Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 7 Chapter 3:15-29

Book 7: Chapter 3

Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 7: Chapter 3: Verses 15-29 Hiranyakasipu asks a number of boons (of Brahma, who is pleased with his austerities) (At first) he did not find the Daitya, who was covered all over with ant-hills, grass and bamboos and whose fat, skin, flesh and blood had been consumed by ants. Brahma (who was mounted on a swan) was (later) amazed to see him scorchingthe worlds with his asceticism, like the sun wholly screened by clouds, and spoke laughingly (as follows). Brahma said : Arise, arise, O son of Kasyapa ! May good betide you; you have achieved your purpose through austerities. (It is therefore that) I, the bestower of boons, have come over to you Any boon desired by you may (now) be asked. I have witnessed this extraordinary and marvellous stamina of yours, that your body having been eaten away by gnats, your life actually hangs on your bones (alone). Neither did the former sages practise such asceticism nor will the coming ones do it. Indeed, who can support life without water for a hundred celestial years (or 36,000 human years)? Through this perseverance of yours, (which is) hard to practise even for those who have controlled their mind. I have been conquered by you, intent as you are on austerities, O delighter (son) of Diti. Therefore, I bestow on you all your desired blessings, O chief of the demons. My sight, immortal as I am, cannot go in vain for you, a mortal. Narada continued : Having spoken thus, Brahma (the first-born deity) sprinkled the demon, whose body had been eaten away by ants, with the water of his Kamandalu (a water-pot made of wood or the hard shell of a coconut)-water which was supernal (in substance and of unfailing virtue. From the ant-hill covered by bamboos, he then emerged like fire from fuel, endowed with potency of mind, keenness of the senses and strength of body, perfect in all limbs, possessed of an adamantine frame, youthful and brilliant as molten gold. Perceiving the god Brahma (who was mounted on a swan) standing in the air, the demon greeted him with his head resting on the ground, transported with joy at his sight. (Then) rising with joined palms in a suppliant posture and gazing at the powerful god with unwinking eyes, he offered (his) praises in faltering words (as follows) with tears of joy (in his eyes) and hair standing on end. Hiranyakasipu said : Hail to the all-pervading Supreme, the Ground of (the three modes of Prakrti, viz.,) Sattva, Rajas and Tamas (the principles of harmony, activity and inertia respectively), who-self-effulgent as He is-manifests (again) by His native splendour this universe, enveloped at the end of a Kalpa (the life-time of the three worlds) in blinding Tamoguna evolved by Time, and who by His own Self-associated with the (aforesaid) three Gunas-creates, protects and destroys it. Salutations to the First Cause, who is an embodiment of both (scriptural) knowledge and wisdom and who has (objectively) manifested Himself in the form of the vital airs, the Indriyas (the five senses of perception and the five organs of action), the mind and intellect and the (five gross) elements (which are modifications of the five subtle elements). (It is) You (who) rule over the mobile (animate) and immobile (inanimate) creation with the Prana (the life-breath), the foremost of the five vital airs, and are (thus) the lord of created beings. (Nay,) You are the Controller of their reason and consciousness (the modification of reason) as well as of the mind and the Indriyas and are (thus) supreme, being the ruler of the (five gross) elements and their properties (viz., sound, touch, sight, taste and smell), the internal senses (viz., the mind, intellect, reason and ego) as well as of (their) cravings.