39/ Prayers by Akrūra
Akrūra offered his prayers as follows: “My dear Lord, I here pay my respectful obeisances unto You because You are the supreme cause of all causes and the original inexhaustible Personality, Nārāyaṇa. From Your navel a lotus flower grows, and from that lotus, Brahmā, the creator of this universe, is born. Since Brahmā is the cause of this universe, You are the cause of all causes. All the elements of this cosmic manifestation—earth, water, fire, air, ether, ego and the total material energy, as well as nature, the marginal energy, the living entities, mind, senses, the sense objects and the demigods who control the affairs of the cosmos—are all produced from Your body. You are the Supersoul of everything, but no one knows Your transcendental form. Everyone within this material world is influenced by the modes of material nature. Demigods like Lord Brahmā, being covered by the influence of material nature, do not exactly know Your transcendental existence beyond the cosmic manifestation of the three modes of material nature. Great sages and mystics worship You as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the original cause of all living entities, all cosmic manifestation and all demigods. They worship You as all-inclusive. Some of the learned  brāhmaṇas  also worship You by observing the ritualistic ceremony of the  Rg-veda . They offer different kinds of sacrifices in the names of different gods. And there are others also who are fond of worshiping transcendental knowledge. They are very peaceful and wish to give up all kinds of material activities. They engage themselves in the philosophical search for You, known as  jñāna-yoga .
“There are devotees also known as  Bhāgavatas  who worship You as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. After being properly initiated in the method of  Pāñcarātra , they decorate their bodies with  tilaka  and engage in worshiping Your different forms of  Viṣṇu mūrti . There are others also, known as  Śaivites , followers of the different  ācāryas , who worship You in the form of Lord Śiva.”
257