Shloka 45
मत्साम्यमेकलिंगस्य स्थापने फलमीरितम् । द्वितीये स्थापिते लिंगे मदैक्यं फलमेव हि
matsāmyamekaliṃgasya sthāpane phalamīritam | dvitīye sthāpite liṃge madaikyaṃ phalameva hi
It has been declared that installing a single Śiva-Liṅga grants the fruit of a state equal to Mine. But when a second Liṅga is installed, the fruit indeed is oneness with Me.
Lord Shiva
Tattva Level: pashu
Shiva Form: Sadāśiva
Sthala Purana: The verse teaches graded fruits (sāmya → aikya) from liṅga-sthāpana, a common purāṇic pattern of escalating merit culminating in liberation/union through Śiva’s grace.
Significance: Frames temple-building/liṅga-installation as a powerful salvific act: first conferring ‘sāyujya-like’ proximity/equality, then culminating in identity/oneness as the highest fruit (read in Siddhānta as liberation by grace, not ontological erasure of soul).
Role: liberating
Offering: naivedya
FAQs
The verse ranks the fruits of devotion: establishing one Linga grants proximity and equality with Shiva (sāmya), while repeated establishment deepens grace toward complete union (aikya), pointing to liberation as Shiva’s gift through worship.
The Linga is Saguna Shiva’s accessible emblem—worship and especially its consecrated establishment (sthāpana) becomes a powerful act of bhakti and dharma that matures the soul from nearness to intimate union with the Lord.
It suggests Linga-sthāpana and sustained Linga-pūjā—performed with purity, mantra-japa (notably the Panchakshara, “Om Namaḥ Śivāya”), and offerings such as water/abhisheka, supported by Shaiva disciplines like bhasma (tripuṇḍra) and rudrākṣa where applicable.