Shiva Purana — Vayaviya Samhita, Shloka 19
शिवस्य परापरब्रह्मस्वरूपनिर्णयः / Determination of Śiva as Higher and Lower Brahman
कालः कार्यप्रपञ्चस्य परिणामैककारणम् । एषामीशो ऽधिपो धाता प्रवर्तकनिवर्तकः
kālaḥ kāryaprapañcasya pariṇāmaikakāraṇam | eṣāmīśo 'dhipo dhātā pravartakanivartakaḥ
Masa ialah satu-satunya sebab perubahan bagi seluruh hamparan akibat yang termanifest. Dialah Tuhan dan penguasa atas semuanya, Penentu yang memelihara tertibnya, yang menggerakkan proses dan juga menghentikannya.
Suta Goswami
Tattva Level: pati
Shiva Form: Mahakala
Jyotirlinga: Mahākāleśvara
Sthala Purana: Mahākāla as Kāla’s lord: the deity who subdues Time and grants fearlessness; in Ujjayinī tradition, Śiva is worshipped as Mahākāleśvara, the sovereign over kāla and death.
Significance: Worship of Mahākāla is sought for protection from untimely death, mastery over fear of time/decay, and steadiness in dharma; especially potent in pradoṣa and śivarātri observances.
Type: mahamrityunjaya
Shakti Form: Kali
Role: destructive
Offering: dhupa
Cosmic Event: Mahāpralaya motif implicit: kāla as driver of pariṇāma and cessation under Īśvara.
FAQs
It teaches that all worldly experience is governed by change (pariṇāma) through Kāla, while the supreme Lord (Shiva as Pati) stands as the sovereign ordainer who initiates and withdraws the cosmos—guiding the seeker to dispassion and liberation beyond time-bound change.
In Linga worship, the devotee approaches Shiva as the visible sign of the timeless Lord who nonetheless governs time and its transformations; the verse supports Saguna devotion by affirming Shiva’s lordship as ruler (adhipa) and ordainer (dhātā) of all cosmic processes.
Meditate on Shiva as Kāla-īśvara (Lord of Time) while repeating the Panchakshara “Om Namaḥ Śivāya,” offering water and bilva to the Linga with the insight that all change is under Shiva’s governance, cultivating steadiness and vairāgya.