Mudgalapurana 3.27: sūryavālakhilyasaṃvādasamāptivarṇanaṃ nāma saptaviṃśatitamo'dhyāyaḥ

Homage to the holy Gaṇeśa.

Nara and Nārāyaṇa said:
Such greatness of kings cannot indeed be fully spoken;
know everything to consist of illusion, O Mārkaṇḍeya, in particular.

The entire cosmic egg was created fully by Brahmā, preserved by Viṣṇu,
and dissolved by Hara—made entirely through illusion.

Endless cosmic eggs abide everywhere;
know, O giver of honor, that they are sustained in the form of the great causal principle.

All things must be known to consist of illusion;
they are known by yoga through the destruction of error—of this there is no doubt.

All that consists of mind and speech is declared to be of the nature of error;
that which is devoid of mind and speech is considered to be truly such [as it is].

Dharma, wealth, pleasure, and liberation, and even the state of becoming Brahman,
appear in the heart of yogins through error, through illusion, O brahmin.

The story of Rāma has been told to you in full, in brief;
what do you wish to hear, O wise one? We two shall return to our hermitage.

Bhānu said:
Having heard their words, Mārkaṇḍeya again spoke to the two of them,
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having bowed down with complete devotion, for the sake of yoga.

Mārkaṇḍeya said:
O gods Nara and Nārāyaṇa, I have indeed been purified by you two;
hearing the story, my satisfaction does not end, like drinking nectar.

Therefore, tell me the yoga of Gaṇeśa, by which I too,
taking refuge in peace like Rāma, may become one with Brahman.

Nara and Nārāyaṇa said:
We two will explain the path of Gaṇeśa's yoga to you with proper reasoning;
there is no power to describe it even with the mind, O lord of sages.

The mind is fivefold, O brahmin; Cintāmaṇi resides in it;
by restraining the five modifications, he is attained—of this there is no doubt.

Perfection, bestowing delusion in all states, is present everywhere;
intellect is indeed declared by the wise to have the nature of supporting delusion.

And that which is called the reflected image of both is the leader of the gaṇas;
joined with delusion, he sports by his own nature, O best of sages.

Casting aside the condition of being a reflected image, become the leader of the gaṇas;
'I am of the form of Gaṇeśa'—this yoga bestows peace.

Abandoning the fivefold mind and its illusory sovereignty,
you will now become the leader of the gaṇas through yoga.

All that consists of mind and speech is expressed by the syllable 'ga';
and that which is devoid of mind and speech is declared by the wise to be the syllable 'ṇa'.

Behold in the Veda Gaṇeśa as the master of the two, O great sage;
worship him; then you will go to peace, without a doubt.

Having spoken thus, O Vālakhilyas, the two ṛṣis Nara and Nārāyaṇa
ceased; understand that leader of the gaṇas in this way.

Having bowed to the two, the glorious Mārkaṇḍeya spoke again:
'Blessed am I by the sight of you two, O great sages.

O masters, I desire to see eternal illusion, which creates delusion;
show me that Mahāmāyā, O venerable ones, I bow to you.'

Bhānu said:
Saying 'So be it' to him, O Vālakhilyas, the two best of sages said:
'You will see Mahāmāyā, Mārkaṇḍeya, without a doubt.'

Receiving permission and worshipped by him, the two best of yogins,
the Gāṇapatya great ṛṣis, went to their hermitage through yoga.

Then once, the eminent brahmin Mārkaṇḍeya, staying in his hermitage,
meditated upon the two yogins, longing for a vision of illusion.

Then suddenly he heard a great noise arising from the ocean. / He too became bewildered by fear; then the clouds thundered.

Then they rained down with torrents resembling elephant trunks; / as the sage watched, the entire world was submerged there by the clouds.

Then, flooded by the vast waters born of the ocean, / the entire moving and unmoving [creation was engulfed], and the best of sages wandered there.

Wounded somewhat by fish and other creatures, the chief of brahmins, / that Mārkaṇḍeya, extremely distressed, remembered the Lord of the Gaṇas.

Then, right there, he saw an infant resting upon a banyan leaf, / merely the size of the joint of a thumb—supreme Viṣṇu, who grants all goals.

Bowing to him, Mārkaṇḍeya praised him, O great sages; / he pleased the god with the Atharvaśiras [Upaniṣad].

He said to that chief of brahmins: "What do you desire, O great sage? / Speak! I shall grant it to you, for I am a giver of boons, there is no doubt of this."

Bowing to him, Mārkaṇḍeya, his mind clarified, spoke thus: / "O Viṣṇu, show me māyā; having understood it, I shall abandon it."

Then that child, possessing the form of Viṣṇu, bound by devotion, / spoke with a smile, intent on protecting his devotee:

Section 3, Chapter 27, Page 58) The child Viṣṇu said: / "Behold māyā, O great sage, with the vision of knowledge, O great ascetic; / the eye of knowledge has been granted to you by me through the power of devotion."

Then Mārkaṇḍeya, endowed with the eye of knowledge, O brahmins, / beheld with joy māyā revealing manifold states of being.

Pervading everywhere in the form of the pervaded and the pervader, O twice-born, / through the various divisions of the guṇas, they constantly delude men.

In one place the destruction of the universe, in another the preservation of the universe, / and in another its origination was seen by that yogin, O chiefs of brahmins.

In one place full of emptiness, in another of full form once again; / the best of sages beheld the supreme Brahman abiding in meditation.

In one place men, supremely devoted, strove intensely for yoga; / in another they were attached to sense pleasures, and in another to liberation, O twice-born.

Again and again they are created, and again and again they die; / in some places lords are powerless, and in some, mortal men become lords.

Nectar had the form of poison, and poison was the giver of nectar; / there the brahmin-sage beheld the sun become cold.

Water on dry land, and dry land in water, born of various transformations; / the best of sages beheld man liberated and also bound.

The lord found no course there, [rendered] powerless indeed by delusion; / the world and the Self of the world [were confounded], and so he became astonished.

Thus the best of sages beheld manifold states of being; / it is not possible for me to recount it even in hundreds of millions of years.

Then the great sage praised that child Viṣṇu; / having delighted him with various hymns of praise, he prayed with devotion:

"Withdraw māyā, O Hari! Make me as I was before!" / As he was praying thus, [the child] caused him to remain in his own hermitage.

Then, to the chief of brahmins, it appeared as though nothing had been seen there, / just as a living being, having awakened, sees nothing of what occurred in a dream.

No water, no ocean, no fear, no sorrow, no Keśava / bearing the form of a child, and no māyā; by this he was astonished.

O Vālakhilyas, then the brahmin, abandoning the māyā consisting of delusion, / devoted to the worship of Gaṇeśa, recited the supreme mantra.

That supreme yoga which had been taught by Nara and Nārāyaṇa, / he accomplished again through the contemplation of Heramba's mantra.

As it had previously been accomplished by Rāma, so was it accomplished by him as well— / the yoga that bestows peace, complete through the innate nature of a Gāṇapatya.

Devoted to the peace of yoga, that Mārkaṇḍeya, an expert knower of yoga, / worshipped that Leader of the Gaṇas with an undistracted mind.

In the end, through devotion, he attained union with the body of Gaṇeśa. / Thus, O brahmins, various devotees of Gaṇeśa come into being.

Whoever hears or reads this life of the son of Mṛkaṇḍu, / for him the bondage of māyā shall have no power.

Mahodara is the god celebrated under the name of Heramba; / he dwells in the city of the Lord of Learning, granting the perfection of devotion.

Therefore, O Vālakhilyas, I worship that Lord of the Gaṇas, / having brought him within reach through yoga, full of devotion."

Mudgala said: / Having heard these words of the sun, the Vālakhilyas bowed / to the sun, the Self in all things, and praised him with various hymns.

With folded hands, they spoke once more to that sun who is dear to all: / "We have been made to have accomplished our purpose, O sun, O god, there is no doubt.

Section 3, Chapter 28, Page 59) What can we give to you, O great-souled one? This body is offered to you; / be pleased with that, O Lord, our Guru, through our reverence."

Then all the Vālakhilyas, rich in asceticism, worshipped him; / having bowed, they departed indeed to the excellent forest for ascetic practice.

Having mastered what was heard here in accordance with yoga, O Prajāpati, / they became yogins especially worthy of worship by all.

Worshipping Heramba and constantly devoted to meditation, / with minds focused on none other, they all attained the peace of yoga.

And the incarnation named Heramba, consisting of a portion of Mahodara, / has been narrated to you, O protector of creatures, accompanied by various tales.

Many indeed are such incarnations of that Mahodara, O giver of honor; / their deeds are supremely wondrous.

It is not possible for anyone to narrate them, there is no doubt of this; / therefore it has been recounted in brief by me, O Dakṣa, O Prajāpati.

This supremely wondrous dialogue between the sun and the Vālakhilyas / is declared to bestow the state of Brahman and to grant dharma, desire, wealth, and liberation.

It is particularly capable of granting all prosperity, / destroying delusion completely. What further do you wish to hear?

Om tat sat. Thus ends the twenty-seventh chapter, entitled 'Description of the Conclusion of the Dialogue between the Sun and the Vālakhilyas' in the deeds of Mahodara, in the third section of the glorious Maudgala Mahāpurāṇa, the ultimate purāṇic Upaniṣad.