Bhagavad Gita 10.30
प्रह्लादश्चास्मि दैत्यानां कालः कलयतामहम् | मृगाणां च मृगेन्द्रोऽहं वैनतेयश्च पक्षिणाम् ||
prahlādaś cāsmi daityānāṁ kālaḥ kalayatām aham | mṛgāṇāṁ ca mṛgendro'haṁ vainateyaś ca pakṣiṇām ||
Translation
Among demons I am Prahlāda. Among reckoners I am time. Among wild beasts, the lion. Among birds, Garuḍa.
Reflection
Where in a hostile category do you find the one who turned toward the source?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Ten
Four more. Prahlada among the Daityas, Time among the reckoners, the lion among wild beasts, Garuda among birds. The first item is the most surprising. Prahlada was the devotee-son of the great asura, the one who insisted on naming Vishnu in his father's palace. Among demons, this devotee is the chief. The catalogue knows what it is doing. Even within a class given to opposition, the vibhuti is the one who has turned toward the source. Time among reckoners is the second arresting placement. The principle that measures and counts and brings to maturity is Krishna under another name. The lion and Garuda return to creaturely chiefs, the most powerful predator and the most powerful winged being. The list keeps stretching its reader, refusing to settle into a single tone.