SB 4.25.2 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

रुद्रगीतं भगवत: स्तोत्रं सर्वे प्रचेतस: । जपन्तस्ते तपस्तेपुर्वर्षाणामयुतं जले ॥ २ ॥

Verse text

rudra-gītaṁ bhagavataḥ stotraṁ sarve pracetasaḥ japantas te tapas tepur varṣāṇām ayutaṁ jale

Synonyms

rudra — gītam — the song sung by Lord Śiva ; bhagavataḥ — of the Lord ; stotram — prayer ; sarve — all ; pracetasaḥ — the princes known as the Pracetās ; japantaḥ — reciting ; te — all of them ; tapaḥ — austerity ; tepuḥ — executed ; varṣāṇām — of years ; ayutam — ten thousand ; jale — within the water .

Translation

All the Pracetā princes simply stood in the water for ten thousand years and recited the prayers given to them by Lord Śiva.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Chanting Śiva’s song concerning the Lord, the Pracetās performed austerities for ten thousand years in the water.

Purport

Of course in the modern age one may be amazed how the princes could stand in the water for ten thousand years. However, living within air or living within water is the same process; one simply has to learn how to do it. The aquatics live within water for their whole life span. Certain favorable conditions are created to enable them to live within water. In those days, however, people used to live for one hundred thousand years. Out of so many years, if one could spare ten thousand years for the sake of austerity, he would be assured of success in his future life. This was not very astonishing. Although such a feat is impossible in this age, it was quite possible in Satya-yuga.