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EEV. G. U. POPE, D.D., ON 



The goddess Parvatlii now descended apon the white bull ; and Civan 

 joining her, they departed in triumph to' Kaild^am. 



Vishnu was thus left alone with Athi-geshan. Both of them are over- 

 whelmed with the glory of (^ivau's mystic dance ; and especially Athi- 

 9eshan is possessed by the one desire to behold it again. Seeing this 

 pious aspiration, Vishnu tells him that he will release him from further 

 service, his place as servitor (couch and canopy) being occupied by his 

 son, and exhorts him to resort to the northern hill of Kailagam, there bv 

 a life of asceticism to obtain the favour from (^ivan of this beatific vision. 

 So the new serpent-devotee wends his way upward and northward, 

 while his mighty head, with its thousand crests, each bearing a jewel, 

 diffuses a radiance around him that makes the sun look dim, yet he is 

 prepared to lay aside these splendours and seek only to become the least 

 of (^iva's devotees. After a while ^ivan himself, assuming the form of 

 Brahma and riding upon a swan, the usual vehicle of that god, drew 

 near to test the sincerity of the neophyte, who had now plunged into all 

 the austerities of the Yoga system. The disguised god represents to 

 Athi-feshan that he has already done enough to merit for himself all the 

 delights of Paradise and all the divine powers of the most exalted of the 

 heavenly beings, and offers to him any boon that he may desire. But 

 the rejjly is, ' I desire not the blessedness of any separate heaven, nor 

 the miraculous powers of Siddhi ; all that I desire is to see for ever the 

 mystic dance of the god of gods.' (Compare Song 34 ; 28.) The pre- 

 tended Brahma argues with him, ridicules him, and urges him to relin- 

 quish his pursuit, but he finally replies : ' Here I abide, and if now 

 unsuccessful I die without the beatific sight ; I shall pass into other forms, 

 and. finally see that which I desire.' Recognising his immovable fidelity, 

 Civan assumes his proper form, and, riding with Parvathi on the milk- 

 Avhite bull, draws nigh and lays his hand in benediction upon his servant's 

 head. 



He then proceeds to instruct the new disciple, for such Athi-9eshan 

 now becomes. The teachings of the god who here assumes the character 

 of a guru go back to the origin of all things (Note IV.). The universe 

 has sprung into apparent existence from primeval Maya, as the result of 

 Karma and for the sake of ' souls,' that it may be the scene of embodi- 

 ments and of action good and evil. As an earthen vessel has the jjotter 

 as its first cause, the clay as its material cause, and as its instrumental 

 cause the potter's staff and wheel, so the universe has Maya for its 

 material cause, the Qatti of (^iva for its instrumental cause, and the Lord 

 Civa himself as its first cause. "VYe must note here, however, that Maya^ 



