Shloka 20
Puruṣottama-māhātmya
The Greatness of Puruṣottama Kṣetra
सर्वांगेभ्यो यथा श्रेष्ठमुत्तमांगं विधातृजे । यथा समस्तविद्यानां मोक्षविद्या परा स्मृता ॥ २० ॥
sarvāṃgebhyo yathā śreṣṭhamuttamāṃgaṃ vidhātṛje | yathā samastavidyānāṃ mokṣavidyā parā smṛtā || 20 ||
O son of Brahmā, just as the head is the finest among all the limbs, so too, among all branches of knowledge, the knowledge that leads to mokṣa—liberation—is remembered as supreme.
Narada
Vrata: none
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: bhakti
FAQs
It ranks spiritual priorities: as the head governs the body, mokṣa-vidyā (liberating wisdom) is presented as the highest pursuit, guiding all other practices toward final freedom.
By placing liberation as the supreme aim, it implicitly frames bhakti (especially Vishnu-bhakti in the Narada tradition) as valuable when it culminates in moksha—devotion ripening into liberating realization.
The verse does not teach a specific Vedāṅga technique (like Vyākaraṇa or Jyotiṣa); instead, it gives a hierarchy of aims, implying that technical sciences are supportive, while mokṣa-vidyā is the crown.