Text 36]
Lord Brahmā Satisfies Lord Śiva
191
tion. He was the friend of the entire world, and due to his full affection for everyone, he was very auspicious.
PURPORT
Lord Śiva is full of wisdom and  tapasya , austerity. One who knows the modes of work is understood to be situated on the path of devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One cannot serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead unless he has achieved full perfectional knowledge in the ways and means of performing devotional service.
Lord Śiva is described here as  adhīśvara .  Īśvara  means “controller,” and  adhīśvara  means particularly “controller of the senses.” Generally our materially contaminated senses are apt to engage in sense gratificatory activities, but when a person is elevated by wisdom and austerity, the senses then become purified, and they become engaged in the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Śiva is the emblem of such perfection, and therefore in the scriptures, it is said,  vaiṣṇavānām yathā śambhuḥ : Lord Śiva is a  Vaiṣṇava . Lord Śiva, by his action within this material world, teaches all conditioned souls how to engage in devotional service twenty-four hours a day. Therefore he is described here as  loka-maṅgala , good fortune personified for all conditioned souls.
TEXT 36
लिङ्गं च तापसाभीष्टं मस्यदप्यजटाजिनम् । अङ्गेन संघ्याभ्ररुचा चन्द्रलेखां च विभ्रतम् ॥३६॥
liṅgam ca tāpasābhīṣṭam bhasma-daṇḍa-jaṭājinam aṅgena sandhyābhra-rucā candra-lekhām ca bibhratam
liṅgam—symptom; ca—and; tāpasa-abhīṣṭam—desired by Śaivite ascetics; bhasma—ashes; daṇḍa—staff; jaṭā—matted hair; ajinam—antelope skin; aṅgena—with his body; sandhyābhra—reddish; rucā—colored; candra-lekhām—the crest of a half moon; ca—and; bibhratam—bearing.
TRANSLATION
He was seated on a deer skin and was practicing all forms of austerity. Because his body was smeared with ashes, he looked like an evening cloud. On his hair was the sign of a half moon, a symbolic representation.