Shiva Purana — Rudra Samhita, Shloka 56
सेवातत्त्वप्रश्नः — The Question of Whom to Serve (Sevā) for the Removal of Suffering
एवं ज्ञानविमुक्तानां नास्ति दोष विकल्पना । विधिश्चैव तथा नास्ति विहिताविहिते तथा
evaṃ jñānavimuktānāṃ nāsti doṣa vikalpanā | vidhiścaiva tathā nāsti vihitāvihite tathā
So gilt: Für jene, die durch wahres Wissen befreit sind, gibt es weder Zuschreibung noch gedankliche Konstruktion von Schuld. Für sie greift nicht einmal der Bereich von Gebot und Verbot—weder das Vorgeschriebene noch das Untersagte.
Suta Goswami
Tattva Level: pashu
Shiva Form: Dakṣiṇāmūrti
Sthala Purana: Not a site-specific (sthāla) passage; it states the jñānin’s transcendence of doṣa-buddhi and of vidhi/niṣedha once liberating knowledge has arisen.
Significance: Frames the inner ‘tīrtha’ of jñāna: liberation is marked by cessation of pāśa as moral-imputational bondage (doṣa-vikalpa) and by spontaneous rightness rather than rule-driven religiosity.
Role: liberating
FAQs
It teaches that the jñānī who has attained liberation through Shiva-realizing knowledge is no longer bound by the ordinary mental accounting of sin and merit; such dualities belong to bondage (pāśa), not to freedom in Pati (Shiva).
Linga-worship and other saguna disciplines are vital means for purification and maturity; this verse describes the fruit-state where the realized devotee abides in Shiva-consciousness, beyond ritual obligation—without denying the necessity of worship for seekers.
It implies steady jñāna-yoga supported by Shaiva sādhanā—japa of the Pañcākṣarī (Om Namaḥ Śivāya), meditation on Shiva, and disciplined purity (often aided by bhasma and rudrākṣa) until inner freedom matures.