evam etan nigaditaṁ
pṛṣṭavān yad bhavān mama
nṛṇāṁ yan mriyamāṇānāṁ
manuṣyeṣu manīṣiṇām
śrī-śukaḥ uvāca-Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said; evam-so; etat-all these; nigaditam-answered; pṛṣṭavān-as you inquired; yat-what; bhavān-your good self; mama-unto me; nṛṇām-of the human being; yat-one; mriyamāṇānām-on the threshold of death; manuṣyeṣu-amongst the human beings; manīṣiṇām-of the intelligent men. brahma-the absolute; varcasa-effulgence; kāmaḥ tu-but one who desires in that way; yajeta-do worship; brahmaṇaḥ-of the Vedas; patim-the master; indram-the King of heaven; indriya-kāmaḥ tu-but one who desires strong sense organs; prajā-kāmaḥ-one who desires many offspring; prajāpatīn-the Prajāpatis; devīm-the goddess; māyām-unto the mistress of the material world; tu-but; śrī-kāmaḥ-one who desires beauty; tejaḥ-power; kāmaḥ-one who so desires; vibhāvasum-the fire-god; vasu-kāmaḥ-one who wants wealth; vasūn-the Vasu demigods; rudrān-the Rudra expansions of Lord Śiva; vīrya-kāmaḥ-one who wants to be very strongly built; atha-therefore; vīryavān-the most powerful; anna-adya-grains; kāmaḥ-one who so desires; tu-but; aditim-Aditi, mother of the demigods; svarga-heaven; kāmaḥ-so desiring; aditeḥ sutān-the sons of Aditi; viśvān-Viśvadeva; devān-demigods; rājya-kāmaḥ-those who hanker for kingdoms; sādhyān-the Sādhya demigods; saṁsādhakaḥ-what fulfills the wishes; viśām-of the mercantile community; āyuḥ-kāmaḥ-desirous of long life; aśvinau-the two demigods known as the Aśvinī brothers; devau-the two demigods; puṣṭi-kāmaḥ-one who desires a strongly built body; ilām-the earth; yajet-must worship; pratiṣṭhā-kāmaḥ-one who desires good fame, or stability in a post; puruṣaḥ-such men; rodasī-the horizon;
loka-mātarau-and the earth; rūpa-beauty; abhikāmaḥ-positively aspiring for; gandharvān-the residents of the Gandharva planet, who are very beautiful and are expert in singing; strī-kāmaḥ-one who desires a good wife; apsaraḥ urvaśīm-the society girls of the heavenly kingdom; ādhipatya-kāmaḥ-one who desires to dominate others; sarveṣām-everyone; yajeta-must worship; parameṣṭhinam-Brahmā, the head of the universe; yajñam-the Personality of Godhead; yajet-must worship; yaśaḥ-kāmaḥ-one who desires to be famous; kośa-kāmaḥ-one who desires a good bank balance; pracetasam-the treasurer of heaven, known as Varuṇa; vidyā-kāmaḥ tu-but one who desires education; giriśam-the lord of the Himalayas, Lord Śiva; dāmpatya-arthaḥ-and for conjugal love; umām satīm-the chaste wife of Lord Śiva, known as Umā.
Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Mahārāja Parīkṣit, as you have inquired from
me as to the duty of the intelligent man who is on the threshold of death, so I have answered you. One who desires to be absorbed in the impersonal brahmajyoti effulgence should worship the master of the Vedas [Lord Brahmā or Bṛhaspati, the learned priest], one who desires powerful sex should worship the heavenly King, Indra, and one who desires good progeny should worship the great progenitors called the Prajāpatis. One who desires good fortune should worship Durgādevī, the superintendent of the material world. One desiring to be very powerful should worship fire, and one who aspires only after money should worship the Vasus. One should worship the Rudra incarnations of Lord Śiva if he wants to be a great hero. One who wants a large stock of grains should worship Aditi. One who desires to attain the heavenly planets should worship the sons of Aditi. One who desires a worldly kingdom should worship Viśvadeva, and one who wants to be popular with the general mass of population should worship the Sādhya demigod. One who desires a long span of life should worship the demigods known as the Aśvinī-kumāras, and a person desiring a strongly built body should worship the earth. One who desires stability in his post should worship the horizon and the earth combined. One who desires to be beautiful should worship the beautiful residents of the Gandharva planet, and one who desires a good wife should worship the Apsarās and the Urvaśī society girls of the heavenly kingdom. One who desires domination over others should worship
Lord Brahmā, the head of the universe. One who desires tangible fame should worship the Personality of Godhead, and one who desires a good bank balance should worship the demigod Varuṇa. If one desires to be a greatly learned man he should worship Lord Śiva, and if one desires a good marital relation he should worship the chaste goddess Umā, the wife of Lord Śiva.
In human society all over the world there are millions and billions of men and women, and almost all of them are less intelligent because they have very little knowledge of spirit soul. Almost all of them have a wrong conception of life, for they identify themselves with the gross and subtle material bodies, which they are not, in fact. They may be situated in different high and low positions in the estimation of human society, but one should know definitely that unless one inquires about his own self beyond the body and the mind, all his activities in human life are total failures. Therefore out of thousands and thousands of men, one may inquire about his spirit self and thus consult the revealed scriptures like Vedānta-sūtras, Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. But in spite of reading and hearing such scriptures, unless one is in touch with a realized spiritual master, he cannot actually realize the real nature of self, etc. And out of thousands and hundreds of thousands of men, someone may know what Lord Kṛṣṇa is in fact. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 20.122-123) it is said that Lord Kṛṣṇa, out of His causeless mercy, prepared the Vedic literatures in the incarnation of Vyāsadeva for reading by the intelligent class of men in a human society which is almost totally forgetful of the genuine relation with Kṛṣṇa. Even such an intelligent class of men may be forgetful in their relation with the Lord. The whole bhakti-yoga process is therefore a revival of the lost relation. This revival is possible in the human form of life, which is obtained only out of the evolutionary cycle of 8,400,000 species of life. The intelligent class of human being must take a serious note of this opportunity. Not all human beings are intelligent, so the importance of human life is not always understood. Therefore manīṣiṇām, meaning "thoughtful," is particularly used here. A manīṣiṇām person, like Mahārāja Parīkṣit, must therefore take to the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa and fully engage himself in devotional service, hearing, chanting, etc., of the holy name and pastimes of the Lord, which are all hari-kathāmṛta. This action is especially recommended when one is preparing for death.