Prefatory 0
In plain words
This text is the chapter examining knowledge and conduct in the Sri Devikalottara, one of the subsidiary Agamas. Paramasiva gave it in grace to the Goddess Paramasivai. It is the essence of the essence of all the Agamas, and it sets out the knowledge and the conduct that ripe souls are fit to reach once their time of ripening has come. Living beings have fallen into the sea of sorrow whose shape is birth and death; they sink, are thrown up again, and flounder. This text is a rare and great boat: it holds them up, carries them by the straight way and brings them to the far shore called liberation. So may all who long for liberation go straight on with its help, not wandering bewildered and off the road, and reach that supreme state of peace and bliss. From his sacred mouth the Lord poured the Devikalottara into the Goddess's ear. The great fruit of the knowledge that searches it out is the heavenly nectar of bliss: the elephant of grace and of non-dual silence. Contemplate it in the heart.
Word for word
Introduction: This Jnana-Achara-Vichara chapter in Sri Devikalottara, one of the subsidiary Agamas, was graciously imparted by Paramasiva to the Goddess. As the essence of the essence of all Agamas, it explains the knowledge and conduct that mature souls should attain after their maturation. It is a rare and great boat: it supports living beings who have fallen into the ocean of samsara’s suffering, in the form of birth and death, and are submerged, tossed up and struggling; it carries them by the direct way to the further shore called liberation. May all who desire liberation, without wandering bewildered and losing the way, proceed directly with its aid and attain that supreme state of peace and bliss. Invocation: Contemplate within the heart the gracious elephant of non-dual silence, the heavenly nectar of bliss that is the great fruit of the knowledge of Devikalottara, imparted from the Lord’s sacred mouth into the Goddess’s ear.