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sri-rudra uvaca
jitam ta atma-vid-varya-
svastaye svastir astu me
bhavataradhasa raddham
sarvasma atmane namah
SYNONYMS
sri-rudrah uvacaLord Siva began to speak; jitamall glories; teunto You; atma-vitself-realized; varyathe best; svastayeunto the auspicious; svastihauspiciousness; astulet there be; meof me; bhavataby You; aradhasaby the all-perfect; raddhamworshipable; sarvasmaithe Supreme Soul; atmaneunto the Supreme Soul; namahobeisances.
TRANSLATION
Lord Siva addressed the Supreme Personality of Godhead with the following prayer: O Supreme Personality of Godhead, all glories unto You. You are the most exalted of all self-realized souls. Since You are always auspicious for the self-realized, I wish that You be auspicious for me. You are worshipable by virtue of the all-perfect instructions You give. You are the Supersoul; therefore I offer my obeisances unto You as the supreme living being.
PURPORT
As soon as a devotee is inspired by the Lord to offer the Lord a prayer, the devotee immediately glorifies the Lord in the beginning by saying, All glories unto You, my Lord. The Lord is glorified because He is considered to be the chief of all self-realized souls. As said in the Vedas (Katha Upanisad 2.2.13), nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam: the Supreme Being, the Personality of Godhead, is the chief living being amongst all living beings. There are different kinds of individual living beingssome of them are in this material world, and some are in the spiritual world. Those who are in the spiritual world are known to be completely self-realized because on the spiritual platform the living entity is not forgetful of his service to the Lord. Therefore in the spiritual world all those who are in the devotional service of the Lord are eternally fixed, for they understand the position of the Supreme Being, as well as their individual constitution. Thus amongst self-realized souls, the Lord is known as the perfectly self-realized soul. Nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam. When the individual soul is fixed in his knowledge of the Lord as the Supreme Being, he actually becomes established in an all-auspicious position. Lord Siva prays herein that his auspicious position continue eternally by virtue of the Lords mercy upon him.
The Supreme Lord is all-perfect, and the Lord instructs that one who worships Him also becomes perfect. As stated in Bhagavad-gita (15.15): mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca. The Lord is situated as the Supersoul in everyones heart, but He is so kind to His devotees that He gives them instructions by which they may continue to progress. When they receive instructions from the all-perfect, there is no chance of their being misled. This is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (10.10): dadami buddhi-yogam tam yena mam upayanti te. The Lord is always ready to give instructions to the pure devotee so that the devotee can advance further and further in devotional service. Since the Lord gives instructions as sarvatma, the Supersoul, Lord Siva offers Him respect with the words sarvatma atmane namah. The individual soul is called atma, and the Lord is also called atma as well as Paramatma. Being situated in everyones heart, the Lord is known as the supreme atma. Therefore all obeisances are offered unto Him. In this regard, one may refer to the prayers of Kunti in the First Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.8.20):
The Lord is always ready to give instructions to the paramahamsas, or the topmost devotees of the Lord, who are completely liberated from all contaminations of the material world. The Lord always gives instructions to such exalted devotees to inform them how they can remain fixed in devotional service. Similarly, it is stated in the atmarama verse (Bhag. 1.7.10):
The word atmarama refers to those who are not interested in the material world but are simply engaged in spiritual realization. Such self-realized persons are generally considered in two categoriesimpersonal and personal. However, impersonalists also become devotees when they are attracted by the personal transcendental qualities of the Lord. The conclusion is that Lord Siva wanted to remain a fixed devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva. As explained in the following verses, Lord Siva never desires to merge into the existence of the Supreme Lord like the impersonalists. Rather, he thinks that it would be good fortune for him to continue to be fixed in the understanding of the Lord as the Supreme Being. By this understanding, one realizes that all living entitiesincluding Lord Siva, Lord Brahma and other demigodsare servants of the Supreme Lord.
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