Nārada Instructs the Pracetās

The Pracetās leave home and receive Nārada’s instructions on satisfying the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Themes of SB 4.31Bhakti4 Śuddhi4 Kīrtana3 Karuṇā3 from its story phase

Connected storiesMahārāja PriyavrataAmbarīṣa MahārājaDhṛtarāṣṭra leaves home

Who is speakingSūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaŚukadeva Gosvāmī → King ParīkṣitMaitreya Ṛṣi → ViduraEvery voice in this chapter ›

Turning points hereThe Pracetās· Devotional conclusion

What this chapter speaks about · the ten subjects

In this chapter

Who · The Pracetās, Nārada

The story · After thousands of years at home, the Pracetās developed perfect spiritual knowledge and remembered the Lord’s blessings. They left home, placing their wife in the care of their son. When Nārada appeared, they rose, worshiped him, and asked for knowledge that could carry them beyond the darkness of material existence. Nārada taught that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the goal of all auspicious activities.

What it teaches · Mercy toward all living entities, contentment, and restraint of the senses quickly satisfy the Supreme Lord. All paths of genuine spiritual advancement find their goal in Him.

SB 4.31.7 SB 4.31.13 SB 4.31.19 Read chapter 31 ›

Beyond this chapter

Connected stories across the Bhāgavatam

Stories told in other chapters that this chapter's verses or Śrīla Prabhupāda's purports bring in, the other Bhāgavatam verses the purports quote, and stories in other cantos with the same themes. Each link shows the sentence it comes from.

Mahārāja Priyavrata

SB 5.1 · Priyavrata accepts the kingdom

What it teaches · Śukadeva Gosvāmī explains that devotional service is transcendental to material influences. A devotee who takes shelter of the Lord’s lotus feet can overcome material distress and conquer the mind and senses.

I shall now try to relate the activities of the descendants of Priyavrata, the second son of Svāyambhuva Manu.
In the verse · SB 4.31.26 (Text 26)

Now Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī desires to describe the descendants of Mahārāja Priyavrata, the second son of Svāyambhuva Manu.
Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport · SB 4.31.26 (Text 26)

Read the story in SB 5.1

Ambarīṣa Mahārāja

SB 9.4–5 · Ambarīṣa protects Durvāsā

What it teaches · A devotee finds happiness in serving Kṛṣṇa rather than in wealth or mystic achievements. Ambarīṣa’s humility and compassion extended even to the person who had offended him.

A great mystic yogī, Durvāsā Muni, offended the great devotee Ambarīṣa Mahārāja.
Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport · SB 4.31.21 (Text 21)

Read the story in SB 9.4–5

Dhṛtarāṣṭra leaves home

SB 1.13 · Dhṛtarāṣṭra leaves home

What it teaches · No one in the material world can prevent the approach of time and the decline of the body. Understanding this calls one away from bodily attachment toward spiritual realization.

Vidura belonged to the royal family of the Kauravas, and although he knew that all the family members were destroyed at the Battle of Kurukṣetra, he nonetheless wanted to see his elder brother, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, to see if he could deliver Dhṛtarāṣṭra from the clutches of māyā.
Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport · SB 4.31.30 (Text 30)

Read the story in SB 1.13

Other Bhāgavatam verses Śrīla Prabhupāda quotes here

Same themes in another canto

SB 12.11–13Sūta concludes the BhāgavatamBhaktiŚuddhi

Both chapters carry these themes strongly in the themes map, an editorial reading of each chapter's story.

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