Listen, O seeker, to the profound secret of liberation as revealed in the sacred teaching. When a person meditates deeply and becomes established in the true reality of the Supreme, then, at the end of all bondage, the illusion of the universe dissolves for him. This Supreme is that in whom neither lightning, nor sun, nor moon shines; yet, by His light, all things are illumined. This is the eternal teaching. He is the one God, the great God, to be known as the Great Lord. No one can attain to any state higher than His own. He is the beginning, yet without beginning or end—pure by His very nature, utterly independent, completely full, moving and unmoving solely by His will. His form is beyond nature, resplendent, free from all marks and characteristics. He is both liberated and the liberator, timeless, and the very impeller of time. Though He dwells beyond all, He is present within all, all-knowing, and the Lord of the sixfold time, ruling over the entire world. He is the highest among the higher beings, and even beyond the highest. In Him, the infinite and the finite meet endlessly, like a honeybee delighting in the nectar of the unending lotus. He is the wise one who unites the unbroken cosmic eggs into a single mass. He is the abode of generosity, heroism, depth, sweetness, and awe. There is nothing equal to Him, nor anything greater. He stands incomparable among all, the king of kings. By His wondrous act, the world is first created, and at the end of time, this same world dissolves back into Him. All beings are under His control; He directs all. Yet, He is seen only by supreme devotion—never by any other means, anywhere. All vows, gifts, austerities, and disciplines—these were declared by the wise of old for the sake of inner meaning, and there is no doubt of this. Even Hari, I, Rudra, and all other gods and demons, even now, with fierce austerities, long for a vision of Him. He remains unseen by the fallen, the deluded, and the wicked, and by the contemptible; but to devotees, both within and without, He is to be worshiped and addressed. This Supreme appears in a threefold form—gross, subtle, and supreme. The gross form is seen by us and the immortals; the subtle, by yogis. But the Supreme form—eternal, knowledge, bliss, and imperishable—is revealed only to those devoted to it and established in that vow. Why say more? The highest secret of all secrets is this: there is no doubt that devotion to Shiva, when practiced, brings liberation. Yet, devotion itself arises only from grace, and grace is born of devotion—just as a sprout comes from a seed and a seed from a sprout. All attainments for the soul, everywhere, are preceded by grace; and by all means, in the end, it is achieved only through grace. The means to grace is dharma, as shown by the Veda; through its practice, there comes balance between merit and demerit. From such balance comes contact with grace, and from that, the excellence of dharma. When the excellence of dharma is attained, the soul’s sins are destroyed. Thus, as sin is diminished, gradually over many births, devotion to Sāmba, the Lord of all, arises, preceded by knowledge. The Lord’s grace is bestowed according to each one’s disposition; from grace comes the abandonment of action—not in essence, but in the attachment to its fruit. Therefore, from the renunciation of the fruits of action arises the auspicious path of Shiva’s dharma. And this path is twofold: either independent of a teacher, or dependent upon one. There, the one who acts with intention is a hundred times superior to one who acts without intention; for in this lineage of Shiva’s law, union with the knowledge of Shiva is foremost. Through the influence of knowledge, a person perceives the faults in worldly existence. From that perception arises dispassion toward sense objects, and from dispassion comes the cultivation of the right inner disposition. For one who has attained the right inner disposition, steadfastness is found in meditation, not in action. For such a person, engaged in knowledge and meditation, yoga is set in motion. Through yoga, supreme devotion arises, and grace follows thereafter. By grace, the living being is liberated and becomes equal to Shiva. The sequence of the mode of grace is not fixed; as is a person’s fitness, so is the grace bestowed upon him. Some are liberated while still in the womb, others at birth; another is liberated as a child, a youth, or even as an old man. Some are liberated from an animal birth, another from hell; yet another attains a certain state and is liberated when that state is exhausted. Some, having exhausted their allotted state, are liberated after returning again; another, having reached a certain path, is liberated after remaining there for a time. Therefore, liberation is not achieved in a single manner for all; fulfillment comes only through grace, in accordance with knowledge and disposition. Thus, for the sake of that grace, one should always meditate solely on Shiva—free from faults of speech, mind, and body—together with one’s family and sacred fires. All of them, steadfast in Him, devoted to Him, united with Him, and taking refuge in Him, perform all actions with their minds fixed on Him alone. At the end of a sacrificial session begun with a long ritual, lasting a thousand divine years, the vital breath will depart through the power of mantra and yoga. Then, the Lord Himself will tell you the means to your highest good, and you must reach the holy and supremely beautiful city of Varanasi. There, where the Lord of All, bearing the bow Pinaka, always dwells with the Goddess, for the sake of bestowing grace upon devotees, having seen the great wonder there, you will come to me. Then, O best of the twice-born, I shall tell you the means to liberation—by which, with a single birth, liberation will be in your grasp, bringing release from the bonds of many births in worldly existence.