Shloka 61
तुलसी-शङ्खचूडोपाख्यानम् — Viṣṇu’s Disguise and the Tulasī Episode
Prelude to Śaṅkhacūḍa’s Fall
शैलोभूदच्युतस्सोऽपि तत्तीरे पुण्यदो नृणाम् । कुर्वंति तत्र कीटाश्च छिद्रं बहुविधं मुने
śailobhūdacyutasso'pi tattīre puṇyado nṛṇām | kurvaṃti tatra kīṭāśca chidraṃ bahuvidhaṃ mune
O sage, even that immovable rock was dislodged there; and that riverbank became a bestower of merit for people. In that very place, worms and insects bored holes of many kinds.
Suta Goswami
Tattva Level: pasha
Sthala Purana: Further tīrtha-māhātmya: the Gaṇḍakī bank becomes puṇya-prada; insects bore holes in stones—an etiological preface to the later sanctity of perforated stones (commonly associated with śālagrāma).
Significance: Merit accrues by visiting/bathing/collecting sanctified stones from the river; the bank itself is declared puṇya-da.
FAQs
It highlights tirtha-māhātmya: a Shiva-connected place becomes inherently purifying, so potent that even the “immovable” is altered—teaching that divine grace transforms both nature and the devotee’s karmic condition.
By praising the sanctity of Shiva’s associated tīra (bank), it supports Saguna Shiva devotion where physical sacred geography—near a Linga, shrine, or Shiva-event site—serves as a concrete aid to remembrance, worship, and inner purification.
Tīrtha-snāna (ritual bathing) with Shiva-smaraṇa and japa—especially the Panchākṣarī “Om Namaḥ Śivāya”—as a simple practice to receive puṇya and steady the mind toward liberation.