Devanagari
एतद्रूपमनुध्येयमात्मशुद्धिमभीप्सताम् ।
यद्भक्तियोगोऽभयद: स्वधर्ममनुतिष्ठताम् ॥ ५३ ॥
Verse text
etad rūpam anudhyeyam
ātma-śuddhim abhīpsatām
yad-bhakti-yogo ’bhayadaḥ
sva-dharmam anutiṣṭhatām
Synonyms
etat
—
this
;
rūpam
—
form
;
anudhyeyam
—
must be meditated upon
;
ātma
—
self
;
śuddhim
—
purification
;
abhīpsatām
—
of those who are desiring so
;
yat
—
that which
;
bhakti
—
yogaḥ — the devotional service
;
abhaya
—
daḥ — factual fearlessness
;
sva
—
dharmam — one’s own occupational duties
;
anutiṣṭhatām
—
executing .
Translation
My dear Lord, those who desire to purify their existence must always engage in meditation upon Your lotus feet, as described above. Those who are serious about executing their occupational duties and who want freedom from fear must take to this process of bhakti-yoga.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Desiring purification of the jīva, one should repeatedly meditate on this form. Devotion to this form gives freedom from fear of death, even to those practicing varṇāśrama duties.
Śiva gives some special information in this verse. As long as one has not seen the Lord, the sādhaka bhakta, desiring purification of the jīva, the removal of ignorance, must repeatedly meditate (anudhyeyam) on this form. The devotee should not purify his identity by any other means. Just as purification of the body was described through offering respects to Vāsudeva and other deities, here there is purification of the jīva by repeated meditation on the beauty of the Lord. After this, the devotee sees the Lord and becomes his associate. Thus the goal of the śuddha-bhakta has been shown. How can bhakti be glorified? Even for persons performing their prescribed duties in different stages of life, bhakti-yoga gives freedom from fear of death.
Purport
It is said that the transcendental name, form, pastimes and entourage of the Lord cannot be appreciated by the blunt material senses; therefore one has to engage himself in devotional service so that the senses may be purified and one can see the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Here, however, it is indicated that those who are constantly engaged in meditating on the lotus feet of the Lord are certainly purified of the material contamination of the senses and are thus able to see the Supreme Lord face to face. The word “meditation” is very popular in this age amongst the common people, but they do not know the actual meaning of meditation. However, from Vedic literature we learn that the
yogīs
are always absorbed in meditation upon the lotus feet of the Lord:
dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ
(
Bhāg.
12.13.1
). This is the real business of the
yogīs
— to think of the lotus feet of the Lord. Lord Śiva therefore advises that one who is actually serious about purification must engage himself in this type of meditation or in the mystic
yoga
system, which will help him not only to see the Lord within constantly but to see Him face to face and become His associate in Vaikuṇṭhaloka or Goloka Vṛndāvana.
The word
sva-dharmam
(as in
sva-dharmam anutiṣṭhatām
) indicates that the system of
varṇāśrama
— which indicates the occupational duties of the
brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya
and
śūdra
and which is the perfect institution for humanity — must be supported by
bhakti-yoga
if one at all wants security in life. Generally people think that simply by executing the occupational duties of a
brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya
or
śūdra
or the duty of a
brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha
or
sannyāsī
one becomes fearless or securely attains liberation, but factually unless all these occupational duties are accompanied by
bhakti-yoga,
one cannot become fearless. In
Bhagavad-gītā
there are descriptions of
karma-yoga, jṣāna-yoga, bhakti-yoga, dhyāna-yoga,
etc., but unless one comes to the point of
bhakti-yoga,
these other
yogas
cannot help one attain the highest perfection of life. In other words,
bhakti-yoga
is the only means for liberation. We find this conclusion also in
Caitanya-caritāmṛta
in a discussion between Lord Caitanya and Rāmānanda Rāya regarding a human being’s liberation from this material world. In that discussion Rāmānanda Rāya referred to the execution of
varṇāśrama-dharma,
and Lord Caitanya indicated that the
varṇāśrama-dharma
was simply external (
eho bāhya
). Lord Caitanya wanted to impress upon Rāmānanda Rāya that simply by executing the duties of
varṇāśrama-dharma
one is not guaranteed liberation. Finally Rāmānanda Rāya referred to the process of
bhakti-yoga:
sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ
(
Bhāg.
10.14.3
). Regardless of one’s condition of life, if he practices
bhakti-yoga,
which begins with hearing (
śruti-gatām
) the transcendental messages of the Lord through the mouths of devotees, he gradually conquers the unconquerable God.
God is known to be unconquerable, but one who submissively hears the words of a self-realized soul conquers the unconquerable. The conclusion is that if one is serious about liberation, he not only should execute the occupational duties of
varṇāśrama-dharma
but should also engage in
bhakti-yoga
by beginning hearing from a realized soul. This process will help the devotee conquer the unconquerable Supreme Personality of Godhead and become His associate after giving up the material body.