धर्मार्थ उत्तमश्लोकं तन्तुः तन्वन्पितॄन्यजेत् रक्षाकामः पुण्यजनानोजस्कामो मरुद्गणान्
dharmārtha uttama-ślokaṁ tantuḥ tanvan pitṝn yajet rakṣā-kāmaḥ puṇya-janān ojas-kāmo marud-gaṇān
Synonyms
dharma-arthaḥ—for spiritual advancement; uttama-ślokam—the Supreme Lord or persons attached to the Supreme Lord; tantuḥ—for offspring; tanvan—and for their protection; pitṝn—the residents of the Pitṛloka; yajet—must worship; rakṣā-kāmaḥ—one who desires protection; puṇya-janān—pious persons; ojas-kāmaḥ—one who desires strength should worship; marud-gaṇān—the demigods..
Translation
One should worship Lord Viṣṇu or His devotee for spiritual advancement of knowledge, and for protection of heredity and advancement of the dynasty one should worship the different demigods.
Purport
The path of religion entails making progress on the path of spiritual advancement, ultimately reviving the eternal relation with Lord Viṣṇu in His impersonal effulgence, localized Paramātmā feature, and ultimately in His personal feature by spiritual advancement of knowledge. And one who wants to establish a good dynasty and be happy in the progress of temporary bodily relations should take shelter of the pitās and the demigods in other pious planets. Such different classes of worshipers of different demigods may ultimately reach the respective planets within the universe, but he who reaches the spiritual planets in the brahmajyoti achieves the highest perfection.