Chapter CCXXXVII - Vishnu Bhakti (continued)

Suta said:—He, who for his own salvation bows down unto the endless, originless, birthless, changeless, deathless reality, becomes fit to be honoured by all-the regions. Humbly do I make obeisance unto the all-pervading, almighty Vishnu who is pure knowledge and highest joy and who resides in the hearts of beings. I make obeisance to the lord, who, residing in the hearts of beings, bears witness to all their acts, whether good or evil. He, who being capable does not bow down unto Vishnu, is not a man but a consumer of earth's cereals. Even a single act of obeisance unto Krishna, beautifully black as a pregnant rain cloud, the immeasurable reality, the over-lord of all regions, done with true love and humility, instantaneously serves to purify even a Chandala (lit: eater of dog’s flesh). The elevated status, which a person attains to by laying himself prostrate before Krishna, can not be acquired by performing even a hundred horse-sacrifices. Faith in, and devotion and obeisance to Krishna succour those, who wander benighted in the wilderness of the world, or are drifted about by the currents of the ocean of worldliness. Whether standing, seated, or laid down in bed, one should recite the Mantra, Salutation unto Narayana. As long as there exists the Mantra “Salutation unto Narayana” in this world, and as long as one retains the faculty of speech, pity it is that one should wilfully go to hell. A pure-souled man, if he be a four-mouthed or a hundred mouthed one, will not be able to enumerate a ten thousandth part of the countless attributes of Vishnu. The holy sages such as, Vyasa etc., stopped short in their praise of the destroyer of Madhu on account of their limited comprehension, and not on account of the limited nature of his attributes. By singing his name, a man, even in a moribund condition, is absolved of all sin, and progresses on his journey to Mukti as a liberated spirit, like an elephant liberated from the clutches of a lion. Obeisance to Krishna, to Achyuta (undecaying one), to Ananta (eternal one), or to Vasudeva; those, who utter any of these Mantras, are never carried to the mansion of Yama. As the sun or fire dissipates darkness, so does the singing of the names of Krishna dissipate the sin of the singer. The term Krishna is an ambrosial antidote to the venom of the serpent of worldliness, those, who are bitten by this serpent, shall do well to recite it. He, on the tip of whose tongue lie the two sounds of Ha and ri (Hari), is sure to sail across the ocean of life and to come by the highest bliss. A man, who is conscious of the guilt of many wilful iniquities, shall not dream of a re-birth in this world, if he sincerely seeks his reformation and becomes a devoted hearer of the glories of Narayana.