Srimad Bhagavatam Course. Session 1
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · Bhaktivedanta Institute · 2025
Chapters
Course introduction and speaker background
Hare Krishna. It's a great honor for the Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies to be sponsoring a course by Bhakti Vijnana Goswami. I think you will find this course different and refreshing.
Maharaj has taken a great um deal a great amount of study time to really get deep into the Bhagavatam. And this course will offer an opportunity to delve in a way into the Bhagavatam that you may not be used to.
Now this course is intended for devotees who are familiar with the Bhagavatam, not people who haven't read it or at least read good parts of it. But for those who are familiar, it is the opportunity to really go deep.
I am very pleased to have Bhakti Vijnana Swami as a mentor and friend. Um I'd love spending time with him. I just visited his new retreat at Govardhan Hill, which is an ecological brilliant place.
It's brilliant the way he's restoring in a desert area of Govardhan, the way the forest would have been in the times of the Goswamis. And I'm gonna talk, give a little introduction to who Bhakti Vijnana Swami is.
I mean, he was born in the former Soviet Union and took the spiritual life during the communist era in the nineteen eighties. And it was challenging. He worked very closely with um, uh, Harikesh Maharaj,
then he moved on to Sweden and was very active with the BBT and translating books and literally getting millions of books distributed uh in Russia. I was just oh in the Soviet Union Times and then in the Russian Times.
I was just listening to a podcast of Bhakti Vijnana Swami and Nām Rasa, in which he described how there was no money, so they would trade books to factory owners.
And factory owners could somehow get some money transferred to them, and they would be paying the workers in books. Some devotees could do 20,000 books in a day, which is quite amazing.
So uh uh uh Bhakti Vijnana Swami himself though has a PhD in science. And there are different kinds of people that approach Krishna according to the Bhagavad-gītā. But those who approach in wisdom are the rarest.
And I'm pleased to say it's my opinion that Bhakti Vijnana Swami is approached Krishna out of wisdom, highly educated, highly studied, and realize yes, this Krishna consciousness will answer the questions of his scientific mind.
Bhakti Vijnana Swami is also an advisor to the Bhaktivedanta Institute and we greatly value his advice, company, and good sense of humor. Now, I want to welcome everyone here today.
I'm not gonna be able to uh uh name all 180 people here but I will point out uh some of the senior devotees who have joined us and I will leave out some names because I can't see everyone on my screen and for that I apologize.
But I particularly want to welcome uh Malati Prabhu, an old dear friend and mentor. I want to welcome Braja Bihari, my uh uh partner in this
and dear friend and uh Gauranga Sundar Prabhu, um swami and i'm sure there are names I left off uh we also have here Prabhupada Priya and Nagaraj, two very senior, very, very active outreach devotees.
And I want to offer a special thanks, Lakshmi Moni and Gandini and Radha Promote have been behind the scenes organizing. We might think you just send out a Zoom link and things automatically happen. That's not reality.
They spend many, many hours organizing, registering, filtering, trying to make this seminar work technically. So all Vrajanatha has to do is step in front of the microphone and give us the nectar.
So without further ado, I turn this over to Bhakti Charu Swami, who will give us the nectar. Thank you very much, Maharaj.
Origins and aims of the contextual course
Welcome and uh Hare Krishna. Thank you very much, Brahma Tirta Prabhu. I'm very honored and humbled by this introduction. Uh and uh well uh I'll try to follow your instructions which you just gave to me.
And uh regarding the sense of humor, I think nobody can beat you in this regard. So but again I'll try to follow your footsteps.
Let me chant Mangala Charana: Nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine. Namaste sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī- प्रचारिणे [ प्रचारिणे ] nirvīśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya- deśa-tāriṇe.
Vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ. Śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara
śivādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
Janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ svarāṭ teṁ brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ tejovāri-mṛdāṁ yathā vinimayo yatra tri-sargo 'mṛṣā dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakaṁ satyam paraṁ dhīmahi.
Satyam paraṁ dhīmahi, satyam paraṁ dhīmahi. Yaṁ pravrajantam anupetam apeta-kṛtyaṁ dvaipāyano viraha-kātara ājuhāva putreti tan-mayatayā taravo 'bhinedus taṁ sarva-bhūta-hṛdayaṁ munim nato 'smi.
Nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya naraṁ caiva narottamam devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsaṁ tato jayam udayīrayet. Naṣṭa-
prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavat-sevayā bhagavaty uttama-śloke bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī. Swadam nanyam schahastacharana sravana dwagadim prananda mo Bhagavati Puru Sayatub Hari Kishna.
Uh as I said I am truly humbled um by the response. I never expected uh such a response. I will say a few words about the history of this particular course because it may explain something about the course.
Some time ago uh I was asked by my friends from Mascat to give some seminar and I thought why not uh discuss Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And I did something like twenty or so lectures
trying to explain the context of Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam. Trying to keep the context of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam alive and vibrant so that we could understand the particular sections of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the context of the whole.
To my great surprise, this course, which was not intended to be even you know kind of uh uh popular so to speak, uh gained some popularity and uh many people uh gave very positive reviews of this course.
And then I was asked to repeat it in Russian. My big problem is that I cannot repeat anything, I have to do something completely new.
So I started quote unquote repeating this course in Russian, but it became a completely different course much more elaborate
but with the same idea and while trying to explain Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam I realized that to call it overview of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is not proper because you cannot really overview the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
To say that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam can be overviewed means to approach Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam as the material subject matter.
That's what we usually do when we study something which is material and we we look down at it and try to analyze it. But the idea of this course is exactly opposite.
Try to approach Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the bottom, so to speak. Therefore, it's not overview. Rather, it is underview of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. I don't know if it's the proper English construct the
scientific approach usually all the people who were scientists and then became devotees they become very ardent enemies of science. At least I'm speaking about myself.
The science, modern science, materialistic science, dissects the subject of its study and try to study different parts of it, and while studying the different parts of it it completely forgets about the whole and uh it it is trying uh by the um method of reductionism uh to say that uh the whole is nothing but the sum total of the parts.
But whole is never just a sum total of the parts. Whole is always bigger than the sum total of the parts.
So the idea of this course is again not to dissect Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam into different parts and study the parts, but rather always keep the whole alive and always come back to the whole while referring to the parts of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So that's underview or contextual study of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
This is some aims of the course which I quickly put together. Basically, at least in my own experience, this approach to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam makes the study of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam much more interesting.
Yeah, I forget to say that after uh giving this uh course in Russian, uh I was approached uh by uh again uh some of my friends who uh asked me to give the same course in English, and of course, it's not the same course, it's a different course.
Again, that's my big problem. But But um uh why I finally decided to give it in English and why it is under the banner of Bhaktivedanta Institute, because
um While studying the Śrīla Prabhupāda's idea for Bhaktivedanta Institute, I realized that Bhaktivedanta Institute is not just a preaching tool for the outsiders or scientific community, Bhaktivedanta Institute was created
by Śrīla Prabhupāda to preach Bhagavata science to the devotees first and foremost, to present Krishna consciousness as a science. And I think this is something which is greatly lacking in the present-day ISKCON.
We are more or less preaching to our constituencies to our devotees but we are preaching it in a more like religious ritualistic way.
So that's why I approached Brahma Tirta Prabhu and suggested, offered that I could give this course and here we are.
A few months later I'm sitting in front of computer, assuming that you're all there and trying to explain what is this course all about.
So the first is to ignite the interest of Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam while keeping Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam alive because again in my experience when we just dissect the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, especially when we study it uh verse by verse.
Uh we always forget what was before, what is going to be uh next, and um uh it's oftentimes becoming quite a tedious exercise. The second aim of this course is to try to explain
the special methodology of the study of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And while again studying or investigating the principles of its commentary tradition or traditions rather. What I want to say is that here, and that again
the methodology of studying Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is greatly different from the usual methodology of studying some books because it's the revelation, and the methodology is supposed to help us to rediscover the revelation.
Sometimes we think that the truth was revealed to somebody like Śrīla Vyāsadeva or Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī. And we just have to study the words which they put together. But that's a mistake.
Actually, the same absolute truth which revealed itself or himself to Śrīla Vyāsadeva, through the media of his words, has to reveal itself or himself to us.
So to understand the revelation, we have to obtain the revelation, we have to approach Shabda in a proper way with the proper attitude so that the truth would be revealed within our heart.
Then teene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye, this is explained in the very first verse of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, how the truth is being revealed.
So, and usually we study again Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as an ordinary literature, and the end result is that we get in ordinary literature.
We may know the content of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we may know some stories of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but whether these stories are revealed to us, revealed to us their inner meaning, remains a big question.
So and therefore in this course I will give us specific emphasis to the proper methodology, which is actually meditation.
Because Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, as the know, as we know, is the result of samādhi or trance of Śrīla Vyāsadeva. So to study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam basically means to go into samādhi and approaching this fruit of samādhi of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam in the samādhi as much as we can reproduce samādhi condition in our consciousness, will reveal us the meaning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
The third aim I already explained, it's
basically keep the context, the broad context of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, and at the same time understanding the logical structure, there is a difference between the two, and I will explain that in the in the course.
So basically always skipping together the meaning because sometimes we know the stories, we know that Dhruva's story is
there, Prahlāda story is there, but if uh if somebody asks us uh why Dhruva stories is in the fourth Kanto and not in the eighth Kanto or not in the in the second Kanto or third canto and why Prahlāda story is in the seventh canto and why this particular story assembled in a very specific way and what is the inner connection between the stories and how the whole through the whole story chain of the stories the the
main idea of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is being conveyed to the listeners of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.
We may have difficulties in answering all these questions. So I will emphasize this particular thing, and today I will speak a little bit more about this in today's class.
Contextual methodology and text levels
And again Again to show how Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the very foundation of Śrīla Prabhupāda's movement and how to keep Śrīmad Bhagavatam as such and what it means in reality. Anyway, so this is just four aims uh let's see.
And uh elaborating on the third uh aim, uh which is the context, I would like to quote a very important verse which serves as the pramana or the proof for such approach.
This verse is taken actually the first part of the verse, Shastris Kande Pramane Adyay, the apostrophe should go in front of Dhyay Adyay. Vakya Pade Akshare. So this seven elements of the whole book they're
listed by Vopadev and his Harili Lamrita, his very short overview or underview of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The seven levels of the book, the whole book, Skanda, Prakarana, which is topic, in the Skanda, and in the Skanda there are several topics, few topics, three, four, sometimes more. Adiya, Adyaya means the chapter, Vakya means one sentence, and Pada means half of the verse and akshara, akshara means one syllable.
So the verse says eka artham sapadha Jhanan Navirodhena Muchyate.
If one becomes free from all apparent contradictions by recognizing the singularity of meaning present within a sevenfold span, namely in a letter, a word, a sentence, a chapter, a topic, a canto, and the book as a whole.
So what What Vallabhacharya is explaining here in this very important verse, he says that to understand the book truly without any contradictions, because sometimes we read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and some stories, especially from the ninth canto of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, they are kind of weird.
I mean from the very beginning and uh uh m it's very difficult to understand why they're there. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is supposed to be uh Amalapurana the Amalapramana, so on so forth, but sometimes
we we cannot really understand why the story is there and some contradiction comes into our mind. And contradiction is an enemy of understanding the message of the book.
So to understand the message of the book and to understand the message of the book. It's actually interesting, the English word understand means to stand under. So I guess underview is a bona fide construct.
So, what I mean to say is that to understand something we have to understand the whole, and then different parts of it will play its beautiful role in the whole, and there will be no contradiction.
Otherwise, like even some commentators, even some great commentators, right? Today, just few minutes back, few seconds back, I mentioned Bopadev uh with his Hari Lilomrita. He's a great pandit.
cant of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and he says, actually, there's no need of having uh nineteenth chapter of uh the first canto. The eighteenth chapter are enough and he merges two chapters together.
Uh uh again uh I don't want to say that I understand Bhagavatam better than him, but I want to say that uh actually uh 19 is a very important and significant number for the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
So again, when we just study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam without keeping the context, then the virodas, the contradictions may appear in our mind.
Therefore, even up to the level of the syllable of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, we have to understand that even the syllable of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam conveys the same meaning as the whole book.
And how to connect this or always keep this connection. It's the purpose, very important purpose of this particular way of explaining Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And why?
Because actually context defines the meaning. You cannot really understand anything without the context.
Brahma Tirta Prabhu mentioned that I have been translating Srila Prabhupada's books into Russian, and I know very well that any English word you can translate into different languages in Russian in my case in at least 10 different ways.
But which one, which word you have to choose, really depends on the context and the quality of translation is better or superior if the translator keeps the context.
Sometimes I hear unfortunately some translations from English into Russian from lectures and I immediately can catch when the translator doesn't understand the context.
He translates the words properly, but the meaning is lost.
So actually the good translators they explain that when you translate something into different language, you have to keep uh not the context of one sentence, not even the context of one paragraph, you have to keep the context of the whole book to translate one word properly.
It may be an exaggeration, you may not keep the context of the whole book, but in reality, it is like this. Ultimately, it is like this. To understand the world, you have to keep the context of the whole book.
And um or uh uh in any other uh instance uh the context is everything uh and the parts are uh less important than uh than the the whole than the context. Like for example, music. What is important in the music?
Individual notes? No, the relationship between the notes, the sequence of the notes. They uh uh they convey the meaning.
Uh and if you take the individual notes and try to figure out what is the meaning which is being conveyed by this music by just you know dissecting it into the notes, you will lose the whole. And everything is like this.
To understand the event, you need broader context and everything else. So there is a very important principle. Relationship between the things are more important than the things themselves. Because what is the context?
The context is the relationship.
Vedantic study through sambandha and abhideya
And therefore, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's approach to scriptures is very unique. He gave this, it's only him, it's only now Sampradaya this understanding.
To understand the Shastra, you have to understand sambanda and what is sambandha? Sambanda is the context. And when you understand sambandha, then only you can understand Abhideya, which is meaning.
The word sambanda is taken from the literature from the from the study of the literature from the philology and Abhidheya it's also a philological term, it's a term of the study of literature.
So if you understand sambanda, then you can understand Abhidheya, the meaning, and then you can realize prayojana the purpose.
So that's the scheme which Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu suggested for understanding any shastra and that's why in this particular course we give this specific emphasis
on sambandha to understand Abhidheya and ultimately to realize prayojana, why it is there, why we're studying this, what should be the expected result of this study.
So that's a more elaborate explanation of uh uh the specific uh feature of this course. So and today uh we will not uh do all the five uh today we'll be very boring class.
I will cover the three first items in this lesson plan. I will speak a little bit about the special role of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in Gauḍīya Sampradāya. It's a very special place. And then I will uh very quickly
go through the Tattva-sandarbha, the section of Tattva-sandarbha, which actually proves why Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is so special and why Gauḍīya Sampradāya basically neglects any other pramāṇa.
It's a very peculiar feature of Gauḍīya Sampradāya, which is supposed to be a school of Vedānta and Vedānta is supposed to be based on Prasthāna-trayī. I will explain it later.
But our Ācāryas, the founding Ācāryas, they they couldn't care less about prasthāna-trayī. They didn't write any commentaries on Bhagavad-gītā, they didn't write any commentaries on Vedānta-sūtra and Upaniṣads.
So they basically broke from the tradition, but in reality they didn't break from the tradition. They developed the tradition to a very uh amazing extent.
So and uh Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī in Tattva-sandarbha, he uh explains it very logically and very beautifully and I think even though I'm sure many listeners of this course read Tatva Sandarbha still it will be very
beneficial if we go through the logic of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī again.
And then at the end, I will explain the title of the book: why Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is called Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and not anything else, why it is called beautiful Bhāgavatam or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Role of Srimad-Bhagavatam in Gaudiya Vaisnavism
It's an amazing explanation given by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī in his Paramātmā-sandarbha. So that's three big points which I will try to cover today.
And of course, uh everything in our sampradāyas starts with Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
And uh uh uh it is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who established this sort of tradition, not tradition but the uh the rule in our sampradaya that it's Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu himself is a living Bhagavatam.
And therefore Śrīla Prabhupāda he placed the short sketch of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's life as his introduction to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam because without understanding the life of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
His life is an explanation of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. His life is a basically vivid explanation of the essence or of the message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the essential message of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.
Again, if we understand it properly. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he was living Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he was breathing Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, he was explaining Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And we cannot really understand
fully Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam without uh studying the Śrī Caitanya's teachings and his life. And Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu of course gave a very unique very unique interpretation of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
There are so many commentaries of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam actually is more popular among the commentators than even Bhagavad-gītā.
There are more commentaries existing on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam than commentaries on Bhagavad-gītā.
We'll talk about this in the second lecture of this course where I will speak about the tradition of commenting on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
But Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu gave a very unique approach or he analyzed Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam through a very special angle of vision which is rasa-darśana. He analyzed it.
It's amazing because it's so obvious in the third verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said pibata bhāgavatam rasam ālayam, that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is full of rasa.
But nobody else before Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu looked at Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the rasa perspective, from the perspective of aesthetics, from the perspective of Bharatamuni's theory.
And this approach, this angle of vision, really opened the whole new dimensions of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And therefore it's it's very important to understand this dynamic.
And so he based his rasa-darśana on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
He derived his rasa theory or rasa rasa-darśana and rasa explanation of bhakti from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. But at the same time, this approach also revealed much deeper meanings of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
So, and therefore, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself he was listening. In this picture, we see Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sitting in the Tota Gopinath temple
in the courtyard of Tota Gopinath, and Gadādhara Paṇḍit, who is Rādhārāṇī herself, reads Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to him, and in Caitanya-bhāgavata it is said that he would listen Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, one story of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam for hundreds of times, or hundreds of times, while reliving this story and while getting deeper.
And not only the tension of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but the story specifically it is mentioned, the story about Dhruva Mahārāja and Prahlāda Mahārāja. So, and of course, Gadādhara Paṇḍit
while reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam he was crying, and therefore when Śrīnivāsācārya came to Jagannātha Purī and wanted to study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam under Gadādhara Paṇḍit. He couldn't teach him Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam because the whole Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was washed away by his tears.
So and of course all the associates of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu were present there. Even in this picture Maharaja Prataparudra is depicted sitting there, and Lord Nityananda is also there.
So, and Śrī Caitanya Mahaprabhu he specifically ordered Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī to study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and to preach Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and we know that that was his specialty.
He was the great knower of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and he was chanting Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in many different tunes, many different rāgas. And while he was explaining Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, everyone was in this samādhi, was going into the samādhi while meditating on the verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
So from the very beginning of our Sampradāya, the importance of Śrīmad- Bhagavatam was crystal clear.
Śrivāsa Paṇḍit, we know he went to Devananda Paṇḍit Smarta in Navadvīpa and he was listening his explanation and he went into samādhi by listening Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
So basically that's what we are supposed to do. We are supposed to go into samādhi while listening Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. That's the method of understanding Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam which was taught by Caitanya Mahāprabhu himself.
And therefore, in Antya-līlā it is said, Yāhā bhāgavata-pāḍā vaiṣṇavera sthāne, ekānta-āśraya kara. If you want to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you must approach a self-realized Vaiṣṇava and hear from him.
Hearing is the method of understanding Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Only by hearing can we be completely absorbed. It's much more difficult to be absorbed while studying because our mind will distract us.
And you can only do this, Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, who speaks this verse, he says, you can only do this if you completely take in shelter of the lotus feet of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Ekanta Ashraya Kora Chaitanya Chaitanya.
So this to understand Shrimad Bhagavatam, you have to take shelter of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. There is no other way, there is no other way, there is no other way.
Sro Chaitanya Mahaprabhu only you can really understand the message of Srimad Bhagavatam, even though, and we are not sectarian, uh Sri Laprabhupada quotes
different commentators, sometimes Vijay Dajatirta from Madhva Sampradaya, sometimes Viraraga Vacharya from Ramanuja Sampradaya, sometimes Siddhar Swami, and so many others.
But we really have to understand, to understand Simad Bhagavatam as a whole and the message, and to understand means to really take it into the heart we have to be the followers of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
And we have to find the follower of Cha a follower of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who is completely absorbed in Srimad Bhagavatam and studies Srimad Bhagavatam under him.
And of course, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself in his teachings to Sanatana Goswami, he says that Bhagavatam Sravan, again shravan, not Adhya, not the study of Shrimad Bhagavatam, but listening, hearing of Srimad Bhagavatam is one of the five most important and most powerful forms of devotional service with Sadhu Sangha, Nama Kirtana, and Bhagavad Sravan, Mathuravasan, Srimurtirasivan.
So there is no doubt that Shimad Bhagavatam was very important at the very dawn of Awesome Pradhae, in the very beginning, there in Tota Gopinath's temple, the root of Shrimad Bhagavatam, hearing of Shimad Bhagavatam tradition, the culture of hearing of Shrimad Bhagavatam is coming to us.
And of course, the first, the very first book of our sampradaes, Brihat Bhagavatamrita. What is Brihat Bhagavatamrita? Brihat Bhagavatamrita is Sanatan Goswami's explanation of Shimad Bhagavatam.
It's it's the essence of Shimad Bhagavatam, Bhagavatamrita, taken and explained in a logical way from the point of view of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his teaching. So that's what it is again.
And uh Sanat N Gaswamy was the great fan of Shimad Bhagavatam, if you can use this terminology. And this is one of the verses of Sanatana Goswami from Krishna Lila Stala. Asadu Sadhuta Dain.
He gives sadhuta, the quality of a sadhu to a sadhu. So it's very much relevant to us. We are not sadhus, but we have a hope to become sadhus by studying or listening, hearing Srimad Bhagavatam.
Ati Nietzsche uchatara ka he can uplift the most fallen people. Nichucha. Ati Nichucha Taraka. He can save, he can basically bring the most fallen people on the other shore of the causal ocean.
And Sanatana Goswami, he prays to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Ha, Namuñca Kadācin Mām, please don't leave me. Please never leave me. Please always remain with me. Please always be within my heart. Never leave my heart.
And please help to reveal or to manifest premā, love of God within my heart. So he explains here the amazing qualities of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that he can purify the heart and he can give liberation to any person.
But as far as I am concerned, Sanatana Goswami says, please give me prema, because this is what you are capable to do, give premā to my heart.
So and of course Jiva Goswami, he wrote, it's amazing, he wrote five different commentaries of on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
First unique commentary of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Saṁdarbha, huge commentary, six different treatises about the meaning of Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam, then Krama Sandarbha, then Bṛhad-krama-sandarbha.
Of course, it's somebody can test that this is Jiva Goswami's work. Somebody says that it was written after that.
But still our tradition is that Bṛhad-krama-sandarbha which is quite different from Krama Sandarbha much more elaborate version of commentary for the whole Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam all 12 cantos is Bṛhad-krama-sandarbha then Gopāla Champū, his unique, amazing, most poetic commentary on the 10th skandha, and then Laghu Vaiṣṇava Toṣaṇī, his commentary on the 10th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So five different ways of explaining verses
of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
But what happened in Gauḍīya-sampradāya, in reality, even though the role of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the beginning was very clear, but in reality Caitanya-caritāmṛta overshadowed Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in Gauḍīyas and pradāya.
The reasons are very clear because Gauḍīyas are Bengalis and they can understand simple Bengali language of Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja. It's such a masterpiece, it's such an amazing book.
And it explains the essence of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but gradually, gradually Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam went out of vogue in Gauḍīya-sampradāya more or less. Because it's much more difficult. It's written in Sanskrit.
The commentaries are in Sanskrit.
And then the books which are written on the basis of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, especially on the basis of the 10th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, such as Śrī Govinda-līlāmṛta and Śrī Bhajanamṛta by Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura.
They became actually or Vilāpa-kusumāñjali. They're all written on the basis of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
They all derived determination and details from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that's the branch basing all the elaborations, commentaries on different verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, like Vilāpa-kusumāñjali, but they completely overshadowed Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
It was not really thoroughly, methodically studied in our sampradāya because of different reasons, and some of these reasons I mentioned.
And of course, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, he translated Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam and gave the complete commentary, Bengali commentary on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, to re-establish the role of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
And we know that Śrīla Prabhupāda, he did it.
He wrote the first commentary on the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, made it as the basis of his preaching movement in America, and ultimately wrote the complete set of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam up to the 13th chapter of the tenth canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
And he said that every morning we should start by meditating on the verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So he re-established the role of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Even though it's difficult and still many followers of Śrīla Prabhupāda are struggling to comprehend Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Development of Prasthanatraya in Vedantic traditions
And so here we are coming to the second uh part. Why is it so? How is it? Why Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, basically, in the minds of followers of Caitanya Mahāprabhu has become the main pramāṇa?
And there is a very interesting historic development of this. We know that Śaṅkarācārya, it is a custom to say that Śaṅkarācārya suggested this prasthāna-traya. The exegesis, exegesis, yes. Of the meaning of the Vedas.
To understand the meaning of the Vedas, he suggested this scheme or this device, so to speak, of prasthāna- traya. Actually, it may not be correct.
Śaṅkarācārya himself says that he is just following his predecessors, it's just that this was the original tradition of explaining Vedānta, the school of Vedānta by commenting on this.
Let's talk a little bit about this prasthāna-traya. The word prasthāna literally means departure. We know the Mahāprasthāna, the section of the Mahābhārata
where Pandavas went to their last journey when they departed from the kingdom or basically from this world. So prasthāna basically means three points of departure. Literally means three points of departure.
It means that three points from which uh we start explaining the complete teaching, so complete, how you call it, complete the philosophical system.
That's three starting points, or the points of departure from which coming from which we are explaining a coherent philosophical system.
So that's his term, Śaṅkarācārya's term, prasthāna-traya, and because it has become very popular, the conventional trai, and because it has become very popular, the conventional meaning of prasthāna-traya means canonical source. This is the canon of any school of Vedanta.
So, any investigation of Vedanta must be preceded by inquiry into traditional sources. At least this is how it's supposed to be.
You have to look at these three sources, these three canons, which we will mention in a second,
and then while using them as the departure point, as the starting point to create a coherent philosophical system, including the practices and everything else.
Because any philosophical system in very culture is never just a philosophy. It always includes specific sādhana derived from the philosophy and specific goals which you are supposed to achieve by practicing this.
So Śaṅkarācārya was very clear. He said that prasthāna-traya consists of first, śruti, which is Upaniṣads. And sometimes it's called Upadesha Prastana. Injective text, or Śruti Prasthāna. Which basically means revelation.
The starting points of revelation. Where you start basically it's revelation of the broader context of reality. So the principle of Upanishads 11, sometimes 12, or at least 10, Vedic Upanishads, that's the first prastana.
The first starting point. You have to understand them. The second starting point is Smṛti Prasthāna. Smṛti Prasthāna is the sādhana prasthāna.
It's Bhagavad-gītā, and Bhagavad-gītā in this scheme of prastana Trai plays a very important role of explanation of sadhana what you should do.
It's very difficult to figure out what you're supposed to do while reading Upanishads.
But Bhagavad-gītā is extremely practical and Smriti Prastana actually is the teaching of what you are supposed to do uh if this is the truth.
If the truth which is revealed in Upanishad is the truth and you accept this and you have no other choice, then then then to understand how to realize this you have to go to Bhagavad-gītā. So that's smriti prasthan.
And sometimes Vishnu Sahastranam is included there, but it's not necessarily. And then the third prasthan is of course Brahma Sutras or Badaraina Sutras or Shariraka Sutras, the sutras of Nyaya Prastan or the reasoning.
It's actually the explanation of how the logic should work, more or less.
So according to Shankaracharya, if you are claiming to be if you want to establish the school of Vedanta, if you want to explain Vedanta or the essence of the Vedas, you have to write the commentaries on these three things.
At least ten Upanishads and Shankarachary wrote beautiful commentaries on Upanishads. Sometimes I go into them while trying to explain or understand somes passages. His explanations are superb.
Of course they're not always correct according to all Siddhanta, but uh it's really amazing what he did.
And then he wrote, of course, the commentary on Bhagavad-gītā and Shariraka Bhasshya commentary on Sariraka Sutras or Brahma Sutras.
Then after him, Ramanuj Achary came, then Madhavachary came, Nimbarkachary came, Vallabhachari came, and they all accepted the principle of prastana tri. Nobody contested this.
But not all of them wrote everything as Shankaracharya did. Like Ramanujacharya, he wrote some Vedart Sangraha, the book on the essence of the Vedas.
He wrote of course Sribhasya, his main explanation of Vedanta-sūtra, he wrote Bhagavad-gītā Bhashya. He wrote the simpler version of Sri Bhasya. So he he wrote this, he quoted many Upanishads.
Rangaramanuja in his Sampradaya later wrote commentaries on all the Upanishads. So it's complete. But still he kind of omitted and he didn't bother himself to explain Upanishads. Madhvacharya wrote everything.
He wrote two commentaries on Bhagavad-gītā. He wrote commentaries on Upanishads but very short. He wrote four commentaries on the Vedānta-sūtra itself. For him Nyāya-prasthāna was the main prasthāna.
He wanted to establish in a very reasonable way the philosophy of Vedanta, and therefore he made such an emphasis on Vedānta-sūtra and four times he explained it and his of course his followers they explained it his explanation and the explanation of his explanations and it goes on eternally.
But then he also introduced Bhāgavata Purāṇa and Mahābhārata. And Vallabhāchārya, Nimbārkāchārya, they wrote Bhāṣyas on Brahma-sūtra and Bhagavad-gītā, but didn't comment on Upaniṣads.
So not everyone commented on all prasthāna-trayī, but everyone accepted prasthāna-trayī, except for Gauḍīyas. Well, Gauḍīyas also accept prasthāna-trayī, but they don't care about this.
So uh it's a very interesting uh historic historical development. How it is, if we look at the history of Vedānta school of explanation of the Vedas, which is actually the only school which is explaining Vedas.
Any other philosophical school they don't really explain the Vedas. Only Vedānta is doing this. Well, Pūrva-mīmāṁsā explains, but only karmakāṇḍa.
Anyway, so Śaṅkarācārya, he explained the Vedic revelation, but he condemned Āgamas, Pāñcarātra Āgamas. He said they are non-Vedic. He didn't bother to explain them, he rejected them from the beginning. Why?
Because it is Pāñcarātra Āgamas who explain the personal feature of the Absolute.
And according to Śaṅkarācārya, who wanted to create the coherent philosophical system about non-personal nature of reality, impersonal nature of reality or of absolute truth,
Pancharatra Agamas were how to say this in the neck? How they say this? Pain in the neck? Pain in the neck. Or something like this.
It was for him it was really not a question of going into it because it really completely destroyed his whole beautiful creation of giving impersonal explanation of the Vedas.
Even though Pancharatra Agamas themselves claim the Vedic nature of it. Pancharatra Agamas, there are Nigamas and Agamas, and agamas uh nigama is the Vedas, original Vedas, Agamas, the explanation of the original Vedas.
So he rejected Ramanuja came and he said, no no no, you cannot really explain Vedanta without Pancharatra. So he accepted prasthanatraya, but he also drew
drew is it correct a lot of material drew a lot of material from Pancharatri literature to give his explanation because his personal explanation, his bhakti explanation of Vedanta would not be complete without this.
And of course, he introduced Valmiki Ramayana as Pramana and Vishnu Purana as a pramana, as a very important source of evidence. Then Madhvacharya came after that.
And Madhvacharya he even much more vigorously propagated Pancharatra Agamas. He wrote a commentary on Pancharatra Agamas, an amazing treatise on this. And then he made Mahabharata very prominent source of Pramana.
Nobody else before was taking, at least in Kali Yuga in the development of Kali Yuga, was taking Mahabharata as seriously as him. So for him, Mahabharata was very prominent.
And then he introduced Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam into Vedantic studies. But of course, for him it was just secondary pramana.
He wrote Bhagavatatparya, he glorified Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but it's a very short commentary on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
It's perhaps the most ancient one existent but it only explains some difficult verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to give the complete picture. He didn't really write elaborate commentary on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
But he first introduced it into the Vedanta schools. So Jiva Goswami explains in Paramātmā Sandarbha why it is so important to use pancharatra.
The intention of the authors of the Shastra, he says, is to bring people to the absolute reality of Bhagavan. Pancharatra is written as an alternative to the Veda, which is very difficult to understand and follow.
Veda is very difficult to understand and follow, nor is everyone as eligible to follow it.
So Rupa Goswami sorry, Jiva Goswami explains that Pancharatra is very important and without Pancharatra we will not be able to understand the personal feature of the Lord because it has a practical nature and it is an explanation of the Vedas.
So he agreed with Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, who introduced it and of course, everyone else, all the other acharyas, they followed Rāmānujācārya and Madhvācārya.
But then Vallabhācārya comes, and Vallabhācārya first among the teachers of Bhakti schools makes Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam mukhya pramāṇa. It's an amazing, very bold move, which Vallabhācārya did.
He said that yes, prasthāna-traya is there, but if anything in this prasthāna-traya contradicts Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it has to be rejected or it has to be explained out that this is an opinion of other people.
So he said sorry. Prasthānatraya is a pramāṇa, it's an important pramāṇa, but Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is an independent pramāṇa, and prasthānatraya has to depend on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in his explanation.
So he extolled Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam on a very high footing in comparison with everyone else historically. And then Caitanya Mahāprabhu came, he was contemporary of Vallabhācārya.
Vallabhācārya was just a few years older than Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Of course, he started his career as a preacher and as a teacher much earlier because he became a prominent teacher when he was 12 years old or 13 years old.
So he started his career as ācārya earlier than Caitanya Mahāprabhu. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu he said that there is no need even to so much use other pramāṇas if we have Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
And therefore, the commentaries on Bhagavad-gītā were first written and now some pramāṇa-sampradāya by Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura much later and of course Baladeva again wrote commentary on Bhagavad-gītā and on Vedānta-sūtra and on all Upanishads, he completed the course, he he really proved that we are bona fide sampradāya of Vedānta or school of Vedānta.
But in reality, there is no need for this.
Epistemological foundation of Vedic revelation
And yeah. And how it is was proven by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī or was explained by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī in Tattva-sandarbha in his pramāṇa section. So I I I do have few more some Some some time, right? Okay.
So uh uh Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī first of course uh uh says that uh pratyakṣa-pramāṇa and anumāna-pramāṇa are not valid.
And he actually takes this whole refutation of Pratyakṣa and Anumāna pramāṇa as not really valid. They're valid, but uh they're limited. They are uh Pramanata or Pramanyata uh is limited due to uh reasons.
He takes it from Vachaspati Mishra. Literally copy-pasted from one Māyāvāda philosopher. But because it's true, he just takes it. It's very interesting, and that's one of the features.
Perhaps we will talk about this in the next lecture. Very often commentators of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, or not only Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, they just copy-paste somebody what somebody else wrote before them.
Without any problem, because uh there is no uh concept of intellectual property uh uh in the very culture. The truth is the truth. And you cannot invent the truth.
If somebody revealed the truth, uh why not take it and and use it? Uh it's not the plagiarism? Yeah, it's not a plagiarism. It's just it's just it's the truth. You know. That's a completely different idea.
But anyway, so uh having done with uh the Pratyaksha and Anumana Pramana, he explains in this passage which I have chosen to give complete Sanskrit, that why we should approach the Vedas.
tat taṭasthāt tāni na prāmāṇīty anādhīsad-sarva-puruṣa-paramparāsu sarva-laukika-laukika-jñāna-nidānatvāt aprākṛta-vacana- lakṣaṇā veda eva asmākam sarvātīta- sarvāśraya-sarvācintya-sarvāścarya-svabhāva- vastu-vividiṣāyāṁ pramāṇam.
So it's a very interesting statement, very important statement too.
He said to comprehend the absolute truth vastu, here is vastu, vastu, if you want, vividiṣāyām, if you want to understand Vastu, then the pramana has to be of a certain quality. Why?
Because the absolute truth, this vastu, which we are talking about, by nature, by its svabhava, is beyond all things, and yet it is the foundation of everything.
So he says it's Sarva Tita, it's beyond everything, and it's sarva shraya. At the same time, it's the foundation of everything. It's beyond everything and everything is founded on it.
And therefore you cannot really know it by pratyaksha. You cannot know your origin or something which is beyond everything by pratyaksha, by definition. So he first says this is the characteristic of absolute truth of Vastu.
By nature, it is sarvatita and sarvashraya. And therefore it's not knowable by Pratyaksha Pramana. And then he says the another feature of this absolute truth, if it is Sarva, Achintya, and Ashcharya svāka.
It's by nature sarva chinthya or completely incomprehensible, and sarva asharya, very wonderful, very amazing. Again, not logically, you cannot really understand it with your logic or the scope of this truth.
And therefore, it's not knowable by a numana pramana.
And therefore, if you want to understand the absolute truth, which is this nature, these four features of the nature of the absolute truth, you need to seek the help of the Vedas and not the help of Pratyaksha and Numana, Tatastani Napramaniti.
They are not really, they will not really explain to you anything. And what is the characteristic of the Vedas? What is the Shabbda Praman? Why can explain or help us to understand the truth?
First of all, it has aprakry vacana Veda. The Vedas they have their vachana and their statements, their words are Aprakrita. They are non-material.
If you want to understand something which is non-material, which is transcendental, you have to use the words which are non-material. You cannot explain something non-material by material words, by material sounds.
Therefore, he says, Aprakrita Vachana Lakshana Veda. And there is this revelation, there is this amazing phenomena which we have, the Vedas which have this quality: Aprakrita Lajana Vachana.
And the eternal the words of the Vedas, they they are eternal, so they can only explain the origin, the reality. Because something which is coming or derived from something else can not be explaining or understanding the origin.
So it is anaditva and the Vedas, besides that, he says that Vedas are the source nidanatvat of all material and non-material knowledge. Sarva Lokika Alokika Jnana.
So he says, even though it's very interesting, he explains the Shabda Pramana, the features of the Vedas which make it the appropriate instrument for understanding the absolute truth.
He says that it has this transcendental words, totally spiritual, but it's a source of all kinds of knowledge, including logical knowledge, including the material knowledge, and therefore they have proven its validity from Pratyaksha Pramana, they it's not just something some mumbling of some you know wild people
who were drinking soma juice and in trance they started mumbling something. No. It's a valid knowledge because from it so much knowledge is derived, practical knowledge. And it is completely undistorted because
it's anādisiddha sarva-pauruṣa-paramparāsu, because it is transmitted through the perfect chains of disciple succession. So, in one sentence, in one sanskrit sentence, he explains
why to understand the nature of the absolute truth and why it it could not be understood by pratyaksha pramana and anumana pramana and why it has to be understood if we want to understand, it's a big if.
Not everyone wants to understand it. But if we want to understand, we have to approach Vedas. So I'm getting a little nervous.
So basically, he says that there are two kinds of śabda, and he explains that the śabda we are talking about.
If you go to other schools, when they say śabda, they say you know, somebody who is knowledgeable, authoritative statements, any teacher can teach you, he gives śabda. No, he says no.
We are talking about apauruṣeya śabda. If we want to understand the absolute truth, this śabda should be apauruṣeya, it has to have a non-human origin. It doesn't have to be, it cannot be human, so that this
apauruṣeya śabda and therefore they can give aparokṣa jñāna, direct knowledge. Vedas are self-evident, they are svataḥ-pramāṇa. And they have the potency to reveal the truth through the recitation of their sounds.
That's the special potency which is in the sounds, invested in the sounds of the Vedas by Bhagavān himself.
So, and therefore, again coming back to my initial point, if we want to understand the absolute truth while studying Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we should also try to understand that it has to be revealed to us, the aparokṣa jñāna, or direct knowledge, or parokṣa jñāna, or direct knowledge has to be revealed.
So the difference between aparokṣa jñāna and parokṣa jñāna. Theoretical knowledge or indirect knowledge, uh sorry, that's that's parokṣa jñāna, and aparokṣa jñāna, direct knowledge.
The parokṣa jñāna is the knowledge about something. And the direct knowledge is the knowledge of something.
So usually when we study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we are studying something about Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but we try to we should try to aspire to know Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam directly, to get the revelation. That's what I wanted to say.
And therefore, philosophy in Sanskrit is called darśana. Darśana means seeing the truth.
Practical accessibility of Puranas in Kali Yuga
So, and then yes, so many other. So even though the Vedas are such amazing creation, in reality they don't play much role at present. You know, everyone says Vedas, Vedas, Vedas.
Everyone claims to be Vedic, but nobody really recites the Vedas. There are few Shaiva reciters of the Vedas like this little boy. But the role of the Vedas in the modern society is ceremonial. They don't play real role.
And it was very clear even when Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī wrote his treatise, it was very clear to Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Like Madhvacharya, he wrote commentary on the Vedas. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu didn't bother about this at all.
No need. And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says there are three reasons why Vedas cannot play an important role in this Kali-yuga. The first reason is because the Vedas are not available. As simple as this.
Less than 4% of the Vedas are available. There are supposed to be 1130 Śākhās, 1130 Samhitās, 1130 brāhmaṇas, the same number of Āraṇyakas and Upaniṣads.
And out of this, eleven Samhitās are still existent, eighteen brāhmaṇas, seven Āraṇyakas and two hundred twenty Upaniṣads out of one thousand one hundred thirty. So not available.
Difficult to understand because they're written in the Vedic Sanskrit, and Vedic Sanskrit is very cryptic.
It's not the codified beautiful laukika Sanskrit and Purāṇas are written in this simple laukika Sanskrit which is not very mysterious.
It's completely different rules for this, not so codified and that's a difficult Sanskrit. They're difficult to understand at present because you need to know Śikṣā, Vyākaraṇa, Nirukta, Kalpa, Jyotiṣa and Chandas.
And who knows Śikṣā, Vyākaraṇa, Nirukta, Kalpa, Jyotiṣa and Chandas? Maybe somebody knows some little Jyotiṣa or claims that he knows some little Jyotiṣa, Nirukta etymology, Kalpa, the proper ritual.
Actually, you know, in Madhva Sampradaya which are very Vedic, they still do some things properly in a very beautiful way.
But you know, in Vrindavan, if you come to a Yagya and the local pandits start reciting the verses of the Vedas with thick Hindi accent. It's not very impressive.
So anyway, so uh it's very difficult to understand because really you have to even vyakrana to to really master vyakrana you have to spend 12 years to master Vyakrana itself.
You have to remember all 4,000 sutras of this Kommodi and anyway forget it. Nirukta there are such difficult rules for Nirukta and Chandas of course, Prasodi anyway.
And they're difficult to understand because we are spoiled, our minds are spoiled because we have very short memories. It's interesting still we have the family names of brāhmaṇas Dvi vedi, Trivedi and Chaturvedi.
It means that they knew two Vedas by heart, three Vedas by heart and four Vedas by heart. But there is no family name Ekavedi.
Because every brāhmaṇa knew at least one Veda. Ekavedi to say that he's a kaveri means to say nothing because uh in the in the past everyone knew uh the whole Vedas by heart.
If somebody knew two Vedas, great, three Vedas, four Vedas. But who we are in comparison with this. You know if we if we watch the 2-minute short clip it's already a big achievement in our life.
So how we're supposed to understand the Vedas or to teach Vedas.
And the third reason, the first reason is that they're not available, second reason they are difficult to understand, the third reason is that the different sages explain it in a very contradictory manner.
Tadartha Nirnaya Nirna kanam muninamapi parasparavirodad. Because they are parasparavirodad, because they always argue with each other, this is like this, this is like this.
And you know the even Vedānta-sūtra is explained in a completely different way.
Śaṅkarācārya explained in a very logical way Vedānta-sūtra, and then Madhvācārya says no, this is all rubbish. I will explain it completely differently.
And he uses the same material, the same sūtras, and gives a completely different explanation, completely different ideas.
And Vedānta-sūtra itself, you know, this is the picture of Nyaya Sudha, which is the main book to study for Madhva Sannyasis. They're supposed to study.
It's commentary on commentary, subcommentary on subcommentary on subcommentary. And it's it's literally A4 format books which occupy that much space on the shelf. Just to understand 550 short sutras of Vedānta-sūtra.
So he says, and you know, and then somebody else, and you you try to understand this logic, you become completely convinced, and then you try to understand Shankaracharya and you become completely bewildered by these two great philosophers who explain the same thing in a completely different way.
So therefore, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī happily says, We are done with the Vedas, forget about them, let's put them on the shelf and let's not touch them.
We are going for Purāṇas and Itihāsas because the basis of the modern Hinduism actually is Purāṇas, Purāṇas and Itihāsas. The whole modern uh whatever we call Vedic culture now or remnants of Vedic culture.
It's not based on Vedas, it's based on Purāṇas and Itihāsas. But of course Purāṇas and Itihāsas according to Jīva Gosvāmī and us are Vedic. There's no doubt about it.
But Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata and Purāṇas, all the practices, all the traditions, all the beliefs, all the rituals, all the festivals, everything is based on Purāṇas and partially Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa.
So four reasons why it is better: the laukika Sanskrit, easy Sanskrit. Really easy to understand Sanskrit.
Most of the Purāṇas like Rādhikā Ramaṇa Prabhu explains that the test of when you studied Sanskrit you were supposed to read Ākāśa Purāṇa.
Ākāśa Purāṇa basically means you have to stare at ākāśa at the sky and recite completely how you say this without any preparation the verses of Purāṇa, of new Purāṇa, Ākāśa Purāṇa.
You just look there and spontaneously recite the verses, but they're very simple. They're really easy to understand. It's very easy Sanskrit.
But at the same time, the esoteric meaning is explained through the media of stories, which is very easy to understand. And there is no restriction, anyone can study even like
Śrīla Prabhupāda or rather the transcriber in this famous verse of second canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam where it is said that that's Siberians they can they can understand the Vedas and even the dogs and uh cats and everyone else.
Um of course Siberians it doesn't have any it's uh in the original there are Pulindas, this is the province of ancient India, but it has become Siberia. But anyway it's a it's a great compliment.
Even Siberians can understand can read Puranas and Itihasas. So the Vedas cannot be studied by undisciplined people.
Why it is not recommended or it's not allowed, it's prohibited to study, because to understand Vedas you have to be very clean and very disciplined and very sober and very concentrated in your mind.
But Puranas are recited by Sūta Gosvāmī, who is not a brāhmaṇa himself. And of course, Vyāsa they have specifically created Puranas and Itihāsas for people of Kali-yuga.
So Puranas and Itihāsas they're done, they're Vedic by nature. The stories of Puranas they convey uh very difficult philosophy of the Vedas in a very simple way. They explain cosmology of the Vedas.
Try to figure out the cosmology by reading the Vedas. It's there. Even the even the speed of the light is there in the Vedas.
It's uh it's there uh the how you say this hidden in the Vedas. But uh uh to understand this you have to decipher decipher it. You have to really be very clever.
Like one verse, one simple verse explains or codifies the thirty-five uh digits uh uh after the comma uh in the uh number pi this number pi which is uh endless so uh this just one verse about Krishna and the gopīs explains 35 digits if you know how to how to derive it from there.
So there is a lot of information in the Vedic hymns themselves, but uh it's not possible for us to understand.
You need to really uh go through the rigorous study under the guru and then you can understand the cosmology, theology, ethics, and soteriology. But Puranas are very simple. They are very democratic by nature.
We are living in a very democratic age and therefore Purāṇas are suitable for us.
So the same conclusion and the same source they free from four human defects and therefore they should be considered as reliable as the Vedas. And of course, there are pramāṇas from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that uh the main point of uh argument here is that so many people contest this opinion that Puranas and Itihasas are Vedic.
They say they are not Vedic, they're later creation, uh they are ridiculous like uh this people uh Brahma Samaj. Uh they say the Puranas are bad, this is just creation of immoral people, later creation of immoral people.
Vedas are good, they are very pure. And of course they don't understand anything about the Vedas. But that's the opinion which they say.
So it's not a platitude to prove Puranas avedic and therefore Jiva Goswami uh goes at the great length and he quotes Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he quotes Upanishad, Chandogya Upanishad, which says very clearly that Puranam Panchamam Avedanam Vedam I studied Puranam which is the fifth Veda.
And Vayu Purana says that actually Vyāsadeva he uh while editing the uh verses of the Vedas he combined all the uh one billion verses of the Vedas together and he put them in the Vedas in the proper order so that it could be used ritually and then the remaining there was still the lot of remaining verses.
So he took this remaining verses and that's uh become the origin of Puranas and Itihasas. He basically took all these ideas from the Vedas and invested it in Mahābhārata in Purana and Itihasa.
And it is said very clearly here that Puranas constitute the part of Yajur Veda.
So very important thing that this is Vedic thing and itihasa Puranabhyam Vedam Samupabaramhayat it is verse from Mahābhārata and Manu-saṁhitā repeated twice that you can only understand not only Puranas and itihasas are very you can only understand Vedas with the help of Purana and Itihasa.
You will not be able to understand. Ram Brimhayat means that you have to understand to complete the study of the Vedas by studying Puranas and Itihasas.
And Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī gives that the very definition of Purana, Puranat Puranamiti.
It is called Purana because it's Puranat, because it's completing, because its function is to complete the incomplete Veda. The Veda itself is not complete. You cannot really understand it in its completeness and therefore you have to study Purana.
So not only the Vedic, they are completing the Vedas, they are explanation of the Vedas. And he gives the example that you cannot really complete the golden bracelet by putting lead there.
If they say that Puranas are completing Vedas, they have to be of the same nature. And of course, Vyāsadeva is Kṛṣṇa Himself, he's God Himself. He is our Vyāsadeva.
Vyāsadeva which comes into our Kali Yuga, he is an avatāra of the Lord. Vyāsadeva, he comes and he's the author of Purāṇas. So he comes and then there is this long story about the curse of Gautama Rishi.
I will not go into it. It's an interesting story. But the point of this story is that the Vedas become obsolete even in Dvapara Yuga. No, in Treta, uh, yeah.
It became somewhat distorted, the Vedas became distorted even in Treta Yuga and completely so in Dvapara Yuga.
It is very clearly said in Skanda Purāṇa, in context with this story, because of the curse of Gautama Rishi, Gautama Rishi cursed the brāhmaṇas, the contemporary brāhmaṇas, that they will forget and distort the meaning of the Vedas.
So, what to speak about Kali Yuga, even in Treta Yuga, people already were confused about the meaning of the Vedas. And therefore, because of this, the degradation
speed it up and therefore the devas, devas they approached Brahmā and, uh, therefore devas led by Brahmā and Rudra they approached Nārāyaṇa and the Supreme Person, and they asked him to come as an avatāra to re-establish the meaning of the Vedas.
And that's exactly what Śrīla Vyāsadeva did. He came, it's an avatāra, full-fledged avatāra of Kṛṣṇa, and he came to re-establish the meaning of the Vedas in the form of Purāṇas.
So, yes, let's, yeah, so and Purāṇas, of course, they reveal the personal aspect of the absolute truth which is hidden in the original Vedas. And they are commenting on the Vedas, so that's clear. Okay, uh,
and, uh, this verse is, uh, from Skanda Purāṇa says that somebody who knows, oh brāhmaṇas, one who knows the Vedas along with their supplements, Śikṣā, Vyākaraṇa, Kalpa, Jyotiṣa, etc., Nirukta, and the Upaniṣads, but does not know Purāṇas, is not truly learned.
He doesn't really know, Purāṇas they go into this extent that you may know the Vedas, let's say for the you know for the sake of for the argument's sake, let's say you you study the Vedas.
I I know some Russian people who um one Russian lady she translated all the Vedas into Russian. It's impossible to understand what she translated. I'm sure she didn't understand herself what was there.
But she studied Vedic Sanskrit, she translated it. But what's the use? What's the point? Some Russian former devotees studying Vedas now and are very proud that they're studying Vedas. Good luck.
So let them do it, no problem. But Puranas themselves say: let's say you understand all the Vedas, you don't know Puranas, you're nobody, you're nowhere, you don't know anything.
So again, the logic so far is that we need a pauruṣeya-śabda to understand the absolute truth. The pauruṣeya-śabda is the Vedas. But the Vedas you cannot understand, therefore you must study the Puranas.
The problem is that you cannot understand Puranas either. Because of the same reasons, basically. The three main problems the same. The Puranas are too big, you know.
It's all this shelves and shelves and shelves and shelves. And there are so many different stories. There are 400,000 verses in Mahāpurāṇas only and there are 18 Upapurāṇas. only and there are 18 Upapuranas.
So too much without you know without modern spoiled brain, no way. If we understand the first verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we can consider ourselves lucky. And yeah, Puranas are not completely retained.
So many interpolations there, so many discrepancies, so many uh different stuff is there. And uh of course uh it's very confusing if you uh study yourself.
Different stories, completely different ideas, you know, Shiva is the supreme, Brahmā is the supreme, Krishna is the supreme. Or Ganesh is the Supreme. There is Ganesh Purana.
I was once talking with one follower of Ganesh Purana. He says, My whole family is Ganesh Purana followers so Ganesh Purana clearly says that this is the Purana. Devi Bhagavata Purana speaks that Devi is the Supreme.
Who is the Supreme? What do you understand? So the same three reasons basically you can't understand.
Primacy of Srimad-Bhagavatam as supreme pramana
And then Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī goes on to say that yes, out of all Purāṇas, let's keep all the rājasika Purāṇas and tāmasika Purāṇas. Let's keep sāttvika Purāṇas. Why Satvik Puranas? Because only Satvika Puranas.
Sattva Sanjayatigyanam. Because only sattva can give you the knowledge. Sattvam Yad Brahma-darśanam in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said itself that only sattva can give you brahma-darśana, the vision of the absolute truth.
And if we study, impartially study all the Puranas, we will see that Rajasic and Tamasic Puranas starts with very specific questions. And Satvik Puranas they start with very broad questions. What is the meaning of life?
Who is God? What is the purpose of life and what is the ultimate good for human beings? So Satvik Puranas by nature they explain the higher truth, the absolute truth.
Whereas Rajasik and uh Tamasik Puranas they specifically uh meant for the people who are preoccupied with the very specific questions in life, uh in the very specific areas, and that's why uh Satvik Puranas should be chosen between them.
And anyway uh he goes on, I'm just very briefly explain this. I I have just a few minutes to finish it. Uh there is a crescendo the final statement.
He says after this long, long explanation, he says, uh we would be very happy, would be very lucky if uh we would understand the absolute truth.
If there were if there was one scripture which would fit to definition of Purana, which was Puranic by nature, which would be Oporusheya Authority or non-human source, which contain the all essential ideas of all the Vedas, Satihasas and Puranas.
Be faithful to Brahma Sutra and be completed completely existent without any interpolations or any missing parts.
So if we would find one scripture which would fit the bill, which would fit all these four criteria then everything would be fine. We would understand the absolute truth from this one scripture. And he says Satya Muktam.
He said, well said, well said. He himself, he's really happy. What you are looking for is there, it is the emperor of all pramanas, Chakravarti Bhutam, glorious Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, who possess all these qualities.
In other words, he did all this exercise, and basically by this exercise he proves that this is the main pramana, this is the only pramana, not the main pramana, not the mukhya pramana, the only pramana. Everything else is not necessary because it includes into it everything else.
Madhvacharya himself in his commentary in his Bhagavata-tatparya-nirnaya he quotes Garuda Purana. This verse is not found in the modern version of Garuda Purana, but it's a very important verse for us.
And it is glorifying Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. It says, Atho ayaṁ Brahma-sūtrāṇām. The this is the book which is explaining the Artha, the meaning of Brahma-sūtra.
Bhāratārtha-vinirṇaya, it's explained the artha the meaning of Mahābhārata, Gāyatrī-bhāṣya-rūpāsau, it has the form of Gāyatrī-bhāṣya, the commentary on Gāyatrī, vedārtha-paribṛṁhitam, which again completes the meaning of the Vedas or contains the meaning of
the Vedas in its entirety, purāṇānāṁ sāra-rūpam, purāṇānāṁ sāra-rūpam. It is like Samaveda among the Vedas, it's like the best of the Puranas, like Samaveda is the best of the Vedas, it's
the best of the Purāṇas, and that's Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And sākṣād bhagavat-proktam, and which is spoken by God Himself. So that's the glorification of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. It has all the qualities which we require.
We don't require anything else. If you understand just simple, 18,000 verses of Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam, well done. And that's the confirmation.
If we only understand the 18,000 verses, short short book, just a few volumes like this. We don't need anything else. And yeah.
And very quickly I will go just I I will not even explain the third part, the the third point of this lecture. We will keep it the explanation of the name. So it's the explanation why it is the explanation
Vedānta-sūtra because Vyāsadeva wrote it after the Vedānta-sūtra. He wrote Vedānta-sūtra, he was not satisfied, he knew that it would be confusing. And then he wrote Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
And after Srimad Bhagavatam, he threw out his Apple computer into Ganga. Was no need.
He's meditating ever since. He was completely, he he felt uh complete after writing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. I've done it after Vedānta-sūtra. Now I can rest. Now I can go to retire life and do something funny. But I did it.
So that's the meaning of Vedanta Sutra. Bharatartha Vinirnaya, why is it the explanation of the essence of Mahabharata? What is the essence of Mahābhārata?
Madhvacharya very clearly explains what is the essence of Mahābhārata. The essence of Mahābhārata he says there are so many different stories in Mahābhārata. But what is the essence?
The essence is the relationship between Krishna and the devotees. That's the message, essential message of Mahābhārata. And of course, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the best explanation of this particular meaning.
So and that's why it is very aptly says Bharatartha Vinirṇaya, it explains. Gāyatrī Bhāṣya Rūpa. So, why it is farm the essence of Gāyatrī Mantra?
Because Gāyatrī Mantra, which is Veda Mātā, which is the origin of all the Vedas, is a meditation on God and His energy together and the result of this meditation is prachodayat, is the enthusiasm which we feel, or the
revelation of the Supreme Lord, or enlightenment, prachoda means enlightenment, and that's exactly what is written in the first verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
The first verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is just an elaboration or explanation of Gāyatrī Mantra, Tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye that the truth was revealed in the heart of Brahmā. Why?
Because he, Satyam paraṁ dhīmahi, because he was meditating on the Supreme Truth and this truth was revealed to him, and it was revealed to him uh not as the absolute truth but the absolute truth with its uh energy.
So it's very clear the the very first verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam explaining the essence of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and at the same time it explains the essence of Gayatri Mantra, therefore it is the Gāyatrī Bhāṣya, it's the commentary on Gāyatrī.
And then Vedārtha-pari-bṛṁhitam, because it completes the Vedas, it explains and extolls in detail the Vedas, the again the essence of the Vedas, the essential message of the Vedas, as any other Purana.
And it's the best of the Puranas, as much as Samaveda among the Puranas. Why it is the best of the Puranas? Samaveda, why Samaveda is said the best of the Vedas?
Because Samaveda reconciles the different contradictions in the Vedas. There are different contradictory statements in the Vedas, but uh samaveda reconciles them in the same way.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam reconciles the contradictions uh which are there in different Puranas. Therefore, it's Purananam Samarupaha.
So it's it just brings the common denominator, it explains, it gives the system how to understand uh non-contradictory coherently uh all the Puranas and put all the stories in a in
a complete picture mm while understanding Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. If I understand just one line of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Krishna's two Bhagavatam Swayam, we will understand everything else.
Divine transmission and self-revelatory nature
So, and then Sakshat Bhagavad Bhagavat that it is spoken by Bhagavan himself for that Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, and that will be the last verse or last statement of this class, which is long enough.
This is one of the last verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the last chapter of the 12th canto, last or the penultimate chapter, and the 13th chapter.
It's a beautiful verse which actually resonates with the first verse of Shrimad Bhagavatam. It's written in the same mitra. Kasmayena vibasitoya Matulog Jana Pradipa Pura.
Tadrute Nachanaradayaya Muna Krishnaya Tadrupina, Yogindraya Tat Manatha, Bhavat Rathayaka Runyataha. Tatsudham Vim Malam Vishokam Amritamam saty param dhi mahi satyam param dhi mahi satyam param dimahi.
And the amazing feature of this verse, it is said that I meditate upon this pure, spotless, supreme, absolute truth, who is free from suffering and death, and who is the beginning personally revealed at this incomparable torchlight of knowledge to Brahma.
So it is said here, kasma yena vibasito ya matulo jana pradipumpuradis uh uncomparable atullah jnana pradipa dn the uh deepa the uh torch of jnana.
Tadrupyanachanaradaya Munaya Krishnaya Tadrupina Yogindraya Tatatmanatha Bhagavat.
It is said that whenever Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is being transmitted, it's always transmitted by God Himself, who enters into the heart of the speaker.
Whenever there is a successful transmission of the message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it is spoken. We have to understand that it is spoken by Krishna himself.
Originally, it was spoken by Krishna to Brahma, but then when Brahma was explaining it to Narada, it's not that Brahma was explaining it to Narada, but Krishna through Brahma was explaining it to Narada.
And when Narada was explaining it to Vyāsadeva, it's not that Narada was explaining it to Vyasadev, but Krishna was explaining it through Narada.
And when Vyāsadeva was explaining it to Śukadeva, again the same thing happened.
And when Śukadeva was explaining it to Sūta Gosvāmī, and that was the successful transmission of the message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, God is involved in this process.
So if all the conditions are extolled, if all the conditions are in place, then there will be the participation of an unknown friend of ours who is through us explaining the meaning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
So uh that's the uh that's the self revelatory nature of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the important role of original absolute truths in the transmission of this amazing book.
So that's the characteristics of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that's the glory of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and that's the reason, the logical uh reason uh why our sampradaya does not bother with I mean
for the courtesy's sake, Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa wrote commentary on Brahma-sūtra and it's uh it's a very amazing contribution. Upaniṣads, but in reality it's not necessary.
Just Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam itself is enough to understand the absolute truth. And in fact, everything else we will not help to understand the absolute truth.
But if we study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam properly with the proper mood and attitude, then we will understand everything. We don't need anything else. So I'm amazingly punctual. That's it. I'm done for today.
Thank you very much, Mahārāja, for your presence, for your time and for the enlightening class.
Uh we have um several questions. I have uh compiled them. I don't know if you want to answer them today or next time. No, no, next time. I'm very hungry today. so much for having us. And we look forward to seeing you.
So I will compile all the questions the people ask and I will send it to you. Yes, please. Thank you, Maharaj. I'll be happy. I will do that. Thank you. Thank you very much.