You are knowledge and ignorance, truth and untruth, poison and nectar; you are both action and renunciation, and all the actions prescribed in the Vedas. O Viṣṇu, you alone are the enjoyer of all actions, as well as the instruments by which actions are performed. Whatever fruits arise from any action—those, too, are you. Within me, within others, in all beings and in all the worlds, O Lord, your presence is revealed only by the signs of your supreme sovereignty. Yogis contemplate you in their hearts; those who perform sacrifices worship you. You alone receive the offerings made to gods and ancestors, for you bear the forms of both. Your vast and wondrous form is established here as the universe itself, and also as the subtle, unseen world, O Lord. All forms and distinctions among beings are yours, and within each, you dwell as the innermost, exceedingly subtle self. Beyond even that subtlety, in what cannot be perceived by the senses, is your supreme self, O Supreme Person—a form inconceivable to the mind. To that, I offer my salutations. In every being, in every self, your eternal power abides, O Lord of gods, resting upon the qualities of nature. I bow to that power. She is beyond the reach of speech and mind, O Viṣṇu; neither knowledge nor ignorance can grasp her. To that supreme sovereign power, I offer my salutations. Om—salutations always to the blessed Vāsudeva, who is never separate from anything, nor is anything separate from him. Salutations, again and again, to that great soul, who cannot be apprehended as either name or form, nor as a single entity. To that great soul, whose incarnate forms are worshipped by the gods, though even they do not see his supreme form, I bow. I bow to that supreme Lord, who, abiding within all, witnesses both the auspicious and inauspicious, and is the very universe itself. Salutations to Viṣṇu, whose power has made this world so diverse; he, the first of beings, ever worthy of meditation—may that imperishable one show me his grace. May Hari, the support of all, in whom and by whom this imperishable, undecaying universe is woven and interlaced, be gracious to me. Om—salutations again and again to that Viṣṇu, in whom all exists, from whom all arises, and who is the refuge of all. By the all-pervasiveness of the infinite, I alone am established; all is from me, I am all, and all abides in me, the eternal. I alone am the imperishable, eternal, the supreme self, the refuge of the self; I am called Brahman at the beginning, and at the end, the supreme person. Thus, with a pure mind, Prahlāda contemplated Viṣṇu, O brāhmaṇa, and attained unity with him, regarding his own self as the infallible one. He forgot his individual identity and knew nothing else, thinking, “I alone am the imperishable, infinite, supreme self.” By practicing such contemplation, as his sins diminished, his inner being became pure, and Viṣṇu, the infallible one, revealed himself as knowledge itself. By the power of yoga, as Prahlāda became filled with Viṣṇu, the bonds of the serpents that held him were instantly broken, O Maitraya. The great ocean was agitated, its waves disturbed; the whole earth, with its mountains, forests, and groves, trembled. Then, casting off the great stone placed upon him by the demons, Prahlāda, wise and resolute, emerged from the waters. Once again seeing the world, the sky, and its familiar signs, Prahlāda remembered himself as himself. With mind concentrated and undisturbed, his speech, body, and mind restrained, the wise one praised the primeval, supreme person: “Om, salutations to the highest reality, the meaning of the highest truth—gross and subtle, perishable and imperishable, manifest and unmanifest, beyond all divisions, lord of all, stainless one. You are the supporter of qualities, the foundation of qualities, yet your essence is beyond all qualities; you are stable in qualities—possessing form and formlessness, of great form and subtle form, clear and unclear. Fierce and gentle in form, you are the abode of both knowledge and ignorance, O infallible one; you are existence and non-existence, the true being, the creator of all states of being and non-being. “O One whose nature is both eternal and non-eternal manifestation, untouched by illusion and ever pure, singular and unique—salutations to you, the original cause, O Vāsudeva. You are gross and subtle, manifest and luminous, all beings yet not all beings—salutations to that Supreme Person, from whom this universe arises and who is the cause of the non-universe.” As Prahlāda offered these praises, the blessed Lord Hari, clad in radiant yellow garments, appeared before him. Seeing the Lord, Prahlāda rose with both agitation and reverence, his words faltering as he repeatedly uttered, “Salutations to Viṣṇu!” “O Lord, remover of the distress of those who seek refuge, show me your favor, O Keśava; purify me again by granting me your sight,” Prahlāda prayed. The Lord replied, “Because you act thus, I am pleased with your unwavering devotion. Ask from me, Prahlāda, whatever boon you desire.” Prahlāda said, “O Lord, in whatever wombs I may be born, may my unwavering devotion to you, O Acyuta, remain in all of them. May the affection for sense objects, which never leaves the undiscerning, depart from my heart as I remember you.” The Lord said, “You already have devotion to me, and it will remain so in the future; yet Prahlāda, ask from me whatever boon you desire.” Prahlāda replied, “Because of my connection to you, my praise of you has arisen; O Lord, let the sin committed by my father be destroyed. Weapons have been cast at me, I was thrown into sacrificial fire, bitten by serpents, and my food was poisoned. I was bound and cast into the ocean, hurled from mountain peaks, and many other wicked acts have been done to me.” Thus, with steadfast devotion and a heart purified by the Lord’s presence, Prahlāda offered his prayers and sought forgiveness for others, embodying the highest ideals of love and surrender to Viṣṇu.