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Krṣna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead
passion and goodness. That is the way of Vedic understanding. Great sages like the four Kumāras, headed by Sanaka, followed these principles of Vedic knowledge and came gradually from impersonal understanding to the platform of personal worship of the Supreme Lord. It is therefore recommended that we must follow the great personalities. Śukadeva Gosvāmī is also one of the great personalities, and his answer to the inquiry of Mahārāja Parikṣit is authorized. One who follows in the footsteps of such great personalities surely walks very easily on the path of liberation and ultimately goes back to home, back to Godhead. That is the way of perfecting this human form of life.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued to speak to Parīkṣit Mahārāja. “My dear King,” he said, “I will narrate in this regard a nice story. This story is important because it is in connection with Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This narration is a conversation between Nārāyaṇa Rṣi and the great sage Nārada. Nārāyaṇa Rṣi still resides in Badarīkāśrama in the Himalayan hills and is accepted as an incarnation of Nārāyaṇa. Once when Nārada, the great devotee and ascetic amongst the demigods, was traveling in different planets, he desired to personally meet the ascetic Nārāyaṇa in Badarīkāśrama and offer him his respects. This great sage incarnation of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa Rṣi, has been undergoing great penances and austerities from the very beginning of the creation in order to teach the inhabitants of Bhāratavarṣa how to attain the highest perfectional stage of going back to Godhead. His austerities and penances are exemplary practices for the human being.”
Badarīkāśrama is situated in the northernmost part of the Himalayan Mountains and is always covered with snow. Religious Indians still go to visit this place during the summer season, when the snowfall is not very severe. Once, the incarnation of God Nārāyaṇa Rṣi was sitting amongst many devotees in the village known as Kalāpagrāma. Of course, these were not ordinary sages who were sitting with him, and the great sage Nārada also appeared there. After offering his respects to Nārāyaṇa Rṣi, Nārada asked him exactly the same question asked by King Parīkṣit of Śukadeva Gosvāmī. When Nārada asked his question of Nārāyaṇa Rṣi, the Rṣi also answered by following in the footsteps of his predecessors. He narrated a story of how the same question had been discussed on the planet known as Janaloka. Janaloka is above the Svargaloka planets, such as the moon, Venus, etc. In this planet, great sages and saintly persons live, and they were also discussing the same point regarding the understanding of Brahman and His real identity.
The great sage Nārāyaṇa began to speak. “My dear Nārada,” he said, “I