भवान्मे खलु भक्तानां सर्वेषां प्रतिरूपधृक् ॥२१॥
bhavanti puruá¹£Ä loke
mad-bhaktÄs tvÄm anuvratÄḥ
bhavÄn me khalu bhaktÄnÄá¹
sarveá¹£Äá¹ pratirÅ«pa-dhá¹›k
bhavanti - become; puruá¹£Äḥ - persons; loke - in this world; mat-bhaktÄḥ - My pure devotees; tvÄm - you; anuvratÄḥ - following in your footsteps; bhavÄn - you; me - My; khalu - indeed; bhaktÄnÄm - of all devotees; sarveá¹£Äm - in different mellows; pratirÅ«pa-dhá¹›k - tangible example.
Those who follow your example will naturally become My pure devotees. You are the best example of My devotee, and others should follow in your footsteps.
In this connection, ÅšrÄ«la MadhvÄcÄrya quotes a verse from the Skanda PurÄṇa:
á¹›te tu tÄttvikÄn devÄn
nÄradÄdÄ«á¹s tathaiva ca
prahrÄdÄd uttamaḥ ko nu
viṣṇu-bhaktau jagat-traye
There are many, many devotees of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and they have been enumerated in ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam (6.3.20) as follows:
svayambhÅ«r nÄradaḥ Å›ambhuḥ
kumÄraḥ kapilo manuḥ
prahlÄdo janako bhÄ«á¹£mo
balir vaiyÄsakir vayam
Of the twelve authorized devotees — Lord BrahmÄ, NÄrada, Lord Åšiva, Kapila, Manu and so on — PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja is understood to be the best example.
