Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 4.22.5

tat-pāda-śauca-salilair

mārjitālaka-bandhanaḥ

tatra śīlavatāḿ vṛttam

ācaran mānayann iva

SYNONYMS

tat-pāda — their lotus feet; śauca — washed; salilaiḥ — water; mārjita — sprinkled; alaka — hair; bandhanaḥ — bunch; tatra — there; śīlavatām — of the respectable gentlemen; vṛttam — behavior; ācaran — behaving; mānayan — practicing; iva — like.

TRANSLATION

After this, the King took the water which had washed the lotus feet of the Kumāras and sprinkled it over his hair. By such respectful actions, the King, as an exemplary personality, showed how to receive a spiritually advanced personality.

PURPORT

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said, āpani ācari prabhu jīvere śikhāya. It is very well known that whatever Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu taught in His life as ācārya, He Himself practiced. When He was preaching as a devotee, although He was detected by several great personalities to be the incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, He never agreed to be addressed as an incarnation. Even though one may be an incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, or especially empowered by Him, he should not advertise that he is an incarnation. People will automatically accept the real truth in due course of time. Pṛthu Mahārāja was the ideal Vaiṣṇava king; therefore he taught others by his personal behavior how to receive and respect saintly persons like the Kumāras. When a saintly person comes to one's home, it is the Vedic custom first to wash his feet with water and then sprinkle this water over the heads of oneself and one's family. Pṛthu Mahārāja did this, for he was an exemplary teacher of the people in general.

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