19. The rays of light radiating from his body, gave it the appearance of a hill, filled with heaps of the crimson _kinsuka_ flowers, growing in mountain forests. 20. The rays of the living fire flashing from his trident gave it the glare of golden ringlets, fastened to the ears of all the sides of the sky. 21. The breath of his host, hurled down the ridges of mountains, which hung about them, like swinging cradles on earth. 22. His sable sword flashing with sombre light, darkened the disk of the sun; as it were by the smoke of the final conflagration of the earth. 23. Having appeared before the great sage, who was enraged as the raging sea, he soothed him to calmness as after a storm, by the gentle breath of his speech. 24. “The sages” said he, “are acquainted with the laws of nature, and know the past and future as present before them. They are never moved even with a motive to anything, and are far from being moved without a cause. 25. “You sages are observers of the multifarious rules of religions austerities, and we are observant of the endless and immutable laws of destiny; we honour you therefore for your holiness, and not from any other desire (of being blessed by you or exempted from your curse).” 26. Do not belie your righteousness by your rage, nor think to do us any harm, who are spared unhurt by the flames of final dissolution, and cannot be consumed by your curses. 27. We have destroyed the spheres of the universe and devoured legions of Rudras, millions of Brahmás and myriads of Vishnus (in the repeated revolutions of creation); what is it therefore that we cannot do? 28. We are appointed as devourers of all beings; and you are destined to be devoured by us. This is ordained by destiny herself, and not by any act of our own will. 29. It is the nature of flame to ascend upwards, and that of fluids to flow downward; it is destined for the food to be fed upon by its eaters, and that creation must come under its destruction by us. 30. Know this form of mine to be that of the Supreme Being, whose universal spirit acts in various forms, all over the universe. 31. To the unstained (clear) sight, there is no other agent or object here, except the supreme; but the stained sight (of the clear eyed), views many agents and objects (beside the one in all). 32. Agency and objectivity are terms, coined only by the short sighted; but they disappear before the enlarged view of the wise. 33. As flowers grow upon trees, so are animals born on earth; their growth and birth, as also their fall and death, are of their own spontaneity, and miscalled as their causality. 34. As the motion of the moon is caused by no casual cause, though they falsely attribute a causality to it; such is the course of death in the world of its own spontaneous nature.