a_ I have become red
and in the _Kali_ age I become dark in hue. In the _Kali_ age, the
proportion of immorality becometh three-fourths, (a fourth only being
that of morality). And when the end of the _Yuga_ cometh, assuming the
fierce form of Death, alone I destroy all the three worlds with their
mobile and immobile existences. With three steps, I cover the whole
Universe; I am the Soul of the universe; I am the source of all
happiness; I am the humbler of all pride; I am omnipresent; I am
infinite; I am the Lord of the senses; and my prowess is great. O
Brahmana, alone do I set a-going the wheel of Time; I am formless; I am
the Destroyer of all creatures; and I am the cause of all efforts of all
my creatures. O best of _Munis_, my soul completely pervadeth all my
creatures, but, O foremost of all regenerate ones, no one knoweth me. It
is me that the pious and the devoted worship in all the worlds. O
regenerate one, whatever of pain thou hast felt within my stomach, know,
O sinless one, that all that is for thy happiness and good fortune. And
whatever of mobile and immobile objects thou hast seen in the world,
everything hath been ordained by my Soul which is the Spring of all
existence. The grandsire of all creatures is half my body; I am called
Narayana, and I am bearer of the conch-shell, the discus and the mace. O
regenerate _Rishi_, for a period measured by a thousand times the length
of the _Yugas_, I who am the Universal Soul sleep overwhelming all
creatures in insensibility. And, O best of regenerate _Rishis_, I stay
here thus for all time, in the form of a boy though I am old, until
Brahma waketh up. O foremost of Brahmanas, gratified with thee, I who am
_Brahma_ have repeatedly granted thee boons, O thou who art worshipped
by regenerate _Rishis_! Beholding one vast expanse of water and seeing
that all mobile and immobile creatures have been destroyed, thou wert
afflicted with melancholy. I know this, and it is for this that I showed
thee the universe (within my stomach). And while thou wert within my
body, beholding the entire universe, thou wert filled with wonder and
deprived of thy senses. O regenerate _Rishi_, it is for this that thou
wert speedily brought out by me through my mouth. I have (now) told thee
of that Soul which is incapable of being comprehended by the gods and
the _Asuras_. And as long as that great ascetic, the holy Brahma, doth
not awake, thou, O regenerate _Rishi_, canst happily and trustf