Devanagari
मैत्रेय उवाच
प्रचेतसोऽन्तरुदधौ पितुरादेशकारिण: ।
जपयज्ञेन तपसा पुरञ्जनमतोषयन् ॥ ३ ॥
Verse text
maitreya uvāca
pracetaso ’ntar udadhau
pitur ādeśa-kāriṇaḥ
japa-yajṣena tapasā
puraṣjanam atoṣayan
Synonyms
maitreyaḥ uvāca
—
Maitreya said
;
pracetasaḥ
—
the Pracetās
;
antaḥ
—
within
;
udadhau
—
the sea
;
pituḥ
—
of their father
;
ādeśa
—
kāriṇaḥ — the order carriers
;
japa
—
yajṣena — by chanting mantras
;
tapasā
—
under severe austerities
;
puram
—
janam — the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
atoṣayan
—
satisfied .
Translation
The great sage Maitreya said: The sons of King Prācīnabarhi, known as the Pracetās, underwent severe austerities within the seawater to carry out the order of their father. By chanting and repeating the mantras given by Lord Śiva, they were able to satisfy Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Maitreya said: Following the instructions of their father within the ocean, the Pracetās satisfied the Supreme Lord by chanting Śiva’s prayer and by austerity.
They satisfied the Lord (puraṣjanam) by chanting Śiva’s prayer (japa-yajṣena).
Purport
One can offer prayers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead directly, but if one repeats the prayers offered by great devotees like Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā, or if one follows in the footsteps of great personalities, one can please the Supreme Personality of Godhead very easily. For instance, we sometimes chant this
mantra
of
Brahma-saṁhitā
(5.29)
:
cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-
lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam
lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
“I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor, who is tending the cows, yielding all desires, in abodes built with spiritual gems and surrounded by millions of purpose trees. He is always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds of thousands of
lakṣmīs,
or
gopīs.
” Because this prayer was offered by Lord Brahmā, we follow him by reciting this prayer. That is the easiest way to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The pure devotee never attempts to reach the Supreme Lord directly. The most important way to worship the Lord is to go through the disciplic succession of devotees. The prayers offered by Lord Śiva to the Supreme Personality of Godhead were thus repeated by the Pracetās, who were thus very successful in pleasing the Supreme Lord.
Here the Supreme Personality of Godhead is described as
puraṣjana.
According to Madhvācārya, the living entity is called
puraṣjana
because he has become an inhabitant of this material world, and under the influence of the three modes of material nature, he is forced to live within it. The Supreme Personality of Godhead creates this material world (
pura
), and He also enters within it.
Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham:
the Lord enters within the heart of the living entity and within the atom. Therefore both the living entity and the Lord are called
puraṣjana.
One
puraṣjana,
the living entity, is subordinate to the supreme
puraṣjana;
therefore the duty of the subordinate
puraṣjana
is to satisfy the supreme
puraṣjana.
That is devotional service. Lord Rudra, or Lord Śiva, is the original
ācārya
of the Vaiṣṇava
sampradāya
called the Rudra
sampradāya.
Rudra-gītena
indicates that under the disciplic succession of Lord Rudra, the Pracetās achieved spiritual success.