Text 24] Lord Visnu’s Appearance in the Sacrificial Arena 795

TRANSLATION

My dear Lord, I therefore do not wish to have the benediction of merg-
ing into Your existence because in that position there is no existence of
the nectarean beverage of Your lotus feet. I want the benediction of at
least one million ears, for thus I may be able to hear about the glories of
Your lotus feet from the mouths of Your pure devotees.

PURPORT

In the previous verse Maharaja Prthu addressed the Lord as kaivalya-pati,
the master of the liberation of merging into His existence. This does not
mean that he was anxious for kaivalya liberation. That is made clear in this
verse: ““My dear Lord, I do not want such a benediction.” Maharaja Prthu
wanted to have a million ears to hear the glories of the lotus feet of the
Lord. He specifically mentioned that the glories of the Lord should emanate
from the mouths of pure devotees who speak from the cores of their
hearts. It is stated in the beginning of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Suka-mukhad
amrta-drava-samyutam: the nectar of Srimad-Bhagavatam became more
relishable because it emanated from the mouth of Srila Sukadeva Gosvami
(Bhag. 1.1.3). One might think that these glories of the Lord can be heard
from anywhere, from the mouths of either devotees or nondevotees, but
here it is specifically mentioned that the glories of the Lord must emanate
from the mouths of pure devotees. Sri Sanatana Gosvami has strictly pro-
hibited hearing from the mouth of a nondevotee. There are many pro-
fessional reciters of Srimad-Bhagavatam who speak the narrations very
ornamentally, but a pure devotee does not like to hear from them because
such glorification of the Lord is simply a vibration of material sound. When
it is heard from the mouth of a pure devotee, glorification of the Lord is
immediately effective.

The words satam prasangan mama virya-samvidah mean that glorification
of the Lord is potent when uttered from the mouthof a pure devotee. The
Lord has innumerable devotees all over the universe, and they have been
glorifying the Lord since time immemorial and for an unlimited time. But
still they cannot completely finish enumerating the glories of the Lord.
Prthu Maharaja therefore wanted innumerable ears, as Ripa Gosvami also
desired to have millions of ears and millions of tongues to chant and hear the
glorification of the Lord. In other words, if our ears are always engaged in
hearing the glorification of the Lord, there will be no scope for hearing the
Mayavada philosophy, which is doom to spiritual progress. Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu said that if anyone hears from a Mayavadi philosopher preach-
