Listen to the ancient wisdom, describing the Supreme Lord, Shiva, who pervades all yet transcends all. Though He appears as the very qualities of the senses—the sight of the eye, the hearing of the ear, the taste of the tongue—He Himself is untouched by any sense. He is the ruler of all, the refuge and friend to every being. Though He has no eyes, He sees everything; though He has no ears, He hears all. He knows all things, yet none can truly know Him. The wise call Him the Supreme Person. Subtler than the subtlest, greater than the greatest, imperishable and hidden, He dwells in the cave of the heart of every living being, as the great Lord. When a person, free from sorrow by the Creator’s grace, beholds this Lord—who is actionless yet the source of all actions, endowed with supreme greatness—he attains peace. I know this ageless, ancient, all-pervading, mighty One, whose cessation of birth is proclaimed by those who know Brahman. Though He is One, by the union of His powers, He manifests these three worlds in countless ways. His wondrous creative power is called the bearer of the universe, unborn, supreme. She alone, red, white, and black, is the progenitor. The unborn Lord lies with this mother, enjoying her own form; but another, also unborn, abandons her, seeking the joy of devotees. Two birds, united and close, perch upon the same tree. One eats the sweet fig, while the other, not eating, simply looks on. On this tree, the person, immersed and hidden, grieves; but when he beholds the other, the Lord, the supreme cause, he is satisfied. Knowing the greatness of the Lord, he becomes free from sorrow and attains happiness. The Vedas, sacrifices, seasons, all that has been and will be, are indeed that Lord. Abiding within all, the Lord creates the universe by His power of illusion. Illusion is nature, and the wielder of illusion is the Great Lord. By His very limbs, this entire world is pervaded; subtler than the subtlest, He is present even within the embryo. Knowing Shiva as the creator and enveloping Lord of the universe, one attains supreme peace. He alone is time, the protector, the ruler and master of the universe. Knowing Him, one is freed from the noose of death. Knowing the subtle Lord, hidden like the finest essence beyond clarified butter, abiding in all beings, one is freed from all sins. He alone is the supreme God, the maker of the universe, the Great Lord. Knowing Him, established in the heart, one partakes of immortality. When all is neither day nor night, neither being nor non-being, then only Shiva exists, from whom ancient wisdom arises. No one has grasped Him above, across, or in the middle; He has no likeness, and His name is of great renown. Some wise and fearless ones know Him as unborn; seeking protection, they approach the auspicious right side of Rudra. Two imperishable syllables are spoken of as supreme Brahman and infinite; knowledge and ignorance are both concealed there as in a secret place. Ignorance is perishable; knowledge is immortal. The ruler of both is indeed the Great Lord. He makes each one manifold like a net and yet remains one; after creating all, He exercises supreme lordship over all with power. Shining by Himself, He illumines all directions—above, below, and across. Though without inherent nature, He alone, the excellent, abides. Transforming all that is called by its own nature and all that is denoted, as well as qualities, in the enjoyer and the enjoyed, He pervades the universe. The gods and great sages know that supreme Brahman, the source of Brahma and the origin of the world, hidden in the secret Upanishad. Those who know Shiva as the one who is grasped by experience, called desireless, who brings about both existence and nonexistence, who creates the divisions of time, abandon the body. Some, deluded, regard nature as ultimate; others, time. But this is truly the greatness of the god, by which the world is made to revolve. By whom this is ever enveloped, whose essence is beyond time and its measure, through whom this action is performed, and with the elements, it transforms. Having repeatedly performed that action, and again ceasing from it, one attains union with the principle, together with its own essence, through yoga. By eight, by three, by two, or by one, again, through time and the qualities of the self, the entire world is manifested by Him alone. Beginning with the qualities, actions are joined to nature and others; in their absence, even actions already performed are destroyed. When action is exhausted, another follows; thus He proceeds according to the principle. He alone is the origin, the cause of union for the enjoyer and the enjoyment. He is beyond the three times, without time, the supreme Lord, all-knowing, master of the three qualities, directly Brahman, the highest of the high. We worship Him, the Lord of creation, the source of existence and nonexistence, praised by all, god of gods, honored by the world, abiding in our own mind. Because the universe is transformed by time and others, we worship the Lord of enjoyment, the abode of the world, who brings virtue and removes sin. We know that God, the supreme among lords, the great Lord, the highest among deities, the Lord of lords, the supreme beyond all, the ruler of the world and its rulers. He has neither work nor cause; nothing equal or greater is seen anywhere in the world. His supreme powers are manifold, innate as declared in scripture: knowledge, strength, and action, by which this universe is created. He has no master, no mark, no ruler; He is the cause of causes, the lord of their lords. Thus, the sages declare the glory of Shiva, the Supreme Lord, who is the heart of all, beyond all, yet within all, the eternal refuge and source of all creation.