व्यास उवाच
भिक्षुभिर्विप्रवसिते विज्ञानादेष्टृभिस्तव ।
वर्तमानो वयस्याद्ये ततः किमकरोद्भवान् ॥२॥

vyÄsa uvÄca
bhiká¹£ubhir vipravasite
vijñÄnÄdeṣṭṛbhis tava
vartamÄno vayasy Ädye
tataḥ kim akarod bhavÄn

 vyÄsaḥ uvÄca - ÅšrÄ« VyÄsadeva said; bhiká¹£ubhiḥ - by the great mendicants; vipravasite - having departed for other places; vijñÄna - scientific knowledge in transcendence; Ädeṣṭṛbhiḥ - those who had instructed; tava - of your; vartamÄnaḥ - present; vayasi - of the duration of life; Ädye - before the beginning of; tataḥ - after that; kim - what; akarot - did; bhavÄn - your good self.


Text

ÅšrÄ« VyÄsadeva said: What did you [NÄrada] do after the departure of the great sages who had instructed you in scientific transcendental knowledge before the beginning of your present birth?

Purport

VyÄsadeva himself was the disciple of NÄradajÄ«, and therefore it was natural to be anxious to hear what NÄrada did after initiation from the spiritual masters. He wanted to follow in NÄrada’s footsteps in order to attain to the same perfect stage of life. This desire to inquire from the spiritual master is an essential factor to the progressive path. This process is technically known as sad-dharma-pá¹›cchÄ.