In the previous verse, the phrase sarvaduḥkhātigo bhavet meaning ‘one goes beyond all sorrow’, was brought in from verse 12.
The fourth question which was who should men praise and worship to attain the auspiciousness, is being answered here.
ध्यायन् स्तुवन् नमस्यंश्च यजमानस्तमेव च ॥ ११॥
tameva cārcayannityaṁ bhaktyā puruṣamavyayam,
dhyāyan stuvannamasyaṁśca yajamānastameva ca. (11)
By always worshipping that imperishable Lord, with devotion, meditating on him ,praising him and by bowing down to him, the worshipper goes beyond all sorrow.
In these words, the Lord is further identified as the Puruṣaḥ. This term signifies puri śayanāt—the one who dwells within the city of the body—and pūrṇatvāt—the one who is absolute fullness. As the antaryāmī Paramātmā, He resides within the body, which is likened to a city; He is all-pervasive and ever-full. He is avyaya—free from destruction and change, and devoid of waxing or waning.
Tameva arcayan nityaṁ—worshipping Him alone, always. In this verse, three distinct modes of worship are revealed: dhyāyan—meditation, stuvan—vocal praise, and naman—physical prostration. Thus, our relationship with the Lord can be expressed in a threefold manner: kāyika, vācika, and mānasa. Kāyika refers to physical worship, vācika to worshipping with words, and mānasa to meditation or mental worship. Each involves the intentional exercise of one's will; therefore, they are all classified as karma.
The mental repetition of a mantra while invoking the grace of the Lord is known as meditation. Conversely, when the mantra is chanted—whether softly or loudly—it is considered vācika-karma. Performing a pūjā mentally, is also a form of meditation. So long as the Lord is visualized with a form and there is mental worship, it is meditation. The unique beauty of such worship is that the mind becomes resolved, which in itself is the immediate result. Since it constitutes a prayer to the Lord, it also yields an unseen result, known as puṇya or merit, for the individual performing the prayer.
Thus, by worshipping the Lord through the threefold mode of meditation, praise, and namaskāra, the devotee becomes sarvaduḥkhātigo bhavet (a phrase brought in from the subsequent verse), thereby going beyond the reach of all sorrow.
In the next verse, the third question which was what is sole and supreme goal, is being answered.
लोकाध्यक्षं स्तुवन्नित्यं सर्वदुःखातिगो भवेत् ॥ १२॥
anādinidhanaṃ viṣṇuṃ sarvalokamaheśvaram,
lokādhyakṣaṃ stuvannityaṃ sarvaduḥkhātigo bhavet. (12)
By always praising Vishnu who has no beginning or end, the Lord of all the worlds, the witness of the universe, one goes beyond sorrow.
Anādinidhanaṃ—The Lord is revealed as having neither beginning nor end. He is thus the uncaused cause, the ultimate source of all that exists, yet He remains ever a cause and never an effect. By declaring Him to be without beginning or end, the dualities of birth and death are negated. Furthermore, this negation encompasses all other modifications or bhāva-vikāras. Whereas the physical body is born (jāyate), exists (asti), grows (vardhate), undergoes modifications (vipariṇāmate), declines (apakṣīyate), and finally perishes (vinaśyati), the Lord remains eternally free from these changes.
He is Viṣṇu, the all-pervasive Being who resides both within and without. He is sarva-loka-maheśvara, the Supreme Sovereign of the entire universe. The term loka signifies that which is experienced by an individual. While the various lokas, or spheres of experience, each possess their own ruler, Viṣṇu is the Ruler of all rulers—the ultimate Authority under whose order all others function merely as executives.
The world, or loka, constitutes the entire category of the perceived, known as the dṛśya-varga. Because He is the Sovereign over even the cosmic rulers such as Brahma, He is extolled as sarva-loka-maheśvara, the Great Lord of all the worlds. He who directly perceives the world—this realm of the seen—through His innate and self-revealing consciousness which is His essential nature, is identified as the lokādhyakṣa. As pure Consciousness, He sustains and blesses the entire universe without the need for action, remaining ever uninvolved and unaffected by the world.
Stuvan nityam—by always singing His glories. Stuti is recognized as a vācika-karma, an act of vocal worship that invokes the grace of the Lord. This practice includes both mental contemplation and oral expression. We cannot flatter Īśvara through our praise, for the one who praises can never truly extol His infinite magnitude. Whatever we say invariably falls short, as the Lord is always more than anything we can say. Furthermore, every word uttered and the very individual who speaks are illumined by Him; indeed, all speech is made possible only through Him.
tam nityam stuvan sarva-duḥkhātigo bhavet — By always praising Him, one goes beyond all sorrow. These sorrows, as we have previously observed, are classified into three categories: ādhyātmika, centered on the individual’s own body-mind-sense complex; ādhibhautika, originating from external sources or other jīvas over which one may exercise some measure of control; and ādhidaivika, arising from forces over which one has no control. Śaṅkarācārya clarifies that transcending all sorrow is the general result for japa, arcanā, and stuti.
We will continue in the next post.
Om Tat Sat
