यस्मिन्नोतमिदं प्रोतं विश्वं शाटीव तन्तुषु ॥७॥
dhÄrayiá¹£yati te vegaá¹
rudras tv ÄtmÄ Å›arÄ«riṇÄm
yasminn otam idaá¹ protaá¹
viÅ›vaá¹ Å›Äá¹Ä«va tantuá¹£u
dhÄrayiá¹£yati - will sustain; te - your; vegam - force of the waves; rudraḥ - Lord Åšiva; tu - indeed; ÄtmÄ - the Supersoul; Å›arÄ«riṇÄm - of all embodied souls; yasmin - in whom; otam - is situated in its longitude; idam - this whole universe; protam - latitude; viÅ›vam - the whole universe; Å›Äá¹Ä« - a cloth; iva - as; tantuá¹£u - in threads.
Like a cloth woven of threads extending for its length and breadth, this entire universe, in all its latitude and longitude, is situated under different potencies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Åšiva is the incarnation of the Lord, and thus he represents the Supersoul in the embodied soul. He can sustain your forceful waves on his head.
The water of the Ganges is supposed to rest on the head of Lord Åšiva. Lord Åšiva is an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who sustains the entire universe by different potencies. Lord Åšiva is described in the Brahma-saá¹hitÄ (5.45):
kṣīraá¹ yathÄ dadhi vikÄra-viÅ›eá¹£a-yogÄt
sañjÄyate na hi tataḥ pá¹›thag asti hetoḥ
yaḥ Å›ambhutÄm api tathÄ samupaiti kÄryÄd
govindam Ädi-puruá¹£aá¹ tam ahaá¹ bhajÄmi
“Milk changes into yogurt when mixed with a yogurt culture, but actually yogurt is constitutionally nothing but milk. Similarly, Govinda, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, assumes the form of Lord Åšiva for the special purpose of material transactions. I offer my obeisances at Lord Govinda’s lotus feet.†Lord Åšiva is the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the same sense that yogurt is also milk although at the same time it is not milk. For the maintenance of the material world there are three incarnations — BrahmÄ, Viṣṇu and MaheÅ›vara (Lord Åšiva). Lord Åšiva is Viṣṇu in an incarnation for the mode of ignorance. The material world exists predominantly in the mode of ignorance. Therefore Lord Åšiva is compared here to the longitude and latitude of the entire universe, which resembles a cloth woven of threads extending for both its length and breadth.
