ŚB 10.24.4
Devanagari
एतद् ब्रूहि महान् कामो मह्यं शुश्रूषवे पित: । न हि गोप्यं हि साधूनां कृत्यं सर्वात्मनामिह । अस्त्यस्वपरदृष्टीनाममित्रोदास्तविद्विषाम् ॥ ४ ॥
Verse text
etad brūhi mahān kāmo
mahyaṁ śuśrūṣave pitaḥ
na hi gopyaṁ hi sadhūnāṁ
kṛtyaṁ sarvātmanām iha
asty asva-para-dṛṣṭīnām
amitrodāsta-vidviṣām
mahyaṁ śuśrūṣave pitaḥ
na hi gopyaṁ hi sadhūnāṁ
kṛtyaṁ sarvātmanām iha
asty asva-para-dṛṣṭīnām
amitrodāsta-vidviṣām
Synonyms
etat — this; brūhi — please speak; mahān — great; kāmaḥ — desire; mahyam — to Me; śuśrūṣave — who am ready to hear faithfully; pitaḥ — O father; na — not; hi — indeed; gopyam — to be kept secret; hi — certainly; sādhūnām — of saintly persons; kṛtyam — the activities; sarva-ātmanām — who see everyone as equal to themselves; iha — in this world; asti — there is; asva-para-dṛṣṭīnām — who do not distinguish between what is their own and what is another’s; amitra-udāsta-vidviṣām — who do not distinguish between friends, neutral parties and enemies.
Translation
Please tell Me about it, O father. I have a great desire to know and am ready to hear in good faith. Certainly, no secrets are to be kept by saintly personalities, who see all others as equal to themselves, who have no conception of “mine” or “another’s” and who do not consider who is a friend, who is an enemy and who is neutral.
Purport
Lord Kṛṣṇa’s father might have thought that his son was a mere child and thus could not properly question the validity of a Vedic sacrifice. But the Lord’s clever statement here would certainly have convinced Nanda that Śrī Kṛṣṇa was making a serious, not a whimsical, inquiry and that a serious answer should thus be given.