nÄrada uvÄca
jananyÄbhihitaḥ panthÄḥ
sa vai niḥśreyasasya te
bhagavÄn vÄsudevas taá¹
bhaja taá¹ pravaṇÄtmanÄ
nÄradaḥ uvÄca - the great sage NÄrada said; jananyÄ - by your mother; abhihitaḥ - stated; panthÄḥ - the path; saḥ - that; vai - certainly; niḥśreyasasya - the ultimate goal of life; te - for you; bhagavÄn - the Supreme Personality of Godhead; vÄsudevaḥ - Kṛṣṇa; tam - unto Him; bhaja - render your service; tam - by Him; pravaṇa-ÄtmanÄ - fully absorbing your mind.
Dhruva MahÄrÄja’s demand was to achieve an abode even greater than Lord BrahmÄ’s. Within this universe, Lord BrahmÄ is supposed to be in the most exalted position, for he is the chief of all demigods, but Dhruva MahÄrÄja wanted a realm beyond his. Therefore his desire was not to be fulfilled by worshiping any demigod. As described in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ, the benedictions offered by the demigods are all temporary. Therefore NÄrada Muni asked Dhruva MahÄrÄja to follow the path recommended by his mother — to worship Kṛṣṇa, VÄsudeva. When Kṛṣṇa offers anything, it is beyond the expectation of the devotee. Both SunÄ«ti and NÄrada Muni knew that the demand of Dhruva MahÄrÄja was impossible for any demigod to fulfill, and therefore both of them recommended following the process of devotional service to Lord Kṛṣṇa.
NÄrada Muni is referred to here as bhagavÄn because he can bless any person just as the Supreme Personality of Godhead can. He was very pleased with Dhruva MahÄrÄja, and he could have at once personally given whatever he wanted, but that is not the duty of the spiritual master. His duty is to engage the disciple in proper devotional service as prescribed in the Å›Ästras. Kṛṣṇa was similarly present before Arjuna, and even though He could have given him all facilities for victory over the opposing party without a fight, He did not do so; instead He asked Arjuna to fight. In the same way, NÄrada Muni asked Dhruva MahÄrÄja to undergo devotional discipline in order to achieve the desired result.