Text-14-15
SB 4.2.14-15
pretavasesu ghoresu
pretair bhuta-ganair vrtah
ataty unmattavan nagno
vyupta-keso hasan rudan
cita-bhasma-krta-snanah
preta-sran-nrasthi-bhusanah
sivapadeso hy asivo
matto matta-jana-priyah
patih pramatha-nathanam
tamo-matratmakatmanam
Translation by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
He lives in filthy places like crematoriums, and his companions are the ghosts and demons. Naked like a madman, sometimes laughing and sometimes crying, he smears crematorium ashes all over his body. He does not bathe regularly, and he ornaments his body with a garland of skulls and bones. Therefore only in name is he siva, or auspicious; actually, he is the most mad and inauspicious creature. Thus he is very dear to crazy beings in the gross mode of ignorance, and he is their leader.
Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
Those who do not regularly bathe are supposed to be in association with ghosts and crazy creatures. Lord Siva appeared to be like that, but his name, Siva, is actually fitting, for he is very kind to persons who are in the darkness of the mode of ignorance, such as unclean drunkards who do not regularly bathe. Lord Siva is so kind that he gives shelter to such creatures and gradually elevates them to spiritual consciousness. Although it is very difficult to raise such creatures to spiritual understanding, Lord Siva takes charge of them, and therefore, as stated in the Vedas, Lord Siva is all-auspicious. Thus by his association even such fallen souls can be elevated. Sometimes it is seen that great personalities meet with fallen souls, not for any personal interest but for the benefit of those souls. In the creation of the Lord there are different kinds of living creatures. Some of them are in the mode of goodness, some are in the mode of passion, and some are in the mode of ignorance. Lord Visnu takes charge of persons who are advanced Krsna conscious Vaisnavas, and Lord Brahma takes charge of persons who are very much attached to material activities, but Lord Siva is so kind that he takes charge of persons who are in gross ignorance and whose behavior is lower than that of the animals. Therefore Lord Siva is especially called auspicious.