Mudgalapurana 4.18: śrāvaṇaśuklacaturthīvratakathanaṃ nāmāṣṭādaśo'dhyāyaḥ

Homage to the glorious Gaṇeśa!

Daśaratha said: / Tell in detail the greatness of the boon-granting [fourth] in Śrāvaṇa; / I am not satiated by hearing the story that bestows becoming Brahman, O Lord.

Vasiṣṭha said: / In the country of Aṅga there was a glorious city named Śatatāra; / a king named Aśvasena also ruled the kingdom there.

Through dharma joined with political wisdom, devoted to various gifts, / desirous of pleasing the gods, brahmins, and guests, he became exceedingly valorous.

Devoted to various vows, a sacrificer, the best of the radiant, / endowed with strength, the king conquered the entire earth with weapons and missiles.

Renowned as a universal monarch, bringing renown to the three worlds, / he brought all kings into subjection as tribute-paying servants.

Having thus subjected the kingdom, he ruled the earth; / then, suddenly, an intensely burning fever arose in him.

Extremely afflicted by the fever, he could not get sleep at night; / he employed various remedies, but he was not freed from the fever.

When a full year had passed in this manner, reduced to skin and bones, / the king, exceedingly miserable and severely afflicted, wept bitterly.

The ruler of the earth became resolved to discard his body with poison; / [just then,] the best of yogins, Devala, suddenly went there.

[Section 4, chapter 18, page 53] Having seen him, he bowed down and then worshipped him along with his kinsmen; / knowing the path of the virtuous, he spoke these words to [Devala] after he had eaten and was satisfied:

Aśvasena said: / Blessed is my birth, my deeds, my father, mother, vows, and the rest; / now my charity has borne fruit, since I have had sight of you, O sage!

Exceedingly afflicted by fever, O great sage, / when I was intent on drinking poison, I behold you arrived, O best of yogins!

If I die from drinking poison, may I never incur [the sin of] suicide; / merely by the sight of you, liberated, I shall go to that realm.

Having spoken thus, he wept; then the sage Devala, / profound in thought and knowing the true essence of all scriptures, spoke to him.

Devala said: / The vow known as Caturthī was neglected in your kingdom; / because of that, you are afflicted with disease, and when dead, you will go to hell.

It bestows the four aims of life, is complete, approved as supreme before all else; / if it is not performed, O king, all actions become devoid of results.

Whatever great action consisting of various merits was performed by you / is devoid of the four aims of life, being devoid of the Caturthī vow.

Having spoken thus, the great yogin made him listen to a story / connected with the Caturthī vow; having heard it, the king said to him:

Aśvasena said: / Ah, the greatness of the vow has been heard, which is exceedingly wonderful! / Now declare the greatness of Gaṇeśa, O great sage!

Devala said: / The greatness of the Lord of Gaṇas cannot be spoken by me; / O king, I shall speak of his essential nature conjoined with limiting adjuncts.

I will tell you what was heard from the mouth of my father Asita, / which brings all perfections, is complete, and illuminates the yoga of Brahman.

Formerly, when I was engaged in austerities, there arrived / the great yogin Jaigīṣavya, a Śaiva who shone as one abiding in the natural state.

Well received by me, the yogin stayed, was worshipped, and was praised; / in my hermitage, though of great renown, he said nothing at all to me.

Observing his manner, I thought in my mind: / 'He performs no rites and is intent only on preserving his body;

he remains in a state devoid of meditation and the like, as if fallen away; / he is devoid of the yoga of peace, though wearing the outward guise of a yogin.'

Then, having left him at the hermitage, I went into the waters of the ocean; / knowing what was in my mind, he arrived at that very place.

'Ah, by what path did this best of yogins arrive? / He was not seen by me, an ascetic traveling in the sky!'

Then, leaving him there, I went to the heavenly realm; / there too, O intelligent one, Jaigīṣavya was seen by me.

Thus, by various paths, I went into the heavens; / in them, the great yogin was seen by me being worshipped by the immortals.

Then suddenly the great yogin disappeared; / seeing that, I asked the hosts of Siddhas, and by them it was told, O king:

'He has gone to the world of Brahman; his course may be there.' / Then, filled with sorrow, I returned again to my own hermitage.

There too, inside the house, that one of great renown was seen by me; / having worshipped him and bowed down, devoted to yoga, I said:

'O great yogin, deliver me, a bad disciple, from worldly existence! / By your compassion, [forgive me] who was engaged in testing [you], O ocean of compassion!'

Jaigīṣavya said: / Do not perform action involving harm; making an effort, / (

[Section 4, chapter 18, page 54] with the realization 'I am Brahman', become quieted and devoted to self-control.

And worship that under whose command everything abides; / by that, you alone will become a yogin here, there is no doubt.

Having spoken thus, Jaigīṣavya vanished right there; / remaining seated there, having abandoned harm, I became thus.

Then all the ancestors raised a great lamentation: / 'Alas, having abandoned ritual action, Devala neglects us!

What wise man will sustain us? We have been made supportless / by Devala without doubt, overcome by hunger and afflicted with thirst!'

Grieved on seeing them, I indeed prepared to perform ritual action; / [then] the plants were seen by me raising a great lamentation:

'Alas, having granted us freedom from fear, Devala has resorted to cruelty; / shameless, that evil-minded one will cut us down again!'

Then I was utterly despondent due to the predicament on both sides; / reflecting and intent on my own highest good, I became quieted and devoted to self-control.

By means of an action characterized by universal fearlessness and by the practice of yoga, / gradually becoming fit in the natural state, I became absorbed in Brahman.

Seeing my independence there, I again became devoid of peace; / I went to my father who was praised and saluted by foremost yogins.

Having bowed to Asita there, I inquired about the eternal Brahman / which is complete and bestows the peace of yoga; then he spoke these words to me:

Asita said: / Know, my son, that from connection consisting of self-awareness / the fourfold [world] has arisen; abandon that which grants samādhi.

And connection is never seen by yogins through disconnection; / the union of connection and disconnection is considered to bestow the peace of yoga.

For that purpose, worship the King of Gaṇas constantly with reverence; / the yogins have declared him to be ever the nature of yoga and the giver of peace.

In connection, he is called the syllable 'ga', and in disconnection, the syllable 'ṇa'; / in the union of the two, Gaṇādhīśa should ever be known by the wise.

Having spoken thus, my father, a cheerful-minded Gāṇapatya / worshipping Gaṇapa, gave me the supreme single-syllable mantra.

Then, having bowed to him, O king, I went to my own hermitage; / I worshipped Gaṇeśa, meditated [upon him], and became intent on recitation.

Then, in a short time, I attained peace, / and became worthy of worship by yogins, O king; even so, I worship Gaṇapa.

When a year had passed, Gaṇeśa, who is affectionate to his devotees, arrived; / there he was praised and worshipped by me with a delighted heart.

Then, having made me, a Gāṇapatya, equal to my father, / Mahodara, the Lord of Brahman, the sovereign, went to his abode of Svānanda.

Having spoken, he thus gave the ten-syllable mantra to the king; / making himself invisible, Devala went to his own hermitage.

Then that tiger among kings became intent on the worship of Gaṇeśa. / At the outset there arrived the boon-granting fourth [lunar day] of Śrāvaṇa.

He observed it with all the people, the city-dwellers, with reverence; / joined in fasting, he was intent on breaking the fast on the fifth [day].

Then he was freed from the burning sensation and became devoid of fever; / and all the people became free of diseases and the like—it was wondrous!

Then he made that observance renowned upon the surface of the earth; / everyone on the earth’s surface performed the observance occurring in both the bright and dark [fortnights].

Endowed with health and the like, the people shone, joyful and well-nourished, / possessing sons, grandsons, and wealth through the meritorious power of the observance.

Having relinquished the kingdom to his son, the king, dedicated to peace, / dwelt with his wife in solitude and worshipped the leader of the gaṇas.

At the end, the king, having gone to Svānanda, became identified with Brahman; / in due course all the people indeed became identified with Brahman.

Thus the greatness of the observance, bestowing all perfections, / has been told to you, O great king; listen again to a story.

In Gurjara there was an evil-doing, weak kṣatriya, / wicked-minded from childhood, devoted to sinful deeds.

Addicted to women, meat, and liquor, intent on slaughtering / people and animals, the foolish-minded man even killed his guru.

Taking the guru's wealth, he went into the forest; / in this way he constantly committed various sins with zeal.

Once that lowest of kṣatriyas was afflicted with a fever; / he became exceedingly agitated and did not remember bodily purification.

By the power of fate, that very bright [fourth day] in Śrāvaṇa arrived; / on that fourth [day] no food and water was consumed by him.

On the fifth [day] he eagerly ate a little food; / he became free from illness, but he engaged in sin again.

When in time he reached death, attendants of Gaṇeśa arrived to take him; / taking the wicked man, they made him one who is identified with Brahman.

Merely through the merit born of an observance performed unwittingly, the kṣatriya went / to Svānanda; what need be said of those who possess knowledge, O prince?

Thus various people and others, through the merit of the fourth-day observance, / became identified with Brahman; they cannot be counted by me.

If a man reads or listens to this greatness / of the boon-granting [fourth] that occurs in Śrāvaṇa, he obtains all the fruit.

Om tat sat. Thus ends the eighteenth chapter, named 'The narration of the observance of the bright fourth [lunar day] of Śrāvaṇa', in the deeds of Gajānana, in the fourth section of the glorious and venerable Maudgala Mahāpurāṇa, an Upaniṣad of the Purāṇas.