प्रायेण तीर्थाभिगमापदेशैः स्वयं हि तीर्थानि पुनन्ति सन्तः ॥८॥
tatropajagmur bhuvanaá¹ punÄnÄ
mahÄnubhÄvÄ munayaḥ sa-Å›iá¹£yÄḥ
prÄyeṇa tÄ«rthÄbhigamÄpadeÅ›aiḥ
svayaá¹ hi tÄ«rthÄni punanti santaḥ
tatra - there; upajagmuḥ - arrived; bhuvanam - the universe; punÄnÄḥ - those who can sanctify; mahÄ-anubhÄvÄḥ - great minds; munayaḥ - thinkers; sa-Å›iá¹£yÄḥ - along with their disciples; prÄyeṇa - almost; tÄ«rtha - place of pilgrimage; abhigama - journey; apadeÅ›aiḥ - on the plea of; svayam - personally; hi - certainly; tÄ«rthÄni - all the places of pilgrimage; punanti - sanctify; santaḥ - sages.
At that time all the great minds and thinkers, accompanied by their disciples, and sages who could verily sanctify a place of pilgrimage just by their presence, arrived there on the plea of making a pilgrim’s journey.
When MahÄrÄja ParÄ«ká¹£it sat down on the bank of the Ganges, the news spread in all directions of the universe, and the great-minded sages, who could follow the importance of the occasion, all arrived there on the plea of pilgrimage. Actually they came to meet MahÄrÄja ParÄ«ká¹£it and not to take a bath of pilgrimage because all of them were competent enough to sanctify the places of pilgrimage. Common men go to pilgrimage sites to get themselves purified of all sins. Thus the places of pilgrimage become overburdened with the sins of others. But when such sages visit overburdened places of pilgrimage, they sanctify the places by their presence. Therefore the sages who came to meet MahÄrÄja ParÄ«ká¹£it were not very much interested in getting themselves purified like common men, but on the plea of taking a bath in that place they came to meet MahÄrÄja ParÄ«ká¹£it because they could foresee that ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam would be spoken by Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ«. All of them wanted to take advantage of the great occasion.
