tan-mūlatvād acyutejyā
jīva-rāśibhir ākīrṇa
aṇḍa-kośāṅghripo mahān
tan-mūlatvād acyutejyā
sarva-jīvātma-tarpaṇam
The universe is a huge tree filled with billions of jīvas. Worship of Acyuta will satisfy all jīvas since the Lord is the root of the tree.
The reason for their agreement is given. Because the Lord is the root of the universe, he satisfies all the jīvas.
|| 7.14.37 ||
purāṇy anena sṛṣṭāni
nṛ-tiryag-ṛṣi-devatāḥ
śete jīvena rūpeṇa
pureṣu puruṣo hy asau
The Lord has created bodies for the jīvas in human, animal, sage and devatā forms. The Lord resides as Paramātmā in all their bodies.
Rather than directly worship the Lord at the time of his descent, since it was said that the devotee is the real recipient of offerings (sat-pātram) in verse 27, now it is explained that one should worship all living beings.
|| 7.14.38 ||
teṣv eva bhagavān rājaṁs
tāratamyena vartate
tasmāt pātraṁ hi puruṣo
yāvān ātmā yatheyate
O King! The Paramātmā resides in all beings proportionately. Therefore he is the object of worship in those beings according to the degree of their knowledge and renunciation.
Because the Lord resides as Paramātmā to various degrees in animals and others, Paramātmā is the object of worship. However, to the degree that the jīva has superiority in knowledge, detachment and other qualities, he becomes the object of worship. Śruti says puruṣatve cāvistarām ātmā: in the human form a person understands ātmā. (Aitreya-āraṇyaka 2.3.2.4)
|| 7.14.39 ||
dṛṣṭvā teṣāṁ mitho nṛṇām
avajñānātmatāṁ nṛpa
tretādiṣu harer arcā
kriyāyai kavibhiḥ kṛtā
My dear King, when great sages saw that people were disrespectful of each other at the beginning of Tretā-yuga, deity worship in the temple was introduced.
When the sages saw that humans could not respect the Lord in all beings, since they were mutually disrespectful of each other, deity worship was introduced. Avajñānātmatām means that they developed intelligence (ātmā) which disrespected others.
|| 7.14.40 ||
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