Shloka 4
अध्याय ५५ — बाणस्य पुनर्युद्धप्रवृत्तिः
Bāṇa’s Renewed Engagement in Battle
सनत्कुमार उवाच । शृणु व्यास महाप्राज्ञ कथां च परमाद्भुताम् । कृष्णशंकरयोस्तात लोकलीलानुसारिणोः
sanatkumāra uvāca | śṛṇu vyāsa mahāprājña kathāṃ ca paramādbhutām | kṛṣṇaśaṃkarayostāta lokalīlānusāriṇoḥ
Sanatkumāra said: “Listen, O Vyāsa, great sage, to this most wondrous account—O dear one—concerning Kṛṣṇa and Śaṅkara, who conduct their divine play in harmony with the ways of the world.”
Sanatkumara
Tattva Level: pati
Shiva Form: Mahādeva
FAQs
It frames the coming episode as “paramādbhutā” (supremely wondrous) and presents Kṛṣṇa and Śaṅkara as divine realities who, out of grace, participate in loka-līlā—making transcendent truth accessible to embodied beings through story.
By emphasizing Śaṅkara’s līlā “in accordance with the world,” the verse supports Saguna worship: Shiva compassionately assumes relatable modes for devotees—an outlook that undergirds devotion to the Liṅga as a tangible focus for approaching the transcendent Pati.
The practical takeaway is attentive śravaṇa (devotional listening) to Shiva-kathā; in Shaiva practice this is commonly paired with japa of the Pañcākṣarī (Om Namaḥ Śivāya) to internalize the meaning of the narrative.