ये त्वयाभिहिता ब्रह्मन्सुताः प्राचीनबर्हिषः ।
ते रुद्रगीतेन हरिं सिद्धिमापुः प्रतोष्य काम् ॥१॥
vidura uvÄca
ye tvayÄbhihitÄ brahman
sutÄḥ prÄcÄ«nabarhiá¹£aḥ
te rudra-gÄ«tena hariá¹
siddhim Äpuḥ pratoá¹£ya kÄm
viduraḥ uvÄca - Vidura said; ye - those who; tvayÄ - by you; abhihitÄḥ - were spoken about; brahman - O brÄhmaṇa; sutÄḥ - sons; prÄcÄ«nabarhiá¹£aḥ - of King PrÄcÄ«nabarhi; te - all of them; rudra-gÄ«tena - by the song composed by Lord Åšiva; harim - the Lord; siddhim - success; Äpuḥ - achieved; pratoá¹£ya - having satisfied; kÄm - what.
Vidura inquired from Maitreya: O brÄhmaṇa, you formerly spoke about the sons of PrÄcÄ«nabarhi and informed me that they satisfied the Supreme Personality of Godhead by chanting a song composed by Lord Åšiva. What did they achieve in this way?
In the beginning, Maitreya Ṛṣi narrated the activities of the sons of PrÄcÄ«nabarhi. These sons went beside a great lake, which was like an ocean, and fortunately finding Lord Åšiva, they learned how to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead by chanting the songs composed by Lord Åšiva. Now their father’s attachment for fruitive activities was disapproved by NÄrada, who therefore kindly instructed PrÄcÄ«nabarhi by telling him the allegorical story of Purañjana. Now Vidura again wanted to hear about PrÄcÄ«nabarhi’s sons, and he was especially inquisitive to know what they achieved by satisfying the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Here the words siddhim Äpuḥ, or “achieved perfection,†are very important. Lord Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (7.3), manuá¹£yÄṇÄá¹ sahasreá¹£u kaÅ›cid yatati siddhaye: out of many, many millions of people, one may be interested in learning how to attain success in spiritual matters. The supreme success is mentioned also in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (8.15):
mÄm upetya punar janma
duḥkhÄlayam aÅ›ÄÅ›vatam
nÄpnuvanti mahÄtmÄnaḥ
saá¹siddhiá¹ paramÄá¹ gatÄḥ
“After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogÄ«s in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.†And what is that highest perfection? That is also explained in that verse. The highest perfection is to return home, back to Godhead, so that one will not have to return to this material world and transmigrate from one body to another in the dream of material existence. By the grace of Lord Åšiva, the PracetÄs actually attained perfection and returned home, back to Godhead, after enjoying material facilities to the highest extent. Maitreya will now narrate that to Vidura.
