Seated in a splendid celestial chariot, adorned with all the jewels one could desire, the divine presence radiated magnificence. In that moment, a profound truth was revealed: what use are countless gifts given, or the many sacrifices performed, if the heart’s intent is not pure? For whatever desire a person contemplates while worshipping, that alone becomes their reward. The gods themselves have declared this, upon beholding the supreme liṅga: blessed are those who worship the Lord who presides over the triple world. Having spoken these words, the devotee again worshipped the liṅga of the triple world with reverence. “O Goddess,” he said, “this power of his, which destroys sin, has now been told to you.” Merely seeing him, the sin of killing a Brāhmaṇa is destroyed. Long ago, during the age of Vaivasvata, when the Tretā era arrived, a sacred fire was being offered as the Brāhmaṇas sat in assembly. Into this gathering entered a figure covered in old rags, bald, bearing a staff topped with a skull, holding a skull in his hand, and adorned with ornaments made of skulls. The Brāhmaṇas, angered at the sight of me in the form of a beggar, mocked me repeatedly, saying, “Go away, sinner, go away!” They cited the Vedas, declaring that those without skulls are pure. I addressed them, “Listen, O best of the twice-born! Compassion must always be shown by the virtuous to all embodied beings. I am a Brahmin ascetic, adorned with ashes upon my body. I constantly worship Mahadeva, the Lord of the universe. I have undertaken the renowned ritual to destroy sin, O twice-born ones.” After hearing my words, those eminent Brahmins declared, “A Brahmin adorned with skulls is especially condemned.” Meanwhile, at that sacrifice, the Adityas and Vasus assembled. Brahma, Vishnu, the thousand-eyed Indra, Varuna, and Vayu were present, as were Garuda, the mountains, the serpents, and many great Brahmin sages and pure divine sages. They questioned, “Knowing it to be impure, how can you speak thus?” When addressed in this way by the Brahmins, I replied, but at that moment, I was harshly struck. Laughing, I cast aside the altar covered with darbha grass. When I departed, the skull was thrown outside the pavilion. This event repeated itself hundreds of thousands, tens of millions, and crores of times. Then all the wise ones proclaimed, “This is not the act of anyone else.” Afterwards, I was praised by the Brahmins with various hymns, each separately. Pleased out of compassion for the Brahmins, I listened as they spoke, acknowledging that their act of killing was done out of ignorance. They pleaded, “O Lord, grant us your favor for the destruction of the sin of killing a Brahmin.” At that time, in the presence of those twice-born, I spoke these words: “There was a primordial liṅga, concealed by the reversal of time. O best of Brahmins, I too once committed the sin of killing a Brahmin myself. From that, the sin of Brahmin-killing arose in me, exceedingly unbearable.