Salutations are offered to the One whose faces take on many strange and fearsome forms, whose tongue is sharp as a sword and whose fangs are fierce. This One is nourished by the cycles of the fortnight and the month, and delights in the melodies of the lute and the vina. He is both terrible and benign, more fearsome than the most dreadful, yet also Shiva, the peaceful and supremely serene. To Him who is ever-awake, pure, and delights in sharing, who is the very wind and the one who soars, who is devoted to Sāṃkhya, salutations are given. He is the one with a single, resounding bell, the sounder and bearer of bells, surrounded by a hundred thousand bells, and adorned with garlands of bells, which He loves. He is the staff of life, eternal and radiant in red, uttering the sacred ‘hūṃ hūṃ’ syllable—He is Rudra, fond of the form of Bhaga. He dwells beyond the mountain, cherishes the mountain trees, is Lord of sacrifice, the very essence of being, and the progenitor of all. He carries the burden of sacrifice, is self-restrained and ascetic, and is Bhaga himself. He is the bank and the dweller upon the riverbank, the lord of all rivers. He is the giver, lord, and consumer of food—the thousand-headed, thousand-footed One. He wields a thousand spears raised high, possesses a thousand eyes, shines with the color of the rising sun, and bears a youthful form. He appears as the rising sun, as a playful child, ever pure, awake, the agitator and the destroyer. His hair is marked by waves and flows freely; He is established in the six rites and guided by the three actions. He upholds the distinct duties of the castes and stages of life, is the most excellent and the eldest, and is the source of many sounds. His eyes are white and tawny, black and red. He embodies Dharma, Kāma, Artha, and Mokṣa, and is also Kratha and Krathana. He is Sāṃkhya, the foremost in Sāṃkhya, the lord of yoga, charioteer and chief charioteer, and the lord of crossroads. He wears a black antelope skin and a serpent as sacred thread; He is Īśāna, chief of the Rudras, and Harikeśa. He is Tryambaka, lord of Ambikā, manifest and unmanifest, destroyer of Kāla and Kāma, slayer of the wicked and unruly. He is despised by all yet destroys all, born in an instant, the maddener, with hair wet from the waters of the ever-turning Gaṅgā. He bears the crescent moon and whirling clouds, is the maker and lord of food-giving. He is both the eater and protector of food, the fire of dissolution, and the origin of those born from womb, egg, sweat, and sprout. He alone, lord of gods, is the fourfold host of beings, the creator and destroyer of all that moves and does not move. He is Brahmā, Lord of the Universe, and in the waters, He is called Brahman. He is the supreme source, the nectar-rayed One, the treasury of lights. Those who speak of Brahman declare Him to be the Ṛg, Sāma, and the sacred syllable Oṃ. With exclamations—‘Hāyi, hāyi, Hare, hāyi, huvāhā’—they sing His praise. The best of gods, the singers of the Sāma, and those versed in Brahman celebrate Him; He is the embodiment of Yajur, Ṛg, Sāma, and Atharva. He is recited by knowers of Brahman, by those versed in Kalpa and Upaniṣads, by Brāhmaṇas, Kṣatriyas, Vaiśyas, Śūdras, and all those in every social order and stage of life. He alone is the communities of āśramas, the lightning and thunder, the year, the seasons, the months, and the half-months. He is the divisions of time—kalās, kāṣṭhās, nimeṣas—the constellations, the ages, the hump of bulls, and the peaks of mountains. He is the lion among animals, the lord among serpents—Takṣaka and Ananta—the ocean of milk among seas, and among mantras, the syllable Oṃ. He is the thunderbolt among weapons, truth among vows, and the essence of desire, aversion, passion, delusion, tranquility, and forgiveness. He is resolve, steadfastness, greed, desire and anger, victory and defeat, and also the mace, arrow, bow, club, and mallet. He is the cutter, breaker, striker, leader, and counselor; He is dharma with its ten characteristics, as well as artha and kāma. He is the moon, the ocean, the rivers, ponds, and lakes; the creepers, vines, grasses, and herbs; the cattle, wild animals, and birds. He is the origin of substance, action, and quality, the giver of time, flowers, and fruits; the beginning, the end, and the middle, the Gāyatrī and the syllable Oṃ. He is green, red, black, blue, yellow, and fleeting; He is Kadru, Kapila, Babhru, Kapota, and Macchaka. He is known as Suvarṇaretas, called Suvarṇa, named Suvarṇanāma, and Suvarṇapriya. He is Indra, Yama, Varuṇa, Kubera, and Agni; Utphulla, Citrabhānu, Svarbhānu, and Bhānu. He is the offering, the offerer, the object to be offered, the oblation, and the Lord; He is the trisauparṇa and the Śatarudriya among Yajur hymns. He is the purifier among purifiers, the most auspicious among all that is auspicious; He is prāṇa, rajas, and tamas endowed with sattva. He is prāṇa, apāna, samāna, udāna, and vyāna; the opening and closing of the eyes, hunger, thirst, and yawning. He is red-bodied, with fangs, a great mouth and vast belly, pure-haired, green-bearded, with hair standing upright, both moving and unmoving. His limbs are song, music, and dance; He delights in singing and playing instruments. He is a fish, a net, water itself, unconquerable, a water-serpent, and a dweller in huts. Thus is the glory of the One—terrible and gentle, manifest and hidden, the all-pervading Lord who is the source, support, and end of all things—praised and revered in endless forms and names.