The institutes of Vishnu (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1880)

298

VISH2VU.

XCIX, 5.

thou art beauty ; thou art the splendour (of the sun
and moon personified); thou art renown; thou art
prosperity; thou art wisdom ; thou art the power of
expression ; thou art the purifier.
5. ‘Thou art the food of the manes; thou art
forbearance; thou art the earth (or the repository
of wealth); thou art fixity; thou art the basis (or
stability); thou art the source of the benefit derived
from sacrifices; thou art highest prudence; thou
art wide-spread renown; thou art freedom from
envy; thou art the food given to the gods ; thou
art mental power; thou art intelligence.
6. ‘ As the first of the gods (Vishnu) pervades
the whole aggregate of the three worlds (sky, atmo-
sphere, and earth), even so doest thou, O black-eyed
bestower of gifts. Yet I inquire for the dwelling, in
which thy superhuman power is residing.’
7. The goddess of the earth having thus spoken
to her, Lakshmi, standing by the side of the chief of
the gods, enunciated the following answer : ‘ I am
constantly at the side of the brilliant destroyer of
Madhu, O goddess, who shinest like gold.
8. ‘ But learn from me, where I reside (besides),
O support of the world, from the instruction of him,
whom I am constantly reflecting upon in my mind,
and whom the virtuous call the husband of Ari, and
from my own recollection.
9. ‘ I reside in the sun, in the moon, and in the
cloudless atmosphere in which the flock of the stars
is spread out. (I reside) in that cloud, from which
the waters of the rain pour down, in that cloud
6. Lakshmi is said to pervade everything, like Vishrni himself,
because she is his Xakti, i. e. his energy or active power personi-
fied as his wife. (Nand.)