Shloka 453

Aśvatthāmā’s Stuti of Rudra and Śiva’s Empowerment (सौप्तिकपर्व, अध्याय ७)

Devanagari script

ये समाराध्य शूलाड्कं॑ भवसायुज्यमागता: । अन्न

Transliteration

ye samārādhya śūlāṅkaṃ bhavasāyujyam āgatāḥ |

Translation

Sañjaya sprach: „Diejenigen, die Bhava—Śiva, vom Dreizack gezeichnet—ordnungsgemäß verehrt haben, haben die Vereinigung mit ihm (sāyujya) erlangt. Sie sind seine Gefolgsleute und trinken stets den vierfachen Soma: Nahrung, den Saft der Soma-Ranke, Nektar und die Mondscheibe. Durch vedisches Selbststudium, die Bewahrung des brahmacarya, Askese und Zügelung der Sinne gewannen sie die Gnade des dreizacktragenden Herrn und gelangten in seinen Zustand.“

Word by Word

• ये: who (those who)
• ये: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: यद्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• समाराध्य: having worshipped / having propitiated
• Type: Verb
• Root: सम्-आ-राध्
• Form: ल्यप् (absolutive/gerund), Parasmaipada (usage-neutral here)

• शूलाङ्कम्: the trident-marked (one)
• शूलाङ्कम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: शूलाङ्क
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• भवस्य: of Bhava (Śiva)
• भवस्य: Sambandha
• Type: Noun
• Root: भव
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Singular

• सायुज्यम्: union/identity (with him)
• सायुज्यम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: सायुज्य
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• आगताः: have attained / have come (to)
• Type: Verb
• Root: आ-गम्
• Form: क्त (past passive participle), Masculine, Nominative, Plural

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Bhava (Śiva)
• Śūla (trident)
• Soma
• Soma-latā (Soma creeper)
• Amṛta (nectar)
• Candra-maṇḍala (moon orb)
• Pārṣadas/Gaṇas of Śiva (attendants, implied)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The passage links spiritual attainment (sāyujya with Śiva) to disciplined practice: Vedic study, brahmacarya, austerity, and sense-restraint, culminating in devoted worship of the trident-bearing Lord. Ethical self-mastery is presented as the foundation for divine proximity and liberation-like union.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes a class of Śiva’s attendants who have attained union with Bhava through worship and ascetic disciplines. He characterizes their exalted state by saying they continually partake of ‘four kinds of Soma’—symbolic forms of sacred nourishment and immortality associated with divine realms.