Text 15] Pure Devotional Service: The Change in Heart
145
sa vai bhāgavato rājā pāṇḍaveyo mahā-rathaḥ bāla-krīḍanakaiḥ krīḍan kṛṣṇa-krīḍām ya ādade
saḥ—he; vai—certainly; bhāgavataḥ—great devotee of the Lord; rājā—Mahārāja Parīkṣit; pāṇḍaveyaḥ—grandson of the Pāṇḍavas; mahā-rathaḥ—a great fighter; bāla—while a child; krīḍanakaiḥ—with play dolls; krīḍan—playing; kṛṣṇa—Lord Kṛṣṇa; krīḍām—activities; yaḥ—who; ādade—accepted.
TRANSLATION
Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the grandson of the Pāṇḍavas, was from his very childhood a great devotee of the Lord. Even while playing with dolls, he used to worship Lord Kṛṣṇa by imitating the worship of the family Deity.
PURPORT
In the  Bhagavad-gītā  it is stated (Bg. 6.41) that even a person who has failed in the proper discharge of the  yoga  practice is given a chance to take birth in the house of devout  brāhmaṇas  or in the houses of rich men like the  kṣatriya  kings or rich merchants. But Mahārāja Parīkṣit was more than that because he was a great devotee of the Lord since his previous birth, and as such he took his birth in an imperial family of the Kurus, and especially that of the Pāṇḍavas. So from the very beginning of his childhood he had the chance of knowing intimately the devotional service of Lord Kṛṣṇa in his own family. The Pāṇḍavas, all being devotees of the Lord, certainly venerated family Deities in the royal palace for worship. Children who appear in such families fortunately generally imitate such worship of the Deities, even in the way of childhood play. By the grace of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, we had the chance of being born in a Vaiṣṇava family, and in our childhood we imitated the worship of Lord Kṛṣṇa by imitating our father, and our father encouraged us in all respects to observe all functions such as the  Ratha-yātrā  and  Dola-yātrā  ceremonies, and he used to spend money liberally for distributing  prasādam  to us children and our friends. Our spiritual master, who also took his birth in a Vaiṣṇava family, got all inspirations from his great Vaiṣṇava father Thākur Bhaktivinode. That is the way of all lucky Vaiṣṇava families. The celebrated Mīrābāi was a staunch devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa as the great lifter of Govardhana Hill.