Shiva Purana — Rudra Samhita, Shloka 59
तुलसी-शङ्खचूडोपाख्यानम् — Viṣṇu’s Disguise and the Tulasī Episode
Prelude to Śaṅkhacūḍa’s Fall
इति श्रुत्वा वचश्शंभोः प्रसन्ना तु तुलस्यभूत् । तद्देहं च परित्यज्य दिव्यरूपा बभूव ह
iti śrutvā vacaśśaṃbhoḥ prasannā tu tulasyabhūt | taddehaṃ ca parityajya divyarūpā babhūva ha
சம்புவின் வாக்கைச் செவிமடுத்து அவள் மிகுந்த மகிழ்ச்சி அடைந்து துளசி-சொரூபமடைந்தாள். அந்த முன்னைய உடலைத் துறந்து, உண்மையிலே திவ்யமான ஒளிமிகு ரூபத்தை ஏற்றாள்.
Suta Goswami
Tattva Level: pati
Shiva Form: Mahadeva
Sthala Purana: The episode frames Śiva’s gracious speech as transformative: by Śambhu’s anugraha the woman attains a purified state symbolized as Tulasī, a paradigmatic ‘sacralization of matter’ that later supports tīrtha/śālagrāma traditions rather than a specific jyotirliṅga origin.
Significance: Highlights the Śaiva Siddhānta theme that grace (anugraha) can transmute embodied limitation into a divinized condition, making later worship-materials (plant, river, stone) vehicles of merit.
Offering: pushpa
FAQs
It highlights Śiva’s anugraha (grace): when the soul becomes prasanna (purified and receptive) through hearing the Lord’s truth, old karmic identity is relinquished and a higher, divinized state is attained.
The verse emphasizes Saguna Śiva as Śambhu who speaks and blesses; devotion to the manifest Lord—often approached through Liṅga worship and śravaṇa (hearing sacred narration)—becomes the channel for purification and upliftment.
Śravaṇa and smaraṇa of Śiva-kathā (hearing and remembering Śiva’s words) is central; as a practical takeaway, one may pair daily recitation of “Om Namaḥ Śivāya” with attentive listening/reading of the Shiva Purana to cultivate prasāda (inner clarity).