Verse 1

Verse 2

Verse 3

Verse 4

Verse 5

Verse 6

Verse 7

Verse 8

Verse 9

Verse 10

Verse 11

Verse 12

Verse 13

Verse 14

Verse 15

Verse 16

Verse 17

Verse 18

Verse 19

Verse 20

Verse 21

Verse 22

Verse 23

Verse 24

Verse 25

Verse 26

Verse 27

Verse 28

Verse 1

Om, obeisance unto that Blessed Lord, who is the primeval seed of the conscious purusa, the Supreme Controller — upon him we meditate.

Verse 2

In whom this universe rests, from whom it comes, by whom it exists, who himself is this all, and who is beyond both cause and effect — unto that self-existent one I surrender.

Verse 3

He who witnesses with unclouded vision both states of this universe manifest through his own energy — sometimes appearing, sometimes disappearing — he, the root of all selves, the Supreme beyond the supreme, may he protect me.

Verse 4

When, at the end of time, all the worlds and their rulers, along with every other cause, had dissolved, and a deep, impenetrable darkness prevailed, the almighty Lord shone resplendent even beyond that darkness.

Verse 5

Whose position not even the demigods or great sages can know — what then of an ordinary being trying to reach or describe it — like an actor moving through roles whose steps cannot be traced: may he protect me.

Verse 6

Desiring to see whose most auspicious feet, sages free from all attachment, truly saintly, wander in the forest observing their unseen vow, unblemished, friends to every being as if to their own soul — he is my refuge.

Verse 7

He for whom there is neither birth nor activity, neither name nor form, neither virtue nor fault, and yet who, through his own energy, assumes all of these according to time, for the dissolution and creation of the worlds.

Verse 8

Obeisance to him, the Supreme Controller, the Brahman of infinite potency, formless yet possessed of vast forms, whose every deed is wondrous.

Verse 9

Obeisance to him who is self-luminous, the witness, the Supreme Soul; obeisance to him who is beyond words, and beyond even mind and consciousness.

Verse 10

Obeisance to him who is attained through pure goodness, by the wise through freedom from fruitive action; obeisance to the Lord of liberation, the very awareness of the bliss beyond material existence.

Verse 11

Obeisance to him who is peaceful, who is fierce, who appears bound by nature yet upholds nature's own qualities and functions; to him who is without distinction, who is equanimous, who is the very embodiment of knowledge.

Verse 12

Obeisance to you, the knower of the field; the overseer of all, the witness; the Purusa who is the root of the self; obeisance to the root nature itself.

Verse 13

Obeisance to you, the seer of all sensory qualities, the cause behind every perception, described as if by the shadow of non-being, yet who is the true semblance of being.

Verse 14

Obeisance, obeisance again to you, the cause of everything, yet yourself uncaused, the wondrous cause; the great ocean of all scripture and tradition; obeisance to you, liberation itself, and the final refuge.

Verse 15

I offer obeisance to him whose spiritual warmth is covered as if by the kindling-sticks of material nature, whose cosmic intelligence bursts forth from the agitation of those qualities, who is self-luminous, free of all worldly convention through the state beyond action.

Verse 16

Obeisance to him who releases surrendered souls like me from the bonds of material entanglement, who is ever liberated, of boundless mercy, inexhaustible; who, through his partial expansion, is recognized as the inner witness within the mind of every embodied being.

Verse 17

Obeisance to him, the Lord, the embodiment of knowledge, difficult to attain for those attached to their own selves, dear ones, home, wealth, and family, free from any contact with material nature, meditated upon within their own hearts by liberated souls.

Verse 18

Those who desire religiosity, sense gratification, prosperity, or liberation attain their desired goal by worshiping him; what to speak of such blessings, he even grants an imperishable body — may that Lord of boundless mercy grant me release.

Verse 19

Those single-minded devotees who, surrendered to the Lord, desire nothing else for any purpose, sing of his most wondrous and auspicious deeds, remaining forever immersed in an ocean of bliss.

Verse 20

I worship him, the imperishable Absolute, the Supreme Controller beyond the supreme, the unmanifest, attainable only through spiritual yoga, beyond the senses, subtle as though far away and yet near, limitless, the original one, all-complete.

Verse 21

By whose small, partial potency the demigods headed by Brahma, the Vedas, and the worlds moving and unmoving are all created, made distinct by name and form.

Verse 22

Just as the flames of fire, or the rays of the sun, repeatedly emanate from and merge back into their own source of light, so too from him proceeds this flow of material qualities: intelligence, mind, the senses, and the creation of bodies.

Verse 23

He is not a demigod, a demon, a human, or an animal; not woman, neuter, or man, nor any creature; not a material quality nor an activity, neither being nor non-being — may that unlimited one, the residue remaining after every such negation, be glorified.

Verse 24

I have no wish to keep living, in this life or the next, wrapped as I am, inside and out, like one bound within a womb; what I desire is release from that covering over my own true vision, a covering time itself cannot destroy.

Verse 25

I offer obeisance to him who is the creator of the universe, who is the universe and yet beyond it, who is the knower of the universe, the soul of the universe, the unborn Brahman, the supreme abode.

Verse 26

I bow to that Lord of yoga, whom the yogis, their activities purified through yoga, perceive within their hearts, made manifest through the power of yoga.

Verse 27

Obeisance, obeisance again to you, who hold the three unbearable, forceful potencies, who are the very quality of all intelligence, protector of the surrendered, of boundless power, whose path is unattainable to those of uncontrolled senses.

Verse 28

That very Lord, of unsurpassable glory, whom I, deluded by false ego, fail to recognize as my own true self — before him I bow down.