Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.3.2

nānutṛpye juṣan yuṣmad-

vaco hari-kathāmṛtam

saḿsāra-tāpa-nistapto

martyas tat-tāpa-bheṣajam

SYNONYMS

na anutṛpye — I am not yet satiated; juṣan — engaging; yuṣmat — your; vacaḥ — in the words; hari-kathā — of the topics of the Supreme Lord, Hari; amṛtam — the nectar; saḿsāra — of material existence; tāpa — by the misery; nistaptaḥ — tormented; martyaḥ — a mortal human; tat-tāpa — of that pain; bheṣajam — the medical treatment.

TRANSLATION

Although I am drinking the nectar of your statements about the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, my thirst is not yet satiated. Such nectarean descriptions of the Lord and His devotees are the actual medicine for conditioned souls like me, who are tormented by the threefold miseries of material existence.

PURPORT

According to Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī, one may argue that since the symptoms of a pure devotee of the Lord have already been elaborately described, one can perfect his life by advancing to the platform mentioned in the previous verse, and there is no need for further questions. But hari-kathāmṛtam, topics about the Lord and His devotees, are so pleasing and beautiful that one cannot give up hearing them, even after spiritual liberation. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, in this connection, has quoted the following verse:

ātmārāmāś ca munayo

nirgranthā apy urukrame

kurvanty ahaitukīḿ bhaktim

ittham-bhūta-guṇo hariḥ

"Those who are self-satisfied and unattracted by external, material desires are also attracted to the loving service of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, whose qualities are transcendental and whose activities are wonderful. Hari, the Personality of Godhead, is called Kṛṣṇa because He has such transcendentally attractive features." (Bhāg. 1.7.10) Material medicine is not desirable once a disease has been cured, but on the absolute platform the means and the end are not different. So chanting and hearing the glories of Lord Kṛṣṇa are both the means and the end of transcendental bliss.

King Nimi said to the sages, "You are all great saintly persons absorbed in love of Godhead. Therefore although you will speak about māyā, or illusion, the conclusion will undoubtedly be Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Please don't think that you have already explained everything to me. The intoxicating nectar of your instructions has left me more eager than ever to hear about the Supreme Personality of Godhead."

King Nimi was also a great devotee of the Lord, otherwise there would have been no question of his personally conversing with such exalted living entities as the nine Yogendras. But as a humble Vaiṣṇava he considered himself an ordinary conditioned soul covered by material designations. Thus he showed his eagerness to understand the actual nature of māyā in order to be safe from her future attempts to place him in the burning fire of material existence.

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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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