Srimad Bhagavatam tells the story of Prthu, a righteous king. Lord Vishnu appears before Prthu and tells him that he can ask the Lord for anything he desires. Prthu says, "You are called Varada, because You are the giver of boons. Some people will ask for worldly joys. But that kind of joy is present even in hell. Will a sensible person ask for such things? He will ask only for moksha". The Lord then asks Prthu if he wants moksha. But Prthu says that he doesn't! He then explains why. "Here, I listen to Your devotees sing Your praises. If I attain moksha, will I have this joy? Listening to the words of Your devotees gives me great happiness. If listening with two ears affords me so much pleasure, will the pleasure not be magnified if I have ten thousand ears? So give me ten thousand ears".
Prthu then goes on to say that celestials ask for wealth, and they pray to Lakshmi for wealth. But Lakshmi Herself is with the Lord. The Lord is the embodiment of all wealth. A man who has heard the Lord being praised will want to hear more and more of such praise just once, then he must be less than human, says Prthu. Besides the joy of listening to the Lord's devotees, Prthu has yet another request. The second boon he asks for is the opportunity to serve the Lord the way Mahalakshmi does. Lakshmi never leaves Him and never serves anyone else. Likewise, Prthu also does not want to be separated from the Lord. Prthu says he will not ask for anything from the Lord. The Lord being the father of everyone knows what a person needs. Does not a parent know what the child needs? Thus Prthu, through his two requests, shows that he is a jnani.
--Challapalli Srinivas Chakravarthy--
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