Text 9
tasmin mahā-bhāgavato
dvaipāyana-suhṛt-sakhā
lokān anucaran siddha
āsasāda yadṛcchayā
tasmin — then; mahā-bhāgavataḥ — a great devotee of the Lord; dvaipāyana — of Kṛṣṇa-dvaipāyana Vyāsa; suhṛt — a well-wisher; sakhā — a friend; lokān — the three worlds; anucaran — traveling; siddhe — in that āśrama; āsasāda — arrived; yadṛcchayā — by his own perfect accord.
At that time, after traveling in many parts of the world, Maitreya, a great devotee of the Lord and a friend and well-wisher of the great sage Kṛṣṇa-dvaipāyana Vyāsa, reached that spot out of his own perfect accord.
Maitreya was one of the disciples of Maharṣi Parāśara, the father of Vyāsadeva. Thus Vyāsadeva and Maitreya were friends and mutual well-wishers. By some fortunate accident, Maitreya reached the place where Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa was resting. To meet the Lord is not an ordinary incident. Maitreya was a great sage and a learned scholar-philosopher but not a pure devotee of the Lord, and therefore his meeting with the Lord at that time may have been due to ajñāta-sukṛti, or some unknown devotional service. Pure devotees always engage in pure devotional activities, and therefore their meeting with the Lord is natural. But when those who are not up to that standard meet the Lord, it is due to the unforeseen fortune of accidental devotional service.