Shloka 157
बन्धमोक्षवर्णनम्
Bondage and Liberation: The Prakṛti–Karma Wheel and Śiva as the Transcendent Cause
येन केनाप्युपायेन यत्र कुत्रापि भूतले । शुद्धान्नभुक्सदा मौनीरहस्यं न प्रकाशयेत्
yena kenāpyupāyena yatra kutrāpi bhūtale | śuddhānnabhuksadā maunīrahasyaṃ na prakāśayet
By whatever means, and wherever one may be upon the earth, one should live on pure food, remain restrained in speech, and never disclose the sacred secret of Śiva’s worship and mantra to the unfit.
Suta Goswami
Tattva Level: pashu
Sthala Purana: Not a site-specific (sthāla) passage; it gives general sādhaka-niyamas for guarding mantra-rahasya and maintaining śuddhi.
Significance: Frames eligibility (adhikāra) for mantra/arcana: purity of food and speech-restraint are presented as prerequisites for Śiva-upāsanā to bear fruit.
FAQs
It teaches the shaiva discipline (niyama): purity of intake, restraint of speech, and protection of esoteric instructions, so the devotee’s mind becomes fit for Shiva-bhakti and liberation under Pati (Shiva).
Linga-worship is not merely external; it requires inner purity and controlled speech. Guarding the ‘rahasya’ implies that the mantra and procedures connected to Saguna Shiva’s worship are to be transmitted properly through qualified instruction.
Practice shuddhāhāra (pure diet), mauna or measured speech, and confidential japa/upāsanā—especially of the Panchāksharī—sharing mantra and methods only with a worthy seeker.