पृथोस्तत्सूक्तमाकर्ण्य सारं सुष्ठु मितं मधु ।
स्मयमान इव प्रीत्या कुमारः प्रत्युवाच ह ॥१७॥
maitreya uvÄca
pá¹›thos tat sÅ«ktam Äkarṇya
sÄraá¹ suá¹£á¹hu mitaá¹ madhu
smayamÄna iva prÄ«tyÄ
kumÄraḥ pratyuvÄca ha
maitreyaḥ uvÄca - the great sage Maitreya continued to speak; pá¹›thoḥ - of King Pá¹›thu; tat - that; sÅ«ktam - Vedic conclusion; Äkarṇya - hearing; sÄram - very substantial; suá¹£á¹hu - appropriate; mitam - minimized; madhu - sweet to hear; smayamÄnaḥ - smiling; iva - like; prÄ«tyÄ - out of great satisfaction; kumÄraḥ - celibate; pratyuvÄca - replied; ha - thus.
The great sage Maitreya continued: Thus Sanat-kumÄra, the best of the celibates, after hearing the speech of Pá¹›thu MahÄrÄja, which was meaningful, appropriate, full of precise words and very sweet to hear, smiled with full satisfaction and began to speak as follows.
Pá¹›thu MahÄrÄja’s talks before the KumÄras were very laudable because of so many qualifications. A speech should be composed of selected words, very sweet to hear, and appropriate to the situation. Such speech is called meaningful. All these good qualifications are present in Pá¹›thu MahÄrÄja’s speech because he is a perfect devotee. It is said, yasyÄsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanÄ sarvair guṇais tatra samÄsate surÄḥ: “For one who has unflinching devotional faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead and is engaged in His service, all good qualities become manifest in his person.†(BhÄg. 5.18.12) Thus the KumÄras were very much pleased, and Sanat-kumÄra began to speak as follows.
