Devanagari
मैत्रेय उवाच
पृथोस्तत्सूक्तमाकर्ण्य सारं सुष्ठु मितं मधु ।
स्मयमान इव प्रीत्या कुमार: प्रत्युवाच ह ॥ १७ ॥
Verse text
maitreya uvāca
pṛthos tat sūktam ākarṇya
sāraṁ suṣṭhu mitaṁ madhu
smayamāna iva prītyā
kumāraḥ pratyuvāca ha
Synonyms
maitreyaḥ uvāca
—
the great sage Maitreya continued to speak
;
pṛthoḥ
—
of King Pṛthu
;
tat
—
that
;
sūktam
—
Vedic conclusion
;
ākarṇya
—
hearing
;
sāram
—
very substantial
;
suṣṭhu
—
appropriate
;
mitam
—
minimized
;
madhu
—
sweet to hear
;
smayamānaḥ
—
smiling
;
iva
—
like
;
prītyā
—
out of great satisfaction
;
kumāraḥ
—
celibate
;
pratyuvāca
—
replied
;
ha
—
thus .
Translation
The great sage Maitreya continued: Thus Sanat-kumāra, the best of the celibates, after hearing the speech of Pṛthu Mahārāja, which was meaningful, appropriate, full of precise words and very sweet to hear, smiled with full satisfaction and began to speak as follows.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Hearing the words of Pṛthu, which were logical, deep in meaning, concise, and sweet, the Kumāras, with joyful faces, answered with affection.
The words were logical (sāram), deep in meaning (suṣṭhu), concise (mitam), and sweet. They had joyful faces (svayamāna iva).
Purport
Pṛthu Mahārāja’s talks before the Kumāras were very laudable because of so many qualifications. A speech should be composed of selected words, very sweet to hear, and appropriate to the situation. Such speech is called meaningful. All these good qualifications are present in Pṛthu Mahārāja’s speech because he is a perfect devotee. It is said,
yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiṣcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ:
“For one who has unflinching devotional faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead and is engaged in His service, all good qualities become manifest in his person.” (
Bhāg.
5.18.12
) Thus the Kumāras were very much pleased, and Sanat-kumāra began to speak as follows.