Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 4.15.22

prithur uvaca

bhoh suta he magadha saumya vandin

loke 'dhunaspashta-gunasya me syat

kim asrayo me stava esha yojyatam

ma mayy abhuvan vitatha giro vah

SYNONYMS

prithuh uvaca -- King Prithu said; bhoh suta -- O suta; he magadha -- O magadha; saumya -- gentle; vandin -- O devotee offering prayers; loke -- in this world; adhuna -- just now; aspashta -- not distinct; gunasya -- whose qualities; me -- of me; syat -- there may be; kim -- why; asrayah -- shelter; me -- of me; stavah -- praise; eshah -- this; yojyatam -- may be applied; ma -- never; mayi -- unto me; abhuvan -- were; vitathah -- in vain; girah -- words; vah -- your.

TRANSLATION

King Prithu said: O gentle suta, magadha and other devotee offering prayers, the qualities of which you have spoken are not distinct in me. Why then should you praise me for all these qualities when I do not shelter these features? I do not wish for these words meant for me to go in vain, but it is better that they be offered to someone else.

PURPORT

The prayers and praises by the suta, magadha and vandi all explained the godly qualities of Maharaja Prithu, for he was a saktyavesa incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because the qualities were not yet manifest, however, King Prithu very humbly asked why the devotees should praise him with such exalted words. He did not want anyone to offer him prayers or glorify him unless he possessed the real qualities of which they spoke. The offering of prayers was certainly appropriate, for he was an incarnation of Godhead, but he warned that one should not be accepted as an incarnation of the Personality of Godhead without having the godly qualities. At the present moment there are many so-called incarnations of the Personality of Godhead, but these are merely fools and rascals whom people accept as incarnations of God although they have no godly qualities. King Prithu desired that his real characteristics in the future might justify such words of praise. Although there was no fault in the prayers offered, Prithu Maharaja indicated that such prayers should not be offered to an unfit person who pretends to be an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

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