Liṅgodbhava (Vāyu Purāṇa)

The Vāyu Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 55, tells how Bhagavān Śiva appeared as an endless liṅga (pillar) of fire. In this account Bhagavān Vishṇu himself is the speaker. He tells the devas how he and Brahmā once saw this pillar, searched for its two ends and failed. They then saw Bhagavān Śiva standing in it, and he told them that both of them were born from his own arms. The chapter ends with a long stotra (hymn of praise) to Bhagavān Śiva and with his vara (boon) that they should go on creating.

After Bali was bound

The Vāmana avatāra had taken place. Bali had been bound and placed in pātāla (the world below), and Indra had his kingdom back. The devas and siddhas came in great crowds to praise Bhagavān Vishṇu at the Kshīrasāgara (the ocean of milk). Indra came with all the devas, and with them came the siddhas, ṛshis, yakshas, gandharvas, apsarases, nāgas, rivers and mountains. All of them offered stotras to Bhagavān Vishṇu, the master of all, here called Purushottama:

“You are Brahmā. You are the creator. You are the form of truth. You create the worlds. By your grace alone the lasting welfare of the three worlds has been gained. All the rākshasas have been beaten. Bali has been bound by your Vāmana form. So we bow to you, O Purushottama!”

Bhagavān Vishṇu answered the devas.

Bhagavān Vishṇu tells his story

The sleep on the waters and the meeting with Brahmā

Bhagavān Vishṇu said to the devas: “I will tell you the cause of all this. Listen. There is one who is the form of the cause, the maker of all beings, the form of time, the maker of time, the master. Through him, together with Brahmā, the worlds are made by māyā. It is by his grace alone that my powers first arose.”

Then he told them: “Long ago I slept on the waters of the universe in the first darkness. I had swallowed the three worlds, and all the bhūtas (beings) filled my belly. I lay in a deep sleep with thousands of heads, thousands of eyes and thousands of feet. I held the śaṅkha (conch), the cakra (discus) and the gadā (mace) in my hands. I lay in the pure waters.”

“There, far away, I saw a being as bright as a hundred suns, a great and wonderful light without limit. He had four faces and a golden colour. He wore a black antelope skin and carried a kamaṇḍalu (water pot). He was full of mahāyoga. I, Purushottama, reached him in the blink of an eye.”

Bhagavān Vishṇu saw this four-faced golden being, who was Brahmā. Brahmā asked him: “Who are you? Where have you come from? O all-pervading one! Why are you here?” Bhagavān Vishṇu answered: “I am the creator of the worlds, and their dissolver again and again.” Then Brahmā said: “I am the creator of the worlds. I am self-born and four-faced.” In this way the two argued over which of them was the greater.

The flame that did not end

“While the two of us were contending like this, each wishing to win, a flame appeared in the north. It stood by itself and filled all directions. When we both saw that flame, we were filled with wonder. By that flame and by the tejas of us both, all the waters shone with light.”

“That wonderful fire went on growing. Brahmā and I both ran from that flame in fear.”

They saw a great ring of flames filling the sky and the earth. In the middle of the ring something stood. “In the middle of that flame we saw a great shining liṅga, one span in size, bright and yet avyakta (unmanifest). It was not gold and it was not silver. It could not be pointed out and said to be ‘like this’. It could not be meditated on as having one fixed form. It appeared and vanished again and again. It had great tejas and was terrible to see. At that moment it grew very large. It was stretched in length by garlands of flame. It stood there, a fear to all the bhūtas.”

The search for the ends

“Who can reach the end of this liṅga, which seems to pierce the earth and the sky?”

Brahmā said to Bhagavān Vishṇu: “You go down quickly, and I will go up. We will find the ends of the liṅga of this Mahātman.” They agreed, and went in opposite directions. Bhagavān Vishṇu went down and Brahmā went up.

“Then for a thousand years I went toward the lower end of that liṅga. But I could not find its end. I was overcome with fear, there is no doubt of it. In the same way Brahmā also could not see the end of the liṅga. He grew tired. At last he came back to me in that great region of water.”

Both were bewildered. The māyā of that Mahātman had dazed them. Then they saw Bhagavān Śiva standing there. He was deep in dhyāna (meditation) and faced all directions (pañcamukha, five-faced). He was the master of the birth and death of all worlds, the undecaying, the highest Īśvara.

The stotra of Brahmā and Vishṇu

Brahmā joined his hands in añjali and offered this stotra to Bhagavān Śiva:

“Salutation to Śarva, the destroyer at pralaya. Salutation to the Śūlin (bearer of the trident). Salutation to the one of great and terrible sound. Salutation to the one of fearful form. Salutation to the one with tusks. Salutation to the Avyakta (the unmanifest). Salutation to the Mahat. Salutation to Antaka (the ender).”

“O Deva, O Īśvara of the worlds and of the devas, salutation to you. O great master, O Bhūtapati, salutation to you. O eternal one, O cause of the eight siddhis, salutation to you. O one who stands in all the worlds, salutation to you.”

“You are Parameshṭhī, Parabrahman, the form of the Akshara (the changeless), the form of the highest state, Śiva, the master, the form of yajña, the form of vashaṭkāra, the form of Oṃkāra, the form of the highest pada. You are svāhākāra, namaskāra, and the saṃskāra of all actions. You are svadhākāra. You are Jāpya (fit to be repeated in japa). You are the form of niyama (rule), the form of the Veda, the form of the world, the form of the devas, and Bhagavān Śiva in every direction. You are the subtle tanmātra of ākāśa (space), the changeless cause of the bhūtas, the gandha (smell) of earth, the rasa (taste) of water, the rūpa (form) of tejas, the sparśa (touch) of vāyu (air), and the body of the moon.”

“You are the knower and the form of knowledge. O Deveśa! You are the seed-form in Prakṛti. You are the maker of the bhūtas, the form of Kāla (time), the form of Mṛtyu (death), Yama and Antaka. O Prabhu Śiva! You alone create the three worlds. You alone hold them up.”

The stotra goes on in long verses of praise. It names the work of Bhagavān Śiva in the four directions: in the east the work of Indra, in the south the work of dissolution, in the west the work of Varuṇa and in the north the work of Soma. It says that all the devas are born from him, that all the divine mothers are born from him, and that all the planets are held up by him.

Bhagavān Śiva shows himself and gives his blessing

After this stotra, the great Mahātman Bhagavān Śiva showed himself fully. He was a mahāyogī, shining with the light of a koṭi (ten million) suns. His thousand koṭi faces looked as if they were ready to swallow every other form. He had one throat and one matted jaṭā (lock of hair). He was adorned with countless ornaments, many divine garlands of flowers and sweet-smelling pastes. He held the Pināka bow, the śūla (trident), the daṇḍa (staff) and the black antelope skin. He wore a kapāla (skull) as an ornament and had taken a terrible form. Serpents were his sacred thread. His divine laughter rang out like thunder and like the beating of dundubhi drums, and all of ākāśa was filled with that great sound. Bhagavān Vishṇu and Brahmā were both overcome with fear at the great sound.

Then the great yogī Bhagavān Śiva spoke:

“O great and mighty ones! I am pleased. See my great māyā. Let go of all fear. Long ago you were both born from parts of my own body. This is the truth. Brahmā, the grandfather of the world, was born from my right arm. Vishṇu, who is always in battle, was born from my left arm.”

Brahmā and Bhagavān Vishṇu were full of wonder and devotion. They bowed again at the feet of Bhagavān Śiva and said: “If you are pleased with us, if you give us a vara, O Deveśvara! let our devotion to you last for ever.”

Bhagavān Śiva replied: “O great and mighty ones, O Brahmā and Vishṇu! Let it be as you wish. Now go and create the many-formed creatures.”

With this blessing Bhagavān Śiva vanished at that very place.

The end of Bhagavān Vishṇu’s account

Bhagavān Vishṇu finished telling all this to the devas and said:

“So I have told you of the power of this yogī Śiva. By Śiva himself this whole world has been made. We are only nimittamātra (instrumental causes). This form of his cannot be known. It is unmanifest and is called ‘Śiva’. It cannot be described and it cannot be seen. Only the jñāna-netras (eyes of knowledge) can see it. We bow to that Śiva who has this highest lordship. Only the jñāna-netras see him, the subtle and unthinkable Śiva. O Mahādeva! Salutation to you. O Maheśvara! Salutation to you.”

The chapter closes with the report of Sūta. All the devas who were present heard this, bowed to the great Śaṃkara and went back to their own worlds. The phalaśruti (the promise of the fruit of hearing) says that one who reads this stava (hymn) gains all that he wishes and is freed from all pāpa (sin). This whole account was told in the beginning by Bhagavān Vishṇu himself, by the grace of Mahādeva. It is the sanātana (eternal) Brahman.

Sources

• Vāyu Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 55