Śivasaṃhitā 1.45

Even the gods are impermanent. This radical assertion of the Śivasaṃhitā places the ātman above any particular divine form. Impermanence is not a defect of inferior beings: it affects all forms, however exalted. Only the formless, only nirguṇa Brahman, transcends time and endures.

The compound āgamā’pāyino (those who come and go, who are born and die) describes the anitya (impermanent). The suffix nāśyatva indicates the quality of being destructible. Īśvarādi (Īśvara and the others) explicitly includes cosmic deities in this category of the perishable—a philosophical audacity that places the text beyond conventional theism.

This verse has notable parallels with the Buddhist doctrine of impermanence (anicca) and with the Kāṭha Upaniṣad, which states that even the gods fear death. The Śivasaṃhitā uses this teaching to orient the yogi toward a goal that no devotional worship—however sincere—can reach without knowledge of the impersonal ātman.