Shloka 5
दशशैवव्रतप्रश्नः — Inquiry into the Ten Principal Śaiva Vratas
सूत उवाच । सम्यक्पृष्टमृषिश्रेष्ठा भवद्भिः करुणात्मभिः । स्मृत्वा शिवपदांभोजं कथयामि यथाश्रुतम्
sūta uvāca | samyakpṛṣṭamṛṣiśreṣṭhā bhavadbhiḥ karuṇātmabhiḥ | smṛtvā śivapadāṃbhojaṃ kathayāmi yathāśrutam
သုတက ပြော၏။ အို ရှင်မြတ်သော ရှင်ရဟန်းတို့၊ ကရုဏာစိတ်ရှိသော သင်တို့သည် မှန်ကန်စွာ မေးမြန်းခဲ့ကြ၏။ သီဝ၏ ကြာပန်းကဲ့သို့သော ခြေတော်ကို သတိရလျက်၊ ကြားသိခဲ့သမျှကို အတိအကျ ပြောကြားမည်။
Suta Goswami
Tattva Level: pati
Shiva Form: Paśupatinātha
Significance: General: smaraṇa of Śiva’s pāda (lotus-feet) is treated as a direct means to prasāda; in kṣetra traditions, pāda-smaraṇa accompanies darśana and vrata observance.
Type: stotra
Role: teaching
FAQs
It establishes the Shaiva posture of narration: true teaching begins with remembrance of Śiva’s feet (bhakti), and the listener’s compassionate intent makes the inquiry worthy; knowledge is then transmitted faithfully through śravaṇa-paramparā (“as heard”).
Remembering Śiva’s lotus feet indicates saguna-upāsanā—devotional contemplation of Śiva’s gracious form—through which the devotee becomes fit to receive accounts of Śiva’s manifestations, including Jyotirliṅgas praised in the Koṭirudrasaṃhitā.
A simple practice is to begin listening/reading with smaraṇa (remembrance) of Śiva—mentally bowing to his feet and reciting a Śaiva mantra such as “Om Namaḥ Śivāya,” aligning the mind for śravaṇa and devotion.