Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 6 Chapter 16:30-40

Book 6: Chapter 16

Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 6: Chapter 16: Verses 30-40 Citraketu realizes (his oneness with) the Supreme Spirit He saw the Lord in a form white as a lotus fibre, clad in blue and adorned with a brilliant diadem, armlets, girdle and wristlets, marked with a cheerful countenance and reddish eyes and surrounded by rings of Siddheswaras (the chief among those who have attained perfection). All his sins having been wiped out by the (very) sight of the Lord, and his mind clear and rid of all impurities, Citraketu silently approached the most ancient Person with intensified devotion; and with tears of love in his eyes and hair standing on end, he bowed to Him. Repeatedly wetting the support under the lotus-feet of the illustrious Lord with his tear-drops of love, and all utterance having been hindered by (an outburst of) love, he was not at all able for a long time to extol Him properly in a loud voice. Then, having composed his mind by dint of reason and restrained the outgoing tendency of all his senses, he recovered his faculty of speech and addressed in the following words that Preceptor of the universe, whose (divine) Body stands described in scriptures (such as the Pancaratra) treating of Devotion. Citraketu said : O unconquerable Lord, you stand conquered by the righteous that have subdued their self and are possessed of an unruffled mind; and they too are conquered by (none else than) You-You, who bestow your very Self on those that adore you in a disinterested spirit, exceedingly compassionate as You are. The evolution, maintenance and dissolution etc., of the universe, O Lord, are, as a matter of fact, a (mere) sport on your part. (and) the creators of th universe (Brahma and the other lords of creation) are (so many) parts of the Cosmic being (who is only a part manifestaion of Yours); yet in vain do they try to outshine one another due to the consciousness of their being an independent lord. you exist before 9the appearance of) the atom (the minutest cause) and at the end (after the dissolution) of the infinite universe (the final product) and likewise pervade the intermediate stages (too); while You are without beginning, middle or end. That which is constant at the beginning as well as at the end of phenomenal existences is constant in the middle too. this egg-shaped universe-which further resem- bles a bud inasmuch as it is eveloped, they say, by seven sheaths in the shape of earth etc., each outer sheath being ten times thicker than the one enclosed by it-is swimming within you like an atom alongwith countless millions of 9other similar) eggs. Hence you are (spoken of as) infinite. They are (really) brutes in human form, who in their thirst for the pleasures of sense worship the gods (who represent so many sparks of your infinite glory) but not you, the Supreme,. Theblessings enjoyed by them (as gifts from those gods), O Lord, perish (as a matter of course) after (the end of) those gods even as the blessings enjoyed by the dependants of a royal house (automatically) come to an end after (the extinction of ) that house. entreaties made to You-who are possessed of a body which is all consciousness and not a product of the three Gunas-even for the pleasures of sense, O Supreme Lord, do not make for rebirth any more than fried seeds put forth shoots; for pairs of opposites (such as likes and dislike,wchich lead to rebirth) proceed (only) fom the (three)Gunas. (While You are entirely free from them and therefore people adoring You even with an interested motive gradually get rid of the three Gunas). (Such being the value of adoring You even for the Attainment of sensuorus enjoyments,) You surpass all (confer an incomparable boon on Your devotees) on such occasions, O unconquerable Lord, when You preach the flawless Bhagavata Dharma (the easy means of attaining to the Lord as taught by the Lord Himself), which even sages (like the great Sanatkumara ever revelling in the Self and having nothing to call their own resort to for (the attainment of) loving Devotion to the Lord 9which transcends all the four objects of human pursuit including Liberation and is therefore known as the fifth object-Pancama Purusartha).