of no particular shape, and that are only round, come to be regarded as Pitris in the world.  Even thus do I create the eternal Pitris.  I am the father, the grandfather, and the great grandfather, and I should be regarded as residing in these three Pindas.  There is no one that is superior to me.  Who is there whom I myself may worship or adore with rites?  Who, again, is my sire in the universe?  I myself am my grandfather.  I am, indeed, the Grandsire and the Sire.  I am the one cause (of all the universe).—­Having said these words, that God of gods, Vrishakapi by name, offered those Pindas, O learned Brahmana, on the breast of the Varaha mountains, with elaborate rites.  By those rites He worshipped His own self, and having finished the worship, disappeared there and then.  Hence have the Pitris come to be called by the name of Pinda.  Even this is the foundation of the designation.  Agreeably to the words uttered by Vrishakapi on that occasion, the Pitris receive the worship offered by all.  They who perform sacrifices in honour of and adore the Pitris, the deities, the preceptor or other reverend senior guests arrived at the house, kine, superior Brahmanas, the goddess Earth, and their mothers, in thought, word, and deed, are said to adore and sacrifice unto Vishnu himself.  Pervading the bodies of all existent creatures, the illustrious Lord is the Soul of all things.  Unmoved by happiness or misery, His attitude towards all is equal.  Endued with greatness, and of great soul, Narayana has been said to be the soul of all things in the universe.’”

SECTION CCCXLVII

Vaisampayana said, ’Having heard these words of Nara and Narayana, the Rishi Narada became filled with devotion towards the Supreme Being.  Indeed, with his whole soul he devoted himself to Narayana.  Having resided for a full thousand years in the retreat of Nara and ’Narayana, having beheld the immutable Hari, and heard the excellent discourse having Narayana for its topic, the celestial Rishi repaired to his own retreat on the breast of Himavat, Those foremost of ascetics viz., Nara and Narayana, however continued to reside in their delightful retreat of Vadari, engaged in the practice of the severest austerities.  Thou art born in the race of the Pandavas.  Thou art of immeasurable energy.  O perpetuator of the race of the Pandavas, having listened to this discourse on Narayana from the beginning, thou hast certainly been cleansed of all thy sins and thy soul has been sanctified.  His is neither this world nor the world hereafter, O best of kings, who hates instead of loving and reverencing the immutable Hari.  The ancestors of that person who hates Narayana, who is the foremost of deities, and is otherwise called Hari, sink into hell for eternity.  O tiger among men, Vishnu is the soul of all beings.  How, then, can Vishnu be hated, for in hating him one would hate one’s own self.  He who is our preceptor,