Text 41
pravṛttāya nivṛttāya
pitṛ-devāya karmaṇe
namo ’dharma-vipākāya
mṛtyave duḥkha-dāya ca
pravṛttāya — inclination; nivṛttāya — disinclination; pitṛ-devāya — unto the master of Pitṛloka; karmaṇe — unto the resultant action of fruitive activities; namaḥ — offering respects; adharma — irreligious; vipākāya — unto the result; mṛtyave — unto death; duḥkha-dāya — the cause of all kinds of miserable conditions; ca — also.
My dear Lord, You are the viewer of the results of pious activities. You are inclination, disinclination and their resultant activities. You are the cause of the miserable conditions of life caused by irreligion, and therefore You are death. I offer You my respectful obeisances.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is situated in everyone’s heart, and from Him issue a living entity’s inclinations and disinclinations. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (15.15):
sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo
mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca
“I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness.”
The Supreme Personality of Godhead causes the asuras to forget Him and the devotees to remember Him. One’s disinclinations are due to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. According to Bhagavad-gītā (16.7), pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca janā na vidur āsurāḥ: the asuras do not know which way one should be inclined to act and which way one should not be inclined to act. Although the asuras oppose devotional service, it is to be understood that they are inclined that way due to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because the asuras do not like to engage in the Lord’s devotional service, the Lord within gives them the intelligence to forget. Ordinary karmīs desire promotion to Pitṛloka, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (9.25). Yānti deva-vratā devān pitṝn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ: “Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods, and those who worship ancestors go to the ancestors.”
In this verse the word duḥkha-dāya is also very significant, for those who are nondevotees are perpetually put into the cycle of birth and death. This is a very miserable condition. Because one’s position in life is attained according to one’s activities, the asuras, or nondevotees, are put into such miserable conditions.