Devanagari
नारायणं नमस्कृत्य नरं चैव नरोत्तमम् ।
देवीं सरस्वतीं व्यासं ततो जयमुदीरयेत् ॥ ४ ॥
Verse text
nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya
naraṁ caiva narottamam
devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsaṁ
tato jayam udīrayet
Synonyms
nārāyaṇam
—
the Personality of Godhead
;
namaḥ
—
kṛtya — after offering respectful obeisances
;
naram ca eva
—
and Nārāyaṇa Ṛṣi
;
nara
—
uttamam — the supermost human being
;
devīm
—
the goddess
;
sarasvatīm
—
the mistress of learning
;
vyāsam
—
Vyāsadeva
;
tataḥ
—
thereafter
;
jayam
—
all that is meant for conquering
;
udīrayet
—
be announced .
Translation
Before reciting this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is the very means of conquest, one should offer respectful obeisances unto the Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, unto Nara-nārāyaṇa Ṛṣi, the supermost human being, unto mother Sarasvatī, the goddess of learning, and unto Śrīla Vyāsadeva, the author.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
After offering respectful obeisances unto the presiding deities Nara-nārāyaṇa Ṛṣi, unto the subject of the work Kṛṣṇa, unto the śakti of the work Sarasvatī, and unto the sage entristed with the work Śrīla Vyāsadeva, one should utter "Jaya."
Purport
All the Vedic literatures and the
Purāṇas
are meant for conquering the darkest region of material existence. The living being is in the state of forgetfulness of his relation with God due to his being overly attracted to material sense gratification from time immemorial. His struggle for existence in the material world is perpetual, and it is not possible for him to get out of it by making plans. If he at all wants to conquer this perpetual struggle for existence, he must reestablish his eternal relation with God. And one who wants to adopt such remedial measures must take shelter of literatures such as the
Vedas
and the
Purāṇas.
Foolish people say that the
Purāṇas
have no connection with the
Vedas.
However, the
Purāṇas
are supplementary explanations of the
Vedas
intended for different types of men. All men are not equal. There are men who are conducted by the mode of goodness, others who are under the mode of passion and others who are under the mode of ignorance. The
Purāṇas
are so divided that any class of men can take advantage of them and gradually regain their lost position and get out of the hard struggle for existence. Śrīla Sūta Gosvāmī shows the way of chanting the
Purāṇas.
This may be followed by persons who aspire to be preachers of the Vedic literatures and the
Purāṇas.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
is the spotless
Purāṇa,
and it is especially meant for them who desire to get out of the material entanglement permanently.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Having offered respects to guru, Sūta offers respects to devatā, presiding deity, etc. Nara-nārāyaṇa are designated as the presiding deities of this work since they have authority over the place. [Note: Vyāsa first wrote the work in Badarikāśrama, where Nara-nārāyaṇa preside.]The devatā or subject of the Bhāgavatam is Kṛṣṇa (narottamam). Sarasvatī is the śakti. [Note: This is not the material deity. In the spiritual world exist counterparts to the devatās of the material world who assist the Lord in his pastimes there. For instance divyā Sarasvatī gives Kṛṣṇa mantra to Brahmā in Brahma-saṁhitā.] The word ca indicates the ṛṣi (sage) of the work, Vyāsa. [Note: Before reciting a mantra or a scripture, it is customary to utter the name of the sage who revealed the mantra (in this case Vyāsa), the meter (gāyatrī), the form of the Lord who is the subject of the mantra (Kṛṣṇa), the bīja of the work or mantra (oṁ), the śakti of the work or mantra (Sarasvatī), the adhiṣṭhātṛ-devatā (Nara-nārāyaṇa) and the purpose of uttering the mantra. ] Some editions have the word vyāsam instead of caiva. That makes the meaning clear. The bīja is oṁ and the meter is predominantly gāyatrī, since the first verse of Bhāgavatam begins with oṁ and reference to gāyatrī. Having offered respects to these persons, one should utter “Jaya.” This is a verb form, calling out to Kṛṣṇa with raised hands. (Jaya Śrī-kṛṣṇa! Victory to Kṛṣṇa!) By using the potential case, Sūta teaches other sages of the Purāṇas to do the same. Jaya also refers to this scripture because one can conquer saṁsāra by studying it. So the meaning would be “One should then speak the Bhāgavatam (jayam). In this verse, since the verb form namaskṛtya indicates that another action immediately follows, the word tataḥ with the meaning of “next, then” would be superfluous. Therefore tataḥ describes the subject of the sentence. Tataḥ is a past participle of tan (to spread words, to speak). Thus tato jayam udīrayet means “the speaker should utter jaya.” This is the opinion of some.