Shiva Purana — Vayaviya Samhita, Shloka 17
शिवस्य परापरब्रह्मस्वरूपनिर्णयः / Determination of Śiva as Higher and Lower Brahman
यतस्ततो महादेवो जातिव्यक्तिवपुः स्मृतः । प्रधानपुरुषव्यक्तकालात्मा कथ्यते शिवः
yatastato mahādevo jātivyaktivapuḥ smṛtaḥ | pradhānapuruṣavyaktakālātmā kathyate śivaḥ
เพราะฉะนั้นมหาเทวะจึงทรงถูกระลึกว่าเป็นผู้มีวรกายประกอบด้วย ‘ชาติ’ และ ‘วิยักติ’ พระศิวะถูกกล่าวว่าเป็นอาตมันของประธานะ ปุรุษะ โลกที่ปรากฏ และกาล
Suta Goswami
Tattva Level: pati
Shiva Form: Mahadeva
Role: creative
Cosmic Event: kalpa-level cosmogenesis implied (Pradhāna–Puruṣa–Vyakta–Kāla schema)
FAQs
It identifies Shiva (Pati) as the indwelling reality behind both universal principles and individual beings—Nature (Pradhana), consciousness (Purusha), the manifest world, and even Time—showing that liberation comes by recognizing Shiva as the supreme inner Self beyond all categories.
Though Shiva is taught here as the inner essence of cosmic principles (a transcendent view), Linga worship gives a Saguna support for meditation, allowing the devotee to contemplate the one Shiva who pervades Pradhana, Purusha, the manifest universe, and Time.
Meditate on Shiva as the Ātman within all states—time, world, and self—while repeating the Panchakshara “Om Namaḥ Śivāya”; this aligns devotion (bhakti) with inner inquiry toward moksha.