Sanskrit · Devanagari
अथ हैनं शाण्डिल्यो महाशम्भुं पप्रच्छ—यतो वाचो निवर्तन्ते अप्राप्य मनसा सहेत्युक्तं ब्रह्म किमस्ति? को वा सर्वेश्वराधिपतिः? निर्गुणसगुणाभ्यां परः को वा? मूर्तामूर्ताभ्यां परः कर्ता कारयिता च कीदृश इति। अथ कैर्मन्त्रैः संसाराद्विमुच्य जीवः सद्यो मुक्तो भवति? को वा मन्त्राणामधिकारं समन्वेतीति।
IAST
atha hainaṃ śāṇḍilyo mahāśambhuṃ papraccha—yato vāco nivartante aprāpya manasā sahetyuktaṃ brahma kimasti? ko vā sarveśvarādhipatiḥ? nirguṇasaguṇābhyāṃ paraḥ ko vā? mūrtāmūrtābhyāṃ paraḥ kartā kārayitā ca kīdṛśa iti| atha kairmantraiḥ saṃsārādvimucya jīvaḥ sadyo mukto bhavati? ko vā mantrāṇāmadhikāraṃ samanvetīti|
Fresh English translation
Then Śāṇḍilya asked Mahāśambhu: ‘What is that Brahman of which it is said that words, together with the mind, turn back without reaching it? Who is the sovereign above every lord, beyond both the attributeless and the attributed, beyond both the formed and the formless? What is the nature of the agent who causes all action? By which mantras may a living being be freed from saṃsāra and attain liberation at once, and who possesses eligibility for those mantras?’