Text 26] Chanting the Song Sung by Lord Śiva
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them constantly. In pictures, Lord Śiva is generally painted white, but here we find that the color of his skin is not exactly white but is like molten gold, or a glowing yellowish color. Because Lord Śiva is always very, very merciful, his name is Āśutoṣa. Amongst all the demigods, Lord Śiva can be pacified even by the lowest class of men, who need only offer him obeisances and leaves of a  bael  tree. Thus his name is Āśutoṣa, which means that he is pleased very quickly.
Generally those who are very fond of material prosperity approach Lord Śiva for such benediction. The lord, being very merciful, quickly awards all the blessings the devotee asks of him. The demons take advantage of this leniency and sometimes take benedictions from Lord Śiva which can be very dangerous to others. For instance, Vṛkāsura took a benediction from Lord Śiva by which he could kill everyone he touched on the head. Although Lord Śiva sometimes very liberally gives such benedictions to his devotees, the difficulty is that the demons, being very cunning, sometimes want to experiment improperly with such benedictions. For instance, after receiving his benediction, Vṛkāsura tried to touch the head of Lord Śiva. Devotees of Lord Viṣṇu, however, have no desire for such benedictions, and Lord Viṣṇu does not give His devotees benedictions which would cause disturbance to the whole world.
TEXT 26
स तान् प्रपन्नार्तिहरो भगवान्धर्मवत्सलः । 
    धर्मज्ञान् शीलसम्पन्नान् प्रीतः प्रीतानुवाच ह ॥ २६ ॥
sa tān prapannārti-haro 
    bhagavān dharma-vatsalaḥ 
    dharma-jñān śīla-sampannān 
    prītaḥ prītān uvāca ha
saḥ—Lord Śiva; tān—them; prapanna-ārti-haraḥ—one who drives away all kinds of dangers; bhagavān—the lord; dharma-vatsalaḥ—very much fond of religious principles; dharma-jñān—persons who are aware of religious principles; śīla-sampannān—very well behaved; prītaḥ—being pleased; prītān—of very gentle behavior; uvāca—talked with them; ha—in the past.
TRANSLATION
Lord Śiva became very pleased with the Pracetās because generally Lord Śiva is the protector of pious persons and persons of gentle behavior. Being very much pleased with the princes, he began to speak as follows.