Shloka 25
Purukutsa’s Rasātala Victory; Triśaṅku and Hariścandra; Rohita and Śunaḥśepha
मन: पृथिव्यां तामद्भिस्तेजसापोऽनिलेन तत् । खे वायुं धारयंस्तच्च भूतादौ तं महात्मनि । तस्मिञ्ज्ञानकलां ध्यात्वा तयाज्ञानं विनिर्दहन् ॥ २५ ॥ हित्वा तां स्वेन भावेन निर्वाणसुखसंविदा । अनिर्देश्याप्रतर्क्येण तस्थौ विध्वस्तबन्धन: ॥ २६ ॥
manaḥ pṛthivyāṁ tām adbhis tejasāpo ’nilena tat khe vāyuṁ dhārayaṁs tac ca bhūtādau taṁ mahātmani
Mahārāja Hariścandra first purified his mind, steeped in material enjoyment, by merging it into the earth element. Then he merged earth into water, water into fire, fire into air, and air into ether. Thereafter he merged ether into the total material energy and that energy into the ray of spiritual knowledge, by which ignorance was completely burned away.
Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the Ninth Canto, Seventh Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled “The Descendants of King Māndhātā.”
FAQs
These verses describe a yogic process of withdrawing consciousness from gross to subtle—earth into water, water into fire, fire into air, air into ether—and then fixing awareness in the source and the Supreme Self, so that ignorance is burned by realized knowledge.
In the midst of royal genealogies and histories, Śukadeva highlights that the ultimate purpose of life is liberation—showing how a perfected soul transcends material designations by internal withdrawal and God-centered realization.
Practice steady inner detachment: reduce identification with the body and possessions, cultivate meditation and scriptural reflection, and aim for clear self-awareness that dissolves ignorance and loosens binding anxieties.