Shloka 54
अष्टौ प्रकृतयश्चैव प्रकृतिभ्यश्न यः पर: । चन्द्रमा, सूर्य, नक्षत्र, ग्रह, वायु, ध्रुव, सप्तर्षि, सात भुवन, मूल प्रकृति, महत्तत्त्व, विकारोंके सहित विशेषपर्यन्त समस्त तत्त्व, ब्रह्माजीसे लेकर कीटपर्यन्त सम्पूर्ण जगत्, भूतादि, सत् और असत् आठ प्रकृतियाँ तथा प्रकृतिसे परे जो पुरुष है, इन सबके रूपमें ये महादेवजी ही विराजमान हैं || ५२-५३ ह || अस्य देवस्य यद् भागं कृत्स्नं सम्परिवर्तते,इन महादेवजीका अंशभूत जो सम्पूर्ण जगत् चक्रकी भाँति निरन्तर चलता रहता है, वह भी ये ही हैं। ये परमानन्दस्वरूप हैं। जो शाश्वत ब्रह्म है, वह भी ये ही हैं। ये ही विरक्तोंकी गति हैं और ये ही सत्पुरुषोंके परमभाव हैं
aṣṭau prakṛtayaś caiva prakṛtibhyaś ca yaḥ paraḥ | candramā sūrya nakṣatrāṇi grahā vāyur dhruvaḥ saptaṛṣayaḥ sapta bhuvanāni mūlaprakṛtir mahattattvaṃ vikārāḥ saha viśeṣaparyantaṃ samasta-tattvaṃ brahmādito kīṭaparyantaṃ samastaṃ jagat bhūtādi sat asac ca | aṣṭau prakṛtayaḥ prakṛteḥ paraś ca yaḥ puruṣaḥ—ete sarvarūpeṇa mahādeva eva virājate || asya devasya yad bhāgaṃ kṛtsnaṃ samparivartate | cakravad anavarataṃ carati yad idaṃ jagat tad api sa eva | sa paramānandasvarūpaḥ | yaḥ śāśvataṃ brahma sa eva | sa viraktānāṃ gatiḥ | sa satpuruṣāṇāṃ parama-bhāvaḥ ||
Vāyu said: “The eight primal natures, and also that which is beyond nature; the moon, the sun, the constellations, the planets; the wind; Dhruva; the Seven Sages; the seven worlds; the root-prakṛti and the great principle (mahat); all evolutes and the entire range of principles down to the particularized forms; the whole universe from Brahmā down to the tiniest insect; the beginning of beings; the real and the unreal—these eight natures, and the Person who is beyond nature: in all these forms Mahādeva alone stands manifest. And that complete portion of this God which keeps revolving—the entire universe that moves unceasingly like a wheel—that too is none other than He. He is of the nature of supreme bliss. He is the eternal Brahman. He is the goal of the dispassionate, and the highest state of the true and good.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches an all-encompassing vision of Mahādeva: both the manifest cosmos (celestial bodies, worlds, beings, and the chain of tattvas from root nature to particular forms) and the transcendent principle beyond nature (puruṣa, eternal Brahman) are presented as His presence. Ethically, it grounds devotion and renunciation in a unified metaphysical reality—seeing the divine in all and aiming for the highest state through detachment and truth.
Vāyu is speaking in praise and exposition of Mahādeva’s supremacy, describing how the universe continuously cycles like a wheel as an aspect of the deity, and identifying Mahādeva with supreme bliss, eternal Brahman, and the final refuge of renunciants and the realized.