Śivasaṃhitā 5.252

The dialectical tension between secrecy (verses 249-250) and open transmission (this verse) is not contradiction but discrimination: secrecy protects from those who are not prepared, openness serves those who are. The selection criterion is double: mokṣārthi (liberation seeker) and sādhu (noble in character). It is not lineage or social status but the quality of aspiration.

Mokṣārthibhyaḥ = for liberation seekers (mokṣa = liberation, arthin = seeker, one who pursues as their goal), sarve = all without exception, sādhu = noble, righteous, one who «knows how to reach the goal» (sādh = to reach), śrāvayeta = should cause to hear, should recite to (causative of śru = to hear).

The mandate to transmit to «all noble liberation-seekers» without distinction of caste, gender or social condition is notably democratic for the text’s historical context (estimated between 15th-17th centuries). The Śiva-saṃhitā shares this openness with bhakti and the Nātha movement, which also taught women, untouchables and people of all castes. Liberation, according to these texts, does not recognize social hierarchies.