The pastime of Maharaja Pariksit renouncing his kingdom, hearing the Srimad Bhagavatam from Sukadeva Goswami, and going back to Godhead starts with him hunting in the forest.

It may sound strange to hear about a pure devotee going to the forest to kill animals, but this was actually one of the duties of Ksatriyas. Apart from people living in villages, there were many sages living in the forests, and thus one of the responsibilities of the Ksatriyas was to hunt dangerous animals such as lions and thus check their populations, reducing the risk for the people. These hunting excursions also served as an opportunity for the warriors to perfect their military skills by hunting stags and others, which was also connected with their duties. While hunting, Pariksit Maharaja became extremely thirsty, which led him to the hermitage of the great sage Śamīka Ṛṣi, from whom he expected to receive a little water.

However, the sage was in deep meditation, and when the king arrived, he didn’t hear. Normally, a sage would offer a reception to a saintly king like Maharaja Pariksit, with kind words, a place to sit, and some water to drink, but being absorbed in Samadhi the sage was not aware of his surroundings and was not able to do so.

Even though Pariksit asked for water repeatedly, the sage didn’t answer. The king thought that the sage was pretending to be in samadhi just to avoid receiving him, who was by social position inferior, being a Ksatriya, while the sage was a Brahmana. Therefore, to reciprocate the cold reception, Maharaja Pariksit used his bow to collect a dead snake that was lying on the floor and put it around the neck of the sage, like a garland.

In his purport, Prabhupada comments that becoming angry in this situation, when he needed water so badly and was not able to obtain it due to the negligence of the sage, was not unnatural even for a great devotee such as Maharaja Pariksit, but the fact that he acted on his anger instead of being able to control it was astonishing. In normal circumstances, hunger and thirst would not be able to disturb such a great devotee, much less to the point of disrespecting a Brahmana. Pariksit had already demonstrated his amazing tolerance by being able to tolerate the heat of the Brahmnastra of Aswattama while still in the womb.

He concludes that all happened under the supreme will of the Lord. The Lord was present both inside the heart of the sage and in the heart of the king, and thus he inspired both to act in a way that would lead to the revelation of the Srimad Bhagavatam. As he mentions in his purport to 1.18.28:

“So it must be accepted that it was so ordained by the supreme will of the Lord. The King was a great devotee of the Lord, and the saint was also as good as the King. But by the will of the Lord, the circumstances were so created that they became ways to the King’s becoming unattached to family connection and governmental activities and thus becoming a completely surrendered soul unto the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The merciful Lord sometimes creates such awkward positions for his pure devotees in order to drag them towards Himself from the mire of material existence.”

The meeting of Pariksit and the sage is better described in verses 27 to 30:

“The sage, in meditation, was covered by the skin of a stag, and long, compressed hair was scattered all over him. The King, whose palate was dry from thirst, asked him for water. The King, not received by any formal welcome by means of being offered a seat, place, water and sweet addresses, considered himself neglected, and so thinking he became angry.
O brāhmaṇas, the circumstances having distressed him with extreme hunger and thirst, the King directed toward the sage his anger and envy, which he had never before directed toward a brāhmaṇa. While leaving, the King, being so insulted, picked up a lifeless snake with his bow and angrily placed it on the shoulder of the sage. Then he returned to his palace.” (SB 1.18.27-30)

However, being a Vaishnava, Pariksit soon started to regret his actions. As soon as the momentary anger passed, he started to contemplate if the sage was not actually in deep meditation. As Prabhupada mentions, “Repentance comes in the mind of a good soul as soon as he commits something wrong.”

Both Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura and Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī agree that the actions of the king were not due to the influence of karma. Being a pure Vaishnava he was above that. They both agree that this was arranged by the Lord to bring him back to Godhead. Prabhupada explains this point more thoroughly in his purport to verses 24-25:

“Mahārāja Parīkṣit was a pure devotee of the Lord, and there was no reason for him to become extremely fatigued, hungry and thirsty because a devotee of the Lord never becomes perturbed by such bodily demands. But by the desire of the Lord, even such a devotee can become apparently fatigued and thirsty just to create a situation favorable for his renunciation of worldly activities. One has to give up all attachment for worldly relations before one is able to go back to Godhead, and thus when a devotee is too much absorbed in worldly affairs, the Lord creates a situation to cause indifference. The Supreme Lord never forgets His pure devotee, even though he may be engaged in so-called worldly affairs. Sometimes He creates an awkward situation, and the devotee becomes obliged to renounce all worldly affairs. The devotee can understand by the signal of the Lord, but others take it to be unfavorable and frustrating. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was to become the medium for the revelation of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, as his grandfather Arjuna was the medium for the Bhagavad-gītā. Had Arjuna not been taken up with an illusion of family affection by the will of the Lord, the Bhagavad-gītā would not have been spoken by the Lord Himself for the good of all concerned. Similarly, had Mahārāja Parīkṣit not been fatigued, hungry and thirsty at this time, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam would not have been spoken by Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the prime authority of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.”

Here Prabhupada makes the point that pure devotees are sometimes put in apparent illusion by the Lord, to fulfill some higher purpose. This is however not the same type of illusion we are subjected to, because it is not disconnected from the Lord. In this case, the pure devotee is just acting under the dictation of the Lord, surrendered to His will. The so-called illusion thus happens under the spiritual potency, Yoga-Maya, and not as a result of material conditioning.