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A verse in Soundarya Lahari by Adi Sankara says,

Jagat suthe dhata harir avati rudrah kshapayate
Tiraskurvan etat svam api vapurisastirayati;
Sada-purvah sarvam tad idamanugrhnati cha Shiva-
Stavajnam aalambya kshana-chalitayor bhru-latikayoh. [Ananda Lahari 24]

Brahma creates the world,
Vishnu looks after it,
Shiva destroys it,
Ishvara makes them disappear,
And also disappears himself,
And Sadashiva blesses them all,
By your order given to him,
By a momentary move of your eyebrows.

Who is Ishvara refered to here?
A malayalam translation says "Rudra destroys it, Eeshan makes the world dissolve in him and himself dissolves, and Shiva creates Brahma, Vishnu, Rudra and Eeshan again as is usual."

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  • 2
    It's Isha ie. Lord Maheswara...
    – Tezz
    Nov 17, 2017 at 1:49
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    Ishvara refers to nArAyaNa Nov 17, 2017 at 2:59
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    @moonstar2001 There is no reason given. It is just edited tags. Which scripture is it about? Saundarya Lahari is not a scripture. It is a work by Adi Shankara. We have to be precise with the tagging. Nov 17, 2017 at 3:06
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    @NogShine- OK I thought I stated the reason. The 5 tasks of the paramatma ,viz, srishti, stithi, laya, anugraha and tirodhana are well-defined and have scriptural basis. These are the tasks that the stotra is referring to. Even if one were not aware of this, we know that Sankaracharya's stotras are not mere poetry. They are aesthetically pleasing renderings of scripture and shaastra. There is no flight of fancy and his poetry always rooted in scripture.
    – user1195
    Nov 17, 2017 at 3:13
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    Also @NogShine stotras are also scripture when they are composed by rishis/avatara purushas. Soundarya Lahari is scripture not only because it is considered a commentary on the Lalita 1000, it has a well-defined upasana procedure that includes yantra and pooja vidhi.
    – user1195
    Nov 17, 2017 at 3:16

1 Answer 1

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Parameswara has Five-Fold functions as I discuss in my answer here and also referred in 5th Anuvaka of Sri Rudram. The verse discussed in Saundarya Lahiri is:

जगत्सूते धाता हरिरवति रुद्रः क्षपयते
तिरस्कुर्व-न्नेतत् स्वमपि वपु-रीश-स्तिरयति |
सदा पूर्वः सर्वं तदिद मनुगृह्णाति च शिव-
स्तवाङ्ञा मलम्ब्य क्षणचलितयो र्भ्रूलतिकयोः || २४ ||

jagatsūte dhātā hariravati rudraḥ kṣapayate
tiraskurva-nnetat svamapi vapu-rīśa-stirayati |
sadā pūrvaḥ sarvaṃ tadida manugṛhṇāti ca śiva-
stavāṅñā malambya kṣaṇacalitayo rbhrūlatikayoḥ || 24 ||

Dhata begets the world. Hari protects (it). Rudra destroys (it). Isa withdrawing this (Dhata, Hari and Rudra), obscures even his own body (by withdrawing into Sadasiva). Indeed Siva (whose name) is preceded by (the word) Sada, obliges in all this, stayed by your order, exhibited by the momentary movement of (your) eyebrows.

The Sanskrit word used is 'Isha'.

The verse recollects five forms of Parameswara doing five-fold activity. Creation (Shristi) is done by Brahma, Protection (Sthiti) is done by Vishnu, Destruction (Laya) is done by Rudra, Obscuring (Tirodhana) is done by Maheswara and Gracing (Anugraham) is done by SadaShiva.

So, it's clear Isha there is referring to Maheswara/Ishwara form among PanchaBrahman. As told in Shiva Purana:

ब्रह्मा विष्णुस्तथा रुद्रो महेशानः सदाशिव ।
मूर्त्तस्तस्य विज्ञेया याभिर्विश्वमिदं ततम् ।।
ईशानः पुरुषोऽघोरो वामः सद्यस्तथैव च ।
ब्राहाण्येतानि देवस्य मूर्तय पञ्च विश्रुता ।।

His forms comprise of Brahma, Visnu, Rudra, Mahesa and SadaShiva which pervade in the universe. The well known images of Shiva comprise of Ishana, (Tat)Purusa, Aghora, Vamadeva and Sadyojata.

Maheswara corresponds to Tatpurusha swarupa among Five Heads of SadaShiva.

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