Shloka 4
ततो विकारा अभवन् षोडशामीषु कञ्चन । उपधावन् विभूतीनां सर्वासामश्नुते गतिम् ॥ ४ ॥
tato vikārā abhavan ṣoḍaśāmīṣu kañcana upadhāvan vibhūtīnāṁ sarvāsām aśnute gatim
From that false ego the sixteen elements evolved as its transformations. When a devotee of Lord Śiva worships his manifestation in any one of these elements, the devotee gains all kinds of corresponding enjoyable opulences.
False ego transforms into the mind, ten senses (the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, hands, feet, voice, genitals and anus), and five physical elements (earth, water, fire, air and ether). Lord Śiva appears in a special liṅga form in each of these sixteen substances, which are worshiped individually as deities in various sacred locations of the universe. A devotee of Śiva may worship one of his particular liṅgas to obtain the mystic opulences pertaining to it. Thus Lord Śiva’s ākāśa-liṅga bestows the opulences of ether, his jyotir-liṅga bestows the opulences of fire, and so on.
FAQs
This verse describes the living being pursuing various manifestations and opulences; such pursuit leads one through their respective courses and results, implying movement within the realm of transformations rather than the Lord’s ultimate shelter.
The verse frames worldly experience as vikāra—modification—among a set of elemental categories, emphasizing that material life is dynamic change and not the soul’s permanent resting place.
Use opulence as service potential rather than an object of pursuit—see it as a temporary transformation and redirect desire toward bhakti, the stable shelter beyond changing outcomes.