Mudgalapurana 5.18: śeṣākhyānavarṇanaṃ nāmāṣṭādaśo'dhyāyaḥ

Homage to the glorious Gaṇeśa.

Mudgala said: / Then Śeṣa himself performed excellent austerity there; / devoted to tranquility and self-restraint, he purified the plane of yoga.

Gradually having reached the further shore of the five planes of the mind, / having attained peace, the great serpent worshipped that Leader of Gaṇas.

Endowed with devotion, he worshipped according to the disposition of a Gāṇapatya; / thus Gajānana became pleased by the power of his austerity.

He came to that great devotee, whose eyes were motionless in meditation, / and said: "Choose from me boons that are very difficult to attain!"

Hearing his words, awakened, having seen the Leader of Gaṇas, / the god Lambodara, he bowed with folded hands.

Having bowed to the Lord of Obstacles, filled with devotion, he worshipped again; / becoming firmly steady, with his cupped hands joined, he praised [him].

Śeṣa said: / Homage to you, O Gaṇeśa, homage, O Lord of Siddhi and Buddhi! / O Cintāmaṇi, destroyer of great obstacles, homage, homage!

Homage to you who are to be worshipped before all, who are worshipped by all! / Homage, homage to the Jyeṣṭharāja, the mother and father of the foremost!

Section 5, Chapter 18, Page 38) / Homage, homage to Vināyaka, the leader of all, / the impeller of leaders, who are served by leaders!

And homage, homage to Vighneśa, who causes the fall from status of all / non-devotees, [and] the destroyer of obstacles for true devotees!

To Ḍhuṇḍhirāja, who is sought by all, O bestower of true perfection, / O great king of those who seek, supreme Lord, homage, homage!

To the lord of Brahmans, who gives Brahman to Brahmans, / who grants happiness to Brahmans, and whose form is peace, homage to you!

To you who dwell in Svānanda, whose form is ever Svānanda, / who engage in manifold sports, who are absorption, homage, homage!

To the one whose vehicle is a mouse, whose form is dear to the mouse, / having the mouse-banner, whose form is theft, homage to you!

To non-yoga always, O Brahman, to Brahman, whose form is Brahman, / not abiding in absorption, O Heramba, free from illusion, homage to you!

To yoga, to the lord of yoga, who bestows yoga upon yogins, / devoid of the modifications of the mind, to Gaṇeśa, homage, homage!

How may I praise you, O Gaṇādhīśa, who are devoid of mind and speech, / yet composed of mind and speech, O Lord, abiding beyond both?

Therefore all the Vedas and others are baffled; of this there is no doubt, / as are yogins headed by Śuka; therefore, I behold you through good fortune.

As he praised thus, an upsurge of the sentiment of devotion arose; / because of it, Śeṣa danced, his hair bristling with joy, tears in his eyes.

Then the King of Gaṇas spoke to that excellent devotee: / "Choose boons, O Śeṣa! Moved by devotion, I shall grant them.

This hymn of praise composed by you shall bestow peace and yoga; / it bestows dharma, wealth, pleasure, and liberation, and grants all perfections.

Whatever one desires, that very thing I shall certainly give from the recitation of this hymn / or from hearing it; there is no doubt of this; it shall increase devotion to me."

Then the king of serpents, eager for devotion, bowed with love / to Vighneśa and spoke beneficial words.

Śeṣa said: / O Gaṇādhīśa, grant supreme devotion to your lotus feet! / O Leader of Gaṇas, make me constantly abide in extreme peace!

The mind is said to be fivefold; in that, O Lord, / abide constantly in the form of inner inspiration, destroying my delusion!

Because of its fickle nature, the mind will delight in worldly objects; / there is no doubt of this. Therefore, become my son!

In worldly existence, I shall constantly worship you with the attitude toward a son, / and in my heart with peace, O God, as the deity of my family.

By your grace, let there be a sacred place of Gaṇeśa right here, / bestowing all perfections, O Lord, and granting peace to devotees!

Beholding you as the supporter of the plane of the mind, I have become peaceful here, O Gajānana; / people will call you Dharaṇīdhara ('Supporter of the Earth'), O Lord!

Because I, O Gaṇādhyakṣa, am indeed of your form—of this there is no doubt— / therefore, through my name, become Dharaṇīdhara!

"I am spoken of as Dharādhara (earth-bearer), carrying the gross word. / You, O Lord, who abide in the ground of the mind, are through yoga the earth-bearer."

Having spoken thus to the Lord of Gaṇas, the son of Kaśyapa fell silent. / The Gaṇādhīśa, pleased and affectionate toward devotees, said to him:

Śrī Gaṇeśa said: / "Everything spoken by you, O Śeṣa, shall become fruitful for you. / Always abiding in the nature of peace, you shall surely worship Me.

Khaṇḍa 5, Chapter 18, page 39) You shall indeed become the author of the yoga treatise, O giver of honor; / nowhere shall anyone equal you in yoga, O you of great intellect.

Always showing devotion to Me, stay at My navel, O Dharādhara; / free from delusion by nature, worship Me especially.

Pain, fatigue, and the like arising from bearing the earth shall never / be yours, O Śeṣa; [the earth] shall be equal [in weight] to a mustard seed.

Viṣṇu, resting upon your body, shall lie down daily with respect; / like a flower shall that god become, though he is the lord of the universe.

You shall always have a share in the sacrifices, without doubt; / you are a guardian of the directions, O fortunate one, honored by all, without doubt."

Having spoken thus, the Gaṇādhīśa showed his various forms / to Śeṣa, supreme, holding diverse yogas.

The king of serpents saw the form of the collective and the individual, the form of sound, / the drop (bindu), 'I am He', and likewise consciousness, the bodiless, O Lord.

He saw [that form] consisting of his own essential nature, established in non-yoga, and consisting of the peace of yoga; / Śeṣa was astonished and became free from doubt.

Gaṇeśa, the lord of Brahman, instantly vanished; / thereupon Śeṣa installed the Lord of Gaṇas by means of the protectors of brāhmaṇas.

Dharaṇīdhara-Vighneśa remained right there, / the giver of perfection to his devotees merely by making a pilgrimage, certainly.

Filled with joy, Śeṣa went to his own abode, O Dakṣa; / and at the navel of the King of Obstacles, the king of serpents himself abides.

Endowed with single-minded devotion, he worshipped that leader of the Gaṇas. / Now there occurred the incarnation of Vyāsa, the protector of dharma.

Having approached Brahmā for refuge, the sage heard / the purāṇa of Gaṇeśa, and, endowed with austerity, he worshipped the god.

The pleased Gaṇarāja, having granted him a boon, departed; / [Vyāsa] respectfully divided all the branches of the Vedas and the like.

Then, after much time had passed, being filled with confusion through māyā, / the yogin fell from yoga due to the unsteady condition of his mind.

Once Vyāsa was performing the daily water-libation in the water of a river; / into his folded hands Śeṣa himself fell, assuming a minute form.

Seeing him, Vyāsa was astonished and dropped him into the water out of fear; / the serpent, the size of a thumb, spoke these words to the sage:

The serpent said: / "Very fierce creatures in the water will swallow me up, O master; / protect me, O fortunate one, who have come to you for refuge!"

Hearing that, the illustrious Vyāsa was astonished, bowed to him, / and, filled with joy, spoke a word conducive to his own welfare.

Vyāsa said: / "Speak, who are you, O fortunate one, who came into my folded hands? / You speak like a human, O master; I do not truly recognize you."

Hearing those words of his, Patañjali spoke to him, / delighting [him] with words filled with purpose, full of joy:

"If thinking has been completely abandoned, then where does it operate? / It is extraordinary, O tiger among sages, that through māyā you ask, O master.

Through māyā, one belonging to the species of serpents constantly speaks like a human; / there is no doubt about this, for nothing is difficult to attain through it."

Hearing those words of his, the sage bowed to him again / and asked: "Show me your own form; reverence, reverence!"

Then, having assumed a human form, the Lord stood in person; / Śeṣa, abiding in the form of a brāhmaṇa, addressed that great sage:

Patañjali said: / "Into your folded hands, O fortunate one, I fell for your welfare; / (

Khaṇḍa 7, Chapter 99, page 40) know me as Patañjali, O sage, and as Śeṣa, the bearer of the earth.

O lord of brāhmaṇas, know that I was especially impelled by this Gaṇeśa / solely to destroy your delusion, and have come suddenly."

Knowing [this], Vyāsa was exceedingly overjoyed, bowed, and said to him: / "And how, O master, is thought to be abandoned by one who is in the mind?

Having seen this diversity, [the mind] becomes like that there; / speak of this most wonderful mind, O you who are worshipped by the lord of serpents!"

Patañjali himself taught him the treatise on yoga, / supreme, exactly as had been shown by the Lord of Obstacles himself.

The yogin, lord of brāhmaṇas, Śeṣa, the giver of all goals, vanished; / there Vyāsa, O lord of creatures, became filled with sorrow.

He had heard the supreme treatise earlier from the mouth of Śeṣa; / restraining the mind in that manner, he became worthy of worship by yogins.

Resting upon the fivefold ground of the mind, having personally abandoned that thinking, / the best of sages assumed the form of Cintāmaṇi.

Vyāsa also composed a commentary upon it for the attainment of the hidden meaning, / for the welfare of human beings and to make it easy to understand, O lord of creatures.

This greatness of Śeṣa, which bestows the peace of yoga, has been told; / now hear, O Dakṣa, the narrative that is at hand."

"Oṃ tat sat." Thus ends the eighteenth chapter, named "Description of the Story of Śeṣa," in the Lambodara narrative in the fifth section of the glorious and final Purāṇopaniṣad, the glorious Maudgala Mahāpurāṇa.