Liṅgodbhava (Kūrma Purāṇa)
The Liṅgodbhava is the account of how the endless liṅga of fire first appeared. In the Kūrma Purāṇa, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa himself tells it to the muni Mārkaṇḍeya at Dvārakā. At the end of a great dissolution, Brahmā and Bhagavān Vishṇu were alone on the waters. A blazing jyotir-liṅga (liṅga of light) appeared between them. Neither could find its top or its bottom. Bhagavān Śiva then showed himself, and from that time worship of the liṅga has been firm in the worlds.
A liṅga is the sign in which Bhagavān Śiva is worshipped. This narrative is in the Kūrma Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 26.
Mārkaṇḍeya’s question at Dvārakā
Kṛshṇa came back from his long stay at Kailāsa. Mārkaṇḍeya and other ancient munis then came to Dvārakā to pay their respects. Kṛshṇa welcomed them with honour and seated them. In the afternoon he did his cleansing, his sūryopasthāna (greeting to the sun), and his tarpaṇa (offering of water) to the devas, the pitṛs (ancestors) and the ṛshis. Then he went into the deva-mandira and worshipped Bhagavān Śiva, the master of beings, smeared with ash, in his liṅga form. (Kūrma Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 26)
Mārkaṇḍeya watched all this and said to Kṛshṇa: “O Purushottama, you are the very form of Brahman, the pure home of moksha (freedom). You took birth in the Vṛshṇi family to lift the burden of the world. By what act do you worship? Whom do you honour with these good rites?” (Kūrma Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 26)
Kṛshṇa explains liṅga pūjā
Kṛshṇa smiled and said: “What you have said is quite true. There is no doubt. Yet I worship Bhagavān Īśvara, the sātanana. There is nothing left for me to do and nothing I have not gained. Still, I know Īśvara as the highest daivata (object of worship), and so I worship him. Those who are fooled by māyā (illusion) cannot know the truth of that Deva. So, to show him as the cause of the ātmā (self), I do his arcana (worship). In this world nothing destroys ill fortune better than liṅgārcana (worship of the liṅga). So, for the good of all the worlds, one must worship Bhagavān Śiva who stays in the form of the liṅga.”
Kṛshṇa went on: “The pandits who know the Vedic conclusion say that I myself am that liṅga. So I worship Īśāna, who is my own ātmā, with my own ātmā. We two are one self. I am only the highest other form of that Īśvara. I am he. There is no difference between us. The Vedas say this without any doubt.”
He then said: “Mahādeva Śiva must always be worshipped by those who fear the bond of saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death). He must be honoured with yajña. He must be bowed to, Maheśvara, who is known through the liṅga.” (Kūrma Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 26)
Mārkaṇḍeya asks where the liṅga came from
Mārkaṇḍeya pressed him further: “O best of the devas, what is that liṅga? Who is the one worshipped in the form of the liṅga? O Kṛshṇa of wide eyes, tell us this matter, which is the highest and not easy to know. How did the liṅga, the highest place that belongs to Īśvara, appear of its own accord in ancient times to wake beings?” (Kūrma Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 26)
Kṛshṇa tells the Liṅgodbhava
Kṛshṇa answered: “The unseen form of Parameśvara is called the liṅga. That liṅga form is the form of bliss, the light free from doubt. The Vedas call Maheśvara the liṅga form that never perishes.”
“In ancient times, all this world, everything that moves and does not move, was swallowed in the all-covering, fearful ocean of pralaya (dissolution). Mahāśiva then appeared to me in order to wake Brahmā. From that time on, Brahmā and I, seeking the good of the worlds, have always worshipped Mahādeva Śiva.” (Kūrma Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 26)
Then Kṛshṇa told the whole event of that first time. At the start of creation, the whole world was one undivided ocean, fearful and full of darkness. In those waters of dissolution Kṛshṇa says: “I appeared as the Sanātana Purusha, with a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet and a thousand arms. I carried the conch, the discus and the mace, and I lay on the waters of that sea.” (Kūrma Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 26)
“In the space between, far away, I saw a blazing light, bright as ten million suns, shining with glory. There was a four-faced one with great yogic power, wearing a black deerskin and praised by the mantras of the Ṛg, Yajus and Sāma Vedas. He was the cause of all, that mass of bright light, that Parameśvara. That master of yogīs reached me in a single moment. Brahmā, of great light, came smiling and said: ‘Who are you? Where have you come from? Why do you stand here? Tell me. I am svayambhū (self-born), the grandfather, the maker of all worlds.’ When Brahmā asked me this, I answered: ‘I am the one who makes all these worlds again and again, and destroys them again.'” (Kūrma Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 26)
“Through the māyā of Parameśṭhi, a quarrel rose between the two of us. At that moment, to give us true knowledge, a great form of a liṅga, the form of Śiva, appeared there. That liṅga blazed with the light of the fire at the time of dissolution. It was covered with waves of flame. It did not grow and did not shrink. It had no beginning, no middle and no end.” (Kūrma Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 26)
Then Bhagavān Śiva spoke through the voice of that liṅga: “O Brahmā, go quickly downward and find where this ends below. O Vishṇu, I shall go upward.” Having decided this, Brahmā and Kṛshṇa went quickly, one downward and one upward. Neither could find the end of that liṅga. (Kūrma Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 26)
Kṛshṇa says: “We were struck with wonder and overcome with fear, and we were fooled by the māyā of Bhagavān Śiva. Both of us meditated on Īśvara, the self of the world. We called out the great sound of the Oṃkāra. With joined hands we offered a stotra to that Śiva who is the place of the highest state:
- Praise to Śambhu, the healer of the disease of beginningless saṃsāra, the peaceful Śiva, Brahman in the form of the liṅga, Īśvara.
- Praise to the one who lives in the ocean of dissolution, the cause of dissolution and of creation, the peaceful form of the liṅga, the Brahman Śiva.
- Praise to the one who is a pillar of fire, who bears a row of flames, the peaceful form of the liṅga, the Brahman Śiva.
- Praise to the one with no beginning, middle or end, whose light is natural and pure, who never perishes, the Brahman Śiva in the form of the liṅga.
- Praise to the Pradhāna Purusha, Brahman in the form of space, the peaceful Śiva in the shape of the liṅga.
- Praise to the one without change, whose form is truth, the eternal, whose light has no equal, the essence of Vedānta, Śiva in the form of Time.” (Kūrma Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 26)
Śiva shows his universal form
Brahmā and Vishṇu praised him in this way. Maheśvara, the Gopayogīśvara, then appeared, shining like ten million suns. He had endless feet and endless hands. The sun, the moon and fire were his three eyes. He bore the Pināka bow, wore a hide as his garment, held the trident, and had serpents as his sacred thread. His voice sounded like thunder and like great drums. The great Mahādeva said: “O best of the devas, I am pleased.” (Kūrma Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 26)
“See Mahādeva. Give up all your fear. You two were born from lines that have no beginning and come before me. This Brahmā, the grandfather of all worlds, stands on my right. On my left stands Vishṇu, the protector of the worlds. In my mind lives Śiva, the self. I am pleased with you both, and I shall give you varas as you wish.” (Kūrma Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 26)
Having said this, Mahādeva Śiva embraced Brahmā with love. Brahmā and Vishṇu were full of joy. They bowed to Maheśvara, looked at his face, and said: “If you love us, and if you wish to give us varas, O Deva, may we always have bhakti in you, Maheśvara.”
Bhagavān Parameśvara smiled and said with joy: “O king, you are the doer of dissolution, of keeping, and of creation. O young Vishṇu, protect this world of moving and unmoving things. O Hara, I exist in three forms: Brahmā, Vishṇu and Śiva. I have taken these three forms with creation, protection and destruction as their qualities. Though I am without qualities and without change, I accept those forms. O Vishṇu, give up your confusion and protect this Grandfather. This honoured Brahmā, though eternal, will be born as your son. I too, at the beginning of the kalpa (age of the world), shall take the form of a deva and be born from your mouth with the trident in my hand. I shall be your son, born of the quality of anger.”
Having spoken to Brahmā and blessed Vishṇu, Bhagavān Śiva vanished there and then. From that time, liṅgārcana became firmly and properly set up in the worlds. (Kūrma Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 26)
Śiva’s own words on the three forms
In his words to them, Śiva stated that he has three forms. The same line is given in Telugu:
nēnu Brahma, Vishṇu, Śiva rūpamulato mūḍu vidhammugā bhinna rūpuḍanai yunnaanu
It means: “I exist in three forms, as Brahmā, Vishṇu and Śiva. I have taken those three forms with sarga (creation), rakshaṇa (protection) and nāśa (destruction) as their qualities.” By his own nature he is without qualities and without change. He takes these forms for the work of the worlds. (Kūrma Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 26)
The fruit of hearing this chapter
The last verse of the chapter says: “From that moment, liṅgārcana became firmly set up in the worlds.”
Kṛshṇa told Mārkaṇḍeya: “Whoever hears this chapter on the liṅga, or speaks it or reads it, even once, is freed from all pāpa (sin) and shines in Brahmaloka. Whoever repeats each day this account of Vāsudeva’s tapas will have his pāpa taken away and will shine in Brahmaloka.” (Kūrma Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 26)
Sources
- Kūrma Mahā Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 26