Shloka 37
चाण्डालीसद्गतिवर्णनम् (Cāṇḍālī-sadgati-varṇanam) — “Account of the Cāṇḍālī’s Attainment of a Good Destiny”
एवंविधं महालिंगं शंकरस्य महाबलम् । सर्वपापहरं सद्यः परमानन्ददायकम्
evaṃvidhaṃ mahāliṃgaṃ śaṃkarasya mahābalam | sarvapāpaharaṃ sadyaḥ paramānandadāyakam
ఇదివిధమైన మహాలింగం శంకరుని మహాబల స్వరూపము; ఇది క్షణమాత్రంలో సమస్త పాపాలను హరించి పరమానందాన్ని ప్రసాదిస్తుంది.
Suta Goswami
Tattva Level: pati
Shiva Form: Mahādeva
Sthala Purana: The verse summarizes the māhātmya of a ‘Mahāliṅga’ identified in this chapter as ‘Mahābala’, emphasizing its immediate sin-destroying power and its capacity to confer paramānanda (mokṣa-oriented bliss).
Significance: Śravaṇa/darśana of the liṅga is framed as anugraha: it removes pāpa ‘at once’ and turns the devotee toward liberating bliss (paramānanda), i.e., movement from pāśa (bondage) toward Śiva’s grace.
FAQs
It proclaims the Mahāliṅga as Śiva’s living, grace-filled presence (saguṇa upāsanā) that swiftly burns accumulated pāpa and leads the devotee toward parama-ānanda—liberating bliss through Śiva’s anugraha.
By calling the Liṅga ‘Śaṅkara’s great power,’ the verse presents the Liṅga as an accessible sacred form through which devotees approach the transcendent Lord; worship of this form becomes a direct means for purification and communion with Śiva.
Linga-pūjā with abhiṣeka and japa—especially the Pañcākṣarī “Om Namaḥ Śivāya”—performed with devotion, is implied as a practice that purifies sins and steadies the mind toward Śiva’s bliss.