XXIV Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead

Maharaja Pariksit is the right person to hear about the transcendental
pastimes of Krsna, and Sukadeva Gosvami is the right person to describe
them. If such a fortunate combination is made possible, then Krsna-katha
immediately becomes revealed, and people may benefit to the highest
possible degree from such a conversation.

This narration was presented by Sukadeva Gosvami when Maharaja
Pariksit was prepared to give up his body, fasting on the bank of the
Ganges. In order to assure Sukadeva Gosvami that by hearing Krsna-katha
he would not feel tired, Maharaja Pariksit expressed himself very frankly:
“Hunger and thirst may give trouble to ordinary persons or to me, but
the topics of Krsna 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
Krsna-katha seriously, like Maharaja Pariksit. 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
Krsna conscious.

At the point of his death, King Pariksit was hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam
from Sukadeva Gosvami. When King Pariksit expressed his untiring desire
to hear about Krsna, Sukadeva Gosvami was very pleased. Sukadeva was
the greatest of all Bhagavata reciters, and thus he began to speak about
Krsna’s pastimes, which destroy all inauspiciousness in this age of Kali.
Sukadeva Gosvami thanked the King for his eagerness to hear about Krsna,
and he encouraged him by saying, ““My dear King, your intelligence is ve ~~~
keen because you are so eager to hear about the pastimes of Krsna.” he
informed Maharaja Pariksit that hearing and chanting of the pastimes of
Krsna are so auspicious that the process purifies the three varieties of
men involved: he who recites the transcendental topics of Krsna, he who
hears such topics, and he who inquires about Him. These pastimes are just
like the Ganges water which flowsfrom the toe of Lord Visnu: they purify
the three worlds, the upper, middle and lower planetary systems.
