Birth of Emperor Pariksit 643

sarva-sadguna-mahatmye—glorified by all godly attributes; esah—this
child; krsnam—like Lord Krsna; anuvratah—follower in His footsteps;
rantideva—Rantideva; wa—like; udarah—in the matter of magnamimity;
yayatih— Y ayati; iva—like; dharmikah—concerning religion.

TRANSLATION

This child will almost be as good as Lord Sri Krsna by following in His
footsteps. And in magnanimity he will become as great as King Rantideva.
And in religion he will be like Maharaja Yayati.

PURPORT

The last instruction of Lord Sri Krsna in the Bhagavad-gita is that one
should give up everything and should follow in the footsteps of the Lord
alone. Less intelligent persons do not agree to this great instruction of the
Lord, as ill luck would have it, but one who is actually intelligent cztches
up this sublime instruction and is immensely benefited. Foolish people
do not know that association is the cause of acquiring qualities. Associa-
tion with fire makes an object hot, even in the material sense. Therefore,
association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead makes one qualified
like the Lord. As we have discussed previously, one can achieve seventy-
eight percent of the godly qualities by the Lord’s intimate association. To
follow the instructions of the Lord is to associate with the Lord. The
Lord is not a material object whose presence one has to feel for such
association. The Lord is present everywhere and at all times. It is quite
possible to have His association simply by following His instruction because
the Lord and His instruction and the Lord and Hisname, fame, attributes
and paraphernalia, are all identical with Him, being absolute knowledge.
Maharaja Pariksit associated with the Lord even from the womb of his
mother up to the last day of his valuable life, and thus he acquired all the
essential good qualities of the Lord in all perfection.

Rantideva: An ancient king prior to the Mahabharata period, referred to
by Narada Muni while instructing Safijaya as mentioned in Mahabharata
(Dronaparva 67 Ch). He was a great king liberal for hospitality and
distribution of foodstuff. Even Lord Sri Krsna praised his acts of charity
and hospitality. He was blessed by the great Vasistha Muni for supplying
him cold water, and thus he achieved the heavenly planet. He used to
supply fruits, roots and leaves to the rsis, and thus he was blessed by them
by fulfilling his desires. Although a ksatriya by birth, he never ate flesh in
his life. He was especially hospitable to Vasistha Muni, and by his blessings
