परीतो भूतपर्षद्भिर्वृषेणाटति भूतराट् ॥२४॥
etasyÄá¹ sÄdhvi sandhyÄyÄá¹
bhagavÄn bhÅ«ta-bhÄvanaḥ
parīto bhūta-parṣadbhir
vṛṣeṇÄá¹ati bhÅ«tarÄá¹
etasyÄm - in this period; sÄdhvi - O chaste one; sandhyÄyÄm - at the junction of day and night (evening); bhagavÄn - the Personality of God; bhÅ«ta-bhÄvanaḥ - the well-wisher of the ghostly characters; parÄ«taḥ - surrounded by; bhÅ«ta-pará¹£adbhiḥ - by ghostly companions; vṛṣeṇa - on the back of the bull carrier; aá¹ati - travels; bhÅ«ta-rÄá¹ - the king of the ghosts.
Lord Åšiva, the king of the ghosts, sitting on the back of his bull carrier, travels at this time, accompanied by ghosts who follow him for their welfare.
Lord Åšiva, or Rudra, is the king of the ghosts. Ghostly characters worship Lord Åšiva to be gradually guided toward a path of self-realization. MÄyÄvÄdÄ« philosophers are mostly worshipers of Lord Åšiva, and ÅšrÄ«pÄda Åšaá¹…karÄcÄrya is considered to be the incarnation of Lord Åšiva for preaching godlessness to the MÄyÄvÄdÄ« philosophers. Ghosts are bereft of a physical body because of their grievously sinful acts, such as suicide. The last resort of the ghostly characters in human society is to take shelter of suicide, either material or spiritual. Material suicide causes loss of the physical body, and spiritual suicide causes loss of the individual identity. MÄyÄvÄdÄ« philosophers desire to lose their individuality and merge into the impersonal spiritual brahmajyoti existence. Lord Åšiva, being very kind to the ghosts, sees that although they are condemned, they get physical bodies. He places them into the wombs of women who indulge in sexual intercourse regardless of the restrictions on time and circumstance. KaÅ›yapa wanted to impress this fact upon Diti so that she might wait for a while.
