Verse Text
tatra dehī, yathā yāmunācārya-stotre (49)—
vapur-ādiṣu yo ’pi ko 'pi vā
guṇato ’sāni yathā tathā-vidhaḥ |
tad ayaṁ tava pāda-padmayor
aham adyaiva mayā samarpitaḥ ||196||
Translation
Offering the soul is illustrated in a stotra of Yāmunācārya: Whoever I may be, either a soul inhabiting the body and other material elements, or a deva or a human body made of the guṇas, today I offer that ”I” to Your lotus feet.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
By the word vā the first phrase (vapur ādiṣu yo ’pi ko ’pi) indicates his svarūpa whereas the second phrase indicates the material forms of deva and human (yathā tathā-vidhaḥ). Asāni is the imperative first person of as (to be) — “may I be.” This indicates freely following one’s desires. From grammatical analysis, tad ayam should actually be asau ayam. This phrase, meaning “that and this,” connected with aham indicates the “I” who is the soul and the “I” who is the body. This may be more commonly expressed as so’ ham.
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
Śrī Yāmunācārya, in his prayers to the Lord, has expressed a similar idea in the following words: “My dear Lord, I may be living within some body as a human being or as a demigod, but whatever mode of life, I do not mind, because these bodies are simply by-products of the three modes of material nature, and I, who am in possession of these bodies, am surrendering myself unto You.”