प्रणम्य मूर्ध्नावहितः कृताञ्जलिर्नत्वा गिरा सूनृतयान्वपृच्छत् ॥३१॥
praÅ›Äntam ÄsÄ«nam akuṇá¹ha-medhasaá¹
muniá¹ ná¹›po bhÄgavato 'bhyupetya
praṇamya mÅ«rdhnÄvahitaḥ ká¹›tÄñjalir
natvÄ girÄ sÅ«ná¹›tayÄnvapá¹›cchat
praÅ›Äntam - perfectly pacified; ÄsÄ«nam - sitting; akuṇá¹ha - without hesitation; medhasam - one who has sufficient intelligence; munim - unto the great sage; ná¹›paḥ - the King (MahÄrÄja ParÄ«ká¹£it); bhÄgavataḥ - the great devotee; abhyupetya - approaching him; praṇamya - bowing down; mÅ«rdhnÄ - his head; avahitaḥ - properly; ká¹›ta-añjaliḥ - with folded hands; natvÄ - politely; girÄ - by words; sÅ«ná¹›tayÄ - in sweet voices; anvapá¹›cchat - inquired.
The sage ÅšrÄ« Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« sat perfectly pacified, intelligent and ready to answer any question without hesitation. The great devotee, MahÄrÄja ParÄ«ká¹£it, approached him, offered his respects by bowing before him, and politely inquired with sweet words and folded hands.
The gesture now adopted by MahÄrÄja ParÄ«ká¹£it of questioning a master is quite befitting in terms of scriptural injunctions. The scriptural injunction is that one should humbly approach a spiritual master to understand the transcendental science. MahÄrÄja ParÄ«ká¹£it was now prepared for meeting his death, and within the very short time of seven days he was to know the process of entering the kingdom of God. In such important cases, one is required to approach a spiritual master. There is no necessity of approaching a spiritual master unless one is in need of solving the problems of life. One who does not know how to put questions before the spiritual master has no business seeing him. And the qualification of the spiritual master is perfectly manifested in the person of Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ«. Both the spiritual master and the disciple, namely ÅšrÄ« Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« and MahÄrÄja ParÄ«ká¹£it, attained perfection through the medium of ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam. Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« learned ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam from his father, VyÄsadeva, but he had no chance to recite it. Before MahÄrÄja ParÄ«ká¹£it he recited ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam and answered the questions of MahÄrÄja ParÄ«ká¹£it unhesitatingly, and thus both the master and the disciple got salvation.
