12.333
Vaiśampāyana said.
At a certain time, then, Nārada, the son of Brahmā, having performed the rites for the gods according to rule, then performed the ancestral rites thereafter. (12-333-1)
Then the eldest, the son of Dharma, the lord, said that statement: "O best of twice-born, who is worshipped in the prescribed divine and ancestral rites?" (12-333-2)
O best among the intelligent, tell me that according to scripture; what is this action performed, and what fruit is desired from it? (12-333-3)
Narada said.
You have previously stated that the divine must be performed; also, the deity and the supreme sacrifice are the supreme, eternal Self. (12-333-4)
Then, being thus influenced, I always worship the imperishable Vaikuntha. From that, in the beginning, Brahma, the grandsire of the worlds, emerged. (12-333-5)
Indeed, my father, pleased, even Parameṣṭhin (Brahmā), generated me. I am his son, born of resolve, the first-created. (12-333-6)
O noble one, I worship the ancestors in the rite performed for Nārāyaṇa. In this way, the Lord alone is the father, mother, and grandfather. The Lord of the world is always worshipped by me in the ancestral sacrifices. (12-333-7)
O divine one, another revelation too: the fathers indeed sacrificed their sons. The Vedic revelation was lost and again taught by the sons. Then those sons, givers of mantras, attained the status of fathers. (12-333-8)
Indeed, it was known in the past about you two, who are noble-minded, that sons and fathers did not honor each other. (12-333-9)
Having first placed three balls on the earth and given kusha grass thus, how did the ancestors formerly come to be designated as 'piṇḍa'? (12-333-10)
Nara and Nārāyaṇa both spoke.
Govinda, having assumed the form of a boar, quickly lifted up this earth, which was formerly lost and girdled by the ocean. (12-333-11)
Having established the earth in its own place, the Supreme Person, his limbs smeared with water and mud, engaged himself in the work for the benefit of the world. (12-333-12)
O Nārada, when the daily time had arrived and the sun had reached midday, he, the lord, suddenly shook off the clods of earth stuck to his tusk and, having spread kusha grass on the earth, placed them there. (12-333-13)
He, having addressed himself among them, performed the ancestral rite as prescribed; having made the resolution, the lord offered three rice balls by his own rule. (12-333-14)
The lord of the gods, facing east, himself performed the act of liberation by sprinkling sesame seeds containing oil, produced by the heat of his own body. (12-333-15)
For the purpose of establishing boundaries, then I spoke these words: I myself, being the creator of the worlds, indeed prepared to create the fathers. (12-333-16)
While he was thinking immediately of the supreme ancestral rite, these rice-ball offerings of mine, thrown out by the two tusks, reached the southern direction and, having resorted to the earth, therefore, those are indeed your ancestors. (12-333-17)
Three are formless, but these who possess embodied forms—let them be the ancestors in the world, created by me and eternal. (12-333-18)
The father, paternal grandfather, and likewise the great-grandfather—know that I alone am established here in the three ancestral offerings. (12-333-19)
There is no one greater than me; who else is worthy of worship by me myself? Who is my father in the world? I alone am the grandfather. (12-333-20)
The great-grandfather and father, and indeed I am the cause here. Having thus spoken these words, the god of gods, Vrishakapi (Shiva), (said this). (12-333-21)
O brāhmaṇa, on the Varaha mountain, after offering rice balls in detail and worshipping himself, he disappeared there. (12-333-22)
O auspicious-minded one, for this reason, the ancestors known as piṇḍa always receive worship, just as Vṛṣākapi has stated. (12-333-23)
Those who worship ancestors, gods, teachers, guests, cows, the foremost of the twice-born, the earth, and the mother—by action, mind, and speech—they indeed worship Viṣṇu. (12-333-24)
He, the Lord, having entered within, pervades the bodies of all beings; he is equal in all beings, the Lord in both happiness and sorrow. He is great, of great soul, the self of all, and is known as Nārāyaṇa. (12-333-25)
