51. All the creatures of the world, steeped in lust and greed, and engrossed in thoughts on the ways and means of securing their worldly ambitions, are quickly consumed by Thee, the un-winking and watchful spirit of Time, as a hungry serpent might swallow a rat that it comes upon.
In all the experiences of happiness and unhappiness, as also in all the hallucinations and imaginations, it is mind that does everything and experiences everything. It is the performer of all actions.
The seed of this world-appearance is ignorance. Man acquires this ignorance or mental conditioning effortlessly. It seems to promote pleasure though, in truth, it is the source of grief. It creates a delusion of pleasure only by the veiling of self-knowledge. When one becomes aware of the unreality of this mental conditioning, one’s mind ceases to be. As long as there is no natural yearning for self-knowledge, so long ignorance or mental conditioning throws up an endless stream of world-appearance. This ignorance perishes when it turns towards self-knowledge.
52. Even Brahma, the supreme teacher of us all, worships Thee, conscious of the limits of his own existence. All the fourteen Manus, the Lords of the world, adore Thee in absolute faith without any intrusion by the questioning of the intellect. Under the circumstances, which intelligent man would forsake Thy feet, knowing that his life has no meaning and is spent in vain if it has not been utilized for Thy worship?
53. Oh Supreme Lord! The whole world is gripped with the fear of death; but to us who know Thee, Thou are a haven free of fear.
Renunciation of everything puts an end to all sorrow. By renunciation, everything is gained. Renunciation of the ego-sense leads to realization of the Absolute. There is total renunciation when the mind – citta with the ego-sense is abandoned. When one abandons the mind, one is no more afflicted by fear of old age, death and such other events in life. That alone is supreme bliss. All else is terrible sorrow.
54. Oh princes! Pure in life and performing your svadharma, you should repeat this prayer hymn.
55. Ever meditating on Him and praising Him, adore Him who pervades everything and resides in you as the Atman.
56. Hear and repeat this hymn known as ‘Yoga-adesa’ again and again with concentration, to the exclusion of all other thoughts.
57. In days of yore, Brahma imparted this hymn to Bhrigu and the other offspring of His who were desirous of multiplying the species.
58. All those Prajapatis, so commissioned, are engaged in bringing forth various beings, with their ignorance dispelled by the repetition of this stotra.
59. Those devotees who study this hymn everyday with faith and concentration will surely attain to the highest goal.
60. Of all the blessings a man can receive, the highest is what is got by spiritual enlightenment. With spiritual enlightenment as the boat, man crosses the limitless ocean of samsara.
The ocean of the world is the cycle of birth-death-rebirth syndrome, without end, known as samsara. He who falls into an ocean is tossed about hither and thither by the waves and the currents of the ocean. He finds it very hard to reach the shore. He suffers in the process. Similarly, in samsara, in the cycle of birth and death, desires and sensual actions toss us about hither and thither. We suffer in the process and cannot attain the goal of Self Knowledge. A seeker is able to overcome the samsara only if he has no attachment to or aversion from any objects of the world. This arises when he realizes the Self and is free from ignorance and the resultant desires, and karma.
61. Whoever recites, with faith and devotion, this hymn imparted by me is able to please Sri Hari, whom it is difficult to please with other forms of worship.
62. Man attains, whatever he seeks, from Him when He is propitiated with the steady repetition of the hymn imparted by me.
63. Whoever, getting up early in the morning, hears or recites this hymn with faith and devotion, will be able to break the bonds of all karma.
64. Oh princes! Perform tapas by way of concentrated repetition of this hymn addressed to the Paramatman. In the end, you will obtain the highest that can be achieved by man.
Bhadrasva said:
1. Oh sage, what vrata, tapas or dharma was done by you to get at that world again?
Agastya said:
2. No one can think of getting at those worlds without worshipping Visnu with devotion. When once He is worshipped, all of them are easily attainable.
3. Thinking, thus, oh king, I worshipped the eternal Visnu with sacrifices in which daksina was liberally given.
Daksina is an offering to the brahmanas for participation in the vaidika karmakanda strictly according to the scriptures.
4. As I was worshipping Him in His form as Sacrifice for a long time, Devas who were invoked in the sacrifice came there together with Indra.
5-6. When Indra and the other gods were remaining in their positions in the sky, the great god Rudra arrived there. He, too, stood in his position.
7-9. Seeing all the gods, sages and great serpents arrive there, the sage Sanatkumar, son of Brahma, came there in a very minute aerial car resembling the sun and he, a great yogi who could know the past, present and future, prostrated before Rudra.
10-11. At the sight of these Devas, sages like Narada, and Sanatkumar and Rudra, I asked who among them was the greatest to whom sacrifices could be offered. Then, in the presence of gods, Rudra told me thus:
