Rudra-Śiva: Names, Two Natures, and the Logic of Epithets (रुद्रनाम-बहुरूपत्व-प्रकरणम्)
उमोवाच (भगवन् देवदेवेश नमस्ते वृषभध्वज । श्रोतुमिच्छाम्यहं देव धर्ममाश्रमिणां विभो ।।
tathāśramagataṃ dharmaṃ śṛṇu devi samāhitā | āśramāṇāṃ tu yo dharmaḥ kriyate brahmavādibhiḥ ||
Śrī Maheśvara sprach: „O Devī, höre mit gesammeltem und standhaftem Geist die dharma, die die āśramas betrifft. Was ich darlegen werde, ist die eigentliche Disziplin der āśramas, wie sie von den brahma-vādins—jenen Weisen, die der Lehre und Verwirklichung Brahmans hingegeben sind—festgesetzt und geübt wurde.“
श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच
Śiva frames āśrama-dharma as an authoritative, time-tested discipline: one should learn it with mental composure, and it is to be understood as the established practice of brahma-vādins (Vedic sages devoted to Brahman).
After Umā expresses the wish to hear the duties of those in the āśramas, Śrī Maheśvara begins his instruction, asking her to listen attentively as he presents the dharma defined by the sages.