Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.13.40

karnadhāra ivāpāre

bhagavān pāra-darśakah

athābabhāshe bhagavān

nārado muni-sattamah

SYNONYMS

karna-dhārah — captain of the ship; iva — like; apāre — in the extensive oceans; bhagavān — representative of the Lord; pāra-darśakah — one who can give directions to the other side; atha — thus; ābabhāshe — began to say; bhagavān — the godly personality; nāradah — the great sage Nārada; muni-sat-tamah — the greatest among the devotee philosophers.

TRANSLATION

You are like a captain of a ship in a great ocean and you can direct us to our destination. Thus addressed, the godly personality, Devarshi Nārada, greatest of the philosopher devotees, began to speak.

PURPORT

There are different types of philosophers, and the greatest of all of them are those who have seen the Personality of Godhead and have surrendered themselves in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. Among all such pure devotees of the Lord, Devarshi Nārada is the chief, and therefore he has been described herein as the greatest of all philosopher devotees. Unless one has become a sufficiently learned philosopher by hearing the Vedānta philosophy from a bona fide spiritual master, one cannot be a learned philosopher devotee. One must be very faithful, learned and renounced, otherwise one cannot be a pure devotee. A pure devotee of the Lord can give us direction towards the other end of nescience. Devarshi Nārada used to visit the palace of Mahārāja Yudhishthira because the Pāndavas were all pure devotees of the Lord, and the Devarshi was always ready to give them good counsel whenever needed.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness