Shiva Purana — Rudra Samhita, Shloka 13
मुनिप्रश्नवर्णनम्
Description of the Sages’ Questions
सृष्टेः पूर्वं कथं शंभुस्स्वरूपेणावतिष्ठते । सृष्टिमध्ये स हि कथं क्रीडन्संवर्त्तते प्रभुः
sṛṣṭeḥ pūrvaṃ kathaṃ śaṃbhussvarūpeṇāvatiṣṭhate | sṛṣṭimadhye sa hi kathaṃ krīḍansaṃvarttate prabhuḥ
ก่อนการสร้างสรรค์ พระศัมภูทรงดำรงอยู่ในสวรูปของพระองค์อย่างไร? และท่ามกลางการสร้างสรรค์ พระผู้เป็นเจ้าทรงครีฑาเป็นลีลาอันศักดิ์สิทธิ์แล้วทรงทำการสังหาร(ยุบสลาย)ได้อย่างไร?
Sūta Gosvāmin (narrating the sages’ inquiry at Naimiṣāraṇya within the Rudra Saṃhitā context)
Tattva Level: pati
Shiva Form: Sadyojāta
Sthala Purana: Cosmological inquiry: Śambhu’s abiding in svarūpa prior to creation and His role in dissolution amid creation—points to the Lord’s sovereignty over both manifestation and reabsorption.
Significance: Frames Śiva as both immanent and transcendent: devotees learn to see creation as līlā and dissolution as compassionate reabsorption, reducing fear of change and death.
Role: creative
Cosmic Event: kalpa-cycle implied (creation and dissolution within cosmic cycles)
FAQs
It points to Śiva as Pati—the supreme Lord who transcends time and causation—abiding in His own svarūpa before manifestation, and yet freely governing both creation and dissolution as His divine līlā.
The verse frames the central Shaiva view that the same transcendent Lord becomes accessible in worship through Saguna forms—classically the Śiva-liṅga—while remaining, in essence, beyond all manifestation as nirguṇa-svarūpa.
Meditate on Śiva as both the unmanifest ground and the Lord of cosmic cycles, supporting japa of the Pañcākṣarī (Om Namaḥ Śivāya) with contemplation of creation–maintenance–dissolution as arising and dissolving in Him.