Srimad Bhagavatam — Shashtha Skandha, Shloka 34
Diti’s Puṁsavana Vow, Indra’s Intervention, and the Birth of the Maruts
पतिरेव हि नारीणां दैवतं परमं स्मृतम् । मानस: सर्वभूतानां वासुदेव: श्रिय: पति: ॥ ३३ ॥ स एव देवतालिङ्गैर्नामरूपविकल्पितै: । इज्यते भगवान् पुम्भि: स्त्रीभिश्च पतिरूपधृक् ॥ ३४ ॥
patir eva hi nārīṇāṁ daivataṁ paramaṁ smṛtam mānasaḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ vāsudevaḥ śriyaḥ patiḥ
A husband is the supreme demigod for a woman. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Vāsudeva, the husband of the goddess of fortune, is situated in everyone’s heart and is worshiped through the various names and forms of the demigods by fruitive workers. Similarly, a husband represents the Lord as the object of worship for a woman.
The Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (9.23) :
FAQs
This verse explains that a husband may be honored as a woman’s supreme object of reverence, but the ultimate truth behind that reverence is Vāsudeva, the Supreme Lord, who is to be seen as present within all beings.
He clarifies that although worship appears in many names, forms, and symbols, the one Bhagavān is the actual recipient—manifesting even as the ‘husband-form’ and as the indwelling Lord of all.
Respect relationships and duties, but cultivate the vision that God is the inner Lord in everyone—so devotion becomes the root of ethics, fidelity, and compassion rather than mere social convention.