Shloka 41
Śivapūjā-stuti: Deva-Ṛṣi-Paramparāyāṃ Śaṃkara-caritasya Prastāvaḥ
Prelude to Śaṃkara’s narrative and the lineage of Śiva-worship
पार्थिवेशसमर्चातः पुनस्सोऽभूत्पुमान्वरः । मासं स्त्री पुरुषो मासमेवं स्त्रीत्वं न्यवर्त्तत
pārthiveśasamarcātaḥ punasso'bhūtpumānvaraḥ | māsaṃ strī puruṣo māsamevaṃ strītvaṃ nyavarttata
By worshipping Pārthiveśa (Śiva’s earthen Liṅga), he again became an excellent man. For one month he was a woman and for one month a man—thus, in this manner, the state of womanhood was repeatedly reversed.
Suta Goswami
Tattva Level: pashu
Shiva Form: Paśupatinātha
Sthala Purana: The verse centers on Pārthiveśa worship as the efficacious means by which Sudyumna regains male form; it is a ‘practice-māhātmya’ rather than a fixed jyotirliṅga legend.
Significance: Teaches that accessible liṅga-upāsanā can reverse even severe karmic conditions; in Siddhānta idiom, Śiva’s anugraha loosens pāśa when the paśu turns to proper worship.
Role: liberating
Offering: pushpa
FAQs
It highlights that devotion to Śiva through Liṅga-worship (especially the Pārthiva/earthen Liṅga) has the power to remove afflictions and restore one’s proper state, showing Śiva as Pati (the Lord) who releases the soul from limiting conditions.
Pārthiveśa is Saguna Śiva approached through a tangible Liṅga made of earth; the verse emphasizes that concrete ritual worship, performed with faith, becomes a channel for Śiva’s grace and transformative protection.
Pārthiva Liṅga pūjā—making an earthen Liṅga and worshipping it with mantra (such as the Pañcākṣarī, “Om Namaḥ Śivāya”), offerings, and steady bhakti—implied as a remedial and grace-invoking Shaiva practice.