रुद्रगीतं भगवतः स्तोत्रं सर्वे प्रचेतसः जपन्तस्ते तपस्तेपुर्वर्षाणामयुतं जले
rudra-gītaṁ bhagavataḥ stotraṁ sarve pracetasaḥ japantas te tapas tepur varṣāṇām ayutaṁ jale
Synonyms
rudra-gītam—the song sung by Lord Śiva; bhagavataḥ—of the Lord; stotram—prayer; sarve—all; pracetasaḥ—the princes known as the Pracetās; japantaḥ—reciting; te—all of them; tapaḥ—austerity; tepuḥ—executed; varṣāṇām—of years; ayutam—10,000; jale—within the water..
Translation
All the Pracetā princes simply stood in the water for ten thousand years and recited the prayers given to them by Lord Śiva.
Purport
Of course in the modern age one may be amazed how the princes could stand in the water for ten thousand years. However, living within air or living within water is the same process; one simply has to learn how to do it. The aquatics live within water for their whole life-span. Certain favorable conditions are created to enable them to live within water. In those days, however, people used to live for 100,000 years. Out of so many years, if one could spare ten thousand years for the sake of austerity, he would be assured of success in his future life. This was not very astonishing. Although such a feat is impossible in this age, it was quite possible in Satya-yuga.