All beings, whether moving or still, are under the sway of the Supreme Lord—he directs all, yet his true form is revealed only to those who possess the highest devotion. No other means, in any place or time, can unveil him. The vows, gifts, austerities, and disciplines practiced by the wise in ages past were not ends in themselves but were prescribed for the sake of deeper, inner understanding—there can be no doubt of this. Even Hari, myself, Rudra, and the other gods and demons, despite our might and fierce austerities, yearn for a vision of that Supreme One. Yet, he remains hidden from those who have fallen, from the deluded and the wicked, from the contemptible. Only his true devotees, both inwardly and outwardly, are able to worship and address him. This Supreme Lord manifests in a threefold manner: as the gross, the subtle, and the supreme. The gross form is visible to us and the immortals; the subtle is perceived by yogis alone. But the highest, supreme, eternal form—pure knowledge, bliss, and imperishable—is seen only by those who are devoted to it and steadfast in their vow. Why speak at length? The greatest secret, beyond all secrets, is this: devotion to Shiva, when sincerely practiced, leads unfailingly to liberation. Such devotion arises solely through grace, and grace itself is born of devotion—just as a sprout springs from a seed and a seed from a sprout. All attainments of the soul, in every place, are preceded by grace; and ultimately, by all means, it is grace alone that brings fulfillment. The path to grace is dharma, as taught by the Vedas. By practicing dharma, one attains a balance between merit and demerit. From this balance, contact with grace is made, and from grace, the excellence of dharma arises. When the excellence of dharma is achieved, the soul’s sins are destroyed. Thus, as sin is gradually diminished over many lifetimes, devotion to Sāmba, the Lord of All, awakens, preceded by true knowledge. The Lord’s grace is bestowed according to each being’s disposition; from grace comes the abandonment of action—not of action itself, but of attachment to its fruits. Therefore, by renouncing the fruits of action, one enters the auspicious path of Shiva’s dharma, which is twofold: either independent of a teacher or dependent upon one. On this path, one who acts with intention is a hundred times superior to one who acts without it, for in the lineage of Shiva’s law, union with the knowledge of Shiva is the highest aim. Through the influence of knowledge, a person perceives the faults of worldly existence; from this realization arises dispassion toward sense objects, and from dispassion comes the cultivation of 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 from devotion, grace follows. By grace, the living being is liberated and becomes equal to Shiva. The sequence of grace is not fixed; grace is bestowed according to each person’s fitness. Some are liberated while still in the womb, others at birth, others as children, youths, or even in old age. Some are liberated from an animal birth, others from hell; 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 particular path, is liberated after remaining there for a time. Therefore, liberation does not occur in a single manner for all; fulfillment comes only through grace, in accordance with each one’s knowledge and inner 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, steadfast in him, devoted to him, united with him, and taking refuge in him, perform every action with their minds fixed only on him. At the end of a long sacrificial session, lasting a thousand divine years, the vital breath will depart through the power of mantra and yoga. At that time, he himself will reveal the means to your highest good. Then, you must reach the holy and supremely beautiful city of Varanasi, where the Lord of All, bearing the bow Pinaka, always dwells with the Goddess, bestowing grace upon his devotees. Having witnessed the great wonder there, you will come to me, and I shall then teach you, O best of the twice-born, the means to liberation—by which, in a single birth, you will grasp liberation itself, freeing yourself from the bonds of countless births. This mental wheel, which I have created, is now set forth; wherever its rim falls and is destroyed, that place is auspicious for austerity. Having spoken thus, and seeing the mental wheel shining like the sun, the Grandfather, after bowing to Mahadeva, released it. The delighted sages, having bowed to the Lord of the worlds, went to the place where the rim of his discus had fallen. There, on a beautiful stone surface, pure and with sweet water nearby, the compact and smooth discus had come to rest, having fallen in a certain forest. That forest became renowned as Naimisha, honored by sages and thronged with countless yakshas, gandharvas, and vidyadharas. In that very place, Pururavas, driven by fate and captivated by Urvashi’s charms, wandered across the islands of the eighteenfold ocean. In a moment of delusion, he unlawfully seized the golden sacrificial enclosure, and the enraged sages struck him down with blades of sacred grass, wielded like thunderbolts. In ancient times, at that very spot, the creators of the worlds, desiring to bring forth the universe, began a divine sacrificial session, the knowers of Brahman tending the sacred fire. There, the wise seers, skilled in the meanings of words and logic, performed the rites with power, knowledge, and disciplined action. In that place, those learned in the Vedas always vanquish, with arguments and words, the disputants who are excluded from Vedic doctrine and rely on mere sophistry.