Shiva Purana — Rudra Samhita, Shloka 5
सृष्टिक्रमवर्णनम् / Description of the Sequence of Creation
उदानाच्च पुलस्त्यं हि वसिष्ठञ्च समानतः । क्रतुं त्वपानाच्छ्रोत्राभ्यामत्रिं दक्षं च प्राणतः
udānācca pulastyaṃ hi vasiṣṭhañca samānataḥ | kratuṃ tvapānācchrotrābhyāmatriṃ dakṣaṃ ca prāṇataḥ
ഉദാനത്തിൽ നിന്ന് പുലസ്ത്യനും അതുപോലെ വസിഷ്ഠനും ഉദ്ഭവിച്ചു. അപാനത്തിൽ നിന്ന് ക്രതുവും, രണ്ടു ചെവികളിൽ നിന്ന് അത്രിയും, പ്രാണത്തിൽ നിന്ന് ദക്ഷനും പ്രത്യക്ഷപ്പെട്ടു.
Sūta Gosvāmin (narrating the Rudra Saṃhitā account to the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya)
Tattva Level: pasha
Shiva Form: Sadyojāta
Cosmic Event: secondary creation: sages arise from prāṇa-vāyus and sense-organs
FAQs
It presents creation as arising through subtle powers (prāṇa and other vāyus), showing that embodied life and even great sages emerge from an ordered, divinely-governed cosmic process under Śiva’s supreme oversight (Pati), rather than from randomness.
By tracing revered seers and progenitors to subtle life-forces, the verse supports the Shaiva view that all manifested functions depend on the Lord’s śakti. Worship of the Liṅga (Saguna Śiva as the accessible support) aligns the devotee with that source from which prāṇa and creation proceed.
A practical takeaway is prāṇa-smarana (mindful awareness of breath) while japa of the Pañcākṣarī—“Om Namaḥ Śivāya”—recognizing prāṇa and apāna as Śiva’s energies; optionally accompanied by Tripuṇḍra (bhasma) and Rudrākṣa as Shaiva aids to steadiness.