taká¹£akÄd Ätmano má¹›tyuá¹
dvija-putropasarjitÄt
prapatsyata upaśrutya
mukta-saṅgaḥ padaṠhareḥ
taká¹£akÄt - by the snake-bird; Ätmanaḥ - of his personal self; má¹›tyum - death; dvija-putra - the son of a brÄhmaṇa; upasarjitÄt - being sent by; prapatsyate - having taken shelter of; upaÅ›rutya - after hearing; mukta-saá¹…gaḥ - freed from all attachment; padam - position; hareḥ - of the Lord.
Material attachment and taking shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord go ill together. Material attachment means ignorance of transcendental happiness under the shelter of the Lord. Devotional service to the Lord, while existing in the material world, is a way to practice one’s transcendental relation with the Lord, and when it is matured, one gets completely free from all material attachment and becomes competent to go back home, back to Godhead. MahÄrÄja ParÄ«ká¹£it, being especially attached to the Lord from the beginning of his body in the womb of his mother, was continuously under the shelter of the Lord, and the so-called warning of his death within seven days from the date of the curse by the brÄhmaṇa’s son was a boon to him to enable him to prepare himself to go back home, back to Godhead. Since he was always protected by the Lord, he could have avoided the effect of such a curse by the grace of the Lord, but he did not take such undue advantage for nothing. Rather, he made the best use of a bad bargain. For seven days continuously he heard ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam from the right source, and thus he got shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord by that opportunity.