Pracetas Hear Rudra-Gita

Chapter 24

Maitreya continued by discussing the descendants in the family of Prthu. When he came to Pracinabarhisat and his ten sons, the Pracetas, he paused to narrate more.

When requested by their father to procreate, the Pracetas first went to practice austerities for 10,000 years in the water. En route, they met Lord Siva who taught them a series of beautiful prayers known as the Rudra-gita. In these prayers, one first offers respects to the four expansions of Vishnu and the presiding deities of various elements, after which the Lord’s glorious form is described, along with the super-excellence of bhakti.

Siva was taught this prayer by Lord Brahma, and he encouraged the Pracetas to attentively recite it with great devotion.