कामाभिकाममनु य: प्रपतन्प्रसङ्गात् ।
कृत्वात्मसात् सुरर्षिणा भगवन्गृहीत:
सोऽहं कथं नु विसृजे तव भृत्यसेवाम् ॥ २८ ॥
kāmābhikāmam anu yaḥ prapatan prasaṅgāt
kṛtvātmasāt surarṣiṇā bhagavan gṛhītaḥ
so 'haṁ kathaṁ nu visṛje tava bhṛtya-sevām
janame janame haya, ei abhilāṣa
SYNONYMS
evam—thus; janam—people in general; nipatitam—fallen; prabhava—of material existence; ahi-kūpe—in a blind well full of snakes; kāma-abhikāmam—desiring the sense objects; anu—following; yaḥ—the person who; prapatan—falling down (in this condition); prasaṅgāt—because of bad association or increased association with material desires; kṛtvā ātmasāt—causing me (to acquire spiritual qualities like himself, Śrī Nārada); sura-ṛṣiṇā—by the great saintly person (Nārada); bhagavan—O my Lord; gṛhītaḥ—accepted; saḥ—that person; aham—I; katham—how; nu—indeed; visṛje—can give up; tava—Your; bhṛtya-sevām—the service of Your pure devotee.
TRANSLATION
My dear Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, because of my association with material desires, one after another, I was gradually falling into a blind well full of snakes, following the general populace. But Your servant Nārada Muni kindly accepted me as his disciple and instructed me how to achieve this transcendental position. Therefore, my first duty is to serve him. How could I leave his service?
PURPORT
As will be seen in later verses, even though Prahlāda Mahārāja was directly offered all the benedictions he might have desired, he refused to accept such offerings from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. On the contrary, he asked the Lord to engage him in the service of His servant Nārada Muni. This is the symptom of a pure devotee. One should serve the spiritual master first. It is not that one should bypass the spiritual master and desire to serve the Supreme Lord. This is not the principle for a Vaiṣṇava. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says:
janame janame haya, ei abhilāṣa