Shloka 15
एते कथं समायाता विष्णुब्रह्मादयस्सुराः । तव यज्ञे विना शंभुं स्वप्रभुं मुनयस्तथा
ete kathaṃ samāyātā viṣṇubrahmādayassurāḥ | tava yajñe vinā śaṃbhuṃ svaprabhuṃ munayastathā
How have these gods—Viṣṇu, Brahmā, and the others—come here to your sacrifice? And how have the sages, too, arrived at your yajña without Śambhu, their own Lord?
Satī (addressing Dakṣa, questioning the omission of Śiva at Dakṣa’s sacrifice)
Tattva Level: pasha
Shiva Form: Mahādeva
Significance: Depicts the paradox of a ‘successful’ assembly that is metaphysically defective: a yajña without Śiva is under pāśa (bondage/ignorance) and headed toward collapse.
Shakti Form: Satī
Role: teaching
Offering: naivedya
FAQs
The verse highlights that even the greatest gods and sages are not independent of Śiva (Pati). A yajña performed while disregarding the Supreme Lord becomes an act of ego and incompleteness, lacking the grace that perfects ritual into liberation.
By calling Śiva “Śambhu” and “svaprabhu,” the verse affirms Saguna Śiva as the accessible Lord who must be honored in worship. In Shaiva practice, the Liṅga is the focal form through which devotion and reverence are offered; excluding Śiva from a sacred rite contradicts the very foundation of auspicious worship.
The takeaway is to place Śiva at the center of all rites—begin worship with Śiva-smaraṇa and the Pañcākṣarī (“Om Namaḥ Śivāya”), and perform offerings with humility. Ritual without devotion and surrender to Śiva is considered spiritually deficient.