Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.8.7

proktaḿ kilaitad bhagavattamena

nivṛtti-dharmābhiratāya tena

sanat-kumārāya sa cāha pṛṣṭaḥ

sāńkhyāyanāyāńga dhṛta-vratāya

SYNONYMS

proktam — was said; kila — certainly; etat — this; bhagavattamena — by Lord Sańkarṣaṇa; nivṛtti — renunciation; dharma-abhiratāya — unto one who has taken this religious vow; tena — by Him; sanat-kumārāya — unto Sanat-kumāra; saḥ — he; ca — also; āha — said; pṛṣṭaḥ — when inquired of; sāńkhyāyanāya — unto the great sage Sāńkhyāyana; ańga — my dear Vidura; dhṛta-vratāya — unto one who has taken such a vow.

TRANSLATION

Lord Sańkarṣaṇa thus spoke the purport of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to the great sage Sanat-kumāra, who had already taken the vow of renunciation. Sanat-kumāra also, in his turn, when inquired of by Sāńkhyāyana Muni, explained Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as he had heard it from Sańkarṣaṇa.

PURPORT

This is the way of the paramparā system. Although Sanat-kumāra, the well-known great saintly Kumāra, was in the perfect stage of life, still he heard the message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from Lord Sańkarṣaṇa. Similarly, when he was questioned by Sāńkhyāyana Ṛṣi, he spoke to him the same message he had heard from Lord Sańkarṣaṇa. In other words, unless one hears from the proper authority one cannot become a preacher. In devotional service, therefore, two items out of the nine, namely hearing and chanting, are most important. Without hearing nicely, one cannot preach the message of Vedic knowledge.

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