Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.8

tatropajagmur bhuvanam punānā

mahānubhāvā munayah sa-śishyāh

prāyena tīrthābhigamāpadeśaih

svayam hi tīrthāni punanti santah

SYNONYMS

tatra — there; upajagmuh — arrived; bhuvanam — the universe; punānāh — those who can sanctify; mahā-anubhāvāh — great minds; munayah — thinkers; sa-śishyāh — along with their disciples; prāyena — almost; tīrtha — place of pilgrimage; abhigama — journey; apadeśaih — on the plea of; svayam — personally; hi — certainly; tīrthāni — all the places of pilgrimage; punanti — sanctify; santah — sages.

TRANSLATION

At that time all the great minds and thinkers, accompanied by their disciples, and sages who could verily sanctify a place of pilgrimage just by their presence, arrived there on the plea of making a pilgrim's journey.

PURPORT

When Mahārāja Parīkshit sat down on the bank of the Ganges, the news spread in all directions of the universe, and the great-minded sages, who could follow the importance of the occasion, all arrived there on the plea of pilgrimage. Actually they came to meet Mahārāja Parīkshit and not to take a bath of pilgrimage because all of them were competent enough to sanctify the places of pilgrimage. Common men go to pilgrimage sites to get themselves purified of all sins. Thus the places of pilgrimage become overburdened with the sins of others. But when such sages visit overburdened places of pilgrimage, they sanctify the places by their presence. Therefore the sages who came to meet Mahārāja Parīkshit were not very much interested in getting themselves purified like common men, but on the plea of taking a bath in that place they came to meet Mahārāja Parīkshit because they could foresee that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam would be spoken by Śukadeva Gosvāmī. All of them wanted to take advantage of the great occasion.

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