अध्याय १६ — शङ्कर-उमा-वरदानम् तथा तण्डि-स्तुतिः (Śaṅkara–Umā Boon-Granting and Taṇḍi’s Hymn)
अयं संसिद्धिकामानां या गति: सो5यमीश्वर: । भूराद्यान् सर्वभुवनानुत्पाद्य सदिवौकस: । दधाति देवस्तनुभिरष्टाभियों बिभर्ति च
ayaṃ saṃsiddhikāmānāṃ yā gatiḥ so ’yam īśvaraḥ | bhūrādyān sarvabhuvanān utpādya sadivaukasaḥ | dadhāti devas tanubhir aṣṭābhir yo bibharti ca ||
Vāyu disse: “Só Ele é o Senhor — o objetivo supremo alcançado por aqueles que anseiam pela perfeição final e pela libertação. Tendo feito surgir todos os mundos, começando pela terra, juntamente com os seres celestes, este divino Mahādeva os sustenta e os preserva por meio de suas oito formas corporificadas.”
वायुदेव उवाच
The verse teaches that the supreme Lord (identified with Mahādeva/Śiva in context) is the highest destination for seekers of saṃsiddhi—final perfection and liberation—and that the same Lord who is the goal is also the cosmic sustainer, maintaining all realms through his eightfold embodied manifestations.
Vāyudeva is praising and defining the status of the supreme deity: he declares that this Lord is the ultimate refuge for liberation-seekers and describes the deity’s cosmic function—creating the worlds along with the gods and then upholding them through eight forms (a traditional allusion to the aṣṭamūrti doctrine).