ahaṁ hi pṛṣṭo 'ryamaṇo bhavadbhir ācakṣa ātmāvagamo 'tra yāvān nabhaḥ patanty ātmasamaṁ patattriṇas tathā samaṁ viṣṇu-gatiṁ vipaścitaḥ
Synonyms
aham—once upon a time; hi—arrows and bow; pṛṣṭaḥ—taking it firmly; aryamaṇaḥ—following; bhavadbhiḥ—hunting excursion; ācakṣe—in the forest; ātma-avagamaḥ—reservoir of water; atra—while finding out; yāvān—stags; nabhaḥ—while following; patanti—fatigued; ātma-samam—hungry; patattriṇaḥ—being thirsty; tathā—extremely; samam—entered into; viṣṇu-gatim—that famous; vipaścitaḥ—hermitage of Samika Rishi; Dadarsha—Saw; Munim—the sage; Asinam—seated; Santam—all silent; Milita—closed; Locnanam—eyes.
Translation
Once upon a time Maharaj Parikshit while engaged in hunting in the forest with arrows and bow firmly taken up became extemely fatigued, hungry and thirsty while following the stags. And in search after the reservoir of water he entered the hermitage of the well-known Samika Rishi and saw the sage was sitting all silent with closed eyes.
Purport
The supreme absolute truth is unlimited. No living being can know about the Unlimited by one's limited capacity. The Lord is both impersonal and personal also as well as localised. By His impersonal feature He is all pervading Brahman, by His localised feature He is present in every one's heart as the Supreme Soul and by His ultimate Personal feature He is the object of transcendental loving service by His fortunate associates the pure devotees. As the birds can fly in the sky in part only similarly the pastimes of the Lord in different features can only be estimated partly by the great learned devotees. So Srila Suta Goswami has rightly taken his position in the matter of describing the pastimes of the Lord as far as he had had realised. Factually the Lord only Himself can describe about Himself and His learned devotee also can describe about Him as far as the Lord gives him the power of description.
The Srpreme Lord is so kind upon His pure devotees that in proper time he calls for such devotees up to Him and thus creates a circumstance favourably auspicious for the devotee. Maharaj Parikshit was pure devotee of the Lord and there was no reason for him to become extemely fatigued hungry and thirsty because a devotee of the Lord never becomes perturbed by such bodily demands. But by the desire of the Lord even such a devotee also became apparently fatigued ane thirsty just to create the situation favourable for his renunciation of worldly activities. One has to give up all attachment for worldly relation before one is able to go back to home back to Godhead and as such even a devotee when he is too much absorbed in worldly affairs, the Lord creates a situation for the devotee's cause of indifference. The Supreme Lord never forgets His pure devotee even the latter may be engaged in socalled worldly affairs and as such sometimes He creates an awkward sitation when the devotee becomes obliged to renounce all worldly affairs. The devotee can understand it by the signal of the Lord but others take it as a matter of unfavourable frustration. Maharaj Parikshit was meant for becoming the medium of revelation of Srimad Bhagwatam by Lord Sri Krishna as much as his grand father Arjuna was meant for revelation of the Bhagwat Geeta in the world. Had not had Arjuna taken up with an illusion of family affaction by the will of the Lord, there was no chance of the Bhagwat Geeta being spoken by the Lord Himself for the good of all concerned. Similarty had not had Maharaj Parikshit been fatigued, hungry and thirsty at this time, there was no chance of Srimad Bhagwatam being spoken by Srila Sukdehva Goswami the prime authority of Srimad Bhagwatam. So this is a prelude to the circumstances under which Srimad Bhagwatam was spoken for the benefit of all concerned. The prelude, therefore, begins with the word that once upon a time etc.