Study a Verse

• Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva are, respectively, manifestations of the creating and annihilating potencies of the Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu.
• Thus unity exists among these three ruling deities of the material world.
• One should not, on the basis of the modes of nature, find material duality within the ruling potency of the Supreme Lord, although that potency is manifested in three divisions as Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva.

The purport's own sentences, chosen from the purport as its central points. Read the full purport on Vedabase to see them in place.

Terror and bewilderment → Wonder and surrender. Annihilation gives way to a tender divine vision.

Chapters 9–10 of Canto 12: Mārkaṇḍeya witnesses the deluge and divine child. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Chapter 10: Lord Śiva and Umā Glorify Mārkaṇḍeya Ṛṣi

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

Then Lord Śiva praised the saintly devotees of the Personality of Godhead and requested Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya to choose whatever benediction he desired. Mārkaṇḍeya begged for unflinching devotion to the Supreme Lord Śrī Hari, to the devotees of the Supreme Lord and to Lord Śiva himself.