Å›rÄ«-Å›aunaka uvÄca
sÅ«ta jÄ«va ciraá¹ sÄdho
vada no vadatÄá¹ vara
tamasy apÄre bhramatÄá¹
ná¹á¹‡Äá¹ tvaá¹ pÄra-darÅ›anaḥ
Å›rÄ«-Å›aunakaḥ uvÄca - ÅšrÄ« Åšaunaka said; sÅ«ta - O SÅ«ta GosvÄmÄ«; jÄ«va - may you live; ciram - for a long time; sÄdho - O saint; vada - please speak; naḥ - to us; vadatÄm - of speakers; vara - O you who are the best; tamasi - in darkness; apÄre - unbounded; bhramatÄm - who are wandering; ná¹á¹‡Äm - for men; tvam - you; pÄra-darÅ›anaḥ - the seer of the opposite shore.
Śrī Śaunaka said: O Sūta, may you live a long life! O saintly one, best of speakers, please continue speaking to us. Indeed, only you can show men the path out of the ignorance in which they are wandering.
According to ÅšrÄ«la JÄ«va GosvÄmÄ«, the sages saw that SÅ«ta GosvÄmÄ« was about to end his narration of ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam, and thus they urged him to first tell the story of MÄrkaṇá¸eya Ṛṣi.
