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Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 3: Chapter 7: Verses 1-16
Vidura's questions
Sri Suka continued : When Maitreya spoke thus, the enlightened Vidura, son of Dwaipayana (Vedavyasa) further asked him as follows, delighting him by his speech as it were. Vidura asked : O holy sage, how can the Lord, who is pure consciousness, immutable and unqualified (absolute), come to be associated with attributes and activity even in sport? It is the hankering (for pleasure) and the desire to play with another (child or plaything) that impels a child to betake itself to play. But how can the Lord, who is satisfied in Himself and is ever one without a second, take to play ? It was through His own Maya, consisting of the three Gunas (Sattva, Rajas and Tamas), that the Lord created the universe. Nay, it is through the same Maya that He sustains it and shall finally withdraw it. How can He whose knowledge--which is His very nature-is never obscured by space, time or circumstance either by itself or through any other external cause, be associated with Maya? It is the Lord alone who is present in all bodies (as the enjoyer); how can there be any ill luck for Him, and how can He suffer any agony due to Karmas ? My mind, O sage, is much distracted, stuck as it is in this morass of ignorance. Remove, my lord, this great confusion of my mind. Sri Suka went on: Interrupted thus by Vidura, who was keen to know the truth, the sage, who was free from all conceit replied as though smiling (at him), his mind fixed on the Lord. Maitreya said : That the Spirit, who is the ruler (of Prakrti) and ever free, should feel miserable and fall into bondage is against all logic; yet such is the Lord's Maya (deluding potency). It is because of this Maya that the Jiva appears to be bound etc., (which is. something contrary to its nature), even though such bondage does not exist in reality, just as a man sees himself beheaded in a dream (even though in reality his head has not been severed). Again, just as trembling and other characteristics, which are attributable to water alone, are seen in the moon (as reflected) in water, though really non-existent there-in, so the attributes (birth etc.) of the body (which is not the soul) appear in the soul that has identified itself with a body. That false identification gradually disappears through the practice of devotion to the Lord, which is possible only by the grace of Lord Vasudeva (Sri Krsna), which in its turn is secured by discharging one's duties in a disinterested spirit in this world. When the senses have withdrawn from their objects and get exclusively devoted to Sri Hari, the Supreme Spirit and Seer, all the distractions'of the soul (in the shape of attachment and aversion etc.) vanish as in the case of a man buried in deep sleep. All one's afflictions are got rid of by uttering and hearing the praises of Sri Krsna (the Slayer of the demon Mura); what wonder, then, that such a result should be brought about by fondness developed in one's heart for worshipping the dust of His lotus-feet? Vidura said : My doubts have been eradicated by the sword of your reasoned exposition, my lord. My mind has now clearly grasped both the points (the Lord's freedom and the Jiva's dependence). You have rightly observed, 0 sage, that the bondage etc., of the Jiva is attributable to Sri Hari's own Maya (deluding potency). Such bondage is only apparent without any reality or foundation; for the universe itself has no foundation except the Lord's Maya.
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