Shiva Purana — Rudra Samhita, Shloka 59
तुलसी-शङ्खचूडोपाख्यानम् — Viṣṇu’s Disguise and the Tulasī Episode
Prelude to Śaṅkhacūḍa’s Fall
इति श्रुत्वा वचश्शंभोः प्रसन्ना तु तुलस्यभूत् । तद्देहं च परित्यज्य दिव्यरूपा बभूव ह
iti śrutvā vacaśśaṃbhoḥ prasannā tu tulasyabhūt | taddehaṃ ca parityajya divyarūpā babhūva ha
Ayant entendu les paroles de Śambhu (le Seigneur Śiva), elle fut comblée de joie et devint Tulasī. Délaissant son ancien corps, elle revêtit véritablement une forme divine et rayonnante.
Suta Goswami
Tattva Level: pati
Shiva Form: Mahadeva
Sthala Purana: The episode frames Śiva’s gracious speech as transformative: by Śambhu’s anugraha the woman attains a purified state symbolized as Tulasī, a paradigmatic ‘sacralization of matter’ that later supports tīrtha/śālagrāma traditions rather than a specific jyotirliṅga origin.
Significance: Highlights the Śaiva Siddhānta theme that grace (anugraha) can transmute embodied limitation into a divinized condition, making later worship-materials (plant, river, stone) vehicles of merit.
Offering: pushpa
FAQs
It highlights Śiva’s anugraha (grace): when the soul becomes prasanna (purified and receptive) through hearing the Lord’s truth, old karmic identity is relinquished and a higher, divinized state is attained.
The verse emphasizes Saguna Śiva as Śambhu who speaks and blesses; devotion to the manifest Lord—often approached through Liṅga worship and śravaṇa (hearing sacred narration)—becomes the channel for purification and upliftment.
Śravaṇa and smaraṇa of Śiva-kathā (hearing and remembering Śiva’s words) is central; as a practical takeaway, one may pair daily recitation of “Om Namaḥ Śivāya” with attentive listening/reading of the Shiva Purana to cultivate prasāda (inner clarity).