लेलिह्यसे ग्रसमानः समन्ताल्- लोकान्समग्रान्वदनैर्ज्वलद्भिः । तेजोभिरापूर्य जगत्समग्रं भासस्तवोग्राः प्रतपन्ति विष्णो ॥
lelihyase grasamānaḥ samantāl- lokānsamagrānvadanairjvaladbhiḥ | tejobbhirāpūrya jagatsamagraṃ bhāsastavorāḥ pratapanti viṣṇo ||
Translation
Licking up all the worlds with Your flaming mouths, You are consuming them from all sides. Your fierce rays are filling the whole universe with their radiance and scorching it, O Vishnu.
Interpretation
The most terrifying vision: lelihyase grasamanah (licking up and consuming), with flaming mouths consuming all the worlds from all sides. And the radiance: tejo-bhir apurya jagat (filling the universe with brilliance), bhasas tavograh pratapanti (Your fierce rays are scorching). The fire of cosmic destruction and the fire of cosmic creation are the same fire — the brilliance is both creative and destructive. The absolute is beyond good and evil, beyond creation and destruction; it is the ground from which both arise and into which both dissolve.