Å›rÄ«-nÄrada uvÄca
nÄti-citram idaá¹ viprÄ
vasudevo bubhutsayÄ
kṛṣṇam matvÄrbhakaá¹ yan naḥ
pá¹›cchati Å›reya Ätmanaḥ
Å›rÄ«-nÄradaḥ uvÄca - ÅšrÄ« NÄrada said; na - not; ati - very; citram - wonderful; idam - this; viprÄḥ - O brÄhmaṇas; vasudevaḥ - Vasudeva; bubhutsayÄ - with the desire of learning; kṛṣṇam - Lord Kṛṣṇa; matvÄ - thinking; arbhakam - a boy; yat - the fact that; naḥ - from us; pá¹›cchati - he asks; Å›reyaḥ - about the highest good; Ätmanaḥ - for himself.
ÅšrÄ« NÄrada Muni said: O brÄhmaṇas, it is not so amazing that in his eagerness to know, Vasudeva has asked us about his ultimate benefit, for he considers Kṛṣṇa a mere boy.
ÅšrÄ«la JÄ«va GosvÄmÄ« relates NÄrada’s thoughts: ÅšrÄ« NÄrada understood how Vasudeva, in line with his mood of pretending to be an ordinary householder, asked the sages about karma-yoga, although he had already attained spiritual goals even great yogÄ«s and ṛṣis cannot achieve. But NÄrada was still concerned that Vasudeva might create an awkward mood by treating Lord Kṛṣṇa as a mere child in the presence of all the sages. NÄrada and the other sages felt obliged to maintain their attitude of reverence toward Lord Kṛṣṇa, so how could they ignore Him and presume to answer Vasudeva themselves? To avoid this embarrassment, NÄrada took this opportunity to remind everyone present of ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa’s absolute supremacy.
