The story of Markandeya is told in the twelfth Skanda of the Bhagavata Purana. This sage is noted for his austere tapas and for his extraordinary devotion by which he has transcended death. Once, he does penance to have vision of the Lord. Owing to the spiritual power he gains by such penance, the Lord is pleased and appears before him in the form of Nara and Narayana.
When the Lord offers him boons, the sage wishes to have the vision of the Supreme Lord during Pralaya. God grants him this desire but the sage has to wait patiently and all alone in his hermitage through the entire length of the Pralaya for this revelation. The first verse ‘Kararavindena Mukaravindam’ in the hymn Bala Mukundashtakam captures the vision that is revealed to the sage very precisely. But more than that, one is able to share the sage’s experience of the Lord’s Yogamaya which the wonderful and symbolic visualisation evokes, says Sri B. Sundarkumar in a discourse.
It is the picture of the Lord as an infant lying on the banyan leaf, holding his foot in His mouth as if sucking His thumb. The sage goes near the child to make enquiries. At once, as the child breathes, and the sage is inhaled into its body. Inside the child’s body the sage once again sees the sky, horizon, the stars, and constellations, mountains and seas, cities and countries, forests and fields. He sees all aspects of creation shining as real in broad daylight. He even sees his own hermitage and the rishis in the Himalayas. As he looks amazed, he finds himself outside when the child exhales. The sage falls back into the ocean of deluge. He once again sees the banyan tree with the child lying on its leaf with bewitching smiles. As the sage goes near the child, the whole vision disappears from his eyesight.
