Shiva Purana — Rudra Samhita, Shloka 82

सेवातत्त्वप्रश्नः — The Question of Whom to Serve (Sevā) for the Removal of Suffering

Devanagari script

यावद्गृहाश्रमे तिष्ठेत्तावदाकारपूजनम् । कुर्याच्छ्रेष्ठस्य सप्रीत्या सुरेषु खलु पंचसु

Transliteration

yāvadgṛhāśrame tiṣṭhettāvadākārapūjanam | kuryācchreṣṭhasya saprītyā sureṣu khalu paṃcasu

Translation

အိမ်ထောင်ရှင်အာရှရမ၌ နေသမျှကာလပတ်လုံး အထွဋ်အမြတ်သော ဘုရားကို ပုံသဏ္ဍာန်ထင်ရှားသော (စဂုဏ-အာကာရ) အဖြစ်ဖြင့် ပူဇော်ရမည်။ ချစ်ခင်သဒ္ဓါဖြင့် အမြတ်ဆုံးသော အရှင်ကို ပူဇော်ပါ—အမှန်တကယ် ငါးပါးသော အဓိက နတ်ဘုရားတို့အနက်၌ပင်။

Word by Word

• यावत्: as long as
• यावत्: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यावत् (अव्यय)
• Form: परिमाण/अवधि-वाचक-अव्यय (as long as)

• गृहाश्रमे: in the householder stage
• गृहाश्रमे: Adhikaraṇa (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: गृह + आश्रम (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सप्तमी (7th/Locative), एकवचन; समासः—गृहस्य आश्रमः (षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष)

• तिष्ठेत्: should remain
• तिष्ठेत्: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: स्था (धातु)
• Form: विधिलिङ् (Optative), परस्मैपद, प्रथमपुरुष (3rd person), एकवचन

• तावत्: so long
• तावत्: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तावत् (अव्यय)
• Form: परिमाण/अवधि-वाचक-अव्यय (so long/that long)

• आकारपूजनम्: worship of the form (iconic worship)
• आकारपूजनम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: आकार + पूजन (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/Accusative), एकवचन; समासः—आकारस्य पूजनम् (षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष)

• कुर्यात्: should do
• कुर्यात्: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: कृ (धातु)
• Form: विधिलिङ् (Optative), परस्मैपद, प्रथमपुरुष (3rd person), एकवचन

• श्रेष्ठस्य: of the best (Lord)
• श्रेष्ठस्य: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/षष्ठी)
• Type: Noun
• Root: श्रेष्ठ (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, षष्ठी (6th/Genitive), एकवचन

• सप्रीत्या: with devotion/affection
• सप्रीत्या: Karaṇa (करण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्रीति (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, तृतीया (3rd/Instrumental), एकवचन; उपसर्ग ‘स-’ = सह (with)

• सुरेषु: among the gods
• सुरेषु: Adhikaraṇa (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: सुर (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सप्तमी (7th/Locative), बहुवचन

• खलु: indeed
• खलु: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: खलु (अव्यय)
• Form: निश्चयार्थक-निपात (indeed)

• पञ्चसु: in the five
• पञ्चसु: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पञ्चन् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: (सङ्ख्यावाचक) सप्तमी (7th/Locative), बहुवचन; लिङ्ग-निरपेक्ष (numeral)

Speaker

Suta Goswami (narrating Shiva’s teachings within the Rudrasaṃhitā context)

Shaiva Theology

Tattva Level: pashu

Shiva Form: Sadāśiva

Jyotirlinga Context

Sthala Purana: Frames gṛhastha-dharma as compatible with saguna/ākāra-pūjā; aligns with Purāṇic accommodation of pañcāyatana-like household worship while asserting Śiva’s supremacy.

Significance: Legitimizes icon worship for householders as a means to purify karma and mature toward jñāna and śiva-bhakti.

Shakti Dimension

Shakti Form: Pārvatī

Role: nurturing

Ritual Elements

Offering: pushpa

Characters & Entities

• Shiva

FAQs

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

It teaches that for householders, disciplined saguna (with-form) worship stabilizes devotion and purifies karma, gradually preparing the soul (paśu) to turn toward Shiva (Pati) and loosen bondage (pāśa).

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

It supports iconic worship—such as Shiva-linga or a murti—as a fitting method for the grihastha stage, where daily duties are harmonized with steady devotion to Shiva through visible, ritual worship.

What ritualistic or meditative practice is suggested here?

Perform regular home puja to Shiva in a manifested form with heartfelt devotion—optionally supported by japa of the Panchakshara (Om Namaḥ Śivāya), along with simple offerings according to capacity.