Chapter 68

“Bhishma said, ‘Hear from me, O king, this hymn that was uttered byBrahman himself. This hymn was in days of old communicated by regenerateRishis and the gods (to men) on Earth-Narada described thee as the Masterand the Lord of the god of gods and all the Sadhyas and the celestials,and as one acquainted with the nature of the Creator of the worlds.Markandeya spoke of thee as the Past, the Present, and the Future, andthe sacrifice of sacrifices, and the austerity of austerities. Theillustrious Bhrigu said of thee that thou art the God of the gods, thatthine is the ancient form of Vishnu. Dwaipayana said of thee that thouart Vasudeva of the Vasus, the establisher of Sakra, and the God of godsand all creatures. In days of old on the occasion of procreatingcreatures, the sages spoke of thee as Daksha, the Father of creation.Angiras said that thou art the creator of all beings. Devala said of theethat the unmanifest all is thy body, and the manifest is in thy mind, andthat the gods are all the result of thy breath.[389] With thy heads ispervaded the heavens, and thy two arms support the Earth. In thy stomachare three worlds and thou art the Eternal Being. Even thus do men exaltedby asceticism know thee. Thou art the Sat of Sat, with Rishis gratifiedwith sight of Self.[390] With royal sages of liberal minds, neverretreating from battle and having morality for their highest end, thou, Oslayer of Madhu, art, the sole refuse. Even thus is that illustrious andSupreme Being, viz., Hari, adored and worshipped by Sanatkumar and otherascetics endued with Yoga. The truth about Kesava, O sire, is nownarrated to thee, both in brief and detail. Turn thy heart in love toKesava.'”

Sanjaya continued, “Hearing this sacred story, thy son, O great king,began to regard highly both Kesava and these mighty car-warriors, viz.,the sons of Pandu. Then, O monarch, Bhishma the son of Santanu once moreaddressed thy son, saying, ‘Thou hast now heard truly, O king, about theglory of the high-souled Kesava and of Nara about which thou hadst askedme. Thou hast also heard about the object for which both Nara andNarayana have taken their births among men. Thou hast also been told thereason why those heroes are invincible and have never been vanquished inbattle, and why also, O king, the sons of Pandu are incapable of beingslain in battle, by anybody. Krishna beareth great love for theillustrious sons of Pandu. It is for this, O king of kings, that I say,’Let peace be made with the Pandavas.’ Restraining thy passions enjoythou the Earth with thy mighty brothers (around thee). By disregardingthe divine Nara and Narayana, thou shalt certainly be destroyed. Havingsaid these words, thy sire, became silent, O monarch, and dismissing theking, entered his tent. And the king also came back to his (own) tent,having worshipped the illustrious grandsire. And then, O bull ofBharata’s race, he laid himself down on his white bed for passing thenight in sleep.”