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Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 4: Chapter 9: Verses 11-21
Dhruva returns home after receiving a boon from the Lord
May I enjoy the intimate fellowship, O infinite Lord, of exalted souls, possessed of a pure heart and constantly devoted to You, so that I may easily cross the terrible ocean of metempsychosis, full of great perils, drunk with the nectar of Your (delectable) virtues and stories. They who have cultivated the close fellowship of men whose heart is captivated with the fragrance of Your lotus-feet, O Lord with a lotus sprung from Your navel, think no more of their mortal frame, which is extremely dear to all, much less of those connected with it, viz., their sons, relations, house, wealth and wife. O birthless one, I know only Your grossest (cosmic) form, full of animals, trees and mountains, birds, reptiles, gods and demons and human beings, consisting of gross and subtle elements and brought about by many causes, such as the Mahat-tattva and soon; I am not aware, 0 supreme Lord, of Your other Self, higher than this, which transcends all speech. You are the same as the Supreme Person, who at the end of a cycle (at the time of universal dissolution) reposes with none beside Him save Lord Ananta (the serpent-god Sesa) and on his very coil, withdrawing all this universe into His belly and with His eyes turned inward (buried as He is in Yoganidra or the sleep of Samadhi). Nay, it is in the seed-vessel of the gold lotus representing all the fourteen worlds and sprung from the ocean of Your navel that the shining Brahma (the creator) appears I I bow to that Lord. You are the eternally free, all-pure and all-knowing Self, the immutable, most ancient Person, possessed of all divine attributes and the Controller of the three Gunas (modes of Prakrti). Witnessing by Your unobstructed vision the different states of the mind, You appear as Visnu (the Deity presiding over sacrifices) for the preservation (of the universe) and are altogether distinct (from the Jiva). It is in You that the manifold potencies of opposite character, namely, Vidya (the power of omniscience) and so on, constantly appear in unbroken succession. You are no other than Brahma (the Absolute), the cause of the universe, indivisible, without beginning or end, purely blissful in character and changeless. I take refuge in You. In the eyes of him who constantly adores You as an embodiment of supreme bliss (seeking no other object), Your lotus-feet, 0 Lord, are the only true blessing as compared with other boons (sovereignty etc.). Nevertheless, my Master, just as a cow that has recently calved nourishes its calf (by its milk) and protects it (against wolves etc.,) You foster even wretched (interested) devotees like us, impatient as You (always) are to shower Your grace on them. Maitreya resumed : Thus extolled by that sagacious child, who cherished a noble purpose, the Lord, who is fond of His devotees, cheerfully received its praises and spoke as follows. The Lord said : I know the cherished desire of your heart, O Ksatriya boy. Although it is difficult to attain, I grant it, O child of commendable vow. May prosperity wait on you. I bestow on you 0 blessed one, that effulgent and lasting abode which has not (so far) been attained to by others. The entire stellar sphere-consisting of planets, lunar mansions and (other) stars-stands fastened to it even as oxen employed in trampling corn are bound to a post in the middle of a threshing-floor. It survives even those who live for a whole day of Brahma (i.e., even after the dissolution of the three world-earth, heaven and the intermediate region); nay, the stars presided over by Dharma (the god of piety), Agni (the god of fire), Kasyapa (a lord of created beings) and the seven Rsis, the Venus and other stars too revolve round it, ever keeping it to their right.
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