SB 4.6.35
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 35
- vidyā-tapo-yoga-patham
- āsthitaṁ tam adhīśvaram
- carantaṁ viśva-suhṛdaṁ
- vātsalyāl loka-maṅgalam
SYNONYMS
vidyā — knowledge; tapaḥ — austerity; yoga-patham — the path of devotional service; āsthitam — situated; tam — him (Lord Śiva); adhīśvaram — the master of the senses; carantam — performing (austerity, etc.); viśva-suhṛdam — the friend of the whole world; vātsalyāt — out of full affection; loka-maṅgalam — auspicious for everyone.
TRANSLATION
The demigods saw Lord Śiva situated in his perfection as the master of the senses, knowledge, fruitive activities and the path of achieving perfection. He was the friend of the entire world, and by virtue of his full affection for everyone, he was very auspicious.
PURPORT
Lord Śiva is full of wisdom and tapasya, austerity. One who knows the modes of work is understood to be situated on the path of devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One cannot serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead unless one has achieved full perfectional knowledge in the ways and means of performing devotional service.
Lord Śiva is described here as adhīśvara. Īśvara means "controller," and adhīśvara means particularly "controller of the senses." Generally our materially contaminated senses are apt to engage in sense gratificatory activities, but when a person is elevated by wisdom and austerity, the senses then become purified, and they become engaged in the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Śiva is the emblem of such perfection, and therefore in the scriptures it is said, vaiṣṇavānāṁ yathā śambhuḥ: Lord Śiva is a Vaiṣṇava. Lord Śiva, by his actions within this material world, teaches all conditioned souls how to engage in devotional service twenty-four hours a day. Therefore he is described here as loka-maṅgala, good fortune personified for all conditioned souls.