The Naimisha Account

Brahma said

Words do not reach him and thought does not reach him. One who knows his bliss has nothing to fear from anywhere. Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra, Indra and the elements all came from him first. He supports every cause and is the supreme cause that one meditates on. He never arose from anything. He has every kind of prosperity, and his own name is Sarveshvara. All who seek liberation meditate on Shambhu in the cavity of the heart. He made me his son at the beginning and gave me knowledge. It was by his favour that I became Prajapati. Isha is still like a tree, yet he alone is fixed in the sky. He is the great being who completes everything. He is the active one, alone, and makes many beings act. He is one and yet makes many seeds. He is Maheshvara, lord of all beings in the world. There is only one Bhagavan Rudra, with no second. He is always in people's hearts yet others do not notice him. He is always present and watches the universe. He is free of time and is the cause of everything. Bhagavan alone rests in his unlimited powers. He has no night and no day. None is his equal or his better. By nature he is full of supreme Shakti, knowledge and action. There is the unmanifest that decays and the immortal that does not, and the imperishable Hara is the self of both. A person with the inclination of sattva who meditates on him gains lordship. When all beings are destroyed, the maya of the universe withdraws into him. The eternal shruti says, "Lightning does not light him, nor sun nor moon; everything is lit by his radiance." Only Mahadeva Maheshvara is to be known, and there is no other supreme place worth reaching. He has no beginning or end, is naturally bright, self-ruling and complete. All that moves and is still follows his will. His body is not made of Prakriti. He is glorious and beyond perception, without signs, free, and the one who frees. Time does not touch him; he drives time. His abode is above everything, yet he lives in everything and knows everything.

He is lord of the whole universe, sought along six paths. Beings are piled one above another, but none is above him. He is infinite, like a bee always drinking the nectar of endless bliss, skilled at squeezing all the cosmic eggs into lumps. He is an ocean of generosity, courage, depth and sweetness. Nothing equals him or surpasses him. He is the unrivalled emperor of all beings. In his wonderful works he made the universe first, and at the end everything dissolves into him again. All beings serve him and he sets everyone to work. He is seen only through supreme devotion and in no other way. The vows, every kind of gift, austerities and niyamas were taught earlier, and they are certainly meant to produce good feeling. Hari, I, Rudra, gods and asuras still long to see him and perform fierce austerities. Fallen, foolish, wicked and low people cannot see him. Devotees worship him and speak with him, inside and out. There are three kinds of form: gross, subtle and beyond both. We immortals can see the gross. Yogis see the subtle. The form beyond both is eternal, undecaying and full of knowledge and bliss, and those who are full of great devotion, who take refuge in those vows, can see it. Why say more? This is the supreme thing, the most secret of all secrets. A person full of devotion to Shiva is liberated, without doubt. Devotion comes from his grace, and grace comes from devotion, as a sprout comes from a seed and a seed from the sprout. Everywhere, living beings succeed because grace has come first. At the end of every kind of practice, he alone is the goal reached. The Vedas show that practice and dharma are the means of winning his grace. When a person does as instructed, former good and bad deeds come into balance, and once balanced, grace makes dharma grow. As dharma grows, the creature's sins begin to wane, and over a series of births they decline in this way. Then devotion and knowledge arise toward Sarveshvara with Amba. Isha's grace depends on feeling and quality. By that grace one gives up the fruits of action, not action itself, and this renunciation of fruits is Shiva's auspicious dharma. It is of two kinds, dependent on a guru and independent of one. The guru-dependent kind is more important and a hundred times more effective, since following Shiva's dharma goes together with gaining knowledge of Shiva. With that knowledge a person sees the faults of samsara. That brings detachment from objects, and detachment helps practice. When such feelings arise, a person turns to meditation rather than action. Full of knowledge and meditation he takes up yoga, and from yoga comes supreme devotion, and then grace. By grace a being is freed and becomes like Shiva.

The kinds of grace may not come in the order given. They depend on the person's fitness. Some are liberated in the womb, others after birth, others as children, young men or old men. Some are not freed and are born in lower species. Others go to hell. Others reach a high destination but are freed only when they fall from that region. Some are born again after that destination is used up before they can be freed. Some head downward and can be freed whether they are in that state or not. So no single means of liberation is taught for people. Withdrawal follows knowledge, inclination and grace. To win his grace, keep your words and thoughts free of fault. With wife and sons, always meditate on Shiva alone. All of you must be supremely devoted to him, speak of him and take refuge in him. Do all your rites with your minds fixed on him. Begin a long sacrifice lasting a thousand divine years. When it ends, by the power of the mantras, Vayu will come to you and tell you what is best and how to attain it. Then go to sacred, beautiful Varanasi, where the illustrious Vishvesha, wielder of the Pinaka, always plays with Devi for the sake of his devotees. When you have seen that great wonder, return to me. Then I will tell you the means to emancipation, and in a single birth liberation will be in the palm of your hand, freeing you from the bonds of many births in samsara. With the power of my mind I have made a wheel, and I let it go now. Where its rim breaks will be a good place for austerities.

Suta continued

Saying this, Brahma made a wheel with his mind, bright as the sun. He bowed to Mahadeva and released it, and the brahmanas bowed to the lord of the universe and followed it joyfully. They followed it to the place where its rim broke. It had been thrown down onto a smooth, lovely slab of rock. The water in that forest was clear and tasty, and the forest became famous as Naimisha, honoured by sages. Many yakshas, gandharvas and vidyadharas live there. Pururava, who had played with Urvashi on eighteen islands in the ocean, was driven there by fate, and under Hara's delusion destroyed the golden sacrificial altar. The sages, furious, brought him down with the power of the vajra invoked on kusha grass. Long before, the maker of the universe had wished to create and performed a divine sacrifice at this very place. So did householders who knew the brahman. Accomplished rishis lived there, skilled in the meanings of words, powerful and wise, who performed kriya yoga by the rules. Those who know the Vedas there always used eloquent words to answer those outside the Vedic path. Naimisha was the fitting place for the sages' austerities. Sparkling water flowed from the rocks at the foot of the mountain, clear and lovely, like amrita to drink. The trees were heavy with fruit and no beast of prey was there.