kathÄdiá¹£v iti gargaḥ
kathÄ-Ädiá¹£u - for narrations and so on; iti - so; garga - Garga Muni.
As Garga Muni taught the importance of attachment for hearing kṛṣṇa-kathÄ, so ÅšrÄ«la PrabhupÄda also stressed kṛṣṇa-kathÄ. One type of kṛṣṇa-kathÄ consists of words directly spoken from the mouth of the Lord, such as the Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ. Lord Caitanya advocated that we repeat the words spoken by Kṛṣṇa (kṛṣṇa-upadeÅ›a) to whomever we meet. Another kind of kṛṣṇa-kathÄ consists of words spoken about Kṛṣṇa, such as those spoken by Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« to MahÄrÄja ParÄ«ká¹£it in ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam. Åšukadeva speaks throughout all twelve cantos about the wonderful pastimes of the Lord in His various incarnations. In the Tenth Canto he describes the original form of the Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa in Vá¹›ndÄvana, MathurÄ, and DvÄrakÄ. All of this is kṛṣṇa-kathÄ.
It is a characteristic of pure devotees that they speak only on transcendental subjects. A devotee practices mauna, or silence, by refraining from all mundane talk, but he is always pleased to speak kṛṣṇa-kathÄ. As Kṛṣṇa states in the Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (10.9),
mac-cittÄ mad-gata-prÄá¹‡Ä bodhayantaḥ parasparam
kathayantaÅ› ca mÄá¹ nityaá¹ tuá¹£yanti ca ramanti ca
"The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted to My service, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss from always enlightening one another and conversing about Me." Before beginning his Tenth Canto descriptions of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Åšukadeva tells MahÄrÄja ParÄ«ká¹£it,
nivá¹›tta-tará¹£air upagÄ«yamÄnÄd
bhavauá¹£adhÄc chrotra-mano-'bhirÄmÄt
ka uttamaÅ›loka-guṇÄnuvÄdÄt
pumÄn virajyeta vinÄ paÅ›u-ghnÄt
"Descriptions of the Lord spoken by those who are free of material desires are the right medicine for the conditioned soul undergoing repeated birth and death, and they delight the ear and the mind. Therefore who will cease hearing such glorification of the Lord except a butcher or one who is killing his own self?" (SB 10.1.4).
NÄrada Muni attributed his own Kṛṣṇa consciousness to the pure devotees (bhakti-vedÄntas) whom he had served and heard speaking kṛṣṇa-kathÄ when he was only a five-year-old boy: "O VyÄsadeva, in that association and by the mercy of those great VedÄntists, I could hear them describe the attractive activities of Lord Kṛṣṇa. And thus listening attentively, my taste for hearing of the Personality of Godhead increased at every step" (SB 1.5.26). And so the opinion of Garga Muni—that bhakti consists of attraction for kṛṣṇa-kathÄ—is approved and practiced by the mahÄ-janas.