SB 1.18.31 (1965)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 31
Esa kim nibhritasesha karano milita ikshanah Mrisa samadhir aho swit kim nusyat ksaatrabandhubhih.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Esa—this, Kim—whether, Nibhritasesha—meditative mood Karano—senses, Milita—closed, Ikshanah—eyes, Mrisa—false, Samadhir—trance, Aho—remains, Swit—if it is so, Kim—either, Nu—but, Syat—may be, Kshatrabandhubhih—by the lower Kshatriya.
TRANSLATION
While going cut he began to contemplate and argue within himself whether the sage was actually in meditation by concentration of the senses and closed eyes or it was a false show of trance just to avoid reception of a lower Kshatriya.
PURPORT
The king however being devotee of the Lord did not approve of his own action towards the sage and thus he began to contemplate both ways whether the position of the sage was a reality of trance by meditation or it was a false show to avoid reception of the king who was Kshatriya and therefore lower in rank than the sage. Repentance like that comes in the mind of a good soul as soon as he commits something wrong. As such the king thinking like that may not be taken as occurance of past misdeeds. Srila Viswanath Chakravarty Thakur as well as Srila Jiva Goswami both of them do not agree that the king's action like that was due to his past misdeeds. But the arrangement was so made by the Lord to make show of frustration of the king just to call him back to home back to Godhead.
According to Srila Viswanath Chakravarty the plan was made by the Lord and by the will of the Lord the situation of frustration was created by Him. The plan was that by the so called misdeed of the king he would be cursed by an inexperienced Brahmin boy infected by the influence of Kali and thus the king would leave his hearth and home for good and his connection with Srila Sukdeva Goswami would be possible for presenting the great literature of Srimad Bhagwatam which is considered to be the book incarnation of the Lord. This book incarnation of the Lord gives many fascinating informations of the transcendental pastimes of the Lord like his Rasaleela by the Lord with the spiritual cowherd damsels of Brajabhumi. This specific pastimes of the Lord was a special significance because anyone who will properly learn about this particular pastime of the Lord would certainly be dissuaded from the mundane sex desire and be placed on the path of sublime devotional loving service of the Lord. Therefore placing the pure devotee in a position of mundane frustration is meant for elevating the devotee to a higher transcendental position for the benefit of the devotee. By placing Arjuna or the Pandavas in a position of frustration by the intrigue of their cousin brothers the prelude of the battle of Kurukshetra was created by the Lord just to incarnate the sound representative of the Lord Bhagwat Geeta so also by placing the king Parikshit another devotee of the Lord in an awkward position the prelude of incarnation of Srimad Bhagwatam was created by the will of the Lord. To be very much distressed by the so called hunger and thirst of the king were also show only because the king was painstaking even from the womb of his mother and he was never disturbed by the glaring heat of the Brahmastra struck upon him by Aswatthama. The king's show of distressed condition was certainly unprecedential as mentioned above. The devotees like Maharaj Parikshit are powerful enough to forbear such distresses occasionally by the will of the Lord and they are never disturbed. The situation of this case is therefore all planed by thc Lord.