Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 1 Chapter 2:29-34

Book 1: Chapter 2

Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 1: Chapter 2: Verses 29-34 Glory of the Lord's narrative and of Devotion to Him Ali wisdom has itsculmination in Vasudeva; all austere penance has Vasudeva for its goal; ail virtue aims at the realization of Vasudeva and all destinies culminate in Vasudeva. Although the Lord is Himself beyond Prakrti (Primordial Matter), and its three modes (Sattva etc.), yet it was He who evolved this universe at the beginning (of creation) through His own Maya (Prakrti), which consists of the aforesaid three Gunas and is both real (in its phenomenal aspect) and unreal (ontologically speaking). Having entered into these three Gunas, that have been evolved by the aforesaid Maya, He appears as possessed of these Gunas, though essentially He is Consciousness personified. Just as fire, though really one, appears as many when abiding in the different logs of wood that manifest it, so does God, the soul of the universe, (though essentially one) appear as many, when manifested in different beings. Entering (as the soul) the various material bodies created by Himself out of the various evolutes of the three Gunas such as the subtle elements, the senses and the mind, the Lord enjoys the sense-objects appropriate to such bodies. It is He, again, who creates the different worlds and descending by way of sport in different species such as the gods, the human beings and the lower forms of life, protects all the beings through His Sattva or goodness. Thus ends the second discourse, forming part of the story relating to the Narmisa forest, in Book One of the great and glorious Bhagavata-Purana, otherwise known as the Paramahamsa-Samhita.