O gracious Goddess, listen as I recount the profound secret once concealed, now revealed for your understanding. Time and again, I have declared upon the earth that even if my devotee should falter or fall from righteousness, it is through this sacred knowledge that he finds liberation. You have asked, however, how one so fallen, unfit for action, whose every deed might otherwise lead to suffering, could possibly be freed by knowledge alone. What you have spoken is indeed true. Therefore, attend closely: if one who has fallen and is deluded worships me with a mantra, but without invoking my five-syllabled mantra, there is no doubt that he becomes bound for hell. Mere austerities—such as subsisting on water or air, or intense vows that emaciate the body—do not by themselves grant access to my divine realm. Yet, whoever worships me even once with true devotion using the five-syllabled mantra attains my abode, owing to the mantra’s supreme greatness. Thus, know that austerities, sacrifices, vows, and observances—even if multiplied countless times—do not equal the worship performed with the five-syllabled mantra. Whether one is bound or liberated, whoever worships me with this mantra is set free—there need be no further doubt. Even if one is filled with anger or free from it, fallen or deluded, worship with the five-syllabled mantra brings liberation. O beautiful one, whether with the six-syllabled or the five-syllabled mantra, if one worships me with devotion and in the proper manner, liberation is assured. My devotee, whether fallen or not, whether he has conquered anger or not, whether he has attained spiritual heights or not, if he worships me with this mantra, he becomes many millions of times greater than before. Therefore, O Goddess, having attained me, one should continue to worship with this mantra. But among those who have attained me, whoever worships me endowed with qualities such as friendliness, devoted to celibacy and with unwavering devotion, that one attains likeness to me. Why say more? All my devotees are capable of everything; yet, among them, the one devoted to the five-syllabled mantra is the most excellent. By the power of this mantra, the worlds, the Vedas, the great sages, the eternal laws, the gods, and all the universe are sustained. When the time of dissolution comes and all that moves and does not move is destroyed, everything returns to its primal nature and merges there. Then, O Goddess, I alone remain—there is no second. At that time, the Vedas and all the scriptures are established within the five-syllabled mantra. They are not destroyed, for they are protected by my power. From me, creation arises once more, through the distinction of nature and self. When the dissolution of the inner qualities occurs, the god Nārāyaṇa, embodying those qualities, reclines upon the serpent-bed in the midst of the cosmic waters, his body fashioned from Māyā. From the lotus arising from his navel, the five-faced Grandfather, Brahmā, is born. Wishing to create the three worlds, unattached and without assistance, Brahmā first creates the ten great sages, born from his mind and endowed with immense energy. For their benefit and growth, the Grandfather addresses me: “O Great Lord, bestow power upon my sons, O Maheśvara.” Thus requested, I, bearing five faces, pronounce the five sacred syllables to the Lotus-born Brahmā. The Grandfather of the worlds, with his five faces, receives them, and through the relationship of word and meaning, comes to know me, Maheśvara. Having mastered the various applications, the Lord of creatures, accomplished in mantra, transmits the mantra and its meaning to his sons, just as he received it. They, having received the jewel of mantras directly from the Grandfather, follow the prescribed path and desire to worship me. On the beautiful summit of Mount Meru stands Munjavat, a mountain ever dear to me, resplendent and always protected by my devotees. Near that place, eager to create the world, the sages perform intense austerity for a divine thousand years, sustaining themselves only on air. Moved by their devotion, I manifest before them at once, accompanied by the seer, the meter, the pin, the seed-power, and the deity. For the increase of the world’s creation, I teach them the sixfold nyāsa, the binding of directions, and all the applications in their entirety. Thus empowered by the greatness of the mantra, the sages, accomplished in austerity, properly carry out the creation of gods, asuras, and humans. Now hear the true nature of this supreme knowledge: first, one must utter “salutation,” then “to Śiva,” and then the remainder. This is the five-syllabled knowledge, found at the head of all the Vedas, the eternal seed of all beings and all that exists. First uttered from my own mouth, it is my very speech—radiant as molten gold, with full and elevated breasts. She is four-armed, three-eyed, adorned with a crescent moon as her crest, holding a lotus and a blue lotus, gentle, with hands granting boons and dispelling fear. Endowed with all marks of beauty, adorned with every ornament, seated upon a white lotus, with dark, curly hair, she shines with five kinds of radiant colors: yellow, black, smoky, golden, and red. These colors are to be applied separately, unless adorned with bindu and nāda—the bindu resembling a half-moon, the nāda shaped like a lamp’s flame. O beautiful-faced one, among the syllables of this mantra, the second is the seed; the fourth, which is long at the beginning, is the third; the fifth is declared to be the power. Vāmadeva is the seer, Paṅkti is the meter, and I myself, Śiva, am the deity of this mantra, O beautiful-faced one. Thus, O Goddess, is the supreme secret and the greatness of the five-syllabled mantra, the very foundation of creation and liberation.