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Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 4: Chapter 24: Verses 60-68
The hymn sung by Lord Siva (and taught to the Pracetas)
You are the same Brahma (Infinite) in whom is manifested this universe and who shines through the universe, nay, who is supreme effulgence and is all-pervading like ether. "O Lord, we know You to be absolute-You, who evolve this (universe), sustain it and again dissolve it, as though it were real, Yourself remaining unchanged, through (the instrumentality of) Your Maya (deluding potency), that assumes multitudinous forms and gives rise to the notion of difference; yet which is powerless against You. They alone are well-versed in the Vedas and the Tantras (the scriptures dealing with the worship of the various deities and revealed by Lord Siva to His Divine Consort, Goddess Parvati), who, devoted as they are to the path of Action and imbued with faith, duly adore, for (the attainment of) perfection (in the form of Self-Realization or final beatitude) through a network of rituals, this very (embodied) form of Yours, which is hinted at by the five (gross) elements, the Indriyas (the senses of perception, as well as the organs of action) and the mind (as their Ruler). You are the one primeval Person, whose energy (in the form of Maya) lies dormant (before creation). It is by the said Maya that Sattva, Rajas and Tamas (the three modes of Prakrti) get differentiated and it is from the same Maya that this universe-consisting of Mahat-Tattva (the principle of cosmic intelligence), the ego, ether, the air, fire, water and earth, the gods and the Rsis (seers) and the multitudes of living beings-springs up. By a part of Your being You have entered the body, which is of four kinds (viz.,sweatborn, oviparous, viviparous and sprouting from the soil), and has been brought forth by Your own Energy (Maya). It is therefore that they call that ray of your being, residing in the body, as the Purusa or Jiva, which (wrapped in ignorance) enjoys through the (various) senses the trivial pleasures of sense like the honey collected (and enjoyed) by bees. "Your true nature can (only) be inferred (and not directly perceived). Possessed of most tremendous velocity and irresistible like a hurricane, it is You who destroy the (various) worlds, sweeping off the various creatures by the creatures (themselves) even as the wind sweeps off the clouds. Alert as the serpent that grabs a rat, licking the ends of its lips through hunger, You as Death suddenly overtake the Jiva (an embodied soul) who is utterly careless (about his goal), engrossed as he is in the thought of his (worldly) projects, and, being totally given up to the pleasures of sense, is seized with inordinate greed. What wise man, who regards his body (life) as wearing away (in vain) through neglect of You, would abandon Your lotus-feet, which our ancestor (Brahma) has adored through fear of bondage in the shape of worldly existence, and which the fourteen Manus (from Swayambhuva onwards) have worshipped without reasoning (with unquestioning faith). The (whole) universe is (almost) dead through fear of Lord Rudra (the god of destruction). Therefore, to us, who know this, 0 all-pervading Supreme Spirit, You are the (only) fearless resort"
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