Verse 1

¹In Dvaravati, guarded by Govinda's arms, best of the Kurus, Narada stayed on and on, hungry for the worship of Krsna. ²And who that has senses, king, would not serve Mukunda's lotus feet, which the best of the deathless ones worship, when death is on every side of him? ³One day, when that sage of the gods had come to his house and been honoured and seated at his ease, Vasudeva bowed to him and said this. ⁴Revered one, your going about is for the well-being of everything that wears a body, as a father and mother's is for the helpless — you who keep to the road of him whose renown is highest. ⁵What the gods do brings living beings pain, and pleasure too. What the good do, those like you whose self is the Unfallen, brings pleasure and nothing else.

⁶As men serve the gods, so the gods serve them in turn: they attend on a man's works the way his shadow does. But the good are tender to the wretched.