Devanagari
देवहूर्नाम पुर्या द्वा उत्तरेण पुरञ्जन: ।
राष्ट्रमुत्तरपञ्चालं याति श्रुतधरान्वित: ॥ ५१ ॥
Verse text
devahūr nāma puryā dvā
uttareṇa puraṣjanaḥ
rāṣṭram uttara-paṣcālaṁ
yāti śrutadharānvitaḥ
Synonyms
devahūḥ
—
of the name Devahū
;
nāma
—
as it was called
;
puryāḥ
—
of the city
;
dvāḥ
—
gate
;
uttareṇa
—
on the northern side
;
puraṣjanaḥ
—
King Puraṣjana
;
rāṣṭram
—
country
;
uttara
—
northern
;
paṣcālam
—
of the name Paṣcāla
;
yāti
—
used to go
;
śruta
—
dhara — anvitaḥ — with his friend Śrutadhara .
Translation
On the northern side was the gate named Devahū. Through that gate, King Puraṣjana used to go with his friend Śrutadhara to the place known as Uttara-paṣcāla.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Facing northern was the gate named Devahū. Through that gate, King Puraṣjana used to go with Śrutadhara to the place known as Uttara-paṣcāla.
Uttarena means in the northern direction. Śrutadhara is the ear. By the right ear which is stronger, one first hears karma-kāṇḍa. By the left ear one hears jṣāna-kāṇḍa. Thus they are given different names (Pitṛhū and Devahū). Since one first understands about the five sense objects through the ear, the sense object sound is called paṣcāla.
Purport
The two ears are situated on the northern side and the southern side. The ear on the southern side is very strong and is always anxious to hear about sense enjoyment. The ear on the northern side, however, is used for taking initiation from the spiritual master and for gaining promotion to the spiritual sky. The right ear, or the ear on the southern side, is called Pitṛhū, which indicates that it is used for attaining the higher planetary systems known as Pitṛloka, but the left ear, which is known as Devahū, is utilized for hearing about even higher planetary systems, such as Maharloka, Tapoloka and Brahmaloka — or yet even higher planets, situated in the spiritual universe, where one becomes more inclined to be permanently situated. This is explained in
Bhagavad-gītā
(9.25)
:
yānti deva-vratā devān
pitṝn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ
bhūtāni yānti bhūtejyā
yānti mad-yājino ’pi mām
“Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; those who worship ancestors go to the ancestors; and those who worship Me will live with Me.”
One who is interested in being happy on this planet as well as after death generally wants to be elevated to the Pitṛlokas. Such a person can use the right ear for hearing Vedic instructions. However, one who is interested in going to Tapoloka, Brahmaloka, the Vaikuṇṭha planets or Kṛṣṇaloka may take initiation from the spiritual master in order to be elevated to such
lokas.