Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 5 Chapter 17:20-24

Book 5: Chapter 17

Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 5: Chapter 17: Verses 20-24 An account of the descent of the holy Ganga and a song of praise to Lord Sankarsana by the divine Sankara To him who looks upon the body (which has no reality whatsoever) as his own self, You appear through (Your own) Maya (deluding potency) as though drunk, with Your eyes reddened by the use of spirituous liquor and distillates (toddy etc.). Nay, the wives of the Nagas (the denizens of Patala, the nethermost of the subterranean regions) are unable to worship You through bashfulness, their mind being excited (with love) at the very touch of Your feet. The sacred texts (of the Vedas) declare You as responsible for the evolution, existence and dissolution of this universe, though beyond these states Yourself, eternal as You are. You never feel (the presence of) the terrestrial globe, lying like a mustard seed somewhere on the (sublime) base of your thousand hoods. Your very first manifestation, springing up from the three Gunas (modes of Prakrti) was (known as) Mahat-tattva (the principle of cosmic intelligence), which (in the form of Citta or the faculty of ratiocination) is rooted in Sattva and which (When considered from the point of view of the Spirit presiding over it and visualized as one with the Supreme Deity) came to be known as lord Brahma. (And) descended from him, I (Rudra) bring forth-through My own glory (in the form of Ahankara or the Ego), consisting of the three Gunas (because evolved from the Mahat-tattva, a product of the three Gunas)the deities (presiding over the ten Indriyas and the mind) and the mind itself (that are Sattvika in character), the five gross elements (which are rooted in Tamas, being inert by nature) and the ten Indriyas (which are predominantly Rajasika). Remaining under the control of the Supreme Person (in You) (and) unified (by the active principle in the shape of the vital airs) like birds held by a string, we all, viz., the Mahat-tattva, the ego, the deities mentioned above, the five gross elements and the Indriyas, evolve this creation by Your grace (alone). Deluded by the objects of senses (which are the creation of the three Gunas), this diva (that is subject to birth and death) can never know (except by Your grace) the Maya (the principle of cosmic illusion) which has been conjured up by You and which subjects it to the bondage of Karma (action prompted by interested motives); much less can it know with any amount of ease the means of getting over that Maya. Moreover, the creation and dissolution (of the universe) are nothing apart from You (inasmuch and both these events take place in You). Therefore, obeisance to You !" Thus ends the seventeenth discourse, in Book Five of the great and glorious Bhagavata-Purana, otherwise known as the Paramahamsa-Samhita.