SB 2.3.13
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 13
- śaunaka uvāca
- ity abhivyāhṛtaṁ rājā
- niśamya bharatarṣabhaḥ
- kim anyat pṛṣṭavān bhūyo
- vaiyāsakim ṛṣiṁ kavim
SYNONYMS
śaunakaḥ uvāca—Śaunaka said; iti—thus; abhivyāhṛtam—all that was spoken; rājā—the King; niśamya—by hearing; bharata-ṛṣabhaḥ—Mahārāja Parīkṣit; kim—what; anyat—more; pṛṣṭavān—did he inquire from him; bhūyaḥ—again; vaiyāsakim—unto the son of Vyāsadeva; ṛṣim—one who is well versed; kavim—poetic.
TRANSLATION
Śaunaka said: The son of Vyāsadeva, Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, was a highly learned sage and was able to describe things in a poetic manner. What did Mahārāja Parīkṣit again inquire from him after hearing all that he had said?
PURPORT
A pure devotee of the Lord automatically develops all godly qualities, and some of the prominent features of those qualities are as follows: he is kind, peaceful, truthful, equable, faultless, magnanimous, mild, clean, nonpossessive, a well-wisher to all, satisfied, surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, without hankering, simple, fixed, self-controlled, a balanced eater, sane, mannerly, prideless, grave, sympathetic, friendly, poetic, expert and silent. Out of these twenty-six prominent features of a devotee, as described by Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja in his Caitanya-caritāmṛta, the qualification of being poetic is especially mentioned herein in relation to Śukadeva Gosvāmī. The presentation of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by his recitation is the highest poetic contribution. He was a self-realized learned sage. In other words, he was a poet amongst the sages.