SB 7.4.22 · Srimad Bhagavatam

Devanagari

तस्यै नमोऽस्तु काष्ठायै यत्रात्मा हरिरीश्वर: । यद्गत्वा न निवर्तन्ते शान्ता: संन्यासिनोऽमला: ॥ २२ ॥ इति ते संयतात्मान: समाहितधियोऽमला: । उपतस्थुर्हृषीकेशं विनिद्रा वायुभोजना: ॥ २३ ॥

Verse text

tasyai namo ’stu kāṣṭhāyai yatrātmā harir īśvaraḥ yad gatvā na nivartante śāntāḥ sannyāsino ’malāḥ iti te saṁyatātmānaḥ samāhita-dhiyo ’malāḥ upatasthur hṛṣīkeśaṁ vinidrā vāyu-bhojanāḥ

Synonyms

tasyai — unto that ; namaḥ — our respectful obeisances ; astu — let there be ; kāṣṭhāyai — direction ; yatra — wherein ; ātmā — the Supersoul ; hariḥ — the Supreme Personality of Godhead ; īśvaraḥ — the supreme controller ; yat — which ; gatvā — approaching ; na — never ; nivartante — return ; śāntāḥ — peaceful ; sannyāsinaḥ — saintly persons in the renounced order of life ; amalāḥ — pure ; iti — thus ; te — they ; saṁyata — ātmānaḥ — having controlled minds ; samāhita — steadied ; dhiyaḥ — intelligences ; amalāḥ — purified ; upatasthuḥ — worshiped ; hṛṣīkeśam — the master of the senses ; vinidrāḥ — without sleeping ; vāyu — bhojanāḥ — eating only air .

Translation

“Let us offer our respectful obeisances unto that direction where the Supreme Personality of Godhead is situated, where those purified souls in the renounced order of life, the great saintly persons, go, and from which, having gone, they never return.” Without sleep, fully controlling their minds, and living on only their breath, the predominating deities of the various planets began worshiping Hṛṣīkeśa with this meditation.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

“We offer respects to the direction in which the peaceful, pure Lord, Paramātmā, who is unattached to the material world, exists, and from which one does not return.” Without sleep, with fully controlled minds and purified intelligence, and living on only their breath, the devatās began worshiping Hṛṣīkeśa, master of the senses. We offer respects to the direction where the Lord exists. Because the demon has control of all places, we cannot go any holy place (where the Lord resides) and worship him. This is the indication. Or another meaning is “We offer respects to the excellent place, where the Lord exists.” All other excellent places have been conquered by the demon. Amara-koṣa says that kāṣthā means excellent place and direction.

Purport

The two words tasyai kāṣṭhāyai are very significant. Everywhere, in every direction, in every heart and in every atom, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is situated in His features as Brahman and Paramātmā. Then what is the purpose of saying tasyai kāṣṭhāyai — “in that direction where Hari is situated”? During Hiraṇyakaśipu’s time, his influence was everywhere, but he could not force his influence into the places where the Supreme Personality of Godhead had His pastimes. For example, on this earth there are such places as Vṛndāvana and Ayodhyā, which are called dhāmas. In the dhāma, there is no influence from Kali-yuga or any demon. If one takes shelter of such a dhāma, worship of the Lord becomes very easy, and resultant spiritual advancement quickly takes place. In fact, in India one may still go to Vṛndāvana and similar places to achieve the results of spiritual activities quickly.