Verse Text
tatraiva śrīmad-ādirājoktau (4.20.24)—
na kāmaye nātha tad apy ahaṁ kvacin
na yatra yuṣmac-caraṇāmbujāsavaḥ |
mahattamāntar-hṛdayān mukha-cyuto
vidhatsva karṇāyutam eṣa me varaḥ ||30||
Translation
Concerning this Pṛthu also speaks: My dear Lord, I therefore do not wish to have the benediction of merging into Your existence, a benediction in which 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. SB 4.20.24
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
“I do not desire merging into brahman (tad) at any time at all, since it brings about sorrow.”
“Why is that?”
“By merging in brahman there is no nectar of Your lotus feet—the wealth of sweetness in hearing about Your qualities.”
“What type of nectar is this?”
“It arises from the heart of the great devotee and exits from his mouth.”
The nectar is glorified in this way because it cannot be relished while it is still inside the devotee. Out of great bliss, Pṛthu glorifies the nectar when it emerges for the devotee because then he can relish it. This is similar in expression to śuka-mukhād amṛta-drava-saṁyuta: from the mouth of Śukadeva Bhāgavatam becomes liquid nectar. (SB 1.1.3)
“By my tasting it, I can understand its sweetness. One should also understand the opposite condition. Just as sweet water becomes distasteful when it mixes with salty earth, the qualities of the Lord become distasteful when emanating from the mouth of a non-devotee.”
”Now, what do you desire?”
“Because of the infinite number of devotee talks about the qualities of the Lord, many devotees in many places are speaking in glorification. I cannot reject even one of these talks. Out of great greed I have a desire for an infinite number of ears.”
”Does anyone ever ask for such a thing?”
“True, it is impossible, but that is my wish and I have no other.”
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Here the meaning is “I do not want bliss from merging into brahman, where there is no happiness from hearing about Your qualities and honey from Your lotus feet.”
“Then what do you desire?” “My wish is that You give me ten thousand ears to hear Your glories.”
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
NoD 4: Devotional Service Surpasses All Liberation
How much a devotee is seriously attached to the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead can be understood from the statement of Mahārāja Pṛthu (Ādi-rāja) which is described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Fourth Canto, Twentieth Chapter, verse 24. He prays to the Supreme Personality of Godhead thus: “My dear Lord, if after taking liberation I have no chance of hearing the glories of Your Lordship, glories chanted by pure devotees from the core of their hearts in praise of Your lotus feet, and if I have no chance for this honey of transcendental bliss, then I shall never ask for liberation or this so-called spiritual emancipation. I shall simply always pray unto Your Lordship that You may give me millions of tongues and millions of ears, so that I can constantly chant and hear of Your transcendental glories.”
The impersonalists desire to merge into the existence of the Supreme, but without keeping their individuality they have no chance of hearing and chanting the glories of the Supreme Lord. Because they have no idea of the transcendental form of the Supreme Lord, there is no chance of their chanting and hearing of His transcendental activities. In other words, unless one is already beyond liberation, one cannot relish the transcendental glories of the Lord, nor can one understand the transcendental form of the Lord.