Mbh 12.207.2a

"'Bhishma said, "I have heard of this subject from Jamadagni's son Rama, while he discoursed on it, from the celestial Rishi Narada, and from Krishna-Dwaipayana. Asita-Devala, O son, Valmiki of austere penances, and Markandeya, speak of Govinda as the Most Wonderful and the Supreme. Kesava, O chief of Bharata's race, is the divine and puissant Lord of all. He is called Purusha, and pervades everything, having made himself many. Listen now, O Yudhishthira of mighty arms, to those attributes which great Brahmanas say are to be met with in the high-souled wielder of Saranga. I shall also, O prince of men, recite to thee those acts which persons conversant with old histories ascribe to Govinda. He is said to be the Soul of all creatures, the high-souled one, and the foremost of all beings. He created (by his will) the five-fold elements, viz., Wind, Light, Water, Space, and Earth. That puissant Lord of all things, that high-souled one, that foremost of all beings, having created the earth, laid himself down on the surface of the waters. While thus floating upon the waters, that foremost of all beings, that refuge of every kind of energy and splendour, created Consciousness, the first-born of beings in the universe. We have heard that He created Consciousness along with the Mind,--Consciousness which is the refuge of all created things. That Consciousness upholds all creatures and both the past and the future. After that great Being, O mighty-armed one, viz., Consciousness, had sprung, an exceedingly beautiful lotus, possessed of effulgence like the Sun's, grew out of the navel of the Supreme Being (floating on the waters). Then, O son, the illustrious and divine Brahman, the Grandsire of all creatures, sprang into existence from that lotus, irradiating all the points of the horizon with his effulgence.