Shloka 57

Gajendra's Deliverance — Gajendra’s Deliverance and the Protective Power of Remembrance (Japa)

Devanagari script

एकाय लोकत्त्वाय परतः परमात्मने नमः सहस्रशिरसे अनन्ताय महात्मने

Transliteration

ekāya lokattvāya parataḥ paramātmane namaḥ sahasraśirase anantāya mahātmane

Translation

{"bhagavata_parallel": "Bhāgavata Purāṇa 8.23–8.24 (praise of Hari as supreme refuge in the Vāmana/Bali cycle); also 8.3 (Gajendra-stuti themes of supreme Lord)", "vishnu_purana_parallel": "Viṣṇu Purāṇa 1.2 (Viṣṇu as supreme cause and refuge of Brahmā and others)", "ramayana_connection": "Rāmāyaṇa, Bālakāṇḍa 1.1–1.2 (Nārada’s praise of Rāma as supreme; refuge motif)", "mahabharata_echo": "Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva (Nārāyaṇīya) on Nārāyaṇa as highest resort of gods including Brahmā", "other_puranas": ["Padma Purāṇa (Nārāyaṇa-stuti passages)", "Skanda Purāṇa (tīrtha-māhātmya stutis with supreme-refuge formulae)"], "vedic_reference": "Ṛgveda 1.22.20 (tad viṣṇoḥ paramam padam) as a classic locus for Viṣṇu’s supremacy"}

Speakers

• Unspecified in input (a devotee/narrator voice offering a hymn of praise within Adhyaya 58).

Primary Deities

• Vishnu

Key Themes

• Stuti (hymn of praise)
• Non-dual supremacy of the Divine (eka/paramātman)
• Cosmic form theology (sahasraśiras)
• Transcendence (parataḥ)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

{ "primaryRasa": "adbhuta", "secondaryRasa": "shanta", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

FAQs

Why is the deity called ‘sahasraśiras’ (thousand-headed) here?

‘Sahasraśiras’ is a conventional Vedic-Puranic epithet for the cosmic Person (Puruṣa/Viśvarūpa), indicating omnipresence and infinite faculties rather than a literal count. It aligns the praised deity with the all-pervading cosmic form theology.

What does ‘lokatattva’ convey in a devotional hymn?

It frames the deity not merely as a ruler of the world but as the world’s underlying principle—its sustaining reality. The hymn thus moves from personal devotion to metaphysical identification of God as the ground of being.

Does this verse imply a specific avatāra like Vāmana or Trivikrama?

Not explicitly. The language is primarily paramātman/cosmic-form oriented; it can function as a universal Viṣṇu-stuti that may precede or accompany specific avatāra narratives without naming them.