Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 4.24.39

sarva-sattvātma-dehāya

viśeṣāya sthavīyase

namas trailokya-pālāya

saha ojo-balāya ca

SYNONYMS

sarva — all; sattva — existence; ātma — soul; dehāya — unto the body; viśeṣāya — diversity; sthavīyase — unto the material world; namaḥ — offering obeisances; trai-lokya — three planetary systems; pālāya — maintainer; saha — along with; ojaḥ — prowess; balāya — unto the strength; ca — also.

TRANSLATION

My dear Lord, You are the gigantic universal form which contains all the individual bodies of the living entities. You are the maintainer of the three worlds, and as such You maintain the mind, senses, body, and air of life within them. I therefore offer my respectful obeisances unto You.

PURPORT

As the individual body of the living entity is composed of millions of cells, germs and microbes, the universal body of the Supreme Lord similarly contains all the individual bodies of the living entities. Lord Śiva is offering his obeisances to the universal body, which includes all other bodies, so that everyone's body may fully engage in devotional service. Since this individual body is composed of senses, all the senses should be engaged in devotional service. For instance, the smelling instrument, the nose, can engage in smelling the flowers offered to the lotus feet of the Lord, the hands can engage in cleansing the temple of the Lord, etc. Indeed, being the life air of every living entity, the Lord is the maintainer of the three worlds. Consequently He can induce every living entity to engage in his real life's duty with full bodily and mental strength. Thus every living entity should serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead by his prāṇa (life), artha (wealth), intelligence and words. As stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.22.35):

etāvaj janma-sāphalyaḿ

dehinām iha dehiṣu

prāṇair arthair dhiyā vācā

śreya-ācaraṇaḿ sadā

Even though one may desire to engage in the service of the Lord, without sanction one cannot do so. Lord Śiva is offering his prayers in so many different ways in order to show living entities how to engage in the devotional service of the Lord.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness