Texts / Śivasaṃhitā / Verse 3.18

Śivasaṃhitā 3.18

Tṛtīyaḥ paṭalaḥ — Sādhana

Sanskrit text

मिथ्यावादरतानां च तथा निष्ठुरभाषिणाम्।

Transliteration

mithyāvādaratānāṃ ca tathā niṣṭhurabhāṣiṇām|

Translation

The first condition of success is the firm belief that it (vidya) must succeed and be fruitful; the second condition is having faith in it; the third is respect towards the Guru; the fourth is the spirit of universal equality; the fifth is the restraint of the organs of sense; the sixth is moderate eating, these are all. There is no seventh condition. The Siva Samhita – Chapter III 19. Having received instructions in Yoga, and obtained a Guru who knows Yoga, let him practice with earnestness and faith, according to the method taught by the teacher. (4) The Place, etc.

Commentary

Having catalogued the obstacles, the text pivots toward the positive conditions for success. Mithyāvāda (false speech, lying) and niṣṭhurabhāṣin (harsh, cruel speech) close the negative list. Speech is no minor detail: in Tantric cosmology, vāk (the word) is a sacred power whose corruption contaminates the practitioner’s entire subtle system.

Niṣṭhura derives from sthūra (coarse, rough) with the intensifying prefix nis-, denoting what lacks softness and causes harm. Mithyā means false, illusory, erroneous — the same root appearing in mithyājñāna (false knowledge) in Vedāntic philosophy. Speech, therefore, is not only an ethical matter but an epistemological one: speaking falsely distorts one’s perception of reality itself.

The enumeration of six positive conditions that concludes this verse represents one of the text’s most compact pedagogical summaries. Significantly, the Śivasaṃhitā explicitly states there is no seventh condition, closing the list with doctrinal authority. This numbered structure reflects the influence of didactic śāstra literature, where mnemonic lists facilitated accurate oral transmission across generations.

Key terms

vairāgya āsana abhyāsa
Verse 3.17
All verses
Verse 3.19