स्वागतं ते प्रसीदेश तुभ्यं नमः
श्रीनिवास श्रिया कान्तया त्राहि नः ।
त्वामृतेऽधीश नाङ्गैर्मखः शोभते
शीर्षहीनः कबन्धो यथा पुरुषः ॥३६॥
yajamÄny uvÄca
svÄgataá¹ te prasÄ«deÅ›a tubhyaá¹ namaḥ
Å›rÄ«nivÄsa Å›riyÄ kÄntayÄ trÄhi naḥ
tvÄm á¹›te 'dhÄ«Å›a nÄá¹…gair makhaḥ Å›obhate
śīrá¹£a-hÄ«naḥ ka-bandho yathÄ puruá¹£aḥ
yajamÄnÄ« - the wife of Daká¹£a; uvÄca - prayed; su-Ägatam - auspicious appearance; te - Your; prasÄ«da - become pleased; Ä«Å›a - my dear Lord; tubhyam - unto You; namaḥ - respectful obeisances; Å›rÄ«nivÄsa - O abode of the goddess of fortune; Å›riyÄ - with Laká¹£mÄ«; kÄntayÄ - Your wife; trÄhi - protect; naḥ - us; tvÄm - You; á¹›te - without; adhÄ«Å›a - O supreme controller; na - not; aá¹…gaiḥ - with bodily limbs; makhaḥ - the sacrificial arena; Å›obhate - is beautiful; śīrá¹£a-hÄ«naḥ - without the head; ka-bandhaḥ - possessed of only a body; yathÄ - as; puruá¹£aḥ - a person.
The wife of Daká¹£a prayed as follows: My dear Lord, it is very fortunate that You have appeared in this arena of sacrifice. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You, and I request that You be pleased on this occasion. The sacrificial arena is not beautiful without You, just as a body is not beautiful without the head.
Another name of Lord Viṣṇu is YajñeÅ›vara. In Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ it is said that all activities should be performed as viṣṇu-yajña, for the pleasure of Lord Viṣṇu. Unless we please Him, whatever we do is the cause of our bondage in the material world. This is confirmed herein by the wife of Daká¹£a: “Without Your presence, the grandeur of this sacrificial ceremony is useless, just as a body without the head, however decorated it may be, is useless.†The comparison is equally applicable to the social body. Material civilization is very proud of being advanced, but it is actually the useless trunk of a body without a head. Without Kṛṣṇa consciousness, without an understanding of Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, any advancement in a civilization, no matter how sophisticated, is of no value. There is a statement in the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya (3.11):
bhagavad-bhakti-hīnasya
jÄtiḥ Å›Ästraá¹ japas tapaḥ
aprÄṇasyaiva dehasya
maṇá¸anaá¹ loka-rañjanam
The purport is that sometimes when a friend or relative dies, especially among lower-class men, the dead body is decorated. Dressed and ornamented, the body is taken in procession. That sort of decoration of the dead body has no actual value because the life force is already gone. Similarly, without Kṛṣṇa consciousness, any aristocracy, any social prestige or any advancement of material civilization is as good as the decoration of a dead body. The name of the wife of Daká¹£a was PrasÅ«ti, and she was the daughter of SvÄyambhuva Manu. Her sister, DevahÅ«ti, was married to Kardama Muni, and Kapiladeva, the Personality of Godhead, became her son. PrasÅ«ti, then, was the aunt of Lord Viṣṇu. She was asking the favor of Lord Viṣṇu in an affectionate mode; since she was His aunt, she sought some special favor. Also significant in this verse is that the Lord is praised with the goddess of fortune. Wherever Lord Viṣṇu is worshiped, naturally there is the favor of the goddess of fortune. Lord Viṣṇu is addressed as amá¹›ta, transcendental. The demigods, including BrahmÄ and Lord Åšiva, were produced after the creation, but Lord Viṣṇu existed before the creation. He is therefore addressed as amá¹›ta. Lord Viṣṇu is worshiped with His internal energy by the Vaiṣṇavas. PrasÅ«ti, the wife of Daká¹£a, implored the Lord to turn the priests into Vaiṣṇavas instead of simply fruitive workers performing sacrifices for some material benefits.
