Narada Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 4

The Characteristics of Devotion to Hari

Devanagari script

सनक उवाच । नारायणं परं देवं सच्चिदानन्दविग्रहम् । भज सर्वात्मना विप्र यदि मुक्तिमभीप्ससि ॥ ४ ॥

Transliteration

sanaka uvāca | nārāyaṇaṃ paraṃ devaṃ saccidānandavigraham | bhaja sarvātmanā vipra yadi muktimabhīpsasi || 4 ||

Translation

စနကက ပြော၏ — «အို ဗြာဟ္မဏ၊ မုက္ခတိကို လိုလားပါက၊ သတ္တ-စစ်-အာနန္ဒ သဘောတရားဖြင့် ကိုယ်တော်တည်သော အမြင့်ဆုံး ဘုရား နာရာယဏကို စိတ်နှလုံးအပြည့်ဖြင့် ကိုးကွယ်ပါ»။

Word by Word

• सनकः: Sanaka
• सनकः: Karta (कर्ता/Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: सनक (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st/Nominative), एकवचन

• उवाच: said
• उवाच: Kriya (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: वच् (धातु)
• Form: लिट् (Perfect), प्रथमपुरुष (3rd person), एकवचन; परस्मैपद

• नारायणम्: Narayana
• नारायणम्: Karma (कर्म/Object)
• Type: Noun
• Root: नारायण (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/Accusative), एकवचन

• परम्: supreme
• परम्: Visheshana (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पर (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/Accusative), एकवचन; विशेषण (नारायणम्/देवम्)

• देवम्: God
• देवम्: Karma (कर्म/Object)
• Type: Noun
• Root: देव (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/Accusative), एकवचन

• सत्-चित्-आनन्द-विग्रहम्: whose form is existence-consciousness-bliss
• सत्-चित्-आनन्द-विग्रहम्: Karma (कर्म/Object)
• Type: Noun
• Root: सत् (प्रातिपदिक) + चित् (प्रातिपदिक) + आनन्द (प्रातिपदिक) + विग्रह (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: बहुपद-तत्पुरुष (विग्रहः यस्य सत्-चित्-आनन्दः/सत्-चित्-आनन्दमयः), पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/Accusative), एकवचन

• भज: worship/serve
• भज: Kriya (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: भज् (धातु)
• Form: लोट् (Imperative), मध्यमपुरुष (2nd person), एकवचन; परस्मैपद

• सर्व-आत्मना: with all one’s being/wholeheartedly
• सर्व-आत्मना: Kriya-visheshana (क्रियाविशेषण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: सर्व (प्रातिपदिक) + आत्मन् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: अव्ययीभाव (सर्वेण आत्मना = with one’s whole self), तृतीया-एकवचनरूपेण अव्ययवत् प्रयोग (adverbial instrumental)

• विप्र: O brahmin
• विप्र: Sambodhana (सम्बोधन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: विप्र (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सम्बोधन (Vocative), एकवचन

• यदि: if
• यदि: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/Conjunction)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यदि (अव्यय)
• Form: शर्त-निपात (conditional conjunction)

• मुक्तिम्: liberation
• मुक्तिम्: Karma (कर्म/Object)
• Type: Noun
• Root: मुक्ति (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/Accusative), एकवचन

• अभीप्ससि: you desire
• अभीप्ससि: Kriya (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: अभि-इष् (धातु)
• Form: लट् (Present), मध्यमपुरुष (2nd person), एकवचन; परस्मैपद

Speaker

Sanaka

Vrata Kalpa

Vrata: none

Verse Rasa

Primary Rasa: bhakti

Secondary Rasa: shanta

Characters & Entities

• Narayana
• Vishnu

FAQs

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

It states that liberation (mukti) is attained by wholehearted devotion to Nārāyaṇa, recognized as the supreme reality whose nature is sat-cit-ānanda.

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

Bhakti is presented as total inner commitment—“with the whole self” (sarvātmanā)—directed to Nārāyaṇa, making devotion a direct means to moksha.

What practical Vedic knowledge (Vedanga) is highlighted here?

No specific Vedāṅga technique is taught in this verse; the emphasis is theological and practical—exclusive worship (bhajana) as the applied discipline leading toward liberation.