Narada Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 13

The Characteristics of Devotion to Hari

Devanagari script

आनन्दमक्षरं शून्यमवस्थात्रितयैरपि । आकाशमध्यगं देवं भज नारद सन्ततम् ॥ १३ ॥

Transliteration

ānandamakṣaraṃ śūnyamavasthātritayairapi | ākāśamadhyagaṃ devaṃ bhaja nārada santatam || 13 ||

Translation

အို နာရဒာ၊ အမြဲတမ်း ဘုရားကို ကိုးကွယ်လော့—အာနန္ဒကိုယ်တိုင်ဖြစ်၍ မပျက်မယွင်း၊ ကန့်သတ်သည့် လက္ခဏာများမှ ကင်းလွတ်သော (သုည)၊ နိုးခြင်း–အိပ်မက်–အိပ်နက် သုံးအခြေအနေတို့ကပင် မထိခိုက်နိုင်၊ အာကာသအလယ်၌ တည်နေသကဲ့သို့ အလုံးစုံကို လွှမ်းမိုးသော အရှင်ကို။

Word by Word

• आनन्दम्: bliss (as blissful)
• आनन्दम्: Karma-anvaya (कर्मणि विशेषण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: आनन्द (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन; देवं प्रति विशेषणवत् (देवम्)

• अक्षरम्: imperishable
• अक्षरम्: Karma-anvaya (कर्मणि विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अक्षर (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन; विशेषणम् (देवम्)

• शून्यम्: void / beyond attributes
• शून्यम्: Karma-anvaya (कर्मणि विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: शून्य (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन; विशेषणम् (देवम्)

• अवस्था-त्रितयैः: by the triad of states (waking/dream/deep sleep)
• अवस्था-त्रितयैः: Karana (करण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अवस्था + त्रितय (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, तृतीया, बहुवचन; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुषः (अवस्थानां त्रितयम्)

• अपि: even
• अपि: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/निपात)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अपि (अव्यय)
• Form: निपात (particle); अर्थः ‘even/also’

• आकाश-मध्य-गम्: dwelling in the midst of space
• आकाश-मध्य-गम्: Karma-anvaya (कर्मणि विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: आकाश + मध्य + ग (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन; उपपद-तत्पुरुषः (आकाशस्य मध्ये गः) विशेषणम् (देवम्)

• देवम्: the Lord
• देवम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: देव (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन

• भज: worship
• भज: Kriya (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: भज् (धातु)
• Form: लोट्-लकार (imperative), मध्यम-पुरुष, एकवचन; परस्मैपदम्

• नारद: O Narada
• नारद: Sambodhana (सम्बोधन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: नारद (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सम्बोधन-विभक्ति, एकवचन

• सन्ततम्: constantly
• सन्ततम्: Kriya-visheshana (क्रियाविशेषण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: सन्तत (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: क्रियाविशेषण-अव्यय (adverbial accusative used adverbially); अर्थः ‘continually’

Speaker

Sanatkumara (teaching Narada)

Vrata Kalpa

Vrata: none

Verse Rasa

Primary Rasa: shanta

Secondary Rasa: bhakti

Characters & Entities

• Narada
• Deva (the Supreme Divine)

FAQs

What is the spiritual significance of this verse in Narada Purana?

It points to the Supreme as imperishable bliss beyond the three ordinary states of consciousness, urging uninterrupted worship that culminates in liberation-oriented realization.

How does this verse explain the path of devotion (Bhakti)?

Bhakti here is defined as santata-bhajana—steady, continuous turning of the mind toward the all-pervading Deva, not limited to external form but rooted in constant remembrance and reverence.

What practical Vedic knowledge (Vedanga) is highlighted here?

No specific Vedāṅga (like Vyākaraṇa or Jyotiṣa) is taught in this verse; the practical takeaway is dhyāna-yoga—training attention to remain fixed on the akṣara Reality beyond waking, dream, and deep sleep.