Verse Text
atha jṣāni-carāḥ –
ye mumukṣāṁ parityajya harim eva samāśritāḥ |
śaunaka-pramukhās te tu proktā jṣāni-carāḥ budhaiḥ ||26||
Translation
Jṣāni-caras: The sages headed by Śaunaka who gave up the desire for liberation and surrendered to the Lord are called jṣāni-caras by the wise.
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
There are many instances in the various Vedic writings of persons who were aspiring after liberation by speculative knowledge but gave up this process in order to take complete shelter under the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Examples of such persons are the brāhmaṇas headed by Śaunaka in the forest of Naimiṣāraṇya. [Note: These are the brāhmaṇas to whom Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was spoken by Sūta Gosvāmī, as described in the author’s Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, First Canto, First Chapter.] Learned scholars accept them as devotees having complete wisdom.