8 - The Means of Crossing the Ocean of Worldly Existence. 

Ishvara said: 

1. O leading Brāhmaṇas I shall tell you another esoteric knowledge whereby the creature (the Jiva) can cross the terrible ocean of worldly existence. 

1. The same as in the Patañjala Yoga Sūtra II. 3. They are regarded as 'bonds' or 'fetters' (Påśha) in Päśhupatism. 

2. This Brahma is quiescent thanks to penance (v. l I am the same as the Brahman, eternal etc.). He is eternal unchanging and blemishless. He is one without a second and is the absolute supreme Lord. 

3. My womb is the great Brahman (Prakruti). I sow my seed therein and that is named Mūlamaya (Original Māyā). This universe is born thereof. 

4. All these were born viz. Pradhāna, Puruşha, Atman. Mahat, Bhūtādi (ahamkāra) the Tanmatras (subtle elements). the mind, the (gross) elements and the sense organs-all these were born from it viz. (Mulamäyä). 

5. Thence a golden Egg having the luster of a crore of suns was born; the great Brahmā was born of it. He was invigorated through my Shakti. 

6. Innumerable other Jivas are all identical with him. Deluded by my Māyā they do not perceive me their father. 

7. The sages know that (Maya) is the supreme source (Mother) and I alone am the father of the various species in which all those forms (creatures) are born in this world. 

8. He who thus knows me as the sower of the seed, the lordly father, is a hero in all the worlds and he does not get deluded. 

9. I am the lord of all lores, the supreme controller of all creatures, the veritable Pranava (the sacred syllable OM) incarnate, the master endowed with six divine powers, god Brahma, the lord protector of all beings. 

10. He who perceives Parameśhvara present equally in all living beings, but as imperishable when they perish, perceives factually.1 

1. The same as BG., XIII. 27.

11. Inasmuch as he perceives the lord equally present everywhere, does not injure his real self (Ātman by his (lower) self, he therefore attains the greatest goal.2 

2. BG. XIII. 28.

12. He who, having realized the seven subtle principles3 and the great God with his six limbs4 (potencies), knows the role assigned to Pradhana (understands the distinction between the material principles and the self) reaches the highest Brahman. 

3. vide v. 13 helow.

            4. vide v. 14 below. 

13. Omniscience, joy of satiety, eternal knowledge, independence, ever-inexhaustible power and infinite strength these are the six 'limbs' of the great God for realization. 

14. They (the knowers) call the following as seven subtle principles viz. the five subtle elements, mind and the soul. That which is the cause (of this creation) is the Primordial Matter (Prakruti). It is also called Pradhāna, the bondage by moral discipline (a better v.1. viniyoga - application). 

15. There is a Shakti (power) latent in form in the Prakruti. It is mentioned in the Vedas as the cause (of the world) and the source of origin of Brahma. In front of her is her Puruşha, Parameşhthi, the great God, the very embodiment of the Reality. 

16. He alone is Brahma, the great Yogin, the supreme Ātman, the huge one pervading the sky, the ancient one comprehensible only through the Vedas. He alone is the only Rudra, the cause of annihilation, the unmanifest, the sole seed, the universe itself. 

17. Some say he is one: Others say that he is many. Some say that you are the self. Some say that he is another. The great God (Mahadeva) is proclaimed as minuter than an atom and greater than the greatest and omniformed (with the universe as his form). 

18. The intelligent person who realizes that supreme Master, immanent in the cavity of the heart, that ancient Puruşha, whose form is the manifested universe and is the highest goal of the wise and the intelligent, transcends the sphere of Buddhi (intelligence).