Shiva Purana — Rudra Samhita, Shloka 18
अन्धक-प्रश्नः — Inquiry into Andhaka
Genealogy and Nature
तत्स्पर्शयोगाच्च महेश्वरस्य करौ च तस्याः स्खलितं मदांभः । शंभोर्ललाटे क्षणवह्नितप्तो विनिर्गतो भूरिजलस्य बिन्दुः
tatsparśayogācca maheśvarasya karau ca tasyāḥ skhalitaṃ madāṃbhaḥ | śaṃbhorlalāṭe kṣaṇavahnitapto vinirgato bhūrijalasya binduḥ
Durch die bloße Berührung mit Mahādeva glitt von ihren Händen eine feuchte Flüssigkeit wie Ichor (māda) herab. Als jener Tropfen Śambhus Stirn traf, wurde er augenblicklich wie von Feuer erhitzt und brach hervor: eine einzige Wasserperle aus überreicher Fülle.
Sūta Gosvāmin (narrating to the sages at Naimiṣāraṇya)
Tattva Level: pasha
Shiva Form: Mahādeva
Sthala Purana: A single bindu (drop) produced through Śiva-Śakti contact, heated on Śiva’s forehead, becomes the causal seed for a fearsome emergence—mythically explaining how a minute ‘cause’ in divine līlā can precipitate vast cosmic effects.
Significance: Teaches vigilance about the subtle origins of bondage: from a ‘bindu’ of tamas/impurity can arise overwhelming obscuration; thus one seeks Śiva’s anugraha and purification.
Shakti Form: Pārvatī
Role: creative
Cosmic Event: Mythic ‘bindu-udbhava’ event (seed-drop catalyzing manifestation).
FAQs
It portrays Śiva as the transforming Pati: even a single drop that touches Him is instantly purified and transmuted by His inner fire (jñāna-śakti), pointing to how contact with Śiva burns impurities and leads the soul toward liberation.
Śambhu’s forehead signifies the seat of transcendent power (often associated with the third-eye principle). In Saguna worship, devotees contemplate Śiva as the immediate purifier—whose mere presence sanctifies offerings—mirroring how Linga-pūjā treats every upacāra as made sacred by contact with Śiva.
Meditate on Śiva’s fiery purity at the brow (ājñā-cakra focus) while repeating the Pañcākṣarī “Om Namaḥ Śivāya,” and offer water in abhiṣeka with the intention that Śiva’s grace ‘heats’ and purifies inner mala (impurity).