706 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 1, Ch. 13

TEXT 38
TUATT WAY ANG: : |
TATA ATE . TEAL

athajagama bhagavan
ndradah saha-tumburuh

pratyutthayabhivadyaha
sdnujo’bhyarcayan munim

atha—thereafter; ajagama—arrived; bhagavan—the godly personality;
naradah—Narada; saha tumburuh—along with his tumburu (musical instru-
ment); pratyutthaya—having gotten up from their seats; abhivadya—
offering their due obeisances; aha—said; sa-anujah—along with younger
brothers; abhyarcayan—thus while receiving in a proper mood; munim—

the sage.
TRANSLATION

While Safijaya was thus speaking, Sri Narada, the powerful devotee of
the Lord, appeared on the scene. Maharaja Yudhisthira and his brothers re-
ceived him properly by getting up from their seats and offering obeisances.

PURPORT

Devarsi Narada is described herein as bhagavan due to his being the most
confidential devotee of the Lord. The Lord and His very confidential
devotees are treated on the same level by those who are actually engaged
in the loving service of the Lord. Such confidential devotees of the Lord
are very much dear to the Lord because they travel everywhere to preach
the glories of the Lord in different capacities and try their utmost to con-
vert the nondevotees of the Lord into devotees in order to bring them to
the platform of sanity. Actually a living being cannot be a nondevotee of
the Lord because of his constitutional position, but when one becomes a
nondevotee or nonbeliever, it is to be understood that the person concerned
is not in a sound condition of life. The confidential devotees of the Lord
treat such illusioned living beings, and therefore they are most pleasing in
the eyes of the Lord. The Lord says in the Bhagavad-gita that no one is
dearer to Him than one who actually preaches the glories of the Lord to
convert the nonbelievers and nondevotees. Such personalities as Narada
must be offered all due respects, like those offered to the Personality of
Godhead Himself, and Maharaja Yudhisthira, along with his noble brothers,
were examples for others in receiving a pure devotee of the Lord like
Narada, who had no other business save and except singing the glories of
the Lord along with his vina, a musical stringed instrument.
