Mudgalapurana 8.10: śivātmakāvatāracaritaṃ nāma daśamo'dhyāyaḥ

Homage to the glorious Gaṇeśa.

Sanaka and the others said: / Various divisions of the incarnation of Dhūmravarṇa are remembered; / among them, O omnipresent one, speak of the principal, supreme ones along with their stories!

Hearing the deeds of Dhūmravarṇa, we do not reach satiety; / having understood them from you, O teacher of the universe, as completely removing egotism.

Śrī Śiva said: / The supreme deeds of the various forms of the Dhūmravarṇa incarnation, / O best of sages, cannot be recounted even for the chief ones.

I shall briefly tell the supreme deeds of those that are the foremost among the chief; / listen to that with an unwavering mind.

The innate state that is declared to be of the nature of 'not this', O lords of sages, / by that was created the renowned Brahman denoting bliss.

By that were created truth and falsehood; from the two, associated with emergence, / O lords of Brahmins, two Brahmans were created, called 'from oneself' and 'from another'.

By that, Brahman consisting of the embodied, abundant in bodies, [was created]; / by that very one was the supreme bindu created, consisting of the four bodies.

By them were created the gross, the subtle, the balanced, and nāda, having universal form; / from that, O lords of sages, arose the individual form, consisting of various differences.

These forms of Brahman were indeed born, O great ṛṣis, / devoid of knowledge, incapable in every way with regard to the classes of effects.

Then austerity was performed by them: 'Salutations, salutations to whomever it may be', / constantly repeating the mantra consisting of the seed syllables of all.

Then, when a hundred years had elapsed, Gajānana was pleased, / and he revealed his own supreme form, made of mantra, to them.

Then, by his grace, they saw situated in their own hearts / the single-syllabled supreme mantra endowed with radiance and conferring knowledge.

Having seen the mantra, the Brahmans were delighted and bowed with respect; / having received that mantra previously, meditating on Gajānana in the heart,

meditating on the lord Gaṇeśa whose form is the mantra, the supreme ones performed austerity, / and, though undergoing exhaustion, they greatly pleased the lord of obstacles.

After a thousand divine years, Gajānana was pleased; / he revealed his own unexcelled form, worthy of meditation by yogins.

Having seen the form of man and elephant, they were amazed in their hearts; / to those Brahmans Ḍhuṇḍhi gave entirely spotless knowledge.

Thereby, the form of the king of gaṇas was understood by them in particular— / endowed with both attributes and without attributes, consisting of yoga, supreme.

Then, filled with immense joy, O best of sages, / the Brahmans constantly practiced recitation, meditating on Vighneśa.

Then Gaṇapati, delighted with their sincere devotion, came to them, / assuming the form of Śiva, having five faces and three eyes,

Śambhu bearing a garland of severed heads, clad in skins of tiger and elephant, / having holy ashes smeared over all his limbs, adorned with the serpent Śeṣa,

having the bull for his emblem, mounted on a bull, adorned with the crescent moon on his crest, holding a trident, / joined with the daughter of the mountain on half his body, prince of yogins, praised by yogins.

Seeing the great lord who had arrived, O Brahmins, the Brahmans / were exceedingly astonished, and they reflected with respect.

By the grace of Gaṇeśa, the entire splendor of Śiva / was instantly known by them through awakening in the heart; then they spoke to one another:

'The innate Brahman, having the form of Gaṇapa, rests in its own glory; / in it the letters appear smoke-colored, therefore he is remembered as Dhūmrākṣara.'

'Its reflection, cast through infatuation accompanied by māyā, / is the wise one in the worlds and in the Brahmans; that very one is this bull-bannered lord.'

'Because of the power of the reflector and the reflected, this one is called Dhūmravarṇa; / there will be no difference in the doctrines of the scriptures; he shall be the granter of boons.'

Then, rising up, those Brahmans, having bowed again to Gaṇapa / who resides in the heart, especially bowed to that Śiva.

Having worshipped Śambhu according to rule, and delighted and having bowed, / the forms of Brahman, foremost in bliss, praised [him], O honorers [of guests]!

The Brahmans said: / Salutations to you, Dhūmravarṇa, who bear the form of Gaṇeśa! / To you, the reflection, to Śaṅkara, to Śambhu, salutations, salutations!

Salutations to you of immeasurable power, the husband of Pārvatī! / To the bull-bannered god, to the innate one, salutations, salutations!

Salutations to the refuge of māyā, the prompter of māyā, the supreme Self, / the great lord, the full one, to Heramba, salutations, salutations!

To the one who bears matted locks, to the one free from delusion, O Sadāśiva, / to the supreme lord, the bearer of the trident and other [weapons], to you salutations, salutations!

Salutations to you who are independent, and who bear five faces, / to the shelterless, to the sheltered, to the lord, to the one whose nature is the lord!

To the one whose true nature is the supreme Brahman, the lord of Brahmā and others, salutations! / To the lord of the mountain, resting on the mountain, whose body is smeared with the ashes of funeral pyres!

To the bearer of the garland of severed heads, salutations to you who are adorned with serpents, / to the player in various ways through diverse forms, salutations, salutations!

To you who are falsehood on the left side and truth on the right half of the body, / and bliss in the union of their non-difference, salutations, salutations!

The great māyā of equal form is your body, there is no doubt here; / you are its inner Self; salutations to the one who assumed the form of half-woman!

We behold such a great lord whose nature is Brahman, / the negator of all; by that indeed we are blessed.

You alone are Dhūmravarṇa here; no difference is ever seen; / who would be capable of praising you, O Lord? Therefore we bow to you.

Śiva said: / Having spoken thus to the great lord, the Brahmans bowed with reverence; / Śaṅkara, the ocean of compassion, spoke to them with great joy.

The primordial Śambhu said: / O Brahmans, state what boons [you desire]; through [your] austerity I shall grant the supreme [boon]; / pleased by your hymn of praise and devotion, there is no doubt I shall grant the desires in your heart.

The Brahmans said: / Since you are the granter of boons, O Lord, then give your supreme devotion / and mindfulness in one's own tasks in the form of knowledge, O Maheśvara!

Performing each our own task that causes bondage, O remover of bondage, / make us, who always maintain yoga, free from bondage!

Śrī Śiva said: / Whatever has been requested of me shall be conducive to happiness; / for you whose resolves are true, what that is difficult to obtain would not come to be?

Listen to the incomparable yoga that brings happiness and leads to freedom from bondage; / having mastered it, you will become free from bondage, there is no doubt.

Know me, the fourth one, as the negator of all; / the wise know their own true nature in the union of the four.

Therefore, know Gajānana to be independent in form, and dependent on another, / considered threefold, born as a portion of a digit.

Ḍhuṇḍhi, consisting of his own true nature, is proclaimed as joined with māyā; / being the prompter of the four, the Lord is so because of the non-difference of their union.

Disconnection is devoid of the five, always denoting cessation; / there is no connection of the Brahmans or of the worlds to it, nor of it to them.

In the union of connection and non-connection, Gaṇeśa denotes yoga; / Gajānana, who grants complete peace, has directly become Brahman.

The syllable ga is said to be one's own essential nature; the syllable ṇa is called yoga; / the lord of both is the lord Gaṇeśa, who bears the form of man and elephant.

Worship him especially; then you will obtain peace. / You shall constantly be free from bondage, not otherwise.

Just as a smoky region is not seen by mortals, / (

Khaṇḍa 8, Adhyāya 11, page 24) though visible, even so, on account of the state of obstruction by smoke,

so too māyā consists of mind, fivefold, delighting in diverse things. / Joined with it, they do not see that god through the means of the Vedas.

The Vedas are said to consist of phonemes, and they have become smoky through māyā. / Therefore they praised the lord Gaṇeśa to their disciples as Dhūmravarṇa.

Know the supreme yoga, bestower of full peace, consisting of Dhūmravarṇa! / Indeed, by the method of yoga, worship that Gajānana!

Having continually performed various duties abiding in their respective natures, / dedicating them to Dhūmravarṇa, [they become] ever free from bondage.

Having spoken thus, Mahādeva vanished right there. / Then, bowing to him, the Brahmās created the manifold universe.

According to the yoga taught, with constant reverence, / those Brahmās, united with yoga, indeed worship Gaṇeśa, O twice-born!

This most wondrous incarnation is said to consist of Śiva, / a portion of a digit of Dhūmravarṇa, bestower of all perfections.

If a man hears this deed, or when he recites it, / having enjoyed pleasures himself, he would in the end go to the city of Svānanda.

Oṃ tat sat. Thus ends the tenth chapter, titled “The Deed of the Incarnation Consisting of Śiva,” in the deed of Dhūmravarṇa, in the eighth section of the glorious and supreme Purāṇa-Upaniṣad, the glorious Maudgala Mahāpurāṇa.