Srimad Bhagavatam Course. Session 4
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · 2025
Chapters
Invocation prayers and opening mantras
Namam Vishnu Padaya Krishna Prastaya Bhutales Srimati Bhaktividanta Swami Nitinami, Namaste Saraswati Devi, Gauravani Pracharini, Nirvisha Sunyavadi, Paschatades are ne vanchakalupatarubiescha
kripa sindhu bevacha patitanampavane bhyovaisnava bhyonawanaha, dzai sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhunitananda Syadvaita Gdhataraas sivadhi guru bhakta vrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare
Hari Hare Rama Hari Rama Rama Rama Hare Hari Janmanja Sayaton Vayata Tartascharte shva viagia swarat, tenibhridaya, dikavay muhanti yaat surah, te Jowim ridam yatini mayoya
tradisargam risha, dam nas we na sadhani rastakuhakam, Satyam Param Dimahi, Satyam Paramhimahi, Satyam paramhimahi, Dharma Projatakaita Votra Paramount Saranam Satam, bedjam vastawam, attravas to shadam ta potraon Mulanam,
srimad Bhavatam Mahamuni krite kim bāra reishara. Sadhya Kridya Varudya te tra kritibis, sus shru shut, stat, Sanat. Ayam pra Jantam anopetamapetak prityam dwaipaya no virahakatara Juhava put,reitan mayatayotaravinetus,
tam sarva Buta Hridayam Muni ma natosmi, Narainam namaskritianarum Cheva Narotamam, Devim Saraswati Vyasam Tatouj Mo Bhagavate Puru Shai Tup Svasastu Vishwasakalah Pasidatam Dyantu Bhutani Sivamitudia Manasha Badrambach
Tadoksha Veshitam Novati Ratya Hai tu ki so Hare Krishna to everyone. I'm uh happy to assume that everyone is present, who is supposed to be present. And as I said, uh in my opinion, uh this class uh
is uh uh it's the end of our introduction, long introduction, unduly long introduction. I recognize it.
But mm in the meantime we made an overview of Tatva Sandarbha of Jiva Gaswamy, which is important, which is the foundation of Gaudiya understanding of Srimad Bhagavatam.
But today's class is especially important because today I will be talking about the whole structure of Shrimad Bhagavatam of all twelve cantos.
As Brahma Tirta Prabhu in his little introductions said, Shrimad Bhagavatam consists of different stories, different questions and answers and conversations.
And unfortunately, while following all these conversations and listening, all these stories, we kind of forget what is the message where Srimad Bhagavatam is bringing us. What is the flow of Srimad Bhagavatam?
Where is this place where Shimad Bhagavatam is supposed to bring us?
So hopefully today if we uh uh really uh think about the topic which I am about to present, we will be able to keep the whole context of Shrimad Bhagavatam in mind. So, yeah, I will skip answers to the questions today.
Methodologies for realizing the absolute truth
And there were only a few questions because the material is very uh important. Uh and um uh then I will uh explain the main methodology.
Last uh class we explained uh Vyaṣṭi-nirdeśa, Vyaṣṭi-nirdeśa, or micro-cosmical understanding Ndesha, or micro-cosmical understanding
of the Absolute Truths presented as Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, how we can understand the absolute truth by looking in the nature of our consciousness and understanding very clearly the nature of our consciousness.
But this is even though it is one of the methodologies adopted by Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to present the absolute truth, it is not the main methodology. It is important, but not the main. The main is samaṣṭi-nirdeśa.
This is the main methodology or macrocosmic methodology of presenting the absolute the nature of absolute truth, or rather, not presenting, revealing
the nature of absolute truth, because ultimately Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the revelation
of absolute truth, and by reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the success of it will be that the absolute truth will be revealed to us or will reveal Himself to us.
And that's of course the ten topics of Mahapurana and the internal correlation.
I will also speak why Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam describes 10 topics in detail, whereas other Purāṇas, even Mahāpurāṇas, they mostly mainly speak about five topics. That's the Purāṇa-lakṣaṇa.
The definition of Purāṇa, Purāṇa is the genre of literature which describes five topics. But Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam does not limit itself to these five topics. It is described, it is ten topics are being revealed.
As the method of revelation, the tenth topic, the absolute truth, āśraya, shelter, or summum bonum as Śrīla Prabhupāda translated this word āśraya. And then I will go deeply into this
description, we will compare the description of 10 topics of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by Śukadeva Gosvāmī in the second Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and by Sūta Gosvāmī in the 12th Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
They're somewhat different, although they're talking about absolutely the same things, but this difference is also quite revealing and will help us to understand deeply the idea behind these 10 topics.
And then very briefly I will describe the distribution of this uh ten topics uh among the twelve Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
This is somewhat controversial topic because different Acharyas have slightly different views, or sometimes quite different views, in this regard.
So we will give a very brief overview of different views, how these 12 topics are distributed among the 10th 10 canto or cantos of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
And at the end, I will reformulate these ten topics as 10 questions which are being answered in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
So basically, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the answer on the six questions asked by the sage of Śaunaka Muni in the first chapter.
But also these ten topics can be presented as ten main questions which Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is giving a very comprehensive answer.
So let's chant these two beautiful verses Asadu Sadhu Tadain Atinicho Chataraka Hana Muncha Kadachi Mampremna Krit Kathayog Spuram. I hope everyone knows what it means.
Tad Madeka Bandu Mad Sangin Mad Guru Man Mahadana Manistarka Madhbhakya, Madananda Namus to Te. So that's the prayers to Simad Bhagavatam. And as I said, I will skip the answer to the questions.
Srimad Bhagavatam as a desired tree
So 10 topics as the main methodology for the realization of absolute truth. First of all, very briefly let's study the metaphor which is given in Padma Purāṇa where Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is compared to the banyan tree.
This banyan tree has twelve main trunks.
As you know, banyan tree has this main trunk and other trunks which are growing alongside and 335 branches and 18,000 leaves, and this tree is being nourished or uh yeah by uh uh By the water of bhakti, which is most important.
So let's uh let's chant this beautiful verse.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatākhyaḥ, Surataruḥ, Sarvānkuraiḥ, Sajjaniḥ, Skandhairdvādaśabhiḥ, Sataḥ, Pravilasad-Bhaktyādivaik- hodvāk-tri-śataṁ chā-yasya vilasach-chhākhāṁ-sahasrālyalaṁ, parṇāyastadaśais tadho, 'ti-sulabho, varvartti, sarvopari.
The divine desire tree called Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is called here surataru. Surataru means the tree which is growing in the center of heavenly planet ruled by Indra.
And we know that Indra is very protective. He does not want to give access to this very precious desired tree, Surataru, to anyone because it's so extremely precious.
But here it is said, atisulabha, even though it's Surataru, it's the desired tree which is growing in the heaven, it's very much available. Not just labha available. Sulabha, easily available.
Not just easily available, at Sulabha, very easily available. So that's the difference between Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the book which is called Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the original Surataru and Tarankura,
the Ankura, the sprout of this tree, the seedling of this tree, or the seed of this tree is Tara. Tara means Omkara. Tara means mantra, which gives liberation.
And Tara is the main Omkara is the main mantra of the Vedas, we know. So it says Tarankura Sajani Skandardvas Skandaih Dva So there are twelve skandhas,
and skanda means skanda, of course, the canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but skanda also means trunk. And very important: pravila sat bhaktia avala udeya. From where this tree is growing, Udaya, from where it appears.
It appears from the water of bhakti which is kept in Avalah.
Avalā is a special perhaps you have seen in India around the trees there is a special kind of creation from the earth, little not fence but little uh how you call it uh to keep the water there. The water uh which is uh given to the tree has to be kept for some time. So this protective little fence or whatever is built from the earth around this tree.
So it is said that this water which is kept in this little reservoir of water around this huge gigantic tree is Prav pravilasat bhakti, not just bhakti. But pravilasat bhakti. Pravilasat.
Vilasat means brilliant bhakti. Pravilasat means extremely brilliant bhakti, extremely bright, extremely powerful bhakti.
This is the water which nourished this amazing tree which is easily available and which can fulfill all our desires, because it's the desired tree. There is 335 chapters.
Superficially reading this verse, you can decide that it's talking about 332 chapters, but it's only superficial reading.
There is this controversial three chapters of the 10th canto which some uh commentators think are not authorized, and some commentators insist that they are very important, this Brahmā Vimochana Līlā.
We will not talk about this controversy now and and this three hundred thirty sorry thirty-five, not 32, 35. 335 chapters are also Vilāsa. They're also very brilliant.
And they are like the branches of this tree and there is many many eighteen thousand parṇa which means leaves and this transcendental book fulfills all desire.
Tad asyāṁ sṛṣṭam ādyatī-sulabha- varvarī sarvopari, and it's the best of all scriptures.
That's the glorification in Padma Purāṇa of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī puts in the beginning in basically maṅgala- caraṇa, his maṅgala-caraṇa to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And that's indeed a very important verse.
So So and uh uh yeah I already explained this. And of course we know that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam itself compares itself.
So that it's also a tree, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is a desired tree, but it's also a ripened fruit of this desired tree.
And Srila Prabhupada explains this in the nectar of devotion: that there are different branches of knowledge in the Vedic writings, including sociology, politics, medicine, and military art.
All this and other branches of knowledge are perfectly described in the Vedas. So as far as the spiritual knowledge is concerned, that is also perfectly described there,
and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is considered to be the ripened fruit of this desireful fulfilling tree. So it's simultaneously, the tree, which describes many different subject matters, but it is also the fruit of this tree.
The most important fruit, which this tree of Vedas, nigama-kalpataru, wants to give to us. Not something which we want to get from this tree, but the fruit which this tree wants to give to us.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda writes about Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam in the beginning of the first canto. And these are selected histories of great devotees who are in direct contact with the personality of God.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the literary incarnation of Lord Shri Krishna and therefore, non-different from him, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam should be worshipped as respectfully as we worship the Lord.
Thereby we can derive the ultimate blessings of the Lord through its careful and patient study. As God is all light, all bliss and all perfection, so also is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
That's why we place Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam on a special asana, and not use Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as the asana for something else.
Concept of substance and relative categories
So we already said that the subject matter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is Vastavam Vastu or Absolute Truths or Ashraya. And this is this nomenclature we will study today.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda writes in the very beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the commentary of the second verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, something which puzzled me when I read it for the first few times.
I couldn't understand the language of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda writes: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is superior to all this because it aims at the Supreme Truth, which is the substance or the root of all categories.
I couldn't understand what is this Supreme Truth, which is the substance, Vastu, using the language of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and why it is the root of all categories and what is this categories?
From Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, one can come to know the substance as well as the categories. So I couldn't understand this language.
The substance is the absolute truth, the Supreme Lord, and all emanations are relative forms of his energy or of energy.
So that makes it a little more clear, the last sentence of this quote, but still not completely clear. So hopefully today it will become absolutely clear.
Basically, what Śrīla Prabhupāda means here is that there are ten topics of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and nine first topics he called categories. And these categories are emanations or relative forms of energy.
Whereas āśraya, by definition, by the meaning of this word is root of all these categories. So that's exactly what Śrīla Prabhupāda means.
He means in the very beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam he implies these ten topics, the āśraya and nine categories or relative forms of energy as Prabhupāda says. Very interesting.
The absolute truth is absolute, but his emanations, emanations which are coming from the absolute truth, are relative forms of forms of energy.
So that's the beautiful presentation of the 10 topics of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam taken from I believe Madhanaraini uh book on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam where Āśraya Krishna is in the middle of the lotus and there are nine petals of this beautiful lotus which we will study in great detail.
Purpose of using secondary characteristics for truth
So the question, the first question which I want to answer, is that why Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam describes the absolute truths through the categories? Why not?
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam directly goes to the description of the svarūpa of the absolute truth. Why do we need descriptions of these relative forms of energy or emanations, as Śrīla Prabhupāda explains, to understand the absolute truth.
The absolute truth by definition does not depend on anything else. You cannot really define the absolute truth by using anything else because otherwise it would not be absolute.
If you want to explain absolute, you have to go directly to the absolute and without reference to anything else, directly describe the absolute, not uh relative forms.
But Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam nevertheless, explains the absolute truths in reference to some relative forms of the energy of the absolute truth. So, and there is a very important reason why.
And basically, the exact same methodology is adopted in Vedānta-sūtra. Both in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and in Vedānta-sūtra, to define something which is unknown to us.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam does not want to give us theoretical knowledge of the absolute truth.
If Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam would present to us absolute truth which is unknown to us in a dogmatic way, here is the absolute truth, take it. Whether you believe it or not, you decide, but you better believe it, otherwise you're doomed and you will rot in hell for the rest of eternity.
It's a possible way of presenting the absolute truth. You don't know anything about the absolute truth.
And somebody who is very bright and intelligent comes to you and says, Here I am, I know the absolute truth, I will reveal it to you, and you will have to believe my words blindly.
So, this is one way, this is a possible way of presenting the absolute truth. But unfortunately, this way of presenting absolute truths will leave
us with the blind faith only. We will have to believe, and if we don't believe, we are nowhere.
And that would be the root cause of dogmatism, of dogmatic religion, which demands as the entry ticket the unquestionable faith.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is not like this. Therefore, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam defines the unknown through something which is known to us. The imperceptible through that which is accessible to our perception.
That's exactly the methodology and that's why it is because ultimately Śrīmad Bhāgavatam does not want us blindly believe in the absolute truth, but Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam wants us to realize the absolute truths.
So this revealing absolute truth through the means of the categories, through the means of the nine previous topics is the way of revealing absolute truths not in a dogmatic way, not in a theoretical way, but in a practical way.
And we will see how it works. So why do I say this?
That this is the same exact methodology as in Vedānta-sūtra? In Vedānta-sūtra, uh the first sūtra says Athāto brahma-jijñāsā. Let's talk about Brahman, let's talk about spirit, let's let's talk about consciousness, let's talk about God, let's talk about absolute truth.
Uh this is now time uh to ask questions about this. And then immediately says uh Janmādy asya yataḥ. What is absolute truth?
Absolute truth is something from which janma ādi asya. Asya means this, something which is available to our senses, something which we can perceive, something which is visible understandable in one sense, not so easily, but at least to a certain extent understandable.
So the Brahman is the source of something which is visible to us. Invisible Brahman is the source of the creation of this world which is visible, asya, which is available to our senses.
And Adi means source of destruction, source of maintenance. And Madhvācārya, of course, says it's also source of knowledge and a source of bewilderment. He gives expanded definition of this Janma Adi, what it means.
So he says that Brahman is the source of knowledge, source of bewilderment, source of happiness, source of miseries, and source of creation, maintenance, and destruction. So So anyway basically
when Vedānta-sūtra defines in the second sūtra, the absolute truths as something which is which is uh from which this world is coming, uh the Upanishadic passage from which it is derived.
This particular sūtra is derived from this passage from Taittirīya Upaniṣad. Very important. Yatova imani butani jayante, yana jatani jivanti, yat prayanta bina samvishanti tat uhigya sasva tad Brahma. So what is Brahman?
This is the definition of Taittiriya Upanishad, which is given in this sutra, Janmady asya yatah. Yataha Ba imani bhutani jayanti, yataha, from which? It's ablative case.
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains it beautifully in The Teachings of Lord Chaitanya. He says that absolute truth is when we define absolute truth, we have to answer the three questions from which,
by which, and uh into uh what? So absolute truth is Yataha, Yana, and Yat. There are three uh relative pronouns here which indicate
the ablative case from which Yataha, instrumental case, yana by which, and locative case, yat or Yasmin, in which. So what is absolute truth?
The definition of absolute truth in Upanishads is from which all this living entities, Imani, Bhutani, Jayante, are coming by which Yana, Jatani Jivanti, by which they maintain their life and into which they are ultimately entering at the end.
So that's the definition, uh, and this is adopted in Vedānta-sūtra.
And as I said, uh, amazingly enough, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam uh is also defining the absolute truth by the same means, by adopting the method of taṭastha-lakṣaṇa. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī describes two methods of defining something.
One is svarūpa-lakṣaṇa. The example which is given: if you want to describe something to somebody, you can describe it svarūpa. What is the form of this? What is the permanent unchanging characteristics of this?
You can say that the house in which Krishna das lives has white walls and red roof and so many windows. But then you can also point out and say, see, the crow is sitting on the on this roof.
This is the house of Krishna Das. So svarūpa-lakṣaṇa is this, when we're describing the svarūpa or the form of this substance or subject which we want to describe.
But then we can also adopt or employ taṭastha- Lakṣaṇa and taṭastha-lakṣaṇa, it's important but accidental features, not permanent features, which are not always present in defined object, but by which it can be easily recognized.
So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, as well as Vedānta-sūtra, uses taṭastha lakṣaṇa for defining the absolute truth. Janmādy asya yataḥ. So why? There are three important reasons why taṭastha lakṣaṇa, not svarūpa lakṣaṇa, is used.
Of course, svarūpa lakṣaṇa is described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. But first of all, svarūpa is, uh, is something, uh, especially when it comes to Brahman. It's very difficult to define Swarupa.
Of course, you can always, uh, say that svarūpa is, uh, what is Swarupa? svarūpa means beautiful, young, cowherd boy with lotus-like eyes, with peacock feather and with kaustubha gem on his chest.
And if you happen to see him, please know this is the absolute truth. This is one way of describing it.
Upaniṣads, knowing that it would be difficult from the very beginning to accept this kind of definition of the absolute truth, prefers to define the absolute truth through the media of neti-neti.
He's not this, he's not that. Look at this world, he's not this, he's not that, he's not this, he's not that. So this negative way of explaining absolute truths is adopted. That's the methodology adopted in many Upanishads.
Not all. I already quoted Taittirīya Upaniṣad, and Vedānta-sūtra basically says, no, this is not the main methodology of Upaniṣads.
But sometimes people say that this is the only way to describe the absolute truth because we don't know, so we can only know it by negation. But actually it's not true. We can speak positively about Bhagavān.
As I said, we can define Bhagavān from his svarūpa. He has a girl, he has a beautiful garland around his neck. He has the pearl necklace. But who would believe these descriptions? Who will accept these descriptions?
Only those people who are kind of believers. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam does not want to turn us into blind believers. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam tells us in a very beautiful way. Here we are.
I will show you the svarūpa of Absolute Truth. I will reveal to you the svarūpa of Absolute Truth. If you go with me through a particular journey, If you travel with me through something which you can practically test.
You don't have to believe anything. Just go with me, and you will have a certain experience.
And by having this experience, ultimately, when you see the Absolute Truth, when you have the eyes to see the Absolute Truth, the Absolute Truth will reveal to you.
So even though the infinite svarūpa always remains within itself, the svarūpa simultaneously manifests itself in the form of innumerable śakti.
Retreating into the depths and eluding any definition as such, it manifests itself outwardly in the form of energies and thus makes itself available for expression.
So again, why Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam does not give immediately, does not start from this description of svarūpa of the absolute truths, three reasons for this. First of all, because we don't have direct experience of God.
And therefore, if Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam starts describing this svarūpa, inevitably we will project our material experience into these descriptions and ultimately we will be misled.
Instead of understanding the absolute truth as it is, Kṛṣṇa, instead of having the revelation of the absolute truth, we will find ourselves watching a Bollywood movie.
There is a great difference between watching a Bollywood movie and meeting Lord Krishna face to face. So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam does not want us to have a false impression that we are in a Bollywood movie.
It says, no, no, please don't be in a hurry. I will show you the absolute truth, but please don't be in a hurry. So then the next reason is that actually there is an invisible root of everything.
So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam describes this invisible root by describing the visible reality. And this is the scientific method.
Actually, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is a complete science of consciousness, of the nature of consciousness, the deepest reality which is there, that the consciousness is the root cause of everything, and this consciousness is
not just impersonal consciousness, not just formless knowledge. It's very much personal consciousness, which is the root cause. So root is not visible.
We can see the tree, we can see the branches, we can see the fruits, uh, but root is not visible, and science to understand the
cause for something, it uh studies something which is available, which could be studied, uh, which is available for our investigation, and by this science is trying to understand invisible cause. Causes invisible the uh uh
the cause uh the effect is visible so by studying the effects we can try to understand cause the same methodology is adopted by Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
So first reason because Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam does not want uh to us to project our material experience onto the realm of the absolute truth. Second, because it wants to reveal to us something which is invisible to us.
And the third, very important, because Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam wants to give us a parokṣa-jñāna. Not theoretical knowledge, but direct knowledge. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is not the theory, is not the theoretical book about God.
Like there are some books which give some indications of about God, but ultimately it does not claim no other book has such high claim, such lofty claim, only Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Immediately the absolute truth become arrested in the core of our heart when we desire to hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam if we are free of all Anarthas, if our heart is free.
So aparokṣa-jñāna, the difference between aparokṣa-jñāna and parokṣa-jñāna is that aparokṣa-jñāna becomes a part of us. Parokṣa-jñāna can be forgotten.
In the old age, when we become senile or when we you know lose our marbles and experience some problems of the old age we we may forget so many things. But the point is that all those things which we forgot were just indirect knowledge.
Aparokṣa-jñāna becomes part of our svarūpa and it can never be forgotten. It remains with us. It becomes part of us.
So the knowledge which Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam wants to give us, this realized knowledge of the absolute truth.
Like gross example, crude example, not perhaps very accurate example, but you know you may theoretically know how to swim or how to ride bicycle.
But uh and you may forget this theory, but if you learn how to swim, if you have this skill or if you know how to ride bicycle, you will never forget it.
You may ride bicycle when you're 6 years old, and then 60 years after you sit down on a bicycle and you still remember how to ride on the bicycle because it's a parokṣa, it's direct knowledge, not indirect knowledge.
So therefore, to receive, to to help us, to facilitate us to receive darśana of Bhagavān to get the aparokṣa-jñāna it first describes nine topics or categories using Śrīla Prabhupāda's language, so that we can thereafter obtain realized knowledge of the absolute truth or substance or summum bonum again
using Śrīla Prabhupāda's language. So basically, we have, in other words, we have to understand first how Krishna manifests himself in this world. How Krishna manifests Himself in our life, how Krishna
manifests Himself in our destiny, in our In our mind, how everything which is available to us is emanation from Krishna, how this proper relationship between this world and Krishna, then only
while reading the descriptions of svarūpa of Kṛṣṇa in the 10th Canto of Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam, we will understand. Yes, that's him. I already know. This is This is him.
I already intuitively kind of I'm ready to recognize him in this form. Because I already, uh, I'm already somewhat familiar with him by studying the nature of the world available to me.
That's why janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarat cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ svarāṭ. That's why the first verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam starts with this, indicating the main methodology of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
The substance is the absolute truth and the Supreme Lord, and all emanations are relative forms of energy available to us.
Purana definitions and ten Mahapurana topics
So what are these? And that is why Srimad Bhagavatam is not satisfied with the five characteristics of Purana.
There is very famous Purāṇa-pañca-lakṣaṇa, which is given in many, many Purāṇas: in Kūrma Purāṇa, in Garuḍa Purāṇa, in Viṣṇu Purāṇa, in many places, in Viṣṇu Purāṇa, in Matsya Purāṇa, the same definition of Purana is given.
Sargaś ca pratisargaś ca vaṁśo manvantarāṇi ca Vamsa no chari Tam Chaiti Puranam Pancha Lakshanam. So this is five characteristics which defines Purana. Purana is the literature which is talking about creation,
primary creation, secondary creation, about dynasties, first and foremost, Moon Dynasty and Sun Dynasty, about Manvantara, and about different kings of different dynasties, of these two main Vedic dynasties. So that's it.
Dynasties, histories of the king, histories of different Manvantara, and Sarga and Pratisarga. So that's Matsya Purana, but the same exact verse is repeated in many, many Puranas. That's the common characteristics.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives completely different definition of its topics. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says that the find five topics is just the description of Upa Puranas, Alpapuranas, Small Puranas. Mahāpurāṇa has ten features.
So this is another very important remarkable feature of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. It often gives new definitions to the familiar concepts. Every other Purana gives one definition, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives different definition.
No, not five, ten. And even though these ten topics are also described in other Mahāpurāṇas. Maybe not all of them, but they are touched upon.
But nowhere they are described with such comprehensive and so consistently as in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Other Puranas give prominence to the five topics.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam very prominently describes ten topics which we should know. So this is the verse which we should definitely know by heart.
As much as the verses of Vyāsadeva's trans, as much As much as the Ātmarāma śloka. So this is the as much as the second verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and of course,
first verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Maṅgalācaraṇa for the whole Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. But this is very important verse for today's class. Utayaha, Manvantareesha Nukatha, Nirodho, Muktir Ashraya. So these are the five topics.
First two the same, Sarga and Visarga. Primary creation and secondary creation. We will go into details of what it means today only. And stanam means planetary systems. Sthanam means many different things.
Sthanam means basically the laws of creation, laws of according to which this creation is composed or is created. Poshanam the means of sustenance, ūtaya, the substance Psychological makeup.
The mental matrix which is working within us, this is Utaha, creative impetus, as Śrīla Prabhupāda translates here. Manvantara, different periods of the history of humanity, what was happening there.
And īśānukathā, and the stories about incarnations of the Lord and great devotees. Īśānukathā, not about the Lord, but about the great devotees.
Niroda, the destruction of this world or to the destruction of our conditioning and mukti, liberation from this, and ultimately the tenth one, āśraya.
So this is the definition in the Second Canto to the first verse of the tenth chapter. And peculiar there is a different definition given by uh by uh Sūta Gosvāmī.
This is the definition given by the first definition by Śaun-- uh by Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Sūta Gosvāmī says something superficially different.
Sargas asyātha visargas ca vṛttir rakṣāntarāṇi ca vaṁśo vaṁśānucaritaṁ samaḥ vṛttayaḥ samsthā hetur apāśrayaḥ.
So again superficially we may say that something is different says here, but ultimately, it's the same thing. And we will show how ultimately it is the same thing. So it speaks about sarga and visarga.
Then vriti, vrithi basically means of sustenance how we should how we're being maintained what work we should do to maintain ourselves raksha the protection
vaṁśo vaṁśānucaritaṁ saṁsthā, saṁsthā means Vamsa dynasties and the stories of different kings. saṁsthā means destruction, hetu means the reason, and āśraya ity apāśraya means shelter.
So first of all there is anyway we will we will in detail speak about this when we come uh to the analysis of these categories.
Let's first uh go into uh uh so this is the ten topics according to our according Śukadeva Gosvāmī. So let's uh let's talk a little bit about this to get the complete picture. To get the very clear complete picture.
So this ten topics related to each other. They are very much interrelated. And these ten topics are related to each other as parts of the whole. So Srimad Bhagavatam is describing complete reality.
And complete reality is, of course, Ashraya, Krishna, who is in the center, but by describing visible reality through
the nine first topics of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it helps us or facilitates our understanding of complete reality or ashraya. And to have the complete picture and to function in this complete picture.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam wants to give us this beautiful picture of reality in which we can be productive, functional, happy, and at the same time realizing the absolute truth.
Interconnection and evolution of the ten topics
Live productively in this world, but at the same time not losing the context of reality, not losing the most important essence of this reality.
So, first energy of the Lord which is being described in Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam is Srishti Shakti, the energy of creation.
And this Srishti Shakti, the energy of creation of the Lord, as coming Coming back to this quote which is important for our lesson today.
The substance is the absolute truth and the Supreme, the Supreme Lord and all emanations are relative forms of energy. So what are these forms of energy? What are these relative forms of energy?
So the first form of energy is Srishti Shakti, the creative energy of the Lord. And we know in the third canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Lord Brahmā, he prays to the creative energy of the Lord this Srishti Shakti.
So this Srishti Shakti, what it does, it arranges the stage to unfold the drama of this world or to unfold the drama of our life. And we should be very clear to know how the stage is created.
What is the composition of this stage? What is the nature of our inner being.
So the second creation is the secondary creation, this Visarga secondary creation is basically this description after creating this world which is meant for us, the Lord created this world for us.
Like there is this famous story about Sacinandana Mahārāja being young bhakta, challenging Śrīla Prabhupāda. Why did Krishna create this world? And this world is so imperfect. Why did he create this world?
Śrīla Prabhupāda looked at Sachinand Maharaj and said, Krishna didn't create this world. You created this world. You. You are responsible for this.
So, in one sense, yes, Krishna created this world to fulfill our desires, to facilitate fulfilling our desires.
And he created this world to help us to fulfill our desires, but he also behind the secondary creation by giving us these bodies.
This body is the special gift of the Lord according to our karma to help us to fulfill all our desires. So that's Visarga.
So, therefore, in the fourth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, there are two dynasties described: the dynasty of Dharma and dynasty of Adharma.
Basically, uh, even there in the secondary creation, the creation of these bodies, uh, and, uh, how this world is facilitating for us to achieve our goals: dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa.
We can try to achieve these goals by impious means through adharma, and we can try to achieve the same means by following dharma.
And therefore, these two dynasties, this is also included into the topic of secondary creation.
So first creation is the creation of the sin of the stage, secondary creation, creation of the bodies through which we fulfill our desires, and, uh, dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa, the goals which we have.
Basically, we have four main categories of desires. All our desires are can fall into these four categories. So this is sṛṣṭi-śakti, sṛṣṭi-śakti or creative energy of the Lord.
The next śakti, which is being described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, is sthiti- śakti. And the energy of maintenance. The energy by which the Lord sustains life.
Can you imagine the disaster if the Lord only had sṛṣṭi- śakti, creative energy, if He would create this world, but somehow or other He didn't, He was not equipped with sthiti-śakti. And this world would be totally empty and nobody would have enough food to maintain himself.
Amazingly, Lord Krishna created this world, and everyone in this world somehow or other has enough food uh and uh
everything which basically we need. And if we don't need uh something, if we don't have something mm maybe we don't need it or whatever.
Anyways, sthiti-śakti, what it means, how Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam beautifully describes this sthiti-śakti. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam beautifully describes this sthiti-śakti. Sthiti-śakti basically is description of natural boundaries.
Everyone, or everything in this world has its own place. Like sometimes people having this very developed imagination, they want to have something which is which is not their destiny. So, sthiti-śakti does not allow this.
There are natural boundaries and the laws that govern life so that everyone could have everything which she needs, not more and not less. So that's what sthiti-śakti does.
It basically gives allotted uh part uh to everyone uh tena tyak tena bhuñjīthā mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam uh According to the first verse of Īśopaniṣad.
So the Lord sustains everyone, both those who are following the path of dharma and those who are following the path of adharma. Sinners and righteous. But he also wants to give special mercy.
So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in one sense, describes the mechanism of universal sustenance and the universal laws which maintain the balance in this world, but it also describes the special mercy which one can obtain.
So that's uh sthiti-śakti, and that's basically the uh very important topic of the fifth canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but I'm uh going a little ahead of myself. So the next topic: poṣaṇam, poṣaṇam means nourishment.
It's basically explanation of the evolution of human being. Mercy sustains, poṣaṇam is the explanation of anugraha-śakti of the Lord. How in this world, sooner or later, we have impetus to evolve.
How everyone actually wants to evolve, but most of the people are bewildered. They don't know in which direction they should evolve, and they think that evolution means material evolution.
Evolution means increasing our material happiness, material wealth, material health, and so on and so forth. So poṣaṇam is the description how within this sthiti-śakti the main Shakti of the Lord is operating?
How within this world which is created by Srishti Shakti and maintained by Stiti Shakti, the Nugraha Shakti manifests itself, the energy of Lord's mercy.
It's a very it's uh perhaps the most important topic, uh preliminary topic of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and that's the topic of the sixth canto.
How amazing mercy can come upon us and how we should aspire, and how we should be encouraged, that everyone is actually eligible to receive this Anugraha Shakti.
This Anugraha Shakti um the Tantras they describe eight fold uh lotus, uh eight petal lotus uh with eight Shaktis of the Lord, like Vimala and so on and so forth.
But in the center of this lotus, the main Shakti of the Lord is residing. This is Anugraha Shakti or Kripa Shakti, the Shakti of Mercy.
And this Sanskrit word anugraha, which Śukadeva Gosvāmī is using there, is very important. Anugraha means, Anu means behind, Graha means to hold.
Basically, if we understand that how Anugraha Shakti operates in this world, we will be able to understand how the Lord is present in our life and how He is pushing us from behind.
How He is gently pushing us to evolve, to expand our consciousness and ultimately come to Him. Anugraha means pushing energy. So the Lord is pushing us from behind. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also explains this mechanism.
We have our desires, we receive specific bodies to fulfill these desires.
We receive the energy, the nourishment to fulfill our desires by anugraha, by the mercy of the Lord, and we start acting. And actions create some saṁskāras, and some saṁskāras give rise to different desires.
We act in a particular way and desires are being developed by material activities. So it's it's a vicious circle.
Initially we have to desire to enjoy and the facilities are given to us, and the nourishment, the energy is given to us to act in this world. But then by acting in this world, we create new desires and new desires, and new desires create new actions, and new actions create new desires, and it's going on perpetually.
So this is the next topic, which is described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, ūti, the impetus, the creative impetus, which we have to understand very clearly how it works within us to be able to employ or utilize this impetus to ultimately achieve the Lord.
So karma vasana's the reactions of our past actions determine behavior of different people and different natures of people.
Ūti, basically, the description of different natures, and two paradigmatic uh natures which are there in this world, uh paradigmatic natures which are there in this world: Āsuri nature and Daiva-sampad and Āsuri-sampad, demonic nature and divine nature, as described by Krishna in Bhagavad-gītā.
So basically, it explains the mechanism of evolution of the living entities and also the mechanism of degradation of the living entity. And then the next topic is Manvantara.
Manvantara is describing the rules which those people who want to evolve should follow.
Before the previous topic explained that if you want to evolve uh you know this is what you should do uh and if uh if you uh don't mind to degrade, this is what you could do.
So more clearly it is explained in the next Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and this is, basically, the next topic. Manvantara. Manvantara manu means manu means thinking. Therefore, we all call we are called man from Manu.
Manu is somebody who has mind who is thoughtful. So the next topic, sad-dharma or Manvantara.
It's actually rule of the manu who establishing certain laws after deliberating on the nature of reality. This Mānava-dharma-śāstra or Laws of Manu is a very important book which describes exactly this. It describes which rules we should follow if we understand the nature of reality.
And if we don't understand the nature of reality, we can follow the Constitution of United States or any other law. It's up to us. So that's the next topic. The eighth topic—no, yeah, whatever, sixth topic.
So then Īśānukathā, different manifestations of devotion. And while describing this, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, after establishing the rules, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, uh, says that, uh, the essence of sadharma is actually devotion to the Supreme Lord.
How you can obtain this devotion to the Supreme Lord just by listening to how other people were devoted to him.
The great devotees of the past, in a very natural, spontaneous way, your consciousness will turn toward the Lord and devotion will appear. So this is the next topic.
They're all very closely interconnected, and it's the whole evolution from Sarga to Visarga to Stanam to Poshanam to Uti and now to Manvantara and Isha Nukatha. So this is how Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is turning us.
See, this is your situation in this world. And if you really understand the previous topics, here for you we are presenting the next topic, Isha Nukatha, by which you can develop bhakti, devotion to the Lord.
So and then niroda. Niroda means dissolution, and the dissolution can be of two types: it can be dissolution of this material world for those jivas who still have karma
and who still have the desire to enjoy in this material world, they at the end of the day of Brahmā they will be totally dissolved and they will sleep for a long time without any sleeping pills in a very peaceful way in the body of Mahā-Viṣṇu for some time, and then the new cycle of creation will start.
So this is Niroda, the description of the futility of material endeavors for those people or for those foolish souls who don't understand the nature of reality.
So for them the destruction of this material world is being described in Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam simultaneously from the very beginning describes all the topics, all 10 topics, not 10 topics,
9 topics, like using two tracks, or maybe eight topics, using two tracks. One track is about the, uh, baddha jīvas. What happens with baddha jīvas, with conditioned, uh, living entities?
Like there will be in the third canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, there will be baddha-sṛṣṭi and mukti-sṛṣṭi. The creation which entangles you and the creation which liberates you. So there will be this description.
So everywhere, and then dharma and adharma is described in the dynasty of the two in the fourth canto, and demonic and divine natures are described in the seventh canto. So Niroda also means may mean two things.
One Niroda means dissolution of this material world.
And another meaning of niroda is the dissolution of your saṁskāras, purification of your heart. How by listening īśā-kathā and turning your consciousness towards the Lord you will destroy all deeply rooted saṁskāras of material enjoyments, and how you will be able in this way to get free.
So, and therefore the next topic is mukti, liberation. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says, of course, that liberation does not mean just liberation. Liberation means a very specific kind of liberation.
It's the restoration of one's svarūpa, re-establishment one in one eternal relationship with the Lord, or rather the finding our relationship with the Lord in one sense.
So when, uh, jīva transcends the concept of material identity by offering the pure self in unalloyed devotion to Bhagavān, he is freed from both his subtle and gross bodies and becomes established in his original nature.
So that's the nine topics, and the tenth topic is of course Ashraya. So there is a little controversy: why are there two topics, mukti and niroda? If niroda, uh, means purification of the heart, why do you need mukti?
Niroda implies mukti. You can only say mukti. And actually, when Sūta Gosvāmī defines ten topics, he uses only one. Saṁsthā. Saṁsthā means both niroda and mukti. He merges these two topics into one.
But in reality there is a very important concept behind describing these two things separately. Niroda is just preliminary purification of the heart, but mukti is the establishment in one's svarūpa or formation of svarūpa.
So niroda is just the destruction, but mukti is something much more positive. This is again a very new concept relative to previous concepts of mukti.
Muktir hitvānyatva-rūpaṁ svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ. The establishment in one's svarūpa. So we can clearly see that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is describing a different path of climbing a very high mountain.
Like those people who are climbing mountains mountaineers they know how difficult it is to go up and up and up.
And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is describing the easy pass to reach the pinnacle. It describes to us how by understanding these nine subject matters we can ultimately achieve ashraya, the highest pinnacle of reality.
So we should keep in mind this metaphor. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the climbing on a very on a everest, spiritual everest.
Through this Sarga primary creation visarga creation of the bodies with desires, tanam, the creation of different laws and boundaries, potionam, the nourishment and different natures which are being formed through this and hopefully if intelligent enough we will try to cultivate our divine nature and in this way we will follow the laws of Manu and we will understand that the highest uh regulation or rule which is established by Manu uh is to uh hear about the devotion
of great devotees and therefore, Isha Nukatha, the next topic. Then Niroda, in a very natural, spontaneous way, our heart will be purified.
And after purification of our heart, we will define ourselves in relationship with the Lord. We will feel this connection between us and the Lord.
And by feeling connection, we will reach ultimately Ashraya, the highest topic. And in this way the goal of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam will be achieved. So I still have some time.
Direct and indirect methods of revealing shelter
I I actually wanted to finish earlier, but there is a lot of things to be said. So I will quickly go through the remaining ways.
In second canto, in the s in in the very second verse of the chapter, Śukadeva Gosvāmī says that to isolate the transcendence of the summum bonum, this is Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation of āśraya. The symptoms of the rest are described sometimes by Vedic references, Varnayanti, Mahatmana, the great sages Mahatmana, they Varnayanti, they describe sometimes by direct explanation, Srutena Arthena.
Shruti means here not shruti, not the scriptures. Here shruti means direct explanation.
When you directly say this is uh this is how it is and sometimes it is given by summary explanation given by great uh sages, Chandasa.
So basically, what it means that this all these ten topics, starting with Sarga and ending with ashraya, sometimes are described directly, and sometimes they are described indirectly through the stories.
These two methods are very important to understand the mm, the example is very simple. Yeah, I will skip this. Uh uh for example, when uh
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam explains that Maharaja Parikshit is listening Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and by listening Śukadeva Gosvāmī he ultimately achieves the darshan of the Supreme Lord, that's the direct description of āśraya.
And when we hear the story, how for example how Śukadeva Gosvāmī just by listening process of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam uh became completely uh enchanted and uh uh Enamored by the qualities
of the Supreme Lord ātmārāmas ca munayo nirgrantha apy urukrame kurvanty ahaitukīṁ bhaktim ittham-bhūta-guṇo hariḥ. Gunai Harihi. When we hear this, this is an indirect description of the qualities of the absolute truth.
By describing the story how Śukadeva Gosvāmī was completely renounced and still he was attracted, we get some idea. So these two methods are being adopted in Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam.
And a very important word here is viśuddhy-arthaṁ to uh like Śrīla Prabhupāda translates this to isolate the absolute truth, to clarify the absolute truth.
We should to make it very, very clear how how we can very clearly understand the absolute truth. To facilitate us, to help us to do this, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam goes through this whole uh difficult route.
Difficult but at the same time easy route, uh, starting from uh Sarga.
Because again, we will never have clear and convincing picture or conception of the absolute truth without going through this root, without going through all the twelfth cantos of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or first nine cantos of Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam.
Only because of this we will be able to understand Ashraya. Śrīla Prabhupāda of course in the introduction he always warns us.
Unfortunately, unintelligent people turn at once to the sports of Krishna in the Daśa Skandha, the tenth canto.
Krishna's embracing Rādhārāṇī, or his dancing with cowherd girls in the Rāsa dance are generally not understood by ordinary men because they consider these pastimes in the light of mundane lust.
They foolishly think that Krishna is like themselves and that he embraces Gopi just as an ordinary man embraces a young girl.
So Śrīla Prabhupāda explains in his own way why we should follow Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and why we should understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the 1st Canto till the 12th Canto. So, yeah, this is I already, varnayanti mahātmanas,
you know, the story Parīkṣit, uh, yeah, the story how Parīkṣit, uh, was saved in the womb of Uttarā and description of Bhagavān's mercy and, uh, his omnipotence.
And the story of Śukadeva Gosvāmī's attraction to hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in direct descriptions.
Topic lists in Canto two and twelve
So, direct and indirect descriptions. Now let's go into little details.
I already more or less, uh, described these 10 topics and why these 10 topics are so important and how these 10 topics ultimately bring us, uh, into the direct darśana of the Supreme Absolute Truth.
So let's see the definitions and compare the definitions in 12th Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and then the second Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. We will follow the second Canto the scheme, but we will also adopt something.
This is the verses from the 12th Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, describing the ten verses but defining them somewhat differently.
We don't see uti here, we don't see, we don't see nirodha, as I, sorry, we don't see mukti here. Instead, we see vaṁśa, vaṁśānucaritaṁ here. And we don't see poṣaṇaṁ, we see vṛtti instead, and we see rakṣā.
So it seems superficially it seems different, but actually it's not different. It's the same description. So let's go into a little more details. That's clear.
The elementary creation basically the creation of 16 items of matter. Five elements, sound, form, taste, and this is sarga. Sarga is the creation of the scene.
And basically the same is described in the 12th Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. How the Lord agitates the balanced material nature. No difference, the same.
So this is the Bhāgavatam Sāṅkhya, we all know this very important thing.
And it is explained in the, uh, 12th Canto that there is two creations: alaukika creation, creation of demigods who protect the world from sāttvika-ahaṅkāra and laukika creation, creation of primary elements and creation of the bodies of the jīvas.
So then visarga, visarga, we already explained it's secondary creation, creation of the bodies, resultant creations and creation of the planets also creation by Lord Brahma, how it is explained in the second Canto.
In the Twelfth Canto it's said the secondary creation which exists by the mercy of the Lord is manifest amalgamation of the desires of the living entities. Very important.
Secondary creation basically means vāsana-mayī visarga. Visarga means you know, you you got the body, which is the amalgamation of all your previous desires. Don't complain about your body.
Don't say that this is this body is not suitable. This is exactly what you wanted. This is Vasanamai, amalgamation of the desires of the living entities.
Just as a seed produces additional seeds, activities that promote material desires in the performance produce moving and non-moving living forms. That's the second visarga.
Production of different forms of living entities. Vāsana-mayī. So anyway, so that's visarga vāsana. How vasanas are creating our bodies.
Vāsanās means very strong and deep saṁskāras within our mind, which are fundamental and which can be visible in our charts, astrological charts, and so on and so forth. So, stanam, very important definition.
What is sthiti vaikuntha-vijaya? Śukadeva Gosvāmī says. Stiti means vaikuntha-vijaya, basically means it's the victory of the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha. Very strange, very enigmatic definition.
But basically, it means that there is this whole creation fourteen planetary system and there is Vaikunta. And there is Vaikuntha. And Vaikuntha is the highest uh uh highest uh creation.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda explains this: it is the duty of all conditioned souls to acknowledge the victory of the Lord and thus become pure devotees and live peacefully within the Lord.
So that's the next topic, very important. The world is created in such a way to give us understanding that we should follow the laws of the Lord. And therefore the hellish planets are there.
Why why so many hellish planets are there?
Sometimes people say because sthiti vaikuntha-vijaya it is to indicate to foolish living entities there are laws, there are boundaries and there is very clear structure and we have to recognise it and to accept this structure as an important part of reality.
So this is sthiti-vaikuntha-vijaya. The analogous topic defined by Sutta Gaswami in the 12th canto is called vritti, which adds to our understanding what it means to follow the law, what
it means to recognize the victory of the Lord. Vritti basically means the maintenance of the living entities, how we are getting our sustenance, how we get our means to maintain ourselves.
It basically means what kind of occupation we should do, what we should eat, what we should not eat.
So basically it means that you can try to maintain yourself by violating, by breaking the laws of the Lord, or you can try to maintain yourself according to the laws of the Lord.
So this is uh this next topic. To understand, to make us understand that we should live in this world by following the laws of the Lord, and that basically means that we should sustain
us our existence in legitimate ways. We should never try to do something illegitimate, breaking the laws of the Lord, killing other living entities which are not supposed to be killed uh and uh breaking breaking so many other things.
We should never do this. Therefore it is called vṛtti. Stiti or sthāna also means vṛtti, how we should maintain ourselves according to the will of the Lord.
Like for example, Śrīla Prabhupāda always said that human beings are not supposed to eat meat. So that's what it basically means: the understanding of what is allotted to us as our part.
And this famous verse from the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, how everyone is given its food, and we should not eat the food which is not suitable for us.
And poṣaṇaṁ tad-anugraha, that's the definition from the second canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that this is his mercy, poṣaṇa.
Then ultimately, we have to understand: yes, everything is given to us by the Supreme Lord, and we should understand that we are obliged to him.
Instead, Śrīla Prabhupāda says, being unaware of this very simple fact because of of this very simple fact because of forgetting their relationship with the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha, they try to plan out a permanent life in this material world.
Being illusioned by the external energy, they thus become engaged in various types of economic and religious development, forgetting that I am meant for going back home, back to Godhead.
So potionam basically means gratitude. Posanam means Tadanugraha, the awareness
of the mercy of the Lord, that every day when we get up and see sun on the sky and being able to breeze and being able to see this world we should understand this is His mercy, Tada Nugha.
We're living because of His mercy, and instead we are trying to make some plans how to improve our existence. So the corresponding
item in the list of Śukadeva Gosvāmī is Rakṣā. Raksha means of course protection. Protection by the Lord. So the next topic: potionam uh basically means that we are protected by the Lord.
The awareness that the Lord is maintaining us but also protecting us. Anukulyasya sakan pa, sankal pach, prati kulyasya varja nam, rakshishya titi vishva so gop tritve vara nam tatha.
So uh these two points they are uh interconnected. Posanuma also means structure. The Lord is maintaining us, and the Lord is always protecting us.
And He also protects Vedic culture. He ultimately destroys the enemies of Vedic culture and He protects those people who follow Vedic culture.
So, Manvantara, it's simple, it's basically, yeah, Manvantara Manvantarani Saddharma. Sukadeva Gaswami says it's saddharma, it's the explanation of eternal duties of living entities.
An eternal duty of living entity ultimately surrender to the Lord. We have so many duties: Ashrama Dharma, Varna Dharma, so many different duties, but the eternal duty which we have is surrender to the Lord.
So that's the definition from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, sad-dharma duty performed for going back to Godhead and thus becoming His Analloy Devotees is the only pious activity.
So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is impressing upon us. Yes, there are so many different rules, but ultimately the only pious activities is to become his unalloyed devotee.
And therefore, Vṛtrāsura and uh Ajamila very sinful men are given as example of this: demonic Vṛtrāsura and Ajamila. Yes, they didn't follow ordinary Dharma, but they followed sad dharma.
And that's the real essence of Manvantara, rule of Manu, who establishes the ultimate laws for the human beings.
And that's the definition from the 12th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that Manvantara also includes description of different Manus, chief demigods, sons of Manu, Indra, great sages, and partial incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead who come.
So that's also description that's also there. That's also important to understand that we are watched. We are uh you know the we cannot really uh break the law of the Lord better we understand it and follow.
So Utaya Uti means uh karma vasana. We already explained this. Reactionary work.
So by sense enjoyment, Śrīla Prabhupāda explains, by sense enjoyment, they become victims of births and deaths repeatedly and are spoiled human lives, which are the chances for going back to Vishnu.
So this is the forgetfulness of living entities, karma vasana. And how to get rid of this karma vasana, it's very clear there are two ways which are described there.
First and foremost most important association with devotees, and another one is to follow Varnaśrama Dharma.
The analogous topic in Śukadeva Goswami's list in the 12th Kanto is called Hetu. Hetu means the cause for creation. And it is explained because the Lord creates the universe for jiva, jiva is called the cause, hetu.
It is very clearly said here, hetu jiva. Asya. Sarga. This Sarga is created by Jiva. This creation. This world is created by Jiva. By the Savidya karma by this ignorant actions in ignorance.
So, but also jiva can become the hetu, the cause of spiritual creation can obtain spiritual body. So that's the next topic, Uti, in the first list and hetu in the second list, list of Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Both are analogous.
You can create material body and be entangled in this saṁsāra by breaking the main law of creation, surrender to the Supreme Lord being His devotee.
Or you can get rid of this samsara and create your spiritual future and spiritual uh life by surrendering to the Lord, which is beautifully described in the seventh canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
So the next is Īśānukathā, the signs of God, Śrīla Prabhupāda explains, science of God.
How God comes in different explanations, incarnations, but also activities of his great devotees. That's the definition of Śukadeva Gosvāmī.
So īśa-nukathā is the science of incarnations of God and the topics connected with the devotees because it will inspire us to surrender to Him.
And in the list of Śukadeva Gosvāmī in the 12th canto this one topic in the list of Śukadeva Gosvāmī is described by two topics in the list of Śukadeva Gosvāmī: Vamsa and Vamsa Nucharita.
Vamsa means two dynasties, and Vamsa Anucharita, the activities of great kings.
And then Niroda, Niroda and Mukti in the list of Śukadeva Gosvāmī, which is very clear, we already said that it's entering into the body of Mahavishnu or the purification of the part.
Some living entities, however, condition, conditioned soul, are up to develop the mentality of learning over material nature and therefore, the material cosmic creation is manifested to give the ever-conditioned souls two kinds of facilities: to be freed and to be here.
So that's the topic of Niroda. So, Niroda means sleep, and there is also very interesting definition of Niroda given by Śrīdhara Svāmī. Niroda also, Śrīdhara Svāmī also explains that Niroda means control over mind.
Because you can only achieve niroda, the destruction of your material existence, if you are capable of controlling your mind, your ability to stop your mind.
And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the 10th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is called Niroda because there are so many distractions of different uh uh dynasties are there, but it's also called Niroda because it describes
Kṛṣṇa-līlā, and when we hear about Kṛṣṇa-līlā, our mind stops. So, this is a very beautiful description of Niroda in relationship to the 10th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Niroda means when our mind is totally controlled by the beautiful līlās of Kṛṣṇa.
And Mukti of course, muktir hitvānyathā-rūpaṁ svarūpaṁ. Liberation is permanent situation of the form of the living entity after he gives up changeable gross and subtle material body.
And it basically means being in one svarūpa means to contact the svarūpa of the Lord. We will never be able to reestablish our svarūpa without the contact with the svarūpa of the Lord.
So Mukti is different from Niroda, even though
in the list of Śukadeva Gosvāmī he lumps this together in the topic of samsthā, but Śukadeva Gosvāmī distinguishes these two mukti and Niroda because mukti means realization of the svarūpa of the Lord and subsequent realization of one's own svarūpa.
Whereas niroda means just control of the mind and purification of the mind from the previous saṁskāras. So that's the uh ninth topic. And uh I will just keep this because there is uh already. Anyway so let's skip this.
And Ashraya, uh the supreme one who is celebrated as the supreme being or the supreme soul, that's the definition
from Śukadeva Gosvāmī, is the supreme source of the cosmic manifestation as well as its reservoir and winding up. He is, he has this three functions.
He is Ashre, he is the source, he is the maintainer, and he is the reservoir or he is the place of their sleep of their final destination or the Supreme Fountain Head.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda very beautifully let's read it how Śrīla Prabhupāda explains in the commentary to this verse the whole structure of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. We are coming to an end very soon. But it's beautiful.
Thus, by general conclusion, Lord Krishna is the ultimate source of all energies. And the word Krishna means death. And to explain Krishna or the signs of Krishna, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam has been prepared.
In the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, this truth is indicated in the questions and answers by Sutta Goswami and great sages like Sonaka. And in the first and second chapter of the Kanto, this is explained.
In the third chapter, this subject is more explicit, and in the fourth chapter, even more explicit.
In the second canto, the absolute truth personality of God, it is further emphasized and the indication of the Supreme Lord the indication is the Supreme Lord Krishna.
The summary of Srimad Bhagavatam in four verses, as we have already discussed is succinct. This supreme personality of Godhead is in the ultimate issue, is confirmed by Brahma in his Brahma-saṁhitā as Īśvara Parama So
it is concluded in the third canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The complete subject matter is elaborately explained in the tenth and eleventh cantos of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
In the matter of the changes of Manu on Manvantaras, such as Svambuhu Manvantara or Chaksusu Manvantara, as the they are described in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth and seventh uh cantas of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Lord Krishna is indicated.
In the eighth cantas, the Vivaswata Manvantara explains the same subject indirectly, and in the ninth Kanta the same purport is there, and the twelfth skanta the same is further explained specifically regarding the different incarnations of the Lord.
Thus it is concluded by studying the complete Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that Lord Shri Krishna is the ultimate summum bonum or ultimate source of all energy and according to the grades of worshippers, the indications of the nomenclature may be differently explained as Nārāyaṇa, Brahmā, Paramātmā, etc.
So Śrīla Prabhupāda in the purport of this verse basically says that Krishna is there in all the cantos of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Āśraya is there.
All other topics are only being explained to give us the sense and clear understanding who is āśraya, how we are maintained by the Lord, and how we are created by the Lord, and how we will come and they end within the Lord.
So this is the essence of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. But there is also this gradual progression, how the realization of our relationship with this āśraya can be deepened.
How we can following from canto to canto to canto ultimately realize our svarūpa in relationship with the Supreme Lord.
Find ourselves in this beautiful country land of Vṛndāvana of Vraja, unlimited country of love, where the Supreme Lord is always supreme and everyone else is his obedient servant.
Topic distribution across the twelve cantos
So uh this is more or less detailed explanation of what we have said and how to uh correlate or uh relate this uh ten topics to twelve cantos, it's more or less.
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says there is no use to try to correlate these topics to the cantos. He says all the topics are described in all the cantos.
But he also says that every canto has the main topic, and there is a secondary topic in every canto. And he points out the main topic.
For example, he says then the third canto, the sarga is the main topic, but this sarga is the secondary topic. So that's the opinion of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī.
But there are many, many, many, many, many other commentators like Śrīdhara Svāmī with some reservations, Vopadeva, Vīrarāghava Ācārya from Śrī Sampradaya, Vijayadhvaja Tīrtha from Madhva Sampradaya, Vallabhācārya, and Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura.
They follow the tradition and they attribute one topic to one canto. It does not mean that other topics are not described in other canto in this canto. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī is absolutely right.
All the topics are described in all cantos, but one topic is dominant, and if we understand this, we will be able to very clearly see the progression of Srimad Bhagavatam and how Srimad Bhagavatam is lovingly bringing us into the rendezvous with Krishna.
How the Abhisar with Krishna is actually taking place in the pages of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. It takes us by hand and brings us into the kuñjas of Vṛndāvana. So First Canto is Adhikāra-tattva.
It's description of adhikārī who is eligible to listen Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and how the process of listening should take place. What are the qualifications for listening to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to be successful?
Connection to sādhana, what takes place when we listen to Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam? How we should listen to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and how we should think about what we have listened, and so on and so forth.
This is a very beautiful idea. And then Third Canto, of course, main topic is sarga.
Fourth Canto is visarga, where the different desires of living entities with different bodies of living entities are being created and how by these bodies we can achieve dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa; four stories of the Fourth Canto about this.
Sthāna and the boundaries of creation and the laws of creation, how we should maintain ourselves, are described in the Fifth Canto.
Poṣaṇa or the mercy of the Lord, totally unreserved, causeless mercy of the Lord is described in the Sixth Canto and the gratitude which the recipients of His mercy should manifest.
The Seventh Canto describes ūtī, two different natures, the impetus for activity. Then Eighth Canto describes manvantara. Of course, manvantaras there are in different cantos. Cantos.
Śrīla Prabhupāda writes about this in many different cantos. Manvantara described, but specifically this śaraṇāgati is mentioned in the Eighth Canto.
Śaraṇāgati is surrender to the Lord, and we see the stories of Gajendra and the stories of the demigods and the story of Bali Mahārāja, how they realized the essence of dharma.
And Ninth Canto is describing īśānukathā, and then Tenth Canto describes two topics, two main topics, āśraya and nirodha, that's according to most of the ācāryas. Āśraya and nirodha, these two topics. And Niroda.
There are two understandings of nirodha: the destruction of the kings and the destruction of the vritis in our mind uh useless uh thought process within our mind and then eleventh skanta describes
mukti and then 12th Kanto again describes Niroda.
Ten primary questions answered by Srimad Bhagavatam
Or somebody says that this is as much as the Kanto 1 and 2 introduction to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Kanto 12 can be considered as the conclusion epilogue of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So so and
uh in other words uh we can reformulate these ten topics as ten questions uh and uh Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives the answer to these 10 questions. The first question: how does this material world appear?
The second question: as a result of what do the living beings, including ourselves, acquire their body? How did we how this creation appeared, and how did we uh receive our body?
Why was I born in that place and how should I sustain my existence? By which means I should live in this world? How should I act according to my nature?
What should be my action which will bring me maintenance, which will maintain me? How does the Lord participate in my life? This is the fourth question.
And uh how he helped me, how he helps me it's a bad translation, I'm sorry.
How he participated in my life by creating my, I didn't edit it, by creating my nature and how he helps me to rise above or to transcend my nature. That's the fourth topic. Poṣaṇa, mat-anugraha.
How the Lord is acting in our life and helps me to go further to transcend my limitations. What makes me act? This is Ūti, the five, the fifth question.
What forces and pushing me in the opposite direction despite God's mercy? There is anugraha, the mercy of God, which pushes me towards Him, and there is something which pulls me against him. That's the fifth question, which is answered.
The sixth question: how can I take shelter of Krishna and overcome these forces? This is the sixth question. And then how do I fully surrender? How do fully surrender souls behave and how does the Lord protect them?
The eighth question: what does it mean to be free from karma or to focus our mind on God by breaking free from the captivity of the material, bondage of the material world?
And what happens to those souls who could not get free? That's the subject matter of Niroda.
And the subject matter of Mukti can be reformulated as the question: how to finally attain liberation and fully regain one's spiritual nature, one's spiritual body. And then the last uh and the most
important uh question which Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam wants to describe: Who is God? What are his qualities? What does he do in the spiritual world? How does he communicate with free souls or interact with free souls,
associate with free souls, and what depths can love for him reach.
So that's how we can view Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam through the lens of this 10 topics of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and how it's the description of the complete cycle from the origin of this world to its complete annihilation and how we can ultimately get completely free from the bondage of our karma if
we properly uh study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So that's it. That's the end. I'm sorry for being so late. Uh thank you. Hare Krishna. Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay.