Śivadyuti (शिवद्युति)

Brahmā said, “On hearing His eulogy from the mouth of Viṣṇu, the delighted Śiva, the storehouse of kindness, revealed Himself to us along with His consort. He had five faces and three eyes, and the crescent moon on His forehead. He wore matted hair. He was white-complexioned and had wide eyes. His body had been dusted with bhasma. He had ten arms. His neck was blue in colour. He was bedecked with...

These chapters continue the story of creation from Lord Brahmā's point of view. Lord Siva's nature is incomprehensible, but we can understand certain aspects of His nirguṇa and saguṇa manifestations. Especially interesting is Chapter 8's description of the form of Śiva in letters, the akṣāra-mūrti.

Brahmā said, “O most excellent sage, we were eager to have a vision of the Lord. Our haughtiness had been curbed. O sage, we waited there patiently. Śiva, the protector of the distressed, remover of the haughtiness of the haughty and the undecaying Lord of everything, took mercy on us. There arose the sound ĀŪṀ in the prolated accent. The prolated vowel contains three mātrās or syllabic instants i...

Brahmā said, “When lord Nārāyaṇa continued to sleep, an excellent lotus of huge size came out of his navel as desired by Śiva. It was many yojanas wide and high. It had an endless stalk. The pericarp was of a brilliant hue. It was very beautiful with the brilliance of ten million suns. It was wonderful, excellent and worthy of vision, containing tattvas. Exerting Himself as before, Śiva the great...

The spiritual value in these chapters is the penetrating questions that Nārada asks his father Lord Brahmā, and Brahmā's answers. Specifically, Brahmā's description of the early stages of creation reveal deep insights about the nature of the material universe: basically, it's Māyā.

Brahmā said, “O brāhmaṇa , foremost among the celestial beings, you have inquired into a good matter, rendering service to the worlds and desiring their benefit. I shall explain to you the wholesome and salutary principles of Śiva, on hearing which the various sins of the people are destroyed. Neither the principles of Śiva nor His supreme wonderful forms have been understood by me or by Viṣṇu or...

Sūta said, “O brāhmaṇas, when Viṣṇu vanished, the excellent sage Nārada roamed over the Earth, seeing Śiva Liṅgas in the various holy centres with piety. In the course of his wanderings over the Earth, O brāhmaṇas, with his mind full of devotional pleasure, he saw many forms of Śiva that confer worldly pleasures and salvation on the devotees. On knowing that Nārada of divine vision was wandering o...

These chapters describe Nārada's bewilderment by Śiva's Māyā and his deliverance by Śrī Viṣṇu. This is how Śiva operates. He sets someone up and then delivers the payload. Boom! But then He also arranges for one's rescue, and the 1-2-3 combination delivers a powerful spiritual lesson.

The sages said, “Sūta, O Sūta of great intellect, a wonderful tale has been narrated by you. Blessed indeed is the Māyā of Śiva. All mobile and immobile things depend upon it. When the two attendants of Lord Rudra had left at their own will, what did the infuriated Nārada, the sage disquieted by Kāmadeva, do?” Sūta said, ”After cursing the two attendants of Śiva suitably, the sage, still under the...

The sages said, “Sūta, O blessed Sūta, disciple of Vyāsa, our obeisance to ye. It is due to thy grace that this wonderful story has been narrated to us, O dear one. Now tell us in detail, what Viṣṇu do after Nārada left Him? And where did Nārada go?” Vyāsa said, “On hearing these words of the sages, Sūta the wise and excellent scholar of Purāṇas remembered Śiva, the cause of different kinds of cre...

Sūta said, “O brāhmāṇas, once Nārada the excellent sage, son of Brahmā was inclined to perform penance, controlling himself very much. There is a very beautiful cave in the Himālaya mountain, near which the celestial river flows rapidly. There was a great hermitage of divine splendour which was resplendent in many ways. Nārada, endowed with divine vision, went there to perform penance. On seeing t...

Śiva Purāṇa Rudra-saṁhitā, Sṛṣṭikhaṇḍa opens with an invocation that mentions the creation. But according to the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad, the creation is an illusion. So, why do we need to know about it? Because seeing the creation as illusion happens only in the highest stage of consciousness, turīya; and who can claim to be in turīya? Most of us are in ordinary dualistic consciousness , in which the m...

1. “I bow to Śiva, the consort of Gaurī, the sole cause of the origin, sustenance and dissolution of the universe, who knows the Reality, who is of endless renown, who is the support of Māyā but is free from Her influence, whose form is incomprehensible, who is unsullied and who is perfect knowledge itself.” 2. “I salute Śiva who is prior to Prakṛti, who is calm and tranquil, the only excellent Pu...

Rudra-saṁhitā is the most important section of Śiva Purāṇa. It narrates many pastimes and līlās that give us an understanding of ŚIva’s nature and character. Whereas Vidyeśvara-saṁhitā told how to worship, please and satisfy Śiva, Rudra-saṁhitā describes His ways of dealing with His devotees and others.

“From such Scriptural passages as, ‘There is no multiplicity in Ātman’, ‘Indra through Māyā’ etc., we know that the Ātman, though ever unborn, verily appears to have become many {only) through Māyā.” —Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad Kārikā, 3.24 Śaṅkarācārya’s Commentary: It may be asked how the changelessness (Ajati) of Atman is the final conclusion of the Sruti. In reply it is said that if creation were real,...

“All this is verily Brahman. This Ātman (Self) is Brahman. This Ātman has four quarters.” All this is verily Brahman. All that has been said to consist merely of ĀŪṀ (in the previous mantra) is Brahman. That Brahman which has been described (as existing) inferentially is now pointed out as being directly known, by the passage, “This Self is Brahman”. The word this, meaning that which appears divid...

“Therefore I shall now describe that Brahman, which is free from limitations, unborn and which is the same throughout; and from this, one understands that it is not (in reality) born though it appears to be manifested everywhere.” —Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad Kārikā 3.1

Where does the world go when we go to sleep? Ādi Śaṅkarācārya writes in his commentary on Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad mantra 7 that it doesn't disappear—because like the rope mistaken for a snake, the world never existed in the first place. So when we change from jagrat to svapna and suṣupti consciousness, only the *delusion* that the world is real and permanent disappears.

Perfectionism is the delusion that anything or anyone in this material world can be perfect. Perfect according to what? Our faulty expectations? Not gonna happen. Spiritual perfection is found beginning in suśupti and reaches its peak in turīya. There is no perfection in jagrat and svapna, so we should let go of any expectations of perfection in those realms or states.

Some misinformed, motivated people think that when one reaches Self-realization, there is no more need for religious practices. This is not supported by scriptures.

These chapters conclude the Vidyeśvara-saṁhitā. They are the most necessary for performing worship that delights Śiva. Chanting the pañcākṣara-mantra, wearing tripuṇḍra and rudrākṣa are the most important methods of Śiva-bhakti. The methods of delighting Lord Śiva have been given first to create a foundation for understanding Śiva as portrayed in the succeeding Rudra-saṁhitā.

“A rudrākṣa of a single face is Śiva Himself. It bestows worldly pleasures and salvation. The sin of brāhmaṇa-slaughter is washed off at its mere sight. Where it is adored, Fortune cannot be far off. Harms and harassments perish. All desires are fulfilled. A rudrākṣa with two faces is Īśā, the Lord of devas. It bestows the fulfilment of all desires. Especially, that rudrākṣa quickly quells the sin...

Sūta said, “O sage Saunaka, highly intelligent, of the form of Śiva, noble-minded, please listen to the greatness of rudrākṣa. I shall explain it briefly. Rudrākṣa is the favourite bead of Śiva. It is highly sanctifying. It removes all sins by sight, contact and japas. O sage, formerly the greatness of rudrākṣa was declared to the Goddess by Śiva, the supreme soul, for rendering help to the worlds...

“He who makes tripuṇḍra duly with the ash is freed from groups of great as well as small sins. A brahmacārin, a householder, a forest-dweller or an ascetic, brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas, śūdras, the low and the base people become pure by means of tripuṇḍra and uddhūlana applied in the prescribed manner, and get heaps of sins destroyed. A person regularly applying the ash is freed from the sins of...

Sūta said, “The ashes of auspicious nature are of two types. I shall explain their characteristics; please listen attentively. One is known as Mahābhasma, and the second is known as svalpa (little). The Mahābhasma is of three types: śrauta (Vaidik), smārta (from smṛti rites) and laukika (from ordinary fire). Svalpa is ordinary ash which is of various forms. The śrauta and smārta ashes are to be us...