ŚB 11.4.6
Devanagari
नारायणो नर ऋषिप्रवर: प्रशान्त: ।
नैष्कर्म्यलक्षणमुवाच चचार कर्म
योऽद्यापि चास्त ऋषिवर्यनिषेविताङ्घ्रि: ॥ ६ ॥
Text
nārāyaṇo nara ṛṣi-pravaraḥ praśāntaḥ
naiṣkarmya-lakṣaṇam uvāca cacāra karma
yo ’dyāpi cāsta ṛṣi-varya-niṣevitāṅghriḥ
Synonyms
dharmasya — (the wife) of Dharma; dakṣa-duhitari — by the daughter of Dakṣa; ajaniṣṭa — was born; mūrtyām — by Mūrti; nārāyaṇaḥ naraḥ — Nara-Nārāyaṇa; ṛṣi-pravaraḥ — the best of sages; praśāntaḥ — perfectly peaceful; naiṣkarmya-lakṣaṇam — characterized by the cessation of all material work; uvāca — He spoke; cacāra — and performed; karma — the duties; yaḥ — who; adya api — even today; ca — also; āste — is living; ṛṣi-varya — by the greatest sages; niṣevita — being served; aṅghriḥ — His feet.
Translation
Nara-Nārāyaṇa Ṛṣi, who is perfectly peaceful and is the best of sages, was born as the son of Dharma and his wife Mūrti, the daughter of Dakṣa. Nara-Nārāyaṇa Ṛṣi taught the devotional service of the Lord, by which material work ceases, and He Himself perfectly practiced this knowledge. He is living even today, His lotus feet served by the greatest of saintly persons.
Purport
It is understood that Nara-Nārāyaṇa Ṛṣi spoke transcendental knowledge to great saintly persons such as Nārada Muni. On the basis of these teachings, Nārada was able to describe naiṣkarmyam, or the devotional service of the Lord, which eradicates material work, as mentioned in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.3.8): tantraṁ sātvatam ācaṣṭa naiṣkarmyaṁ karmaṇāṁ yataḥ. The ātma-svarūpa, or eternal form of the living entity, is devotional service to the Personality of Godhead. But our perception of our eternal form is covered by a material concept of life, just as our normal understanding of our life is covered by a dream. Naiṣkarmyam, or the cessation of material work, is possible only by the devotional service of the Lord, as stated by Nārada Muni himself: naiṣkarmyam apy acyuta-bhāva-varjitaṁ na śobhate jñānam alaṁ nirañjanam (Bhāg. 1.5.12). The process of transforming ordinary karma into naiṣkarmya, or transcendental work, is summarized by Śrīla Prabhupāda in his commentary on this verse spoken by Nārada Muni. “Fruitive work, in which almost all people in general are engaged, is always painful either in the beginning or at the end. It can be fruitful only when made subservient to the devotional service of the Lord. In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is confirmed that the result of such fruitive work may be offered for the service of the Lord, otherwise it leads to material bondage. The bona fide enjoyer of the fruitive work is the Personality of Godhead, and thus when it is engaged for the sense gratification of the living beings, it becomes an acute source of trouble.” According to the Matsya Purāṇa (3.10), Dharma, the father of Nara-Nārāyaṇa Ṛṣi, was born from the right breast of Brahmā and later married thirteen of the daughters of Prajāpati Dakṣa. The Lord Himself appeared from the womb of Mūrtidevī.