Text 42
tataḥ karatalī-kṛtya
vyāpi hālāhalaṁ viṣam
abhakṣayan mahā-devaḥ
kṛpayā bhūta-bhāvanaḥ
tataḥ — thereafter; karatalī-kṛtya — taking in his hand; vyāpi — widespread; hālāhalam — called hālahala; viṣam — poison; abhakṣayat — drank; mahā-devaḥ — Lord Śiva; kṛpayā — out of compassion; bhūta-bhāvanaḥ — for the welfare of all living entities.
Thereafter, Lord Śiva, who is dedicated to auspicious, benevolent work for humanity, compassionately took the whole quantity of poison in his palm and drank it.
Although there was such a great quantity of poison that it spread all over the universe, Lord Śiva had such great power that he reduced the poison to a small quantity so that he could hold it in his palm. One should not try to imitate Lord Śiva. Lord Śiva can do whatever he likes, but those who try to imitate Lord Śiva by smoking ganja and other poisonous things will certainly be killed because of such activities.