The Aumkara Mantra

Brahma and Vishnu said

Lord, beginning with creation, please tell us the signs of the five things that have to be done.

Shiva replied

Out of compassion for you I will tell you and make you understand the five secret things I do. Faultless ones, creation, preservation, destruction, disappearance and showing favour are the five things I always accomplish. Making the world is sarga. Its keeping is called stithi. Samhara is annihilation. Tirobhava is concealment. Through anugraha, favour, I give liberation. These five are my tasks. But like a shadow that stands silent near a gate, they are carried out through others. Creation and the rest are done for the expansion and contraction of the world, while the fifth ensures liberation. But all are firmly established in me as the cause. Those who are my own can see these five in the elements: creation in earth, preservation in water, destruction in fire, concealment in wind and the showing of favour in the sky. Everything begins in earth. By water everything flourishes. Fire afflicts everything. Wind carries everything away. Every kind of favour is shown by the sky. The learned should know this. To carry out these five tasks I have five faces, four in four directions and the fifth in the middle between them.

Sons, because of your austerities you received two of the tasks, creation and preservation. Because you came to me and I love you greatly, out of affection I gave these to you. In the same way Rudra and Mahesha do the two later tasks. No one else is able to take up what is called anugraha. With time, the two of you have forgotten the tasks assigned earlier. Rudra and Mahesha have not forgotten theirs. I have given them a position equal to mine in form, dress, tasks, mount, seat, weapons and everything else. They do those tasks for me. Children, your foolishness arose because you stopped meditating on me. Had you kept the knowledge, you would not have the pride that you were yourselves Mahesha. From now on, to gain the knowledge, you will do japa of the mantra called Aumkara. For those who are mine it also destroys pride. I have taught you my mantra of Aumkara, which is pervasive in its auspiciousness. Aumkara first came from my mouth and develops understanding of me. It is the speech, and I am what is spoken of. This mantra is like my self. By remembering it one always remembers me. "A" came out first from the northern mouth, "U" from the western, "M" from the southern and the bindu from the eastern. The nada came out of the mouth in the middle and all five joined to become one. Let me say it again: they joined to form a single syllable. Know that everything that arises has a name and a form, and these are pervaded by this mantra, which also stands for Shiva and Shakti. To make the form with parts understood, five syllables were born afterward, "NA" and the rest following "AA" and the rest in order. From these five syllables the five kinds of Matrikas arose. The gayatri mantra, with its three lines, also came from the head and the four faces. All the Vedas and crores of mantras came from this. These mantras lead to various kinds of success, but every kind of success is gained through the single mantra. Pleasures and liberation are gained. All these mantras are royal and auspicious and directly give pleasures.

Nandikeshvara continued

With Ambika, he again took the role of their guru. As they faced north, he gently placed his lotus hands on their heads and taught them the supreme mantra. They said it three times and in order received the mantra, yantra and tantra. The two disciples offered themselves as the teacher's fee. They clasped their hands and stood near the preceptor of the universe and spoke.

Brahma and Achyuta said

We bow to the partless one without form. We bow to the one whose energy is partless. We bow to the lord of everything, to the one in all selves, to the one called Pranava, whose symbol is Pranava, who does creation and the other activities, who has five faces, whose five forms are the brahman, who does the five kinds of activity. Your self is the brahman. You are infinite in qualities and potencies. You have forms with parts and without. We bow to Shambhu, the guru.

Nandikeshvara continued

So Brahma and Vishnu bowed to the guru. Ishvara answered.

Ishvara said

Children, you have been shown and told everything. As the goddess instructed, you will do japa of the Pranava mantra. It is identical with me. Your knowledge will be firm and all your fortune eternal. Japa done on the fourteenth with Ardra in the ascendant will not be lost. If it is done when Surya passes through Ardra, the merit is a crore times greater. For worship and oblations, the last quarter of Mrigashirsha and the first quarter of Punarvasu should be treated the same as Ardra. The star must be seen at dawn and within three muhurtas after dawn. It should be accepted that the fourteenth continues until midnight. The first part of the night and its opposite are praised. Worship of the sign of the lingam and worship without a lingam are both excellent, but for those who want liberation, worship without the lingam sign is superior. Others will use and set up the sign of the lingam themselves, with the Aumkara mantra and the five-syllable mantra, offering excellent articles of worship. If they worship with upachara, they will easily gain excellent destinations.

Nandikeshvara concluded

Having instructed the two disciples so, Shiva vanished from the spot.