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Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 10: Chapter 3: Verses 24-36
Devaki prayed : You are Lord Visnu Himself, the Illuminator of (all) psycho-physical organisms, the indefinable Reality, which the Vedas declare as the unmanifest cause consisting of (mere) consciousness, transcending the three Gunas, absolute existence, unqualified and devoid of activity. When at the end of two Parardhas (constituting the-lifetime of Brahma) the universe (consisting of seven higher and seven lower worlds) is dissolved (into its constituent elements), by force of Time the (five) gross elements are ultimately merged (along with the ten Indriyas and the mind including the deities presiding over them) in Ahankara (their cause), (Ahañkara is merged in the Mahat-tattva), the Mahat -tattva in the Unmanifest (and the Unmanifest in Yourself), You alone are left and (therefore) called by the name of Sesa (lit., the residue).
The wise declare as a potency of Yours the aforesaid Time, which extends (in point of duration) from the twinkling of an eye to a year and is infinite in extent, and under whose impulse the universe proceeds on in its cyclic course, 0 Director of the Unmanifest !I fly (for protection) to You as such, the Ruler (of Time as well as of Prakrti), the Abode of security. Afraid of the serpent of death and running about all the worlds (in quest of a quarter free from the fear of death), a mortal is not able to attain a place void of fear. Having by an indescribable stroke of good luck (however) reached
Your lotus-feet, he rests in peace, 0 Primeval Being; for (even) death turns ) away from him. As such (kindly) protect You us (Your devotees), afraid of the terrible Kamsa (the son of Ugrasena) son of Ugrasena); (for) You are the dispeller of the grave fears of Yours servants. And (pray) do not reveal to the ignorant (whose eyes are directed to the flesh) this divine And (prayed). object form, the object of meditation (for the seekers of liberation). Let not that wicked one know of Your birth through me, O slayer of the demon Madhu ! I am terribly afraid, for Your sake, of Kamsa and (feel) much agitated at heart.Withdraw,O Soul of the universe, this four-armed transcendent form adorned with the splendour of a conch, a discus, a mace and a lotus. It is a truism that You, the Supreme Person, hold at the end of the cosmic night (final dissolution) in Your Body this (vast) universe with enough space about it.
That You as such should have entered my womb, Oh that is surely an imitation of human ways. The Lord replied : In a previous life (the third incarnation preceding the present one), in course of the Swayambhuva Manvantara you alone, O good lady, were Prni. In that life he (your husband) was a sinless Prajapati, Sutapa by name. When indeed you two were commanded by Brahma to beget progeny, thereupon you both practised most rigid austerities, fully controlling your senses. Enduring one after another the peculiarities of the (various) seasons in the form of rain, storm, sunshine, snow and heat, nay, subsisting (now) on withered leaves and (now) on air alone and with the impurities of your mind wiped out through breath-control, you performed My worship with a calm mind, seeking the objects of your desire from Me. While you with your mind fixed on Me, were both thus practising severe austerities, most difficult to practise, 0 good lady, twelve thousand celestial years rolled by.
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