Devanagari
इन्द्रियाणि मनस्यूर्मौ वाचि वैकारिकं मन: ।
वाचं वर्णसमाम्नाये तमोङ्कारे स्वरे न्यसेत् ।
ओङ्कारं बिन्दौ नादे तं तं तु प्राणे महत्यमुम् ॥ ५३ ॥
Verse text
indriyāṇi manasy ūrmau
vāci vaikārikaṁ manaḥ
vācaṁ varṇa-samāmnāye
tam oṁkāre svare nyaset
oṁkāraṁ bindau nāde taṁ
taṁ tu prāṇe mahaty amum
Synonyms
indriyāṇi
—
the senses (acting and knowledge-gathering)
;
manasi
—
in the mind
;
ūrmau
—
in the waves of acceptance and rejection
;
vāci
—
in the words
;
vaikārikam
—
infected by changes
;
manaḥ
—
the mind
;
vācam
—
the words
;
varṇa
—
samāmnāye — in the aggregate of all alphabets
;
tam
—
that (aggregate of all alphabets)
;
oṁkāre
—
in the concise form of oṁkāra
;
svare
—
in the vibration
;
nyaset
—
one should give up
;
oṁkāram
—
the concise sound vibration
;
bindau
—
in the point of oṁkāra
;
nāde
—
in the sound vibration
;
tam
—
that
;
tam
—
that (sound vibration)
;
tu
—
indeed
;
prāṇe
—
in the life air
;
mahati
—
unto the Supreme
;
amum
—
the living entity .
Translation
The mind is always agitated by waves of acceptance and rejection. Therefore all the activities of the senses should be offered into the mind, which should be offered into one’s words. Then one’s words should be offered into the aggregate of all alphabets, which should be offered into the concise form oṁkāra. Oṁkāra should be offered into the point bindu, bindu into the vibration of sound, and that vibration into the life air. Then the living entity, who is all that remains, should be placed in Brahman, the Supreme. This is the process of sacrifice.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
He offers the senses into the flickering mind and offers the mind into speech. He offers speech into the syllables, and the syllables into oṁ. He offers oṁ into bindu and bindu into nāda. He offers nāda into sūtrātmā. He offers sūtrātmā into the Brahman.
He offers the senses into the mind which has waves of lamentation and illusion. He offers the mind, which undergoes change such as identifying as the doer (vaikārikam), into speech, characterized by grammatical rules. He offers speech into all the syllables, since the syllables are a particular aspect of speech. The syllables are offered into oṁ, which is composed of three sounds (svare). He offers oṁ into the bindu (anusvara), and offers bindu into nāda. [Note: Nāda is the semicircle, which is combined with a dot, anusvara, to form the glyph used to write the syllable oṁ. ] Nāda is offered into sūtrātmā [Note: Sūtrātma is mahat-tattva with a tinge of rajas.] and sūtrātmā is offered into Brahman (mahati).
Purport
The mind is always agitated by acceptance and rejection, which are compared to mental waves that are constantly tossing. The living entity is floating in the waves of material existence because of his forgetfulness. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has therefore sung in his
Gītāvalī:
miche māyāra vaśe, yāccha bhese’, khāccha hābuḍubu, bhāi.
“My dear mind, under the influence of
māyā
you are being carried away by the waves of rejection and acceptance. Simply take shelter of Kṛṣṇa.”
Jīva kṛṣṇa-dāsa, ei viśvāsa, karle ta’ āra duḥkha nāi:
if we simply regard the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa as our ultimate shelter, we shall be saved from all these waves of
māyā,
which are variously exhibited as mental and sensual activities and the agitation of rejection and acceptance. Kṛṣṇa instructs in
Bhagavad-gītā
(18.66)
:
sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ
“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.” Therefore if we simply place ourselves at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa by taking to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and keeping always in touch with Him by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa
mantra,
we need not take much trouble in arranging to return to the spiritual world. By the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, this is very easy.
harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā