Prabhupāda: When Arjuna inquired that, "You say that You instructed this Bhagavad-gītā, this science, to Vivasvān long, long, millions of years ago. How can I believe it?" therefore He said: "I remember it. You don't remember. Therefore I do not die; you die." This is it. One who can remember, he does not die. Just like I . . . so long I can remember of my childhood activities, boyhood activities, I have not died. Is it not? Although the body is gone. This is the evidence that Kṛṣṇa does not die. Try to understand this point. Death means forgetting everything. That is death. But if you can remember, that is not death. It is clear?
Devotees: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So I change my body, but I remember that I was a child, I was a boy, I was playing like this, I was doing like this, my mother was chastising me like this. Therefore I am not dead. But the body is gone. So this is the distinction between death and life. If you can remember, then you have not died. And if you forget, that is death. But the ātmā is permanent, eternal.
So Kṛṣṇa does not die. Otherwise, how He could remember? This is the reason. You try to understand all this reasoning. You have to preach. This is the reason. Because Kṛṣṇa says that, "I remember everything," therefore Kṛṣṇa does not die. Is it established or not? Yes. You say . . . my personal example . . . because I remember all my childhood, boyhood activities, therefore I am not dead. Nobody says that, "You are dead man," although my body has changed. Because I can remember. And as soon as I shall forget, that is death.
Then? One heard and one spoke. Śrī-viṣṇoḥ śravaṇe parīkṣit. Parīkṣit Mahārāja sat down. He did not do anything. He simply heard about Viṣṇu, Lord Viṣṇu, Kṛṣṇa, activities. So śrī-viṣṇoḥ śravaṇe: "Simply by hearing, Parīkṣit attained perfection." Abhavad vaiyāsakiḥ kīrtane. Vaiyāsaki. Vaiyāsaki means Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Kīrtane. He simply narrated. He also gained.
Therefore śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam (SB 7.5.23). There are nine different processes of bhakti-yoga. Any one of them you adopt, you become perfect, not that you have to adopt nine. If you can, it is very nice. So nine, eight, seven, six, five—if you adopt only one, you become . . . you don't anything. Simply hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from a realized soul, you will become perfect. So śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam, arcanaṁ vandanam. If you simply worship the Deity in regulated form, you become perfect. This is arcanam. Śravaṇam.
So all the methods are there. You adopt any one of them; you become perfect. Simply you offer prayer—you become perfect. Vandanam. You simply work. You simply wash this temple and sweep this temple regularly with heart and soul—you become perfect. You don't require even to read. So dāsyam. Dāsyam means simply work as menial servant of Kṛṣṇa. Dāsyam. Sakhyam. Arjuna. Just like Arjuna: he made simply friendship with Kṛṣṇa. In friendship so many insulting words are used also. So:
- śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ
- smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam
- arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ
- sakhyam ātma-nivedanam
- (SB 7.5.23)
So any one of them you adopt, you become perfect. So the best thing is nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā (SB 1.2.18). If you hear Bhāgavata . . . this Bhāgavata is written for hearing, for hearing, discussing. Otherwise, why we are taking so much pain? So here it is said that "Both Śukadeva Gosvāmī and Parīkṣit Mahārāja attained perfection through the medium of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam."