2023-05-31 04:00:34 by ambuda-bot
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INTRODUCTION
expounding the duty of charity, for the purpose of laying down
the essence of the sastras in a short and abbreviated form.
As this work teaches us the highest goal, and as the
doubts about its authoritativeness and its being intended as a
mere matter of praise are dispelled (lit. thrown far out) by the
excellence of the reasons to prove that it is authoritative, and
by the possession of the characteristics that this work deals with
the Ultimate Reality, this work is eminently fit to be taken
up by persons desirous of worldly prosperity or moksha.
(2) So also-" sung by rishis ". Great sages like Saunaka,
Sanatkumara, Nārada, etc., have sung, reciting the names with
their full meaning and import.
(3) "Collated together by the Vedacharya". The exposi-
tion of the above is as follows:-The venerable teacher of the
Vedas, Krishna Dvaipayana, is the most reliable (of teachers).
For, He is an incarnation of the Supreme Lord, Nārāyaṇa,
endowed with unsurpassed knowledge and other auspicious
qualities, such as aišvarya, and not subject to any imperfec-
tions like confusion of mind or tendency to mislead others, or
indifference. And he, being inspired solely with the desire to
benefit the men of Kaliyuga, who are generally of dull minas,
divided and arranged the Vedas. He composed the Maha.
bharata, called the fifth Veda, with the object of dispelling the
ignorance, doubts or perverse misconceptions of the people
about the Real Truth and the principles of good conduct
enshrined in the Vedas.
Look at the nobility of his ancestry. He is the great-
grandson of Vasishṭa who, by a word of his, ennobled
Viśvāmitra, a Kshatriya, into a Brahmin; is the son of
Parāśara who is extolled by the Linga Purana as a great soul
who had attained, by the grace of Vasishta and Pulastya, the
true vision of the Reality and who attained eminence as the
author of a purana (the Vishnu Purana). He is respected by
assemblage of the rishis as one who has performed penances
and yoga of unsurpassed austerity. Thus by him the Names
of Vishnu, which were sung by various sages, had been strung
together in the form of a hymn of praise. Hence, this
Chapter of Thousand Names has to be accepted as the most
beneficial (to mankind).
7
expounding the duty of charity, for the purpose of laying down
the essence of the sastras in a short and abbreviated form.
As this work teaches us the highest goal, and as the
doubts about its authoritativeness and its being intended as a
mere matter of praise are dispelled (lit. thrown far out) by the
excellence of the reasons to prove that it is authoritative, and
by the possession of the characteristics that this work deals with
the Ultimate Reality, this work is eminently fit to be taken
up by persons desirous of worldly prosperity or moksha.
(2) So also-" sung by rishis ". Great sages like Saunaka,
Sanatkumara, Nārada, etc., have sung, reciting the names with
their full meaning and import.
(3) "Collated together by the Vedacharya". The exposi-
tion of the above is as follows:-The venerable teacher of the
Vedas, Krishna Dvaipayana, is the most reliable (of teachers).
For, He is an incarnation of the Supreme Lord, Nārāyaṇa,
endowed with unsurpassed knowledge and other auspicious
qualities, such as aišvarya, and not subject to any imperfec-
tions like confusion of mind or tendency to mislead others, or
indifference. And he, being inspired solely with the desire to
benefit the men of Kaliyuga, who are generally of dull minas,
divided and arranged the Vedas. He composed the Maha.
bharata, called the fifth Veda, with the object of dispelling the
ignorance, doubts or perverse misconceptions of the people
about the Real Truth and the principles of good conduct
enshrined in the Vedas.
Look at the nobility of his ancestry. He is the great-
grandson of Vasishṭa who, by a word of his, ennobled
Viśvāmitra, a Kshatriya, into a Brahmin; is the son of
Parāśara who is extolled by the Linga Purana as a great soul
who had attained, by the grace of Vasishta and Pulastya, the
true vision of the Reality and who attained eminence as the
author of a purana (the Vishnu Purana). He is respected by
assemblage of the rishis as one who has performed penances
and yoga of unsurpassed austerity. Thus by him the Names
of Vishnu, which were sung by various sages, had been strung
together in the form of a hymn of praise. Hence, this
Chapter of Thousand Names has to be accepted as the most
beneficial (to mankind).
7