O Viṣṇu! The pervader of all things! Thou art everywhere, in all places, at all times. Thy presence fileth the universe. There is no corner so remote, no darkness so deep, that thou art not there.

Thou art within the stone, though the stone knoweth it not. Thou art within the plant, causing it to grow and reach toward the light. Thou art within the animal, giving it life and motion. Thou art within man, dwelling as the innermost self, the eternal witness.

O wide-strider! Every step thou takest encompasseth vast distances. With one stride thou passest beyond the reach of the mightiest mountains. With another stride thou travellest further than the eye can see, further than the mind can conceive.

Yet thou art also intimately close. Thou dwellest in the breath that entereth and leaveth the nostrils. Thou residest in the beating of the heart. Thou art present in the blinking of the eye, in the turning of the head.

How can one so vast be so intimate? How can the infinite be found in the finite? This is thy mystery, O Viṣṇu! This is the paradox that confoundeth all wisdom—that thou art both boundlessly great and infinitesimally small, both utterly transcendent and completely imminent.

The sages who meditate upon thee sometimes perceive thy vastness and are overwhelmed. The cosmos appears within thy form, the stars are thy hairs, the oceans are thy sweat. At such moments they understand thy infinite greatness.

Yet in the next moment they perceive thy closeness, and they know thee as the life within their own body, the consciousness looking out through their own eyes. Then they understand thee as intimately as they understand themselves.

O Viṣṇu! Help us to perceive both thy aspects! Grant us the knowledge that thou art the source of all, the sustainer of all, the goal toward which all things move! Let us offer thee our worship and our devotion!