धर्मज्ञान्शीलसम्पन्नान्प्रीतः प्रीतानुवाच ह ॥२६॥
sa tÄn prapannÄrti-haro
bhagavÄn dharma-vatsalaḥ
dharma-jñÄn śīla-sampannÄn
prÄ«taḥ prÄ«tÄn uvÄca ha
saḥ - Lord Åšiva; tÄn - them; prapanna-Ärti-haraḥ - one who drives away all kinds of dangers; bhagavÄn - the lord; dharma-vatsalaḥ - very much fond of religious principles; dharma-jñÄn - persons who are aware of religious principles; śīla-sampannÄn - very well behaved; prÄ«taḥ - being pleased; prÄ«tÄn - of very gentle behavior; uvÄca - talked with them; ha - in the past.
Lord Åšiva became very pleased with the PracetÄs because generally Lord Åšiva is the protector of pious persons and persons of gentle behavior. Being very much pleased with the princes, he began to speak as follows.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa, is known as bhakta-vatsala, and herein we find Lord Åšiva described as dharma-vatsala. Of course, the word dharma-vatsala refers to a person who lives according to religious principles. That is understood. Nonetheless, these two words have additional significance. Sometimes Lord Åšiva has to deal with persons who are in the modes of passion and ignorance. Such persons are not always very much religious and pious in their activities, but since they worship Lord Åšiva for some material profit, they sometimes obey the religious principles. As soon as Lord Åšiva sees that his devotees are following religious principles, he blesses them. The PracetÄs, sons of PrÄcÄ«nabarhi, were naturally very pious and gentle, and consequently Lord Åšiva was immediately pleased with them. Lord Åšiva could understand that the princes were sons of Vaiṣṇavas, and as such Lord Åšiva offered prayers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead as follows.
