Garudapurana 1.231

English (machine translation) 1.231

Language: English

1.231.25 — 1 part

1.231.1

The glorious and great Garuḍa Purāṇa — 231 / Sūta said: / Now I shall declare the praise of Nārasiṃha spoken by Śiva, O Śaunaka. / Formerly, all the Mother-goddesses addressed a speech to Śaṅkara:

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"O Lord, by your grace we shall devour the entire universe / together with gods, asuras, and humans. You ought to grant us permission."

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Śaṅkara said: / "All creatures must be protected by you; there is no doubt. / Therefore, turn your mind away quickly from this extremely dreadful intent."

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Disregarding that utterance spoken thus by Śaṅkara, / they unhesitatingly began to devour the three worlds with their moving and unmoving beings.

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Then, as the three worlds were being devoured by the group of Mother-goddesses, / the lord Śiva intensely meditated upon the Lord who has the form of a man-lion.

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[He meditated upon] the god without beginning or end, the source of origin of all beings, / with a lightning tongue, large fangs, and a garland of radiant manes,

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adorned with jeweled armlets, wearing a diadem, embellished with golden manes, / resplendent with a great girdle made of gold,

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dark like the petal of a blue lotus, decorated with jeweled anklets, / pervading the pavilion of the interior of the entire universe with his splendour,

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endowed with bodily hairs shaped like whirlpools, / and wearing a great garland composed of all flowers.

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Merely upon being meditated on, the Lord granted him a vision. / In whatever form he was meditated upon with devotion by Rudra,

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in that very form, difficult to be beheld by the gods, [he appeared]. / Having prostrated before the Lord of Gods, Śaṅkara then praised him:

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Śaṅkara said: / "Salutations to you, O Lord of the Universe, who bear the form of a man-lion! / You who are adorned with oyster-shell-like claws that slaughtered the chief of daitya rulers!

You whose golden-yellow body was torn by the circles of claws! / Salutations to the lotus-navelled one, the auspicious one, the Teacher of the World! / O you who have the roar of a cloud at the end of an aeon, whose splendour equals ten million suns!

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You who strike terror into a thousand Yamas, who possess the prowess of a thousand Indras, / who are rich as a thousand Kuberas, whose self consists of a thousand feet!

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O you who resemble a thousand moons, who stride like a thousand-rayed sun, / whose splendour equals a thousand Rudras, who are praised by a thousand Brahmās!

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You upon whom a thousand Rudras whisper prayers, whose gaze is that of a thousand eyes, / crusher of a thousand births, deliverer from a thousand bondages!

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You who have the speed of a thousand winds and eyes, who bestow mercy on thousands of fools!" / Having praised Hari of man-lion form thus, the Lord of gods, / Śiva, bowed down with humility, made a request once more:

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"The Mother-goddesses who were created by me for the destruction of Andhaka / are devouring wonderful creatures, completely disregarding my word.

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Though undefeated, having created them I am not able to destroy them. / Having created them previously, how could I desire their destruction?"

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Addressed thus by Rudra, Hari of man-lion form, / Hari, the Lord of Speech, then [produced] a thousand goddesses from the tip of his tongue.

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Likewise, the all-pervading Hari, having restrained all those terrible groups of Mother-goddesses / and the hosts of gods, made peace for the universe and vanished.

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Whoever, with restrained senses, recites this hymn to Nārasiṃha, / it grants his desires just as it did for Rudra; of this there is no doubt.

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One should meditate upon the man-lion whose eyes are the newly risen sun, whose lotus face is white, whose mouth is blazing fire, / without beginning, middle, or end, unborn, ancient, ruler of the higher and lower, receptacle of the worlds.

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Whoever recites this abandons the perpetual web of misery, as the sun leaves the fog. / Whenever he creates the image of the host of Mother-goddesses, he stays near him.

1.231.25

In order to perform the worship of the lord of gods, even of the form of Nṛsiṃha, the Destroyer of Tripura, / having propitiated that best of gods and obtained [his favour], protected [the world] from the host of the world-mothers.

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Thus ends the two hundred and thirty-first chapter, entitled 'Praise of Nṛsiṃha', in the Ācārakāṇḍa of the first section of the glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa.

Linked texts (1)

Garuḍapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit