शिवलिङ्गमाहात्म्यम्The greatness of the Śiva-liṅga
Verse 5
श्रीसदाशिव उवाच । शिवलिङ्गस्थापनस्य माहात्म्यं किं ब्रवीमि ते । यत्स्थापनान्महापापैर्मुक्तो याति परं पदम् ॥ ५ ॥
śrīsadāśiva uvāca | śivaliṅgasthāpanasya māhātmyaṁ kiṁ bravīmi tē | yatsthāpanānmahāpāpairmuktō yāti paraṁ padam || 5 ||
Translation
Śrī Sadāśiva said: What can I tell you of the greatness of installing a Śiva-liṅga? By installing it one is freed of even the great sins and goes to the highest state.
Word by word
- śiva
- Śiva
- liṅga
- of a liṅga
- sthāpanasya
- of the installing
- māhātmyaṁ
- the greatness
- kiṁ
- what
- bravīmi
- can I tell
- tē
- you
- yat
- whose
- sthāpanān
- (sthāpanāt) from the installing
- mahā
- great
- pāpair
- (pāpaiḥ) from sins
- muktō
- (muktaḥ) freed
- yāti
- goes
- paraṁ
- to the highest
- padam
- state
Meaning
Śiva begins with the fruit, as she asked, and the commentary marks verses 5 to 9 as a single statement of it. The question "what can I tell you" is rhetorical: he goes on for twenty verses and ends by saying it cannot be told.
Commentary
Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated
First Śrī Sadāśiva told the fruit of installing a Śiva-liṅga, in the verses beginning "śivaliṅgasthāpanasya" (verses 5 to 9).