinction of all their sins and merits, obtain you. Salutations to you in your form of emancipation.

M. N. Dutt: At the end of a thousand cycles, you assume the form of a fire with blazing flames and consume all creatures. Salutations to you in your form of fierceness.

M. N. Dutt: Having consumed all creatures and converted the universe into one sheet of water, you sleep on the waters in the form of a child. Salutations to you in your form as Maya (illusion).

M. N. Dutt: From the navel of the Self-born having eyes like lotus leaves, sprung a lotus. On that lotus is situate this universe. Salutations to you in your form as lotus.

M. N. Dutt: You have a thousand heads. You permeate everything. You are of immeasurable soul. You have conquered the four kinds of desire that are as vast as the four seas. Salutations to you in your form of Yoga sleep.

Corresponding verse not found in M. N. Dutt's version.

M. N. Dutt: The clouds are in the hair of your head. The rivers are in the several joints of your limbs. The four oceans are in your stomach. Salutations to you in your form as water.

M. N. Dutt: Birth and death originate from you. All things, again, at the universal dissolution, are dissolved in you. Salutations to your form as cause.

M. N. Dutt: You sleep not in the night. You are engaged in day time also. You witness the good and the bad actions (of all), Salutations to you in your form of (universal) observer.

M. N. Dutt: There is no act which you cannot do. You are again, always ready to do righteous acts. Salutations to you in your form of Work, the form, viz., which is called Vaikuntha.

M. N. Dutt: In anger you had in battle, rooted out twenty-one times the Kshatriyas who had trodden virtue and authority under their feet, Salutations to you in your form of Cruelty.

M. N. Dutt: Dividing yourself into five parts you have become the five vital airs which work within every body and cause every living creature to inove. Salutations to you in your form of air.

M. N. Dutt: You appear in very cycle in the forms called month and season and half-year and year, and are the cause of both creation and dissolution. Salutations to you in your form of Time.

M. N. Dutt: Brahmanas are your mouth, Kshatriyas are your two arms., Vaishyas are your stomach and thighs, and Shudras are your feet. Salutations to you in your form of caste.

M. N. Dutt: Fire is your mouth. The heavens are the crown of your head. The sky in your navel. The Earth is your feet. The Sun is your eye. The points of horizon are your ears. Salutations to you in your form as the three worlds.

M. N. Dutt: You are superior to Time. You are superior to Sacrifice. You are higher than the highest. Having yourself no origin, you are the origin of the Universe. Salutations to you in your form as Universe.

M. N. Dutt: People according to the attributes assigned to you by the Vaisheshika theory, consider you as the Protector of the world. Salutations to you in your form of Protector.

M. N. Dutt: Assuming the forms of food, drink, and fuel, you multiply the humours and the vital airs of creatures and keep up their existence. Salutations to you in your form of life.

Corresponding verse not found in M. N. Dutt's version.

M. N. Dutt: For supporting the life you eat the four kinds of food. Assuming also the form of Agni within the Stomach, you digest that food. Salutations to you in you form of digesting fire.

M. N. Dutt: Assuming the form of man-lion with twany eyes and twany manes with teeth and claws for your weapons, you had killed the king of the Asuras. Salutations to your form of great subtility.

M. N. Dutt: The gods, the Gandharvas, Daityas and Danavas are not able understand that form corectly, I salute that form of subtile.

M. N. Dutt: Assuming the form of the beautiful, illustrious, and powerful Ananta in the neither region, you uphold the universe. Salutations to your form of power.

M. N. Dutt: You stupefy all creatures by the letters of affection and love for the continuance of the creation. Salutations to you in your form of stupefaction.

M. N. Dutt: Knowing that knowledge which knows the five elements to be the true Self-knowledge people approach you by knowledge. Salutations to you in your form of Knowledge.

M. N. Dutt: Your body cannot be measured. Your understanding and eyes see every thing. You are infinite and immeasurable. Salutations to you in your form of vastness.

M. N. Dutt: You had assumed the form of a hermit with matted locks on head, staff in hand, a long stomach, and having alms bowl for your quiver. Salutations to your form of Brahma.

M. N. Dutt: You carry the trident, you are the lord of the celestials, you have three eyes, and you are great. Your body is always besmeared with ashes. Salutations to you in your form of Rudra.

M. N. Dutt: The crescent forms the ornament of your forehead. You have snakes for the holy thread round your neck. You are armed with Pinaka and trident. Salutations to your form of dreadfulness.

M. N. Dutt: You are the soul of all creatures. You are the Creator and the Destroyer of all creatures. You are without anger, without enmity, without affection. Salutations to you in your form of Peace.

M. N. Dutt: Everything is in you. Everything originates from you. You are Everything. Everywhere are you. You are always the All. Salutations to you in your form as Everything.

M. N. Dutt: Salutations to you whose work is the universe, to you who are the soul of the universe, to you from whom has originated the universe, to you who are the dissolution of all things, to you who are beyond the five elements.

M. N. Dutt: Salutations to you who are the three worlds to you who are above the three worlds! Salutations to you who are all the directions. You are all you are the one refuge of All.

M. N. Dutt: Salutations to you. O divine Lord, O Vishnu, and, O eternal origin of all the worlds. You, O Hrishikesha, are the Creator, you are the Destroyer, and you are invincible.

M. N. Dutt: I cannot see that divine form in which you are manifest in the Past, Present, and Future. I can, however, see truly your eternal form.

M. N. Dutt: You have filled heaven with your head, and Earth with your, and feet the three worlds with your energy. You are Eternal. and permeate everything in the universe.

M. N. Dutt: The directions are your arms, the Sun is your eye, and prowess is your arms, the Sun is your eye, and prowess is your vital fluid. You are the lord of all creatures. You stand closing the seven paths of the Wind whose power is immeasurable.

M. N. Dutt: Those who worship you, are freed from all fears, O Govinda of undecaying prowess, you are clad in yellow robes of the colour of the Atasi flower.

M. N. Dutt: The lowering of head to you for once. O Krishna, is equal to the completion of ten Horse-sacrifices. The man who has celebrated ten Horse-sacrifices is not freed from the obligation of re-birth.

M. N. Dutt: The man, however, that salutes Krishna is freed from re-birth. They who have Krishna for their vow, they who think of Krishna in the night, and upon getting up from sleep, may be said to have Krishna for their body. Those people (after death) enter Krishna's self even as libations of clarified butter sanctified with mantras enter the burning fire.

M. N. Dutt: Salutations to you who remove the fear of hell, to you. O Vishnu, that are a boat to them who are sunk in the eddies of the ocean of worldly life.

M. N. Dutt: Salutations to you, O God, that are the Brahmana's self, to you who are the benefactor of Brahmanas and kine, to you that are the benefactor of the universe, to you that are Krishna and Govinda.

M. N. Dutt: The two syllables Hari are the purse of those who sojourn through the wilderness of life and the panacea that effectually cures all worldly attachments, and the Manas which remove sorrow and grief.

M. N. Dutt: As Truth is full of Vishnu, as the universe is full of Vishnu, as everything full of Vishnu, so let my soul be full of Vishnu, and my sins be dissipated.

M. N. Dutt: I seek your refuge and am devoted to you, desirous of obtaining a happy end. O you having eyes like lotus petals, O best of gods, do you think of what will be for my well-being.

M. N. Dutt: Having yourself no origin, O Vishnu, you are the origin of Knowledge and Penances. You are thus lauded, O Janardana, thus adored by me in the Sacrifice of words only, be O god, gratified with me.

M. N. Dutt: The Vedas are devoted to Narayana. Penances are devoted to Narayana. The gods are devoted to Narayana. Everything else is Narayana.

M. N. Dutt: Vaishampayana said Having said these words, Bhishma, with mind fixed upon Krishna, said,-'Salutations to Krishna.' And bowed to him.

M. N. Dutt: Learning by his Yoga power of the devotion of Bhishma, Madhava, called also Hari, (entering his body) conferred upon him divine knowledge of the Past, the Present, and the Future, and went away.

M. N. Dutt: When Bhishma became silent, the Brahmavadins, with voices suppressed with tears, worshipped that great chief of the Kurus in excellent words.

M. N. Dutt: Those foremost of Brahmanas lauded Krishna also, that first of Beings and then continued silently to praise Bhishma repeatedly.

M. N. Dutt: Learning of the devotion of Bhishma towards him, that foremost of Beings, viz., Madhava, suddenly rose from his seat and got on his car, Keshava and Satyaki proceeded on one car. On another proceeded those two great princess, viz., Yudhishthira and Dhananjaya.

M. N. Dutt: Bhimasena and the twin rode on a third; while those foremost of men, viz., Kripa and Yuyutsu, and that scorcher of foes, viz., Sanjaya of the charioteer caste, proceeded on their respective cars, each of which looked like a town. And all of then went on, inaking the Earth trembled with the rattle of their carwheels.

M. N. Dutt: That foremost of men, as he went on, cheerfully listened to the laudatory, speeches uttered by the Brahmanas. The destroyer of Keshi, with a cheerful heart, saluted the people waiting by the road side with joined hands and bent heads.