Shloka 20
Arjuna meets the Lokapālas, is tested by Indra, and is led to Amarāvatī for astra-śikṣā
Indraloka-gamana
प्राच्यां नारायणस्थानं मेरावतिविराजते । यत्र भूतेश्वरस्तात सर्वप्रकृतिरात्मभू:
prācyāṃ nārāyaṇasthānaṃ merāvatīvirājate | yatra bhūteśvaras tāta sarvaprakṛtir ātmabhūḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “In the eastern quarter there shines the sacred abode of Nārāyaṇa, resplendent with Merāvatī. There, dear one, dwells the Lord of all beings—the Self-born source, the very ground of all nature.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames sacred space as a manifestation of the supreme: Nārāyaṇa is presented as the luminous center where the Lord of beings abides as the self-existent source underlying all prakṛti (nature).
Vaiśampāyana describes a revered eastern holy locus—Nārāyaṇa’s abode—highlighting its splendor and identifying the divine presence there as the ruler of all beings and the primordial ground of existence.