HV 103.3
प्रतिगृह्य तु तां पूजां तम् उवाच जनार्दनः । रथपन्थानम् इच्छामि दत्तं नदनदीपते ॥
pratigṛhya tu tāṃ pūjāṃ tam uvāca janārdanaḥ | ratha-panthānam icchāmi dattaṃ nadanadī-pate
Receiving that pūjā, Janārdana said to him [the Ocean]: 'I wish for a chariot-path given, O lord of streams and rivers.'
The Living Words
*Pratigṛhya tu tāṃ pūjām*, 'receiving that pūjā'. *Ratha-panthānaṃ icchāmi*, 'I wish a chariot-path'. *Dattaṃ nadanadī-pate*, 'given, O lord of streams and rivers'.
The Heart of It
The verse's politeness is theologically significant. *Ratha-panthānaṃ icchāmi dattam* — 'I wish a chariot-path given'. The Lord does not command; he *asks* for what will be *given*. The Varkari tradition's reading: even the Lord treats the ocean as a conscious being with whom negotiation is proper. Jñāneśvar's Haripāṭh's tender treatment of elements — the river, the wind, the sea — as responsive to request rather than compelled by power, has HV 103.3 as its Sanskrit ground. The ocean is addressed as *nadanadī-pate*, 'lord of streams and rivers' — a title, an honorific, an invitation.