‘ You are the primordial cause of everything, bringing into force the three qualities. You are the supreme knowledge as well as the great nescience, the great intellect and contemplation, as also the great delusion, the great devi as also the great asuri.ħ8-81. O you who are (always) of the form of the whole world, at the time of creation you are of the form of the creative force, at the time of sustentation you are of the form of the protective power, and at the time of the dissolution of the world, you are of the form of the destructive power. By you it is protected, O Devi and you always consume it at the end. ‘By you this universe is borne, by you this world is created. You are Savitri and the supreme Mother of the devas.ħ5-77. You are verily that which cannot be uttered specifically. O eternal and imperishable One, you are the embodiment of the threefold mantra. You are verily the Vasatkara and embodiment of Svara. The resplendent Lord Brahma extolled the incomparable Goddess of Vishnu, Yoganidra, the queen of cosmos, the supporter of the worlds, the cause of the sustentation and dissolution alike (of the universe).ħ2-74. Seeing these two fierce asuras and Janardhana asleep, and with a view to awakening Hari, (Brahma) with concentrated mind extolled Yoganidra, dwelling in Hari’s eyes. At the end of a kalpa when the universe was one ocean( with the waters of the deluge) and the adorable Lord Vishnu stretched out on Sesa and took the mystic slumber, tow terrible asuras, the well-known Madhu and Kaitabha, sprung into being from the dirt of Vishnu’s ears, sought to slay Brahma Brahma, the father of beings, was sitting in the lotus( that came out) from Vishnu’s navel. When she manifests herself in order to accomplish the purposes of the devas, she is said to be born in the world, though she is eternal. Nevertheless she incarnates in manifold ways hear it from me. She is eternal, embodied as the universe. ‘Venerable sir, who is that Devi whom you call Mahamaya? How did she come into being, and what is her sphere of action, O Brahmana? What constitutes her nature? What is her form? Wherefrom did she originate? All that I wish to hear from you, O you supreme among the knowers of Brahman.’ The Rishi said:Ħ3-71. She is the supreme knowledge, the cause of final liberation, and eternal she is the cause of the bondage of transmigration and the sovereign over all lords. It is she who, when propitious, becomes a boon-giver to human beings for their final liberation. She creates this entire universe, both moving and unmoving. Verily she, the Bhagavati, the Mahamaya forcibly drawing the minds of even the wise, throws them into delusion. this Mahamaya is the Yoganidra, of Vishnu, the Lord of the world. Do you not see this? Even so men are hurled into the whirlpool of attachment, the pit of delusion, through the power of Mahamaya ( the Great Illusion), who makes the existence of the world possible. Human beings are, O tiger among men, attached to their children because of greed for return help. Look at these birds, which though they possess knowledge, and are themselves distressed by hunger are yet, because of the delusion, engaged in dropping grains into the beaks of their young ones. The knowledge that men have, birds and beasts too have and what they have men also possess and the rest (like eating and sleeping) is common to both of them. Human beings are certainly endowed with knowledge, but they are not the only beings ( to be so endowed), for cattle, birds, animals and other creatures also cognize (objects of senses).ĥ0-58. Some beings are blind by day, and others are blind by night some beings have equal sight both by day and night. And object of sense reaches it in various ways. Sir, every being has the knowledge of objects perceivable by the senses. How this happens, then, sir, that though we are aware of it, this delusion comes? This delusion besets me as well as him, blinded as we are in respect of discrimination.’ The Rishi said:Ĥ6-49. Thus both he and I, drawn by attachment towards objects whose defects we do know, are exceedingly unhappy. How is this, O best of sages? And this merchant has been disowned by this children, wife and servants, and forsaken by his own people still he is inordinately affectionate towards them. Though I have lost the kingdom, like an ignorant man- though I know it- I have an attachment to all the paraphernalia of my kingdom. Without the control of my intellect, my mind is afflicted with sorrow.