Verse 11.17

Verse 11.17 “Wearing a crown, with mace and discus (in the right hands); a mass of radiance blazing forth in all directions: I behold Thee—to be beheld with difficulty—all around me, dazzling like a blazing fire (or) the Sun, beyond all (power of) comprehension. (294)

Oh Shri Hari, is it not the same old crown that adorns thy head now? How wonderful then that it shades with a lustre and glory unknown before? And is this not thine ever whirling wheel in thy upper hand? Oh Omnipresent Lord! I can recognise it as thy hand does not stop steadying it in its unnecessary motion. And is this not thy well-known mace to be seen in thy other hand? Are not both these lower hands without a missile, left free to hold the reins (of the horses)? Now have I realised that, to fulfil my Prayer, Thou, Oh Universal Spirit and the Lord of the universe, hast revealed, all of a sudden thine Omnipresent grandeur. How surpassingly transcendent is this great miracle!

I have hardly the strength to stand fast in this sea of wonderment: the mind itself is losing its bearings in this astonishment that leaves little time to take breath and bethink myself if there exists anything around me. Oh, what brilliance of thy Being Divine! It fills all. Before it, even the light of fire is dazzled: and the very sun pales like a glow-worm. Such divine brilliance is this splendour. Oh, behold, how the entire created universe is engulfed in this ocean of Light of thy Being, and the entire space is wrapped up in an array of world-destroying lightning: or as if a bed-post (cot—māca) has been raised on high in sky with the flames of world-consuming fires. And the divine eye too can hardly bear the sight.

Every moment, the splendour is increasing its refulgence and warmth; the body cannot stand it and even the divine sight is struck with its dazzling glory. It looks as though the terrific blaze of the fire of world-destruction that lay smouldering in the “third eye” of Maharudra (Lord Shiva) has rushed out with its opening and with the spread of this burning light, the all-consuming flames of the five fires (pañcāgnī) have set out to bum the whole created world to ashes. O Lord, such a miraculous mass of radiance your divine splendour is. For the first time in my life have I set my eyes on this unusual light. Oh, verily this all-filling light and splendour is without bounds.