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INTRODUCTION
 
passion and tamas bringing about dullness, perversity
and sloth.]
 
The venerable Nārada also (said): "He knows fully well
all the dharmas of the four varnas (castes). Hence tell him all
your doubts (and get them resolved)".
Närada also praised
Bhishma as one of great eminence who had attained the vision
of God on account of his association with and service to great
rishis and elders, and also by his life-long and uninterrupted
observance of celibacy, penance and contemplation. He also
blessed Bhishma and directed him to expound to the listeners
not only the Ultimate Truth but also the dharmas and rules
of conduct. Moreover, Bhishma has already received the
blessings of his father and mother by his services to them.
 
Bhishma (thus exhorted also) said these words about his
knowledge of the Supreme Truth: "O Govinda! By Thy
grace and Thy blessings, the heat of the body, doubts, weari-
ness, languor, exhaustion, disease, have all vanished from me.
I see like a fruit in the palm of my hand the past, the present
and the future. O! Achyuta, by Thy gracious gift there are
present in my mind, all the dharmas mentioned in the Vedas
and laid down in the Vedingas. By Thy grace again, O
Janārdana, and by constant contemplation on Thee, I feel
strong like a young man and am enabled to expound the
dharmas Such a Bhishma introduced the subject of the
Thousand Names in these words, "I consider this dharma as
the best of the dharmas", and expressed his view that the
chanting of the Thousand Names was his highest mata or creed
of faith.
 
(5) Accepted by all-The Thousand Names have been
accepted by all in the world. In the Sabha Parvan, the Lord
is praised as adorned with Thousand Names: "The Lord is
one with a Thousand Names." In the Vishnu Purāṇa, in the
context of the grant of salvation to Gajendra, the chief among
elephants, Vishnu is praised as one with a Thousand Names,
etc. Again, in this chapter, in the introduction and at the
end where the gains (phala) of the recitation are set out, the
excellence of the Thousand Names is mentioned.
 
So also, in Ayurveda (the Science of Longevity or Medicine)
and in other sästras which deal with worldly benefits and
 
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