तं ब्रह्मनिर्वाणसमाधिमाश्रितं
व्युपाश्रितं गिरिशं योगकक्षाम् ।
सलोकपाला मुनयो मनूना
माद्यं मनुं प्राञ्जलयः प्रणेमुः ॥३९॥

taá¹ brahma-nirvÄṇa-samÄdhim ÄÅ›ritaá¹
vyupÄÅ›ritaá¹ giriÅ›aá¹ yoga-kaká¹£Äm
sa-loka-pÄlÄ munayo manÅ«nÄm
Ädyaá¹ manuá¹ prÄñjalayaḥ praṇemuḥ

 tam - him (Lord Åšiva); brahma-nirvÄṇa - in brahmÄnanda; samÄdhim - in trance; ÄÅ›ritam - absorbed; vyupÄÅ›ritam - leaning on; giriÅ›am - Lord Åšiva; yoga-kaká¹£Äm - having his left knee firmly fixed with a knotted cloth; sa-loka-pÄlÄḥ - along with the demigods (headed by Indra); munayaḥ - the sages; manÅ«nÄm - of all thinkers; Ädyam - the chief; manum - thinker; prÄñjalayaḥ - with folded palms; praṇemuḥ - offered respectful obeisances.


Text

All the sages and demigods, headed by Indra, offered their respectful obeisances unto Lord Åšiva with folded hands. Lord Åšiva was dressed in saffron garments and absorbed in trance, thus appearing to be the foremost of all sages.

Purport

In this verse the word brahmÄnanda is significant. This brahmÄnanda, or brahma-nirvÄṇa, is explained by PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja. When one is completely absorbed in the adhoká¹£aja, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is beyond the sense perception of materialistic persons, one is situated in brahmÄnanda.

It is impossible to conceive of the existence, name, form, quality and pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead because He is transcendentally situated beyond the conception of materialistic persons. Because materialists cannot imagine or conceive of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they may think that God is dead, but factually He is always existing in His sac-cid-Änanda-vigraha, His eternal form. Constant meditation concentrated on the form of the Lord is called samÄdhi — ecstasy or trance. SamÄdhi means particularly concentrated attention, so one who has achieved the qualification of always meditating on the Personality of Godhead is to be understood to be always in trance and enjoying brahma-nirvÄṇa, or brahmÄnanda. Lord Åšiva exhibited those symptoms, and therefore it is stated that he was absorbed in brahmÄnanda.

Another significant word is yoga-kaká¹£Äm. Yoga-kaká¹£Ä is the sitting posture in which the left thigh is fixed under one’s tightly knotted saffron-colored garment. Also the words manÅ«nÄm Ädyam are significant here because they mean a philosopher, or one who is thoughtful and can think very nicely. Such a man is called manu. Lord Åšiva is described in this verse as the chief of all thinkers. Lord Åšiva, of course, does not engage in useless mental speculation, but as stated in the previous verse, he is always thoughtful regarding how to deliver the demons from their fallen condition of life. It is said that during the advent of Lord Caitanya, SadÄÅ›iva appeared as Advaita Prabhu, and Advaita Prabhu’s chief concern was to elevate the fallen conditioned souls to the platform of devotional service to Lord Kṛṣṇa. Since people were engaged in useless occupations which would continue their material existence, Lord Åšiva, in the form of Lord Advaita, appealed to the Supreme Lord to appear as Lord Caitanya to deliver these illusioned souls. Actually Lord Caitanya appeared on the request of Lord Advaita. Similarly, Lord Åšiva has a sampradÄya, the Rudra sampradÄya. He is always thinking about the deliverance of the fallen souls, as exhibited by Lord Advaita Prabhu.