Devanagari
शक्तित्रयसमेताय मीढुषेऽहङ्कृतात्मने ।
चेतआकूतिरूपाय नमो वाचो विभूतये ॥ ४३ ॥
Verse text
śakti-traya-sametāya
mīḍhuṣe ’haṅkṛtātmane
ceta-ākūti-rūpāya
namo vāco vibhūtaye
Synonyms
śakti
—
traya — three kinds of energies
;
sametāya
—
unto the reservoir
;
mīḍhuṣe
—
unto Rudra
;
ahaṅkṛta
—
ātmane — the source of egotism
;
cetaḥ
—
knowledge
;
ākūti
—
eagerness to work
;
rūpāya
—
unto the form of
;
namaḥ
—
my obeisances
;
vācaḥ
—
unto the sound
;
vibhūtaye
—
unto the different types of opulences .
Translation
My dear Lord, You are the supreme controller of the worker, sense activities and results of sense activities [karma]. Therefore You are the controller of the body, mind and senses. You are also the supreme controller of egotism, known as Rudra. You are the source of knowledge and the activities of the Vedic injunctions.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
I offer respects to Śiva, endowed with the three energies (adhidaiva, adhyātma and adhibhauta), the lord of ahaṅkāra, the form of knowledge and action. I offer respects to the revealer of the Vedas.
By offering respects to the presiding deity of ahaṅkāra, he purifies ahaṅkāra again, along with its three aspects. I offer respects to Śiva (mīḍhuṣe), endowed with the three śaktis of devatā, sense and element (karṭr, karma, karaṇa), who is lord of ahaṅkāra. O Śiva! Purify the actions of my possessiveness and ego. Make them devotional! I offer respects to you. He speaks of purification of the knowledge senses and action senses. I offer respects to the form of knowledge (cetaḥ) and action (akūti). I offer respects to you who manifest various creations (vibhūtaye) called the Vedas (vacaḥ). Purification of the action senses is understood here also. Purification of the knowledge senses (eye, tongue, nose, ear and skin) was already mentioned, but he again offers respects to them. O Śiva! Make the working of my intelligence and prāṇas inclined to bhakti.
Purport
Everyone acts under the dictation of the ego. Therefore Lord Śiva is trying to purify false egotism through the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Since Lord Śiva, or Rudra, is himself the controller of egotism, he indirectly wants to be purified by the mercy of the Lord so that his real egotism can be awakened. Of course, Lord Rudra is always spiritually awake, but for our benefit he is praying in this way. For the impersonalist, pure egotism is
ahaṁ brahmāsmi
— “I am not this body; I am spirit soul.” But in its actual position, the spirit soul has devotional activities to perform. Therefore Lord Śiva prays to be engaged both in mind and in action in the devotional service of the Supreme Lord according to the direction of the
Vedas.
This is the process for purifying false egotism.
Cetaḥ
means “knowledge.” Without perfect knowledge, one cannot act perfectly. The real source of knowledge is the
vācaḥ,
or sound vibration, given by Vedic instructions. Here the word
vācaḥ,
or vibration, means the Vedic vibration. The origin of creation is sound vibration, and if the sound vibration is clear and purified, perfect knowledge and perfect activities actually become manifest. This is enacted by the chanting of the
mahā-mantra:
Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Thus Lord Śiva is praying again and again for the purification of body, mind and activities through the purification of knowledge and action under the pure directions of the
Vedas.
Lord Śiva prays to the Supreme Personality of Godhead so that his mind, senses and words will all turn toward devotional activities only.