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Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 10: Chapter 87: Verses 30-32
If the Jivas (embodied beings) are (held to be) infinite (in number), everlasting and all-pervading, their subordination (to another's will) cannot be maintained (because of their equality with one another as well as with Yourself) any more than Your control over them, which could be possible (only) in the opposite case (i.e., if they were held to be limited In number; short-lived and finite), 0 eternal Lord ! (For) that (Brahma alone) could be the ruler (of the Jiva), as whose evolute it has come into being and which is inseparable from it as its material cause and is equally present in all, nay, which is (practically) unknown to those who claim to know it, since whatever comes to be known is known imperfectly only. The birth (coming into being at a particular point of time) of Prakrti (primordial Matter) or of Purusa (Spirit) does not stand to reason inasmuch as both of them are (declared in the scriptures as) birthless or without beginning.
Living beings (on the other hand) come into existence (only) when the two (viz., Prakrti and Purusa, matter and spirit) come to be united (mistaken for one another), (just) as bubbles appear on (the surface of) water through the interaction of air and water. (Since the birth of the divas in this way is only apparent and not real) that is why they get merged in You ( the final Cause ) with (all) their several names and attributes (in the state of Liberation) even as rivers disappear into the sea or (during dreamless sleep) just as all (kinds of) nectars of flowers get dissolved into (what is ultimately known by the name of) honey. Perceiving the misapprehension (in the shape of self-identification with the body etc.), implanted by Maya (Your deluding potency), in these human beings, men of sound judgment develop intense devotion-that grows every moment to You, who are capable of putting a stop to their transmigration. How can the fear of birth (even) haunt those that worship You, since Your frown in the shape of (the wheel of) Time (as represented by a twelvemonth) with its threefold rim (as consisting of the three parts of the year, viz., winter, summer and the rainy season) inspires terror (again and again) into (the mind of) those (alone) who do not resort to You as their asylum.
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