xxiv
Krṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead
Mahārāja Parīkṣit is the right person to hear about the transcendental pastimes of Krṣṇa, and Śukadeva Gosvāmī is the right person to describe them. If such a fortunate combination is made possible, then  Krṣṇa-kathā  immediately becomes revealed, and people may benefit to the highest possible degree from such a conversation.
This narration was presented by Śukadeva Gosvāmī when Mahārāja Parīkṣit was prepared to give up his body, fasting on the bank of the Ganges. In order to assure Śukadeva Gosvāmī that by hearing  Krṣṇa-kathā  he would not feel tired, Mahārāja Parīkṣit expressed himself very frankly: “Hunger and thirst may give trouble to ordinary persons or to me, but the topics of Krṣṇa are so nice that one can continue to hear about them without feeling tired because such hearing situates one in the transcendental position.” It is understood that one must be very fortunate to hear about  Krṣṇa-kathā  seriously, like Mahārāja Parīkṣit. He was especially intent on the subject matter because he was expecting death at any moment. Every one of us should be conscious of death at every moment. This life is not at all assured; at any time one can die. It does not matter whether one is a young man or an old man. So before death takes place, we must be  fully  Krṣṇa conscious.
At the point of his death, King Parīkṣit was hearing  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  from Śukadeva Gosvāmī. When King Parīkṣit expressed his untiring desire to hear about Krṣṇa, Śukadeva Gosvāmī was very pleased. Śukadeva was the greatest of all  Bhāgavata  reciters, and thus he began to speak about Krṣṇa’s pastimes, which destroy all inauspiciousness in this age of Kali. Śukadeva Gosvāmī thanked the King for his eagerness to hear about Krṣṇa, and he encouraged him by saying, “My dear King, your intelligence is very keen because you are so eager to hear about the pastimes of Krṣṇa.” He informed Mahārāja Parīkṣit that hearing and chanting of the pastimes of Krṣṇa are so auspicious that the process purifies the three varieties of men involved: he who recites the transcendental topics of Krṣṇa, he who hears such topics, and he who inquires about Him. These pastimes are just like the Ganges water which flows from the toe of Lord Viṣṇu: they purify the three worlds, the upper, middle and lower planetary systems.