Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.13.1
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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bhāgavata-uttama
—
O best of devotees
Compound: bhāgavata (devotee of Bhagavān) + uttama (highest). Śuka addresses Parīkṣit not as 'king' but as 'topmost Bhāgavata' — in Gauḍīya reckoning, the qualifier that licenses hearing the most confidential pastimes. Śravaṇa-adhikāra is conferred by bhakti, not by birth or learning.
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nūtanayasi
—
you are making newer and newer
Causative of √nu (new). Parīkṣit does not merely hear what is old; his bhakti renews the līlā at the moment of hearing. Gauḍīyas cite this as the experiential proof that kṛṣṇa-kathā is nitya-navya — eternally fresh, never repetitive.
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īśasya
—
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
Genitive of īśa, the controller. Not 'the divine' in the abstract — Bhagavān as the personal Lord whose pastimes are the substance of the narration about to begin.
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kathām
—
the pastimes, the narration
From √kath (to tell). Kathā in Gauḍīya usage is not mere story but the audible form of the līlā itself — śravaṇa and kīrtana are the first two limbs of bhakti precisely because kathā carries Bhagavān into the ear.
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muhuḥ
—
again and again
The temporal mark of the paramahaṁsa's hearing. Bhakti is not a one-time download of information; it is repeated immersion. Gauḍīyas point to this word as licensing the practice of returning to the same pastime endlessly.
Unless one is very advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one cannot stick to hearing the pastimes of the Lord constantly. Nityaṁ nava-navāya-mānam: even though advanced devotees hear continually about the Lord for years, they still feel that these topics are coming to them as newer and fresher. Therefore such devotees cannot give up hearing of the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti. The word santaḥ is used to refer to persons who have developed love for Kṛṣṇa. Yaṁ śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi ( Brahma-saṁhitā 5.38 ). Parīkṣit Mahārāja, therefore, is addressed as bhāgavatottama, the best of devotees, because unless one is very much elevated in devotional service, one cannot feel ecstasy from hearing more and more and appreciate the topics as ever fresher and newer.
The thirteenth chapter describes the picnic, stealing of the calves and cowherd boys, the illusion of Brahma, and the appearance of calves and boys from Krsna’s form. Krsna whose portion of a portion causes the creation of universes and the bewilderment of Brahma, showed himself as the source of delight to all Visnu forms, the bewilderer of Baladeva and source of all powers to Brahma. Sukadeva addresses Pariksit as best of the devotees. "How I am the best among devotees?" "You always take the topics of Krsna as fresh. Even if hearing before, you hear the topics with relish as if you had not heard them before."
You are most fortunate, since even in the womb you saw the Lord (mahā-bhāga)! You are the greatest of devotees, since you relish these topics! He beckons him twice since Parīkṣit is absorbed in Kṛṣṇa with prema. Your question is good because in hearing topics of your master, they become ever fresh for you.
- SB 10-13-01-11 - The Stealing of the Boys and Calves by Brahma - Gauranga Darshan Prabhu 2017-05-29
- MM SB 10-13-01 - Stealing of the boys and calves by Brahma - 2011-08-17 Bhaktivedanta Manor
- Gauranga Darshan Pr SB 10-13-01-11 - The Stealing of the Boys and Calves by Brahma - 2017-05-29
- Krishna Medha Pr SB 10-13-01 Gujarati
- Pariksit Pr SB 10-13-01 - Hearing to the Pure Devotee Gets Sweeter and Fresher - 2021-01-18 Philadelaphia
- Tamohara Pr SB 10-13-01 - 2012-10-04 ISKCON Alachua
- BVVNarsimhaS SB 10-13-01 - 2020-05-20 ISKCON Mayapur
- Krishna Kshetra Sw SB 10-13-01 - 2017-06-19 Bhaktivedanta Manor
- PrahladAnS SB 10-13-01 - Memories of the Kong and the Count - 2009-07
- PrahladAnS SB 10-13-01 - The Good Puppeteer - 2011-12-07 Dallas
- When did the Bhāgavatam last feel fresh to me, and what was different that day?
- If a story feels stale, is the story tired or am I — and what would re-open my hearing?
Like a well drawn at dawn and again at dusk that gives water tasting fresh each time, the same kṛṣṇa-kathā Parīkṣit has been hearing for days strikes him as new at every drawing — the well is bottomless, and the hearer's thirst is its only measure.
Cursed to die in seven days by the bite of Takṣaka, Mahārāja Parīkṣit sat on the bank of the Gaṅgā and gave up food, water, and sleep to hear Śukadeva Gosvāmī recite the Bhāgavatam. By the tenth canto he had been hearing continuously for days, and yet the activities of Kṛṣṇa struck him as more wonderful at each new verse.
Gauḍīyas read this verse as Śuka praising the very mark of a paramahaṁsa: the topics never become stale because Kṛṣṇa Himself is nava-yauvana — ever-fresh — and the rasa He releases into the hearer renews itself with each hearing.
My note
Source: vedabase.io