Verse 1.3.26

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 1.3.26:

कृष्णस्य प्रीतये तस्माच् छ्रैष्ठ्यम् अप्य् अभिवाञ्छता ।
तद्-भक्ततैव चातुर्य-विशेषेणार्थिता त्वया ॥ २६ ॥

kṛṣṇasya prītaye tasmāc chraiṣṭhyam apy abhivāñchatā |
tad-bhaktataiva cāturya-viśeṣeṇārthitā tvayā || 26 ||

Only out of love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa did you ask for such a boon that you would be more revered in this world than Him. In this way, you cleverly prayed for the position of a devotee.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

(By Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī himself including a deep purport of that commentary)

One may wonder how Śiva prayed, “I want to be more worshipful than Śrī Kṛṣṇa.” It is because of this desire to be worshipped even more than Śrī Hari, and by praying to be superior to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, your “aparādha” is thus well publicized.

Just as it states in the illustrious Bṛhat-sahasra-nāma-stotra in the Padma Purāṇa:

alabdhvā cātmanaḥ pūjāṃ samyag ārādhito hariḥ
mayā tasmād api śraiṣṭhyaṃ vāñchatā-haṅkṛtātmanā

“How could I serve Him properly with such a motive as my own worship being more gratifying than His?”

With this in mind, Śrī Nārada says that because of love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His supremacy, Śiva cleverly prays to be near Him, and begs for bhakti or devotional service to Him. On the other hand, if he begged for the service of Śrī Kṛṣṇa in person, by humility alone He would not be satisfied. Therefore, even after coveting the excellence of your own worship, you only obtained more love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself then declared the worship of His devotees as superior to Him, and considering His devotees superior to Himself, even behaved like them. Therefore, rather than asking for the precedence of your own worship more than His, you obtained His love only. In fact, you have made the words from His holy lips truthful. Thus this prayer also transformed you into a servitor with a dāsya or sevā-bhāva. Śrī Bhagavān has declared (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Bhāgavata Purāṇa 11.19.21), madbhakta pūjābhyādhika: “More pleasing than the worship of Myself is the worship of My devotees.” Moreover, the episode of the dice game, as well as Śrī Rukmiṇī-devī’s, brings to light the story of making an oath before an assembly.