364 The Mahimnastava, or a Hymn to Shiva. QMay, 



Thou art verily that incomprehensible truth which the self-control- 

 led devotees contemplate when they put their fingers to their nostrils 

 and fix their thoughts, abstracted from all external impressions, within 

 their minds, and when through joy their hairs stand on end, and they, 

 as if immersed in the sea of delight, feel themselves happy, plunged 

 in the waters of immortality. 



*T faff ^TtTt# wf*T^ f% *pN 5T wftf IR<II 



Thou art the sun — thou the moon— thou the air—thou thyself 

 fire — thou art water — thou art sky — thou the earth — and thou the 

 spirit. With such expressions did the ancients define thy essence. 

 But as for ourselves, we acknowledge that we know no substance 

 which thou pervadest not. 



The mystical and immutible Om which being composed of the 

 three letters a u m signify successively the three Vedas {Rich, Ydjus 

 and Samari) — the three states of life (awaking, dreaming, sleeping) — 

 the three worlds (heaven, earth, and hell) — the three gods (of the triad, 

 Brahma', Vishnu, and Maheshwara) — and which by its nasal 

 sound is indicative of thy fourth office as supreme lord of all— ever 

 expresses and sets forth thy collective and single forms. 





