beginning, and without middle.  Thy middle is unmanifest.  Thy end is unmanifest.  Thou hast vows for thy abode.  Thou residest in the ocean.  Thou hast thy home in Fame, in Penances, in Self-restraint, in Prosperity, in Knowledge, in grand Achievements, and in Everything belonging to the universe.  Thou art Vasudeva.  Thou art the grantor of every wish.  Thou art Hanuman that bore Rama on his shoulders.  Thou art the great Horse-sacrifice.  Thou takest thy share of offerings made in great sacrifices.[1826] Thou art the grantor of boons, of happiness, of wealth.  Thou art devoted to Hari., Thou art Restraint of the senses.  Thou art vows and observances.  Thou art mortifications, thou art severe mortifications, thou art very severe mortifications.[1827] Thou art he who observes vows and religious and other pious rites.  Thou art freed from all errors.  Thou art a Brahmacharin.  Thou tookest birth in the womb of Prisni.  Thou art he from whom have flowered all Vedic rites and acts.  Thou art unborn.  Thou pervadest all things.  Thy eyes are on all things.  Thou must not be apprehended by the senses.  Thou art not subject to deterioration.  Thou art possessed of great puissance.  Thy body is inconceivably vast.  Thou art holy, thou art beyond the ken of logic or argument.  Thou art unknowable.  Thou art the foremost of Causes.  Thou art the Creator of all creatures and thou art their destroyer.  Thou art the possessor of vast powers of illusion.  Thou art called Chittrasikhandin.  Thou art the giver of boons.  Thou art the taker of thy share of the sacrificial offerings.  Thou hast obtained the merit of all sacrifices.  Thou art he who has been freed from all doubts, Thou art omnipresent.  Thou art of the form of a Brahmana.  Thou art fond of Brahmanas.  Thou hast the universe for thy form.  Thy form is very vast.  Thou art the greatest friend.  Thou art kind to all thy worshippers.  Thou art the great deity of the Brahmanas.  I am thy devoted disciple.  I am desirous of beholding thee.  Salutations to thee that art of the form of Emancipation.’”

SECTION CCCXL

“Bhishma said, ’Thus hymned with names that were not known to others, the Divine Narayana having the universe for his form showed himself to the ascetic Narada.  His form was somewhat purer than the moon and differed from the moon in some respects.  He somewhat resembled a blazing fire in complexion.  The puissant Lord was somewhat of the form of Vishti.[1828] He resembled in some respects the feathers of the parrot, and in some a mass of pure crystal.  He resembled in some respects a hill of antimony and in some a mass of pure gold.  His complexion somewhat resembled the coral when first formed, and was somewhat white.  In some respects that complexion resembled the hue of gold and in some that of the lapis lazuli.  In some respects it resembled the hue of the blue lapis lazuli and in some that of sapphire.  In some respects it resembled the hue of the peacock’s