dharmasya daká¹£a-duhitary ajaniṣṭa mÅ«rtyÄá¹
nÄrÄyaṇo nara ṛṣi-pravaraḥ praÅ›Äntaḥ
naiá¹£karmya-laká¹£aṇam uvÄca cacÄra karma
yo 'dyÄpi cÄsta ṛṣi-varya-niá¹£evitÄá¹…ghriḥ

 dharmasya - (the wife) of Dharma; daká¹£a-duhitari - by the daughter of Daká¹£a; ajaniṣṭa - was born; mÅ«rtyÄm - by MÅ«rti; nÄrÄyaṇaḥ naraḥ - Nara-NÄrÄyaṇa; á¹›á¹£i-pravaraḥ - the best of sages; praÅ›Äntaḥ - perfectly peaceful; naiá¹£karmya-laká¹£aṇam - characterized by the cessation of all material work; uvÄca - He spoke; cacÄra - and performed; karma - the duties; yaḥ - who; adya api - even today; ca - also; Äste - is living; á¹›á¹£i-varya - by the greatest sages; niá¹£evita - being served; aá¹…ghriḥ - His feet.


Text

Nara-NÄrÄyaṇa Ṛṣi, who is perfectly peaceful and is the best of sages, was born as the son of Dharma and his wife MÅ«rti, the daughter of Daká¹£a. Nara-NÄrÄyaṇa Ṛṣi taught the devotional service of the Lord, by which material work ceases, and He Himself perfectly practiced this knowledge. He is living even today, His lotus feet served by the greatest of saintly persons.

Purport

It is understood that Nara-NÄrÄyaṇa Ṛṣi spoke transcendental knowledge to great saintly persons such as NÄrada Muni. On the basis of these teachings, NÄrada was able to describe naiá¹£karmyam, or the devotional service of the Lord, which eradicates material work, as mentioned in ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam (1.3.8): tantraá¹ sÄtvatam Äcaṣṭa naiá¹£karmyaá¹ karmaṇÄá¹ yataḥ. The Ätma-svarÅ«pa, or eternal form of the living entity, is devotional service to the Personality of Godhead. But our perception of our eternal form is covered by a material concept of life, just as our normal understanding of our life is covered by a dream. Naiá¹£karmyam, or the cessation of material work, is possible only by the devotional service of the Lord, as stated by NÄrada Muni himself: naiá¹£karmyam apy acyuta-bhÄva-varjitaá¹ na Å›obhate jñÄnam alaá¹ nirañjanam (BhÄg. 1.5.12). The process of transforming ordinary karma into naiá¹£karmya, or transcendental work, is summarized by ÅšrÄ«la PrabhupÄda in his commentary on this verse spoken by NÄrada Muni. “Fruitive work, in which almost all people in general are engaged, is always painful either in the beginning or at the end. It can be fruitful only when made subservient to the devotional service of the Lord. In the Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ also it is confirmed that the result of such fruitive work may be offered for the service of the Lord, otherwise it leads to material bondage. The bona fide enjoyer of the fruitive work is the Personality of Godhead, and thus when it is engaged for the sense gratification of the living beings, it becomes an acute source of trouble.†According to the Matsya PurÄṇa (3.10), Dharma, the father of Nara-NÄrÄyaṇa Ṛṣi, was born from the right breast of BrahmÄ and later married thirteen of the daughters of PrajÄpati Daká¹£a. The Lord Himself appeared from the womb of MÅ«rtidevÄ«.