Devanagari
यदा मन: स्वं विरजं योगेन सुसमाहितम् ।
काष्ठां भगवतो ध्यायेत्स्वनासाग्रावलोकन: ॥ १२ ॥
Verse text
yadā manaḥ svaṁ virajaṁ
yogena susamāhitam
kāṣṭhāṁ bhagavato dhyāyet
sva-nāsāgrāvalokanaḥ
Synonyms
yadā
—
when
;
manaḥ
—
the mind
;
svam
—
own
;
virajam
—
purified
;
yogena
—
by yoga practice
;
su
—
samāhitam — controlled
;
kāṣṭhām
—
the plenary expansion
;
bhagavataḥ
—
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
dhyāyet
—
one should meditate upon
;
sva
—
nāsā — agra — the tip of one’s nose
;
avalokanaḥ
—
looking at .
Translation
When the mind is perfectly purified by this practice of yoga, one should concentrate on the tip of the nose with half-closed eyes and see the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
When the mind becomes purified and steady by yama and other the aṅgas, looking at the tip of the nose, one should them meditate on the form of the Lord
Yogena means “by yama and other aṅgas.” Kāṣṭhām means “attractive form.” One looks at the nose to avoid sleep and wandering mind.
Purport
It is clearly mentioned here that one has to meditate upon the expansion of Viṣṇu. The word
kaṣṭhām
refers to Paramātmā, the expansion of the expansion of Viṣṇu.
Bhagavataḥ
refers to Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Godhead is Kṛṣṇa; from Him comes the first expansion, Baladeva, and from Baladeva come Saṅkarṣaṇa, Aniruddha and many other forms, followed by the
puruṣa-avatāras.
As mentioned in the previous verses (
puruṣārcanam
), this
puruṣa
is represented as the Paramātmā, or Supersoul. A description of the Supersoul, upon whom one must meditate, will be given in the following verses. In this verse it is clearly stated that one must meditate by fixing the vision on the tip of the nose and concentrating one’s mind on the
kalā,
or the plenary expansion, of Viṣṇu.