A Structural Review of the Main Topics of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Lecture 1
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · 2020
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Introduction and initial verse invocation
Okay, Hare Krishna. I'm very happy to be with all of you. I hope you can hear me nicely.
Yeah, I don't know how many sessions it will take, probably three or maybe four, let's see. It also depends on your questions and other stuff. So let's begin with some review, structural review of
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by chanting Oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, Oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, Oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, Nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya,
naraṁ caiva narottamam, devīṁ sarasvīṁ vyāsaṁ, tato jayam udīrayet, naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata- sevayā, bhagavaty uttama-śloke, bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī, naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā, yaṁ pravrajantam anupetam apeta-kṛtyaṁ dvaipāyana-virahātara-juhāva putreti tanmayatayā taravo 'bhinedus, taṁ sarva- bhūta-hṛdayaṁ munim nato 'smi.
So I will read for this lecture of ours one of the last verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the nineteenth verse from the thirteenth chapter of the 12th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
This chapter is entitled The Glories of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Kasmai yena vibhāsito 'yam amṛto jñāna-pradīpaḥ purā tad-rūpeṇa ca nāradāya munaye kṛṣṇāya tad-rūpiṇe, yogīndrāya tad-ātmane 'tha bhagavate karuṇyāt tataḥ karṇyataḥ.
Tac chūdrām vimalaṁ viśokam amṛtaṁ satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi, satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi. Kasmai Antubrahma Yena Yena by whom? Vibhasitaha. Thoroughly revealed. I am this. Atulaha.
Incomparable jñāna of transcendental knowledge pradīpa the torchlight purā long ago tad-rūpeṇa in the form of Brahman ca and nāradāya tū nārada munāya the great sage kṛṣṇa to kṛṣṇa dvaipāyana vyāsa to kṛṣṇa tad-rūpiṇe in the form of nārada yogīndrāya to the best of yogis
Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Śukadeva Swami. tad-ātmane has narada. atha then. bhagavatay. Tuparikshitmaraja Karunayat Karun Karunyataha Karunya out of mercy. Tat that That Sudham Pure Vimalam Uncontaminated Vishokam Free from Misery.
Amritam Immortal Satyam Satyam upon the truth. Param Supreme Dimahi we meditate. Translation.
We meditate upon that pure and spotless supreme absolute truth who is free from suffering and death and who is the beginning and who in the beginning personally revealed this incomparable torchlight of knowledge to Brahma.
Brahma then spoke it to the sage Narada, who narrated it to Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa.
Srila Vyasadeva revealed this Bhagavatam to the greatest of sages, Shukadeva Goswami, and Shukadeva Goswami mercifully spoke it to Maharaja Parikshit.
The first verse of Srimad Bhagavatam states, Satyam Param Dhimahi, I meditate upon the Supreme Truth.
Transmission of knowledge through parampara
And now, at the conclusion of this magnificent transcendental literature, the same auspicious sounds I vibrated. The words tadrupina tadrupina tadmana in this verse clearly indicate that Lord Krishna Himself
originally spoke Srimad Bhagavatam to Brahma and then continued to speak this literature through the agency of Narada Muni, Dvaipayana Vyasa, Sukadeva Goswami and
other great In other words, whenever saintly devotees vibrate Shrimad Bhagavatam, it is to be understood that Lord Krishna Himself is speaking the absolute truth through the agency of His pure representatives.
Anyone who submissively hears this literature from the Lord's bona fide devotees transcends his conditioned state and becomes qualified to meditate upon the absolute truth and serve him. Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya!
Yamatulogyana Pradipah Purata Drupena Sanaradayamunay Krishnaya Tadrupina Yogindraya Tadatmanatha Bhagavat Trataya Karunayatas, Karunya tas. Tatsudramvi Malam visokamritam satyam param di Mahi, Satyam Param Dimahi.
Namish Vishnu Padaya Krna Prashtaya Bhutalesri Mati Bhaktividanta Swami, Pinamini, Namaste Saraswati Devi, Goravani Pracharini, Nirvishes, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Ram Hari Ram Ram
Ram Hare Hare Hajanu Lambita Bujokuna Kavadatu Sankirtanaika Pita Rokamalaya taksa Vishwambarod Vijay Varoyu Gudharma Palu Prananda mahbhataya to mam swasia stuvisa kalah prasada tam dyanda bhūtāni, śrīmāṁ mīr ْhodi yamascha budramba ja tatucha, adhokṣu ja adescha tam namati apya Hare Krishna.
I have chosen uh this very beautiful verse from Srimad Bhagavatam to explain the glory of this process of studying Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam, hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, reading Śrīmad- Bhagavatam, at the same time to indicate
the difficulty which it involves the thing. The glory of it is very clearly stressed here in a very beautiful way. Śrīla Sūta Gosvāmī concluding this great book, he says that let's meditate upon this supreme
truth who is Vimalam, completely pure, Vishokam, completely free from all the sufferings, who is Amritam, completely deathless, eternal, satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi, we are meditating on this truth by reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
And the process of receiving Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is jñāna-pradīpa, which is the torchlight of knowledge, which is compared to the deepa, to the lamp of knowledge, is
to receive it through paramparā and whenever this Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam is being discussed or is being spoken by the representatives of Parampara, in fact, it is Krishna Himself who speaks Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
This is an amazing mind-blowing statement. It is said specifically that in the beginning Krishna Himself revealed Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to Lord Brahma, but he didn't stop there.
Then Krishna Himself revealed Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the form of Lord Brahmā to Nārada Muni. It's not Brahmā who was explaining Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to Nārada Muni. It was Krishna himself speaking through Lord Brahmā.
And then Nārada Muni came to Śrīla Vyāsadeva, and Nārada Muni gave instructions to Vyāsadeva in regard to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
And Śrīla Sūta Gosvāmī says that at that moment when Nārada Muni was speaking Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam or explaining what Śrīla Vyāsadeva is supposed to write as his highest contribution to the world of spiritual
literature, it was Krishna himself who was speaking through Nārada Muni. And then when Śrīla Vyāsadeva received
this knowledge from Krishna himself in the form of Nārada, and in his turn was trying or was explaining Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, teaching Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam to his son Śukadeva Gosvāmī, it was not Vyāsadeva.
It was Krishna himself who was speaking through Vyasadev. And when Śukadeva Gosvāmī spoke Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in turn to Maharaja Parikshit.
It was Kṛṣṇa himself who entered into Śukadeva Gosvāmī and who revealed this knowledge to Mahārāja Parīkṣit. And we can continue safely continue this
logic and tell that when Sūta Gosvāmī was explaining this to the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya. It was Kṛṣṇa himself who was speaking through him. Not Sūta Gosvāmī.
And when Śrīla Prabhupāda came to America and started explaining Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to his first followers, it was Kṛṣṇa himself who was speaking through him. And in fact, Srila Prabhupada himself indicated this.
He says that it's not me, it's not I am who is speaking. It's Kṛṣṇa who is speaking through me. On the dint of the purity of the heart and the purity of desire to convey this knowledge.
We all know the famous prayer of Śrīla Prabhupāda before he embarked on his preaching, embarked his preaching mission in America, Mārkīni Bhāgavata Dharma, where he ponders over this problem.
He says how they will understand the words of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The words of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are completely pure and spotless.
How all these people whose hearts are contaminated by the thick layers of rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa will be able to understand this.
And he prays for the help of Kṛṣṇa and he says, please you make them understand your message. Only you can make them understand your message. Only you is capable of explaining Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, nobody else.
So, what we can say here is that whenever the hearing of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is affected, is
really being effective means that Naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadrāṇi nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā bhagavaty uttama-śloke bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī. Whenever
we see this effect of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, this powerful effect of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the effect of purification of the heart from the extraneous
desires desires for sense aggrandizement for sense gratification for self-aggrandizement for sense gratification. Whenever this happens, it means that Kṛṣṇa is involved.
To the extent of the purity of the speaker and to the extent of the purity of the intent of the listener.
It is beautifully explained there that by the dint of this listening Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, this completely amazing quality is being developed in a human being, satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi, the ability to meditate on the Supreme Truths.
The word dhīmahi means that dhīmahi means that the person who meditates contains the supreme truth within his intelligence. And how is it possible?
This is a miracle in itself, how is it possible to contain the unlimited supreme truth within our very limited tiny intelligence. But nevertheless, it happens.
And the proof of it is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam itself. Otherwise, Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī or Śrīla Vyāsadeva would not speak these words, would not vibrate these words in the first verse of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Satyam Param Dhīmahi.
And Sūta Gosvāmī would not repeat the same words at the very end of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Satyam Param Dhīmahi.
The result of this sādhana, listening Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, hearing Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, especially from the proper source, is that the Supreme Truth is being. This
is how Śrīla Prabhupāda is translating in the second verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that the Supreme Lord Himself is being arrested within the heart, as soon as the pure desire of the listener arises in his heart.
I want to listen, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, I want to understand what this book is all about.
So again, this verse indicates very clearly the glory of listening to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, how important it is, and the difficulty because there has to be purity of the heart, the purity of the heart of the speaker and the purity of the heart of the hearer,
listener of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the purity of intent, the desire to really serve the Supreme Lord, not just to enjoy the topics of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, to enjoy the topics of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So, having said this, I want
to continue with explaining the deep meaning of listening Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, the amazing result of listening Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from one side, Bhagavatam, the amazing result of listening Shimad Bhagavatam from one side, and at the same time simultaneously the difficulties which are connected with this process.
Four fundamental characteristics of God
Yeah, the difficulties.
So Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, before laying the foundation for his sat-sandarbhas, in the first sandarbha, in Tattva-sandarbha, he explains that when he explained pramāṇa, the different means of getting the correct knowledge or understanding the correct knowledge.
He says that when we are inquisitive about God, when we want to understand the absolute truth, we have to understand very clearly the four fundamental characteristics of the Supreme Truth, which makes it completely
unknowable. It's not possible to know the Supreme Truth because the Supreme Truth is Sarvatita. Sarvatita means transcendental. It's beyond everything. Atitta means beyond. Sarvatita.
It's far beyond everything which is reachable by our senses, which we can reach. And at the same time it's Sarvashraya. Sarvashraya means that it contains within it everything and it's the foundation of everything else.
It's Ashraya. It's the shelter foundation, it's the background of everything. It contains within itself, everything, soul, sarvatita, sarvaśraya, sarvācintya. And it's completely incomprehensible.
It's acintya, it's inconceivable. Sarvācintya. It contains so many contradictions at the same time that by logic which works by excluding contradictions, which cannot really accommodate contradictions, we cannot really
understand this supreme truth, which is sarvācintya. And finally, sarvāścarya-svabhāva. The very nature of this truth is uh sarvāścarya. It's completely amazing. It's uh absolutely mind-blowing.
The nature of the Supreme Truth is is amazing. It's just it can only create this vismaya, this complete amazement within the heart, complete admiration or surprise.
So when this vastu, which we want to understand, and this is God, this is by definition God.
God by definition has to be beyond everything, has to accommodate everything, has to be inconceivable means meaning that he has to accommodate all the contradictions and at the same time he remains amazing. He remains a miracle.
So, this is God. So, how will we be able to understand God? How is that possible to understand God? But at the same time, this question, this jijñāsā, this desire to understand God is very prominent within everyone's heart.
Every living entity at one point of his life asked this question: What is this absolute truth? How is this world coming about? Why am I here? Why am I suffering?
These questions naturally arise within the heart of living entity and ultimately all these questions point out that you should understand the cause of all causes.
Unless you understand the cause of all causes, you will not be able to answer these questions, and you will not be able to feel the fulfillment within your heart.
You will not be able to feel that your life is successful because you didn't answer these fundamental questions. So Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains this is the nature, this is the subject matter which we are dealing with.
This is the subject matter of Vedānta-sūtra, Athāto brahma-jijñāsā, let's inquire about the nature of Brahman.
This is the nature of, this is the subject matter of all Vedic literature, in fact, because Vedas are trying to convey this message.
Transcendental sound as divine revelation
And Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, of course, we will not go into details, but he explains that the only means, the only way to understand the absolute truth which has this nature, which has these four fundamental characteristics.
The only way to understand the absolute truth is through aprākṛta-vacana. Aprākṛta-vacana means through the sound vibration which has nothing to do with this matter, which is aprākṛta, which is totally transcendental.
In other words, for us to understand the truth, we have to depend on the absolute truth to reveal Himself through the meaning of sound. The absolute truth has to reveal himself.
There's no other way to understand absolute truth. And that's exactly the meaning of this verse. Krishna Himself has to reveal himself, and this is the only way for us to understand Him.
There is no other way, there is no other way. There is no other way. We will not be able to understand anything about God unless He reveals Himself.
And He is doing this revelation, He is revealing Himself through the meaning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. This in fact is the very point or the essence the very point or the essence
of Tattva-sandarbha by Jīva Gosvāmī where he says that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the means to understand the Supreme Truths, and studying of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the sādhana, which has to be done every day, regularly, nityam bhāgavata-sevayā, then this revelation may take Sevaya, then this revelation may take place within our heart.
And this very great importance of this sādhana is an important feature, is a very important feature of Gaudiya Sampradaya. We know that different schools of Vaiṣṇava philosophy, they make prominent different books.
Not every school of Weichnawa philosophy, personalistic philosophy treats all the books equal. There are some preferences.
Like in Ramanuja Sampradaya, the emphasis is on studying Vedānta-sūtra and of course on studying Upanishads and on studying Ramayana. Sutra and of course on studying Upanishads and on studying Ramayana.
Ramayana and of course, Divya Prabandha the, revelation of Vedas which was done by Alvars. But Ramayana is a very essential part of their sadhana. Because Upanishads are very difficult to understand, they're written in
a very complicated language, not in a very straightforward manner. To study Vedānta-sūtra, you really have to be a philosopher, and you have to have a very dry heart because only dry heart can be satisfied
with studying all this intricaces of the philosophy of Upanishats which Vedānta-sūtra explains. And therefore the general emphasis in Sri Sampradaya is on Ramayana, besides the hymns on all-vars.
When we come to Madva Sampradaya, we will see the great emphasis which is made on studying Mahabharata. Madhvachary himself wrote this amazing book, Mahabharata Tattpariya Nirnaya,
where he explains the hidden meaning of Mahabharata, reveals this meaning of Mahabharata. And of course, we know that he is one of the main heroes of Mahabharata. So naturally he has kind of soft
spot towards Mahabharata, which glorifies himself in the form of Bhima, one of the Pandavas. Madhvachary's incarnation of Vāsudeva, who also incarnated before us, Bhima Sen and before us, Hanuman.
So they very much stress this, and within Mahabharata, of course, Bhagavad-gītā is contained and the studying of Bhagavad-gītā is very much very important in Madhva Sampradaya. important in Madhva Sampradaya.
It's amazing, of course, we know that Śrīla Prabhupāda made Bhagavad-gītā very prominent and important, but the original, the fathers, the founding fathers
of Aosam Pradaya spoke very little about Bhagavad-gītā. Yeah, they quoted some few verses. Before Viswanachakravati Thakur, there was no commentary on Bhagavad-gītā.
And of course, then Baladav Vidya Bhusan wrote Gita Bhusana and Śrīla Prabhupāda translated Gita Bhushana and elaborated on Gita Bhusana in his Bhagavad-gītā as it is. Gita as it is.
But what I want to say is that in originally, as a foundational book, Bhagavad-gītā is not so prominent in our Sampradaya in one sense. Because of this simple reason, because the emphasis of Gaudies and Pradaya
is on something else, it's on Rasa, it's on Bhakti. Whereas Bhagavad-gītā gives hints, uh indicates bhakti, but uh does not openly glorify bhakti as the only way.
And yeah, then there are some other books, like for example, in Rāmānandī Sampradāya, which is quite prominent here in Govardhana especially. There are many Rāmānandī sādhu-s. They study Rāmcaritmānas.
They don't study the original Rāmāyaṇa, but they study and read Rāmcaritmānas. And whenever they say, you know, we're reading Rāmāyaṇa, they actually mean Rāmcaritmānas by Tulsī Dās. And that's their book.
The book which nourishes their understanding, nourishes their heart. So, in the similar way, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is this book of nourishment for all the Gaudias? It's Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and only Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, which is
so prominent, of course, in Vallabha-sampradāya from Viṣṇu Svāmī line Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is also quite prominent. This perhaps two schools of Vaishnava philosophy of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is given special attention.
So this is for us to understand how important it is, and of course, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, while explaining this,
he quotes Garuḍa Purāṇa, which is quoted by Madhvācārya himself, where he says that in fact Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is the essence, is is the explanation of the meaning of Mahābhārata.
Because ultimately Mahābhārata leads us to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. But while reading Mahābhārata, we may very easily lose this focus.
We may not understand really this focus just by reading Mahābhārata.
So Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is explaining the meaning of Mahābhārata by very clearly pointing out that it is Kṛṣṇa who is the subject matter of Mahābhārata as well.
And Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is the purport or explanation of Brahma-sūtra or Vedānta-sūtra and Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is the explanation of Brahma-gāyatrī. I may explain this a little later in one of the probably in the
third lecture, if we have enough time, how Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and Brahma-gāyatrī are related to each other, and how Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and Vedānta-sūtra, and how the first verse of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam gives a very beautiful explanation of the foundational sūtras of Vedānta-sūtra.
We may come to this, but I just I am just speaking uh on the fundamental importance of the subject matter of
Three linguistic categories in Bhagavatam
Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and the study of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam as the sādhana. But there is a difficulty.
And as we know, whenever there is something which is very great, whenever there is some great advantage, uh there must be some disadvantage there. You cannot just get pure advantage without disadvantages.
So disadvantages there and disadvantage is that it's actually difficult to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And the simple reason why this difficulty arises is that and please don't take me wrong.
It's possible to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. But what I mean to say is that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is a very complicated
procedure and when one tries to understand it just by reading it he may very well fail to understand the inner meaning or intention of the book, intention of the author.
And one reason, one very important reason is that this is explained by some of our Ācāryas is that there are three kinds of languages in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is written not in Sanskrit language.
It's technically speaking, it's Sanskrit, and sometimes it's even archaic Sanskrit, Vedic Sanskrit. But in reality, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is written in what it is what is called samādhi-bhāṣā.
Because in the very beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the seventh chapter of the first canto, this trance of samādhi of Vyāsadeva is being explained when he saw the whole Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Actually, this is a very long and ancient tradition because what whenever a great ṛṣi would reveal mantra, he would first see mantra. That's the exact meaning of the word ṛṣi. Ṛṣi comes from the verb to see
drish from the root dṛś. Ṛṣi is somebody who has seen mantras. He is not he has not heard mantras He has seen mantras. He has seen the visible form of the mantra.
And in the same way, Vālmīki Muni he saw the whole Rāmāyaṇa in his trance and his samādhi. Rāmāyaṇa was written by Vālmīki Muni before all the events of Rāmāyaṇa took place.
Because in his mystical vision, Vālmīki Muni could see Rāmāyaṇa very clearly in front of his eyes, could hear the heroes of Rāmāyaṇa speaking with each other and so on and so forth.
And in the same way, In the same way, Śrīla Vyāsadeva saw Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in his samādhi, and then he wrote down or composed Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam after seeing it in his samadhi.
Seeing basically means that whenever Śrīla Vyāsadeva and later Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī who revealed or who received Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, through the same process of Samadhi, whenever Śukadeva Gosvāmī, for example, explains how Mother Yaśodā binds Krishna, he is not explaining it because he heard it from Vyāsadeva and Vyāsadeva heard it from Nārada and Nārada heard it from Brahmā and Brahmā heard it from Krishna.
No, he explains it because he sees how it's happening.
In his samadhi he goes into trance and he sees how Mother Yaśodā is trying really hard, he sees her, he sees the flower decoration in her hair and he sees the drops of perspiration upon her forehead and he sees the expression on her face and while seeing it he is speaking it to Maharaja Pariksit.
And when he is speaking to Mahārāja Parīkṣit, Mahārāja Parīkṣit sees what Śukadeva Gosvāmī is explaining to him. So the meaning is that it's written in Samadhi Bhasha, and it's not so easy to understand Samadhi Bhasha.
Samadhi Bhasha basically means somebody goes into trance and starts, you know, speaking something. And you know, he's in the trance. And you have to be in trance to understand what he is speaking in his trance.
If you are not in the trance and you're trying to understand one some what somebody in the trance is speaking to you, you will fail to understand. You will s you will think that this person is cuckoo.
You know, like like in uh in uh ancient Greece the people would come to to a temple and uh in the temple there was some you know lady she would get into trance and started speaking in the trance some predictions.
And then, you know, this is called Oracle. And this oracle has to be explained by somebody who is privy to this,
you know, going back and forth from trance back to our reality and again back to trance. So it really has to be understood by somebody who is on the same level practically.
Or at least the conditions have to be like this that by speaking somebody the speaker has to put you into trance. I don't know if I'm capable of doing it.
Probably some of you are already sleeping, so this is a sort of a trance. But but what I want to say is that this is the process.
Somebody is in the trance and he's speaking, his eyes are closed. You know, he's he's not really seeing this reality. He's seeing the other reality, the non-dual reality of Brahman
of the spiritual world, and he's explaining what he's seeing, and to understand what he's speaking, you have to be on the same level.
And our ācāryas say but this is not the only difficulty because there are three languages as I said. There are three languages by which, by the means of which Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam is written.
It's not only uh the Samadhi Bhasha; some portions of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are written in a normal language, Loki Bhasha.
And the other portions of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are written in the in the third language which is called Anyabash. Anyabash, some other basha. So in other words, you really have to understand what's going on?
Whenever Shukadev Gaswami is in trance and he is conveying the highest possible truth, or whenever he comes to a certain extent to external consciousness and by being in external consciousness, he is giving some additional explanations.
Auraryas says that these two other types of languages, Anya Basha and uh Lokik Basha. They're there employed by Shukadev Gaswami while he is explaining Shrimad Bhagavatam.
But the why he is he using this language to explain Samadhi Bhasha? His main language, his main message is conveyed by the means of Samadhi Bhasha.
But to explain Samadhi Bhasha or the statements on Samadhi Basha, he employs other linguistic devices, so to speak, or other languages. And one has to understand what's going on, what's exactly going on.
One has to be able to discern between this language or that language.
Understanding implied meaning and rasa
So that's another difficulty about the three languages of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
And then, uh, perhaps the most important difficulty in understanding Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam is that, uh, as we know, there are different meanings of the words.
There is Abhidhā-vṛtti, there is Lakṣaṇā-vṛtti, there is Yogarūḍhi-vṛtti, there is Vyañjanā- vṛtti. This is all difficult subject matter
and I'm not going to explain it in great details, but very briefly I can tell what are the difficulties. Like Abhidha vriti, Abhida means dictionary meaning.
Abhida means you know if you hear the word and you want to understand the meaning of this word, you go to the dictionary, you find the word and you will understand the meaning according to the dictionary. Abhidhā-vṛtti.
It's this direct meaning of the word Abhidhā-vṛtti, what is what is there in the dictionary.
And if Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam would be written, you know, it's not possible to uh explain the subject matter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by this abhidhā-vṛtti, unfortunately. The subject matter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is too esoteric.
It's Sarvatita, Sarva Sarva Ashraya, Sarva Ascharya, Svabava, Sarvachintya. It's a very difficult subject matter. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī has to employ some other means.
And then there is Lakshanavriti. Lakshanavriti means whenever the direct meaning does not work then there has to be an explanation according to the indirect meaning.
Like the classical example is gaṅgāyāṁ ghoṣaḥ: the village on Ganga. Because village cannot stay on Ganga. When we say gaṅgāyāṁ ghoṣaḥ, it's a very common sort of statement. We have to interpret this.
It needs, it required interpretation. Gaṅgāyāṁ ghoṣaḥ, it means that the village which is close to Ganga. But then the same statement also has vyañjanā-vṛtti.
Vyañjanā-vṛtti means, and when we say gaṅgāyāṁ ghoṣaḥ, it means that the village is near Ganga, and it also means that this village is pure, because Ganga is very pure, it's a purifying
agent, and people are taking baths every day in Ganga. It means that they are pure. So when we say gaṅgāyāṁ ghoṣaḥ, the implied meaning is that it's a village where pure-hearted people are living.
That meaning is also there. But it's not in the direct meaning of the words. In the direct meaning of the words, it just says village on Ganga.
So you have to really understand what it means according to context and according to different meanings. So and then yoga-rūḍhi-vṛtti or conventional meaning. It's also very interesting.
Conventional meaning is that there is the dictionary meaning of the word, but this dictionary meaning of the word is used in our day-to-day life according to our realities.
And the conventional meaning which is included in the meaning of this word can be very much different according to the to this usage.
Like the famous example is, uh, lotus, paṅkaja. Paṅkaja means something which is growing from—the abhidhā-vṛtti, the dictionary meaning, the direct meaning is that something which is growing from the mud.
But the conventional meaning is lotus. Usually Pankaja is used to denote lotus, not anything else. But there are so many things which are growing from mud.
So technically speaking, you can call pankaja man,y, many different things you can call pankaja. But the conventional meaning is that it's a lotus. But the problem is that the conventions are different. You have some convention, one convention and I have different conventions.
Conventions are different according to our cultural upbringing. People who are English speaking, who are, you know, whose mother tongue is English, they have some convention.
And even American language and English, British language are different. Why?
Because you know dictionary meaning is the same, but conventional meaning, expressive meaning according to the expressions of phraseological meaning can be different.
And sometimes you know some American people they say something and you just you scratch your head and you say what the heck they mean? What does it mean?
So that's the problem because, uh, when Śukadeva Gosvāmī speaks this, he he implies something which we may not necessarily understand.
And of course, when we're talking about vyañjanā-vṛtti, this is implied meaning, the the fourth meaning, most important meaning when we are dealing with Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, vyañjanā-vṛtti is extremely difficult to understand because vyañjanā is the very life of poetry. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is explaining to us the poetical meaning
And Srimad Bhagavatam is explaining to us the poetical meaning of love, conveying very deep emotional truths, emotional meanings, and because the
the very goal of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is to explain rasa; rasa cannot be explained by abhidhā-vṛtti. If you try to use abhidhā-vṛtti and explain rasa, you will just you will be a laughingstock.
The only means to convey rasa is to use vyañjanā-vṛtti, implied meanings. And implied meanings, you know, you all know what it means.
Ācāryas sometimes explained implied meanings, for example, in Bhagavad-gītā, when Krishna is addressing Arjuna, Dhanañjaya, or when Arjuna is addressing Krishna, Govinda, ācāryas are explaining what He implies by addressing Krishna Govinda. It doesn't necessarily mean when Arjuna in the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā says to Krishna, "Oh Govinda," uh, it doesn't really mean that, uh, he is speaking with him as a cowherd boy, and, uh, Arjuna is meditating on his, you know, pastimes as in Vṛndāvana when he's herding the cows. Literally, Govinda means the cowherd boy.
his you know pastimes as a in Vrindavan when he's herding the cows. Literally, Govinda means the cowhard boy. But when Arjuna addresses Krishna Govinda, he means something else.
He implies that Govinda, go means senses, and, uh, you are the one who satisfies all the senses or the one who possesses all the senses. So, you know, you're satisfying all the senses and I'm not happy, and, uh, in this way, Arjuna is more or less rebuking Krishna and saying that something is wrong going on here. this is something is wrong going on here. He is using this very sweet name, Govinda, but he means to chastise Krishna in the particular context.
And to understand this, you really have to be uh you know the you ha you you have to know what's going on, you have to understand the context. So this is another difficulty.
And of course, when it comes to the 10th Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the 10th Canto of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is all about this Vyañjanā, all about this nuances of rasa, the different emotional reverberations.
Vyañjanā — another synonym for Vyañjanā is dhvani. Dhvani means the vibrations of the bell. Overtones.
When you ring the bell you not only hear the main tone which can be compared with Abhedāvṛtti, the direct meaning of the words, but you also understand many, many overtones you, hear many, many overtones, and in this way the sound becomes very deep.
Whereas, if you only have the main vibration, the sound is not so pleasing.
So, in the same way, every verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, especially when it comes to samādhi-bhāṣā, and especially when it comes to the tension of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is practically all written in samādhi-bhāṣā. It's all convey many many subtle nuances of the meanings, which by the means of Vyañjanā vṛtti. Like I was reading one contemporary
translator of the 10th Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and he is uh he's translating very thoroughly all the commentaries of Ācāryas to the tenth canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And when it comes to Sanātana Gosvāmī, he uses a very peculiar language.
He says that Sanātana Gosvāmī, when he explains the meaning of the verse, he's brainstorming. It's a very unusual sort of language. But uh uh indeed this impression may uh may happen
and he gives you know at least dozen of different meanings, when it means this and he gives you know at least dozen of different meanings, when it means this and it means that and this.
And uh for uh uh uh inexperienced reader uh you know he can be just completely bewildered. You know what's going on here? Why don't you tell me straight?
Like Arjuna sometimes addresses Krishna and says, Why don't you tell me something straight forward, please.
But Krishna himself says that Parokṣa-vādaś ca priyaḥ, parokṣaṁ mama ca priyam. He says, I'm more pleased when somebody is speaking indirectly about me. And the Rishis, the sages, they don't speak directly. They very rarely speak directly. They don't use this device, they use completely indirect language.
And He says, Paroksha-priya iva hi devāḥ. When somebody indirectly is speaking about me, it's more pleasing. And it's actually more pleasing. Because when you speak directly, it's blunt.
When you try to glorify somebody and you directly speak to his, uh, face how great he is, it's it's just— If you want to glorify somebody, you have to say something much more subtle,
something paroksha-vāda, and then that really goes deep in the heart. So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is conveying very deep truths by the means of this paroksha-vāda, of this indirect language, employing different devices.
So that's, uh, no, that's the introduction.
Eight progressive conceptions of truth
Uh now I will start the lecture. No, I will not go on too long. I wanted to say many more things, but I will uh limit myself
by explaining how Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Thakur Prabhupāda is explaining the different layers of the meaning which are there in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In one amazing lecture which he gave in Kolkata in 1930.
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda says that ultimately what is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam?
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the treatise which is conveying to us, meaning the meaning of Satyam Param, Supreme Absolute Truth, who is God. The ultimate, I mean, again, we are being little
blunt here and being too direct, but uh one may say that the main message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is to explain the absolute truth, the nature of absolute truth.
And Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī says that to explain the highest nature of absolute truth, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in sequence explains different partial conceptions of the absolute truth.
Because in the human society, when it comes to explaining the absolute truth, there are so many different conceptions.
So many different people, different sects, different religious movements, they're trying to explain the nature of absolute truth in their own way.
And actually every philosophy is explaining the nature of absolute truth, but everyone is not equally successful.
They all convey some certain meaning of absolute truth, or rather, they convey the meaning how the absolute truth is reflected in their consciousness.
When we take different philosophies, the ultimate meaning of their philosophies is that this is how they could understand the absolute truths. How the absolute truth by his own sweet will was reflected in their heart.
So, and uh Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Thakura Prabhupāda says that if we take Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we have eight uh uh progressively more complicated and more complete conceptions of the absolute truth.
And they are all there expressed in different ways.
He says that the first the very rudimentary conception of the absolute truth, which everyone has uh while uh beginning to meditate on the absolute truth, because again the subject matter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is to meditate on the absolute truth, satyam paraṁ dimahi.
So the very beginning conception of the absolute truth is that saṁśaya. Saṁśaya means doubt. I don't really understand. Whether he exists or not. And this is conception.
This is a very, very meager, but still it's a conception.
You started thinking about absolute truth, you started meditating about absolute truth, and while trying to meditate on the absolute truth, you confront with your own complete bewilderment and doubt. You don't know.
You don't really know whether it exists or not. And you doubt. You don't say no. And it's interesting that the beginning conception is doubt. The next conception: it doesn't exist, Gnostic.
The absolute truth as the person does not exist. So it's interesting, like in the third canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we have this story about Lord Brahmā.
When Lord Brahmā was born on the lotus flower of Garbhodaka śāyī Viṣṇu. And he appeared all of a sudden. And he started looking around and he was quite bewildered what's going on.
And he wanted to understand his origin and he started diving deep. And even though I'm really sorry there is a some sort of a storm going on so the electricity is out. So So in
this in this story when Lord Brahmā dove deep into the waters of Garbhodaka Ocean, trying to find his origin, his own origin, the cause of all causes.
This conception of absolute truths, beginning conception of absolute truth as a doubt, whether it exists or not, is being figuratively explained.
And we all have this sort of understanding that I don't know whether the absolute truth exists or not, but I want to understand, but I have my doubts, and sometimes I believe, sometimes I don't believe. And I remain unresolved.
I cannot really understand what the reality is in the same way as Lord Brahmā was not really clear, even though he tried hard by diving deep, he couldn't find out. And therefore, he heard this sound tapā.
And it was told, he was revealed the method of understanding how to get rid of these doubts, how to dissipate these doubts and understand the reality. To understand reality, you have to perform tapā.
Tapā means contemplation. Tapā means meditation on the absolute truth. So you you really have to just meditate, just to concentrate your Your consciousness. That's the first conception.
The second conception is: nāstika: no, absolute truth as a person does not exist.
Again, in the third canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it's also very beautifully explained in the story of Hiraṇyākṣa how Hiraṇyākṣa was fighting with Varāhadeva, with the incarnation of the Lord in form of boar. So when he first saw boar, Lord boar, as Śrīla Prabhupāda translates, with the earth plane on his tusk. So Hiranyaksha started laughing.
And he said: vanagocaram, you are amphibian, you are some creature, uh, vanagocara mṛgāḥ. Mṛgāḥ means beast and Śrīla Prabhupāda translates it like this. It's you are you know water dwelling beast, amphibian beast.
You're some creature who lives sometimes in water, sometimes on the uh on the earth. So and that's uh this very beautiful storm is going on here.
So this verse of Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam is actually explaining this nāstika philosophy: that no no, it's not possible. Lord cannot take definite form, uh Lord cannot become the uh person, uh Lord doesn't exist.
It's just some beast, it's some just uh illusory creature, it's some creation. So of course we know that Hiraṇyākṣa Hiraṇyākṣa failed. This understanding of the absolute truth didn't help him in his life.
Anyway, so that's the second level, second conception, which is there in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And again, uh, why these partial conceptions are being explained in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,
for us to understand the full complete conception. We will not be able to understand the complete conception of the absolute truth unless we go through all these different stages and really really.
Work out or overcome the difficulties because what we're dealing with, we are dealing with our conditioned nature, and our conditioned nature has all these partial conceptions or misconceptions about the absolute truth.
They're there. In a more pronounced form, in a seed form, we have some atheistic nature, we have some doubtful nature, it's all there.
So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam has to refute it before establishing the complete conception of the absolute truth.
It's not possible to establish the complete conception of the absolute truth unless we uh overcome this difficulty uh uh which is natural and which is there in everyone's heart. So then the third level of misconception,
a little higher misconception, little more complete, but still quite and complete misconception is of course nirguṇa. Nirguṇa is that God cannot be person, God cannot have any qualities.
And again, if we look in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, when Hiraṇyakaśipu is facing the same problem that he will have to die, and he knows that he will have to die from God, he tries to eliminate God.
He tries to deprive God of all his personal features. Or all, in fact, not only personal, any features. Nirguṇa. He's not like this, he's not like that, he's uh, you know, uh in the form of uh
blessings of Lord Brahmā. I I don't want to be killed by somebody who is a human being, by somebody who is the animal, by somebody who is created by you, by this, by that.
Actually, what he means to say, what he's saying in reality is that God is impersonal. And this is the secret meaning of his inquiry
or his blessings which he asked from Lord Brahmā. Because he has this conception, he cannot really understand that God is a person. How he can be person, he cannot really understand this.
As much as we cannot sometimes understand how is that that God is personal, that He has that He has this completely personal feature with qualities.
And then the fourth level of understanding Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Thakura Prabhupāda is klība. Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada is kliba. Klība means neuter, naṁpuṁsaka, klība means klība means impotent. It's God.
He has personal features, but he doesn't have any potency. He is not really capable of doing anything because he doesn't have potency.
This is also there in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in some stories or in some explanations or conceptions which are there, which are ultimately being refuted. Then after klība uh the next conception is got as puruṣa.
Puruṣa means potent. Puruṣa means male. Male has the potency and it's already quite developed personal conception of God.
God is a person, not only He is the person, He is a powerful person, puruṣa. He is capable of doing everything which he wants according to his will. This is quite high, but by far not the ultimate conception of truth.
In many religions, they speak about God as potent and as all powerful, even as a Purusha. Higher conception of God is even more interesting.
Higher conception of God is uh uh mithuna means God with his shakti. God in relationship with his shakti. Mithuna means, of course, we we know it means intercourse.
Uh so we are not only speaking about absolute truth as the male person, as the Purusha, we are also speaking about the female counterpart of the person of his Shakti and the interaction between the Lord and His Shakti.
So that's the next conception of the absolute truth. And then when we comes to this, yeah, before it's God with his śakti, then uh God with puruṣa vishti, then puruṣa was śakti in a very intimate way.
When he enters into very intimate relationship with his Shakti, with his different uh energies, and that's mithuna conception of God. That's already a very, very high conception of God, but still not the highest one.
And then the next one, when we're talking about this Mithuna conception, how and most of the people they don't go further. and most of the people they don't go further.
They say that yes, God is a person, He is a potent person, He has his Shakti, yes, He is very intimately involved in the interaction with his shaktis,
but it's all svakīya, it's all uh on a very uh formal level, so to speak, according to the rules of Dharma.
And then the highest conception of God, which is there in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, is of course parakīya, illegal connection between the male puruṣa, the potent personality of Godhead with his energy, but who is engaged in his uh beautiful līlā in a seemingly illegal way or whatever how we call it uh uh basically unrestricted way.
Because what is the difference between Swakia and Parakia? The difference is that Swakia is restricted in many, many ways. Whereas Parakia is not restricted.
And ultimately, uh, this is the highest meaning or conception of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, which Śrīmad Bhāgavatam wants to convey to us is that God is absolutely free.
He is all powerful and there is no limitations which people by philosophizing about God, by uh conceptualizing God, by trying to understand God to absolute truths are implying or applying upon Him.
They are knowingly or unknowingly, consciously or subconsciously are limiting the absolute truth. Being limited themselves, they try to limit the absolute truth.
The amazing uh message of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam or meaning of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is that Śrīmad Bhāgavatam conveys completely unlimited absolute truths.
Absolute truth which is not limited by anything else, by no human conceptions, and to understand this absolute truth, we have to open
our heart and by opening our heart through the oral perception about the absolute truths, through listening, uh about the absolute truths, hearing the absolute truths from Śrīmad Bhagavatam, we will be able to contain this completely full absolute truth, totally complete conception of absolute truth within our consciousness, and that's the real
meaning of Satyam Paraṁ Dhīmahi. Let's meditate on the absolute truth. If we go through these different misconceptions and understand how they are limiting and bringing actually misfortune to the living entities.
Bringing about ruination of the living entities in their attempts to understand the absolute truth.
If we understand how these limitations are not beneficial, and if we really get rid of this uh limiting tendencies within uh within our consciousness and try to understand absolute truth
as he is from Śrīmad Bhāgavatam uh by listening to Śrīmad Bhāgavatam from Krishna Himself to Brahmā from Brahmā to Nārada from Nārada to Vyāsadeva from Vyāsadeva to Śukadeva Gosvāmī from Śukadeva Gosvāmī to Mahārāja Parīkṣit from Sukhadev Gosvāmī to Sūta Gosvāmī, from Sūta Gosvāmī to sages of Naimiṣāraṇya, from this to Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, from him to Śrīla Prabhupāda, then ultimately we will be able to really follow the command
which is also there in this first verse, first and last verse of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Satyam Paraṁ Dhīmahi because it's some sort of imperative language. Ultimately the fullest exhibition of our spiritual nature can be revealed when we will be able to meditate on the Supreme Truth by understanding unrestricted
meaning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from Guru Parampara, and
Receptive hearing through disciplic succession
in this way meditating on the absolute truth, I think I will finish uh now N.ow, I will just say a few words of what I wanted to say. I wanted to say is that it's a very important sādhana to listen, Śrīmad Bhagavatam.
And it's not easy because one has to be very receptive and very open. Open his heart towards the message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
We have to understand that this is the Kṛṣṇa Himself who is trying to reveal Himself to us through this Aprakrita Vachana, through this transcendental words.
There's no other way to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam but by the process of revelation through Guru Parampara, through listening. And if we do this, we will be able to do this, but we
should not fall prey to the simplistic explanations of Śrīmad Bhagavatam.
We should not think that just by understanding some literal meaning of the verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we really understand the meaning of this great transcendental literature.
It takes whole time, a lifetime, perhaps not even one lifetime to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. But we do have hope and it's a very beautiful process. So thank you very much. I think I will finish now. I spoke long enough.
So uh yeah we have little time for questions if anybody has and we have a small question answer session. Yeah, okay. So please uh you know place your questions.
We have an opportunity uh you know right now so let's not you know give up on this opportunity so please I encourage all the devotees okay
I guess I bewildered everyone so Govinda Prabhu has asked Govinda Prabhu from Sharja. He's asked the question, Maharaj, is there a hope for us to get to this depth of understanding? There is a hope.
See, there are different levels, uh, layers of understanding and we uh we can understand something. We may not understand everything, but the hope is there and it's just a question of our humility and sincere desire.
It's actually only a question of sincerity of desire, nothing else. And to a certain extent, we can understand, and the more we read, the more we will be able to understand.
The more we not read really serve Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by revealing our heart or opening our heart towards the message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The more Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam will reveal its message to us. So hope is there.
Otherwise, what is the this is joke, you know, with distributing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam full sets. You know if there was no hope, what would be the use of this exercise?
So Prabhupāda wrote uh his commentaries to us to reveal the meaning and if we serve his books and read his books, uh you know the meaning will reveal itself gradually, gradually, gradually.
Svayaṁ vyāspuraty adaḥ. yourself yeah. Yeah. Thank you very much Maharaj, it's very enlightening.
What uh the cause of concern is the amount of uh the volume of uh uh the the study even uh to grasp it uh with this uh with our current uh uh working style and uh we giving uh our time for this process uh uh seems to become so unfathomable even today.
um absolute truth and then the more difficult use to understand the conception of the revolution and to get this whole thing sinked into us um uh seems to be too much beyond uh sorry to share this but uh this is the fact that the first uh call.
Yes there is so much enthusiasm. Uh yes we need that that's the only hope for us to understand the absolute truth the right way. But um uh in like uh it's like uh we are too far from where we need to get there.
Okay, we there are a few things and probably we get to that knowledge, adaptation of this knowledge, or you have uh grounded it so much into yourself that we are very able to explain it to us so well. We are just scary.
I can uh you you finishes your question or was not clear. Yeah, yeah, sorry my spoke for long time. No problem, no problem.
No, uh see, we cannot understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam ourselves by our own endeavors, but Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam definitely can reveal himself to us if he sees our sincere attitude.
And it is said specifically in this first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi vidhunoti suhṛt satām. Swakath Krishna, Punya Shrava Nakirtana, Hridyan tahstohya Badrani Vidu knowti Suhri Satam.
This Sukrit, the well-wisher is Khridyantag, he is within our heart. Khridyan sta. He is there within our heart. And therefore he vidunoti. What he does? He clarifies the heart. He purifies the heart. Vidunoti. Such ritsa tam.
He is a true well-wisher as Prabhupada is translating this verse. He is a real well-wisher and therefore when he sees our sincere endeavors just to listen, just to hear about him. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
We may understand, we may not understand anything. Krishna understands. He is within our heart. He knows that we are trying and he will help. He will purify the heart.
Like there is a beautiful story about Prabhupāda. Once in Vṛndāvana, he was speaking to some guests in Hindi and some of his American disciples and English-speaking disciples they stood up and wanted to go out from the room.
And Prabhupāda said, Where are you going? They said, Prabhupāda, we don't understand Hindi. Prabhupāda said, just sit and listen.
You anyway don't understand when I speak English. So there's no there's no difference whether I speak Hindi or English. And it's a fact.
Sometimes we understand very little what uh somebody is trying to reveal to us or explain to us. But then after some time, all of a sudden, boom, uh it it's being So you know Krishna is there.
We do notice suhṛdāṁ sarvabhūtānāṁ. He will take care of all the problems, and you know the the only requirement is the sincerity: sincere desire to listen. Bala, thank you very much.
It's really it just is your word uh it's definitely giving hope. Yes, we can get there. Thank you for that. Next question is from Deviasi.
Um so she says that you have answered during the just now the explanation but her question essentially is that when we are studying a serving Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Can we do so without any help? No. We need help. We need help.
We need help from somebody who is more experienced and has more realization, has deeper realization. We need help. We always need help. That's the very essence of bhakti.
The very essence of bhakti is to understand that we need help in every situation of our life. That's what Śaraṇāgati means. We need help all the time. Well, we can read. It's good. It's always good.
And sometimes Krishna may reveal Himself, you know, the help is there from Krishna, definitely.
There is – uh, it's good, but at the same time we have to understand clearly that without the help of others, we will not go to the same depths as we could if somebody helps us. Thank you, Maharaj.
So we have another question. This is a question from Kishori Mataji. Why? Because the audio was breaking a little bit, the, you know, to get the whole partial conception and understanding of God that you took us through.
But there's all there's a question that: can we get slides or not? So uh I think this this will be uh uploaded on the internet the complete version uh of the lecture will be there.
And I can ask somebody to to make a note and to put it also there. Thank you, Mahārāja.
Next question is from Sunetra Mataji. Her question is: one must understand Bhagavad-gītā before Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or both studies can be done parallel? Is there any connection or is it up to the devotees' enthusiasm and curiosity
to know about Supreme Truth? We can definitely study both books at the same time, uh, but we
also uh have to very clearly understand that when Śrīla Prabhupāda explains Bhagavad-gītā, he explains Bhagavad-gītā on the basis of the philosophy of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Therefore, sometimes we can see Krishna says karma and Śrīla Prabhupāda in his word-by-word in Bhagavad-gītā says bhakti-yoga. So some people say what what's going on?
And Srila Prabhupada is very open. He's not trying to hide this.
Śrīla Prabhupāda is giving the intention which is behind Bhagavad-gītā, and one can only understand the intention of Krishna which is behind Bhagavad- -gītā by understanding the message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So there is no harm.
Of course, Prabhupāda said that first you understand Bhagavad-gītā and we should follow this. But at the same time, he from the very beginning started his mission while
bringing the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and he started also classes on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in every temple together with Bhagavad-gītā. So it can be either way done, but we really have to understand that our explanation or our point of
view, or how to say this, our perspective of Bhagavad-gītā, of the meaning of Bhagavad-gītā, is very much dependent on the message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is much more clearly revealed. In fact, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is in one sense is a very clear book. So therefore even more clear in terms of the uh clarity and uh consistency of the message, even though the difficulties are there which I explained too.
Advent here. Oh or just reading and understand uh huh? What is the best way to read for the first time the Bhāgavatam?
Is it analyzing each verse, every word, and thinking about the different possible meanings Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted to say to us, or just reading and understanding one meaning of Śrīla Prabhupāda?
I'm a little bit confused because you were mentioning there are different meanings of the scriptures. So in the beginning it's better to have the more or less overview of the book and to understand the message.
Therefore, for example, Jīva Gosvāmī, he wrote his most profound commentary on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is not on the basis of the verses. It's on a topical basis.
His most profound commentary on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is Ṣaṭ-sandarbha. And on Ṣaṭ-sandarbha he gives a very consistent and consisting of the philosophy of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Not the story. Not according to the storyline of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam but according to the message, structural philosophically structured message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Therefore, in the beginning, it's good to understand what's going on, what this book is all about.
And Prabhupāda actually gives a very good overview of this in the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In fact, he said that the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is for mass distribution because it gives the general understanding of what is the book and what is the methodology of the book.
It's also good to have some general review of the themes of Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam, of the topics of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, to kind of understand the greater context of this book.
I will explain a little bit in more details next lecture about this.
So it's good to have general overview how Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam works, what are the topics of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and how ultimately they bring us to understand the most important topic of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is Ashraya, which is Krishna himself. So that will be the subject matter of our discussion.
So it's good to understand this as well.
And then I would suggest then to first read the whole Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam just verses. Because when we read verse and purport, sometimes we lose the interest, sometimes we lose the storyline, sometimes we get confused.
So to have the overview, first it's good to go through the whole book and understand what is going on in the book.
And at the same time, understand what is the inner meaning which is being conveyed by the means of different stories.
And then uh on the next uh level you can go deeply uh in the chapter, chapter wise, to read chapter wise and to understand chapter wise and then verse wise. So it can be done in different ways.
Uh and actually everyone has to uh see what is better for him.
But I would recommend first to read first Kento uh to get the general understanding and especially the introduction to the first canto Śrīla Prabhupāda explains the biography of Lord Chaitanya and the meaning why Śrīla Prabhupāda included the complete biography of Lord Chaitanya in the beginning of Śrīmad- Bhagavatam is that the very life of Lord Chaitanya is the explanation of Bhāgavatam is that the very life of Lord Chaitanya is the explanation of He is the living Bhagavata.
And the meaning of Bhagavatam itself was revealed by different events of his life, by his different teachings.
So uh Sri Krishna Chaitanya, uh Lord Chaitanya himself it there so that we have the message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in gist. it there so that we have the message of Srimad Bhagavatam in Jist. Then the first Kanto, then the whole book, just verses to understand what's going on, and then uh canto wise, chapter wise, verses wise, uh going deeper, deeper and deeper into the meaning.
Thank you, Mahala. It's actually just one one more little thing.
In Skanda Purana there is a beautiful section which is called Bhagavatam Mahatmya. Glorifying Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and in Skanda Purana it is explained the method of understanding Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
It is said that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam can be understood in different ways according to the modes of nature. And I I'm not sure if I get it right, but more or less I will convey the right meaning.
It is said that if somebody is reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and he is reading Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam for many, many years, and by you know and he already forgets what what is there in the beginning and he doesn't know where he is going. This is some sort of reading of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. It's reading in tamo-guṇa.
So that's Skanda Purana. Then it says if he reads Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in, uh, within seven days.
You know, like they do in this Bhagavat Saptaha, you know, they get together and within seven days they quickly read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and, uh, go, you know, doing some review.
It's, uh, it's studying of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in rajo-guṇa. Of course, uh, the original, uh, studying of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by Mahārāja Parīkṣit does not fall into this category because it's in a completely different level.
Then if one reads Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam within a few months and understanding the whole structure of the book and spends the, you know, a couple of months by reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. This is the studying of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in sattva-guṇa, as far as I if I remember it correctly.
And if, uh, and there is a transcendental understanding of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which I don't recall exactly how it is there in this Bhāgavata Mahātmya.
But what I want to say is that when we just read and this reading becomes a completely very long sort of a procedure, and we don't know what's going on, and we already lost the story line.
Then it's not a very good method of understanding Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Hare Krishna, thank you, Mahārāja. We have quite a few questions also from YouTube, so I'll just shift to two questions they're requesting, the devotees there. So one question is it's a question and a request.
Can you also give an overview of all cantos and how it brings us to the Tenth Canto's pastimes? I will. I will. I will definitely do it. Uh, either in the next class or the class after that, I will, I will do it.
Very short overview I will do. How it how they will bring us to the Tenth Canto. Thank you.
And uh the next question is uh we get doubts on Krishna and on the process by hearing some pastimes from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Particularly the Tenth Canto, what to do?
Particularly the TED can do what to do. Here those people who are uh who can explain it because they are they understand the inner meaning of this and because they are in contact with this reality.
You know, it's very difficult for us to understand because, what is... how do we understand the other's language? We understand somebody speaking to us through the medium of our saṁskāras.
We all have different impressions, we all have different experiences in this world. And therefore, when we hear something, we compare what we hear with what happened with us.
We more or less reflect our experience on what we are hearing.
And when we hear something from the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, either we, you know, you know project completely unwholesome material experience into this transcendental pastimes of Krishna, which is not helpful.
Definitely we more or less equate within our consciousness or within our heart, what is going on in the Tenth Canto with what is going on with us.
Or the descriptions are so far out, so far beyond our experience that we just cannot relate to it. Again, to understand something, we have to have at least some experience of what is being talked about.
You know, if all of a sudden I will start talking to you completely foreign to you subject matter, which you have no experience with something, you know, which completely, you know, completely beyond your scope of your experience, you will not be able to understand what I'm talking about.
Just because you will not be able to relate, what does it mean really? So I can only appeal to your experience. And if you don't have the experience, then you will not be able to understand. So, what to do in this case?
In this case, you have to have a speaker who will be able to give you experience while he's speaking, this is the miracle which is uh which is happening sometimes.
Uh we hear some subject matter which is very far away from us, which we don't really understand, which we cannot really relate to because it's beyond our understanding.
But all of a sudden the subject matter will become very clear and we understand. Yes, yes, yes, yes, of course, of course. Sure. Why? It is because the speaker gave us this experience.
Through the process of hearing, we got the required saṁskāra.
Therefore, Srila Jiviga Swami while commenting on the process of devotional service, Adosh Rada on this series of on this verse, Adosh Rada Tata Sadu Sangha, he says that Shravanadvara Kinchita Nubhuti Sati.
He says that while listening, if the speaker is qualified, you will get some Anubhuti. Anubhūti means some experience.
You will get uh it's not so uh to understand something which is beyond our experience, uh there is a way to understand this, is to hear somebody who has experience and while explaining this he will convey uh your his own experience to you. Right.
You have a little time for some more questions? Uh I guess we should finish now. It's already quite late.
So I would request all we have a few more questions, but I would write uh everyone of you to please remember and save your questions for our next session uh next Friday.
No, what you can do you can you can collect all the questions. I encourage all the questions. I will be happy to answer all the questions.
But some I will answer while speaking the next subject matter. And perhaps we can have some separate time while I will just answer the questions.
So you please collect the questions and we will allocate a separate time for this. Okay. Hare Krishna. Śrīla Prabhupāda.