Among the hymns, I am the Brhat-sama, sung to Indra, and among the poems, the Gayatri, sung daily by the learned sages. Among the months, I am November and December, and among the seasons, the blossoming spring.

I am the play of deceivers, and the brilliance of all that shines. I am the victory, the adventure and the strength of the strong.

Among the descendants of Vrsni, I am Vasudeva, and among the Pandavas, Arjuna. Among the sages, I am Vyasa, and among the great thinkers, Usana.

Among the punishments, I am the rod, and among those who seek victory, morality. In secret things, I am silence, and of the wise, wisdom.

Moreover, I am the Seed of all existence: Nothing movable or immovable exists without Me. My divine glories know no bounds. What I have revealed to you is only a way of example, a tiny parcel of My infinite greatness. All that is beautiful, powerful, glorious, bursts forth, know that it is only a simple fragment of My splendour. But what good is all this detail?

For, the whole universe, by a single spark of My Person, I penetrate and sustain it.

The universal form of the Lord

The Supreme Lord says:

See here My glory, hundreds, thousands of divine forms, infinitely diverse, multi-coloured like the sea. Behold the Adityas, the Rudras, all other celestial beings. Contemplate the innumerable manifestations that no one has ever known before. All that you desire and will desire to see, the mobile as well as the immobile, see it at once in this universal form, for everything is there.

But you cannot see Me with the eyes that are yours. I therefore bestow upon thee the divine eyes through which thou mayest behold My inconceivable powers.

I am Time, destroyer of worlds, come to engage all men. Apart from you [the Pandavas], they will all perish, warriors of the two armies that clash.

So arise, ready to fight. Triumphing over your enemies, you will enjoy a prosperous kingdom. All, by My command, are already slain, and you, Savyasacin, can only be, in this struggle, an instrument in My hand.

Drona, Bhisma, Jayadratha, Darna, and the other valiant warriors, all are already put to death. Fight without being troubled, and you will defeat all your enemies in this struggle.

In joy, I have revealed to you in this world, through My internal power, My universal, sublime, infinite, dazzling form, which no one before you has ever seen.