Vishnupurana 1.2.p1.1

1.2.p1.1

Parāçara said:—"I bow unto Him that is holy and eternal—the supreme Soul who is ever uniform,—even Vishnu, the Lord of all. I bow unto Hiranyagarbha, unto Hara and Sankara, unto Vasudeva the saviour, even him who bringeth about creation, maintenance and destruction to everything. I bow unto him that is uniform yet hath a multiplicity of forms; who is both subtle and gross;—who is manifested and unmanifested; unto Vishnu, the cause of salvation. I bow unto Vishnu, the supreme Soul, who pervadeth the universe, and who is the fundamental cause of the creation, sustenance and extinction of everything. And bowing down unto Him, who is the stay of the universe,—who is minuter than the minutest monad,—who resides in every being—unto the undeteriorating foremost Purusha, who is extremely pure, and constitutes knowledge of the highest kind,—who in consequence of the erroneous sight (of people) seemeth to be endowed with a shape; unto the Vishnu who can compass the creation, maintenance and destruction of the universe,—saluting the Lord of the world, un-born, unchangeable and undeteriorating,—I shall relate what formerly, asked by Paksha and other great ascetics, the reverend lotus sprung Great-sire said unto them, and what they rehearsed unto king Purukutsa on the banks of the Narmadā; and what he, in his turn, related to Sāraswata,—and the last unto me.