Shiva Purana — Rudra Samhita, Shloka 56
सेवातत्त्वप्रश्नः — The Question of Whom to Serve (Sevā) for the Removal of Suffering
एवं ज्ञानविमुक्तानां नास्ति दोष विकल्पना । विधिश्चैव तथा नास्ति विहिताविहिते तथा
evaṃ jñānavimuktānāṃ nāsti doṣa vikalpanā | vidhiścaiva tathā nāsti vihitāvihite tathā
अशा रीतीने ज्ञानाने मुक्त झालेल्यांना दोषाची कल्पना उरत नाही. त्यांच्यासाठी विधी-निषेधाचे क्षेत्रही नाही—न विहित, न अविहित।
Suta Goswami
Tattva Level: pashu
Shiva Form: Dakṣiṇāmūrti
Sthala Purana: Not a site-specific (sthāla) passage; it states the jñānin’s transcendence of doṣa-buddhi and of vidhi/niṣedha once liberating knowledge has arisen.
Significance: Frames the inner ‘tīrtha’ of jñāna: liberation is marked by cessation of pāśa as moral-imputational bondage (doṣa-vikalpa) and by spontaneous rightness rather than rule-driven religiosity.
Role: liberating
FAQs
It teaches that the jñānī who has attained liberation through Shiva-realizing knowledge is no longer bound by the ordinary mental accounting of sin and merit; such dualities belong to bondage (pāśa), not to freedom in Pati (Shiva).
Linga-worship and other saguna disciplines are vital means for purification and maturity; this verse describes the fruit-state where the realized devotee abides in Shiva-consciousness, beyond ritual obligation—without denying the necessity of worship for seekers.
It implies steady jñāna-yoga supported by Shaiva sādhanā—japa of the Pañcākṣarī (Om Namaḥ Śivāya), meditation on Shiva, and disciplined purity (often aided by bhasma and rudrākṣa) until inner freedom matures.