Shloka 25
Kapila Describes Bhakti-Saturated Aṣṭāṅga-Yoga and Meditation on the Lord’s Form
नाभिह्रदं भुवनकोशगुहोदरस्थं यत्रात्मयोनिधिषणाखिललोकपद्मम् । व्यूढं हरिन्मणिवृषस्तनयोरमुष्य ध्यायेद्द्वयं विशदहारमयूखगौरम् ॥ २५ ॥
nābhi-hradaṁ bhuvana-kośa-guhodara-sthaṁ yatrātma-yoni-dhiṣaṇākhila-loka-padmam vyūḍhaṁ harin-maṇi-vṛṣa-stanayor amuṣya dhyāyed dvayaṁ viśada-hāra-mayūkha-gauram
तब योगी प्रभु की उदर-मध्य स्थित चन्द्र-सी नाभि का ध्यान करे। उसी नाभि से, जो समस्त ब्रह्माण्ड का आधार है, विविध लोकों वाला कमल-नाल निकला, जिसमें आत्मयोनि ब्रह्मा का निवास है। फिर वह भगवान के दोनों स्तनाग्रों का ध्यान करे, जो श्रेष्ठ पन्नों-से दीप्त हैं और वक्ष पर विराजमान श्वेत मोतियों की मालाओं की किरणों से गौर दिखते हैं।
The yogī is advised next to meditate upon the navel of the Lord, which is the foundation of all material creation. Just as a child is connected to his mother by the umbilical cord, so the first-born living creature, Brahmā, by the supreme will of the Lord, is connected to the Lord by a lotus stem. In the previous verse it was stated that the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī, who engages in massaging the legs, ankles and thighs of the Lord, is called the mother of Brahmā, but actually Brahmā is born from the abdomen of the Lord, not from the abdomen of his mother. These are inconceivable conceptions of the Lord, and one should not think materially, “How can the father give birth to a child?”
FAQs
This verse instructs the meditator to contemplate the Lord’s navel-lotus within the cosmic sphere, where Brahmā, the self-born creator, is situated—linking devotion and meditation to the Lord as the source of cosmic manifestation.
Kapila is teaching Devahūti a step-by-step meditation on the Lord’s transcendental form; describing the navel-lotus and Brahmā establishes the Lord as the origin and support of the universe, deepening devotional concentration.
Use focused, reverent visualization during prayer or japa: remember the Lord as the source of all order and intelligence, and let that remembrance steady the mind away from anxiety and toward devotion and clarity.