Shiva Purana — Vayaviya Samhita, Shloka 17
कालतत्त्वनिर्णयः / Doctrine of Kāla (Time) and Its Subordination to Śiva
यदैव दुःखितः कश्चित्तदैव सुखितः परः । दुर्विज्ञेयस्वभावस्य कालास्याहो विचित्रता
yadaiva duḥkhitaḥ kaścittadaiva sukhitaḥ paraḥ | durvijñeyasvabhāvasya kālāsyāho vicitratā
In dem Augenblick, da einer von Kummer getroffen wird, ist zur selben Zeit ein anderer glücklich. Ach—wie wundersam und schwer zu ergründen ist die Natur der Zeit (Kāla), deren Wege so schwer zu fassen sind.
Suta Goswami
Tattva Level: pasha
Shiva Form: Mahākāla
Jyotirlinga: Mahākāleśvara
Sthala Purana: Mahākāla is Śiva as Time itself; the Ujjayinī liṅga is famed as the Lord who subdues and transcends Kāla, granting fearlessness from death and the ripening of karma in right measure.
Significance: Darśana is sought for release from fear of death, pacification of adverse time/daśā, and steadiness amid life’s alternating sukha-duḥkha.
FAQs
It highlights the instability of worldly experience—sorrow and joy arise simultaneously for different beings—pointing the seeker toward vairagya and toward Shiva, the Pati (Lord) who alone is steady beyond the fluctuations governed by Kāla.
The Linga signifies the changeless reality of Shiva. By worshiping Saguna Shiva through the Linga, the devotee anchors the mind in what is constant, learning to witness Time’s alternating pleasures and pains without being bound by them.
Meditate on impermanence while repeating the Panchakshara mantra (Om Namaḥ Śivāya), and apply Tripuṇḍra bhasma as a reminder that all time-bound conditions end—strengthening detachment and devotion.