With devotion and precision, the worshipper begins by preparing powders of red, gold, and other auspicious colors suitable for invoking the Lord. If resources are limited, he may use simple offerings such as vermilion, rice, and barley. Upon a clean surface, he measures out a lotus design—one or two hand-spans wide, colored white or red. For a lotus of one hand-span, the central pericarp is marked as eight fingers across, with filaments half that size, and the remaining space arranged into eight petals and other embellishments. If the lotus is two hand-spans, all these measurements are doubled. Once the lotus is beautifully adorned and decorated, he places it in the northeast, ensuring the circle on the altar is one hand-span or even half that, as needed. Over this, he spreads rice, pounded grain, sesame seeds, flowers, and sacred grass, preparing the sacred Śiva pot, marked with the proper symbols. This pot may be fashioned from gold, silver, copper, or clay, and is sprinkled with fragrant substances, decorated with flowers, rice grains, and adorned with fresh shoots of sacred grass and dūrvā. Around the neck of the pot, he ties a white thread, drapes it in two new garments, and fills it with pure water, placing offerings inside and sealing it with a lid. As a seat for the pot, he may use a black antelope skin, a special seat, a conch, or a disc—or, if these are not available, a lotus leaf, omitting the thread and other adornments. On the northern petal of the lotus seat, he arranges the vessel for the king of rituals, anointing it in front with sandalwood water. In the eastern part of the maṇḍala, at the mantra vessel, and after performing all the prescribed rites, he prepares for the great worship of the Lord. Such worship may take place on the shore of the ocean, by a river, in a cowshed, atop a mountain, within a temple, at home, or in any other delightful setting. Having completed all the preliminary arrangements, with or without a pavilion, he recreates the maṇḍala and the altar for the fire as before. Entering the worship hall with a joyful and auspicious presence, the teacher performs the prescribed daily rites. In the center of the maṇḍala, he offers the great worship to Maheśa, and then invokes and worships Śiva in the sacred vessel. Meditating on the Lord, protector of the sacrifice, and facing west, he worships with the vessel for the king of rituals placed to the Lord’s right. The skilled practitioner places the mantra in the mantra vessel and, having performed all the required gestures, conducts the mantra worship. The best of teachers then performs the homa in the Śiva fire, while other twice-born participants offer their oblations around the main fire-pit. For these others, half the portion of the teacher’s oblation is prescribed, while the teacher himself offers directly into the main fire-pit. Meanwhile, others recite the Veda, sing hymns, utter auspicious words, and some, devoted to Śiva, perform japa with devotion. Dance, song, instrumental music, and other auspicious acts, as well as the proper honoring of the assembly, are all performed according to rule. When the auspicious day is declared, and Śaṅkara is worshipped again, the teacher prays to the god for blessings upon the disciples: “Be gracious, Lord of gods, enter my body; O Lord of the universe, O ocean of compassion, release him with your mercy.” With divine permission, the teacher brings forward the disciple, who has been fasting or partaking only of sacrificial food—whether he eats once a day, has restrained himself, bathed, performed his morning duties, recited the praṇava, meditated on the Lord, and completed all auspicious rites. The disciple is seated facing north, on a seat of darbha grass at the front of the western or southern entrance to the maṇḍala. The teacher stands facing east, body upright and hands joined in reverence, and sprinkles the disciple’s head with consecrated water using the astra gesture. He strikes the disciple lightly with a flower offering and gently binds the disciple’s eyes with half of a new, consecrated cloth. The teacher then leads the disciple into the maṇḍala through the entrance; the disciple, thus guided, circumambulates Śambhu three times. After this, the disciple offers a handful of flowers mixed with gold to the Lord, and, facing east or north, prostrates himself full-length on the ground. The teacher sprinkles the disciple’s head with the root mantra and the astra gesture as before, then strikes and removes the binding from the disciple’s eyes. Upon seeing the maṇḍala, the disciple bows again to the Lord with joined palms. The Śiva teacher, seated at the southern side of the maṇḍala, seats the disciple to his own left on a darbha seat. Having worshipped Mahādeva, the teacher forms the Śiva hand gesture, infusing his hand with the radiance of Śiva, recites the Śiva mantra, and, filled with devotion, places his hand upon the disciple’s head. The teacher then performs the full-body support gesture; the disciple, recognizing the teacher as the embodiment of the Lord, prostrates himself on the ground. After properly worshipping the Lord in the Śiva fire and seating the disciple as before following the threefold offering, the teacher proceeds further. Touching the disciple with the tips of darbha grass, the teacher enters into the disciple by means of knowledge; after bowing to Mahādeva, he performs the joining of the subtle channels. Following the method taught in the Śiva scriptures, he causes his breath to exit and enters the disciple’s body, then satisfies the mantras through remembrance. For the satisfaction of the root mantra, he makes ten offerings, and for the mantras of the limbs, three offerings each, all in their proper order. After making the full offering for expiation, the teacher, well-versed in mantras, again makes ten offerings with the root mantra. Having worshipped the Lord of gods once more and performed the proper purification, the teacher, after making the offerings as prescribed, uplifts the Vaiśya disciple to his own caste, completing the sacred initiation and bestowing the blessings of Śiva.