Mudgalapurana 2.18: bharatamṛgadehatyāgo nāmāṣṭādaśo'dhyāyaḥ

Homage to the glorious Gaṇeśa.

Mudgala said:
Gradually attaining the peace of yoga, Pulaha himself
constantly worshipped the image of Gaṇeśa, filled with devotion.

Always established in meditation, the yogin contemplated only that lord;
then, after some time, Gaṇeśa went to that sage.

When the brahmin did not perceive him due to being established in meditation,
then Ḍhuṇḍhi, residing in his heart, was made to disappear by Gaṇeśa.

Not seeing that Gaṇeśa who had vanished from his heart,
he then looked about as if bewildered, and saw Gaṇapa outside.

Rising quickly, the brahmin bowed to him with folded hands;
he worshipped Vināyaka, the flawless one, according to rule.

Having worshipped and bowed to him, he praised him with folded hands,
his body horripilating, with a voice faltering with joy.

Pulaha said:
Homage to you, the king of obstacles, the remover of obstacles for devotees,
and the giver of obstacles to non-devotees! Homage, homage to Gaṇeśa!

Homage to you, Brahman, who have the form of Brahman, who are formless;
homage to you, the witness, residing in all, eternally established from beginninglessness.

To the disease-free god, unfathomable, of immense splendor, / to Vakratuṇḍa indeed, to Heramba, salutations, salutations!

To you, dweller in Svānanda, protector of devotees, / and lord of yogas, giver of yoga, salutations, salutations!

To the peaceful one, whose nature is peace, lord of peaces, salutations, / and giver of peace to devotees, to you whose peace is yoga, salutations!

To him whose form consists of various incarnations, whose embodiment is the support of the universe, / lord of gods and asuras, all-pervading, salutations, salutations!

To you who are venerable to all, stationed before all,

[Section 2, Chapter 18, Page 41] having a single form at the end of all, possessing manifold forms in the middle,

devoid of beginning, middle, and end, cause of creation, maintenance, and destruction, / abiding in the infinite belly, O Lambodara, salutations to you!

To you who have an elephant's face, salutations to you whose shape is an elephant's; / to the elephant-eared, the complete one, O Gajānana, salutations to you!

To him who has the form of the mouse-bannered, whose form is mounted on a mouse, / bearer of the noose and goad, praised by cosmic powers,

bearer of four arms, consisting of the four ends of life, / whose essential nature is Brahman, O embodied one, salutations, salutations!

Whom the expositors of the Veda, the Vedas with their auxiliary limbs, and yogins, / and the gods headed by Śiva and Viṣṇu are truly unable to praise,

how can I praise that lord of gods, the master composed of the nature of yoga? / Therefore I bow to you; be gracious forever!

Grant me a boon, O soul of yoga, by which I may be satisfied: / firm devotion to you, O Ḍhuṇḍhi, free from deviation!

Having spoken thus, the sage danced there, overwhelmed with love. / Filled with the rasa of devotion, the leader of the gaṇas addressed him.

Gaṇeśa said: / Very firm devotion to me, free from deviation, / will be yours, O great yogin, and it will bring you bliss.

Whenever you remember me, O highly intelligent one, / then, O sage, you will see me standing near you.

This hymn of praise composed by you in my honor shall grant devotion; / it is declared to grant worldly enjoyment and liberation, and to bestow peace and yoga.

Whatever mortal recites or listens to it will enjoy all happiness; / there is no doubt that he will become just as you are.

Mudgala said: / Having spoken thus, the sovereign lord of the gaṇas vanished right there. / Pulaha remained there and worshiped that leader of the gaṇas.

Bharata, the lord of the earth, dwelling there in the form of a deer, / stayed there and heard the complete knowledge according to rule.

And that which was spoken by Brahmā to the wise Pulaha, / that very thing the king kept always in his heart.

Born in a deer's body, he became absorbed in meditation in his mind / upon Gaṇeśa, ever rejoiced, and made his dwelling there.

Hear then what was sung by him, O Prajāpati: / 'Alas, a most terrible obstacle, extremely difficult to overcome, was encountered by me!

Having abandoned my kingdom, I lived constantly in the forest remembering Hari; / yet even there, through attachment to a deer, I took on the form of a deer.

Even the foremost lords of the immortals headed by Viṣṇu are beset by obstacles, without a doubt; / what then am I, a mere mortal, in conquering a fierce obstacle?

By the grace of the king of obstacles, all beings headed by Śiva and Viṣṇu, / as well as others, destroy the obstacle that is hard to overcome.

Blessed is the most wondrous devotion to Viṣṇu performed by me, / by which, accompanied by past impressions, supreme knowledge was attained.

Pulaha, the great Gāṇapatya yogin, was seen by me; / oh fortunate, oh supreme fortune is considered mine,

by which I constantly abide in the company of the Gāṇapatyas, / and free from obstacles, naturally worship the leader of the gaṇas!'

Thus endowed with devotion to Gaṇeśa, the excellent deer / meditated on the lord of the gaṇas and, in time, cast off his body.

Om Tat Sat. Thus ends the eighteenth chapter, named 'The Abandonment of the Body by Bharata as a Deer,' in the Ekadanta narrative of the second section in the venerable final purāṇa Upaniṣad, the glorious Maudgala Mahāpurāṇa.