Shloka 33
बन्धमोक्षवर्णनम्
Bondage and Liberation: The Prakṛti–Karma Wheel and Śiva as the Transcendent Cause
स्थावरांकुरवद्भूमिमुद्भिद्य व्यक्त एव सः । स्वयंभूतं जातमिति स्वयंभूरिति तं विदुः
sthāvarāṃkuravadbhūmimudbhidya vyakta eva saḥ | svayaṃbhūtaṃ jātamiti svayaṃbhūriti taṃ viduḥ
Wie ein Spross, der die Erde durchbricht, wurde Er aus sich selbst offenbar. Da man sagt, Er sei als Selbstgeborener hervorgegangen, kennen die Weisen Ihn unter dem Namen „Svayambhū“, der selbstexistente Herr.
Sūta Gosvāmin (narrating to the sages at Naimiṣāraṇya)
Tattva Level: pati
Shiva Form: Liṅgodbhava
Jyotirlinga: Viśvanātha
Sthala Purana: The self-manifestation (svayaṃbhū) motif—like a sprout piercing earth—supports the kṣetra idea of a liṅga not installed by humans but revealed by Śiva’s will, grounding the sanctity of the site and its liṅga.
Significance: Svayaṃbhū-liṅga darśana is held to be especially potent, as the sign is self-revealed; it intensifies faith and accelerates jñāna and vairāgya.
FAQs
It affirms Shiva as Svayambhū—self-existent and self-manifest—teaching that the Supreme (Pati) is not produced by any other cause, yet compassionately becomes perceptible for devotees.
By describing Shiva’s ‘manifestation’ like a sprout emerging from earth, it supports the Purāṇic idea of the self-manifest Linga (svayambhū-liṅga): the formless Reality (Nirguṇa) allowing a worshipful, accessible form (Saguṇa) for bhakti.
Meditate on Shiva as self-luminous and self-arisen while offering simple Linga-upacāras (water, bilva) with japa of the Pañcākṣarī—“Om Namaḥ Śivāya”—to internalize that the Lord is revealed by grace, not manufactured by effort alone.