Śivasaṃhitā 1.28

A surprisingly psychological argument: even in svarga, paradise, duḥkha exists. The cause is neither punishment nor deprivation but parastrīdarśana, literally «seeing another’s woman/wife», an expression functioning here as a metonym for witnessing the superior enjoyment of others. Upward social comparison generates suffering even among the blessed.

Duḥkhasambhoga is a remarkable compound: duḥkha (suffering) + sambhoga (full enjoyment, complete experience). The irony is deliberate: the «complete enjoyment» of heaven includes suffering. Parastrī («another’s woman») and darśana («vision», «contemplation») evoke the semantic field of gaze and desire; seeing what others possess and one lacks activates the saṃsāra mechanism even in the highest realms.

This verse anticipates arguments found in later philosophical traditions, such as the Buddhist recognition that even elevated meditative states (dhyāna) are impermanent and generate attachment. The Śivasaṃhitā, from a non-dual Śaiva perspective, deploys this argument to motivate the pursuit of a realization that transcends all conditioned states, celestial or terrestrial.