SB 12.6.70 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

य एवेमं लोकमतिकरालवदनान्धकारसंज्ञाजगरग्रह गिलितं मृतकमिव विचेतनमवलोक्यानुकम्पया परमकारुणिक ईक्षयैवोत्थाप्याहरहरनुसवनं श्रेयसि स्वधर्माख्यात्मावस्थाने प्रवर्तयति ॥ ७० ॥

Verse text

ya evemaṁ lokam ati-karāla-vadanāndhakāra-saṁjṣājagara-graha-gilitaṁ mṛtakam iva vicetanam avalokyānukampayā parama-kāruṇika īkṣayaivotthāpyāhar ahar anusavanaṁ śreyasi sva-dharmākhyātmāva-sthane pravartayati.

Synonyms

yaḥ — who ; eva — alone ; imam — this ; lokam — world ; ati — karāla — very fearful ; vadana — the mouth of which ; andhakāra — saṁjṣa — known as darkness ; ajagara — by the python ; graha — seized ; gilitam — and swallowed ; mṛtakam — dead ; iva — as if ; vicetanam — unconscious ; avalokya — by glancing ; anukampayā — mercifully ; parama — kāruṇikaḥ — supremely magnanimous ; īkṣayā — by casting his glance ; eva — indeed ; utthāpya — raising them up ; ahaḥ ahaḥ — day after day ; anu — savanam — at the three sacred junctures of the day ; śreyasi — in the ultimate benefit ; sva — dharma — ākhya — known as the soul’s proper duty ; ātma — avasthāne — in the inclination toward spiritual life ; pravartayati — engages .

Translation

The world has been seized and swallowed by the python of darkness in its horrible mouth and has become unconscious, as if dead. But mercifully glancing upon the sleeping people of the world, you raise them up with the gift of sight. Thus you are most magnanimous. At the three sacred junctures of each day, you engage the pious in the path of ultimate good, inducing them to perform religious duties that situate them in their spiritual position.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Looking at the almost dead, unconscious people seized and swallowed by darkness in the form of a python with a fearful mouth, being most merciful, by your compassionate glance, you wake them up, and engage them daily in the most auspicious activity, worship of ātmā, their real duty. Rising over Eastern Mountain, you glance upon the world. You engage people in worship of ātmā (ātmāvasthāne), which is their duty.

Purport

According to Vedic culture, the three higher classes of society (the intellectual, political and mercantile sections) are formally connected with the spiritual master by initiation and receive the Gāyatrī mantra. This purifying mantra is chanted three times daily — at sunrise, noon and sunset. Auspicious moments for the performance of spiritual duties are calculated according to the sun’s path in the sky, and this systematic scheduling of spiritual duties is here attributed to the sun as the representative of God.