The Eternal of eternals, the Consciousness of the conscious, the One who animates many bodies —He is the primordial Sage, the Lord of wisdom, the All-faced. May He unite us completely with good understanding.

Here Brahman is called nitya (eternal) even among the eternals —not because others are temporal, but because their eternity is derived, while He is the foundation of time itself. He is cetanā (consciousness) that makes everything else conscious, the kavi (primordial sage/poet) whose “poetry” is the universe. Viśvatomukha (all-faced) means that all forms are His face. In our yoga practice, we pray to be “united with good understanding” —not a forced union but the natural recognition of our identity with the All. Buddhi (spiritual intellect) is the instrument of this union.