Śaṅkukarṇa and Kapardīśvara

The Kūrma Purāṇa tells how the great muni Śaṅkukarṇa lived at the holy place of Kapardīśvara in Vārāṇasī. A piśāca (a hungry, tormented spirit) came to him. In his earlier life this being had been a rich brāhmaṇa who lived without dharma, but once he had seen, touched and bowed to Viśveśvara at Vārāṇasī. Because of that one act he was kept away from Yama’s world. Śaṅkukarṇa sent him to bathe in the Piśācamocana kuṇḍa (holy pool), and he was freed at once.

Veda-Vyāsa tells this account to Jaimini and his other disciples in Kūrma Mahā Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 33. The Padma Purāṇa also tells it.

Vyāsa and his disciples see a wonder

Vyāsa Muni was staying near Kapardīśvara at Vārāṇasī with his disciples Jaimini and others. Near the Kapardīśvara liṅga, a tiger came to kill a deer. The frightened deer went round the liṅga in pradakshiṇa (circling), trembling, and ran away. The tiger caught it there, in the presence of the liṅga, and the deer died in front of the liṅga.

At once a blazing form rose from the deer’s body. It had three eyes and a dark neck, and it bore the crescent moon on its head. It sat on a vṛshabha (bull) and shone like a thousand suns. The devas showered flowers on the deer’s head. That form of light took the form of a Gaṇeśvara (a chief of Śiva’s attendants) and vanished.

Jaimini and the other disciples were amazed. They asked their guru Vyāsa to explain the greatness of the Kapardīśvara kshetra (sacred field). Vyāsa sat facing Kapardīśvara, bowed to Bhagavān Śiva, the one who carries the bull on his banner, and spoke of the greatness of the place.

The greatness of Kapardīśvara

Vyāsa first told what this liṅga can do.

• Merely remembering this liṅga destroys the whole mass of pāpa (sin) at once.
• Kāma (desire), krodha (anger) and all the faults that go with them, and all obstacles, are destroyed by worshipping this Deva who lives at Vārāṇasī. So Kapardīśvara should always be visited.
• This is the best Kapardīśvara liṅga. It is to be served with effort and praised with Vedic stotras.
• For yogins who meditate here with a calm mind, yoga-siddhi (success in yoga) comes within six months. There is no doubt of this.
• Sins as great as brahmahatyā (the killing of a brāhmaṇa) are destroyed by worshipping this Deva.
• Bathing in the nearby Piśācamocana kuṇḍa also removes all pāpa.

Śaṅkukarṇa at Kapardīśvara

Vyāsa said to the dvijas (the twice-born): in ancient times the famous muni Śaṅkukarṇa lived in this kshetra. His niyamas (disciplines) were worthy of praise, and he worshipped Bhagavān Śaṅkara day and night. He kept up the Rudra-japa (repeating of Rudra’s name) in the form of Oṃkāra, which is the very form of Rudra. He honoured the liṅga with flowers, incense, stotras, bows and pradakshiṇas. He lived there as a yoga-sādhaka (a practiser of yoga), fully given to his dīkshā (vow).

The piśāca comes

One day Śaṅkukarṇa saw a piśāca coming toward him. Its limbs were covered only with skin, it was very thin, and it kept heaving sighs. Śaṅkukarṇa looked at it with deep compassion and asked: “Who are you? From where have you come to this place?” The piśāca, tormented by hunger, answered.

The piśāca tells his story

The piśāca said:

“In my last birth I was a rich brāhmaṇa, with wealth and grain. I was busy with the burden of keeping my family, my sons and grandsons. I never honoured the devas. I never rightly honoured cows or guests. I never did even a small act of puṇya (merit). But once, at Vārāṇasī, I happened to see Bhagavān Rudra, Viśveśvara who rides the bull. I touched him and bowed to him.

“After a long time I died. O Munīśvara, because of that one act I did not see the terrible world of Yama. It was kept far from me. But now I am born in the piśāca jāti (kind of birth). Hunger and thirst torment me, and in my suffering I cannot tell good from bad.

“O great one, if you know any upāya (way) to free me from this birth, please give it to me with your grace. I bow to you. I take refuge in you.”

Śaṅkukarṇa’s answer

Śaṅkukarṇa heard this and said to the piśāca: “There is no one in this world equal to you among those who have puṇya. For Bhagavān Īśvara, the master of all worlds, was seen by you, touched by you, and received your bow in your last birth. Who on this earth is your equal? Your coming to this place is itself the fruit of your earlier karma. Now take a bath, with care and without delay, in this pool, the Piśācamocana kuṇḍa. By that you will soon be freed from this low piśāca form.”

The piśāca is freed

The compassionate Śaṅkukarṇa had spoken. The piśāca remembered Kapardīśvara, the best of the devas, the three-eyed, the master of the universe (Viśvaprabhu). He gathered his mind with care and bathed in the kuṇḍa. Through that bath, in the muni’s presence, the piśāca form was destroyed in an instant.

The being then appeared wearing the finest ornaments and shining like the sun. He sat in a divine aerial car, and his beautiful head bore the crescent moon. He was surrounded by the Rudras of svarga (heaven) and by yogins of unspeakable greatness. He shone as the sun shines at dawn, surrounded by the Vālakhilya munis and all the devas.

In the sky the siddhas sang praises. Hosts of devas extolled him. Beautiful apsarases danced. Gandharvas, vidyādharas and kinnaras rained showers of flowers. The hosts of munis praised him. Through the grace of Bhagavān Śiva he received divine knowledge, and he entered the divine abode, the best of realms, made of the three Vedas, where Rudra Deva himself shines.

Śaṅkukarṇa’s stotra to Kapardīśvara

Śaṅkukarṇa rejoiced to see the freeing of the one who had been a piśāca. He meditated on Bhagavān Maheśvara Śiva in his mind. Then he bowed to Kapardīśvara, the best of all, the kavi (seer), and offered this stotra (hymn of praise):

• “I bow to the protector who is beyond the highest, the one without an equal, the Purāṇa Purusha. I take refuge in the lord of yoga, the Īśvara, whose form is fire and sun, the Deva who dwells in the deep place.”
• “You are to be known through the Vedānta. You dwell in the heart. Your form is golden. You are the yogin, the one without birth, the great lord of munis in the sky, the pure one, the one beyond Brahman. O Rudra, I take refuge in you.”
• “You have endless feet, eyes and heads. You have endless arms. You are beyond the guṇa of darkness (tamas). You are the aim of the Vedas. You are the master of Hiraṇyagarbha Brahmā. You have three eyes. O Śambhu, I bow to you.”
• “From you comes the birth and the ending of this whole universe. By you alone all this is thought out and held up. O Bhagavān Īśvara, to be known through the Vedānta, I bow to you and take refuge in you always.”
• “You have no mark. Your form is not lit by any outer light. You are your own master. Your wisdom is your chief form. You are known through the Vedānta. O Parameśvara, I bow to you. There is nothing other than you.”
• “Yogins set aside the link with the seed of rebirth. They reach the stillness of meditation, become one with Paramātmā, and see Parabrahman. I always bow to that form of yours that is beyond Brahman.”
• “That truth, in which names give no satisfaction, and whose nature the knowledge of the senses cannot grasp, O self-born one, O beyond Brahman, I have taken refuge in you and I always bow.”
• “That truth which the knowers of the Vedas, who have faith, see in many ways, the truth without body, without division, unbroken, I bow at all times to your form beyond Brahman.”
• “From whom Pradhāna (the first matter) and the Purāṇa Purusha change and unfold, to whom the devas bow, I bow to your form of light, standing as Mahākāla.”
• “I always take refuge in Maheśvara. I take refuge in Śiva the Purāṇa Purusha who sleeps on the mountain. I take refuge in the one who bears the crescent moon on his head. I take refuge in you, O bearer of the Pināka bow.”

Śaṅkukarṇa merges into the liṅga

Śaṅkukarṇa finished this stotra to Bhagavān Śiva. He spoke the Oṃkāra, which brings good fortune, and fell on the ground like a staff, in daṇḍavat (full prostration). At that very moment a supreme liṅga appeared there. It was of Śiva’s own nature, made of knowledge and bliss, without division, and it blazed like ten million fires of pralaya (the end of the world).

The muni Śaṅkukarṇa merged into that divine and spotless liṅga. He became one with all and free from fault. This happened in a most wonderful way.

Vyāsa’s closing words

Vyāsa ended with these words: “I have told this secret and this greatness of Kapardīśvara. Through the power of tamas no one can know it. Even the learned fall into confusion about it. Whoever hears this account that destroys pāpa, with devotion, will have the pāpa leave his ātmā (soul) and will reach the nearness of Śiva. The man who is pure and recites every day at dawn and at midday this great stotra called Brahma-pārama will gain yoga-siddhi. Here alone we shall always stay, look on Kapardīśvara, the Deva of the devas, and always honour that Deva of three eyes.”

Vyāsa spoke thus, shining with great radiance. With his disciples, who had control over themselves, he went on living there and worshipping Kapardīśvara.

The account in the Padma Purāṇa

The Svarga Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa (Chapter 35) also tells of Śaṅkukarṇa and Kapardīśvara. There Nārada tells it to Yudhishṭhira. The main points are the same as in the Kūrma Purāṇa:

• a piśāca who had been a rich brāhmaṇa, and who had neglected dharma all his life except for one visit to Viśveśvara
• Śaṅkukarṇa sending him to the Piśācamocana kuṇḍa
• the piśāca’s freedom
• Śaṅkukarṇa’s own merging into a liṅga of knowledge and bliss after he offered the Brahma-pāra stotra

In the Padma Purāṇa, the narrator is Nārada and the listener is Yudhishṭhira. In the Kūrma Purāṇa, the narrator is Vyāsa and the listener is Jaimini.

The Padma Purāṇa also gives the origin of the Piśācamocana tīrtha. A tiger kills a deer near the liṅga, and the deer’s jīva (soul) rises to Śiva’s gaṇas. In this account Śaṅkukarṇa himself saw this, and it was the reason for his advice to the piśāca brāhmaṇa.

Sources

• Kūrma Mahā Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 33
• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Svarga Khaṇḍa, Chapter 35