Vamana Purana — Bali's Sudarshana Worship, Shloka 74
Bali’s Worship of Sudarshana and Prahlada’s Teaching on Vishnu-Bhakti
आद्यं ह्यनन्तमजरं हरिमव्ययं च ये वै स्मरन्त्यहरहर्नृवरा भुविस्थाः सर्वत्रगं शुभदं ब्रह्ममयं पुराणम् ते यान्ति वैष्णवपदं ध्रुवमक्षयञ्च वम्प्_67.70 ये मानवा विगतरागपरापरज्ञा नारायणं सुरगुरुं सततं स्मरन्ति ते धौतपाण्डुरपुटा इव राजहंसाः संसारसागरजलस्य तरन्ति पारम् // वम्प्_67.71 ध्यायन्ति ये सततमच्युतमीशितारं निष्कल्मषं प्रवरपद्मदलायताक्षम् ध्यानेन तेन हतकिल्बषवेदनास्ते मातुः पयोधररसं न पुनः पिबन्ति // वम्प्_67.72 ये कीर्तयन्ति वरदं वरपद्मनाभं शङ्खाब्जचक्रवरचापगदासिहस्तम् पद्मालयावदनपङ्कजषट्पदाख्यं नूनं प्रयान्ति सदनं मधुघातिनस्ते // वम्प्_67.73 शृण्वन्ति ये भक्तिपरा मनुष्याः संकीर्त्यमानं भगवन्तमाद्यम् ते मुक्तपापाः सुखिनो भवन्ति यथामृतप्राशनतर्पितास्तु
ādyaṃ hyanantamajaraṃ harimavyayaṃ ca ye vai smarantyaharaharnṛvarā bhuvisthāḥ sarvatragaṃ śubhadaṃ brahmamayaṃ purāṇam te yānti vaiṣṇavapadaṃ dhruvamakṣayañca VamP_67.70 ye mānavā vigatarāgaparāparajñā nārāyaṇaṃ suraguruṃ satataṃ smaranti te dhautapāṇḍurapuṭā iva rājahaṃsāḥ saṃsārasāgarajalasya taranti pāram // VamP_67.71 dhyāyanti ye satatamacyutamīśitāraṃ niṣkalmaṣaṃ pravarapadmadalāyatākṣam dhyānena tena hatakilbaṣavedanāste mātuḥ payodhararasaṃ na punaḥ pibanti // VamP_67.72 ye kīrtayanti varadaṃ varapadmanābhaṃ śaṅkhābjacakravaracāpagadāsihastam padmālayāvadanapaṅkajaṣaṭpadākhyaṃ nūnaṃ prayānti sadanaṃ madhughātinaste // VamP_67.73 śṛṇvanti ye bhaktiparā manuṣyāḥ saṃkīrtyamānaṃ bhagavantamādyam te muktapāpāḥ sukhino bhavanti yathāmṛtaprāśanatarpitāstu
“Those best of men who, while living on earth, remember day after day Hari—the primordial, endless, undecaying, imperishable one—who is all-pervading, bestower of auspiciousness, and of the nature of Brahman, the ancient Lord: they attain the Vaiṣṇava state (Viṣṇu’s supreme abode), firm and imperishable. Those humans who, free from attachment and possessing knowledge of the higher and the lower, constantly remember Nārāyaṇa, the teacher of the gods—like royal swans with washed, pale wings—they cross beyond the waters of the ocean of saṃsāra. Those who continually meditate on Acyuta, the sovereign ruler—stainless, with eyes like excellent lotus-petals—by that meditation their painful burden of sin is destroyed; they do not again drink the milk of a mother’s breast (i.e., they are not reborn). Those who sing the praises of the boon-giver, the excellent lotus-naveled Lord, whose hands bear conch, lotus, discus, splendid bow, mace and sword, who is the ‘bee’ at the lotus-face of Padmā (Lakṣmī): surely they go to the dwelling of the slayer of Madhu. Those devoted people who listen as the primordial Bhagavān is being glorified become freed from sins and become happy—like those satisfied by tasting nectar.”
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FAQs
In Purāṇic Vaiṣṇava theology, ‘brahma-maya’ asserts that Hari is not merely a deity among others but the supreme reality (Brahman) manifest personally. The verse fuses devotional theism with Upaniṣadic language to ground bhakti in metaphysical ultimacy.
It is a vivid idiom for freedom from rebirth (punarjanma). If one is not reborn, one does not return to infancy and thus does not again nurse at a mother’s breast.
The rāja-haṃsa symbolizes purity and discriminative wisdom (viveka). The image teaches that constant remembrance of Nārāyaṇa, coupled with detachment and right knowledge, enables one to traverse the otherwise impassable ‘ocean’ of worldly becoming.