Text 5
tayoḥ saṁvadatoḥ sūta
pravṛttā hy amalāḥ kathāḥ
āpo gāṅgā ivāgha-ghnīr
hareḥ pādāmbujāśrayāḥ
tayoḥ — while the two (Maitreya and Vidura); saṁvadatoḥ — were conversing; sūta — O Sūta; pravṛttāḥ — arose; hi — certainly; amalāḥ — spotless; kathāḥ — narrations; āpaḥ — waters; gāṅgāḥ — of the river Ganges; iva — like; agha-ghnīḥ — vanquishing all sins; hareḥ — of the Lord; pāda-ambuja — the lotus feet; āśrayāḥ — taking shelter.
Śaunaka inquired about the conversation between Vidura and Maitreya: There must have been many narrations of the spotless pastimes of the Lord. The hearing of such narrations is exactly like bathing in the water of the Ganges, for it can free one from all sinful reactions.
The water of the Ganges is purified because it pours forth from the lotus feet of the Lord. Similarly, Bhagavad-gītā is as good as the water of the Ganges because it is spoken from the mouth of the Supreme Lord. So it is with any topic on the pastimes of the Lord or the characteristics of His transcendental activities. The Lord is absolute; there is no difference between His words, His perspiration or His pastimes. The water of the Ganges, the narrations of His pastimes and the words spoken by Him are all on the absolute platform, and thus taking shelter of any one of them is equally good. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has enunciated that anything in relationship with Kṛṣṇa is on the transcendental platform. If we can dovetail all our activities in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, then we do not stand on the material platform, but always on the spiritual platform.