Text 5
pracetasa ūcuḥ
svāgataṁ te surarṣe ’dya
diṣṭyā no darśanaṁ gataḥ
tava caṅkramaṇaṁ brahmann
abhayāya yathā raveḥ
pracetasaḥ ūcuḥ — the Pracetās said; su-āgatam — welcome; te — unto you; sura-ṛṣe — O sage among the demigods; adya — today; diṣṭyā — by good fortune; naḥ — of us; darśanam — audience; gataḥ — you have come; tava — your; caṅkramaṇam — movements; brahman — O great brāhmaṇa; abhayāya — for fearlessness; yathā — as; raveḥ — of the sun.
All the Pracetās began to address the great sage Nārada: O great sage, O brāhmaṇa, we hope you met with no disturbances while coming here. It is due to our great fortune that we are now able to see you. By the traveling of the sun, people are relieved from the fear of the darkness of night — a fear brought about by thieves and rogues. Similarly, your traveling is like the sun’s, for you drive away all kinds of fear.
Because of the night’s darkness, everyone is afraid of rogues and thieves, especially in great cities. People are often afraid to go out on the streets, and we understand that even in a great city like New York people do not like to go out at night. More or less, when it is night everyone is afraid, either in the city or in the village. However, as soon as the sun rises everyone is relieved. Similarly, this material world is dark by nature. Everyone is afraid of danger at every moment, but when one sees a devotee like Nārada, all fear is relieved. Just as the sun disperses darkness, the appearance of a great sage like Nārada disperses ignorance. When one meets Nārada or his representative, a spiritual master, one is freed from all anxiety brought about by ignorance.