Srimad Bhagavatam — Tritiya Skandha, Shloka 22
Kapila Describes Bhakti-Saturated Aṣṭāṅga-Yoga and Meditation on the Lord’s Form
यच्छौचनि:सृतसरित्प्रवरोदकेन तीर्थेन मूर्ध्न्यधिकृतेन शिव: शिवोऽभूत् । ध्यातुर्मन:शमलशैलनिसृष्टवज्रं ध्यायेच्चिरं भगवतश्चरणारविन्दम् ॥ २२ ॥
yac-chauca-niḥsṛta-sarit-pravarodakena tīrthena mūrdhny adhikṛtena śivaḥ śivo ’bhūt dhyātur manaḥ-śamala-śaila-nisṛṣṭa-vajraṁ dhyāyec ciraṁ bhagavataś caraṇāravindam
The blessed Lord Śiva becomes all the more blessed by bearing on his head the holy waters of the Ganges, which has its source in the water that washed the Lord’s lotus feet. The Lord’s feet act like thunderbolts hurled to shatter the mountain of sin stored in the mind of the meditating devotee. One should therefore meditate on the lotus feet of the Lord for a long time.
In this verse the position of Lord Śiva is specifically mentioned. The impersonalist suggests that the Absolute Truth has no form and that one can therefore equally imagine the form of Viṣṇu or Lord Śiva or the goddess Durgā or their son Gaṇeśa. But actually the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the supreme master of everyone. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta ( Ādi 5.142) it is said, ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa, ara saba bhṛtya: the Supreme Lord is Kṛṣṇa, and everyone else, including Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā — not to mention other demigods — is a servant of Kṛṣṇa. The same principle is described here. Lord Śiva is important because he is holding on his head the holy Ganges water, which has its origin in the foot-wash of Lord Viṣṇu. In the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, by Sanātana Gosvāmī, it is said that anyone who puts the Supreme Lord and the demigods, including Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā, on the same level, at once becomes a pāṣaṇḍī, or atheist. We should never consider that the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu and the demigods are on an equal footing.
FAQs
This verse teaches that prolonged meditation on Bhagavān’s lotus feet powerfully destroys the “mountain” of impurities in the mind, like a thunderbolt breaking stone.
Śiva is cited as a supreme example of auspiciousness: even he becomes especially sanctified by contact with the Lord’s sacred water and tīrtha, highlighting the purifying potency that ultimately comes from Bhagavān.
Set a steady daily practice of remembrance—japa, prayerful contemplation, or focused meditation on the Lord’s feet—so the mind’s accumulated negativity and distractions gradually break apart and settle into purity.