ithout
doubt, the religion of devotion seems to be superior (to that of
Knowledge) and is very dear to Narayana. These, without going through the
three successive stages (of Aniruddha, Pradyumna, and Sankarshana), at
once attain to the immutable Hari. The end that is attained by Brahmanas,
who, attending to due observances, study the Vedas with the Upanishads
according to the rules laid down for regulating such study, and by those
that adopt the religion of Yatis, is inferior, I think, to that attained
by persons devoted to Hari with their whole souls. Who first promulgated
this religion of Devotion? Was it some deity or some Rishi that declared
it? What are the practices of those that are said to be devoted with
their whole souls? When did those practices begin? I have doubts on these
topics. Do thou remove those doubts. Great is my curiosity to hear thee
explain the several points.'[1901]

"Vaisampayana said, 'When the diverse divisions of the Pandava and the
Kuru armies were drawn up in the array for the battle and when Arjuna
became cheerless, the holy one himself explained the question of what is
the end and what is not the end attained by persons of different
characters. I have before this recited to thee the words of the holy one.
The religion preached by the holy one on that occasion is difficult of
comprehension. Men of uncleansed souls cannot apprehend it at all. Having
created this religion in days of yore, viz., in the Krita age, in perfect
consonance with the Samans, it is borne, O king, by the Supreme Lord,
viz., Narayana, himself. This very topic was raised by the highly blessed
Partha to Narada (for the latter's discourse) in the midst of the Rishis
and in the presence of Krishna and Bhishma. My preceptor, viz., the
Island-born Krishna heard what Narada said. Receiving it from the
celestial Rishis, O best of kings, my preceptor imparted it to me in
exactly the same way in which he had obtained it from the celestial
Rishi. I shall now recite it to thee, O monarch, in the same way as it
has been received from Narada. Listen, therefore, to me. In that Kalpa
when Brahma the Creator, O king, took his birth in the mind of Narayana
and issued from the latter's mouth, Narayana himself performed, O
Bharata, his Daiva and Paitra rites in accordance with this religion.
Those Rishis that subsist upon the froth of water then obtained it from
Narayana. From the froth-eating Rishis, this religion was obtained by
those