So now the business is that before changing this body, what kind of other body I am going to get. That is my business. That we can get according to as I deserve. Just like as you educate yourself in your childhood, so you get a particular type of post when you are businessman or working man. If you have got sufficient education, you could get good post, good salary, and if you are a nonsense, then you have to work like ordinary man, no good post. Just we have got, we get different types of post according to our culture or education, similarly this body, this human body, is the preparation ground for the next type of body. If you neglect that, then we are getting . . . we are taking the risk.
So Parīkṣit Mahārāja, he was not a fool. He was a learned king. So all the great sages and saintly persons assembled there, he asked them, "My dear sirs, you are so kind that you have come here at the time of my death. So kindly let me know what is my duty at the present moment." So there were different kinds of authorities. Different kinds of authorities means some were in favor of fruitive activities, karma-kāṇḍa, pious activities; some were in favor of yoga principle; some were in favor of philosophical speculation; and some were in favor of devotional service, or bhakti.
So fortunately, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, a boy of sixteen years old, but he was highly elevated in spiritual knowledge, the son of Vyāsadeva, he was wandering all over the world, naked, and without any care for his body or social convention. Of course, he did not come into the cities, but he heard that Parīkṣit Mahārāja was going to die, "He is in need of some spiritual instruction."
So he also came there in that meeting. And when he was coming, because he was a naked boy, sixteen-years-old boy, the street boys were throwing stone upon him. Somebody was fighting just like a madman. But when he entered the assembly, everyone stood up. Then the rascal creatures who were annoying him, they fled away, "Oh, he is important man, that so many sages and saintly person has stood up."
Anyway, when he reached there, Parīkṣit Mahārāja received him that, "It is my good fortune that at this time you have come, because it is very rarely you go to anyone's house, but Kṛṣṇa has sent you. Now what is my duty?" Parīkṣit Mahārāja was, from the very beginning . . . because the whole family, Pāṇḍava family, they were devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa, so naturally he was devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. And when he was child, he was playing with the doll of Kṛṣṇa. These are described here. So he asked, "What is my duty? Shall I continue my talks on Kṛṣṇa, because naturally I am inclined to Kṛṣṇa? So what is your advice?"
So in answer to that, Śukadeva Gosvāmī . . . now, one thing we should note in this connection that Parīkṣit Mahārāja, he was a powerful king. He was equipped with all . . . everything, but he did not counteract the curse. He could counteract that curse—he was so powerful—but he accepted, "All right. I am cursed. I shall give up my life within seven days." That means he took it as an opportunity that, "I am going to death within seven days. That is certain. And I must prepare myself fully so that my next life I can approach Kṛṣṇa."
So this is a good opportunity that, "I have got seven days' time." We haven't got seven seconds time. We do not know. Nobody has served me notice. We find by practical experience that we are walking on the street—all of a sudden there is some accident, and we die. There is possibility. So the important point is that Mahārāja Parīkṣit was fortunate enough to get seven days' time before his death. But we do not know how much time is there for our death. So how much serious we shall be.
Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says that, "If you want to make spiritual advancement, then you should always think that, "Death is next moment. Death is next moment." Because there is no guarantee when death is coming. If I think that death is next moment, that is not any utopian. The next moment may be my death. And Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says: "But if you want to be materially happy, you should always think that, 'I shall never die,' " although it is false idea. Everyone will die.
So Parīkṣit Mahārāja, he was preparing. How he was preparing? He did not take seven days even a drop of water. He sat down tight on the bank of the Ganges, and the Śukadeva Gosvāmī narrated this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and he heard, and at the end of seven days, at the particular time, he was bitten by a snake and he left this world.