Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 12.3.14

kathā imās te kathitā mahīyasām

vitāya lokeshu yaśah pareyushām

vijñāna-vairāgya-vivakshayā vibho

vaco-vibhūtīr na tu pāramārthyam

SYNONYMS

kathāh — the narrations; imāh — these; te — unto you; kathitāh — have been spoken; mahīyasām — of great kings; vitāya — spreading; lokeshu — throughout all the worlds; yaśah — their fame; pareyushām — who have departed; vijñāna — transcendental knowledge; vairāgya — and renunciation; vivakshayā — with the desire for teaching; vibho — O mighty Parīkshit; vacah — of words; vibhūtīh — the decoration; na — not; tu — but; pārama-arthyam — of the most essential purport.

TRANSLATION

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: O mighty Parīkshit, I have related to you the narrations of all these great kings, who spread their fame throughout the world and then departed. My real purpose was to teach transcendental knowledge and renunciation. Stories of kings lend power and opulence to these narrations but do not in themselves constitute the ultimate aspect of knowledge.

PURPORT

Since all the narrations of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam bring the reader to the perfection of transcendental knowledge, they all give supreme spiritual lessons though apparently dealing with kings or other mundane subject matter. In relation with Krishna, all ordinary topics become transcendental narrations, with the power to bring the reader to the perfection of life.

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