mÄyÄá¹ vividiá¹£an viṣṇor
mÄyeÅ›asya mahÄ-muniḥ
mahÄ-bhÄgavato rÄjan
pitaraá¹ paryatoá¹£ayat
mÄyÄm - energies; vividiá¹£an - desiring to know; viṣṇoḥ - of the Personality of Godhead; mÄyÄ-īśasya - of the master of all energies; mahÄ-muniḥ - the great sage; mahÄ-bhÄgavataḥ - the first-class devotee of the Lord; rÄjan - O King; pitaram - unto his father; paryatoá¹£ayat - very much pleased.
Lord BrahmÄ, being the creator of all living beings in the universe, is originally the father of several well-known sons, like Daká¹£a, the catuḥ-sanas, and NÄrada. In three departments of human knowledge disseminated by the Vedas, namely fruitive work (karma-kÄṇá¸a), transcendental knowledge (jñÄna-kÄṇá¸a) and devotional service (upÄsanÄ-kÄṇá¸a), Devará¹£i NÄrada inherited from his father BrahmÄ devotional service, whereas Daká¹£a inherited from his father fruitive work, and Sanaka, SanÄtana, etc., inherited from their father information about jñÄna-kÄṇá¸a, or transcendental knowledge. But out of them all, NÄrada is described here as the most beloved son of BrahmÄ because of good behavior, obedience, meekness and readiness to render service unto the father. And NÄrada is famous as the greatest of all sages because of his being the greatest of all devotees. NÄrada is the spiritual master of many famous devotees of the Lord. He is the spiritual master of PrahlÄda, Dhruva and VyÄsa, down to the forest animal hunter KirÄta. His only business is to turn everyone to the transcendental loving service of the Lord. Therefore all these features of NÄrada make him the dearmost son of his father, and all this is due to NÄrada’s being a first-class devotee of the Lord. The devotees are always anxious to know more and more about the Supreme Lord, the master of all energies. As confirmed in the Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (10.9):
mac-cittÄ mad-gata-prÄṇÄ
bodhayantaḥ parasparam
kathayantaÅ› ca mÄá¹ nityaá¹
tuá¹£yanti ca ramanti ca
The Supreme Lord is unlimited, and His energies are also unlimited. No one can know them completely. BrahmÄjÄ«, being the greatest living entity within this universe and being directly instructed by the Lord, must know more than anyone within this universe, although such knowledge may not be complete. Thus it is the duty of everyone to ask about the unlimited Lord from the spiritual master in the disciplic succession of BrahmÄ, which descends from NÄrada to VyÄsa, from VyÄsa to Åšukadeva and so on.