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Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 3: Chapter 9: Verses 20-33
Brahma extols the Lord
Though untainted by Avidya (nescience) which appears in five forms (viz., Avidya or fundamental ignorance, Asmita or egotism, Raga or attraction, Dwesa or aversion and Abhinivesa or the fear of death), You have enjoyed sleep in the midst of water tossed by fearful waves--a sleepwhich has proved delightful to You on account of the (soft) touch of the serpent (Lord Sesa), who serves as a bed for You-having deposited all the worlds in Your belly, thereby illustrating the relief which a man enjoys during sleep (or allowing a respite to the Jivas from ceaseless exertion during successive births for a whole Kalpa consisting of 4,32,00,00,000 human years). It is from the lotus sprung from Your navel, O praiseworthy Lord, that I have emerged and it is by Your grace that I have secured this opportunity of serving the three worlds by creating them. You kept the universe (as a safe deposit) in Your belly for such a long time (a whole Kalpa) and Your lotus eyes have just opened, indicating thereby that Your sleep in the form of abstract meditation has come to an end. I, therefore, make obeisance to You.
You are the sole well-wisher and friend, nay, the very Self (Inner Controller) of all animate and
inanimate beings and the lover of the suppliant. Therefore, pray, endow my vision (understand-
ing) with the same wisdom and supernatural power by which You delight the universe, so that
I may be able to create this universe as it existed in the preceding Kalpa. You grant the
wishes of those who take refuge in You. Therefore, when I proceed to create the universe,
which will be nothing but an exhibition of Your own creative power, be pleased to fill my mind
with (the thought of) each and every exploit You may perform in course of the descents You
take along with Your own divine Energy, Goddess Rama, manifesting many a divine virtue,
so that I may remain untainted by the impurities (in the shape of egotism etc.) attaching to
the work of creation. I am the deity presiding over the Mahat-tattva, which represents
Your power of understanding, one of the innumerable powers possessed by You, and sprang
from the pool of Your navel even while You, the Supreme Person, slept on these waters. Therefore, as I proceed to bring to light the wonderful creation, which will be Your own manifestation, let not my utterance of the Vedic words fail. You are the most ancient Person possessing infinite grace. Be pleased, 0 Lord, to open Your lotus eyes with a smile expressive of abundant love; and, rising (from Your bed in the shape of the serpent-god) for the creation of the universe, dispel my despondency by Your mellifluous speech. Maitreya continued : Having thus beheld his Father by dint of austere penance, worship and abstract meditation, Brahma extolled Him as best as his mind and speech allowed him to do, and then stood silent, as though exhausted. When Lord Visnu (the Slayer of the demon Madhu) came to know the intention of Brahma, who was depressed in spirits at the sight of the waters surging all round during that period of universal dissolution, and was at a loss to know the relative position of the various worlds (to be created by him), He addressed Him in deep accents as though removing his faint-heartedness.
The Lord said : Do not fall a prey to lassitude (born of despair), O Brahma (repository of the Vedas); exert yourself for creation. I have already arranged what you ask of Me. Practise penance once more and offer worship through Mantras sacred to Me; thereby, O Brahma, you shall find the worlds revealed in your heart. Then, full of devotion and concentrated in mind, O Brahma, you will find Me pervading yourself as well as the whole universe, and will see the worlds as well as the Jivas (embodied souls) resting in Me. The 'very moment a man finds Me present in all beings as fire in every piece of wood, he is rid of all infatuation. And, when he realizes himself as devoid of the five elements, the Indriyas (the five senses of perception and the five organs of action), the Gunas (the modes of Prakrti) and the inner sense, and identical with Me, his very Self, he attains liberation.
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