48 Kṛṣṇa Consciousness: the Topmost Yoga System
parrot. The parrot's body is green, and his beak is red. The specific qualification of the parrot is that whatever you say he can imitate. That parrot bird is touching the ripened fruit, and, naturally, if the fruit is ripened on the tree, it becomes very tasteful. Again, if the fruit is tasted by the parrot, it becomes still more tasteful. That is nature's way. So, here, it is said that this  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  is just like the ripened fruit of Vedic knowledge, and at the same time it is touched by Śukadeva Gosvāmī, Sūta's spiritual master.  Śuka  means parrot in Sanskrit.
This  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  was first explained by Śukadeva Gosvāmī, though the author is his father, Vyāsa. Śukadeva was only sixteen years old when he was taught the  Bhāgavatam , and he was illuminated. He was already liberated in the impersonal concept of the Absolute, but after hearing the  Bhāgavatam  from his father, he became attracted by the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, and he became a preacher of the  Bhāgavatam . First he explained it before Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the great king. A short history of Mahārāja Parīkṣit is that he was a very pious king, but unfortunately by some of his acts he was cursed by a  brāhmaṇa  boy to die within seven days. In those days if a  brāhmaṇa  should curse someone it would come true. They had the power to curse or give benediction.
So Parīkṣit understood that within a week he would have to die, and he prepared himself. He gave up his kingdom, entrusting it to his son, Mahārāja Janamejaya, and he detached himself from the family and sat down on the banks of the Ganges near Delhi. It was not exactly the Ganges, it was actually the Yamunā. There, because he was a great emperor, many learned sages came.
Parīkṣit now inquired from all the great sages present there: "What is my duty? I am going to die within seven days; now what is my duty? You are all learned sages; please just prescribe for me." So someone said to practice  yoga , someone said to