424
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 2, Ch. 8]
engaged in the association of the Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa means to be uncontaminated by the material qualities. Contamination by material qualities is the cause of repeated birth and death, and liberation from material qualities is transcendence. Mahārāja Parīkṣit is now a realized soul by this secret of liberation through the grace of Śukadeva Gosvāmī, for the latter informed the King that the highest perfection of life is to be in remembrance of Nārāyaṇa at the end of life. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was destined to give up his body at the end of seven days, and thus he decided to continue the remembrance of the Lord by His association with the topic of  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam , and thus to quit his body in full consciousness of the presence of the Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Soul.
The hearing of  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  performed by the professional men is different from the transcendental hearing of Mahārāja Parīkṣit. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was a soul realized in the Absolute Truth, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead. The fruitive materialist is not a realized soul; he wants to derive some material benefit from his so-called hearing of  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam . Undoubtedly such an audience, hearing  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  from the professional men, can derive some material benefit as desired by them, but that does not mean that such a pretense of hearing  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  for a week is as good as that of Mahārāja Parīkṣit.
It is the duty of the sane to hear  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  from a self-realized soul without being duped by professional men, and one should continue such hearing till the end of one's life so that one can actually have the transcendental association of the Lord and thus be liberated simply by hearing  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam .
Mahārāja Parīkṣit had already given up all his connections with his kingdom and family, the most attractive features of materialism, but still he was conscious of his material body. He wanted to be free of such bondage also by the constant association of the Lord.
TEXT 4
भृण्वतः श्रद्धया नित्यं गुणतश्च स्वचेष्टितम् । कालेन नातिदीर्घेण भगवान् विशते हृदि ॥ ४ ॥
śṛṇvataḥ śraddhayā nityam gṛṇataś ca sva-ceṣṭitam kālena nātidīrgheṇa bhagavān viśate hṛdi