SB 1.19.8 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

तत्रोपजग्मुर्भुवनं पुनाना महानुभावा मुनय: सशिष्या: । प्रायेण तीर्थाभिगमापदेशै: स्वयं हि तीर्थानि पुनन्ति सन्त: ॥ ८ ॥

Verse text

tatropajagmur bhuvanaṁ punānā mahānubhāvā munayaḥ sa-śiṣyāḥ prāyeṇa tīrthābhigamāpadeśaiḥ svayaṁ hi tīrthāni punanti santaḥ

Synonyms

tatra — there ; upajagmuḥ — arrived ; bhuvanam — the universe ; punānāḥ — those who can sanctify ; mahā — anubhāvāḥ — great minds ; munayaḥ — thinkers ; sa — śiṣyāḥ — along with their disciples ; prāyeṇa — almost ; tīrtha — place of pilgrimage ; abhigama — journey ; apadeśaiḥ — on the plea of ; svayam — personally ; hi — certainly ; tīrthāni — all the places of pilgrimage ; punanti — sanctify ; santaḥ — sages .

Translation

At that time all the great minds and thinkers, accompanied by their disciples, and sages who could verily sanctify a place of pilgrimage just by their presence, arrived there on the plea of making a pilgrim’s journey.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Noble-minded sages who purify the world came along with their disciples to see Parīkṣit there on the pretext of visiting a holy place. The devotees, being holy places personified, actually purify the holy places.

Purport

When Mahārāja Parīkṣit sat down on the bank of the Ganges, the news spread in all directions of the universe, and the great-minded sages, who could follow the importance of the occasion, all arrived there on the plea of pilgrimage. Actually they came to meet Mahārāja Parīkṣit and not to take a bath of pilgrimage because all of them were competent enough to sanctify the places of pilgrimage. Common men go to pilgrimage sites to get themselves purified of all sins. Thus the places of pilgrimage become overburdened with the sins of others. But when such sages visit overburdened places of pilgrimage, they sanctify the places by their presence. Therefore the sages who came to meet Mahārāja Parīkṣit were not very much interested in getting themselves purified like common men, but on the plea of taking a bath in that place they came to meet Mahārāja Parīkṣit because they could foresee that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam would be spoken by Śukadeva Gosvāmī. All of them wanted to take advantage of the great occasion.

Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The sages came to see Parīkṣit, not to bathe, since they were already pure. “But they are seen to visit holy places.” This is only a pretext (prāyena). They had understood that seeing Parīkṣit was superior to seeing the holy places. Understanding suddenly by their omniscience that they could not taste astonishing bliss in any other way, they came to drink the sweetness of the Bhāgavatam.