Happy Ardra Nakshatra!

There is One Real. Call it Śiva. This Parabrahman is formless, stainless, one without a second, changeless, beyond the highest. This Maheśvara is all-knowing, all-doing, sovereign of all, self-luminous, without beginning or end. All embodied souls, jīvas, all the born creatures, are portions of Me, like sparks of the fire. But human birth is the most important, for it is then that one becomes awake, aware of his state of bondage and the necessity of release. It is then that one is in a position to take steps for his liberation from bondage’s hold. Humans have a self-will and are not totally subject to the impulses and drives of nature as are other creatures. It is only on this Earth—and that, too, in a human body endowed with a soul—that one can choose one’s path for spiritual progress. But not all are aware of the precious opportunity afforded by human birth, which is truly the ladder to liberation.

Kulārṇava Tantra