Text 26
na yasya loke sva-janaḥ paro vā
nātyādṛto nota kaścid vigarhyaḥ
vayaṁ vratair yac-caraṇāpaviddhām
āśāsmahe ’jāṁ bata bhukta-bhogām
na — never; yasya — of whom; loke — in the world; sva-janaḥ — kinsman; paraḥ — unconnected; vā — nor; na — neither; ati — greater; ādṛtaḥ — favorable; na — not; uta — or; kaścit — anyone; vigarhyaḥ — criminal; vayam — we; vrataiḥ — by vows; yat — whose; caraṇa — feet; apaviddhām — rejected; āśāsmahe — respectfully worship; ajām — mahā-prasāda; bata — certainly; bhukta-bhogām — remnants of foodstuff.
Lord Śiva regards no one as his relative, yet there is no one who is not connected with him. He does not regard anyone as very favorable or abominable. We respectfully worship the remnants of his foodstuff, and we vow to accept what is rejected by him.
Kaśyapa informed his wife that just because Lord Śiva happened to be his brother-in-law, that should not encourage her in her offense towards him. Kaśyapa warned her that actually Lord Śiva is not connected with anyone, nor is anyone his enemy. Since he is one of the three controllers of the universal affairs, he is equal to everyone. His greatness is incomparable because he is a great devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is said that among all the devotees of the Personality of Godhead, Lord Śiva is the greatest. Thus the remnants of foodstuff left by him are accepted by other devotees as mahā-prasāda, or great spiritual foodstuff. The remnants of foodstuff offered to Lord Kṛṣṇa are called prasāda, but when the same prasāda is eaten by a great devotee like Lord Śiva, it is called mahā-prasāda. Lord Śiva is so great that he does not care for the material prosperity for which every one of us is so eager. Pārvatī, who is the powerful material nature personified, is under his full control as his wife, yet he does not use her even to build a residential house. He prefers to remain without shelter, and his great wife also agrees to live with him humbly. People in general worship Goddess Durgā, the wife of Lord Śiva, for material prosperity, but Lord Śiva engages her in his service without material desire. He simply advises his great wife that of all kinds of worship, the worship of Viṣṇu is the highest, and greater than that is the worship of a great devotee or anything in relation with Viṣṇu.