Thou art he that ranges over hills and hillocks,
Thou art he that has his residence on the mountains of Meru,
Thou art the chief of the celestials,
Thou hast the Atharvans for Thy head,
Thou hast the Samans for Thy mouth,
Thou hast the thousand Richs for Thy immeasurable eyes,
Thou hast the Yajushes for Thy feet and hands,
Thou art the Upanisads,
Thou art the entire body of rituals occurring in the scriptures,
Thou art all that is mobile,
Thou art he whose solicitations are never unfulfilled,
Thou art he that is always inclined to grace,
Thou art he that is of beautiful form,
Thou art of the form of the good that one does to another,
Thou art that which is dear,
Thou art he that always advances towards Thy devotees (in proportion as they advance toward Thee),
Thou art gold and the other precious metals that are held dear by all,
Thy effulgence is like that of burnished gold,
Thou art of the navel of all that exists,
Thou art he that makes the fruits of sacrifices grow (for the benefit of Thy devotees that perform sacrifices to Thy glory),
Thou art of the form of that faith and devotion which the righteous have in respect of sacrifices,
Thou art the artificer of the universe,
Thou art all that is immobile,
Thou art the two and ten stages of life through which a person passes,
The ten stages begin with residence in the mother’s womb and end with death as the tenth. Heaven is the eleventh and liberation is the twelfth.
Thou art he that causes fright,
The intermediate stages between the first and the tenth are believed to cause fright to a human being, while alive.
Thou art the beginning of all things,
Thou art he that unites Jiva with the Supreme Brahman through yoga,
Thou art identifiable with that yoga, which causes such a union between Jiva and the Supreme Brahman,
Thou art un-manifest,
The Supreme Brahman is considered the deepest stupefaction.
Thou art the presiding deity of the fourth age,
This is in consequence of the presumed identity with lust, wrath, cupidity and other evil passions that are sourced in that deity. Kali is considered the presiding deity of that
age causing sinfulness. It is, therefore, a malevolent one. But this stage of the age is considered highly propitious to liberation. Those who succeed in living righteously in
the stage of this age quickly attain to heaven if it is their object or to liberation if they strive for liberation.
Thou art eternal Time,
The Supreme Brahman is the substratum of the ceaseless succession of creation and destruction that goes on in the cosmos.
Thou art of the form of Tortoise,
This implies that the Supreme Brahman assumes the form of the constellation called the Great Bear, and moving onward in space causes the lapse of Time. This
constellation is known in the ancient Hindu astronomy by the name Sisumara because of its resemblance to the form of a tortoise.
Thou art worshipped by the Destroyer himself,
Thou livest in the midst of Thy associates,
Thou admittest Thy devotees as members of Thy Gana,
Thou hast Brahma himself for the driver of Thy car (vehicle),
Thou sleepest on ashes,
The word bhasma, meaning ashes, literally signifies anything that dispels, tears off all bonds and cures every disease. Ashes are used by ascetics for rubbing their bodies
as a mark of having overcome every sin and cut off every bond, and freed themselves from all diseases.
Thou protectest the universe with ashes,
According to mythology, Mahadeva gave ashes to His devotees for protecting them from sin.
Thou art he, whose body is made of ashes,
This has reference to the story of the Rishi Mankanaka. Beholding vegetable juice issuing from his body, he began to dance in joy. The whole universe began to dance with
him, overpowered by a sympathetic influence of his ecstatic joy. With a view to protecting the universe, Mahadeva showed Himself to Mankanaka and, pressing his fingers,
brought out a quantity of ashes, thus showing that his body was made of ashes.
Thou art the tree that grants the fruition of all wishes,
Thou art of the form of those that constitute Thy Gana,
Thou art the protector of the four and ten regions,
Thou transcendest all regions,
Thou art full,
Thou art adored by all creatures,
Thou art white (being pure and unstained),
Thou art he that has body, speech and mind perfectly stainless,
Thou art he that has attained to that purity of existence called Emancipation,
Thou art he that is incapable of being stained by impurity of any kind,
Thou art he that has been attained to by the great preceptors of the yore,
Thou residest in the form of righteousness or duty in the four modes of life,
This has reference to the four ashramas of life.
Thou art that righteousness, which is of the form of rites and sacrifices,
Thou art of the form of that skill, which is possessed by the celestial artificer of the universe,
