The Essential and the Non-Essential

Narada said

Brahma, Prajapati, father, since your mind is fixed on Shiva you are blessed. Please explain all this to me in detail.

Brahma replied

Son, once I, lotus-born, called together the rishis and the undecaying ones from all directions and spoke to them affectionately: "If you have faith in eternal happiness, if you wish to meet your desires, come with me to the shores of the ocean of milk." Hearing me, they went with me to where Bhagavan Vishnu, who ensures welfare, was. Sage, arrived there, the gods joined their hands and bowed to Jagannatha Janardana, lord of the gods. Vishnu saw that Brahma and the other immortals had come. He remembered Shiva's lotus feet and spoke to them: "Why have Brahma, the gods and the rishis come? What has happened? Out of love for you, tell me what I should do." We bowed again and lovingly told him what needed doing. The gods said, "So that miseries are destroyed, whom should we serve every day?" Bhagavan is affectionate to his devotees; hearing this, full of love and compassion, he spoke to the immortals and me.

Shri Bhagavan said

Brahma, listen. The gods have heard all this before. Still I will tell you and the gods again. It has been seen and is being seen now. Brahma and all gods, why is it being asked now? In every task and in every way, one must always serve the god Shankara. He dispels all miseries. He told Brahma and me this specially. Those who desire happiness must never give up worshipping him. A wonderful example has been seen and all of you witnessed it. Having abandoned worship of the god Maheshvara, lord of gods, in the form of the lingam, Tara's sons were destroyed with their kin. I confounded them with my maya, which pushed them far away. Without Shiva all of them were destroyed. So Hara in the form of the lingam must always be worshipped. The supreme among gods must be served with special devotion. Sharva's lingam must be worshipped by the gods, excellent daityas, me and Brahma. How have you forgotten that? Whatever the reason, his lingam must always be worshipped. Brahma and gods, Sharva gives every fruit desired. If a muhurta or a kshana is spent without worshipping Shiva, it is harmful, a great weakness, blindness and folly. A person full of great devotion to Bhava, whose mind bows to Bhava and remembers Bhava, has no sorrows to bear. Those who wish for agreeable mansions and ornaments, women, satisfying riches, sons, grandsons and offspring, a healthy body, status in the world, great fortune and happiness in the world of the gods must be devoted to Parameshvara. The fruit of liberation is also gained, because worship of Sadashiva gathers merit. Those who full of devotion constantly worship Shiva's lingam succeed in everything and are not served by sin.

Brahma continued

Hearing this, the gods bowed to Hari. They wanted lingams that fulfil every desire of men. Tiger among sages, hearing this Vishnu spoke to Vishvakarma: "I am set on saving beings. Follow my instruction. Vishvakarma, make Shambhu's auspicious lingams and give them to all the gods." I told him too. Asked by me and Hari, Vishvakarma made lingams according to each one's entitlement and gave them. Supreme among rishis, I will tell you about them. Shakra got one of ruby; Vishrava's son got one of gold; Dharma got one of yellow gem; Varuna got a dark-blue Shiva; Vishnu got one of yellow sapphire; Brahma got one of gold; the Vishvadevas and Vasus got silver ones; the two Ashvins got earthen ones of brass; goddess Lakshmi got one of crystal; the Adityas got copper ones; King Soma got one of pearl; Vibhavasu got a lingam of diamond; lords among brahmanas and their wives got earthen lingams; Maya got one of sandalwood; the nagas lovingly got coral ones; goddesses got ones of butter, yogis ones of ash, yakshas ones of curd, and the shadow a lingam of flour. Brahmani certainly always worships a Shiva lingam of jewels. Bana and others worship an earthen lingam of mercury. Vishvakarma gave such lingams, and all gods and rishis worship them. Wishing their welfare, Vishnu had these lingams given to the gods. He then told me, Brahma, the method of worshipping the wielder of the Pinaka. Hearing him, my mind was assured and glad. I invited the excellent gods to my own abode.

Sage, having gone there, I told all the rishis and gods the proper method of worshipping Shiva by which everything desired is gained. I said:

Brahma said

Rishis and all immortals, full of great love, listen. I will lovingly tell you the method of worshipping Shiva. It gives pleasure and liberation. Among all beings, birth as a human is very hard to get. Gods and lords among sages, within that it is extremely rare to be born in a good family, and harder still to be born a brahmana of good conduct and merit. Having gained this, one must do karma that pleases Shiva. No one should break the karma that is his by birth. As long as one has riches, one must give. Austerity as sacrifice is better than thousands of karma sacrifices, japa as sacrifice is better than thousands of austerity sacrifices, and nothing is better than meditation as sacrifice. Meditation is the means to knowledge. Through meditation a yogi can see whomever he wishes to remember. For one who follows meditation as sacrifice, Shiva is always near. A person with knowledge does not need purification by atonement. Brahmana, those who know the brahman have pure knowledge. Rites do not exist for them and they need not think about happiness and unhappiness. Immortals, those with knowledge are always indifferent to dharma, adharma, japa, oblations, meditation and the techniques of meditation. The pure lingam stands for undecaying Shiva and causes supreme bliss. He is partless and all-pervading, and yogis know he is established in their hearts. Brahmanas, lingams are known to be of two kinds, outer and inner. The outer are called gross and the inner subtle. Those who follow karma sacrifice are bent on worshipping gross lingams. They cannot control their minds with subtle images and use gross ones. For one to whom the inner lingam is not manifest, the gross lingam must be worshipped and not otherwise. For those with knowledge, the undecaying, unblemished subtle lingam is manifest in the mind. Others who are not like that think the gross one is best. In truth, for those who know, there is nothing to ponder here. Shiva pervades the universe, as partless and with parts, and this must be in each person's mind. So if one has knowledge and is liberated, there is no harm in thinking of the alternative; for them there are no rules of do and do not. A lotus in water is not touched by the water. Likewise a person with knowledge engaged in a householder's karma is not bound. But until knowledge is born in a man, it is his karma to worship the god Shiva, and this should be done to convince the world. The sun is one, but is seen in many ways, as in different vessels of water. Gods, Brahma, know that all that is seen or heard in the world, existent or non-existent, has Shiva in its self. What is reflected and thought of as different is due to the water in the vessels. So say all who know the true meaning of the Vedas. Parameshvara himself moves in all hearts. If a person has this knowledge, why does he need images? Those who lack such knowledge devise auspicious images. This is said to be the support a man needs to climb to higher steps; without it, it is hard to climb. Using such an image as a support, a man is said to reach the quality-less one. It is settled that the quality-less can be reached through what has qualities. In this way images of all gods bring about belief. This god is great and must be worshipped. But without an image, what use are fragrances, sandalwood and flowers? So until knowledge is born, an image must be worshipped. If one lacks knowledge and still does not worship, downfall is certain.

Brahmanas, for this reason hear the supreme truth. One must attentively do the karma assigned to the class one is born in. Puja and the rest must be done for whatever one has devotion to. Without puja and the rest, sins are never kept away. As long as sin is in the body, success is not gained; when sin has gone, one succeeds in everything. If a cloth is dirty, dyeing it does not improve it; only when it is washed and pure can dye be properly applied. In the same way, proper worship of the gods cleans the body, knowledge is born and one is dyed with knowledge. The true root of higher knowledge is unwavering devotion. The true root of knowledge is also said to be devotion. The root of devotion is virtuous deeds and worship of the god one wishes for. The root of this is said to be a good guru, and the root of that, association with the virtuous. By association with the virtuous one gets a guru. From a guru one gets mantras and methods of puja. Devotion comes from puja and knowledge from devotion. Higher knowledge comes from knowledge and the supreme brahman shows itself. When higher knowledge is born, differences vanish. When differences vanish, one is freed from the sorrows of the pairs of opposite feelings. Free of those, one takes Shiva's form, and knows no misery from the pairs of opposites. Gods and rishis, there is nothing he must do or not do. In this world it is rare to find a person who does not follow the householder's stage; if there is one, the sight of him destroys sins. Even holy places praise a person with such excellent knowledge. All gods and sages take him to be Shiva, with the supreme brahman in his self. Holy places and earthen images of gods take time to purify, but a person with higher knowledge purifies at once. As long as one is in the householder's stage, one should worship an image. One gladly worships the best among the five gods. Or the worship of Shiva, as the root and the single one, is better. Gods, when the root is sprinkled all the branches are content, and when the branches are fully content the root is always content. Best of sages, in the same way when Shiva is satisfied, all the gods are satisfied. Those of subtle understanding know this. When Shiva is worshipped, all the gods are worshipped. So one must worship the god Shankara, who benefits the worlds. He is engaged in the welfare of all beings and gives every fruit wished for.