Text 17

The glory of hearing the holy name from the mouth of a sādhu is described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (4.20.24):

न कामये नाथ तद् अप्य् अहं क्वचिन् न यत्र युष्मच्-चरणाम्बुजासवः
महत्तमान्तर्-हृदयान् मुख-च्युतो विधत्स्व कर्णायुतम् एष मे वरः

na kāmaye nātha tad apy ahaṃ kvacin na yatra yuṣmac-caraṇāmbujāsavaḥ
mahattamāntar-hṛdayān mukha-cyuto vidhatsva karṇāyutam eṣa me varaḥ

O Lord, I do not want liberation. I receive no pleasure in hearing any topic other than the glorious narrations of the nectar of Your lotus feet. This nectar emanates from the mouths of saintly persons from deep within their hearts. I beg only for the boon that You will give me ten thousand ears with which I can always hear the sweetness of Your pastimes.

याहाते तोमार पद-सेवा-सुख नाइ
सेइ रूप वर आमि नाथ कभु नाहि चाइ

yāhāte tomāra pada-sevā-sukha nāi
sei rūpa vara āmi nātha kabhu nāhi cāi

भक्तेर हृदय हैते तव गुण-गान
शुनिते अयुत कर्ण करह विधान

bhaktera hṛdaya haite tava guṇa-gāna
śunite ayuta karṇa karaha vidhāna

Commentary: Bhajana-rahasya-vṛtti:

Pṛthu Mahārāja prays to the lotus feet of Śrī Bhagavān to be able to hear and glorify the auspicious narrations of His pastimes, only in the association of devotees. He says, “I offer my obeisances from far away to the topics of liberation and any other kind of talk that does not proclaim the glories of the nectar of Your lotus feet. My only treasured wish is to drink the nectar of Your līlā-kathā, which is filled with prema and which f lows from the mouth of devotees. I do not even desire to hear about Your sweet pastimes from the mouth of non-devotees. Even fragrant water mixed with honey should be abandoned if it is salty.

“O Lord, I pray to You to please give me tens of thousands of ears to hear the sweet narrations of Your pastimes from the lotus mouths of devotees who are adept at relishing vraja-rasa. In other words, I pray that I may hear descriptions of Your pastimes with intense eagerness, and that the desire for impersonal liberation never arises in my heart. Drops of nectar from Your lotus feet in the form of pollen are carried by the breeze emanating from the mouths of great personalities, thus transmitting the potency of bhakti to us and making our lives successful. I am always ready to do anything to hear this kathā. May a spark of the mood of such personalities enter my heart and submerge me in an ocean of prema.”