भगवन् भूतभव्येश सर्वकारणकारण । भवत्प्रसादेनेदं मे धार्ष्ट्यम् अभ्यागतं स्फुटम्
O Lord, master of all that has been and will be, cause of every cause—by your grace, this boldness has clearly arisen in me.
पृच्छामि त्वा महादेव यद् अहं तत् त्वम् आशु मे । ब्रूहि प्रसन्नया बुद्ध्या त्यक्तोद्वेगम् अनामय
I ask you, O great god, whatever I wish to know; please tell me swiftly, with a clear mind, free from anxiety and harm.
सर्वपापक्षयकरं सर्वकल्याणवर्धनम् । देवार्चनविधानं मे सत्यं ब्रूहि महेश्वर
Tell me truly, O Maheshvara, the method of worshipping the gods that destroys all sin and increases all auspiciousness.
शृणु ब्रह्मन् वरम् इदं देवार्चनम् अनुत्तमम् । वदामि मुच्यसे येन कृतेन सकृद् एव हि
Listen, O Brahman, to this supreme worship of the gods; I will tell you that by which, even if performed once, you are freed.
कच्चित् वेत्सि महादेवो देवः कस् स्याद् इति द्विज । न देवः पुण्डरीकाक्षो न च देवस् त्रिलोचनः
Do you know, O twice-born, who is called the great god, the deity? The lotus-eyed one is not the god, nor is the three-eyed one.
न देवः कमलोद्भूतो न देवस् त्रिदशेश्वरः । न देवः पवनो नार्को नानलो न निशाकरः
The one born from the lotus is not the god, nor is the lord of the thirty gods; neither the wind, nor the sun, nor fire, nor the moon is the god.
न ब्राह्मणो नावनिपो नाहं न त्वं द्विजोत्तम । न देवो देहरूपो ऽस्ति न देवश् चित्ररूपधृत्
Neither the Brahmin, nor the king, nor I, nor you, O best of the twice-born, is the god; the god does not have a bodily form, nor does he bear a wondrous shape.
न देवः कलनारूपी नापि देवो भवेन् मतिः । अकृत्रिमम् अनाद्यन्तं वेदनं देव उच्यते
The god is not of a calculated form, nor is the god a thought; the god is called the uncontrived, beginningless and endless awareness.
आकारादिपरिच्छिन्नम् इति वस्तुनि तत् कुतः । अकृत्रिमम् अनाद्यन्तं वेदनं चिच्छिवं विदुः
In that which is limited by form and the like, how can it be so? The sages know awareness—pure, uncreated, without beginning or end—as consciousness, as Shiva.
तद् एव देवशब्देन कथ्यते तत् प्रपूजयेत् । तद् एवास्ति यतस् सर्वं सत्तासत्तात्मरूपधृत्
That alone is spoken of by the word 'deva'; that alone should be worshipped. That alone exists, since all things, whether existent or non-existent, are sustained by its essence.
अज्ञातशिवतत्त्वानाम् आकाराद्यर्चनं कृतम् । योजनाध्वन्य् अशक्तस्य क्रोशाध्वा परिकल्प्यते
For those who do not know the truth of Shiva, worship is performed with forms and the like. For one unable to travel the path of union, a shorter route is devised.
इयत्तादिपरिच्छिन्नं रुद्रादेः प्राप्यते फलम् । अकृत्रिमम् अनाद्यन्तं फलम् आनन्द आत्मनः
The result gained from Rudra and others, limited by measure and the like, is attained; but the uncreated, beginningless and endless fruit is the bliss of the Self.
अकृत्रिमफलं त्यक्त्वा यः कृत्रिमफलं व्रजेत् । स त्यक्तमन्दारवनः कारञ्जं याति काननम्
Whoever abandons the uncreated fruit and pursues the created fruit is like one who leaves the mandara grove and goes to the karanja forest.
बोधस् साम्यं शम इति पुष्पाण्य् अग्र्याणि तत्र वै । शिवं चिन्मात्रम् अकलम् आत्मानम् अमलं विदुः
Equanimity of understanding and tranquility are the finest flowers there. They know Shiva as pure consciousness alone, the undivided, immaculate Self.
शमबोधादिभिः पुष्पैर् देव आत्मा यद् अर्च्यते । तत् तद्देवार्चनं विद्धि नाकारार्चनम् अर्चनम्
When the divine Self is worshipped with flowers such as tranquility and understanding, know that as true worship of the deity, not worship of form as worship.
आत्मसंवित्तिरूपं तु त्यक्त्वा देवार्चनं जनाः । कृत्रिमार्चासु ये सक्ताश् चिरं क्लेशं भजन्ति ते
Those who forsake worship in the form of self-awareness and become attached to artificial worship suffer long-lasting distress.
ज्ञातज्ञेया हि ये सन्तो बालक्रीडोपमं न ते । आत्मध्यानाद् ऋते ब्रह्मन् कुर्वते देवपूजनम्
Those who have realized the knower and the knowable, truly wise, do not perform worship of deities like children's play, except through meditation on the Self, O Brahman.
आत्मैव देवो भगवाञ् शिवः परमकारणम् । ज्ञानार्चनेनाविरतं पूजनीयस् स सर्वदा
The Self alone is the deity, the blessed Shiva, the supreme cause; he is always to be worshipped ceaselessly by the worship of knowledge.
त्वम् एतच् चेतनाकाशम् आत्मानं जीवम् अव्ययम् । स्वभावं विद्धि न त्व् अन्यत् पूज्यपूजात्मपूजनम्
Know this consciousness-space, the Self, the imperishable individual, as your own nature; not anything else is worthy of worship or not-worship, nor is there worship of the Self.
चेतनाकाशमात्रात्म यथा जगद् इदं प्रभो । यथा च चेतनस्यैव जीवादित्वं तद् उच्यताम्
Just as this world, O Lord, arises from the Self which is only consciousness-space, so too, let it be explained how the very same consciousness becomes the individual and so forth.
चिद्व्योमैव किलास्तीह पारावारविवर्जितम् । सर्वत्रासम्भवच्चेत्यं यत् कल्पान्तेषु शिष्यते
Indeed, here only the sky of consciousness exists, free from boundaries and divisions; at the end of cycles, what remains is that which is impossible to be an object everywhere.
तद् यत् स्वयं प्रकचति तस्य स्वकचनस्य तु । स्वयं संविदितं नाम तेनेदं जगद् इत्य् अलम्
That which shines forth by itself, for that which shines forth, its own self-awareness is called by the name 'this world'—and that is sufficient.
इत्य् एवं स्वप्नपुरवज् जगद् भाति चिदात्मकम् । एवं चिद्व्योममात्रात्म जगद् अच्छं न भित्तिमत्
Thus, just as a city in a dream, the world appears as consciousness alone; in this way, the world, whose essence is only the sky of consciousness, is pure and without any real substance.
अत्यन्तासम्भवच्चेत्यदृष्टि चिद्व्योममात्रकम् । चित्त्वात् कचति सर्गादौ यत् तज् जगद् इति स्मृतम्
The sky of consciousness, which is beyond all possible objects of perception, is only that; because of its nature as consciousness, what shines forth at the beginning of creation is called the world.
तस्मात् स्वप्नपुराकारं यद् इदं भासते जगत् । तत्र चिद्व्योममात्रात्मन्य् अन्यता नाम का कुतः
Therefore, this world, which appears like a dream-city, shines forth only in the expanse of consciousness; what otherness could exist there, and from where?
चिन्मात्रम् एव गिरयश् चिन्मात्रं जगदम्बरम् । चिन्मात्रम् आत्मा जीवश् च चिन्मात्रं भूतसन्ततिः
The mountains are nothing but pure consciousness; the sky of the world is pure consciousness; the self and the individual soul are pure consciousness; the succession of elements is pure consciousness.
चिद्व्योममात्राद् इतरत् सर्गादौ सर्गवेदने । भिन्नं स्वप्नपुरे चाङ्ग किं सम्भवति कथ्यताम्
Other than the expanse of consciousness, at the beginning of creation and in the experience of creation, what could possibly arise as separate in the dream-city? Tell me, O dear one.
आकाशं परमाकाशं ब्रह्माकाशं जगच् चितिः । इति पर्यायनामानि तरुपादपवृक्षवत्
Space, supreme space, the space of Brahman, the world, and consciousness—these are synonymous names, just like tree, plant, and shrub.
एतच् च स्वप्नसङ्कल्पमायादिष्व् अनुभूयते । तदा किल चिदाकाशम् एव भाति जगत्तया
This is experienced in dream, imagination, illusion, and so on; then, indeed, the space of consciousness alone appears as the world.
यथैतत् संविदाकाशं स्वप्ने भाति जगद्वपुः । तथेदं जाग्रदाख्ये ऽपि स्वप्ने भाति तद् एव नः
Just as, in dream, the form of the world appears in the space of awareness, so too, in what is called waking, that same (world) appears to us as in a dream.