yo devānām adhipo yasmiṃl lokā adhiśritāḥ | ya īśe asya dvipadaś catuṣpadaḥ kasmai devāya haviṣā vidhema ||
"He is the overlord of the gods, the one in whom all the worlds rest, the one who rules over everything that walks on two legs and on four. To what god, then, shall we offer our worship and oblation?"
What This Means:
This verse describes a single supreme reality that stands above even the gods, holds all the worlds within it, and governs every living creature, whether human or animal. Then it asks a striking question: which god deserves our worship? The question itself points us beyond all the many gods toward the one supreme source of them all.
Going Deeper:
The closing refrain "to what god shall we offer worship?" echoes the ancient Rig Vedic Hiranyagarbha hymn (invoked in the preceding verse), and here it gently redirects devotion away from the limited individual deities toward the one all-ruling Lord (Ishvara) in whom even the gods and all the worlds are established. In Vedanta this points to the non-dual ground of being that is both the master of creation and the only fitting object of true worship.
How To Apply This:
When you feel pulled in many directions by what to honor or chase after, pause and direct your reverence toward the one source behind everything, rather than scattering it among lesser things.
Key Sanskrit Terms: