Bhagavatham Stories

Having narrated the allegorical story of King Purañjana and his transformation through multiple births, Maitreya now explained how this teaching was originally presented. The sage Nārada, the great devotee and cosmic messenger who travels throughout the universe delivering spiritual knowledge and awakening souls to their spiritual potential, had approached King Prācīnabarhi to offer him guidance and liberation. King Prācīnabarhi was a powerful and accomplished ruler who had performed numerous elaborate sacrifices and religious rituals, but who remained deeply attached to material results and had not yet developed genuine spiritual understanding or pure devotional consciousness.

Nārada observed that despite King Prācīnabarhi's extensive religious activities, his consciousness remained fundamentally materialistic. The king was performing sacrifices primarily to achieve material prosperity, political power, and celestial rewards rather than out of genuine love for the Supreme Lord or desire for spiritual realization. His religious practices, though outwardly impressive and technically correct, were not producing genuine spiritual transformation because they were motivated by material desires rather than by sincere devotion. Nārada understood that without fundamental change in consciousness and motivation, even extensive religious activity would not lead to liberation or genuine spiritual fulfillment.

To awaken King Prācīnabarhi to the limitations of his materialistic approach and to guide him toward genuine spiritual understanding, Nārada presented the allegorical story of King Purañjana. Through this narrative, Nārada revealed to the king the actual condition of all conditioned souls—including kings and rulers who appear successful and powerful. He explained that just as Purañjana had become absorbed in his material city and had forgotten his spiritual nature, King Prācīnabarhi had become absorbed in his kingdom, his sacrifices, and his pursuit of material and celestial rewards, losing sight of the supreme goal of life—pure devotional service to the Supreme Lord.

Nārada systematically explained the allegorical meanings of the various elements in the Purañjana story. The city with nine gates represented the material body. The queen Purañjanī represented the mind. The servants and guards represented the various senses and their functions. Candavega represented time. Kālakanyā represented old age. The snake that guarded the city represented the life breath. Through these explanations, Nārada revealed that all material existence is characterized by the soul's identification with the temporary body and mind, and that this identification is the source of all suffering and entanglement in the cycle of repeated birth and death.

As King Prācīnabarhi heard these teachings and contemplated their profound implications, his consciousness began to transform. He started to recognize that despite all his power, wealth, and religious accomplishments, he had remained fundamentally in the same condition as the deluded Purañjana—identified with his temporary material form, attached to temporary material relationships and possessions, and pursuing goals that could never provide lasting satisfaction or genuine fulfillment. He realized that his elaborate sacrifices and religious rituals, though valuable in many ways, had not addressed the fundamental problem of material consciousness and had not awakened his dormant love for the Supreme Lord.

This chapter teaches the crucial distinction between religious ritualism motivated by material desires and genuine spiritual practice motivated by love for the Supreme Lord. Many people perform religious activities, attend spiritual gatherings, and engage in various forms of worship, but if these activities are motivated primarily by material desires—for wealth, health, success, or even heavenly rewards—they will not produce genuine spiritual transformation or liberation. True spiritual practice must be rooted in sincere desire to know the Supreme Lord, to develop a loving relationship with Him, and to transcend material consciousness entirely. The conversation between Nārada and King Prācīnabarhi demonstrates how a genuine spiritual teacher can awaken a sincere seeker to recognize the limitations of their current understanding and can guide them toward authentic spiritual realization.