18. Why had he his three eyes, and so fierce a form; was he absolute in himself or delegated by any other? What was his errand and his act; and was it a mere shadow or having a shadow (helpmate) of its substance (_i.e._ máya or Illusion)? 19. Vasishtha replied:—This being is named Rudra or fierce, for his being the aggregate of Egoism. He is full of his self-pride, and the form in which I beheld him, was that of a clear vacuity. 20. This lord was of the form of vacuum, and of the hue and resplendence of vacuity; and it is on account of his being the essence of the vacuous intellect, that he is represented as the cerulean sky. 21. Being the soul of all beings, and being present in all places, he is represented in his gigantic form; as his five faces, serve as representations of his five internal organs of sense. 22. The external organs of sense (together with their objects and faculties), and the five members of his body, are represented by his ten arms on both sides of his body. 23. This Lord of creation together with all living bodies and mankind, are resorbed in the supreme One at the final dissolution of the world; and when he is let out to pass from the unity, he then appears in this form. 24. He is but a part of the eternal soul, and has no visible body or form of his own; but is thought of in the said form by the erroneous conception of men. 25. Having proceeded from the vacuum of the Intellect, the lord Rudra is posited in the material vacuum or firmament; and has his residence also in the bodies of living beings in the form of air (or vital breath). 26. The aeriform Rudra comes to be exhausted in course of time, and then by forsaking the animated bodies, he returns to resort to the reservoir of eternal rest and peace. 27. The three qualities, the three times, the three intellectual faculties of the mind, understanding and egoism; the three vedas, and the three letters of the sacred syllable of om, are the three eyes of Rudra. 28. The trident of Rudra is the symbol of his sceptre, and it is held in his hand, to imply his having the dominion of the three worlds under his hold. 29. He is represented as having a living body and soul, to indicate his being the personality and personification of the egoism of all living beings, and that there is no living body apart from himself. 30. It is his nature and business, to provide to all living creatures, according to their wants and desert; and is therefore manifested in the form of Siva, which is the divine Intellect in the form of air. 31. This Lord having at last destroyed and devoured the whole creation, rests himself in perfect peace, and becomes of the form of pure air and of the blue firmament. 32. After affecting the destruction of the world, he drinks down and drenches up the universal ocean; and then being quite satiate, he rests himself in perfect peace and inaction.