Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 3 - Chapter 1 - Verse 18


Sanskrit:

तप आतिष्ठ भद्रं ते सर्वभूतसुखावहम् ।तपसैव यथापूर्व स्रष्टा विश्वमिदं भवान् ॥ १८ ॥

ITRANS:

tapa ātiṣṭha bhadraṁ tesarva-bhūta-sukhāvahamtapasaiva yathā pūrvaṁsraṣṭā viśvam idaṁ bhavān

Translation:

My dear son, you had better situate yourself in penance, which is auspicious for all living entities and which will bring all benediction upon you. By penance only shall you be able to create the universe as it was before.

Purport:

In the creation, maintenance and dissolution of the cosmic manifestation, the three deities Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśvara, or Śiva, are respectively in charge. Rudra was advised not to destroy while the period of creation and maintenance was going on, but to situate himself in penance and wait for the time of dissolution, when his services would be called for.