Chapter 31 - Hymn to Śiva

Sanatkumāra said:

1. O holy lord, please now recount to us how the dwellers of Dāru forest sought refuge in the lord, thanks to his grace.

Nandin said:

2. The self-born deity (Brahmā) spoke thus to the blessed residents of Dāru forest who had the lustre of fire due to their penance.

Brahmā said:

3. This great lord should be known as Maheśvara. Greater than him there is no other protection to be sought.

4-5. He is the lord of Devas, sages and pitṛs. During the period of dissolution at the end of a thousand sets of four yugas,^[1] the lord becomes Kala and destroys all living beings. He alone creates subjects by his splendour.

6. He is the thunderbolt-armed (Indra) and the discus-bearing Viṣṇu marked by Śrīvatsa. He is called Yogin in the Kṛta age, Kratu in the Tretā, Kālāgni in the Dvāpara and Dharmaketu in the Kali age. These four are the forms of Rudra which the learned men meditate upon.

8. The Liṅga should be symmetrical within and without; at the place of support of the swollen knob it should be octangular. In. other places it should be cylindrical and of attractive appearance. One should worship only such a fine Liṅga.

9. Tamas is the fire god; Rajas is Brahmā and Sattva is Viṣṇu. Although there is a single deity at the base these are glorified as its forms.^[2]

10-11. The leading brahmins who have conquered their anger and sense-organs, make the Liṅga endowed with all these traits. It is there that the Brahman stays along with all his yogic powers. Hence they worship (in the liṅga) lord Īśāna the lord of the chiefs of Devas, the unchanging deity.

12-17. The Liṅga should be cylindrical, splendid, of the size of a thumb, appealing to all and level in the umbilical region. It may have eight or sixteen equal angles. Its zone must be well built so that it should yield all desires. The supporting altar is twice its size or equal in size, and approved by all. The cow’s hole shall have all the characteristics of the altar and shall be a third of its size. O excellent brahmins, the border all round shall be at least one yava in breadth. The Liṅga shall be made of gold, silver or copper. The altar shall extend up to thrice its size all round. It (the altar) shall be circular, triangular, quadrangular or hexagonal in shape. It shall be free from cracks, and with all characteristics clearly defined. After installing it duly in accordance with the rules governing worship, O brahmins, the Kalaśa (water-pot) shall be placed in the middle of the altar.

18. A piece of gold and cereals^[3] shall be placed within it. The holy water shall then be inspired with the Mantras of

the five auspicious Brahmans^[4] (Sadyojāta etc). The devotee shall thereafter sprinkle the Liṅga with the holy water repeating the sacred five mantras.

19. If you worship with such materials as are available you will attain Siddhi. All of you joined by your sons and kinsmen shall worship him with concentration and mental purity.

20. All of you with your palms joined in reverence shall resort to the trident-bearing lord. You will then see the lord of Devas who is inaccessible to persons with no self-control.

21-22. On seeing him your ignorance and sins will perish.

Thereafter forest-dwellers circumambulated Brahmā of unmeasured prowess and returned to Dāruvana. They propitiated the lord in the manner prescribed by Brahmā.

23-27. In the different dry tracts of land, or in the caves of the mountains or in the auspicious but isolated banks of the rivers they performed penances. Some stayed in water, looking splendid with moss clinging to them, some were exposed to the rain in the course of penance and some stood on the tips of their toes. Others lived on grains crushed by teeth. Others on grains crushed with pieces of rocks. Some adopted Vīrāsana postures and others were engaged in the activities of deer. Thus these wise devotees spent time in penance and worship. When a year was completed and Spring arrived, in that Kṛta age, the lord wanted to bless them with his grace. With sympathy towards his devotees, the delighted lord came to Dāru forest on the splendid mountain Himālaya.^[5]

28-32. The lord had vulgar traits. He was stark nude. He had smeared his limbs with ashes; His hands were engaged in whirling a firebrand. His eyes were red and tawny. Sometimes he laughed biosteriously, sometimes he sang surprisingly. Sometimes he danced amorously and sometimes he cried repeatedly. He roamed round the hermitages and begged for alms. He assumed forms of his choice by his māyā. When the lord thus came to the forest the sages eulogised him with devotion. By their pleasant countenance and in the company of their wives, sons and attendants, they greeted the lord with waters, garlands of variegated colour, incense and scents. They spoke to the lord thus:

33-35. “O lord of chief of Devas, please forgive whatever fault has been committed by us mentally, verbally and physically, out of our ignorance. O Rudra, your activities wonderful and incomprehensible are secret and unintelligible even to Brahmā and other Devas. We do not understand either your progress or regress?”

36. O lord of the universe, O supreme lord, you are as you are. Obeisance be to you. The sages of noble soul eulogise you as the lord of Devas, the supreme lord.

37. Obeisance to Bhava, to the splendid one, to the conceiver of all objects, to the source of their origin, to one of infinite strength and prowess and to the lord of all living beings.

38. Obeisance to the destroyer, to the tawny-coloured one, to the changing and the unchanging one, to one who bore the flow of the Gangetic waters and to the support of all. Obeisance to one who manifests in all the three Guṇas.

39. Obeisance to the Lord with three eyes, to the holder of the excellent trident, the bestower of pleasure^[6] to the fire god and the great Ātman.

40. Obeisance to the bulb-emblemed Śiva, to the lord of Gaṇas; to Kāla armed with a staff and a noose in his hands.

41-42. Obeisance to one who is the chief deity of the Vedic hymns, and who has hundred tongues. O lord, this entire universe is born out of your body whether it be of the past, present or future, whether it be mobile or immobile. O lord, welfare unto you. You protect and destroy everything. Hence be pleased with us.

43. Whatever man does out of ignorance or knowledge is done by the lord^[7] himself through his yogic Māyā.

44-46. After eulogising the lord with delighted inner soul, the sages endowed with austerities requested^[8] him—“Let us see you in your real form.” Then the delighted lord assumed his real form of three eyes. To see that form the lord granted them divine eyes. Looking at the three-eyed lord of Devas by the vision they had acquired, the dwellers of Dāruvana again eulogised the lord.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The period of dissolution is equal to a kalpa, or a night of Brahmā, equal to a period of four hundred thirty two million years of mortals.

[2]:

Cf. Devi Bhāga. 1.8.4; Brahmāṇḍa, prakriyā. 4.6; Mar. 40.18; Śiva-Purāṇa Vāyavīya 10.27; Liṅga, 1.1.22.

[3]:

sabījam—pañcākṣara-mantra-sahitam Śivatoṣiṇī. including the five-syllabled mantra ‘namaḥ śivāya’.

[4]:

brahmabhiḥ—sadyojātādimantraiḥ—with mantras beginning with ‘sadyojātāya namaḥ’.

[5]:

See p. 94 note 111.

[6]:

kandarpāya—kaṃ sukhaṃ tena darpayati harsayati, mohayati vā kandarpaḥ tasmai Śivatoṣiṇī. One who delights his devotees by giving them pleasure.

[7]:

bhagavān—It has been defined as—[utpattiṃ ca vināśaṃ ca bhūtānāmāgatiṃ gatim | vetti vidyāmavidyāṃ yaḥ sa vācyo bhagavāniti ||]—Viṣṇu quoted in Śivatoṣiṇī.

[8]:

yācanta—an archaic form for ayācanta.