Shiva Purana — Rudra Samhita, Shloka 14

तृतीयनेत्राग्निनिवृत्तिः / Quelling the Fire of the Third Eye

Vāḍava Fire Placed in the Ocean

Devanagari script

अयं क्रोधो महेशस्य वाडवात्मा महाप्रभुः । दग्ध्वा कामं द्रुतं सर्वं दग्धुकामोऽभवत्ततः

Transliteration

ayaṃ krodho maheśasya vāḍavātmā mahāprabhuḥ | dagdhvā kāmaṃ drutaṃ sarvaṃ dagdhukāmo'bhavattataḥ

Translation

ဤသည်မှာ မဟာဒေဝ (Mahādeva) ၏ အမျက်တော်ဖြစ်၍၊ သမုဒ္ဒရာအောက် မီး (Vāḍava) ကဲ့သို့ တောက်လောင်ပြင်းထန်သော အာနုဘော်ကြီးတော်မူသည်။ ကာမ (Kāma) ကို လျင်မြန်စွာ မီးရှို့ပြီးနောက်၊ အခြားအရာအားလုံးကိုပါ မီးရှို့လိုသော စိတ်ဖြစ်လာ하였다။

Word by Word

• अयम्: this
• अयम्: Karta (कर्ता/Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: इदम् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; निर्देश-सर्वनाम (demonstrative)

• क्रोधः: wrath
• क्रोधः: Karta (कर्ता/Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: क्रोध (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• महेशस्य: of Maheśa
• महेशस्य: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/Genitive)
• Type: Noun
• Root: महेश (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, षष्ठी, एकवचन

• वाडवात्मा: having the nature of the submarine fire (vāḍava)
• वाडवात्मा: Karta (कर्ता; apposition to क्रोधः)
• Type: Noun
• Root: वाडव + आत्मन् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; कर्मधारयः (वाडवः आत्मा यस्य/वाडवात्मा)

• महाप्रभुः: great lord
• महाप्रभुः: Karta (कर्ता; apposition)
• Type: Noun
• Root: महा + प्रभु (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; कर्मधारयः (महान् प्रभुः)

• दग्ध्वा: having burned
• दग्ध्वा: Purvakala (पूर्वकाल)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √दह् (धातु)
• Form: क्त्वान्त-अव्यय (gerund): ‘having burned’

• कामम्: Kāma (the god of desire)
• कामम्: Karma (कर्म/Object)
• Type: Noun
• Root: काम (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन

• द्रुतम्: quickly
• द्रुतम्: Kriya-visheshana (क्रियाविशेषण/Adverbial)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: द्रुत (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन; क्रियाविशेषणवत् (adverbial accusative: quickly)

• सर्वम्: everything
• सर्वम्: Karma (कर्म/Object; ‘everything’)
• Type: Noun
• Root: सर्व (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन

• दग्धुकामः: desiring to burn
• दग्धुकामः: Karta (कर्ता; predicate adjective of क्रोधः)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: दग्धु (√दह् तुमुन्/infinitive-base) + काम (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; उपपद-तत्पुरुषः (दग्धुं कामः)

• अभवत्: became
• अभवत्: Kriya (क्रिया/Verb)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √भू (धातु)
• Form: लुङ् (Aorist), प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन; परस्मैपद

• ततः: thereupon
• ततः: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/Temporal)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ततः (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय (adverb): तस्मात्/तदनन्तरम् (thereupon/then)

Speaker

Suta Goswami (narrating to the sages at Naimiṣāraṇya)

Shaiva Theology

Tattva Level: pati

Shiva Form: Rudra

Mantra Metadata

Type: rudram

Shakti Dimension

Role: destructive

Cosmic Context

Cosmic Event: incipient pralaya-like threat: Rudra’s wrath, likened to vāḍava fire, tends toward total conflagration

Characters & Entities

• Shiva
• Mahesha
• Kama

FAQs

What is the spiritual significance of this verse in the Shiva Purana?

It portrays Shiva’s krodha as a purifying, cosmic force: when desire (Kāma) disturbs dharma and tapas, the Lord’s power burns that bondage so the soul may move toward vairāgya and liberation.

How does this verse relate to the worship of the Linga or Saguna Shiva?

Kāma-dahana is a Saguna līlā showing Shiva as the regulator of the senses. Linga-worship centers the mind in the Lord, helping the devotee sublimate desire and steady awareness in Shiva, the inner Pati (Lord) beyond sense-compulsion.

What ritualistic or meditative practice is suggested here?

Practice japa of the Panchākṣarī (Om Namaḥ Śivāya) with sense-restraint, and meditate on Shiva as the inner fire that burns lust and agitation; on Mahāśivarātri, combine this with simple vrata (fasting/discipline) and focused dhyāna.