someness and it has also been asserted by eminent authorities on the physical science that some unintelligent persons have been misled into holding, through a mistake due to the identity of the names, that the author of the disease under discussion (Skanda) is no other than the invincible Skanda. 2.
On the effulgent god Skanda's being elevated to the leadership of the armies of Heaven, the presiding deities of those diseases waited upon him and with folded palms asked him about the means of their subsistence. The god Skanda in his turn, referred them to His Holiness the god Śiva for the answer, whereupon they went to the latter in a body and made the same query. Mahádeva, the Destroyer of Bhaga's eyes, replied "Gods, men and other animals, O, ye Grahas, exist on the principle of reciprocal benefit*[1]. The gods minister to the wants of men and beasts, etc., by marshalling different seasons of the year and by setting the air in motion and sending down the rain, and men, in their turn, propitiate the gods by duly and reverentially performing the sacrificial rites, by saying their prayers with blended palms, by bowing down in reverence, and by repetition of prayers, religious vows and other religious observances. All services and their emoluments in consequence have been filled up and settled and there remains nothing for you to fill. Your proper means of subsistence will, therefore, be in the life of an infant (though the emoluments you shall receive shall be stained with the tears of many an anxious, watchful and night-worn parent). 3 A.
- ↑ * Exchange or reciprocity of services underlies the foundation of all distinct and cognitive existences, whether beasts, men or gods. The worlds are linked to one another by bonds of service. Give-and-take is the law of the universe. Duty implies obligation.
