itthaḿ rājā dharma-suto
manoratha-mahārṇavam
su-dustaraḿ samuttīrya
kṛṣṇenāsīd gata-jvaraḥ
ittham -- in this manner; raja -- the King; dharma -- of the lord of religion (Yamaraja); sutah -- the son; manah-ratha -- of his desires; maha -- huge; arnavam -- the ocean; su -- very; dustaram -- difficult to cross; samuttirya -- successfully crossing; krishnena -- through the agency of Lord Krishna; asit -- he became; gata-jvarah -- freed of his feverish condition.
Thus King Yudhishthira, the son of Dharma, was at last relieved of his burning ambition, having by the grace of Lord Krishna successfully crossed the vast and formidable ocean of his desires.
The previous chapters of Srimad-Bhagavatam clearly explain that King Yudhishthira intensely desired to demonstrate to the world the supremacy of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the blessings received by those who surrender to Him. To do this, King Yudhishthira performed the Rajasuya sacrifice, a very difficult task.
Srila Prabhupada writes in this connection: "In the material world, everyone has a particular type of desire to be fulfilled, but one is never able to fulfill his desires to his full satisfaction. But King Yudhishthira, because of his unflinching devotion to Krishna, could fulfill all his desires successfully by the performance of the Rajasuya sacrifice. From the description of the Rajasuya yajna, it appears that such a function is a great ocean of opulent desires. It is not possible for an ordinary man to cross over such an ocean; nevertheless, by the grace of Lord Krishna, King Yudhishthira was able to cross over it very easily, and thus he became freed from all anxieties."
