O Supreme Lord, the wondrous form of Śiva is woven from the very sounds of creation. The sacred syllable ‘ṛ’ becomes his right cheek, and ‘ṝ’ his left; the subtle ‘ḷ’ and ‘ḹ’ form his two nostrils. His upper lip is the vowel ‘e’, while ‘ai’ shapes the lower; the rows of his shining teeth are ‘o’ and ‘au’, each in their turn. The resonance ‘am’ is the palate of that wise Lord of gods. The five sounds beginning with ‘ka’ manifest as his five right hands, and, in the same way, the five beginning with ‘ca’ are his five left hands. His feet are shaped from the five letters starting with ‘ṭa’, and also those beginning with ‘ta’. The letter ‘pa’ is his abdomen, and ‘pha’ is his side; ‘ba’ forms his left side, and ‘bha’ is his shoulder. At the very center, ‘ma’ is the heart of Śambhu, the great yogi. The sequence from ‘ya’ to ‘sa’ composes the seven vital essences within him. ‘Ha’ is truly his very self, his own form, while ‘kṣa’ embodies his wrath. Thus, Viṣṇu beheld the great Lord Maheśvara, shining with Umā by his side. Bowing in deep reverence, the blessed Viṣṇu lifted his gaze and saw, above the mantra arising from Oṃ, a radiant presence endowed with five kalās—spiritual powers. This mantra gleamed like pure crystal, composed of thirty-two beautiful syllables. It was the very source of intelligence, eternally generating all righteous purposes. Viṣṇu beheld another mantra, arising from Gāyatrī, glowing with a green hue, possessing twenty-four syllables and four kalās, supreme in its power to bring all under control. He saw as well the Atharvan mantra, dark as night, endowed with eight kalās, potent in magical acts, and made of thirty-three auspicious syllables. There was the Yajurveda mantra, pure white, peaceful, with thirty-five auspicious syllables and eight kalās. Another, blazing red, endowed with thirteen kalās, arose from Sāma, together with Bālā and others, first in the world, the cause of growth and destruction. In all, the letters of this mantra numbered sixty-six. Having thus beheld and received these five mantras, the blessed Hari recited them with devotion. Then, before him appeared the majestic form of the divisions of time itself, embodying the Rig, Yajur, and Sama Vedas—the Lord crowned as Ishana, with a primeval human face. His heart was of Aghora, delightful and auspicious, with his left side concealed, ever-auspicious Sadashiva, whose foot was immediate to the Great God, adorned with the mighty serpent king. This was Śiva: faces and feet everywhere, eyes and hands everywhere, the Lord of Brahma, the cause of creation, preservation, and dissolution. Filled with awe, Viṣṇu again praised the boon-giving Lord with words of heartfelt devotion. He addressed Rudra, the One Syllable, the letter A, the embodiment of the Self, the letter U, the primal god, the one whose body is knowledge. He saluted the third, the letter M, to Śiva, the supreme Self, radiant as the sun, fire, and moon—the one to be worshipped. He offered salutations to Agni, of Rudra form, lord of the Rudras; to Śiva, the sacred mantra, to Sadyojata, the creator. He bowed to Vama, to Vamadeva, the boon-giver, the immortal; to Aghora, the exceedingly fierce, to Sadyojata, the swift. He saluted Ishana, lord of cremation grounds, supremely swift and the upward-facing Linga, the very foundation of the Vedas, the bearer of the Linga. He bowed to the golden Linga, the golden one, to the water Linga, the watery one; to Śiva, the all-pervading, the sky-pervading. To Vāyu, the swift wind, the all-pervading wind, the radiant one, the lord of radiances, the all-pervading radiance—he offered salutations. To water, to the being of water, to the all-pervading water; to earth, to midspace, to the all-pervading earth—he bowed in reverence. He praised the one whose form is sound and touch, taste and fragrance, the fragrant one, the lord of hosts, the most secret of the secret. To the infinite, the formless, the endless, the disease-free; to the eternal, the supreme, the one whose womb is water, the yogi—he offered his salutations. He honored the one established in the midst of waters, the radiance between Viṣṇu and himself, the protector, the destroyer, the ever-creator, and the lord of dissolution. To the unconscious, the conceivable, the destroyer of consciousness; to the formless, the beautiful form, the bodiless, the destroyer of bodies, he bowed. He saluted the one whose body is smeared with ashes, the cause of sun, moon, and fire; the white one, of white complexion, the wanderer of snowy mountains. To the very white, the beautiful-faced, the one with a white crest, the white-faced, the great-faced, the white and red one—salutations. He bowed to Hara, the excellent rescuer, the drum, the one with a hundred forms and formlessness, always bearing the banner. To the one free from prosperity and sorrow, wielder of the bow Pinaka, the matted-haired, the unfettered, the well-binder, and the destroyer of bonds—salutations. He honored the excellent sacrificer, the one worthy of offerings, the supremely holy, the wise, the auspicious-faced, the well-featured, the unconquerable, and the subduer. Salutations to the heron, to the one who takes the form of a heron, to the one who has made serpents into ornaments, to Sanaka, to the eternal, and to Sanandana. He bowed to Sanatkumara, the charioteer, the one who resides in the forest, the great-souled, the observer of the worlds, the one with three abodes, and ever pure. Salutations to Shankhapala, to the conch, to the quality of passion, to darkness, to Sarasvata, to the cloud, and to you, the cloud-rider. He honored the good vehicle, the arranger of marriages, the bestower of success in disputes, to Śiva, to Rudra, to the chief—again and again, salutations. And finally, he offered salutations to the one who is the three qualities, whose nature is the fourfold emanation, who is the world-process and the very cause of the world-process. Thus, in deep reverence and wonder, Viṣṇu praised the Lord of all, whose form is the very essence of the cosmos, whose being is sung in every sacred syllable, and who is the source and end of all that exists.