"Salutation to thee, who art uniform and manifold, all-pervading, supreme spirit, of inconceivable glory, and who art simple existence. Salutation to thee, O inscrutable, who art truth, and the essence of oblations. Salutation to thee, O lord, whose nature is unknown, who art beyond primeval matter, who existest in five forms, as one with the elements, with the faculties, with matter, with the living soul, with supreme spirit. Shew favour to me, O soul of the universe, essence of all things, perishable or eternal, whether addressed by the designation of Brahmá, Vishńu, Śiva, or the like. I adore thee, O god, whose nature is indescribable, whose purposes are inscrutable, whose name even is unknown; for the attributes of kind or appellation are not applicable to thee, who art THAT 6, the supreme Brahma, eternal, unchangeable, untreated. But as the accomplishment of our objects cannot be attained except through some specific form, thou art termed by us Krishńa, Achyuta, Ananta, or Vishńu. Thou, unborn divinity, art all the objects of these impersonations; thou art the gods, and all other beings; thou art the whole world; thou art all. Soul of the universe, thou art exempt from change, and there is nothing except thee in all this existence. Thou art Brahmá, Paśupati, Áryaman, Dhátri, and Vidhátri; thou art Indra, air, fire, the regent of the waters, the god of wealth, and judge of the dead; and thou, although but one, presidest over the world with various energies, addressed to various purposes. Thou, identical with the solar ray, createst the universe; all elementary substance is composed of thy qualities; and thy supreme form is denoted by the imperishable term SAT (existence). To him who is one with true knowledge, who is and is not perceptible, I bow. Glory be to him, the lord Vásudeva, to Sankarshańa, to Pradyumna, and to Aniruddha 7."

Footnotes

545:1 In the Bhágavata, Hari Vanśa, &c. several adventures of Krishńa, during his residence at Vraja, are recorded, of which our text makes no mention. Of these, the two most popular are Krishńa's taking away the clothes of the Gopís whilst bathing, and his liberating the Gopas from the mouth of Aghásura, disguised as a vast serpent, into which they had entered, thinking it a cavern in a mountain. The omission of these two legends, or of any of the rest, is not much to be regretted.

546:2 The noonday prayer, or Sandhya.

546:3 By his Dhyána, or force of meditation, in which it is attempted to bring before the mind's eye some definite form of the object of adoration. In this case Akrúra is compelled to see a form he did not anticipate. The Hari Vanśa very clumsily sets him to meditate upon the serpent Śesha, which spoils the story, intended as that is to exhibit the identity of Balaráma and Krishńa with the supreme.