Devanagari
इति तव सूरयस्त्र्यधिपतेऽखिललोकमल-क्षपणकथामृताब्धिमवगाह्य तपांसि जहु:
किमुत पुन: स्वधामविधुताशयकालगुणा:परम भजन्ति ये पदमजस्रसुखानुभवम् ॥ १६ ॥
Verse text
iti tava sūrayas try-adhipate ’khila-loka-mala-
kṣapaṇa-kathāmṛtābdhim avagāhya tapāṁsi jahuḥ
kim uta punaḥ sva-dhāma-vidhutāśaya-kāla-guṇāḥ
parama bhajanti ye padam ajasra-sukhānubhavam
Synonyms
iti
—
thus
;
tava
—
Your
;
sūrayaḥ
—
wise saints
;
tri
—
of the three (planetary systems of the universe, or the three modes of nature)
;
adhipate
—
O master
;
akhila
—
of all
;
loka
—
the worlds
;
mala
—
the contamination
;
kṣapaṇa
—
which eradicates
;
kathā
—
of discussions
;
amṛta
—
nectar
;
abdhim
—
into the ocean
;
avagāhya
—
by diving deeply
;
tapāṁsi
—
their troubles
;
jahuḥ
—
have given up
;
kim uta
—
what to speak
;
punaḥ
—
moreover
;
sva
—
their own
;
dhāma
—
by the power
;
vidhuta
—
dispelled
;
āśaya
—
of their minds
;
kāla
—
and of time
;
guṇāḥ
—
the (undesirable) qualities
;
parama
—
O supreme one
;
bhajanti
—
worship
;
ye
—
who
;
padam
—
Your true nature
;
ajasra
—
uninterrupted
;
sukha
—
of happiness
;
anubhavam
—
(in which there is) experience .
Translation
Therefore, O master of the three worlds, the wise get rid of all misery by diving deep into the nectarean ocean of topics about You, which washes away all the contamination of the universe. Then what to speak of those who, having by spiritual strength rid their minds of bad habits and freed themselves from time, are able to worship Your true nature, O supreme one, finding within it uninterrupted bliss?
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Therefore, O master of the three worlds, the wise get rid of all misery by diving deep into the nectarean ocean of topics about You, which washes away all the contamination of the universe. Then what to speak of those who, having by spiritual strength rid their minds of bad habits and freed themselves from time, are able to worship Your true nature, O supreme one, finding within it uninterrupted bliss?
KB 10.87.16
The personified Vedas continued to pray, “Dear Lord, considering all points of view, if a person has to worship someone superior to himself, then just out of good behavior he should stick to the worship of Your lotus feet because You are the ultimate controller of creation, maintenance and dissolution. You are the controller of the three worlds, Bhūḥ, Bhuvaḥ and Svaḥ; You are the controller of the fourteen upper and lower worlds; and You are the controller of the three material qualities. Demigods and persons advanced in spiritual knowledge always hear and chant about Your transcendental pastimes because this process has the specific potency of nullifying the accumulated results of sinful life. Intelligent persons factually dip into the ocean of Your nectarean activities and very patiently hear about them. Thus they are immediately freed from the contamination of the material qualities; they do not have to undergo severe penances and austerities for advancement in spiritual life. This chanting and hearing of Your transcendental pastimes is the easiest process for self-realization. Simply by submissive aural reception of the transcendental message, one’s heart is cleansed of all dirty things. Thus Kṛṣṇa consciousness becomes fixed in the heart of a devotee.” The great authority Bhīṣmadeva has also given the opinion that this process of chanting and hearing about the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the highest religious process. And the Taittirīya Upaniṣad says that worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the essence of all Vedic ritualistic performances.
“Dear Lord,” the personified Vedas continued, “the devotee who wants to elevate himself simply by the process of devotional activities, especially by hearing and chanting, very soon comes out of the clutches of the dualities of material existence. By this simple process of penance and austerity, the Supersoul within the devotee’s heart is very much pleased and gives the devotee directions so that he may go back home, back to Godhead.” It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā that one who engages all his activities and senses in the devotional service of the Lord becomes completely peaceful because the Supersoul is satisfied with him; thus the devotee becomes transcendental to all dualities, such as heat and cold, honor and dishonor. Being freed from all dualities, he feels transcendental bliss, and he no longer suffers cares and anxieties due to material existence. The Bhagavad-gītā confirms that the devotee always absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness has no anxieties for his maintenance or protection. Being constantly absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he ultimately achieves the highest perfection. While in material existence, he lives very peacefully and blissfully, without cares and anxieties, and after quitting this body he goes back home, back to Godhead. The Lord confirms in the Bhagavad-gītā, “My supreme abode is a transcendental place from which, having gone, one never returns to this material world. Anyone who attains the supreme perfection, being engaged in My personal devotional service in the eternal abode, reaches the highest perfection of human life and does not have to come back to the miserable material world.”
Purport
According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, in the previous verse those
śrutis
whose presentation of the Supreme Truth may seem impersonal clarified their true purpose. Now, in the present verse, those who focus exclusively on the divine Personality of Godhead, who speak of His transcendental pastimes, take their turn in praising Him.
Because all the
Vedas
declare the supremacy of the Personality of Godhead as the cause of all causes, discriminating persons should take to His worship. By diving into the ocean of His glories, intelligent devotees help dispel the distress of all souls and loosen their own burning attachment to materialistic life. These advancing devotees gradually give up all material attachment and lose any interest they once had in the troublesome austerities of
karma,
jṣāna
and
yoga.
Beyond these devotees are the
sūris,
connoisseurs of spiritual truth, who honor the nectarean ocean of the Supreme Lord’s glories by immersing themselves fully within it. These mature devotees of the Supreme Lord achieve unimaginable perfection. The Lord, reciprocating their sincere endeavors, empowers them to realize Him in His personal form. Remembering with rapture the Lord’s intimate pastimes and entourage, they are automatically freed from the last subtle traces of mental contamination and from sensitivity to the unavoidable pains of disease and old age.
Referring to the purifying power of devotional service, the
śrutis
say,
tad yathā puṣkara-palāśa āpo na śliṣyante evam evaṁ-vidi pāpaṁ karma na śliṣyate:
“Just as water does not adhere to a lotus leaf, so sinful activities do not adhere to one who knows the truth in this way.” The
Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa
(14.7.28)
,
Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa
(3.12.9.8),
Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad
(4.4.28) and
Baudhāyana-dharma-śāstra
(2.6.11.30) all concur:
na karmaṇā lipyate pāpakena.
“One thus avoids becoming tainted by sinful activity.”
The
Ṛg Veda
(1.154.1) refers to the Supreme Lord’s pastimes as follows:
viṣṇor nu kaṁ vīryāṇi pravocaṁ yaḥ pārthivāni vimame rajāṁsi.
“Only he may fully enunciate the heroic deeds of Lord Viṣṇu who can count all the particles of dust in the world.” Many
śruti-mantras
glorify devotional service to the Lord, such as
eko vaśī sarva-go ye ’nubhajanti dhīrās/ teṣāṁ sukhaṁ śāśvataṁ netareṣām:
“He is the one omnipresent Lord and controller; only those wise souls who worship Him obtain eternal happiness, not anyone else.”
In this connection Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī prays:
sakala-veda-gaṇerita-sad-guṇas
tvam iti sarva-manīṣi-janā ratāḥ
tvayi subhadra-guṇa-śravaṇādibhis
tava pada-smaraṇena gata-klamāḥ
“Because all the
Vedas
describe Your transcendental qualities, all thoughtful persons are attracted to hearing and chanting about Your all-auspicious qualities. Thus by remembering Your lotus feet, they are freed from material distress.”
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
That you are worshipable because you are supreme is then confirmed by citing the behavior of the devotees. "O Lord of all in the upper, middle and lower worlds! Because you are the supreme (iti), those with discernment (surayah) dive in the ocean of nectar of your pastimes which destroy all faults of karma even in its subtlest forms and give up the austerities which are an anga of jnana, or all material sufferings (tapamsi). This is concerning the sadhakas. What then to speak of the perfected devotees, who by their spiritual forms (sva dhamna) have given up all bad qualities (asaya guna) in the mind such as attachment and all effects of time such as old age (kala guna)! O supreme one (parama)! They worship your feet in such a way that they experience unlimited bliss. In other words, they give up all suffering.
visnor nu kam viryani pravocam yah parthivani imane rajamsi
Who can enumerate Visnu’s glories, even if he can count all the particles of dust in the air? (kam for kah, pravocam for pravocat.)
Rig Veda 1.154.1
This illustrates that the Lord has pastimes or glories.
Eko vasi sarvagah krsna idya eko’pi san bhudha yo’vabhati
Tam pithagam ye’nuyajanti dhiras tesam sukham sasvatah netaresam
Krsna is in one place but is all pervading. He is worthy of worship, and though one, spreads himself in many forms. Those who worship him in his dhama attain happiness and not others.
Gopal tapani Upanisad Purva 21
In such verse the srutis show the process of worship in devotion.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
The śrutis who desire only the Lord in his pure pastimes, hearing the conclusion of the śrutis who recited the previous verse, taking this opportunity, praise Kṛṣṇa. O lord of those who reside in the upper, lower and middle realms! Since all the śrutis are attempting to indicate you, the wise reject the previous verse, and immerse themselves in the experience of unlimited bliss of your topics which erase faults including impressions of karma. They give up all suffering. Therefore O most attractive Lord (parama)! What to speak of those who have purified their hearts, time and qualities by your power, those who are ātmārāmas or jīvanmuktas, who worship your lotus feet which give an experience of happiness at every moment. They certainly immerse themselves in your sweet topics and give up all suffering. By that happiness they give up the happiness of the ātmārāma condition. This indicates that those śrutis which propound the pastimes of the Lord have a natural and intense relationship with Bhagavān. Otherwise they would not speak such a verse.
The chief śruti statements in this regard are as follows.
Nānudhyāyād bahūṁ śabdān vāco viglāpanaṁ hi tat:
One should not contemplate many words. It is merely a waste of speech. Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad
yasya nāma mahaḍ yasaḥ: his name is most famous.
viṣṇor nu kaṁ vīryāṇi pravocaṁ yaḥ pārthivāni vimame rajāṁsi
Only he may fully enunciate the heroic deeds of Lord Viṣṇu who can count all the particles of dust in the world. Ṛg Veda 1.154.1
The supporting śrutis are as follows.
yaṁ ṣarve devā namanit mumukṣavo brahma-vādinaś ca
All devatās, persons desiring liberation and braham-vādis offer respects to the Lord. Nṛsiṁha-tāpanī Upaniṣad
The highest principle within all the śrutis is described:
yasyāṁ na me pāvanam aṅga karma
sthity-udbhava-prāṇa-nirodham asya
līlāvatārepsita-janma vā syād
vandhyāṁ giraṁ tāṁ bibhṛyān na dhīraḥ
O Uddhava! The wise do not accept useless scriptures in which there are no descriptions of how I create, maintain and destroy the universe, and in which there are no descriptions of my auspicious birth as Kṛṣṇa among all the līlāvatāras. SB 11.11.20
Creation refers to his glancing over prakṛti.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Because (iti) of the three activities of the sages directed to you, O lord of actions of mind, words and body (tryadhipate)! The devotees touching (avagāhya) the ocean of your sweet topics destroy misery including vāsanas in all the worlds without qualification. The topcis destroy at the root all suffering. Just by a drop of the topics all suffering is destroyed.
Or one thoroughly tastes the topics, unable to give them up because of the great sweetness, due to their nature or great quantity. Punaḥ is an ornament of speech. Moreover, because worshipping you is the essence, by the strength of bhakti to you, those who purify their hearts of time and bad qualities and serve (bhajanti) your dear place, Mathura-maṇḍala (padam), which makes them experience unlimited bliss or which is the very form of continuous bliss, give up all suffering.
Aho madhupurī dhanyā vaikunṭhāc ca garīyasī
Kṣaṇam ekaṁ nivāsena harau bhaktiḥ prajāyate
O Mathurā is most fortunate. It is greater that Vaikuṇṭha. By living there one moment bhakti develops. Padma Purāṇa.
Or by your abode of Mathurā (svadhāma) people become jīvanmuktas (vidhūtāśaya-kāla-guṇāḥ), what to speak of giving up all suffering.
Astīha mathurā nāma triṣu lokeṣu viśrutā
Pavanena naras tasyā mucyate janma-bandhanāt
Mathurā, famous in the three worlds exists, here. By its purity man becomes free of the bondage of birth. Saura Purāṇa
Or they serve your form (padam) which is dark blue and full of bliss, since it is better than your aspect without form.