बर्हिष्मन्नेतदध्यात्मं पारोक्ष्येण प्रदर्शितम् यत्परोक्षप्रियो देवो भगवान्विश्वभावनः
barhiṣmann etad adhyātmaṁ pārokṣyeṇa pradarśitam yat parokṣa-priyo devo bhagavān viśva-bhāvanaḥ
Synonyms
barhiṣman—O King Prācīnabarhi; etat—this; adhyātmam—narration of self-realization; pārokṣyeṇa—indirectly; pradarśitam—instructed; yat—because; parokṣa-priyaḥ—interesting by indirect description; devaḥ—the Supreme Lord; bhagavān—Personality of Godhead; viśva-bhāvanaḥ—the cause of all causes..
Translation
My dear King Prācīnabarhi, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the cause of all causes, is celebrated to be known indirectly. Thus I have described the story of Purañjana to you. Actually it is an instruction for self-realization.
Purport
There are many similar stories in the Purāṇas for self-realization. As stated in the Vedas: parokṣa-priyā iva hi devāḥ. There are many stories in the Purāṇas that are intended to interest ordinary men in transcendental subjects, but actually these refer to real facts. They are not to be considered stories without a transcendental purpose. Some of them refer to real historical facts. One should be interested, however, in the real purport of the story. Indirect instruction is quickly understandable for a common man. Factually the path of bhakti-yoga is the path of hearing directly about the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead (śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ), but those who are not interested in hearing directly about the activities of the Lord, or who cannot understand them, can very effectively hear such stories and fables as this one narrated by Nārada Muni.
The following is a glossary of some of the important words in this chapter.
tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet
samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham
"To learn transcendental subject matter, one must approach the spiritual master. In doing so, he should carry fuel to burn in sacrifice. The symptom of such a spiritual master is that he is expert in understanding the Vedic conclusion and therefore he constantly engages in the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead." (Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.2.12) By serving such a bona fide spiritual master, gradually a conditioned soul becomes detached from material enjoyment and invariably makes progress in spiritual realization under the direction of the spiritual master. Those who are misled by the illusory energy are never interested in approaching a spiritual master to make life successful.
yasya deve parā bhaktir
yathā deve tathā gurau
tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ
prakāśante mahātmanaḥ