Let me share with you the sacred narrative as revealed in the verses. Those who rise in the morning and recite the divine names described here are blessed with immense prosperity, wealth, abundance of grain, and purity in their lives. The goddess Lakshmi is depicted as golden-hued, graceful as a deer, adorned with garlands of gold and silver, radiant like the moon, and herself made of gold. She never departs from Vishnu’s side. Fragrant and invincible, ever-nourishing and bestowing action, Lakshmi is the ruler of all beings. Here, she is invoked as Shri, the embodiment of auspiciousness. In the Rig Veda, this great goddess is praised, for she bestowed prosperity and happiness upon Shiva and the celestial beings. Lakshmi is the sovereign of this world, the eternal consort of Vishnu. All existence—both that which moves and that which is still—depends on her glance. She dwells upon Vishnu’s chest like brilliance within fire, and he is truly the lord of all, imperishable and immutable. Vishnu is Narayana, possessed of fortune, an ocean of affection and virtues, gentle, blessed, all-knowing, and endowed with every power. Always fulfilled in desire, he is a natural friend and companion, an ocean of nectar-like compassion and the refuge for all embodied beings. He is the giver of happiness in heaven and liberation, the source of compassion for his devotees. To that glorious Vishnu, all service is offered. In every place, time, and circumstance, all belong to the Lord of the Lotus. When one realizes his true nature, they attain the happiness of serving him. Understanding the meaning of the mantra, one should practice devotion properly, for this entire world—both moving and unmoving—is his servant. Narayana, the glorious master and lord of the worlds, is mother, father, son, kin, abode, refuge, and ultimate goal. The blessed Lord of Shri, endowed with auspicious qualities and fulfiller of all desires, is called “without qualities” in the scriptures, yet he is the lord of the world. Any perceived inferiority is due only to association with natural, defective qualities, as described in statements accessible to Vedanta, where worldly illusions are discussed. All that is seen in this world is impermanent; even the cosmic egg’s natural form is destined for destruction. Such impermanence of natural forms is declared, and this concerns the origin of Hari from Prakriti. For the sake of divine play, Vishnu, the Lord of gods, created the worlds with four, then ten, oceans and islands. With four kinds of beings and lofty mountains, this beautiful, complete cosmic egg arises from Prakriti. It is endowed with ten plus qualities and covered by seven sheaths, within which time revolves in forms such as kala and kashtha. By time alone, the creation, maintenance, and dissolution of the world occur. A day of Brahma spans a thousand cycles of four yugas, and Brahma’s lifespan is measured by that many nights and years. When Brahma’s end arrives, all is destroyed. The worlds within the cosmic egg are burned by the fire of time, and all beings are absorbed into the Prakriti of Vishnu. The elements forming the egg’s coverings dissolve into Prakriti, which, sheltered by Hari, is the support of all worlds. By her, the Blessed Lord always brings about creation and dissolution; for the sake of play, the world-illusion was created by the Lord of gods. Ignorance, Prakriti, and Maya—always composed of the three gunas—are the eternal cause of creation, maintenance, and dissolution. Yoganidra, the great illusion, Prakriti endowed with the three gunas, the unmanifest and primal matter, belong to Vishnu, the master of divine play. The creation and dissolution of the world always arise from Prakriti; the abode of countless Prakritis is dense, unfading darkness. Above, at the boundary, is Viraja, endless and eternal, by whom the entire world is upheld in both gross and subtle states. In her, expansion and contraction are the states in which creation and dissolution are remembered, and thus all beings are contained within Prakriti. Eventually, all this becomes void, absorbed into the great Prakriti, which is the supreme form of her glory. Now, hear of the form of the threefold glory. Between Pradhana and the supreme sky flows the Viraja river, auspicious and flowing with waters born from the sweat of the Vedas’ limbs. Beyond her, in the highest sky, is the eternal threefold being. This immortal, eternal, everlasting, infinite, supreme abode is pure, composed of sattva, divine, imperishable—the abode of Brahman. It is radiant like countless millions of suns and fires, undecaying, composed of all the Vedas, pure and untouched by creation or dissolution. It is innumerable, ageless, eternal, free from waking, dreaming, and other states; golden, the abode of liberation, bringing the bliss of Brahman. Without equal or superior, without beginning or end, auspicious and wondrous in brilliance, this abode is delightful, an ocean of perpetual bliss. Endowed with such qualities from the beginning, that supreme abode of Vishnu is neither illumined by sun, moon, nor fire. Those who reach it do not return; that is the supreme abode of Hari. This supreme, eternal, imperishable abode of Vishnu cannot be described, even in hundreds of millions of aeons. Neither I, nor the Creator, nor the assemblies of great sages, are able to describe the abode of Hari. In that abode, the imperishable Lord dwells; whether one knows it or not, it is so. That imperishable, Vedic mystery is the seat of all the gods. For one who knows it, what need is there to recite hymns? Those who know it, they dwell together there.