Shiva Purana — Kotirudra Samhita, Shloka 1
गौतमविघ्नप्रकरणम्
Episode of Obstacles to Gautama; Gaṇeśa’s Appearing Through Misguided Worship
सूत उवाच । कदाचिद्गौतमेनैव जलार्थं प्रेषिता निजाः । शिष्यास्तत्र गता भक्त्या कमंडलुकरा द्विजाः
sūta uvāca | kadācidgautamenaiva jalārthaṃ preṣitā nijāḥ | śiṣyāstatra gatā bhaktyā kamaṃḍalukarā dvijāḥ
စူတက ပြော၏။ တစ်ခါတစ်ရံ ဂေါတမသည် ရေယူရန် မိမိ၏ တပည့်များကို စေလွှတ်하였다။ ထိုနှစ်ကြိမ်မွေး (ဒွိဇ) ကျောင်းသားတပည့်များသည် ဘက္တိဖြင့် သွားကြ၍ လက်ထဲတွင် ကမဏ္ဍလု (ရေအိုး) ကို ကိုင်ဆောင်ထားကြ၏။
Suta Goswami
Tattva Level: pashu
Sthala Purana: The water-fetching mission initiates the causal chain (nimitta) for a later sacred manifestation: ordinary āśrama necessity (jala) becomes the narrative hinge for testing humility, order, and the need for Śiva’s anugraha.
Significance: Teaches sevā-bhakti and guru-ājñā as sādhana: disciples acting with bhakti in simple duties is valorized as caryā leading toward higher realization.
FAQs
It highlights disciplined devotional service (bhakti) within a dharmic life: even a simple act like fetching water becomes sacred when performed with reverence and purity—an attitude central to Shaiva practice.
In Kotirudra contexts, water is closely associated with Shiva worship through jala-abhisheka to the Linga; the verse sets a devotional tone where sacred substances and obedient service support Saguna Shiva worship and inner purification.
A practical takeaway is to perform water-offering (jala-abhisheka) with bhakti and cleanliness, mentally remembering Shiva—ideally with the Panchakshara mantra (Om Namaḥ Śivāya)—while keeping one’s actions disciplined and sattvic.