Shloka 2

Hymns to Nārāyaṇa: Humility, Bhakti, Yoga, and the Guṇas

Devanagari script

मित्र उवाच / नतोस्म्यज्ञस्त्वच्चरणारविन्दं भवच्छिदं स्वस्त्ययनं भवच्छिदे / वेद स्वयं भगवान्वासुदेवो नाहं नाग्निर्न त्रिदेवा मुनीन्द्राः

Transliteration

mitra uvāca / natosmyajñastvaccaraṇāravindaṃ bhavacchidaṃ svastyayanaṃ bhavacchide / veda svayaṃ bhagavānvāsudevo nāhaṃ nāgnirna tridevā munīndrāḥ

Translation

မိတ္တရက ပြောသည်။ «အကျွန်ုပ်သည် မသိနားမလည်သူဖြစ်သော်လည်း သင်၏ ခြေတော်ကြာပန်းကို ဦးညွှတ်ပါ၏—သံသရာဖြစ်ပေါ်မှုကို ဖြတ်တောက်ပေးသူ၊ မောက္ခကို ရှာဖွေသူအတွက် မင်္ဂလာအာရုံအဖြစ် တည်သောသူ။ အမှန်တကယ် အပြည့်အစုံကို သိသူမှာ ဘဂဝန် ဝါစုဒေဝသာ ဖြစ်၏; အကျွန်ုပ်မဟုတ်၊ အဂ္ဂနိမဟုတ်၊ တိဒေဝမဟုတ်၊ မုနိဧန္ဒြာတို့တောင် မဟုတ်»။

Word by Word

• मित्रः: Mitra
• मित्रः: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: मित्र (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गः, प्रथमा, एकवचनम्

• उवाच: said
• उवाच: Kriya (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: वच् (धातु)
• Form: लिट्-लकारः (Perfect), प्रथमपुरुषः, एकवचनम्; परस्मैपदम्

• नतः: bowed, prostrated
• नतः: Predicate (विधेय)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: नत (प्रातिपदिक; √नम्)
• Form: कृदन्तः—क्त-प्रत्ययान्तः (PPP); पुंलिङ्गः, प्रथमा, एकवचनम्; आत्मवर्णन-विशेषणम्

• अस्मि: I am
• अस्मि: Kriya (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: अस् (धातु)
• Form: लट्-लकारः (Present), उत्तमपुरुषः, एकवचनम्

• अज्ञः: ignorant
• अज्ञः: Predicate (विधेय)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अज्ञ (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गः, प्रथमा, एकवचनम्; विशेषणम्

• त्वत्: your
• त्वत्: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/षष्ठी)
• Type: Noun
• Root: युष्मद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: षष्ठी-एकवचनस्य रूपम् (Genitive singular, enclitic stem ‘tvad’); सम्बन्ध

• चरणारविन्दम्: lotus-feet
• चरणारविन्दम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: चरण + अरविन्द (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्गः, द्वितीया, एकवचनम्; तत्पुरुषः (चरणस्य अरविन्दम्)

• भवत्: of you
• भवत्: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Noun
• Root: भवत् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: षष्ठी-एकवचनस्य आधारः (genitive sense ‘of you’ in compound)

• छिदम्: destroyer (of ...)
• छिदम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: छिद् (प्रातिपदिक; √छिद्)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्गः, द्वितीया, एकवचनम्; ‘छिद्’ = नाशक/विनाशक (destroyer)

• स्वस्त्ययनम्: path to well-being
• स्वस्त्ययनम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: स्वस्ति + अयन (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्गः, द्वितीया, एकवचनम्; तत्पुरुषः (स्वस्तेः अयनम्)

• भवत्: to you
• भवत्: Sampradana (सम्प्रदान)
• Type: Noun
• Root: भवत् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: चतुर्थी-एकवचनस्य अर्थे (dative sense in compound context)

• छिदे: to the destroyer
• छिदे: Sampradana (सम्प्रदान)
• Type: Noun
• Root: छिद् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गः/नपुंसकलिङ्गः, चतुर्थी-विभक्तिः (4th/Dative), एकवचनम्; स्तुत्यर्थे संबोधनवत्

• वेद: knows
• वेद: Kriya (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: विद् (धातु)
• Form: लट्-लकारः (Present), प्रथमपुरुषः, एकवचनम्; परस्मैपदम्

• स्वयम्: by himself
• स्वयम्: Modifier (क्रियाविशेषण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: स्वयम् (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्ययम्; आत्मनिश्चयार्थक-क्रियाविशेषणम् (by oneself)

• भगवान्: the Blessed Lord
• भगवान्: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: भगवत् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गः, प्रथमा, एकवचनम्

• वासुदेवः: Vāsudeva
• वासुदेवः: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: वासुदेव (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गः, प्रथमा, एकवचनम्

• न: not
• न: Negation (निषेध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्ययम्; निषेध-निपातः (negation)

• अहम्: I
• अहम्: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अस्मद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: प्रथमा, एकवचनम्; सर्वनाम

• न: nor
• न: Negation (निषेध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न (अव्यय)
• Form: निषेध-निपातः

• अग्निः: Agni
• अग्निः: Predicate nominal (विधेय-संज्ञा)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अग्नि (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गः, प्रथमा, एकवचनम्

• न: nor
• न: Negation (निषेध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न (अव्यय)
• Form: निषेध-निपातः

• त्रिदेवाः: the three gods
• त्रिदेवाः: Predicate nominal (विधेय-संज्ञा)
• Type: Noun
• Root: त्रि + देव (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गः, प्रथमा, बहुवचनम्; द्विगु-समासः (त्रयः देवाः)

• मुनीन्द्राः: lords of sages
• मुनीन्द्राः: Predicate nominal (विधेय-संज्ञा)
• Type: Noun
• Root: मुनि + इन्द्र (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्गः, प्रथमा, बहुवचनम्; तत्पुरुषः (मुनीनाम् इन्द्राः)

Speaker

Mitra

Philosophical Teaching

Concept: Only Bhagavān Vāsudeva fully knows the highest truth; the devotee approaches through humility and surrender to the Lord’s feet as the auspicious refuge that cuts saṃsāra.

Vedantic Theme: Īśvara-sarvajñatva and jīva-alpatva; saṃsāra-ccheda through śaraṇāgati; implicit distinction between limited knowers (devas/ṛṣis) and the Supreme.

Application: Cultivate humility in spiritual inquiry; take refuge in Viṣṇu’s feet through prayer and remembrance rather than relying on status, learning, or even celestial authority.

Verse Rasa

Primary Rasa: shanta

Secondary Rasa: karuna

Cross References

Related Themes: Garuda Purana: recurring motif of ‘Hari’s feet’ as refuge and ‘saṃsāra-ccheda’ in bhakti passages (general thematic parallel)

Characters & Entities

• Vasudeva (Vishnu)
• Agni
• Tri-devas
• Munis (sages)

FAQs

What is the importance of bowing to the lotus feet (caraṇāravinda) in the Garuda Purana?

This verse frames surrender to the Lord’s feet as an “auspicious refuge” that cuts through saṁsāra, emphasizing devotion as a direct support for liberation.

How does this verse explain who truly knows the highest truth?

Mitra states that complete knowledge belongs to Bhagavān Vāsudeva alone, placing divine revelation above even gods (Agni, tri-devas) and great sages.

Practical application of this wisdom today?

Cultivate humility in spiritual learning: seek guidance through devotion, and treat ultimate truth as something realized through surrender and practice, not mere status or scholarship.