CONTENTS:
- SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM IS THE ULTIMATE SCRIPTURE
- SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION
- GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
1. SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM IS THE ULTIMATE SCRIPTURE
Srimad Bhagavatam is the essence of entire Vedic wisdom. If you take the vedic wisdom then the cream of the vedic system is Srimad Bhagavatam. The essence of the vedic wisdom is Srimad Bhagavatam. And this Bhagavatam, was first received by Lord Brahma. Krishna gave this Bhagavatam to Brahma in a chaturshloki. Krishna just gave him four verses and through these four verses Brahma got the perfect understanding. And that understanding was the understanding of Supreme Personality of Godhead. So that is what Srimad Bhagavatam actually is; the knowledge about the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Later on, Vyasadeva saw that the age of Kali is such a degraded age and people will not have any understanding. Then he was assigned with the responsibility to systematically analyze the Vedas. Systematically divide the Vedas for the understanding of the less intelligent people or the general public. So; he did that. He divided the Vedas into four branches: Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva. And then he gave the vadangas, different limbs of the Vedas.
The puranas, itihash, Mahabharata and then finally he gave the sutra. The essence of the Vedas, the Vedic wisdom, the crux of the Vedic wisdom in the symbolic form which is known as the Sutras. He thought that his business has been completed. He simplified the Vedas and gave itahash and Mahabharata, which was meant for the people who were not intellectually that advanced–stri, vaishya, tatha sudras. So, for women, Vaishya and was given in a story form through the description of the Pandavas, Pandava dynasty, Kuru dynasty leading to battle of Kurkshetra. And then for the most intelligent class of people, he gave the Vedanta sutra–the end of Vedas, concluding in the Veda form. But still he felt that his heart was not satisfied so he felt some despondency, dissatisfaction in his heart. And at that time Narada Muni came to him and reminded him of the purpose of his discontentment, why his heart was not fully satisfied because the glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead was not therein the direct way in his presentation.
This was the inspiration that Vyasdeva received from Narada Muni or instruction that he received from Narada Muni, to write Srimad Bhagavatam. So, this Bhagavatam falls in the category of Purana. Generally, the Vedic wisdom branches off into two main branches– Upanishads and Puranas. In the Purana section; Puran means description of activity regarding the Lord and his devotees. So that is the Puranas. Itihash means history, the chronological description of the dynasties, the rulers of this planet that is itihash and Purana is actually the description of the activities of So, there are eighteen Puranas and out of them Srimad Bhagavatam is considered to be the topmost. Of those Puranas, six are in dealing with mode of ignorance, six are in dealing with mode of passion and the other six are in dealing with mode of goodness. But Bhagavatam is actually transcendental to the modes of material nature therefore Bhagavatam is considered to be amala Purana, mala means impurities, and amala means free from impurities.
Srimad Bhagavatam is free from all impurities and that’s why Srimad Bhagavatam is considered to be topmost Purana. And in the beginning of Srimad Bhagavatam these points have been very clearly mentioned. The first verse is actually taking one aphorism of the sutra, the Vedanta sutra– janmadyasya yatah. Janma means birth, adi means etc. and jataha means whatever it is. So, whatever there is from birth or creation all over, they all are coming from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Janmadyasya yato nvayad itaratas carthesv abhijnah svarat. The person from whom all the creation etc. is manifested is completely independent and he is aware of everything. He is cognizant of everything. Abhijnah and svarat– he is completely independent. Completely independent means there is no one superior to Him. He is the Supreme. Like that is the identity of Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is all cognizant, He knows everything and He is completely independent. And He is the Supreme. And tene brahma hrda ya adi kavaya muhyanti yat surayaù.
He imparted this knowledge in the heart of Brahma, adi kavi is Brahma. This transcendental knowledge He imparted in the heart of Brahma. So, from this we can understand one thing, that this knowledge is not the knowledge that is received in the head, by intellect. This is the knowledge that is revealed in the heart. Brahma hrda divya jnan hrde prokasito. The transcendental knowledge is revealed in the heart. So, it is not the intellectually acquired knowledge. Material knowledge is received in the head through intellect but this is the matter of devotion. Devotion means surrender to the devotee of the Lord and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead through the agency of His devotee and the personality, bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Supreme Personality of Godhead imparts the knowledge into the hearts of the devotees.
So that is the simple process or that is the process. tad viddhi pranipatena, pariprasnena sevaya, upadekñyanti te jnanam, upadekñyanti, upadekñyanti– he imparts the knowledge. The Guru imparts the knowledge. Divya jnana hrde prokasito. Transcendental knowledge is revealed in the heart. So that is how Brahma received this knowledge and Brahma gave this knowledge to his son Narada. Why Brahma gave this knowledge to Narada? Because Narada is free from all material desires. So, in Bhagavatam in beginning also that has been pointed out that the qualification of a devotee to receive this knowledge. dharmaù projjhita-kaitavo tra paramo nirmatsaranam sataà. When all the tendencies of dharma is completely rejected, completely eliminated. Then only one becomes qualified to receive this knowledge.
When one becomes free from all material desires, all the tendencies to enjoy this material world, then only he becomes nirmatsar or completely free from envy and then only he becomes qualified to receive this knowledge. And Prabhupada is pointing out dharma in this respect as the religious activities that are motivated by material desires. That is what dharma is. Dharma, artha, kama, moksha. But this topic of Srimad Bhagavatam is beyond dharma, artha, kama, moksha. Dharma– religious activities for the benefit of 3 sense gratification, for the sake of sense gratification. Artha– economic development, kama fulfillment of desire and finally liberation. But beyond liberation there is the spiritual situation. So, when one becomes spiritually situated then only one becomes qualified to vedyam vastavam atra vastu sivadaà tapa-trayonmulanam, vedyam– he can understand. vastavam atra vastu– this transcendental reality. And sivadam– that actually gives total freedom from all kinds of anxieties and distress. Complete tranquility of peace of mind. And tapa-trayonmulanam– three fold miseries of the material nature are completely uprooted. Adiatmika, adidaivika and adibhautika. So, these three fold miseries are completely uprooted.
Srimad Bhagavatam is the topmost of all puranas. Bhagavatam is actually the final word of Vedic wisdom, the final conclusion of the Vedic wisdom. Srila Sanatana Goswami very wonderfully describes the purpose of Srimad Bhagavatam, or the teachings of Srimad Bhagavatam, the objective of Srimad Bhagavatam through his Brihad Bhagavatamrita. It takes us not only the platform of devotion, establishing the platform of devotion, it takes us from higher and higher stages of devotion. Ultimately going to Vrindavan and in Vrindavan, the devotion of the Gopis and among the Gopis, the devotion of Srimati Radharani. That is the highest spiritual understanding. That is the goal of Srimad Bhagavatam. This Srimad Bhagavatam in this way is giving us the most elevated and the most perfect spiritual understanding. Therefore, sivadaà tapa-trayonmulanam and srimad-bhagavate maha-muni kåte. This Bhagavatam is given by great sage Vyasdeva. kià va parair isvaraù. There are different other spiritual knowledge but when one receives the knowledge of Srimad Bhagavatam then there is no need for any other aspects of Vedic wisdom– karma kanda, jnana kanda.
These are all becomes totally redundant, totally unnecessary. As the matter-of-fact Chaitanya Charitamrita describes that this Karma kanda and jnana kanda aspect of the Vedas are actually two pots of poison. Karma kanda jnana kanda, je to boli visher bhanda. Visha means poison, bhanda means pots. These are two pots of poison. Nana yoni bhraman kare, kadarya bhaksana kare So one who becomes attached to jnana kanda and karma kanda section of the Vedas, they simply travel in different species of life. Nana yoni bhraman kare. In the material nature they keep on transmigrating from one body to another, according to his karma. And kadarya bhaksana kare– he eats all kinds of abominable stuff. And Tara janma, adho pate yaya– his birth is totally wasted. So, in this way we can see that Srimad Bhagavatam is the ultimate wisdom, ultimate spiritual wisdom.
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also pointed out that, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s teaching is, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s conclusion is that that the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna is the ultimate worshipable Lord. Aradhya bhagavam– aradhya means worshipable. So, this aradhya bahgavan or Supreme worshipable Lord is the son of Nanada Maharaja, Krishna. Tad dhama Vrindavan. And His abode– Vrindavan– is also worshipable. And Ramya kacid upasana vrajavadhu vargena kalpita– the way cowherd damsels of Vrindavan worshipped Him, that is the highest form of worship. vrajavadhu vargena kalpita. And Srimad bhagavatam puranam amalam the spotless Purana Srimad Bhagavatam is the truth. So, this way we can see that the Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu established these teachings through the authority of Srimad Bhagavatam and why Srimad Bhagavatam? Because Srimad Bhagavatam is the ultimate scripture. Srimad bhagavatam puranam amalam– Srimad Bhagavatam is establishing these teachings and goal of life is to achieve loving devotional service to Krishna. Prema pumartho mahan. sri-chaitanya-mahaprabhor matam idam–so this is the conclusion of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. This is the teaching of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So just accept it and there is no need to accept anything else. Similarly in the beginning of Srimad Bhagavatam also the same kind of point is established. Kim va parair isvarah. What’s the need of anything else? Once you get the highest then where is the need for anything else?
2. SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION
So, always remember that cooperation amongst devotees is the most important thing. How you cooperate with each other that will be the real sign of our love for Srila Prabhupada.
3. GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
Srimad Bhagavatam is establishing these teachings and goal of life is to achieve loving devotional service to Krishna. Prema pumartho mahan. sri-Chaitanya-mahaprabhor matam idam– so this is the conclusion of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. This is the teaching of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So just accept it and there is no need to accept anything else. Similarly in the beginning of Srimad Bhagavatam also the same kind of point is established. Kim va parair isvarah. What’s the need of anything else? Once you get the highest then where is the need for anything else?
(The content of this E-magazine was based on a Lecture given by His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami on 21 July 2012 in Spain)
(Compiled and Edited by Hemavati Radhika Devi Dasi)