Devanagari
धर्मार्थ उत्तमश्लोकं तन्तु: तन्वन् पितृन् यजेत् ।
रक्षाकाम: पुण्यजनानोजस्कामो मरुद्गणान् ॥ ८ ॥
Verse text
dharmārtha uttama-ślokaṁ
tantuḥ tanvan pitṝn yajet
rakṣā-kāmaḥ puṇya-janān
ojas-kāmo marud-gaṇān
Synonyms
dharma
—
arthaḥ — for spiritual advancement
;
uttama
—
ślokam — the Supreme Lord or persons attached to the Supreme Lord
;
tantuḥ
—
for offspring
;
tanvan
—
and for their protection
;
pitṝn
—
the residents of Pitṛloka
;
yajet
—
must worship
;
rakṣā
—
kāmaḥ — one who desires protection
;
puṇya
—
janān — pious persons
;
ojaḥ
—
kāmaḥ — one who desires strength should worship
;
marut
—
gaṇān — the demigods .
Translation
One should worship Lord Viṣṇu or His devotee for spiritual advancement in knowledge, and for protection of heredity and advancement of a dynasty one should worship the various demigods.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The person desiring dharma should worship Dharma. The person desiring many descendents should worship the Pitṛs. The person desiring protection should worship the Yakṣas. The person desiring strong senses should worship the Maruts.
Purport
The path of religion entails making progress on the path of spiritual advancement, ultimately reviving the eternal relation with Lord Viṣṇu in His impersonal effulgence, His localized Paramātmā feature, and ultimately His personal feature by spiritual advancement in knowledge. And one who wants to establish a good dynasty and be happy in the progress of temporary bodily relations should take shelter of the Pitās and the demigods in other pious planets. Such different classes of worshipers of different demigods may ultimately reach the respective planets of those demigods within the universe, but he who reaches the spiritual planets in the
brahmajyoti
achieves the highest perfection.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Uttamaḥ-ślokam means Dharma. Tantuḥ tanvan means desiring increase of descendents. Puṇya-janān means the Yakṣas. The Maruts are devatās.