Srimad Bhagavatam – day 340
The Devatas continued to pray, “Previously at the time of dissolution, huge tidal waves accompanied by strong cyclonic winds that created fearful horrendous sounds arose. At that time, Lord Brahma, who was alone, almost fell from the lotus on which he was seated into the raging waters of dissolution. Srihari’s grace enabled him to be freed from this fear. May such Lord Srihari now rescue us!
Using His illusory powers, the non-dual Lord created us. With His blessings we are creating the universe. Considering ourselves as having an existence separate from Him, we take great pride assuming we are the ‘doers’ of action. This defect prevents us from perceiving the Lord who playfully sports in our vicinity. Although being over and above time, with His illusionary power, this Supreme Lord incarnates in every Yuga (eon) in the form of Devatas, Maharishis, humans and cows. Considering us as His kith and kin He rescues us from the clutches of the evil-minded.
Tam eva devaṃ vayam ātma-daivataṃ paraṃ pradhānaṃ puruṣaṃ viśvam anyam
Vrajāma sarve śaraṇaṃ śaraṇyaṃ svānāṃ sa no dhāsyati śaṃ mahātmā
Srihari is both the material cause (upādana) and instrumental cause (nimitta kāraṇa) for this creation. Although manifesting in the form of the universe, He maintains an existence separate from it. He is the refuge for all those who seek shelter. He is our worshipful deity. We seek refuge in Him. He, who exists as the Self within every living entity, will cause our well-being and happiness”.
While the Devatas were praying, with absolute dedication, Srihari manifested in the western direction. The Supreme Lord was holding a conch, discus and mace in His hands. He was being served by 16 personal attendants who, barring the Srivatsa mark and Kausthuba gem, resembled Him in every other aspect.
Overflowing with joy upon seeing the Lord the Devatas fell flat on the ground and offered Him obeisance. Thereafter they stood up and with choked voices, prayed,
“Namas te yajña-vīryāya vayase uta te namaḥ
Namas te hy asta-cakrāya namaḥ supuru-hūtaye
O Lord You, who are the embodiment of time, reward the person based on his actions. O Lord who holds the discus in His hands, Your innumerable names extol Your greatness. Again and again we offer obeisance to You!
You are the Lord who governs all the higher, middle and lower planets to which living beings travel. You are the supreme controller. We, who are created after the beginning of creation, are not competent to describe Your transcendental glories, O Supreme Lord.
O Nārāyaṇa! O Vāsudeva! O Puruśottama! We offer obeisance to You! You are the cause behind the illumination of this world. Your glories are infinite. Your eternal auspicious form grants auspiciousness to devotees. You, the ever-compassionate Lord, are the primary presiding force for the entire creation. You are the sole Lord who rules and protects all the worlds.
Saints of the highest cadre (parivrājaka) are eternally established in the Self. In their minds, that have been rendered pure due to this, śama, dama and other righteous duties reign, due to which, their impurities get washed away opening the doors to liberation to them. In such minds, You, who exist as the Self, illumine. As a result of Self-realization, they are automatically filled with supreme bliss, which is nothing but Your form.
As You are formless, traitless and beyond support, Your infinite transcendental plays are beyond the scope of the reasoning. You do not need our support. You are totally devoid of transformations. Even then You create, support and annihilate this entire universe, which is the creation of the three attributes of Nature.
O Lord, do You appear in the form of the various conditioned souls in this creation who, trapped by illusion, perform fruitive activities to reap their consequences? Or are You the Supreme Self that is a personification of peace and bliss and which is devoid of feelings of doership and enjoyer-ship and which remains a witness to all activities? We are unable to fathom this.
O Lord, You are the ruler for this entire creation. Hence it is impossible to count your innumerable qualities and activities. Due to feelings of aversion towards You, the wicked uselessly counter-argue about Your existence and glories. Nevertheless, there is no evidence to support their arguments. This creation, which is an outcome of illusion (māya), has no real existence.
In You, mutually contradictory qualities such as with-attributes (saguna) & without-attributes (nirguna); doer (karta) & non-doer (akarta) are not contradictory. There is nothing which is beyond the scope of Your illusionary energy.
In reality, in the non-dual Supreme Lord, who is beyond everything, the qualities of saguna (with-attributes), nirguna (without-attributes), doership (kartrva) and non-doership (akartrtva) do not exist. Your existence is different from these mutually contradictory positions.
An intelligent wise person is able to see a rope as it is, while a bewildered person sees a snake in that rope. Likewise, people who possess equanimity see You as existing in all living entities while others see this world as full of dualities when, in reality, You alone exist.
When thoroughly investigated it is evident that You, the Lord of all worlds, are the cause for the existence of this entire creation including the five basic elements. You are the ultimate form of this entire creation. Residing as the Self within living entities, You illumine the senses. All these senses thus illumined by You, symbolize You alone.
When, with the discriminative understanding that this effectual world (karya) is non-different from the cause (kāraṇa), the effectual world (kārya) is merged into the cause (kāraṇa), then You, the non-dual entity, alone remain.
O Madhusudana! Simply by drinking a drop from the ocean of nectar called Your divine transcendental glories, the minds of your devotees are filled with infinite bliss. With this they understand the trivialness in the material comforts that they have been experiencing and hence reject them completely.
You are the Self that resides within all. You are the well-wisher of one and all. You are the Supreme Essence. With unflinching faith noble saints fix their minds completely upon You, the Supreme Essence. These devotees who are unfailingly fixed towards the supreme goal see You as their inner Self. Will such devotees ever give up serving Your lotus feet? By this service, the human being is freed from rotating in this repeated cycle of re-births”.
Nārāyaṇa!