चतुष्पथान्देवपथांश्चैत्यान्यायतनानि च।
प्रदक्षिणं परिहरञ्जगाम नृपतेः सुतः।।
catuṣ-pathān deva-pathāṁś caityāny āyatanāni ca
pradakṣiṇaṁ pariharañ jagāma nṛpateḥ sutaḥ
catuṣ-pathān = the cross-ways; deva-pathān = the temples of the devas; caityāni = platforms for sacred trees; āyatanāni = [religious] assembly halls; ca = and so on; pradakṣiṇam = and circumambulated; pariharan = without placing them to His left [out of respect]; jagāma = passed through; nṛpateḥ = the king’s; sutaḥ = son.
The king’s son passed through the cross-ways and circumambulated the temples of the devas, platforms for sacred trees, [religious] assembly halls and so on without placing them to His left [out of respect].
1 Yadvā caityāni vasiṣṭhādi-gurv-antar-gata-bhagavad-rūpāṇi. yathoktaṁ saptamādhyāya-gītā-bhāṣyodāhṛtasya “ācārya-caitya-vapuṣā sva-gatiṁ vyanaṅkṣīt” ity ekādaśa-skandha-śloka-vyākhyāyāṁ “caityaṁ cittastham” iti prameya-dīpikāyām.
GLOSS. Deva-pathān indicates that Rāma passed through streets that led to temples.
Caityāni indicates that He passed by sacrificial arenas and platforms on which the aśvattha and other [sacred] trees grew. It also indicates that He passed by Vasiṣṭha and other spiritual masters in whose heart the Supreme Lord resided.1
NOTE. Of course, the Supreme Lord is present in the heart of every living entity, but Vasiṣṭha and other spiritual masters perceived His presence in their own hearts by dint of their devotional service. The significance of such perception of the Lord in the heart by dint of devotional service unto Him is noted in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.13.10 as follows:
bhavad-vidhā bhāgavatās tīrtha-bhūtāḥ svayaṁ vibho
tīrthī-kurvanti tīrthāni svāntaḥ-sthena gadābhṛtā
[Yudhiṣṭhira to Vidura:] “My lord, devotees like your good self are verily holy places personified. Because you carry the Personality of Godhead within your heart, you turn all places into places of pilgrimage.”
PURPORT. The Personality of Godhead is omnipresent by His diverse potencies everywhere, just as the power of electricity is distributed everywhere within space. Similarly, the Lord’s omnipresence is perceived and manifested by His unalloyed devotees like Vidura, just as electricity is manifested in an electric bulb. A pure devotee like Vidura always feels the presence of the Lord everywhere. He sees everything in the potency of the Lord and the Lord in everything. The holy places all over the earth are meant for purifying the polluted consciousness of the human being by an atmosphere surcharged with the presence of the Lord’s unalloyed devotees. If anyone visits a holy place, he must search out the pure devotees residing in such holy places, take lessons from them, try to apply such instructions in practical life and thus gradually prepare oneself for the ultimate salvation, going back to Godhead. To go to some holy place of pilgrimage does not mean only to take a bath in the Ganges or Yamunā or to visit the temples situated in those places. One should also find representatives of Vidura who have no desire in life save and except to serve the Personality of Godhead. The Personality of Godhead is always with such pure devotees because of their unalloyed service, which is without any tinge of fruitive action or utopian speculation. They are in the actual service of the Lord, specifically by the process of hearing and chanting. The pure devotees hear from the authorities and chant, sing and write of the glories of the Lord. Mahāmuni Vyāsadeva heard from Nārada, and then he chanted in writing; Śukadeva Gosvāmī studied from his father, and he described it to Parīkṣit; that is the way of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So by their actions the pure devotees of the Lord can render any place into a place of pilgrimage, and the holy places are worth the name only on their account. Such pure devotees are able to rectify the polluted atmosphere of any place, and what to speak of a holy place rendered unholy by the questionable actions of interested persons who try to adopt a professional life at the cost of the reputation of a holy place.