Harivamsha 12

Bhīṣma said: / 'Then, by his word, collected in mind, / I asked Mārkaṇḍeya that very question which my father had been asked by me before.

That righteous Mārkaṇḍeya of great ascetic heat said to me: / "Bhīṣma, I shall explain it truly; listen attentively, O sinless one."

For indeed, through my father's favor, O lord,
and solely through devotion to my ancestors, I attained longevity and supreme fame in the world formerly.

At the end of a yuga lasting many thousands of years,
I climbed Mount Meru and practiced ascetic heat exceedingly hard to perform.

Then, at one time, illuminating heaven with its brilliance,
I saw a vast celestial chariot approaching from the north of the mountain.

And there I beheld lying down, radiant with brilliance,
a Puruṣa the size of a thumb, like fire placed within fire.

Bowing to him, bending my head to the lord
who was seated in the celestial chariot, I honored him with water for the feet and guest-offering.

And I asked that unassailable one, 'How may we know you, O lord?
For the thought occurs to me that you are the deity of the gods.'

That righteous soul said to me, smiling as it were, O sinless one:
'Your ascetic heat has not been performed well enough that you could recognize me.'

In an instant, assuming another peerless dimension,
no man had ever anywhere been seen by me with such form.

That radiant one spoke to me again with sweet speech:

'To satisfy your curiosity, I grant you that knowledge, O brahmin.'

Sanatkumāra said:
'Know me to be Brahmā's firstborn mind-born son, O lord,
originated from the potency of ascetic heat, having the nature of Nārāyaṇa's virtues.

He who is famed as Sanatkumāra in the Vedas of old,
that am I, O Bhārgava; hail to you, what desire may I fulfill for you?

The other sons of Brahmā are my younger brothers,
seven unassailable brothers whose lineages are firmly established:

Marīci, the blessed Atri, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu,

Aṅgiras and Vasiṣṭha—these are the seven sons of Brahmā.'

Kratu, Vasiṣṭha, Pulaha, Pulastya, Atri, and Aṅgiras, / and the wise Marīci—served by gods and gandharvas, / worshipped by gods and dānavas—sustain these three worlds.

“We, however, possessing the dharma of ascetics, having established the self in the self, / carry on the dharma of procreation and desire, O great seer.

“Know me as Kumāra, just as I was born; / therefore this name of mine, ‘Sanatkumāra’, is established.

“Through devotion to me, ascetic heat was performed by you out of a desire to see me. / Here I am, seen by you. What wish of yours shall I fulfill?”

To him who had spoken thus, I answered that eternal one, / being permitted by the blessed one, pleased [with me], O Bhārata.

Then I questioned that eternal one about this matter: / asked about the creation of the ancestors and the fruit of the ancestral offering, O sinless one, / that lord of gods removed my doubt, O Bhīṣma.

With a delighted mind at the end of a many-yeared discourse, he said to me: / “I am delighted with you, O seer among brahmins; listen to everything as it truly is.

“Brahmā created the gods, thinking, ‘They will sacrifice to me,’ O Bhārgava; / abandoning him, desiring fruit, they sacrificed to themselves.

“Cursed by Brahmā, they became bewildered, senseless, and unconscious; / they understood nothing at all, and then the world became confused.

“Bowing low once more, they all begged the Grandfather / for the grace of the worlds; then the lord said to them:

‘Perform penance, for a transgression has been committed by you; / and ask your sons; then you will obtain knowledge.’

“For the sake of the rite of penance, they questioned their sons like afflicted ones; / then those restrained sons spoke to them:

‘Those who know dharma and are always skilled truly declare / the penances arising from speech, mind, and action, having insight into the truth.’

“Knowing the truth regarding the penance, the heaven-dwellers regained their senses; / and they were then told by the sons, ‘Go, dear sons!’

“Curse-stricken by those words of the sons, the gods / approached the Grandfather to resolve their doubt.

“Then the god said to them: ‘You are expounders of the veda; / therefore what you were told by them is so, not otherwise.

‘You gods shall be the creators of their bodies; / but they, bestowers of knowledge, are your ancestors without doubt.

‘Understand that you and they are mutually ancestors; / gods and ancestors alike—comprehend this, O heaven-dwellers!’

“Then, returning again, those heaven-dwellers whose doubts had been dispelled by Brahmā, / full of mutual affection, spoke to their sons:

‘You are indeed our ancestors, by whom we were awakened, / O knowers of dharma! What is your desire? What boon shall be granted to you? / And what was spoken by you is so, not otherwise.

‘And because we were addressed by you as “dear sons”, / therefore you shall be ancestors without doubt.

‘Whoever performs rites without sacrificing to the ancestors through ancestral offerings, / the rākṣasas, dānavas, and nāgas shall obtain that fruit of his.

‘And the ancestors, gratified by ancestral offerings, / shall continually nourish the imperishable Soma being gratified by you.

‘Soma, gratified by ancestral offerings, shall gratify the world, / with its oceans, mountains, and forests, filled with moving and unmoving beings.

‘And those men desiring prosperity who perform ancestral offerings, / to them the ancestors will always give prosperity and offspring.

‘And those who offer the three rice-balls in an ancestral offering according to name and lineage, / wherever they may be, the ancestors with the grandfathers, / honored by the gift of the ancestral offering, will constantly bless them.’

Thus was the command previously made by Brahmā Parameṣṭhin.

“May that word be true today, O heaven-dwellers: / we are all mutually sons and ancestors!”

Sanatkumāra said: / These ancestors are the gods, and the gods are the ancestors; / for they are mutually ancestors, both the gods and the ancestors.