Shloka 20
The Prayers of the Personified Vedas (Śruti-stuti) and the Indescribable Absolute
स्वकृतपुरेष्वमीष्वबहिरन्तरसंवरणं तव पुरुषं वदन्त्यखिलशक्तिधृतोंऽशकृतम् । इति नृगतिं विविच्य कवयो निगमावपनं भवत उपासतेऽङ्घ्रिमभवं भुवि विश्वसिता: ॥ २० ॥
sva-kṛta-pureṣv amīṣv abahir-antara-saṁvaraṇaṁ tava puruṣaṁ vadanty akhila-śakti-dhṛto ’ṁśa-kṛtam iti nṛ-gatiṁ vivicya kavayo nigamāvapanaṁ bhavata upāsate ’ṅghrim abhavam bhuvi viśvasitāḥ
Das einzelne Lebewesen, obwohl es in den materiellen Körpern wohnt, die es sich durch sein Karma selbst geschaffen hat, bleibt in Wahrheit weder von grober noch von feiner Materie bedeckt. Denn, wie die Veden lehren, ist es ein Teil von Dir, dem Träger aller Kräfte. Nachdem sie so den Stand des Lebewesens erkannt haben, verehren die weisen Seher voller Glauben Deine Lotosfüße, denen in dieser Welt die vedischen Opfer dargebracht werden und die die Quelle der Befreiung sind.
Not only does the Supreme Lord remain totally uncontaminated when He resides within the material bodies of the conditioned souls, but even the infinitesimal jīva souls are never directly touched by the coverings of ignorance and lust they acquire while passing through repeated cycles of birth and death. Thus the Taittirīya Upaniṣad (3.10.5) proclaims, sa yaś cāyaṁ puruṣe yaś cāsāv āditye sa ekaḥ: “The soul of the embodied living being is one with Him who stands within the sun.” Similarly, the Chāndogya Upaniṣad (6.8.7) teaches, tat tvam asi: “You are nondifferent from that Supreme Truth.”
FAQs
It describes the Lord as the indwelling Puruṣa who pervades and regulates from within and without, present in the karmically formed “city” of the body as an expansion, while still sustaining all potencies.
Because they recognize His feet as the ultimate refuge and the source of Vedic revelation, and as the means to become “abhava”—freed from repeated birth—thereby revealing the true goal of human life.
By remembering the body is a temporary karmic “city,” cultivating discrimination about life’s real goal, and practicing steady devotion—especially worship and remembrance of the Lord’s lotus feet—as the path to inner freedom.