Kailas is where Shiva lives with his spouse, Parvarhi. It is somewhere on the heights of the Himalayas. But everyone has his Himalaya, as everyone has his own India. When you have made an abstraction of the world, you inevitably land in Kailas. You dance in the crematorium with a garland of skulls around your neck. You may not open your eyes, but Kama, the god of love, makes you open your eyes so that you might see the beautiful Parvathi, daughter of Himalaya, that she might be your bride. You burn Kama, the god of love, you burn him with the light of your third eye. Parvathi turns to asceticism. Then the eighty thousand gods pray. You give in. Who will not surrender when the gods pray? So, finally you marry on the heights of Kailas, with the swans on the lake and the Ganges, who is jealous, flowing downward away. For Shiva now has a wife. Shiva and Parvathi are happy. Every day in the afternoon they play chess. You can see it in Ellora. And so you see all animals, men, and archangels enjoy their well-being, day after day.

But Ravana, the ten-headed monster, is not happy. He would raise the earth and shake it; such is his presence, such is his pride. Shiva and Parvathi are playing chess. Parvathi is frightened; so Shiva puts his arm about her waist. Man protects woman. The Absolute protects its expression. Ravana with his ten heads and his twenty hands makes the world spin like a top. But Shiva touches the world with his big toe. That is all. And now animals, men, and archangels may live in peace again.