Hearing about Rasa Lila
Why Pariksit asked in the 2nd canto about the creation of the universe, and not confidential topics about the intimate pastimes of the Lord, such as the Rasa Lila, since he had so little time left?
In the Srimad Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada explains that Maharaja Pariksit had two very important qualifications: he was born into a family of pure devotees and thus was trained in devotion since his childhood, and he had the blessings of a bona fide spiritual master, Śukadeva Goswami. Because of these two factors, when he heard that one should worship the Lord only and no one else, regardless of being desireless or full of material desires, at the beginning of the second canto, his natural affection for Kṛṣṇa was strengthened and he became fully focused on the Lord.
akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā, mokṣa-kāma udāra-dhīḥ
tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena, yajeta puruṣaṁ param"A person who has broader intelligence, whether he be full of all material desire, without any material desire, or desiring liberation, must by all means worship the supreme whole, the Personality of Godhead." (ŚB 2.3.10)
However, when it came time to ask questions, he didn't ask about confidential pastimes as we could imagine. Instead, he asked:
a) How does the Lord create the material universes by His potencies?
b) How does the Lord engage his energies and expansions to maintain and destroy them?
He also expressed his desire to hear more about how the Lord does all of this while remaining aloof, how He is one although he expands Himself in many forms and directs the three modes of nature, and about the transcendental activities of the Lord. These topics bewilder even the greatest scholars, but he was confident that Śukadeva Goswami could perfectly explain them.
One could question why Pariksit asked about the creation of the universe, and not confidential topics about the intimate pastimes of the Lord, such as the Rasa Lila, since there was so little time left for him to live. The answer is quite simple: Pariksit Maharaja was a pure devotee and not a sahajiyā.
Mundane people overestimate their qualifications and take everything very cheaply. Even great demigods don't judge themselves as qualified to understand Krsna's intimate pastimes. Advanced devotees thus approach the Lord very carefully, starting from his lotus feet, and then gradually progressing up to His smiling face, represented by His intimate pastimes. Because Krsna is absolute, there is no difference between His different pastimes, such as dancing with the Gopis, speaking the Bhagavad-Gita to Arjuna, or even expanding Himself in many forms to create this material world. By his example, Pariksit Maharaja shows us the proper attitude when trying to understand Krsna's pastimes.
Śukadeva, in turn, showed the attitude of a proper speaker:
"Sūta Gosvāmī said: When Śukadeva Gosvāmī was thus requested by the King to describe the creative energy of the Personality of Godhead, he then systematically remembered the master of the senses [Śrī Kṛṣṇa], and to reply properly he spoke thus." (ŚB 2.4.11)
Pure devotees can speak perfect transcendental knowledge because they are connected with the Lord. When asked by the king, Sukadeva Goswami did not try to speak out of his scholarship but instead remembered the Lord, so he could speak according to his direction.
Prabhupada explains this process in his purport: "The devotees of the Lord, while delivering speeches and describing the transcendental attributes of the Lord, do not think that they can do anything independently. They think that they can speak only what they are induced to speak by the Supreme Lord, the master of the senses. The senses of the individual being are not his own; the devotee knows that such senses belong to the Supreme Lord and that they can be properly used when they are employed for the service of the Lord. The senses are instruments, and elements are ingredients, all endowed by the Lord; therefore whatever an individual can do, speak, see, etc., is under the direction of the Lord only."