Shloka 40
The Prayers of the Personified Vedas (Śruti-stuti) and the Indescribable Absolute
त्वदवगमी न वेत्ति भवदुत्थशुभाशुभयो- र्गुणविगुणान्वयांस्तर्हि देहभृतां च गिर: । अनुयुगमन्वहं सगुण गीतपरम्परया श्रवणभृतो यतस्त्वमपवर्गगतिर्मनुजै: ॥ ४० ॥
tvad avagamī na vetti bhavad-uttha-śubhāśubhayor guṇa-viguṇānvayāṁs tarhi deha-bhṛtāṁ ca giraḥ anu-yugam anv-ahaṁ sa-guṇa gīta-paramparayā śravaṇa-bhṛto yatas tvam apavarga-gatir manu-jaiḥ
One who realizes You no longer frets over good or bad fortune born of past piety and sin, for You alone govern both. He also disregards the talk of ordinary embodied beings. Day after day he fills his ears with Your glories, sung in every age through the unbroken lineage of Manu’s descendants, and thus You become his ultimate path to liberation.
Text 39 clearly states that impersonalistic renunciants will continue to suffer birth after birth. One may ask if this suffering is justified, since a renunciant’s status should exempt him from suffering, whether or not he has a devotional attitude. As the śruti-mantra states, eṣa nityo mahimā brāhmaṇasya na karmaṇā vardhate no kanīyān: “The perpetual glory of a brāhmaṇa is never increased or diminished as a result of any of his activities.” ( Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.4.28) To counter the objection thus raised, the personified Vedas offer this prayer.
FAQs
This verse says that one who truly realizes the Lord does not see Him as connected to auspicious/inauspicious or virtue/vice—those dualities belong to conditioned perception, not to the Absolute.
The verse explains that embodied beings keep a tradition of praising Him ‘with attributes’ because such descriptions support hearing and devotion, and the Lord is the practical path to liberation for humans.
Practice regular śravaṇa (hearing) and kīrtana (chanting) of the Lord’s names and qualities, while remembering that divine qualities are revealed for devotion and liberation—not to limit God within human moral dualities.