Mudgalapurana 2.29: vasiṣṭhatapovarṇanaṃ nāma ekonatriṃśo'dhyāyaḥ

Homage to the glorious Gaṇeśa.

Mudgala said: / The royal sage Tṛṇabindu had an excellent daughter known by the name Ilavilā; / he gave her with humility to Pulastya.

In her was born from Pulastya the best of sages, Viśravas; / and he had four wives, beautiful and fair-eyed:

Puṣpotkaṭā, Rākā, Kaikasī, and Devavarṇinī. / Devavarṇinī gave birth from him to the eldest, Vaiśravaṇa.

Kaikasī gave birth to the son Rāvaṇa, who caused the world to weep, / to Kumbhakarṇa, to the daughter Śūrpaṇakhā, and to Bibhīṣaṇa.

Rāvaṇa, Kumbhakarṇa, and the mighty Bibhīṣaṇa / performed very vast austerities for ten thousand years.

Then Brahmā was pleased and came to them granting boons; / Rāvaṇa chose kingdom free of thorns.

Proud of his strength over the three worlds—earth, atmosphere, and heaven— / he likewise [chose] immunity from death from all beings; monkey and human were forgotten.

Kumbhakarṇa, deluded by Sarasvatī, chose an excellent boon / endowed with six months of sleep from that boon-giving Lord.

Bibhīṣaṇa, however, righteous in soul, chose from the Creator a boon / imparting delight in his own dharma and devotion to Viṣṇu with sincere disposition.

Having given the boons to them, Brahmā then went to his own abode. / They became preeminent rākṣasas renowned in the three worlds.

Having conquered the three worlds, O Dakṣa, Rāvaṇa, / together with his younger brothers, ruled for sixty hundred thousand human years.

That wicked Rāvaṇa and Kumbhakarṇa were slain by Rāma; / Rāghava then established Bibhīṣaṇa upon the throne.

Having performed austerities, Vaiśravaṇa pleased the Lord of obstacles, / the great-souled Gaṇeśa, through the practice of the single-syllable [mantra].

Through ten thousand years Gajānana became pleased; / he gave him devotion to his own feet and friendship with Śaṅkara.

He made him guardian of the northern direction, and likewise known as the Guardian of Wealth; / then he became famous among the gods as Kubera.

Puṣpotkaṭā bore to Viśravas Mahodara, / Mahāpārśva, Prahasta, Khara, and a daughter, Kumbhīnasī.

Rākā brought forth Triśiras, Dūṣaṇa, / Vidyujjihva, and Mahākāla from Viśravas, O Prajāpati.

Thus these ten rākṣasas born of Pulastya, performers of cruel deeds, / were renowned as the foremost men among the rākṣasas, possessed of great power.

The sons of Pulaha were all wild beasts, serpents, fanged creatures, / many piśācas, bhūtas, boars, and elephants.

Kratu is recorded here as childless in the Vaivasvata interval. / Marīci's son was Kaśyapa, who indeed became a Prajāpati.

Bhṛgu's son was wise, the preceptor of the Daityas, highly renowned, / intent on Vedic study, and became Kāvya, O Prajāpati.

Devoted to the Śaiva path and always worshipping Śaṅkara, / he reached Kailāsa for the sake of peace and was enlightened by Hara.

For the attainment of the yoga of peace, the sage worshipped Gaṇeśa; / having gradually attained peace, he became a Gāṇapatya.

Atri's son was the great Soma, full of the nature of nectar. / From Vasiṣṭha with Arundhatī was born the son Śakti.

From him Parāśara, a veritable storehouse of austerities, was born; / he constantly offered devotion to Śaṅkara with supreme reverence.

[Khaṇḍa 2, Chapter 29, Page 61] He asked Vasiṣṭha, who knew the science of yoga, his blameless grandfather, / skilled in his own duties and tranquil, for the sake of peace:

Parāśara said: / This Śiva is free of delusion and is handed down as the imperishable agent, saying 'neti'. / How can there be delusion, a locus of error, in Brahman devoid of delusion?

Mudgala said: / Having heard Parāśara's words, Vasiṣṭha spoke to him, / filled with joy, [explaining] the eternal yoga of peace to his grandson.

Vasiṣṭha said: / Listen, my son, I will tell you what was spoken to me by Brahmā; / I shall explain to you especially the yoga that brings peace.

I wandered exceedingly for the sake of peace and did not find it; / I went to the world of Brahmā, the Supreme Lord, renowned throughout.

There indeed, my son, I saw Brahmā completely worshipping / an image of Gaṇeśa; having bowed down to it, I remained standing.

Having completed the rites of worship, he entered the assembly hall; / there, bowing down, I spoke to him of great splendour:

From you all beings are born, there is no doubt in this; / in you, O Lord, they dissolve; nothing exists beyond you.

Why was this one worshipped by you? Tell me now, who is superior? / For many years I have wandered and have not attained supreme peace.

Hearing my words, Brahmā, the Grandfather, filled with joy, / seeing me as a suitable recipient, spoke to me as was fitting.

Brahmā said: / Listen, O fortunate son, Gaṇeśa is the giver of the peace of yoga; / he is indeed our family deity, and assuredly of all [beings].

From him we have arisen, and by him we are established in our station; / I constantly worship him, the bestower of all perfections.

In the end, my son, we are dissolved into him alone, there is no doubt; / therefore Gaṇeśāna is worshipped first; he is remembered as mother and father.

Look at the title 'Jyeṣṭharāja' declared in the Vedas, my son; / therefore Gaṇeśvara is not merely senior in the Vedas, but prior to all.

That which is at the beginning must also be at the end, so it is agreed in the scriptures; / therefore we shall dissolve into him, there is no doubt.

In between, he too, Gajānana, of various forms, / plays by a portion of his parts; and we, my son, are remembered as portions of his parts.

If you desire peace, my son, I shall declare it concisely: / by abandoning the fivefold mental modification, you will become peaceful.

Restless, dull, distracted, one-pointed, and restricted; / Cintāmaṇi has been explained, and by him the mind is illumined.

If I am of the nature of Gaṇeśa, then for me there is neither union nor disunion; / there is indeed no duality, and by that, delusion will have vanished.

The world is well spoken of by the wise as good Brahman, incomparable sovereign power; / know it truly to be the form of perfection (siddhi) that causes delusion.

Intellect (buddhi) having the form of the world-Brahman is spoken of in the scriptures; / it is declared to be fivefold, having the nature of the mind, there is no doubt.

Behold the reflection that illumines the two, belonging to the great-souled Gaṇeśa, / deluded by the two Māyās, dwelling in the heart with that very form.

Renounce the state of being a reflection; then indeed you will attain peace; / the mind, sovereign delusion, and the reflection are not seen [in that state].

Having spoken thus, the Grandfather himself ceased; / having bowed to that god and circumambulated him, I departed.

[Khaṇḍa 2, Chapter 30, Page 62] Having gone to another forest, my son, I performed supreme austerities, / intent on recitation, having meditated with the single-syllable mantra.

By degrees, abandoning the error of the stages of yoga, O great sage, / having grasped the yoga of peace, I myself directly became Cintāmaṇi.

Even so, for the sake of seeing the high-souled Gaṇarāja, / I performed fierce and beneficial penance, devoted to the meditation and recitation of his mantra.

When a hundred years had elapsed, the god Gajānana came before my eyes, / mounted upon a mouse, bearing the form of the peace of yoga.

Om tat sat. Thus ends the twenty-ninth chapter, named ‘The Description of Vasiṣṭha's Penance’, in the deeds of Ekadanta, in the second section of the glorious Maudgala Mahāpurāṇa, the venerable ultimate Purāṇic Upaniṣad.