History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c90.258

v7.c90.258

Five out of the seven verses of Brahmāṇḍa III. 68. 97–103 are the same as Viṣṇu IV. 10. 23–27 (about what Yayāti said about tṛṣṇā). The same occur in Brahma-purāṇa 12. 40–46. It is likely that all borrow from the Mahābhārata, Ādiparva 75. 44 ff., 85. 9 ff. and Anuśāsana 7. 21 ff. The Mit. on Yājñavalkya III. 6 quotes on Nārāyaṇabali about 14 verses of the Viṣṇu-purāṇa. The Kalpataru on Mokṣa quotes 250 verses from the Viṣṇu (most of which have been identified), 70 on niyatakāla (almost all traced), 21 on brahmacāri, 28 on śrāddha (only one not traced), 21 on tīrtha (all traced), about 45 on gṛhastha-kāṇḍa.¹⁴⁴¹ Aparārka cites about 75 verses from the Viṣṇupurāṇa and the Smṛticandrikā about 100. The Kāvyaprakāśa1441a (IV.) quotes two verses from this (V. 13. 21–22 about a gopakanyā attaining final release by her thorough unswerving devotion to Lord Kṛṣṇa) The Viṣṇupurāṇa teaches in some places the sublime philosophy of *advaita*;¹⁴⁴² for example, it says 'He who seeks mokṣa should strive for treating all as equal, gods, men, beasts, birds, trees and creeping life are all the form of the Infinite Viṣṇu, though appearing as distinct from each other; one who realizes this should look upon the world as his own self &c.' In another place the Viṣṇupurāṇa¹⁴⁴³ states 'The mind alone is the cause of the bondage of men and their release; mind that is attached to the objects of the senses tends to bondage, but when it is beyond attachment to them, it tends to mokṣa'. It teaches the central doctrine of the Gītā that actions done without an eye to the reward or fruit thereof do not lead to bondage.¹⁴⁴⁴