Shloka 20
Parīkṣit’s Full Surrender and Śukadeva’s Maṅgalācaraṇa to Kṛṣṇa
Inquiry into Creation, Maintenance, and Dissolution
श्रिय: पतिर्यज्ञपति: प्रजापति- र्धियां पतिर्लोकपतिर्धरापति: । पतिर्गतिश्चान्धकवृष्णिसात्वतां प्रसीदतां मे भगवान् सतां पति: ॥ २० ॥
śriyaḥ patir yajña-patiḥ prajā-patir dhiyāṁ patir loka-patir dharā-patiḥ patir gatiś cāndhaka-vṛṣṇi-sātvatāṁ prasīdatāṁ me bhagavān satāṁ patiḥ
അവൻ ശ്രീകളുടെ പതി, യജ്ഞങ്ങളുടെ അധിപതി, പ്രജാപതി, ബുദ്ധിയുടെ സ്വാമി, ലോകങ്ങളുടെ പതി, ഭൂമിയുടെ അധിപതി. അന്ധക-വൃഷ്ണി-സാത്വത (യാദവ) വംശത്തിന് അവൻ ആശ്രയവും ഗതിയും. സത്സംഗികളുടെ പതി ആയ ശ്രീകൃഷ്ണ ഭഗവാൻ എനിക്കു പ്രസന്നനാകട്ടെ.
Since Śukadeva Gosvāmī is one of the prominent gata-vyalīkas, who are freed from all misconceptions, he therefore expresses his own realized perception of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa as being the sum total of all perfection, the Personality of Godhead. Everyone is seeking the favor of the goddess of fortune, but people do not know that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the beloved husband of all goddesses of fortune. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said that the Lord, in His transcendental abode Goloka Vṛndāvana, is accustomed to herding the surabhi cows and is served there by hundreds of thousands of goddesses of fortune. All these goddesses of fortune are manifestations of His transcendental pleasure potency ( hlādinī-śakti ) in His internal energy, and when the Lord manifested Himself on this earth He partially displayed the activities of His pleasure potency in His rāsa-līlā just to attract the conditioned souls, who are all after the phantasmagoria pleasure potency in degraded sex enjoyment. The pure devotees of the Lord like Śukadeva Gosvāmī, who was completely detached from the abominable sex life of the material world, discussed this act of the Lord’s pleasure potency certainly not in relation to sex, but to relish a transcendental taste inconceivable to the mundaners who are after sex life. Sex life in the mundane world is the root-cause of being conditioned by the shackles of illusion, and certainly Śukadeva Gosvāmī was never interested in the sex life of the mundane world. Nor does the manifestation of the Lord’s pleasure potency have any connection with such degraded things. Lord Caitanya was a strict sannyāsī, so much so that He did not allow any woman to come near Him, not even to bow down and offer respects. He never even heard the prayers of the deva-dāsīs offered in the temple of Jagannātha because a sannyāsī is forbidden to hear songs sung by the fair sex. Yet even in the rigid position of a sannyāsī He recommended the mode of worship preferred by the gopīs of Vṛndāvana as the topmost loving service possible to be rendered to the Lord. And Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is the principal head of all such goddesses of fortune, and therefore She is the pleasure counterpart of the Lord and is nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa.
FAQs
This verse addresses Bhagavān as yajña-pati, teaching that all sacrificial acts ultimately belong to and are meant for the Supreme Lord, who is the true enjoyer and controller of yajña.
Śukadeva offers a devotional prayer by glorifying the Lord’s universal lordship—over fortune, creation, intelligence, the worlds, and the earth—affirming that the one Supreme Person stands behind all powers and administrators.
Use it as a daily prayer: remember that success, intelligence, and prosperity come under the Lord’s shelter, and cultivate humility and devotion by seeking His pleasure rather than mere outcomes.