Shloka 17
पञ्चमहाभूतगुण-इन्द्रियनिग्रह-उपदेशः | Teaching on the Qualities of the Five Elements and Sense-Control
ऊरू ते पर्वता देव खं नाभिममधुसूदन । पादौ ते पृथिवी देवी रोमाण्योषधयस्तथा,महातेजस्वी परमेश्वर! ब्रह्मा, वेद और जाननेयोग्य सभी वस्तुएँ आपने ही उत्पन्न की हैं। देव! आकाश आपका मस्तक है। चन्द्रमा और सूर्य नेत्र हैं। वायु श्वास है तथा अग्नि आपका तेज है। अच्युत! सम्पूर्ण दिशाएँ आपकी भुजाएँ और महासागर आपका कुक्षिस्थान है। देव! मधुसूदन! पर्वत आपके ऊरु और अन्तरिक्ष-लोक आपकी नाभि है। पृथ्वीदेवी आपके चरण तथा ओषधियाँ रोएँ हैं
ūrū te parvatā deva khaṃ nābhir madhusūdana | pādau te pṛthivī devī romāṇy oṣadhayas tathā || mahātejasvin parameśvara brahmā vedāś ca jñeyāni sarvāṇi vastūni tvayaiva sṛṣṭāni | deva ākāśaṃ te mastakam | candrasūryau netre | vāyur niśvāsaḥ, agnis tejas | acyuta sarvā diśo bāhavaḥ, mahāsāgaraḥ kukṣi-sthānam | deva madhusūdana parvatā ūravaḥ, antarīkṣa-lokā nābhiḥ | pṛthivī-devī pādau, oṣadhayo romāṇi ||
Uttanka said: “O God, O Madhusūdana—your thighs are the mountains, and the mid-region of space is your navel. The Earth-goddess is your feet, and the herbs are your body-hair. O supremely radiant Lord, Supreme Ruler: Brahmā, the Vedas, and all knowable things have been brought forth by you alone. The sky is your head; the moon and the sun are your eyes; the wind is your breath, and fire is your splendor. O Acyuta, all the directions are your arms, and the great ocean is your belly.”
उत्तडुक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a devotional vision of the Supreme as the cosmic body: all elements and beings are limbs of the Lord. Ethically, it grounds humility and reverence—seeing the world as sacred and sustained by a higher order, encouraging dharmic conduct aligned with that order.
Uttanka addresses the Lord (identified through epithets like Madhusūdana and Acyuta) with a hymn that maps the cosmos onto the deity’s body—sky as head, sun and moon as eyes, directions as arms, ocean as belly, mountains as thighs, earth as feet—praising him as the source of Brahmā, the Vedas, and all knowable things.