Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 2 - Chapter 1 - Verse 13


Sanskrit:

शौनक उवाचइत्यभिव्याहृतं राजा निशम्य भरतर्षभ: ।किमन्यत्पृष्टवान् भूयो वैयासकिमृषिं कविम् ॥ १३ ॥

ITRANS:

śaunaka uvācaity abhivyāhṛtaṁ rājāniśamya bharatarṣabhaḥkim anyat pṛṣṭavān bhūyovaiyāsakim ṛṣiṁ kavim

Translation:

Śaunaka said: The son of Vyāsadeva, Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, was a highly learned sage and was able to describe things in a poetic manner. What did Mahārāja Parīkṣit again inquire from him after hearing all that he had said?

Purport:

A pure devotee of the Lord automatically develops all godly qualities, and some of the prominent features of those qualities are as follows: he is kind, peaceful, truthful, equable, faultless, magnanimous, mild, clean, nonpossessive, a well-wisher to all, satisfied, surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, without hankering, simple, fixed, self-controlled, a balanced eater, sane, mannerly, prideless, grave, sympathetic, friendly, poetic, expert and silent. Out of these twenty-six prominent features of a devotee, as described by Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja in his Caitanya-caritāmṛta, the qualification of being poetic is especially mentioned herein in relation to Śukadeva Gosvāmī. The presentation of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by his recitation is the highest poetic contribution. He was a self-realized learned sage. In other words, he was a poet amongst the sages.