Devanagari
देशे शुचौ समे राजन्संस्थाप्यासनमात्मन: ।
स्थिरं सुखं समं तस्मिन्नासीतर्ज्वङ्ग ओमिति ॥ ३१ ॥
Verse text
deśe śucau same rājan
saṁsthāpyāsanam ātmanaḥ
sthiraṁ sukhaṁ samaṁ tasminn
āsītarjv-aṅga om iti
Synonyms
deśe
—
in a place
;
śucau
—
very sacred
;
same
—
level
;
rājan
—
O King
;
saṁsthāpya
—
placing
;
āsanam
—
on the seat
;
ātmanaḥ
—
one’s self
;
sthiram
—
very steady
;
sukham
—
comfortably
;
samam
—
equipoised
;
tasmin
—
on that sitting place
;
āsīta
—
one should sit down
;
ṛju
—
aṅgaḥ — the body perpendicularly straight
;
om
—
the Vedic mantra praṇava
;
iti
—
in this way .
Translation
My dear King, in a sacred and holy place of pilgrimage one should select a place in which to perform yoga. The place must be level and not too high or low. There one should sit very comfortably, being steady and equipoised, keeping his body straight, and thus begin chanting the Vedic praṇava.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O King! Establishing a seat in a clean, level place, one should sit comfortably, firmly and peacefully, with a straight body, and chant the Vedic praṇava.
He should keep his body straight, and chant oṁ.
Purport
Generally the chanting of
om
is recommended because in the beginning one cannot understand the Personality of Godhead. As stated in
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
(1.2.11)
:
vadanti tat tattva-vidas
tattvaṁ yaj jṣānam advayam
brahmeti paramātmeti
bhagavān iti śabdyate
“Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.” Unless one is fully convinced of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one has the tendency to become an impersonalist
yogī
searching for the Supreme Lord within the core of his heart (
dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ
). Here the chanting of
oṁkāra
is recommended because in the beginning of transcendental realization, instead of chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa
mahā-mantra,
one may chant
oṁkāra
(
praṇava
). There is no difference between the Hare Kṛṣṇa
mahā-mantra
and
oṁkāra
because both of them are sound representations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu.
In all Vedic literatures, the sound vibration
oṁkāra
is the beginning.
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.
The difference between chanting
oṁkāra
and chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa
mantra
is that the Hare Kṛṣṇa
mantra
may be chanted without consideration of the place or the sitting arrangements recommended in
Bhagavad-gītā
(6.11):
śucau deśe pratiṣṭhāpya
sthiram āsanam ātmanaḥ
nāty-ucchritaṁ nātinīcaṁ
cailājina-kuśottaram
“To practice
yoga,
one should go to a secluded place and should lay
kuśa
grass on the ground and then cover it with a deerskin and a soft cloth. The seat should neither be too high nor too low and should be situated in a sacred place.” The Hare Kṛṣṇa
mantra
may be chanted by anyone, without consideration of the place or how one sits. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has openly declared,
niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ.
In chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa
mahā-mantra
there are no particular injunctions regarding one’s sitting place. The injunction
niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ
includes
deśa, kāla
and
pātra
— place, time and the individual. Therefore anyone may chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa
mantra,
without consideration of the time and place. Especially in this age, Kali-yuga, it is very difficult to find a suitable place according to the recommendations of
Bhagavad-gītā.
The Hare Kṛṣṇa
mahā-mantra,
however, may be chanted at any place and any time, and this will bring results very quickly. Yet even while chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa
mantra
one may observe regulative principles. Thus while sitting and chanting one may keep his body straight, and this will help one in the chanting process; otherwise one may feel sleepy.