Shloka 253
Nāga-āyatana-darśana-pratīkṣā — The Brāhmaṇa’s Request and Waiting on the Gomatī
नरनारायणो द्रष्टूं कि तु तत् कारणं मुने । मुने! नारदजीने उस समय प्रैतद्वीपमें जाकर जो अनिरुद्ध-विग्रहमें स्थित नारायणदेवका साक्षात्कार किया तथा पुनः नर-नारायणका दर्शन करनेके लिये जो बदरिकाश्रमको प्रस्थान किया
Janamejaya uvāca: nara-nārāyaṇo draṣṭuṁ kiṁ tu tat-kāraṇaṁ mune? mune! nāradajīnaḥ tasmin samaye praitadvīpe gatvā yaḥ aniruddha-vigrahe sthitaṁ nārāyaṇadevaṁ sākṣātkṛtavān, tathā punaḥ nara-nārāyaṇayoḥ darśanaṁ kartum badarikāśramaṁ prati yaḥ prasthitaḥ—etasya kiṁ kāraṇam?
Sinabi ni Janamejaya: “O pantas, ano ang dahilan ng paghahangad sa darśana—sa banal na pagdulog at pagtanaw—kay Nara-Nārāyaṇa? O pantas, noong panahong iyon ay nagtungo si Nārada sa Praitadvīpa at tuwirang nakita ang Panginoong Nārāyaṇa na nananahan sa anyong Aniruddha; at pagkaraan ay muling naglakbay patungong Badarikāśrama upang makamtan ang darśana nina Nara at Nārāyaṇa. Ano ang nagtulak sa ganitong pagkakasunod ng mga gawain?”
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the dharmic value of inquiry into sacred experience: even after a direct vision of Nārāyaṇa, the seeker (Nārada) pursues further darśana of Nara-Nārāyaṇa, implying that spiritual understanding deepens through continued seeking, pilgrimage, and reverent questioning rather than complacency after a single encounter.
King Janamejaya asks the narrator-sage to explain why Nārada first went to Praitadvīpa to behold Lord Nārāyaṇa in the Aniruddha form, and then departed for Badarikāśrama to see Nara and Nārāyaṇa—seeking the motive and narrative logic behind these successive journeys and visions.