Text 23] Lord Visnu’s Appearance in the Sacrificial Arena 793
These are all symptoms of His great affection for Prthu Maharaja. Perceiv-
ing his fortunate position, Prthu Maharaja could not fully look upon the
Lord due to ecstasy, but still, in a faltering voice, he began to offer prayers.
TEXT 23
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mer fit aReaTy TT:
ai ote aotateaTerATy |
q aerate ata afeat
x bat
meta sqrt I A A URI
prthur uvaca
varan vibho tvad varadesvarad budhah
katham vurnite guna-vikriyatmanam
ye narakanam api santi dehinam
tan tsa kaivalya-pate vrne na ca
prthuf uvaca—Prthu Maharaja said; varan—benedictions; vibho—my dear
Supreme Lord; tvat—from You; vara-da-isvarat—from the Supreme Per-
sonality of Godhead, the highest of the bestowers of benediction; budhah—
a learned person; katham—how; vrnite—could ask for; guna-vikriya—be-
wildered by the modes of material nature; atmanam— of the living entities;
ye—which; narakapam—of the living entities living in hell; api—also; santi—
exist; dehinam—of the embodied; tan—all those; isa—O Supreme Lord;
kaivalya-pate-O bestower of merging in the existence of the Lord; vrne—
I ask for; na—not; ca—also.
TRANSLATION
My dear Lord, You are the best of the demigods who can offer bene-
dictions. Why therefore should any learned person ask You for benedictions
that are meant for living entities who are bewildered by the modes of
nature? Such benedictions are available automatically, even in the lives of
living entities who are suffering in hellish conditions. My dear Lord, You
can certainly bestow merging into Your existence, but I do not wish to
have such a benediction.
PURPORT
There are different kinds of benedictions according to a person’s de-
mands. For karmis the best benediction is promotion to the higher plane-
