स परḫ प्रकृतेḫ प्रोक्तḫ पुरुषḫ पावनाकृतिः । शिवरूपधरश् शान्तḫ परमाकाशशक्तिमान्
He is called the Supreme Purusha, pure in form; bearing the form of Shiva, peaceful, endowed with the power of the supreme expanse.
भ्रमति प्रकृतिस् तावत् संसारे भ्रमरूपिणी । स्पन्दमात्रात्मिका सेच्छा चिच्छक्तिḫ परमेश्वरी
Prakriti, in the form of a bee, wanders in samsara; her nature is mere vibration, her will is the supreme power of consciousness.
यावन् न पश्यति शिवं नित्यतृप्तम् अनामयम् । अजडं पदम् आद्यन्तवर्जितं तर्जितद्वयम्
As long as she does not perceive Shiva—ever content, free from affliction, the uninsentient state, devoid of beginning and end, transcending duality—
संविन्मात्रैकधर्मत्वात् काकतालीययोगतः । संविद्देवी शिवं स्पृष्ट्वा तन्मय्य् एव भवत्य् अलम्
Because consciousness alone is the single reality, by a chance conjunction, the goddess of consciousness, having touched Shiva, becomes completely absorbed in him.
प्रकृतिḫ पुरुषं स्पृष्ट्वा प्रकृतित्वं समुज्झति । तदन्तर् एकतां गत्वा नदी रूपम् इवार्णवे
When nature touches the spirit, it abandons its own nature; merging within, they become one, like a river losing its form in the ocean.
आपगा हि पयोमात्रा सङ्गतार्णव एव सा । यदा तदा तम् एवाशु प्राप्य तत्रैव लीयते
For a river is nothing but water, and when it joins the ocean, it swiftly attains and dissolves into that very ocean.
चितिश् शिवेच्छा सा देवं तम् एवासाद्य शाम्यति । जन्मस्थानं शिलां प्राप्य तीक्ष्णा धारा यथायसी
Consciousness, which is the will of Shiva, having reached that divine one, becomes still—just as a sharp stream is stilled upon reaching its rocky source.
पुंसश् छाया निजा छायां प्रविष्टस्य शरीरकम् । यथाशु प्रविशत्य् एव प्रकृतिḫ पुरुषं तथा
Just as a person's shadow quickly enters the body when he enters a house, so does nature swiftly enter the spirit.
चेतित्वा चिन् निजं भावं पुरुषाख्यं सनातनम् । भूयो भ्रमति संसारे नेह तत्तां प्रयाति हि
Having become aware of its own eternal nature called spirit, consciousness again wanders in the world; for here, it does not attain the ultimate reality.
साधुर् वसति चौरौघे तावद् यावद् असौ न तम् । परिजानाति विज्ञाय न तत्र रमते पुनः
A good man dwells among a band of thieves until he recognizes one as such; once he knows, he no longer delights there.
द्वैते तावद् असद्रूपे रमते ऽनुमते चितिः । परं पश्यति नो यावत् तं दृष्ट्वा तन्मयी भवेत्
Consciousness delights in duality, which is unreal, only so long as it consents; but when it perceives the supreme, seeing that, it becomes one with it.
चिति निर्वाणरूपं तत् प्रकृतिḫ परमं पदम् । प्राप्य तत्ताम् अवाप्नोति सरिद् अब्धाव् इवाब्धिताम्
Consciousness is of the nature of liberation; nature is the supreme state. Upon attaining that reality, it becomes that, just as a river becomes the ocean upon entering it.
तावद् विमोहवशतश् चितिर् आकुलेषु सर्गेषु संसरति जन्मदशाश्रितेषु । यावन् न पश्यति परं तम् अथाशु दृष्ट्वा तत्रैव मज्जति घनं मधुनीव भृङ्गी
So long as consciousness, under the sway of delusion, wanders through the tumultuous cycles of creation, bound to the states of birth, until it perceives the Supreme; and upon seeing That, it swiftly merges there, just as a bee sinks into thick honey.
सम्प्राप्य कस् त्यजति नाम तद् आत्मतत्त्वं प्राप्यानुभूय च जहाति रसायनं कः । शाम्यन्ति येन सकलानि निरन्तराणि दुẖखानि जन्ममृतिमोहमयानि राम
Who, having attained and experienced the essence of the Self, would ever abandon it? Who would forsake the elixir, Rama, by which all the uninterrupted sufferings—those woven of birth, death, and delusion—are stilled?
शृणु राम कथं तत्र महाकाशे तथास्थितः । देहभ्रान्तिं तु तां त्यक्त्वा स रुद्रो ऽप्य् उपशाम्यति
Listen, Rama, to how even Rudra, established in that vast expanse, relinquishes the illusion of the body and attains tranquility.
स रुद्रस् तौ जगत्खण्डौ तदा चित्र इवार्पिताः । निस्स्पन्दा एव तत्रासन् प्रेक्षमाणे स्थिते मयि
There, Rudra and those two fragments of the world appeared as if displayed in a painting, motionless, while I stood observing.
ततो मुहूर्तमात्रेण स रुद्रस् तौ नभोऽन्तरे । खण्डौ विलोकयाम् आस दृशार्केणेव रोदसी
Then, within a brief moment, Rudra gazed at those two fragments suspended in space, as the eye of the sun surveys the heavens.
ततो निमेषमात्रेण घोणाश्वासेन खण्डकौ । तौ समानीय चिक्षेप पातालान्तर् इवानने
Then, in the span of a blink, with a forceful breath, he drew those fragments together and cast them into the depths, as if into his mouth.
अतिष्ठद् एक एवासाव् अथ खे खम् इवाखिले । भुक्तब्रह्माण्डखण्डोग्रचण्डमण्डकमण्डलः
He alone remained, vast in the sky like the sky itself, having consumed the fierce, blazing spheres and fragments of the universe.
ततो मुहूर्तमात्रेण लघुस् सो ऽभ्रम् इवाभवत् । ततो ऽभवद् द्रुमसमस् ततस् स्तम्भनिभो ऽभवत्
Then, within a brief moment, he became light as a cloud; then he became like a tree, and after that, he took on the form of a pillar.
ततो ऽभवद् यष्टिसमस् ततḫ प्रादेशमात्रकः । ततẖ काचकणाकारो मया दृष्टस् स तादृशः
Then it became like a staff, then about a span in length; after that, I saw it take the form of a glass bead, just so.
ततस् सो ऽणुर् भवन् दृष्टो मया खाद् दिव्यदृष्टिना । परमाणुर् अथो भूत्वा तत्रैवान्तर्धिम् आययौ
Then I saw it, with my divine vision, become minute—an atom in the sky; and becoming a supreme atom, it vanished right there.
इत्य् असौ शमम् आयातश् शारदाम्बुदखण्डवत् । तादृशो ऽपि महारम्भḫ पुरḫ पश्यत एव मे
Thus, it attained stillness, like a fragment of a cloud in autumn; yet, even so, that great phenomenon unfolded before my very eyes.
इति सावरणे तेन ते ब्रह्माण्डकवाटके । विनिगीर्णे क्षुधार्तेन हरिणेनेव पर्णके
In this way, that Sāvarṇi was swallowed up in that cosmic egg-shell, just as a hungry deer devours a leaf.
अथाभून् निर्मलं व्योम शान्तं ब्रह्मैव केवलम् । अनादिमध्यपर्यन्तसंविदाकाशमात्रकम्
Then, there was only pure, tranquil space—nothing but Brahman—an expanse of consciousness without beginning, middle, or end.
इत्य् अहं दृष्टवांस् तत्र कल्पान्तम् उरुविभ्रमम् । दर्पणप्रतिबिम्बाभं शिलाशकलकोटरे
Thus I witnessed there, until the end of the aeon, that vast marvel—like a reflection in a mirror, or in the hollow of a stone fragment.
अथ ताम् अङ्गनां स्मृत्वा तां शिलां तं च विभ्रमम् । राजद्वारगतो ग्राम्य इवाहं विस्मयं गतः
Then, recalling that woman, that stone, and that marvel, I was left astonished, like a villager at the gates of a royal palace.
ताम् आलोकितवान् भूयẖ कलधौतशिलाम् अहम् । यावत् सर्वत्र सन्त्य् अत्र सर्गाẖ काल्या इवाङ्गके
Again I looked at that moon-washed stone; and everywhere, there were creations here, just as there are marks on a body.
बुद्धिनेत्रेण दृश्यन्ते दिव्याक्ष्णा वा न ते ऽन्यथा । सर्वत्र सर्वदा सर्वं यद् अस्त्य् एव तथा तदा
All that exists is perceived everywhere and always, either through the eye of intelligence or with a divine vision, but not otherwise.
दूरतḫ प्रेक्ष्यते मांसदृशा यदि च सा शिला । दृश्यते तच् छिलैवैका न तु सर्गादि किञ्चन
If, from a distance, one looks at it with the physical eye and it is a stone, then only that single stone is seen, and nothing at all of creation and the rest.