Devanagari
स तान् प्रपन्नार्तिहरो भगवान्धर्मवत्सल: ।
धर्मज्ञान् शीलसम्पन्नान् प्रीत: प्रीतानुवाच ह ॥ २६ ॥
Verse text
sa tān prapannārti-haro
bhagavān dharma-vatsalaḥ
dharma-jṣān śīla-sampannān
prītaḥ prītān uvāca ha
Synonyms
saḥ
—
Lord Śiva
;
tān
—
them
;
prapanna
—
ārti — haraḥ — one who drives away all kinds of dangers
;
bhagavān
—
the lord
;
dharma
—
vatsalaḥ — very much fond of religious principles
;
dharma
—
jṣān — persons who are aware of religious principles
;
śīla
—
sampannān — very well behaved
;
prītaḥ
—
being pleased
;
prītān
—
of very gentle behavior
;
uvāca
—
talked with them
;
ha
—
in the past .
Translation
Lord Śiva became very pleased with the Pracetās because generally Lord Śiva is the protector of pious persons and persons of gentle behavior. Being very much pleased with the princes, he began to speak as follows.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Śiva, who takes away the distress of the surrendered and who has affect for dharma, pleased with the Pracetās who knew dharma and had good conduct, spoke to them, to their delight.
Purport
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa, is known as
bhakta-vatsala,
and herein we find Lord Śiva described as
dharma-vatsala.
Of course, the word
dharma-vatsala
refers to a person who lives according to religious principles. That is understood. Nonetheless, these two words have additional significance. Sometimes Lord Śiva has to deal with persons who are in the modes of passion and ignorance. Such persons are not always very much religious and pious in their activities, but since they worship Lord Śiva for some material profit, they sometimes obey the religious principles. As soon as Lord Śiva sees that his devotees are following religious principles, he blesses them. The Pracetās, sons of Prācīnabarhi, were naturally very pious and gentle, and consequently Lord Śiva was immediately pleased with them. Lord Śiva could understand that the princes were sons of Vaiṣṇavas, and as such Lord Śiva offered prayers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead as follows.