Shiva Purana — Rudra Samhita, Shloka 18
अन्धक-प्रश्नः — Inquiry into Andhaka
Genealogy and Nature
तत्स्पर्शयोगाच्च महेश्वरस्य करौ च तस्याः स्खलितं मदांभः । शंभोर्ललाटे क्षणवह्नितप्तो विनिर्गतो भूरिजलस्य बिन्दुः
tatsparśayogācca maheśvarasya karau ca tasyāḥ skhalitaṃ madāṃbhaḥ | śaṃbhorlalāṭe kṣaṇavahnitapto vinirgato bhūrijalasya binduḥ
ด้วยอานุภาพแห่งการสัมผัสพระมหาเทวะ ความชุ่มชื้นดุจน้ำเมาเลื่อนหลุดจากพระหัตถ์ของนาง; ครั้นต้องพระนลาฏของพระศัมภู หยดนั้นพลันร้อนดุจไฟ และพุ่งออกมาเป็นเม็ดเดียวจากสายน้ำอันมากมาย
Sūta Gosvāmin (narrating to the sages at Naimiṣāraṇya)
Tattva Level: pasha
Shiva Form: Mahādeva
Sthala Purana: A single bindu (drop) produced through Śiva-Śakti contact, heated on Śiva’s forehead, becomes the causal seed for a fearsome emergence—mythically explaining how a minute ‘cause’ in divine līlā can precipitate vast cosmic effects.
Significance: Teaches vigilance about the subtle origins of bondage: from a ‘bindu’ of tamas/impurity can arise overwhelming obscuration; thus one seeks Śiva’s anugraha and purification.
Shakti Form: Pārvatī
Role: creative
Cosmic Event: Mythic ‘bindu-udbhava’ event (seed-drop catalyzing manifestation).
FAQs
It portrays Śiva as the transforming Pati: even a single drop that touches Him is instantly purified and transmuted by His inner fire (jñāna-śakti), pointing to how contact with Śiva burns impurities and leads the soul toward liberation.
Śambhu’s forehead signifies the seat of transcendent power (often associated with the third-eye principle). In Saguna worship, devotees contemplate Śiva as the immediate purifier—whose mere presence sanctifies offerings—mirroring how Linga-pūjā treats every upacāra as made sacred by contact with Śiva.
Meditate on Śiva’s fiery purity at the brow (ājñā-cakra focus) while repeating the Pañcākṣarī “Om Namaḥ Śivāya,” and offer water in abhiṣeka with the intention that Śiva’s grace ‘heats’ and purifies inner mala (impurity).