Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 8 Chapter 7:23-32

Book 8: Chapter 7

Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 8: Chapter 7: Verses 23-32 The gods and demons proceed to churn the ocean and Lord Siva drinks the poison appearing out of it (It is only) when You undertake through Your own energy (Maya), consisting of the three Gunas, the (work of) creation, maintenance and dissolution of this universe, 0 self-seeing Lord, (that) You (severally) assume the title of Brahma, Visnu and iva, O perfect One ! You are the supreme, mysterious Brahma (the Absolute), the Creator of all beings, (the gods, beasts and so on), high and low. It is You, the (supreme) Spirit, that stand manifested as the universe by virtue of (Your) manifold energies (in the form of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas) and are its Ruler (too). You are the Source of the Word (the Veda); the cause of the universe (in the form of the Mahat-tattva or the principle of cosmic intelligence); the (cosmic) Ego-characterized by the (three) Gunas (Sattva, Rajas and Tamas), that bring forth the (eleven) Indriyas (the five senses of perception, the five organs of action and the mind), the (five) vital airs and the (five) subtle elements (respectively); the intrinsic nature of everything (which brings about transformation); the Time-Spirit (which disturbs the equilibrium of the three; Gunas) and Kratu (the creative will) as well as Dharma (piety), consisting of Satya (truthfulness) and Rta (polite speech). The wise (further) declare that which is known as the Indestructible (primordial Matter), consisting of the three Gunas, as depending on You. Fire, which represents all the gods, is Your mouth; the wise conceive the earth to be Your lotus-like feet, 0 Source of the universe; Time, to be Your movement, while You are conceived of as representing all the gods in Your person; the quarters as (representing) Your ears, and the god Varuna (the ruler of the waters) as Your palate. The sky is Your navel; the air, Your respiration; the sun, Your eyes; and water is Your generative fluid, Your ego is the support of all the Jivas (embodied souls), (both) high and low (from Brahma down to the minutest creature); the moon embodies Your mind; and heaven, Your head, O Lord ! The oceans represent Your abdomen; the mountains, Your framework of bones; all the annual plants and creepers, the hair on Your body; the (seven Vedic) metres (viz., Gayatri, Tristubh, Anustubh, Brhati, Parikti, Jagati, and Usnik), no other than the (seven) constituents (viz., chyle, blood, flesh,fat bone, marrow and the generative fluid) of Your body; and the entire range of Dharma (piety as enjoined by the Vedas), Your heart, O Lord with a body constituted of the three Vedas (Rk, Yajus and Sama) I The five sacred (Vedic) texts (known by the names of Tatpurusa, Aghora, Sadyojata, Vamadeva and Dana), O Lord, from (the thirty-eight parts of) which the thirty-eight fragmentary Mantras came into existence, constitute Your (five) faces (bearing the same names as the sacred texts themselves). Again, that self-effulgent Principle, constituting the supreme Reality, which is known by the name of Siva, O Deity, is (nothing but) Your absolute state. Your shadow is seen in waves of unrighteousness (greed, manifested in the form of hypocrisy and soon), by which destruction is wrought; while Sattva, Rajas and Tamas constitute Your three eyes. (And) the eternal Veda, mainly consisting of metrical compositions, O Lord, represents a glance from You, the all-wise originator of the sacred lore. Brahma (the Absolute)-which is not accessible to the guardians of all the spheres, nay, not even to Brahma (the creator), Visnu and Indra (the ruler of the gods), O Protector of mountains, (nay,) in which Rajas and Tamas and Sattva (too) find no place and which has all differences cast away from it-is (nothing but) Your supreme effulgence. The act of Your destroying many an enemy of living beings-such as the god of love, the sacrificial performance undertaken by Daksa, the three (flying) cities (built by the demon Maya), the god of death and the poison (Halahala)--is no matter for praise on Your part, who (remain so deeply absorbed in meditation that You) do not even perceive this universe, created by Yourself, as having been reduced to ashes by the sparks and flames of fire shot by Your own (middle) eye at the time of (universal) dissolution !