Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 7 Chapter 9:29-36

Book 7: Chapter 9

Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 7: Chapter 9: Verses 29-36 A Eulogy of the Lord (by Prahrada) The act of rescuing of my life as well as the slaughter of my father was done by You, 0 immortal Lord, in order to vindicate the words of the sages (Sanaka and his three brothers), Your devotees, when, taking up his sword, my father (Hiranyakasipu), who sought to do violence (to me), said, "If there is any God other than me, let him save you; I (hereby) sever your head !" Indeed You alone constitute this universe, since it is You who exist apart (from the world) at its beginning (before its creation) as well as at its end (after its dissolution) and (hence) at the middle (in the form of the universe too). Having evolved byYour Maya (creative will) this cosmos (which is a modification of the three Gunas or modes of Prakrti-viz., Sattva, Rajas and Tamas), and forthwith entered it (as its Inner Controller). You appear as many (as its Creator, Preserver and Destroyer) through (association with) these Gunas. This universe, consisting of (both) causes and effects, O Lord, is as a matter of fact the same as You; while You are different from it (existing as You do even before and after it). Because it is so, the notion that he is one's own and he is another is indeed meaningless and illusory. A thing is actually the same as that from which it originates and comes to light, in which it lives and into which it gets dissolved, just as a tree is essentially the same as its seed and a seed is identical with (its cause) earth (which is a product of and therefore identical with odour). Withdrawing (dissolving) this cosmos into Yourself by Yourself (of Your own free will), You repose in the Deluge water, enjoying the bliss which is Your very nature, and devoid of (all) activity. Having closed Your eyes (in that state) through Yoga (Self-absorption) and set aside sleep by Self-illumination, and existing in Your absolute nature (transcending the three states of wakefulness, dream and deep sleep), You cognize neither Tamas (ignorance, which is characteristic of deep sleep) nor the objects of senses (which are presented to one's mind during the states of wakefulness and dream). This cosmos is an embodiment of that very Lord in You, who spurred into activity, by Your own energy in the shape of the Time-Spirit, the (three) modes of Prakrti (viz., Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, which combine to produce this universe). (For) from Your navel-(even) as You reposed in water on the (cosy) bed of Ananta (the immortal Sesa, the serpent-god) and when Your trance came to an end-sprang up, like a banyan tree from a tiny seed, a huge lotus that had lain hidden in You (till then). Sprung from that lotus, Brahma (the seer)-who failed to perceive anything other than that, and thought You, the seed, though pervading himself, to be outside his body-could not discover You, although he kept diving into the water for a hundred (celestial) years. Ohl how, on a sprout having shot forth, could one get at the seed ? Utterly amazed (at not finding You) and perched on the lotus (once more), Brahma (the self-born), whose heart had been thoroughly purified in course of time through intense meditation, eventually discovered You, O Lord, in a most subtle form as pervading his own being-consisting of the (five gross) elements, the (ten) Indriyas (the five senses of perception and the five organs of action) and the inner sense-even as a Yogi would perceive the most subtle odour pervading the earth. Brahma (the creator) experienced (great) joy on seeing the Lord (in that subtle form) and in the same way on beholding the Supreme Person (the Cosmic Being), a manifestation of His own Maya (creative will), (who was) endowed with innumerable faces, feet, heads, hands, thighs, noses, mouths, ears, eyes, ornaments and weapons, (and) the disposition of whose (different) limbs was symbolized by (the various spheres of) this (visible) universe.