Shloka 8
चेत्पिबेन्न विषं रुद्रो दयां कृत्वा महेश्वरः । भवेन्नष्टाऽखिला माया तव व्याजरते हरे
cetpibenna viṣaṃ rudro dayāṃ kṛtvā maheśvaraḥ | bhavennaṣṭā'khilā māyā tava vyājarate hare
If Rudra—Mahādeva, Mahēśvara—out of compassion were not to drink the poison, then all your māyā, O Hari, would be ruined and undone by your own pretense.
The Devas (addressing Lord Viṣṇu/Hari during the poison-crisis narrative, as preserved in Sūta’s narration)
Tattva Level: pati
Shiva Form: Nīlakaṇṭha
Sthala Purana: Allusion to Śiva’s halāhala-pāna during Samudra-manthana; the poison is held in the throat, giving the epithet Nīlakaṇṭha.
Significance: Remembering Nīlakaṇṭha is taught as protective and stabilizing in crises, emphasizing Śiva as the sustainer who bears the world’s toxicity.
Role: nurturing
Cosmic Event: Samudra-manthana poison-crisis (halāhala emergence)
FAQs
It presents Śiva as Mahēśvara whose compassion preserves the cosmos: when the worlds face dissolution through poison (a symbol of destructive impurity and imbalance), Śiva accepts the burden to protect beings, revealing Pati as the merciful guardian of order.
The verse highlights Saguna Śiva—Rudra/Mahēśvara—acting within creation to uphold dharma and the worlds. Linga-worship contemplates this same Lord as the stable axis of the cosmos, the refuge when māyā and its effects become unbearable.
A practical takeaway is to remember Śiva’s protective compassion through japa of the Pañcākṣarī (“Om Namaḥ Śivāya”) and offering water to the Śiva-liṅga, praying for inner purification so the ‘poison’ of negativity and impurity is absorbed and transformed.