Srimad Bhagavatam

The cause of Bhāgavatam’s glories is revealed in the words mahāmuni: because the author is the crest jewel of philosophers, the Bhāgavatam is glorious. Jīva Gosvāmī says that the second text explains that directly experiencing the Supreme Personality easily comes into one’s possession by relishing Bhāgavatam. Hearing the Bhāgavatam establishes the Lord in the living entity’s heart. Of course, Kṛṣṇa is already there (BG 15.15) but toward most living entities He remains neutral (BG 9.29). Lord Brahmā (in SB 3.9.12) confirms that the Lord in the heart is unavailable to non devotees. As soon as one desires to hear Śrīmad Bhāgavatam Kṛṣṇa personally removes all obstacles to their advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness by becoming actively established in one’s heart. It is not that everyone hears Bhāgavatam. The word sukṛtibhiḥ indicates that without having pious credits one will not develop the desire to hear Bhāgavatam and thus the Lord remains neutral to such souls.

Bhāgavatam is the essence of all scriptures and shows what is beneficial and unbeneficial for the soul. It laments for the great diversity of recommendations of what is beneficial and unbeneficial for the soul arising from people’s different qualifications and from different philosophical opinions. Thru the hearing process of Bhāgavatam the Lord is immediately brought under control and captured in the heart by accomplished persons, who are devoid of selfishness and who are qualified for this scripture. This indicates that prema arises in the devotees, since the Lord is brought under control only by prema.

Kṛṣṇa enters the hearts of even those who have suddenly developed the desire to hear, even from the moment they begin to hear. And the Lord being captured in the mind cannot leave. That imprisonment occurs immediately even without faith. Somehow this has the power to attract Kṛṣṇa completely. Bhāgavatam should thus be understood to be a great science. Kṛṣṇa is brought under control immediately for those who are qualified; whereas it happens after a slight delay for those who are not so qualified. Both the accomplished and the unaccomplished are qualified for Bhāgavatam.

Tat-kṣaṇāt can also mean that because of Kṛṣṇa’s merriment or festival (kṣaṇāt) He becomes caught in the devotee’s heart. Kṛṣṇa is happy and filled with prema when the devotees hear Bhāgavatam. This result is not achieved by any other scripture or other practices (kim vā paraiḥ). Mahāmuni indicates that the Lord Himself became the sage and planned the work. The Bhāgavatam was first revealed in an abbreviated form by the Lord Himself in four verses.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is the mature fruit of the desire tree of Vedic literatures. It emanated from the lips of Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Therefore this fruit has become even more tasteful, although its nectarean juice (rasam ālayam) was already relishable for all, including liberated souls. Thus the Bhāgavatam is not only a superior literature, being transcendental to all mundane activities and knowledge, but it is the ripened fruit of all Vedic literatures. With great respect and attention, one should receive the message and lessons imparted by Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. Having described the powers of Bhāgavatam to capture the Lord in the heart, this verse describes the sweetness of Bhāgavatam.

The Vedas are compared to the desire tree because they contain all things knowable by man. They deal with mundane necessities as well as spiritual realization. They deal with regulated principles of knowledge covering social, political, religious, economic, military, medicinal and all that is necessary to keep body and soul together. The Vedas give fruit in the form of the four puruṣārthas, which are desired by those who resort to it. However, the fulfillment of material desires is not the ultimate purpose of the Vedas. Rather, the Vedas gradually encourages spiritual advancement, and thus they are divided into sections, each of which emphasizes appropriate practices for individuals at different levels of advancement. The eighteen Purāṇas, for example, are divided into three divisions for people influenced by each of the three modes of nature. One Purāṇa may therefore appear to contradict another in its instructions and emphasis. Even after compiling all Vedic literature, Vyāsa was dissatisfied till he compiled the Bhāgavatam. The Veda also gives the fruit known as Bhāgavatam because some people desire that.

One who attains full knowledge of the rasas can understand the false representations of the original rasas, which are reflected in the material world. The less intelligent transcendentalists cannot go beyond the conception of becoming one with the spirit whole, without knowing the different rasas. Here it is stated that spiritual rasa, which is relished in the liberated stage, can be experienced in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam due to its being the ripened fruit of all Vedic knowledge. One should receive this knowledge, however, from the right source. It was brought by Nārada from the spiritual world and given to Vyāsa. Vyāsa gave it to Śuka, who delivered the message to Parīkṣit. Śuka was liberated even from his birth, although he did not undergo any spiritual training. Yet he was attracted to the transcendental rasa of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord’s pastimes are more attractive to liberated souls. He is of necessity not impersonal because it is only possible to carry on transcendental rasa with a person.

When a ripened fruit is cut by the red beaks of a parrot (śuka), the sweet flavor of the fruit is enhanced. Śukadeva is compared to the parrot not for his ability to recite the Bhāgavatam exactly as he heard it from his father, but for his ability to present the work in a manner appealing to all classes of men. Any sincere listener can at once relish transcendental tastes which are distinct from the perverted tastes of the material world. The ripened fruit is not dropped all of a sudden from the highest planet of Kṛṣṇaloka. Rather, it has come down carefully thru the chain of disciplic succession without change or disturbance.

One should hear in disciplic succession from a representative of Śukadeva Gosvāmī. One should refrain from hearing from a professional man, who makes a business of living from Bhāgavatam. Such men usually plunge into the subject matter of rāsa dance, which some take as immoral, while others try to cover it up by their own stupid interpretations. Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is so carefully presented that a sincere student can at once enjoy the ripened fruit of Vedic knowledge simply by drinking the nectarean juice thru the mouth of Śuka or his bona fide representative. The fruit remains unbroken coming down step by step from the branch of Sūta and others. What is implied here is that without the guru-paraṁparā, one cannot drink Bhāgavatam in its unbroken form, just by trying to taste it thru the use of one’s limited intelligence.

The Lord is rasa personified, which is confirmed in Taittirīya Upaniṣad (2.7): ‘raso vai saḥ’. The Bhāgavatam 10.43.17 also confirms that Kṛṣṇa is the form of all rasas combined because different types of people realized different rasas in Kṛṣṇa just on seeing Him. The jīva attains the highest level of bliss on attaining Kṛṣṇa. Other forms of the Lord also become filled with bliss on seeing Kṛṣṇa as confirmed in SB 10.89.58 and SB 3.2.12. Kṛṣṇa is rasa, the fruit, but this fruit is not directly situated on the tree of the Vedas. It has fallen down nearby. So the fruit is not to be searched out in the Vedas but rather it is found in the mouth of Śuka. The rasa is sweeter because of coming from the mouth of Śuka. The fully ripened fruit is rāgānuga-bhakti following after the sentiments of the gopīs. This is an acceptable meaning of the verse because it is said that the Vedas, taking up that type of bhakti, accepted the forms of hundreds of thousands of gopīs, and drank the sweet rasa of Kṛṣṇa’s lips.

The Lord is the shelter of Brahman too as explained in BG 14.27. It may be questioned how one can attain realization of Brahman, which has no qualities, by worshiping the Lord. To this Kṛṣṇa says that one can do it because He is the shelter of even the Brahman, which is famous in the śrutis as the shelter of everything. The Lord is the shelter of liberation (amṛtasya) because the word avyayasya indicates indestructible, which excludes the amṛta of the heavens. Kṛṣṇa is also the shelter of bhakti (dharmasya) which is continuous (śāśvatasya), being present as sādhana and as the result of sādhana (prema). He is the shelter of prema (aikāntikasya sukhasya), the goal of sādhana bhakti. Because everything is dependent on Him, one can merge into Brahman, by worshiping with such a desire.