y the name of _Nara_; and because
the waters have ever been my _ayana_ or home, therefore have I been
called _Narayana_ (the _water-homed_). O best of regenerate ones, I am
_Narayana_, the Source of all things, the Eternal, the Unchangeable. I
am the Creator of all things, and the Destroyer also of all. I am
Vishnu, I am Brahma and I am Sakra, the chief of the gods. I am king
Vaisravana, and I am Yama, the lord of the deceased spirits. I am Siva,
I am Soma, and I am Kasyapa the lord of the created things. And, O best
of regenerate ones, I am he called _Dhatri_, and he also that is called
_Vidhatri_, and I am Sacrifice embodied. Fire is my mouth, the earth my
feet, and the Sun and the Moon are my eyes; the Heaven is the crown of
my head, the firmament and the cardinal points are my ears; the waters
are born of my sweat. Space with the cardinal points are my body, and
the Air is my mind. I have performed many hundreds of sacrifices with
gifts in profusion. I am always present in the sacrifices of the gods;
and they that are cognisant of the _Vedas_ and officiate therein, make
their offerings to me. On earth the Kshatriya chiefs that rule over men,
in performing their sacrifices from desire of obtaining heaven, and the
Vaisyas also in performing theirs from desire of winning those happy
regions, all worship me at such times and by those ceremonials. It is I
who, assuming the form of Sesha support (on my head) this earth bounded
by the four seas and decked by Meru and Mandara. And O regenerate one,
it is I who, assuming the form of a boar, had raised in days of yore
this earth sunk in water. And, O best of Brahmanas, it is I who,
becoming the fire that issues out of the _Equine mouth_, drink up the
waters (of the ocean) and create them again. In consequence of my energy
from my mouth, my arms, my thighs, and my feet gradually sprang
Brahmanas and Kshatriyas and Vaisyas and Sudras. It is from me that the
_Rik_, the _Sama_, the _Yajus_, and the _Atharvan_ Vedas spring, and it
is in me that they all enter when the time cometh. Brahmanas devoted to
asceticism, they that value Peace as the highest attribute, they that
have their souls under complete control, they that are desirous of
knowledge, they that are freed from lust and wrath and envy, they that
are unwedded to things of the earth, they that have their sins
completely washed away, they that are possessed of gentleness and
virtue, and are divested of pride, they that have a