Shloka 62
Rudra-Śiva: Names, Two Natures, and the Logic of Epithets (रुद्रनाम-बहुरूपत्व-प्रकरणम्)
श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच ब्राह्मणा लोकसारेण सृष्टा धात्रा गुणार्थिना । लोकांस्तारयितुं कृत्स्नान् मर्त्येषु क्षितिदेवता:
śrīmaheśvara uvāca | brāhmaṇā lokasāreṇa sṛṣṭā dhātrā guṇārthinā | lokāṁstārayituṁ kṛtsnān martyeṣu kṣitidevatāḥ ||
Śrī Maheśvara sprach: „O Devī, der Schöpfer (Dhātṛ), der das Spiel und die Frucht der guṇas begehrte, ließ im sterblichen Menschenreich die Brāhmaṇas aus dem eigentlichen Wesen des Kosmos hervorgehen, damit alle Welten hinübergeleitet würden zu Heil und Befreiung. Unter den Menschen heißen sie die ‘Gottheiten der Erde’; darum will ich zuerst ihre dharma, ihre Riten und die daraus entspringenden Früchte schildern, denn die dharma, die in den Brāhmaṇas gefunden wird, gilt als die höchste dharma.“
श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse asserts that Brāhmaṇas are created from the ‘essence of the world’ to guide and uplift society; hence their dharma—grounded in learning, restraint, and ritual responsibility—is presented as paradigmatic and ‘highest’ in the text’s ethical hierarchy.
Śiva (Śrī Maheśvara) addresses Devī and begins a discourse on Brāhmaṇa-dharma, explaining their cosmic origin by the Creator and announcing that he will first describe their duties and the results of their prescribed actions.