SB 4.24.28
yah param ramhasah saksat
tri-gunaj jiva-samjñitat
bhagavantam vasudevam
prapannah sa priyo hi me
Translation by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
Lord Siva continued: Any person who is surrendered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, the controller of everything — material nature as well as the living entity — is actually very dear to me.
Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
Now Lord Siva explains the reason he has personally come before the princes. It is because all the princes are devotees of Lord Krsna. As stated in Bhagavad-gita (7.19):
bahunam janmanam ante
jñanavan mam prapadyate
vasudevah sarvam iti
sa mahatma sudurlabhah
“After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.”
Lord Siva is rarely seen by common men, and similarly a person who is fully surrendered unto Vasudeva, Krsna, is also very rarely seen because a person who is fully surrendered unto the Supreme Lord is very rare (sa mahatma sudurlabhah). Consequently, Lord Siva came especially to see the Pracetas because they were fully surrendered unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva. Vasudeva is also mentioned in the beginning of Srimad-Bhagavatam in the mantra om namo bhagavate vasudevaya. Since Vasudeva is the ultimate truth, Lord Siva openly proclaims that one who is a devotee of Lord Vasudeva, who is surrendered to Lord Krsna, is actually very dear to him. Lord Vasudeva, Krsna, is worshipable not only by ordinary living entities but by demigods like Lord Siva, Lord Brahma and others. Yam brahma-varunendra-rudra-marutah stunvanti divyaih stavaih (Bhag. 12.13.1): Krsna is worshiped by Lord Brahma, Lord Siva, Varuna, Indra, Candra and all other demigods. That is also the situation with a devotee. Indeed, one who takes to Krsna consciousness immediately becomes very dear to anyone who is simply finding out and beginning to understand what Krsna consciousness actually is. Similarly, all the demigods are also trying to find out who is actually surrendered to Lord Vasudeva. Because the Praceta princes were surrendered to Vasudeva, Lord Siva willingly came forth to see them.
Lord Vasudeva, or Krsna, is described in Bhagavad-gita as Purusottama. Actually He is the enjoyer (purusa) and the Supreme (uttama) as well. He is the enjoyer of everything — the prakrti and the purusa. Being influenced by the three modes of material nature, the living entity tries to dominate material nature, but actually he is not the purusa (enjoyer) but prakrti, as described in Bhagavad-gita (7.5): apareyam itas tv anyam prakrtim viddhi me param. Thus the jiva, or living entity, is actually prakrti, or the marginal energy of the Supreme Lord. Being associated with material energy, he tries to lord it over the material nature. This is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (15.7):
mamaivamso jiva-loke
jiva-bhutah sanatanah
manah-sasthanindriyani
prakrti-sthani karsati
“The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.”
By endeavoring to dominate material nature, the living entity simply struggles hard for existence. Indeed, he struggles so hard to enjoy himself that he cannot even enjoy the material resources. Thus he is sometimes called prakrti, or jiva, for he is situated in the marginal potency. When the living entity is covered with the three modes of material nature, he is called jiva-samjñita. There are two kinds of living entities: one is called ksara, and the other is aksara. Ksara refers to those who have fallen down and become conditioned, and aksara refers to those who are not conditioned. The vast majority of living entities live in the spiritual world and are called aksara — they are in the position of Brahman, pure spiritual existence. They are different from those who have been conditioned by the three modes of material nature.
Being above both the ksara and aksara, Lord Krsna, Vasudeva, is described in Bhagavad-gita (15.18) as Purusottama. The impersonalists may say that Vasudeva is the impersonal Brahman, but actually the impersonal Brahman is subordinate to Krsna, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (14.27): brahmano hi pratisthaham. That Krsna is the source of the impersonal Brahman is also confirmed in Brahma-samhita (5.40): yasya prabha prabhavato jagadanda-koti. The impersonal Brahman is nothing but the effulgence or bodily rays of Krsna, and in those bodily rays there are innumerable universes floating. Thus in all respects Vasudeva, Krsna, is the Supreme Lord, and Lord Siva is very satisfied with those who are completely surrendered to Him. Complete surrender is desired by Krsna, as He indicates in the last chapter of Bhagavad-gita (18.66): sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja.
The word saksat, meaning “directly,” is very significant. There are many so-called devotees, but actually they are only karmis and jñanis, for they are not directly devotees of Lord Krsna. The karmis sometimes offer the results of their activities to Lord Vasudeva, and this offering is called karmarpanam. These are considered to be fruitive activities, for the karmis consider Lord Visnu to be one of the demigods like Lord Siva and Lord Brahma. Because they consider Lord Visnu to be on the same level with the demigods, they contend that surrendering to the demigods is as good as surrendering unto Vasudeva. This contention is denied herein because if it were true, Lord Siva would have said that surrender unto him, Lord Vasudeva, Visnu or Brahma is the same. However, Lord Siva does not say this because he himself surrenders unto Vasudeva, and whoever else surrenders unto Vasudeva is very, very dear to him. This is expressed herein openly. The conclusion is that a devotee of Lord Siva is not dear to Lord Siva, but a devotee of Lord Krsna is very dear to Lord Siva.