कर्णधार इवापारे भगवान्पारदर्शकः ।
अथाबभाषे भगवान्नारदो मुनिसत्तमः ॥४०॥

karṇadhÄra ivÄpÄre
bhagavÄn pÄra-darÅ›akaḥ
athÄbabhÄá¹£e bhagavÄn
nÄrado muni-sattamaḥ

 karṇa-dhÄraḥ - captain of the ship; iva - like; apÄre - in the extensive oceans; bhagavÄn - representative of the Lord; pÄra-darÅ›akaḥ - one who can give directions to the other side; atha - thus; ÄbabhÄá¹£e - began to say; bhagavÄn - the godly personality; nÄradaḥ - the great sage NÄrada; muni-sat-tamaḥ - the greatest among the devotee philosophers.


Text

You are like a captain of a ship in a great ocean and you can direct us to our destination. Thus addressed, the godly personality, Devará¹£i NÄrada, greatest of the philosopher devotees, began to speak.

Purport

There are different types of philosophers, and the greatest of all of them are those who have seen the Personality of Godhead and have surrendered themselves in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. Among all such pure devotees of the Lord, Devará¹£i NÄrada is the chief, and therefore he has been described herein as the greatest of all philosopher devotees. Unless one has become a sufficiently learned philosopher by hearing the VedÄnta philosophy from a bona fide spiritual master, one cannot be a learned philosopher devotee. One must be very faithful, learned and renounced, otherwise one cannot be a pure devotee. A pure devotee of the Lord can give us direction towards the other end of nescience. Devará¹£i NÄrada used to visit the palace of MahÄrÄja Yudhiṣṭhira because the PÄṇá¸avas were all pure devotees of the Lord, and the Devará¹£i was always ready to give them good counsel whenever needed.