Shiva Purana — Rudra Samhita, Shloka 5
कामप्रभावः (कामा॑स्य प्रभाववर्णनम्) — The Power of Kāma and the (Ineffective) Attempt to Delude Śiva
समधोर्मदनस्यासन्प्रयासा निप्फला मुने । जगाम स मम स्थानं निवृत्त्य विमदस्तदा
samadhormadanasyāsanprayāsā nipphalā mune | jagāma sa mama sthānaṃ nivṛttya vimadastadā
أيها الحكيم، إن مساعي مَدَنا (كاما) الذي كان ينازعني قد صارت بلا ثمرة. ثم انسحب ورجع إلى مقامه، وقد خمد كبرياؤه وانكسر غروره.
Suta Goswami
Tattva Level: pati
Shiva Form: Dakṣiṇāmūrti
Sthala Purana: Not a Jyotirliṅga episode; the verse frames Kāma’s failure before Śiva’s yogic transcendence, a common purāṇic motif establishing Śiva’s unsurpassable lordship (aiśvarya) over kāma and māyā.
Significance: Didactic: reinforces vairāgya and the superiority of yoga-bhakti to sense-impulse; inspires restraint and surrender to Śiva.
FAQs
It highlights Shiva as Pati—the supreme Lord whose yogic sovereignty makes desire powerless; when ego and passion fail, humility and withdrawal become the natural turning toward higher truth.
As Saguna Shiva, the Lord is portrayed as the master of senses and mind; Linga-worship trains the devotee to internalize that mastery, letting desire and pride become ‘niṣphala’ (ineffective) before Shiva-consciousness.
A practical takeaway is sense-restraint with japa of the Panchakshara (“Om Namaḥ Śivāya”) and meditation on Shiva’s steadiness, cultivating vimada (humility) and nivṛtti (withdrawal from compulsive desire).