Listen to the story of Shiva, whose nature is beyond all limitations. Neither time nor its divisions, neither knowledge nor destiny, neither attachment nor aversion can bind the infinitely radiant Shambhu. He remains untouched by fixation; neither good nor bad actions, nor their results, nor the pleasure and pain arising from them, can hold him. Intentions do not connect him, nor do impressions of actions or enjoyments, nor anything belonging to the past, present, or future. He is free from cause and agent, without beginning or end or intermediary; for him, action, instrument, object, and result have no existence. Shiva stands alone, with neither friend nor foe, neither controller nor instigator. He is neither master nor teacher nor protector, neither superior nor equal. Birth and death do not touch him; he is neither desired nor undesired. No injunction or prohibition binds him, nor does liberation or bondage. Whatever is inauspicious never exists for him at any time; all auspiciousness is ever present, for Shiva is the supreme Self. Established in all things by his own powers, Shiva remains unshaken in his own nature. Therefore, he is called the immovable. Since the entire world, both stationary and moving, is established by him, Shiva is remembered as Sarva, the one of all forms. Knowing this, one is never deluded. Salutations are offered 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 contemplated in the heart’s center, as small as the tip of a young grass blade, within the space of the heart—golden-haired, lotus-eyed, reddish and coppery. This god who descends is 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 both consciousness and unconsciousness, he transcends all manifestation and is 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 beginning of each cosmic cycle, he alone instructs the vast expanse of scripture to the Brahmas who arise with each creation, all of whom are subject to the limitations of time. Even among teachers bound by time, Shiva is the teacher of all, the Lord of all lords, transcending the bounds of time. 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 is supreme, his strength, radiance, might, patience, and compassion are all unsurpassed. For the one who is complete, there is no personal purpose in creation and the like; the sole fruit of all his actions is the welfare of others. The syllable Om is the uttered name of Shiva, the supreme Self. Among words like Shiva and Rudra, Om is considered the highest. From the utterance of Om, which expresses Shambhu, the supreme attainment is surely gained by its recitation—of this there is no doubt. Therefore, those who have mastered the scriptures call the one-syllabled Lord as such, recognizing the unity of the signifier and the signified, as do the wise. Its components are declared to be four in the head of the Veda: the sounds 'a', 'u', and 'ma', and also the resonance (nāda). The 'a' is said to be the Rig Veda, the 'u' is called the Yajur Veda, the 'ma' is the Sāman, and the resonance is remembered as the Atharvan. 'A' is the great seed, rajas, and the creator with four faces; 'u' is nature, the womb, sattva, and the preserver, Hari. 'Ma' is the person, the seed, tamas, and the destroyer, Hara; the resonance is the supreme Lord, beyond qualities and action, Shiva. All this, in its entirety, is expressed by these three syllables; by the half-syllable, he reveals the Self of Shiva. There is nothing beyond him, nothing smaller or greater; like a tree standing firm in the sky, by him alone is all this filled, by the Supreme Person. His power is inherent, his knowledge unique in the universe; it shines forth in manifold forms, like the radiance of the sun. His powers are infinite—will, knowledge, action, and others; beginning with māyā, they arise like sparks from a fire. From her arose Sadāśiva, Īśvara, and others, as well as Vidyeśvara and Avidyeśvara; from her also came the Purushas and the supreme Prakriti. All forms, from the great principle down to the particular, and those beginning with non-being, whatever else exists—all this is her effect, without doubt. She is the power, all-pervading, subtle, embodying the essence of awakening; the possessor of power is called the god Shiva, adorned with the moon. Shiva is the knowable, Shiva is knowledge, wisdom, as well as revelation and tradition; she is firmness, stability, steadfastness, and the powers of knowledge, will, and action. Command, the supreme Brahman, the two knowledges—higher and lower—pure knowledge, pure art: all arises from power. Māyā, nature, the individual soul, transformation and modification, as well as the unreal and the real—whatever exists, all this is pervaded by her. That goddess, by her māyā, effortlessly deludes the entire universe, moving and unmoving, and by her play she also liberates. With her, the Lord of all, in twenty-seven forms, pervades the universe and abides; therefore, liberation arises here. Once, some sages, seekers of liberation and expounders of Brahman, their minds seized by doubt, reflected thoroughly.