Once, Lord Shiva while describing about the incident when he had a divine glimpse of Lord
Narayan, told Sage Agastya —
‘Purusha’ is none other than Lord Narayan himself and Prakriti is the medium through which he manifests his powers. I have been fortunate to have a divine glimpse of this Purusha. Lord Brahma after having created me, instructed me to create. But, I did not know how to create. So, I decided to do penance and went into the ocean. In the ocean, I saw an entity who was no more than the size of a thumb. He was Purusha himself and I immediately recognized him. I started meditating on the form of that almighty–Purusha. Suddenly, eleven more entities emerged before me. They were all very radiant and the water had become hot on account of the heat emanating from their bodies. I asked them as to who they were but they did not give any reply and went out of my sight. The next moment, I saw an extremely handsome man. I asked him about his identity and also about the eleven entities whom I had seen few moments ago. Those entities were the eleven Adityas and had gone to help Lord Brahma in the process of creation.
Then he said–I am Narayana–the omnipresent lord. I am blessing you with ‘divine vision’ so that you can see my divine appearance.’
When I fixed my glance at Narayan I was amazed to see the same thumb-sized Narayana standing before me. But, now He was no longer having the size of a thumb. On the contrary he had expanded his body to such an extent that He appeared like a giant. I also saw Lord Brahma sitting on a lotus flower emanating from his navel. I eulogized Him with complete devotion. He blessed me and said–‘You are eternal and nothing is beyond your knowledge. You will be worshipped by the deities. I shall take twelve incarnations in the coming eras and shall worship you in each of my incarnation.’
Having said this, Lord Narayana disappeared. This was how I saw the divine form of the
‘Purusha’–Lord Narayan.