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"Sauti then said, 'Having bowed down to the primordial being Isana, to whom multitudes make offerings, and who is adored by the multitude; who is the true incorruptible one, Brahma, perceptible, imperceptible, eternal; who is both a non-existing and an existing-non-existing being; who is the universe and also distinct from the existing and non-existing universe; who is the creator of high and low; the ancient, exalted, inexhaustible one; who is Vishnu, beneficent and the beneficence itself, worthy of all preference, pure and immaculate; who is Hari, the ruler of the faculties, the guide of all things moveable and immoveable; I will declare the sacred thoughts of the illustrious sage Vyasa, of marvellous deeds and worshipped here by all.
"'Vasudeva said, "Upamanyu, who seemed to blaze with effulgence like the Sun, said unto me, 'Those sinful men that are stained with unrighteous deeds, do not succeed in attaining to Isana. Their dispositions being stained by the attributes of Rajas and Tamas, they can never approach the Supreme Deity.
They swayed the ancient world, from the Indians by the Ganges, and the Tartar tribes, to the Britons and Laplanders of Northwestern Europe, having their representatives in every system of faith, in the Hindu Isi and Isana, the Egyptian Isis and Osiris, the Assyrian Venus and Adonis, the Demeter and Dionysus of Greece, the Roman Ceres and Bacchus, and the Disa and Frey of Scandinavia, in connection with most, if not all, of whom there existed festivals corresponding, in respect of their meaning and use, with the Grecian Eleusinia.
Salutations to thee that art Isana, to thee that art the destroyer of Bhaga, to thee that art the slayer of Andhaka, to thee that art the universe, to thee that art possessed of illusion, to thee that art both conceivable and inconceivable. Thou art the one end of all creatures, thou art the foremost, thou art the heart of everything.
But the Grandsire, pleased with Vaisravana, gave him immortality, and sovereignty of all the wealth of the Universe, the guardianship of one of the cardinal points, the friendship of Isana, and a son named Nalakuvera.
Bowing unto him with a bend of my head, I said these words, 'If the puissant Mahadeva has been gratified with me, then let my devotion to him be unchanged, O Isana! Even this is the boon that I solicit. The great God said unto me, 'Be it so' and disappeared there and then."
Well-adored by the Rishis, by Brahma, and by all the deities, that great God, the Lord of the universe, otherwise called by the name of Hari, then addressed the illustrious Isana and said these words: 'He that knows thee, knows me. He that follows thee, follows me. There is no difference between thee and me. Do thou never think otherwise.
And having bathed in the tirtha called Koti, one obtaineth the merit of a horse-sacrifice. A virtuous man should next proceed to the tirtha of Sthanu, the husband of Uma, known over the three worlds by the name of Bhadravata. That best of men who goeth to Bhadravata, beholdeth Isana and obtaineth the fruit of a gift of a thousand kine.
When the game at dice was over, Isana addressing the weeping woman said, 'Bring Sakra hither, for I shall soon so deal with him that pride may not again enter his heart. As soon as Sakra was touched by that woman, the chief of the celestials with limbs paralysed by that touch, fell down on the earth.
Stationed on the same car these two heroes are invincible even like Brahman and Isana. These two heroes the foremost of all creatures are Nara and Narayana." Hearing and beholding these wonderful things, O Bharata, Ashvatthama, with great care and resolution, rushed against Krishna and Arjuna in that battle.