Hari, the blessed Lord, beheld profound mysteries. First, he perceived the Atharvan mantra: dark as night, composed of eight kalās and thirty-three auspicious syllables, potent for magical acts. Next, his vision turned to the mantra of the Yajurveda—pure white, peaceful, also with eight kalās, but woven from thirty-five sacred syllables. Then, arising from Sāma, the first in the world, he saw a mantra glowing red, endowed with thirteen kalās, accompanied by Bālā and others, the very source of growth and dissolution. This mantra’s letters numbered sixty-six. Having thus obtained these five mantras, the blessed Hari recited them with devotion. As he did, he witnessed the very form of Time’s divisions, which embodied the Rig, Yajur, and Sāma Vedas. Before him stood the Lord crowned as Ishana, bearing the primeval human face—his heart the essence of Aghora, delightful and ever-auspicious, with his left side hidden. This was Sadashiva, the immediate foot of the Great God, adorned with the mighty serpent king. Shiva appeared, whose faces and feet are everywhere, whose eyes and hands reach all, the Lord of Brahma himself—the cause of creation, preservation, and dissolution. Once more, Hari praised the boon-giving Lord with words full of longing and reverence. He bowed, offering salutations to Rudra, the One Syllable, the letter A: the very embodiment of the Self. He honored the letter U, the primal god, whose body is pure knowledge. He saluted the third letter, M, to Shiva—the supreme Self, radiant as the sun, fire, and moon, the one to be worshipped. He praised Agni, who is Rudra in form, the lord of Rudras; Shiva, the Shiva-mantra, Sadyojata, the creator. He offered salutations to Vama, to Vamadeva, to the boon-giver and the immortal; to Aghora, the exceedingly fierce, and to Sadyojata, the swift. He bowed to Ishana, the lord of cremation grounds, supremely swift and ever the foundation of the Vedas, the upward-facing Linga, and the Linga-bearer. He honored the golden Linga, the golden one, the water Linga, the watery one; Shiva, the Shiva Linga, all-pervading, filling the sky. He saluted Vayu, the one who moves with the speed of wind, the radiant one, the lord of radiances, and the all-pervading radiance. He bowed to water, to the being of water, to the all-pervading waters; to earth and to the midspace, to the all-pervading earth. He offered salutations to the one whose form is sound and touch, taste and fragrance, the fragrant one, the lord of hosts, the most secret of the secret. He honored the infinite, the formless, the endless, the disease-free, the eternal, the supreme, whose womb is water, the supreme yogi. He bowed to the one who dwells in the midst of waters, the radiance between us two, the protector, the destroyer, the ever-creator, and the lord of dissolution. He honored the unconscious, the conceivable, the destroyer of consciousness, the formless, the beautiful form, the bodiless, and the destroyer of bodies. 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. He bowed to the very white, the beautiful-faced, the one with a white crest and white face, the great-faced, the white and red one. He offered salutations to Hara, the excellent rescuer, the drum, the one with a hundred forms and formlessness, always bearing the banner. He bowed to the one free from prosperity and sorrow, the wielder of the bow Pinaka, the matted-haired, the unfettered, the well-binder, and the destroyer of bonds. He saluted the excellent sacrificer, the one worthy of offerings, the supremely holy, the wise, the auspicious-faced, the well-featured, the unconquerable, and the subduer. He honored the heron, the one who takes the form of a heron, the one adorned with serpents, Sanaka, the eternal, and Sanandana. He bowed to Sanatkumara, the charioteer, the forest-dweller, the great-souled, the observer of the worlds, the one with three abodes, ever pure. He saluted Shankhapala, the conch, the quality of passion, darkness, Sarasvata, the cloud, and the cloud-rider. He honored the good vehicle, the arranger of marriages, the bestower of success in disputes, Shiva, Rudra, the chief—again and again, offering salutations. He bowed to the one of three qualities, whose nature is the fourfold emanation, to the world-process and its cause. He saluted liberation, the form of liberation, the giver of liberation; the self, the seer, the master, and Vishnu. He bowed to the blessed one, the lord of serpents, to Oṃkāra, the all-knowing—again and again. He offered salutations to the all, to Nārāyaṇa, to Hiraṇyagarbha, to the primeval god. He honored the unborn, the lord, the cause of all beings’ emanation, the great god of gods, the ruler—again and again. He bowed to Sharva, to the true, the pacifier, to Brahman, to the beings, to the all-knowing—again and again. He saluted the great-souled, the one whose form is wisdom, consciousness, awareness, and memory. He honored knowledge, the one attainable by knowledge, consciousness always; the peak, the blue-throated one. Again and again, he bowed to the one whose body is half-female, to the unmanifest, the one with eleven forms, the steadfast. He saluted Soma, Sūrya, Bhava, the remover of existence, the bestower of fame, the god, Shankara, and Īśvara. He bowed to the lord of Ambikā, the husband of Umā, the golden-armed, the one of golden seed. Thus, with heart overflowing, Hari offered his praises to the Supreme Lord, honoring every form, every quality, and every mystery of Shiva—the source, the sustainer, and the dissolution of all.