He is the Lord—self-sovereign, unborn, the supreme ruler who creates and dissolves all things. The one cause behind all appearance and disappearance, he initiates the cycles of creation and withdrawal by his own will. This being, whose nature encompasses primordial matter, the individual soul, the manifest world, and time itself, is recognized as their source, ruler, and maker—Maheshvara. Some wise ones call him the cosmic person, the very soul of Hiranyagarbha, the golden embryo from whom the worlds arise. Hiranyagarbha is the cause of all worlds, and Virat is the soul pervading the universe. Poets and seers speak of Shiva as the inner controller, the transcendent one, while others know him as the soul of intelligence, of light, and of the entire cosmos. Some declare him to be the fourth state of consciousness beyond waking, dreaming, and deep sleep; others know him as gentle and compassionate. Still others call him mother, the measure and the measured, and intellect itself. To some, he is the agent, the action, the object, the instrument, and the ultimate cause; others recognize him as the self within all states of consciousness—waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. Some say he is the fourth state, while others claim he is beyond even that; some know him as without qualities, others as possessing all qualities. There are those who say he is bound to transmigration, while others insist he is ever free; some declare him independent, others say he is not. Some call him terrible, others gentle; some see him as attached, while others see him as utterly unattached. Among the wise, some see him as inactive, others as ceaselessly active; some say he is without senses, others that he possesses all senses. Some declare him constant, others inconstant; some say he is formless, while others know him as possessing form. To some, he is invisible, while to others, visible; some say he can be expressed, others that he is inexpressible; some say he is of the nature of sound, and others that he is beyond all sound. Some say he is made of thought, others that he is free from thought; some declare him to be knowledge, others, pure consciousness. Some say he is knowable, others that he is unknowable; some call him the supreme alone, while others say he is something other. Thus, though the Supreme Lord is described in countless ways, the true nature of Shiva remains undetermined by the sages, for their convictions are diverse. Yet, those who surrender themselves wholly to the Supreme Lord, with hearts full of devotion, come to know Shiva—the ultimate cause—effortlessly. Bound by the fetters of ignorance, beings remain caught in suffering, turning endlessly on the wheel of existence. But when one shakes off both virtue and vice, becoming stainless and free, one attains the highest equality. The bondage experienced by the individual soul is not of Shiva; it arises only from Māyā, from nature, or from knowledge, and takes the form of ego. For Shiva, there is no mental bondage, nor bondage of consciousness or senses, nor of the subtle or gross elements—not in the least. Neither time nor its divisions, neither knowledge nor destiny, neither attachment nor aversion, can bind the infinitely radiant Shambhu. He is untouched by fixation; good or bad actions do not bind him, nor their results, nor the pleasure and pain that arise from them. He is not connected by intentions, nor by the impressions of actions or enjoyments, nor by anything pertaining to past, present, or future. He has no cause, no agent, no beginning, no end, no intermediary; for him, there is neither action nor instrument, nor object nor result. He has neither friend nor foe, neither controller nor instigator; neither master nor teacher nor protector, neither superior nor equal. He knows neither birth nor death, neither desired nor undesired; neither injunction nor prohibition, neither liberation nor bondage. For him, inauspiciousness does not exist at any time; all auspiciousness is ever-present, for Shiva is the supreme Self. Established in all things by his own power, Shiva remains unshaken in his own nature; thus he is called the immovable. Since the entire world, both the moving and the unmoving, is established by Shiva, he is remembered as Sarva, the all-formed. Knowing this, one is never deluded. Salutations to Sharva, to Rudra, the supreme, the great Person, golden-armed, the blessed one, golden-lord, the ruler. He is the Lord of Ambikā, Īśāna, bearer of the Pināka bow, riding the bull, the one Rudra, the supreme Brahman, the Person, dark and tawny. He is to be meditated upon in the center of the heart, as subtle as the tip of a young grass blade, within the heart’s space—golden-haired, lotus-eyed, with a reddish and coppery hue. He is the god who descends, gentle, with a blue neck, golden, serene, terrible, mixed, imperishable, immortal, and undecaying. He is the supreme Person, the blessed one, destroyer of death; free from consciousness and unconsciousness, transcending all manifestation, beyond the highest. Because of Shiva’s unsurpassed nature, the wise declare that his knowledge and sovereignty are supreme, and that he stands as the highest among all lords. At the dawn of each cosmic cycle, he alone instructs the Brahmas who arise with each creation, all of whom are bound by time. Even among teachers limited by time, he is the teacher of all; he is the Lord of lords, transcending every limitation. His power is pure and inherent, surpassing all; his knowledge is incomparable and eternal, and his form is absolutely self-fashioned. His sovereignty is without equal, his bliss supreme, his strength, radiance, might, patience, and compassion are all unsurpassed. For one who is complete, there is no personal purpose in creation or any other act; the sole fruit of all his actions is the welfare of others.