Shloka 25
Kapila Describes Bhakti-Saturated Aṣṭāṅga-Yoga and Meditation on the Lord’s Form
नाभिह्रदं भुवनकोशगुहोदरस्थं यत्रात्मयोनिधिषणाखिललोकपद्मम् । व्यूढं हरिन्मणिवृषस्तनयोरमुष्य ध्यायेद्द्वयं विशदहारमयूखगौरम् ॥ २५ ॥
nābhi-hradaṁ bhuvana-kośa-guhodara-sthaṁ yatrātma-yoni-dhiṣaṇākhila-loka-padmam vyūḍhaṁ harin-maṇi-vṛṣa-stanayor amuṣya dhyāyed dvayaṁ viśada-hāra-mayūkha-gauram
তখন যোগী প্রভুর উদরের মধ্যস্থিত চন্দ্রসম নাভিহ্রদের ধ্যান করবে। সেই নাভি, যা সমগ্র বিশ্বব্রহ্মাণ্ডের আধার, সেখান থেকে নানা লোকসমূহ ধারণকারী পদ্মনাল উদ্ভূত হল; সেই পদ্মে আত্মযোনি ব্রহ্মার নিবাস। তদ্রূপ যোগী ভগবানের যুগল স্তনাগ্রের ধ্যান করবে—উৎকৃষ্ট পান্নার ন্যায় দীপ্ত, আর বক্ষে শোভিত শ্বেত মুক্তাহারের কিরণে গৌরবর্ণ প্রতীয়মান।
The yogī is advised next to meditate upon the navel of the Lord, which is the foundation of all material creation. Just as a child is connected to his mother by the umbilical cord, so the first-born living creature, Brahmā, by the supreme will of the Lord, is connected to the Lord by a lotus stem. In the previous verse it was stated that the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī, who engages in massaging the legs, ankles and thighs of the Lord, is called the mother of Brahmā, but actually Brahmā is born from the abdomen of the Lord, not from the abdomen of his mother. These are inconceivable conceptions of the Lord, and one should not think materially, “How can the father give birth to a child?”
FAQs
This verse instructs the meditator to contemplate the Lord’s navel-lotus within the cosmic sphere, where Brahmā, the self-born creator, is situated—linking devotion and meditation to the Lord as the source of cosmic manifestation.
Kapila is teaching Devahūti a step-by-step meditation on the Lord’s transcendental form; describing the navel-lotus and Brahmā establishes the Lord as the origin and support of the universe, deepening devotional concentration.
Use focused, reverent visualization during prayer or japa: remember the Lord as the source of all order and intelligence, and let that remembrance steady the mind away from anxiety and toward devotion and clarity.