From the equilibrium of the soul arises contact with grace, and through that connection, the excellence of dharma is attained. When this excellence is reached, the soul’s sins are gradually destroyed. As sin diminishes—slowly, over many lifetimes—knowledge dawns, and devotion to Sāmba, the Lord of all, begins to blossom. The Lord’s grace is bestowed according to each soul’s disposition. From this grace comes the abandonment of action—not of action itself, but of its fruits. Thus, renouncing the fruits of action opens the auspicious path of Shiva’s dharma, which can be followed either independently or under the guidance of a teacher. Within this path, those who act with intention are a hundred times superior to those who act without it, for in Shiva’s lineage, union with the knowledge of Shiva is paramount. Knowledge reveals the flaws within worldly existence, leading to dispassion toward sense objects. From this dispassion arises the cultivation of one’s inner disposition. Once the right inner disposition is established, steadfastness is found in meditation rather than in action. For one engaged in knowledge and meditation, yoga is set in motion. Through yoga, supreme devotion arises, and with it, grace follows; by grace, the living being is liberated and attains equality with Shiva. The manner in which grace is bestowed is not fixed; it depends upon the fitness of each individual. Some are liberated while still in the womb, others at birth, some as children, youths, or even as elders. Liberation may come from an animal birth, from hell, or upon the exhaustion of a particular state. Some return again after exhausting their allotted state and are liberated thereafter; others, having reached a certain path, remain there for a time before liberation. Thus, liberation does not occur in a single manner for all. Fulfillment comes only through grace, in accordance with the state of knowledge and inner disposition. Therefore, seeking that grace, one should always meditate solely upon Shiva—free from faults of speech, mind, and body—together with family and sacred fires. All, steadfast and devoted, united with Shiva and taking refuge in him, perform their actions with minds fixed upon him alone. At the end of a sacrificial session, begun with a lengthy ritual lasting a thousand divine years, the vital breath departs through the power of mantra and yoga. At that moment, Shiva himself reveals the means to the highest good. Then, the supremely holy and beautiful city of Varanasi must be reached, where the Lord of All, bearing the bow Pinaka, always dwells with the Goddess, bestowing grace upon devotees. Having beheld the great wonder there, the seeker returns to the teacher, who then reveals the means to liberation—by which, with a single birth, release from the bonds of countless lifetimes is attained. The teacher sets forth the mental wheel, a creation of his own; where its rim is destroyed, that place is auspicious for austerity. Having spoken thus, and seeing the mental wheel shining like the sun, the Grandfather bowed to Mahadeva and released the wheel. The delighted sages, bowing to the Lord of the worlds, went to the place where the rim of the discus had fallen. The discus, compact and smooth, lay upon a beautiful stone surface, pure and with sweet water nearby, having fallen in a certain forest. That forest became renowned as Naimisha, honored by sages and thronged with countless yakshas, gandharvas, and vidyadharas. Pururavas, driven by fate and captivated by Urvashi’s charms, wandered through the islands of the eighteenfold ocean. In a moment of delusion, he unlawfully seized the golden sacrificial enclosure, which the enraged sages struck down with blades of sacred grass, like thunderbolts. In ancient times, the creators of the worlds, desiring to bring forth the universe, began a divine sacrificial session there, with the knowers of Brahman tending the sacred fire. The wise seers, skilled in the meanings of words and logic, performed the rites with power, knowledge, and disciplined action. Those learned in the Vedas always vanquished, with arguments and words, the disputants who were excluded from Vedic doctrine and relied on mere sophistry. From the crystal-like stones at the foot of the mountain flowed water as pure as nectar, delightful to drink, with abundant fruitful trees and free from wild beasts—Naimisha was truly fit for the sages’ austerities. In that land, the noble sages of firm vows began a sacrificial session, worshipping the great god, just as the creators of the worlds had done in ancient times to bring forth the universe. When the sacrificial session had ended and abundant gifts had been given, by the command of the Grandfather, Vayu himself arrived. Vayu, disciple of the self-born god who perceives all directly, commands the Maruts, grouped in sevens. He sets in motion the limbs and vital airs of all beings, sustaining their bodies. Endowed with the eight powers beginning with animā and lordly might, he upholds the worlds through pure means, transcending time and direction. Those who contemplate reality say he is born of space, possessing a double nature, pervaded by touch and sound, and is the source of fire. Seeing Vayu arrive at the hermitage, the sages engaged in the long sacrifice recalled the Grandfather’s words and experienced incomparable joy. All of them rose up, bowed to him who was born of the sky, and prepared for him a golden seat.