Kisari Mohan Ganguli - The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa

101. The sense is this: Jiva carries that seed of acts, i.e., Ignorance and Desire, with him. In consequence of this seed, Jiva travels from one world into another ceaselessly. This seed, therefore, is the conveyance or the means of locomotion of Jiva. Mahadeva is Jiva. The soul is called the rider, and the body is the car that bears the Soul on it.

102. Ganapati is Ganesa, the eldest son of Mahadeva. The Ganas are mighty beings that wait upon Mahadeva. This make up the first hundred names. The commentator takes Avala and Gana together.

103. Digvasas means nude. The Puranas say that for stupefying the wives of certain ascetics, Mahadeva became nude on one occasion. The real meaning, however, is that he is capable of covering and does actually cover even infinite space. In the sense of nude, the word means one that has empty space for his cover or vestments.

104. The meaning is that with thee Knowledge is penance instead of actual physical austerities being so. This is only another way of saying that thou hast Jnanamayam Tapah.

105. Sataghni a killer of hundred; Wilson thinks it was a kind of rocket.

106. Harikesa means one having the senses for one's rays, i.e., one who displays all objects before the soul through the doors of the senses. The meaning is that Mahadeva is he through whose puissance the mind succeeds in acquiring knowledge through the senses.

107. Krishna is explained by the commentator thus. Krish is a word signifying Bhu or Existence. The letter n (the palatal one) signifies nivritti. Hence Krishna is anandatanmatra.

108. Kaparddin is thus explained by the commentator Kam Jalam pivati iti kapah. So called because of the incident noted in the text, for the matted locks of Mahadeva had sucked up the river Ganga when it first fell from heaven. Then Rit means sovereignty or lordship. Riddah is one that gives sovereignty. Combining the two, the compound Kaparddin is formed.

109. Nabhah means space which implies puissance. That Nabhah is the sthala or abode of Mahadeva. The Bengal texts which read Nabhastala are vicious.

110. The deities are said to move about during the day, while the Asuras and Rakshasas during the night. What is said, therefore, here is that thou art the deities and thou art their foes of the Daityas and others.

111. Sound, only when manifested, becomes perceptible. When unmanifest and lying in the womb of eternal space, it is believed to have an existence. Unmanifest Brahman is frequently represented as anahatah savdah or unstruck sound.

112. These four ways are as enumerated by commentator, Visva, Taijasa, Prajna, Sivadhyana.

113. It may also mean that thou art he called Buddha who preached against all sacrifices.

114. The commentator explains that Mahadeva's defeat at the hands of Krishna in the city of Vana was due to Mahadeva's kindness for Krishna, even as Krishna broke his own vow of never taking up arms in the battle of Kurukshetra, for honouring his worshipper Bhishma who had vowed that he would compel Krishna to take up arms.

115. The sense is this: when the universal destruction cones and all becomes a mighty expanse of water, there appears a banian tree under whose shade the immortal Rishi Markandeya sees a boy who is Mahavishnu.

116. It may also mean that thou art he at whose approach all the Daitya troops fled in all directions.

117. i.e., thou art Time itself. This is the implication.

118. By these three names what is indicated is that Mahadeva is a householder, it Sanyasin and a forest-recluse. House-holders bear a tuft of hair on their heads, Sanyasins have bald heads, while forest recluses or Vanaprasthis have matted locks.

119. The sense is that Brahman is felt by every one in the firmament of his own heart. Mahadeva, as identical with Brahman is displayed in the heart that is within the physical case. Hence, he may be said to take birth or appear in his effulgence within every one's body.

120. Kalakatankatah is explained by the commentator as follows:--Kala is Yama. He is covered over with the illusion of the Supreme Deity. This all covering illusion, again, has the Supreme Deity for its cover. Thou art that Supreme Deity.

121. Vibhaga and Sarvaga, the commentator explains, are used for indicating that thou art the universe as Vyashti and Samashti.

122. Some editions read susaranab, meaning thou art he who well protects the universe.

123. The golden mail being the illusion of the Supreme Deity in consequence of which the universe has become displayed.

124. Thou art Pasupati; atodyah pratodanarhah pasavah yasya iti.

125. The commentator explains that Tarangavit, which is literally conversant with waves means one that is acquainted with the joys or pleasures that arise from the possession or enjoyment of worldly things, for such joys may truly be likened to waves which appear and disappear on the bosom of the sea or ocean of Eternity.

126. The commentator explains that the binder of Asura chiefs refers to the Supreme Deity's form of Vishnu in which he had bound Vali, the chief of the Asuras. The plural form has reference to successive Kalpas.

127. The sense is that thou art he that is well conversant with the ritual of sacrifices.

128. Or, it may mean that thou art he that has no vestments, for no vestments can cover thy vast limbs.

129. Those that uphold others are, for example, the elephants that stand at the different points of the compass, the snake Sesha, etc. What is said here is that thou art the best of all these or all such beings.

130. The sense is that thou art Vishnu who is the foremost of the celestials and thou art Agni who is the lowest of the celestials; i.e., thou art all the celestials.

131. The body is as it were a pit into which the soul falls, determined by Desire and Ignorance.

132. Vasu, the commentator explains, indicates the Wind, for it means that which establishes all things into itself.

133. Nisachara is one acting through nisa, or Avidya, i.e., one who enjoys all objects, implying Jiva invested with Ignorance.

134. The Soul can view the Soul or itself, if it can transcend the body with the aid of Yoga.

135. The commentator explains that the first word means that thou art Hansa and that the second word means thou art Paramahansa.

136. Varhaspatya is a word that is applied to a priest. The deities first got their priest for assisting them at their sacrifices. Human beings then got theirs. Those born after Vrihaspati are Vrihaspatyas.

137. This word Nandivardhanah may also mean he that withdraws or takes away the joys previously conferred.

138. The language of the Veda is divine. That of the scriptures is human.

139. Literally, crown of the head.

140. i.e., that succeeds in effecting his Emancipation.

141. Mahanakha refers to the incarnation of Narasingha or the Man-lion assumed for slaying the Daitya Hiranyakasipu, the father of Prahlada. Maharoman has reference to the form of the mighty or vast Boar that the Supreme Deity assumed for raising the submerged Earth on his tusks.

142. Mahamuni may mean either one that is very mananasilah or one that is exceedingly taciturn.

143. How the world has been likened to a tree has been explained in the Moksha sections of the Santi Parvan.

144. This is explained in the sense of no one being able to enquire after Brahman unless he has a body, however subtile, with the necessary senses and understanding. It may also mean that the tree of the world furnishes evidence of the existence of the Supreme Deity.

145. Both the vernacular translators have rendered many of these names most carelessly. The Burdwan translator takes Yaju as one name and Padabhuja as another. This is very absurd.

146. These are the ten previously enumerated, beginning with residence in the mother's womb and ending with death as the tenth, with heaven the eleventh and Emancipation the twelfth.