possessed of the highest felicity, and who is effulgent and
sinless.--After he had said these words, Tandi beheld before him that
ocean of penances, that great Deity who is immutable and undeteriorating,
who is without compare, who is inconceivable, who is eternal, and who is
without any change, who is indivisible, who is whole, who is Brahma, who
transcends all attributes, and who is endued with attributes, who is the
highest delight of Yogins, who is without deterioration, who is called
Emancipation, who is the refuge of the Mind, of Indra, of Agni, of the
god of wind, of the entire universe, and of the Grandsire Brahma; who is
incapable of being conceived by the Mind, who is without mutation of any
kind, who is pure, who is capable of being apprehended by understanding
only and who is immaterial as the Mind; who is difficult of
comprehension, who is incapable of being measured, who is difficult of
being attained by persons of uncleansed souls, who is the origin of the
universe, and who transcends both the universe and the attribute of
darkness; who is ancient, who is Purusha, who is possessed of effulgence,
and who is higher than the highest. The Rishi Tandin, desirous of
beholding Him who making himself endued with life-breaths, resides in
what results from it viz., Jiva, in the form of that effulgence which is
called the Mind, passed many years in the practice of the severest
austerities, and having succeeded in beholding Him as the reward of those
penances, he praised the great God in the following terms.'

"Tandi said, 'Thou art the holiest of holies[77] and the refuge of all, O
foremost of all beings endued with intelligence. Thou art the fiercest
energy of all kinds of energy. Thou art the austerest penance of all
penances. Thou, O puissant one, art the liberal giver of blessings. Thou
art the supreme Truth. Salutations to thee, O thou of a thousand rays,
and, O refuge of all felicity. Thou art the giver of that Nirvana which,
O puissant one, Yatis, standing in fear of birth and death, strive for so