Parva 1 Chapter 42: viṣṇoḥ Ishvaratva kathanama - godhood of viṣṇu

viṣṇu’s viśvatvam - saviourship of universe; now you may listen about it from me, oh, king janamejaya; viśvam being his first name in viṣṇu sahasranāmāvali – shvasitva aśvasitvā abhayam prāpya jano yasmāt iti viśva – omni- sanctuarizer, haritvam – hari – a purloiner; harati – nāśayati – duḥkha ādīn; durita-daitya ādīn iti hariḥ; one who disburdens sorrow or demons; sorrowsnathcer, demonmugger; this is what he is right from kṛta yuga, golden age; viakuṇṭhatvam - incumbency in vaikuṇṭha - vigatam kuṇṭhanam iti vaikuṇṭham; gati-pratighātam, Alasyam, vaikatam vā yasmāt saḥ vikuṇṭhaḥ – one who nullifies delay in reaching his abode via devotion, an expediter of salvation; this is what he is among gods as no other god is capable to do so; kṛṣṇatvaṁ – fascinatorship, or toleratorship; kṛṣiḥ bhū vācaka shabdo, ‘Na’ shcha nivṛti vācakaḥ; mānuṣeṣu rajaḥ tamo guṇa grasteṣu, upekśaṇīyeṣu kṛṣṇatvaṁ – so says smṛti; because he tolerated certain notorious kings up to some extent, who have become so owing to the preponderance of rajo and tamo guṇā-s in them, he is called kṛṣṇa. This is what he is among humans. īśvaratvaṁ – lordship for moderate people; madhyameṣu īśvaratvaṁ – nigraha anugraha etc; gahanāṁ karmaṇāṁ – nānā rūpām līlānām; understandable deeds; gatim – course of action in past, present and future; oh, king, you may listen to them all from me as has happened... a-vyakto vyakta-liṅgastho yatra eva bhagavān prabhuḥ | nārāyaṇo hi ananta-ātmā prabhavaḥ avyaya eva ca ||1-42-3 eṣa nārāyaṇo bhūtvā hariḥ āsīt kṛte yuge | brahmā śakraḥ ca somaḥ ca dharmaḥ shukro bṛhaspatiḥ ||1-42-4 Indeed he who pioneers all living beings - nara-ayana - is nārāyaṇa; he is unmanifest, yet self- manifest, allusively; he is the lord and god; eternal soul; unmodifiable entity and he assumed the form of śrīari in the kṛta era; and when we verbalise as brahma, indra, soma, dharma, śukra or bṛhaspati et al, they are all the other manifestations of this nārāyaṇa... aditeḥ api putratvam etya yādava-nandanaḥ | eṣa viṣṇuḥ iti khyāta indrāt avarajo abhavat ||1-42-5 prasāda-jaṁ hi asya vibhoḥ adityāḥ putra janma tat | vadha arthaṁ sura-śatrūṇāṁ daitya dānava rakṣasām ||1-42-6 viṣṇu, the dynast of yādava-s, became the son of lady aditi and became indra, the junior, indra-avaraja, in his vāmana incarnation.., to accomplish the destruction of the enemies of the celestials, namely daityā-s, dānavā-s and rākśasā-s, that lord manifested himself as the son of lady aditi, just to grace that lady, in his dwarf-boy incarnation... pradhāna-ātmā purā hi eṣa brahmāṇam asṛjat prabhuḥ | saḥ asṛjat pūrva-puruṣaḥ purā kalpe prajāpatīn ||1-42-7 te tanvānāḥ tanūḥ tatra brahma-vaṁśān anuttamān | tebhyo abhavat mahātmabhyo bahudhā brahma śāśvatam ||1-42-8 etat āścarya būtasya viṣṇoḥ nāma-anukīrtanam | kīrtanīyasya lokeṣu kīrtyamānaṁ nibodha me ||1-42-9 This ṣupreme-ṣoul, viṣṇu, created the creator brahma in the days of yore. And that very same Prime-Person, viṣṇu, created all the prajāpati-s at the outset of eras, who on assuming various forms, also with their own forms – as in the case of kaśyapa-prajāpati – in turn created many most excellent beings - pipīlikādi brahma paryantam - that are generally termed as the kith and kin of the creator brahma... and brahma, euphemistically the veda-s, have become manifold and everlasting owing to these great beings, prajāpatis... as such, viṣṇu of amazing deeds has bee eulogised in all the worlds... hence, you too may now hear from me about that viṣṇu worthy of those eulogies... vṛtte vṛtra vadhe tāta vartamāne kṛte yuge | āsīt trailokya vikhyātaḥ saṁgrāmaḥ tārakāmayaḥ ||1-42-10 tatra asan dānavā ghorāḥ sarve saṁgrāma-darpitāḥ | ghnanti deva-ganān sarvān sa-yakṣa uraga rākṣasān ||1-42-11 te vadhyamānā vimukhāḥ kṣīṇa-praharaṇā raṇe | trātāraṁ manasā jagmuḥ devaṁ nārāyaṇaṁ harim ||1-42-12 There occured a battle between gods and demons in kṛta era after the elimination a demon called vṛtra-asura... this is battle of gods is with a demon called tāraka-asura whose battling skills are well known in all the three worlds... in that battle the dānavā-s, prideful of their warring ability, have started to trounce the hosts of gods, together with yakṣā-s, uragā-s, and rākṣasās... then these defeated warriors, gods and others, had to take to their heels when being battered, and when they lacked counter-assault weapons, and they mentally sought refuge of the omni-protector, viṣṇu... etasmin antare meghā nirvāṇa-aṅgāra-varṣiṇaḥ | sa arka candra graha gaṇaṁ cādayanto nabhaḥ-talam ||1-42-13 chaṣchat vidyut gaṇa āviddhā ghorā nihrāda-kāriṇaḥ | anyonya vega abhihatāḥ pravavuḥ sapta māRutāḥ ||1-42-14 dīpta toya aśanī-pātaiḥ vajra-vega-anila-ākulaiḥ | rarāsa ghoraḥ utpātaiḥ dahyamānam iva aṁbaram ||1-42-15 petuḥ ulkā-sahasrāṇi muhur ākāśa-gāni api | nyubjāni ca vimānāni pra-patanti ut-patanti ca ||1-42-16 catur-yuga anta paryāye lokānāṁ yat bhayaṁ bhavet | tādṛśāni eva rūpāṇi tasmin utpāta-lakṣaṇe ||1-42-17 tamasā niṣ-prabhaṁ sarvaṁ na prājṣāyata kiṣchana | timira ogha parikṣiptā na rejuḥ ca disho daśa ||1-42-18 niśeva-rūpiṇī kālī kāla-megha-avaguṇṭhitā | dyauḥ na bhāti abhibhūta arkā ghoreṇa tamasā vṛtā || 1-42-19 In the meantime, clouds rumbled dreadfully, collided sonorously, showered embers fiercely, covered the sky together with its sun, moon and planets murkily, and pitched a host of flashing lightning punishingly, while the cosmic winds like āvāha, pravāha and the like, started to blow gustily and counter-gustily... all this, as it were, bechanced by the trickery of demons... With the downpour of flaming water and flashing lightning, which are of a piece with the thunderbolts of indra in their dash and blaze there ensued mayhem in the sky, as if whole sky is put to blaze... Thousands of sky-rocketing aerolites have been catapulted repeatedly, and the divine aircrafts of celestials see-sawed as aeronomy has failed... What scare that looms large on the people at the universal destruction chancing at the end of an era – mahā-pralayam – that has loomed now on their psyche on seeing similar foretokens now happening on sky... Cast into darkness everything is ill-lit... nothing is recognizable... deluged in the torrents of darkness the ten cardinal points became fuzzy... It is already like amavāsya-niśi, the tenebrosity of no-moon-night, further veiled by demon-simulated tenebrous clouds, ergo the sun is under a murky veil, ergo the sky is unlit, and ergo life is standstilled... tān ghana-oghān sa-timirān dorbhyām utkṣipya sa prabhuḥ | vapuḥ saṁdarśayāmāsa divyaṁ kṛṣṇa-vapuḥ-hariḥ ||1-42-20 śrīhari caught those demon-simulated streams of darkness together with gloominess in the bowl of his two palms and annulled it... he then started to reveal his hallowed physique... Let us dwell upon his – divya mangala vigraham – hallowed physiognomic features, for a while... The following is a stuti-pāṭham on viṣṇu, and if any readers wish to learn it by heart like viṣṇu sahasranāmā-s, they are requested to refer to the text with undivided compunds - samāsā yukta ślokā-s, given elesewhere on these webpages, and compare this with that for reading / learning facility. Otherwise muscical intonation will not be acieved with ṭīka-tātparya ślokā-s, verses with broken compunds. balāhaka aṣjana nibhaṁ balāhaka tanū ruham | tejasā vapuṣā caiva kṛṣṇaṁ kṛṣṇam iva chalam ||1-42-21 His divya mangala vigraham – hallowed configuration – is simulative of mountainous water-bearing black-cloud, or monolithic mascara, with pitch-black hairdo... dīpta pīta aṁbara dharaṁ tapta kāṣchana bhūṣaṇam | dhūma andhakāra vapuṣā yuga anta agnim iva utthitam ||1-42-22 Clad in brilliant silks of ochry yellow, adorned with superfine golden ornaments on his smokily blue-black body, he rose up like the fulmination at the end of an era... catur-dviguṇa pīna aṁsaṁ balākā paṅkti bhūṣanam | Brawny shoulders are now belying a black-cloud with a flight of heronry at their fringes, since he is now stretching an octad of his arms, 4*2– aṣṭha bhuja – around those shoulders... cāmīkara karā-akāraiḥ āyudhaiḥ upashobhitam ||1-42-23 candra arka kiraṇa uddyotaṁ giri kūṭaṁ shila-ucchayam | Clasping eight weapons in eight fists he glistened like an unswerving lofty mountaintop mounted on a skyscape florid with fused sunrays and moonbeams... nandaka Anandita karaṁ śarā āśī-viṣa dhāriṇam ||1-42-24 shakti citraṁ hala udagraṁ śaṅkha cakra gadādharam | viṣṇu śailaṁ kṣamā-mūlaṁ śravṛkṣaṁ śārṅga dhanvinam ||1-42-25 Now, wielding his sword called nandaka in one hand that rejoices to hold it; in another similar hand holding arrows that are ready to spew demonvenom; another hand holding an upraised demonplough, power of which will be amazing; three more hands handling a conch called pāncha-janyam, a disc called sudarshanam, and a mace called kaumodaki; yet another handling a bow called śāraṅgam; while the eighth remained free because it is an – abhaya hasta – a shelter-giving-hand, there stood a mountain called viṣṇu, like a sweltering tree - śra-vṛkśam, where the base of that mountain or that of the fuming tree is nothing but mercy... In the text as śrī vṛkṣaṁ, viṣṇu it is read: 'he looked like the personified bliss in the form of all yielding tree...' but, this blisfull tree will not go well in the context of describing his weapons, or his fuming at demons, at present. Hence it is śra-vṛkṣaṁ; where shra - shrapanam – is boiling, roasting, baking etc- a fuming tree - ultimately. hari-ashva-ratha saṁyukte suparṇa dhvaja shobhite | candra aārka cakra rucire mandara akṣa vṛtāntare ||1-42-26 ananta rashmi saṁyukte dadṛśe meru-kūbare | tārakā citra kusume graha nakshatra bandhure ||1-42-27 bhayeṣu abhayadaṁ vyomni devā daitya parājitāḥ | dadṛśuḥ te sthitaṁ devaṁ divya-lokamaye rathe ||1-42-28 Now, he seemed to be encharioted in a divine cosmic-chariot – bhuvana-rūpa-syandanam - yoked with green horses; pennant carrying suparṇa, Divine-Eagle’s, monogram; sun and moon as its two beautiful wheels; Mt. mandara as its axle; the thousand-headed serpent ananta as its reins; Mt. meru as its chassis-to-yoke longbeam; sprayey with starlets and festooned with stars and planets; and gods who now stand defeated by demons have seen such a viṣṇu in firmament, who is the assurer of safety... te kṛtāṣjalayaḥ sarve devāḥ śakra-purogamāḥ | jaya śabdaṁ puraskṛtya śaraṇyaṁ śaraṇaṁ gatāḥ ||1-42-29 Then the gods headed by indra reverently enfolding their palms hailed him and sought refuge with the lord viṣṇu to whom all resort for shelter... sa teṣāṁ tā giraḥ śrutvā viṣṇuḥ dayita-devataḥ | manaḥ cakre vināśya dānavānāṁ mahā-mṛdhe ||1-42-30 ākāśe tu sthito viṣṇuḥ sottame puruṣottamaḥ | uvāca devatāḥ sarvāḥ sa pratijṣam idaṁ vacaḥ ||1-42-31 On listening to the pleas of gods viṣṇu made up his mind to eliminate all the demons in a great encounter, and then that foremost one among gods, viṣṇu, still remaining on the sky promised to the celestials, saying: śāntiṁ bhajata bhadraṁ vaḥ mā bhaiṣṭā marutāṁ-gāṇāḥ | jitā me dānavāḥ sarve trāilokyāṁ pratigṛhyatām ||1-42-32 O ye gods... be peaceful... do not fear... as soon as I conquer all the demons, then you can retrieve all the three worlds... may you fare well... te tasya satya-saṁdhasya viṣṇor vākyena toṣitāḥ | devāḥ prītiṁ parāṁ jagmuḥ prāpya iva amṛtam utthitam ||1-42-33 Gladdened by the nectarean words of that truthful śrīhari, all the gods attained to that supreme delight as if they have reacquire ambrosia resurgent from ocean... tataḥ tamaḥ samhṛyate vineśuḥ ca balāhakāḥ | pravavuḥ ca śivā vātāḥ prāsannāḥ ca disho daśa ||1-42-34 suprabhāṇi ca jyotīṁṣi candraṁ cakruḥ pradakṣiṇam | dīptimanti ca tejāṁsi cakrur arkaṁ pradakṣiṇam || 1-42-35 na vigrahaṁ grahāḥ cakruḥ prasannāḥ cāpi sindhavaḥ | nīrajaskā babhur mārgā nāka mārga ādayaḥ trayaḥ ||1-42-36 yatha arthām ūhuḥ sarito na api chukṣubhire arṇavāḥ | āsaṣ śubhāni indriyāṇi narāṇām antara-ātmasu ||1-42-37 Thereupon cranes are noisy as the demon-made darkness fizzled out... winds wafted pleasantly... ten cardinal points of earth easily discernable... shinning stars and the other luminous bodies correctly orbited the moon and sun as usual, while the interplanetary strife came to an end... rivers quietened, roads dustless... tidied are the three avenues to heaven, namely deva-yāna, pitṛ-yāna, mokśa-mārga... rivers flowed quietly... oceans unruffled... sensibilities of humans are soft-pedalled and they remained complacent in soul of souls... maharṣayo vīta-śokā vedān ucchaiḥ adhīyata | yajṣeṣu ca haviḥ svādu shivam aśnāti pāvakaḥ ||1-42-38 Great sages shorn of grief resonantly chanted Vedic hymns, while the Ritual-fire consumed palatable oblations in Vedic rituals... pravṛtta dharmāḥ saṁvṛttā lokā mudita-mānasāḥ | prītyā paramayā yuktā deva-devasya bhūpateḥ | viṣṇoḥ satya-pratijṣasya shrutva ari-nidhane giram ||1-42-39 On hearing the truthful promise of viṣṇu regarding elimination of enemies, people’s hearts are filled with joy, and while they are thus gladdened all the dharma-s like vedic rituals etc are in vogue once again, thus the raisons d'*tre are kept up... iti śrīmahābhārate khileṣu harivaṁśe harivaṁśaparvaṇi āścarya-tārakāmaye - viṣṇoḥ Ishvaratva kathanam – nāma dvicatvāriṁśo'dhyāyaḥ Thus, this is the forty-second chapter of first canto called harivamsha-parva, in harivamśa-purāṇa, the sequel of mahābhārata, narrating the godhood of Vishnu.