228 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 7, Ch. 9
HHA Bria AAA Tela:
TSE ae F ITH FA TSA U1 2 II
evam janam nipatitam prabhavahi-kipe
kamabhikamam anu yah prapatan prasargat
krtvatmasat surarsinad bhagavan grhitah
so “ham katham nu visrje tava bhrtya-sevam
evam—thus; janam—people in general; nipatitam—fallen;
prabhava—of material existence; ahi-kiipe—in a blind well full of
snakes; kdma-abhikamam—desiring the sense objects; anu—following;
yah—the person who; prapatan—falling down (in this condition);
prasangat—because of bad association or increased association with ma-
terial desires; krtva dtmasdt—causing me (to acquire spiritual qualities
like himself, Sri Narada); sura-rsinad—by the great saintly person
(Narada); bhagavan—O my Lord; grhitah—accepted; sah—that per-
son; aham—I; katham—how; nu—indeed; visrje—can give up; tava—
Your; bhrtya-sevam—the service of Your pure devotee.
TRANSLATION
My dear Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, because of
my association with material desires, one after another, I was
gradually falling into a blind well full of snakes, following the
general populace. But Your servant Narada Muni kindly accepted
me as his disciple and instructed me how to achieve this transcen-
dental position. Therefore, my first duty is to serve him. How
could I leave his service?
PURPORT
As will be seen in later verses, even though Prahlada Maharaja was
directly offered all the benedictions he might have desired, he refused to
accept such offerings from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. On the
contrary, he asked the Lord to engage him in the service of His servant
Narada Muni. This is the symptom of a pure devotee. One should serve
the spiritual master first. It is not that one should bypass the spiritual
master and desire to serve the Supreme Lord. This is not the principle
for a Vaisnava. Narottama dasa Thakura says:
