Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 1 chapter 1
Srimad-Bhagavatam
Table of Contents
First Canto
"Creation"
Preface
We must know the present need of human society. And what is that need? Human society is no longer bounded by geographical limits to particular countries or communities. Human society is broader than in the Middle Ages, and the world tendency is toward one state or one human society. The ideals of spiritual communism, according to Srimad-Bhagavatam, are based more or less on the oneness of the entire human society, nay, of the entire energy of living beings. The need is felt by great thinkers to make this a successful ideology. Srimad-Bhagavatam will fill this need in human society. It begins, therefore, with the aphorism of Vedanta philosophy janmady asya yatah to establish the ideal of a common cause.
Human society, at the present moment, is not in the darkness of oblivion. It has made rapid progress in the field of material comforts, education and economic development throughout the entire world. But there is a pinprick somewhere in the social body at large, and therefore there are large-scale quarrels, even over less important issues. There is need of a clue as to how humanity can become one in peace, friendship and prosperity with a common cause. Srimad-Bhagavatam will fill this need, for it is a cultural presentation for the respiritualization of the entire human society.
Srimad-Bhagavatam should be introduced also in the schools and colleges, for it is recommended by the great student-devotee Prahlada Maharaja in order to change the demoniac face of society.
kaumara acaret prajnodharman bhagavatan ihadurlabham manusam janmatad apy adhruvam arthadam(Bhag. 7.6.1)
Disparity in human society is due to lack of principles in a godless civilization. There is God, or the Almighty One, from whom everything emanates, by whom everything is maintained and in whom everything is merged to rest. Material science has tried to find the ultimate source of creation very insufficiently, but it is a fact that there is one ultimate source of everything that be. This ultimate source is explained rationally and authoritatively in the beautiful Bhagavatam, or Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Srimad-Bhagavatam is the transcendental science not only for knowing the ultimate source of everything but also for knowing our relation with Him and our duty toward perfection of the human society on the basis of this perfect knowledge. It is powerful reading matter in the Sanskrit language, and it is now rendered into English elaborately so that simply by a careful reading one will know God perfectly well, so much so that the reader will be sufficiently educated to defend himself from the onslaught of atheists. Over and above this, the reader will be able to convert others to accepting God as a concrete principle.
Srimad-Bhagavatam begins with the definition of the ultimate source. It is a bona fide commentary on the Vedanta-sutra by the same author, Srila Vyasadeva, and gradually it develops into nine cantos up to the highest state of God realization. The only qualification one needs to study this great book of transcendental knowledge is to proceed step by step cautiously and not jump forward haphazardly like with an ordinary book. It should be gone through chapter by chapter, one after another. The reading matter is so arranged with its original Sanskrit text, its English transliteration, synonyms, translation and purports so that one is sure to become a God-realized soul at the end of finishing the first nine cantos.
The Tenth Canto is distinct from the first nine cantos because it deals directly with the transcendental activities of the Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna. One will be unable to capture the effects of the Tenth Canto without going through the first nine cantos. The book is complete in twelve cantos, each independent, but it is good for all to read them in small installments one after another.
I must admit my frailties in presenting Srimad-Bhagavatam, but still I am hopeful of its good reception by the thinkers and leaders of society on the strength of the following statement of Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.5.11):
tad-vag-visargo janatagha-viplavo
yasmin prati-slokam abaddhavaty api
namany anantasya yaso 'nkitani yac
chrnvanti gayanti grnanti sadhavah
"On the other hand, that literature which is full with descriptions of the transcendental glories of the name, fame, form and pastimes of the unlimited Supreme Lord is a transcendental creation meant to bring about a revolution in the impious life of a misdirected civilization. Such transcendental literatures, even though irregularly composed, are heard, sung and accepted by purified men who are thoroughly honest."
Om tat sat
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Dated at Delhi
December 15, 1962
Introduction
The conception of God and the conception of Absolute Truth are not on the same level. The Srimad-Bhagavatam hits on the target of the Absolute Truth. The conception of God indicates the controller, whereas the conception of the Absolute Truth indicates the summum bonum or the ultimate source of all energies. There is no difference of opinion about the personal feature of God as the controller because a controller cannot be impersonal. Of course modern government, especially democratic government, is impersonal to some extent, but ultimately the chief executive head is a person, and the impersonal feature of government is subordinate to the personal feature. So without a doubt whenever we refer to control over others we must admit the existence of a personal feature. Because there are different controllers for different managerial positions, there may be many small gods. According to the Bhagavad-gita any controller who has some specific extraordinary power is called a vibhutimat sattva, or controller empowered by the Lord. There are many vibhutimat sattvas, controllers or gods with various specific powers, but the Absolute Truth is one without a second. This Srimad-Bhagavatam designates the Absolute Truth or the summum bonum as the param satyam.
The author of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Srila Vyasadeva, first offers his respectful obeisances unto the param satyam (Absolute Truth), and because the param satyam is the ultimate source of all energies, the param satyam is the Supreme Person. The gods or the controllers are undoubtedly persons, but the param satyam from whom the gods derive powers of control is the Supreme Person. The Sanskrit word isvara (controller) conveys the import of God, but the Supreme Person is called the paramesvara, or the supreme isvara. The Supreme Person, or paramesvara, is the supreme conscious personality, and because He does not derive any power from any other source, He is supremely independent. In the Vedic literatures Brahma is described as the supreme god or the head of all other gods like Indra, Candra and Varuna, but the Srimad-Bhagavatam confirms that even Brahma is not independent as far as his power and knowledge are concerned. He received knowledge in the form of the Vedas from the Supreme Person who resides within the heart of every living being. That Supreme Personality knows everything directly and indirectly. Individual infinitesimal persons, who are parts and parcels of the Supreme personality, may know directly and indirectly everything about their bodies or external features, but the Supreme Personality knows everything about both His external and internal features.
The words janmady asya suggest that the source of all production, maintenance or destruction is the same supreme conscious person. Even in our present experience we can know that nothing is generated from inert matter, but inert matter can be generated from the living entity. For instance, by contact with the living entity, the material body develops into a working machine. Men with a poor fund of knowledge mistake the bodily machinery to be the living being, but the fact is that the living being is the basis of the bodily machine. The bodily machine is useless as soon as the living spark is away from it. Similarly, the original source of all material energy is the Supreme Person. This fact is expressed in all the Vedic literatures, and all the exponents of spiritual science have accepted this truth. The living force is called Brahman, and one of the greatest acaryas (teachers), namely Sripada Sankaracarya, has preached that Brahman is substance whereas the cosmic world is category. The original source of all energies is the living force, and He is logically accepted as the Supreme Person. He is therefore conscious of everything past, present and future, and also of each and every corner of His manifestations, both material and spiritual. An imperfect living being does not even know what is happening within his own personal body. He eats his food but does not know how this food is transformed into energy or how it sustains his body. When a living being is perfect, he is aware of everything that happens, and since the Supreme Person is all-perfect, it is quite natural that He knows everything in all detail. Consequently the perfect personality is addressed in the Srimad-Bhagavatam as Vasudeva, or one who lives everywhere in full consciousness and in full possession of His complete energy. All of this is clearly explained in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, and the reader has ample opportunity to study this critically.
In the modern age Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu preached the Srimad-Bhagavatam by practical demonstration. It is easier to penetrate into the topics of the Srimad-Bhagavatam through the medium of Sri Caitanya's causeless mercy. Therefore a short sketch of His life and precepts is inserted herein to help the reader understand the real merit of Srimad-Bhagavatam.
It is imperative that one learn the Srimad-Bhagavatam from the person Bhagavatam. The person Bhagavatam is one whose very life is Srimad-Bhagavatam in practice. Since Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the Absolute Personality of Godhead, He is both Bhagavan and Bhagavatam in person and in sound. Therefore His process of approaching the Srimad-Bhagavatam is practical for all people of the world. It was His wish that the Srimad-Bhagavatam be preached in every nook and corner of the world by those who happened to take their birth in India.
The Srimad-Bhagavatam is the science of Krsna, the Absolute Personality of Godhead of whom we have preliminary information from the text of the Bhagavad-gita. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has said that anyone, regardless of what he is, who is well versed in the science of Krsna (Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita) can become an authorized preacher or preceptor in the science of Krsna.
There is a need for the science of Krsna in human society for the good of all suffering humanity of the world, and we simply request the leaders of all nations to pick up this science of Krsna for their own good, for the good of society and for the good of all the world's people.
A short sketch of the life and teachings of Lord Caitanya, the Preacher of Srimad-Bhagavatam
Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the great apostle of love of God and the father of the congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord, advented Himself at Sridhama Mayapura, a quarter in the city of Navadvipa in Bengal, on the Phalguni Purnima evening in the year 1407 Sakabda (corresponding to February 1486 by the Christian calendar).
His father, Sri Jagannatha Misra, a learned brahmana from the district of Sylhet, came to Navadvipa as a student because at that time Navadvipa was considered to be the center of education and culture. He domiciled on the banks of the Ganges after marrying Srimati Sacidevi, a daughter of Srila Nilambara Cakravarti, the great learned scholar of Navadvipa.
Jagannatha Misra had a number of daughters by his wife, Srimati Sacidevi, and most of them expired at an early age. Two surviving sons, Sri Visvarupa and Visvambhara, became at last the object of their paternal affection. The tenth and youngest son, who was named Visvambhara, later became known as Nimai Pandita and then, after accepting the renounced order of life, Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu exhibited His transcendental activities for forty-eight years and then disappeared in the year 1455 Sakabda at Puri.
For His first twenty-four years He remained at Navadvipa as a student and householder. His first wife was Srimati Laksmipriya, who died at an early age when the Lord was away from home. When He returned from East Bengal He was requested by His mother to accept a second wife, and He agreed. His second wife was Srimati Visnupriya Devi, who bore the separation of the Lord throughout her life because the Lord took the order of sannyasa at the age of twenty-four, when Srimati Visnupriya was barely sixteen years old.
After taking sannyasa, the Lord made His headquarters at Jagannatha Puri due to the request of His mother, Srimati Sacidevi. The Lord remained for twenty-four years at Puri. For six years of this time He traveled continuously all over India (and especially throughout southern India) preaching the Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Lord Caitanya not only preached the Srimad-Bhagavatam but propagated the teachings of the Bhagavad-gita as well in the most practical way. In the Bhagavad-gita Lord Sri Krsna is depicted as the Absolute Personality of Godhead, and His last teachings in that great book of transcendental knowledge instruct that one should give up all the modes of religious activities and accept Him (Lord Sri Krsna) as the only worshipable Lord. The Lord then assured that all His devotees would be protected from all sorts of sinful acts and that for them there would be no cause for anxiety.
Unfortunately, despite Lord Sri Krsna's direct order and the teachings of the Bhagavad-gita, less intelligent people misunderstand Him to be nothing but a great historical personality, and thus they cannot accept Him as the original Personality of Godhead. Such men with a poor fund of knowledge are misled by many nondevotees. Thus the teachings of the Bhagavad-gita were misinterpreted even by great scholars. After the disappearance of Lord Sri Krsna there were hundreds of commentaries on the Bhagavad-gita by many erudite scholars, and almost every one of them was motivated by self-interest.
Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the selfsame Lord Sri Krsna. This time, however, He appeared as a great devotee of the Lord in order to preach to the people in general, as well as to religionists and philosophers, about the transcendental position of Sri Krsna, the primeval Lord and the cause of all causes. The essence of His preaching is that Lord Sri Krsna, who appeared at Vrajabhumi (Vrndavana) as the son of the King of Vraja (Nanda Maharaja), is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and is therefore worshipable by all. Vrndavana-dhama is nondifferent from the Lord because the name, fame, form and place where the Lord manifests Himself are all identical with the Lord as absolute knowledge. Therefore Vrndavana-dhama is as worshipable as the Lord. The highest form of transcendental worship of the Lord was exhibited by the damsels of Vrajabhumi in the form of pure affection for the Lord, and Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu recommends this process as the most excellent mode of worship. He accepts the Srimad-Bhagavata Purana as the spotless literature for understanding the Lord, and He preaches that the ultimate goal of life for all human beings is to attain the stage of prema, or love of God.
Many devotees of Lord Caitanya like Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura, Sri Locana dasa Thakura, Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, Sri Kavikarnapura, Sri Prabodhananda Sarasvati, Sri Rupa Gosvami, Sri Sanatana Gosvami, Sri Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami, Sri Jiva Gosvami, Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, Sri Raghunatha dasa Gosvami and in this latter age within two hundred years, Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti, Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana, Sri Syamananda Gosvami, Sri Narottama dasa Thakura, Sri Bhaktivinoda Thakura and at last Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura (our spiritual master) and many other great and renowned scholars and devotees of the Lord have prepared voluminous books and literatures on the life and precepts of the Lord. Such literatures are all based on the sastras like the Vedas, Puranas, Upanisads, Ramayana, Mahabharata and other histories and authentic literatures approved by the recognized acaryas. They are unique in composition and unrivaled in presentation, and they are full of transcendental knowledge. Unfortunately the people of the world are still ignorant of them, but when these literatures, which are mostly in Sanskrit and Bengali, come to light the world and when they are presented before thinking people, then India's glory and the message of love will overflood this morbid world, which is vainly searching after peace and prosperity by various illusory methods not approved by the acaryas in the chain of disciplic succession.
The readers of this small description of the life and precepts of Lord Caitanya will profit much to go through the books of Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura (Sri Caitanya-bhagavata) and Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta). The early life of the Lord is most fascinatingly expressed by the author of Caitanya-bhagavata, and as far as the teachings are concerned, they are more vividly explained in the Caitanya-caritamrta. Now they are available to the English-speaking public in our Teachings of Lord Caitanya.
The Lord's early life was recorded by one of His chief devotees and contemporaries, namely Srila Murari Gupta, a medical practitioner of that time, and the latter part of the life of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was recorded by His private secretary Sri Damodara Gosvami, or Srila Svarupa Damodara, who was practically a constant companion of the Lord at Puri. These two devotees recorded practically all the incidents of the Lord's activities, and later on all the books dealing with the Lord, which are above mentioned, were composed on the basis of kadacas (notebooks) by Srila Damodara Gosvami and Murari Gupta.
So the Lord advented Himself on the Phalguni Purnima evening of 1407 Sakabda, and it was by the will of the Lord that there was a lunar eclipse on that evening. During the hours of eclipse it was the custom of the Hindu public to take bath in the Ganges or any other sacred river and chant the Vedic mantras for purification. When Lord Caitanya was born during the lunar eclipse, all India was roaring with the holy sound of Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. These sixteen names of the Lord are mentioned in many Puranas and Upanisads, and they are described as the Taraka-brahma nama of this age. It is recommended in the sastras that offenseless chanting of these holy names of the Lord can deliver a fallen soul from material bondage. There are innumerable names of the Lord both in India and outside, and all of them are equally good because all of them indicate the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But because these sixteen are especially recommended for this age, people should take advantage of them and follow the path of the great acaryas who attained success by practicing the rules of the sastras (revealed scriptures).
The simultaneous occurrence of the Lord's appearance and the lunar eclipse indicated the distinctive mission of the Lord. This mission was to preach the importance of chanting the holy names of the Lord in this age of Kali (quarrel). In this present age quarrels take place even over trifles, and therefore the sastras have recommended for this age a common platform for realization, namely chanting the holy names of the Lord. People can hold meetings to glorify the Lord in their respective languages and with melodious songs, and if such performances are executed in an offenseless manner, it is certain that the participants will gradually attain spiritual perfection without having to undergo more rigorous methods. At such meetings everyone, the learned and the foolish, the rich and the poor, the Hindus and the Muslims, the Englishmen and the Indians, and the candalas and the brahmanas, can all hear the transcendental sounds and thus cleanse the dust of material association from the mirror of the heart. To confirm the Lord's mission, all the people of the world will accept the holy name of the Lord as the common platform for the universal religion of mankind. In other words, the advent of the holy name took place along with the advent of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
When the Lord was on the lap of His mother, He would at once stop crying as soon as the ladies surrounding Him chanted the holy names and clapped their hands. This peculiar incident was observed by the neighbors with awe and veneration. Sometimes the young girls took pleasure in making the Lord cry and then stopping Him by chanting the holy name. So from His very childhood the Lord began to preach the importance of the holy name. In His early age Lord Sri Caitanya was known as Nimai. This name was given by His beloved mother because the Lord took His birth beneath a nimba tree in the courtyard of His paternal house.
When the Lord was offered solid food at the age of six months in the anna-prasana ceremony, the Lord indicated His future activities. At this time it was customary to offer the child both coins and books in order to get some indication of the future tendencies of the child. The Lord was offered on one side coins and on the other the Srimad-Bhagavatam. The Lord accepted the Bhagavatam instead of the coins.
When He was a mere baby crawling in the yard, one day a snake appeared before Him, and the Lord began to play with it. All the members of the house were struck with fear and awe, but after a little while the snake went away, and the baby was taken away by His mother. Once He was stolen by a thief who intended to steal His ornaments, but the Lord took a pleasure trip on the shoulder of the bewildered thief, who was searching for a solitary place in order to rob the baby. It so happened that the thief, wandering hither and thither, finally arrived just before the house of Jagannatha Misra and, being afraid of being caught, dropped the baby at once. Of course the anxious parents and relatives were glad to see the lost child.
Once a pilgrim brahmana was received at the house of Jagannatha Misra, and when he was offering food to the Godhead, the Lord appeared before him and partook of the prepared food. The eatables had to be rejected because the child touched them, and so the brahmana had to make another preparation. The next time the same thing happened, and when this happened repeatedly for the third time, the baby was finally put to bed. At about twelve at night when all the members of the house were fast asleep within their closed rooms, the pilgrim brahmana offered his specially prepared foods to the Deity, and, in the same way, the baby Lord appeared before the pilgrim and spoiled his offerings. The brahmana then began to cry, but since everyone was fast asleep, no one could hear him. At that time the baby Lord appeared before the fortunate brahmana and disclosed His identity as Krsna Himself. The brahmana was forbidden to disclose this incident, and the baby returned to the lap of His mother.
There are many similar incidents in His childhood. As a naughty boy He sometimes used to tease the orthodox brahmanas who used to bathe in the Ganges. When the brahmanas complained to His father that He was splashing them with water instead of attending school, the Lord suddenly appeared before His father as though just coming from school with all His school clothes and books. At the bathing ghata He also used to play jokes on the neighboring girls who engaged in worshiping Siva in hopes of getting good husbands. This is a common practice amongst unmarried girls in Hindu families. While they were engaged in such worship, the Lord naughtily appeared before them and said, "My dear sisters, please give Me all the offerings you have just brought for Lord Siva. Lord Siva is My devotee, and Parvati is My maidservant. If you worship Me, then Lord Siva and all the other demigods will be more satisfied." Some of them refused to obey the naughty Lord, and He would curse them that due to their refusal they would be married to old men who had seven children by their previous wives. Out of fear and sometimes out of love the girls would also offer Him various goods, and then the Lord would bless them and assure them that they would have very good young husbands and that they would be mothers of dozens of children. The blessings would enliven the girls, but they used often to complain of these incidents to their mothers.
In this way the Lord passed His early childhood. When He was just sixteen years old He started His own catuspathi (village school conducted by a learned brahmana). In this school He would simply explain Krsna, even in readings of grammar. Srila Jiva Gosvami, in order to please the Lord, later composed a grammar in Sanskrit, in which all the rules of grammar were explained with examples that used the holy names of the Lord. This grammar is still current. It is known as Hari-namamrta-vyakarana and is prescribed in the syllabus of schools in Bengal.
During this time a great Kashmir scholar named Kesava Kasmiri came to Navadvipa to hold discussions on the sastras. The Kashmir pandita was a champion scholar, and he had traveled to all places of learning in India. Finally he came to Navadvipa to contest the learned panditas there. The panditas of Navadvipa decided to match Nimai Pandita (Lord Caitanya) with the Kashmir pandita, thinking that if Nimai Pandita were defeated, they would have another chance to debate with the scholar, for Nimai Pandita was only a boy. And if the Kashmir pandita were defeated, then they would even be more glorified because people would proclaim that a mere boy of Navadvipa had defeated a champion scholar who was famous throughout India. It so happened that Nimai Pandita met Kesava Kasmiri while strolling on the banks of the Ganges. The Lord requested him to compose a Sanskrit verse in praise of the Ganges, and the pandita within a short time composed a hundred slokas, reciting the verses like a storm and showing the strength of his vast learning. Nimai Pandita at once memorized all the slokas without an error. He quoted the sixty-fourth sloka and pointed out certain rhetorical and literary irregularities. He particularly questioned the pandita's use of the word bhavani-bhartuh. He pointed out that the use of this word was redundant. Bhavani means the wife of Siva, and who else can be her bharta, or husband? He also pointed out several other discrepancies, and the Kashmir pandita was struck with wonder. He was astonished that a mere student of grammar could point out the literary mistakes of an erudite scholar. Although this matter was ended prior to any public meeting, the news spread like wildfire all over Navadvipa. But finally Kesava Kasmiri was ordered in a dream by Sarasvati, the goddess of learning, to submit to the Lord, and thus the Kashmir pandita became a follower of the Lord.
The Lord was then married with great pomp and gaiety, and at this time He began to preach the congregational chanting of the holy name of, the Lord at Navadvipa. Some of the brahmanas became envious of His popularity, and they put many hindrances on His path. They were so jealous that they finally took the matter before the Muslim magistrate at Navadvipa. Bengal was then governed by Pathans, and the governor of the province was Nawab Hussain Shah. The Muslim magistrate of Navadvipa took up the complaints of the brahmanas seriously, and at first he warned the followers of Nimai Pandita not to chant loudly the name of Hari. But Lord Caitanya asked His followers to disobey the orders of the Kazi, and they went on with their sankirtana (chanting) party as usual. The magistrate then sent constables who interrupted a sankirtana and broke some of the mrdangas (drums). When Nimai Pandita heard of this incident He organized a party for civil disobedience. He is the pioneer of the civil disobedience movement in India for the right cause. He organized a procession of one hundred thousand men with thousands of mrdangas and karatalas (hand cymbals), and this procession passed over the roads of Navadvipa in defiance of the Kazi who had issued the order. Finally the procession reached the house of the Kazi, who went upstairs out of fear of the masses. The great crowds assembled at the Kazi's house displayed a violent temper, but the Lord asked them to be peaceful. At this time the Kazi came down and tried to pacify the Lord by addressing Him as his nephew. He pointed out that Nilambara Cakravarti referred to him as an uncle, and consequently, Srimati Sacidevi, the mother of Nimai Pandita, was his sister. He asked the Lord whether his sister's son could be angry at His maternal uncle, and the Lord replied that since the Kazi was His maternal uncle he should receive his nephew well at his home. In this way the issue was mitigated, and the two learned scholars began a long discussion on the Koran and Hindu sastras. The Lord raised the question of cow-killing, and the Kazi properly answered Him by referring to the Koran. In turn the Kazi also questioned the Lord about cow sacrifice in the Vedas, and the Lord replied that such sacrifice as mentioned in the Vedas is not actually cow-killing. In that sacrifice an old bull or cow was sacrificed for the sake of receiving a fresh younger life by the power of Vedic mantras. But in the Kali-yuga such cow sacrifices are forbidden because there are no qualified brahmanas capable of conducting such a sacrifice. In fact, in Kali-yuga all yajnas (sacrifices) are forbidden because they are useless attempts by foolish men. In Kali-yuga only the sankirtana yajna is recommended for all practical purposes. Speaking in this way, the Lord finally convinced the Kazi, who became the Lord's follower. The Kazi thenceforth declared that no one should hinder the sankirtana movement which was started by the Lord, and the Kazi left this order in his will for the sake of progeny. The Kazi's tomb still exists in the area of Navadvipa, and Hindu pilgrims go there to show their respects. The Kazi's descendants are residents, and they never objected to sankirtana, even during the Hindu-Muslim riot days.
This incident shows clearly that the Lord was not a so-called timid Vaisnava. A Vaisnava is a fearless devotee of the Lord, and for the right cause he can take any step suitable for the purpose. Arjuna was also a Vaisnava devotee of Lord Krsna, and he fought valiantly for the satisfaction of the Lord. Similarly, Vajrangaji, or Hanuman, was also a devotee of Lord Rama, and he gave lessons to the nondevotee party of Ravana. The principles of Vaisnavism are to satisfy the Lord by all means. A Vaisnava is by nature a nonviolent, peaceful living being, and he has all the good qualities of God, but when the nondevotee blasphemes the Lord or His devotee, the Vaisnava never tolerates such impudency.
After this incident the Lord began to preach and propagate His Bhagavata-dharma, or sankirtana movement, more vigorously, and whoever stood against this propagation of the yuga-dharma, or duty of the age, was properly punished by various types of chastisement. Two brahmana gentlemen named Capala and Gopala, who also happened to be maternal uncles of the Lord, were inflicted with leprosy by way of chastisement, and later, when they were repentant, they were accepted by the Lord. In the course of His preaching work, He used to send daily all His followers, including Srila Nityananda Prabhu and Thakura Haridasa, two chief whips of His party, from door to door to preach the Srimad-Bhagavatam All of Navadvipa was surcharged with His sankirtana movement, and His headquarters were situated at the house of Srivasa Thakura and Sri Advaita Prabhu, two of His chief householder disciples. These two learned heads of the brahmana community were the most ardent supporters of Lord Caitanya's movement. Sri Advaita Prabhu was the chief cause for the advent of the Lord. When Advaita Prabhu saw that the total human society was full of materialistic activities and devoid of devotional service, which alone could save mankind from the threefold miseries of material existence, He, out of His causeless compassion for the age-worn human society, prayed fervently for the incarnation of the Lord and continually worshiped the Lord with water of the Ganges and leaves of the holy tulasi tree. As far as preaching work in the sankirtana movement was concerned, everyone was expected to do his daily share according to the order of the Lord.
Once Nityananda Prabhu and Srila Haridasa Thakura were walking down a main road, and on the way they saw a roaring crowd assembled. Upon inquiring from passers-by, they understood that two brothers, named Jagai and Madhai, were creating a public disturbance in a drunken state. They also heard that these two brothers were born in a respectable brahmana family, but because of low association they had turned into debauchees of the worst type. They were not only drunkards but also meat-eaters, woman-hunters, dacoits and sinners of all description. Srila Nityananda Prabhu heard all of these stories and decided that these two fallen souls must be the first to be delivered. If they were delivered from their sinful life, then the good name of Lord Caitanya would be even still more glorified. Thinking in this way, Nityananda Prabhu and Haridasa pushed their way through the crowd and asked the two brothers to chant the holy name of Lord Hari. The drunken brothers became enraged upon this request and attacked Nityananda Prabhu with filthy language. Both brothers chased them a considerable distance. In the evening the report of the preaching work was submitted to the Lord, and He was glad to learn that Nityananda and Haridasa had attempted to deliver such a stupid pair of fellows.
The next day Nityananda Prabhu went to see the brothers, and as soon as He approached them one of them threw a piece of earthen pot at Him. This struck Him on the forehead, and immediately blood began to flow. But Nityananda Prabhu was so kind that instead of protesting this heinous act, He said, "It does not matter that you have thrown this stone at Me. I still request you to chant the holy name of Lord Hari."
One of the brothers, Jagai, was astonished to see this behavior of Nityananda Prabhu, and he at once fell down at His feet and asked Him to pardon his sinful brother. When Madhai again attempted to hurt Nityananda Prabhu, Jagai stopped him and implored him to fall down at His feet. In the meantime the news of Nityananda's injury reached the Lord, who at once hurried to the spot in a fiery and angry mood. The Lord immediately invoked His Sudarsana cakra (the Lord's ultimate weapon, shaped like a wheel) to kill the sinners, but Nityananda Prabhu reminded Him of His mission. The mission of the Lord was to deliver the hopelessly fallen souls of Kali-yuga, and the brothers Jagai and Madhai were typical examples of these fallen souls. Ninety percent of the population of this age resembles these brothers, despite high birth and mundane respectability. According to the verdict of the revealed scriptures, the total population of the world in this age will be of the lowest sudra quality, or even lower. It should be noted that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu never acknowledged the stereotyped caste system by birthright; rather, He strictly followed the verdict of the sastras in the matter of one's svarupa, or real identity.
When the Lord was invoking His Sudarsana cakra and Srila Nityananda Prabhu was imploring Him to forgive the two brothers, both the brothers fell down at the lotus feet of the Lord and begged His pardon for their gross behavior. The Lord was also asked by Nityananda Prabhu to accept these repenting souls, and the Lord agreed to accept them on one condition, that they henceforward completely give up all their sinful activities and habits of debauchery. both the brothers agreed and promised to give up all their sinful habits, and the kind Lord accepted them and did not again refer to their past misdeeds.
This is the specific kindness of Lord Caitanya. In this age no one can say that he is free from sin. It is impossible for anyone to say this. But Lord Caitanya accepts all kinds of sinful persons on the one condition that they promise not to indulge in sinful habits after being spiritually initiated by the bona fide spiritual master.
There are a number of instructive points to he observed in this incident of the two brothers. In this Kali-yuga practically all people are of the quality of Jagai and Madhai. If they want to be relieved from the reactions of their misdeeds, they must take shelter of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and after spiritual initiation thus refrain from those things which are prohibited in the sastras. The prohibitory rules are dealt with in the Lord's teachings to Srila Rupa Gosvami.
During His householder life, the Lord did not display many of the miracles which are generally expected from such personalities, but He did once perform a wonderful miracle in the house of Srinivasa Thakura while sankirtana was in full swing. He asked the devotees what they wanted to eat, and when He was informed that they wanted to eat mangoes, He asked for a seed of a mango, although this fruit was out of season. When the seed was brought to Him He sowed it in the yard of Srinivasa, and at once a creeper began to grow out of the seed. Within no time this creeper became a full-grown mango tree heavy with more ripened fruits than the devotees could eat. The tree remained in Srinivasa's yard, and from then on the devotees used to take as many mangoes from the tree as they wanted.
The Lord had a very high estimation of the affections of the damsels of Vrajabhumi (Vrndavana) for Krsna, and in appreciation of their unalloyed service to the Lord, once Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu chanted the holy names of the gopis (cowherd girls) instead of the names of the Lord. At this time some of His students, who were also disciples, came to see Him, and when they saw that the Lord was chanting the names of the gopis, they were astonished. Out of sheer foolishness they asked the Lord why He was chanting the names of the gopis and advised Him to chant the name of Krsna. The Lord, who was in ecstasy, was thus disturbed by these foolish students. He chastised them and chased them away. The students were almost the same age as the Lord, and thus they wrongly thought of the Lord as one of their peers. They held a meeting and resolved that they would attack the Lord if He dared to punish them again in such a manner. This incident provoked some malicious talks about the Lord on the part of the general public.
When the Lord became aware of this, He began to consider the various types of men found in society. He noted that especially the students, professors, fruitive workers, yogis, nondevotees, and different types of atheists were all opposed to the devotional service of the Lord. "My mission is to deliver all the fallen souls of this age," He thought, "but if they commit offenses against Me, thinking Me to be an ordinary man, they will not benefit. If they are to begin their life of spiritual realization, they must some way or another offer obeisances unto Me." Thus the Lord decided to accept the renounced order of life (sannyasa) because people in general were inclined to offer respects to a sannyasi.
Five hundred years ago the condition of society was not as degraded as it is today. At that time people would show respects to a sannyasi, and the sannyasi was rigid in following the rules and regulations of the renounced order of life. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was not very much in favor of the renounced order of life in this age of Kali, but that was only for the reason that very few sannyasis in this age are able to observe the rules and regulations of sannyasa life. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu decided to accept the order and become an ideal sannyasi so that the general populace would show Him respect. One is duty-bound to show respect to a sannyasi, for a sannyasi is considered to be the master of all varnas and asramas.
While He was contemplating accepting the sannyasa order, it so happened that Kesava Bharati, a sannyasi of the Mayavadi school and resident of Katwa (in Bengal), visited Navadvipa and was invited to dine with the Lord. When Kesava Bharati came to His house, the Lord asked him to award Him the sannyasa order of life. This was a matter of formality. The sannyasa order is to be accepted from another sannyasi. Although the Lord was independent in all respects, still, to keep up the formalities of the sastras, He accepted the sannyasa order from Kesava Bharati, although Kesava Bharati was not in the Vaisnava-sampradaya (school).
After consulting with Kesava Bharati, the Lord left Navadvipa for Katwa to formally accept the sannyasa order of life. He was accompanied by Srila Nityananda Prabhu, Candrasekhara Acarya, and Mukunda Datta. Those three assisted Him in the details of the ceremony. The incident of the Lord's accepting the sannyasa order is very elaborately described in the Caitanya-bhagavata by Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura.
Thus at the end of His twenty-fourth year the Lord accepted the sannyasa order of life in the month of Magha. After accepting this order He became a full-fledged preacher of the Bhagavata-dharma. Although He was doing the same preaching work in His householder life, when He experienced some obstacles to His preaching He sacrificed even the comfort of His home life for the sake of the fallen souls. In His householder life His chief assistants were Srila Advaita Prabhu and Srila Srivasa Thakura, but after He accepted the sannyasa order His chief assistants became Srila Nityananda Prabhu, who was deputed to preach specifically in Bengal, and the six Gosvamis (Rupa Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami, Jiva Gosvami, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami and Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami), headed by Srila Rupa and Sanatana, who were deputed to go to Vrndavana to excavate the present places of pilgrimage. The present city of Vrndavana and the importance of Vrajabhumi were thus disclosed by the will of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
The Lord, after accepting the sannyasa order, at once wanted to start for Vrndavana. For three continuous days He traveled in the Radha-desa (places where the Ganges does not flow). He was in full ecstasy over the idea of going to Vrndavana. However, Srila Nityananda diverted His path and brought Him instead to the house of Advaita Prabhu in Santipura. The Lord stayed at Sri Advaita Prabhu's house for a few days, and knowing well that the Lord was leaving His hearth and home for good, Sri Advaita Prabhu sent His men to Navadvipa to bring mother Saci to have a last meeting with her son. Some unscrupulous people say that Lord Caitanya met His wife also after taking sannyasa and offered her His wooden slipper for worship, but the authentic sources give no information about such a meeting. His mother met Him at the house of Advaita Prabhu, and when she saw her son in sannyasa, she lamented. By way of compromise, she requested her son to make His headquarters in Puri so that she would easily be able to get information about Him. The Lord granted this last desire of His beloved mother. After this incident the Lord started for Puri, leaving all the residents of Navadvipa in an ocean of lamentation over His separation.
The Lord visited many important places on the way to Puri. He visited the temple of Gopinathaji, who had stolen condensed milk for His devotee Srila Madhavendra Puri. Since then Deity Gopinathaji is well known as Ksira-cora-gopinatha. The Lord relished this story with great pleasure. The propensity of stealing is there even in the absolute consciousness, but because this propensity is exhibited by the Absolute, it loses its perverted nature and thus becomes worshipable even by Lord Caitanya on the basis of the absolute consideration that the Lord and His stealing propensity are one and identical. This interesting story of Gopinathaji is vividly explained in the Caitanya-caritamrta by Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami.
After visiting the temple of Ksira-cora-gopinatha of Remuna at Balasore in Orissa, the Lord proceeded towards Puri and on the way visited the temple of Saksi-gopala, who appeared as a witness in the matter of two brahmana devotees' family quarrel. The Lord heard the story of Saksi-gopala with great pleasure because He wanted to impress upon the atheists that the worshipable Deities in the temples approved by the great acaryas are not idols, as alleged by men with a poor fund of knowledge. The Deity in the temple is the arca incarnation of the Personality of Godhead, and thus the Deity is identical with the Lord in all respects. He responds to the proportion of the devotee's affection for Him. In the story of Saksi-gopala, in which there was a family misunderstanding by two devotees of the Lord, the Lord, in order to mitigate the turmoil as well as to show specific favor to His servitors, traveled from Vrndavana to Vidyanagara, a village in Orissa, in the form of His arca incarnation. From there the Deity was brought to Cuttack, and thus the temple of Saksi-gopala is even today visited by thousands of pilgrims on the way to Jagannatha Puri. The Lord stayed overnight there and began to proceed toward Puri. On the way, His sannyasa rod was broken by Nityananda Prabhu. The Lord became apparently angry with Him about this and went alone to Puri, leaving His companions behind.
At Puri, when He entered the temple of Jagannatha, He became at once saturated with transcendental ecstasy and fell down on the floor of the temple unconscious. The custodians of the temple could not understand the transcendental feats of the Lord, but there was a great learned pandita named Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, who was present, and he could understand that the Lord's losing His consciousness upon entering the Jagannatha temple was not an ordinary thing. Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, who was the chief appointed pandita in the court of the King of Orissa, Maharaja Prataparudra, was attracted by the youthful luster of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and could understand that such a transcendental trance was only rarely exhibited and only then by the topmost devotees who are already on the transcendental plane in complete forgetfulness of material existence. Only a liberated soul could show such a transcendental feat, and the Bhattacarya, who was vastly learned, could understand this in the light of the transcendental literature with which he was familiar. He therefore asked the custodians of the temple not to disturb the unknown sannyasi. He asked them to take the Lord to his home so He could be further observed in His unconscious state. The Lord was at once carried to the home of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, who at that time had sufficient power of authority due to his being the sabha-pandita, or the state dean of faculty in Sanskrit literatures. The learned pandita wanted to scrutinizingly test the transcendental feats of Lord Caitanya because often unscrupulous devotees imitate physical feats in order to flaunt transcendental achievements just to attract innocent people and take advantage of them. A learned scholar like the Bhattacarya can detect such imposters, and when he finds them out he at once rejects them.
In the case of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the Bhattacarya tested all the symptoms in the light of the sastras. He tested as a scientist, not as a foolish sentimentalist. He observed the movement of the stomach, the beating of the heart and the breathing of the nostrils. He also felt the pulse of the Lord and saw that all His bodily activities were in complete suspension. When he put a small cotton swab before the nostrils, he found that there was a slight breathing as the fine fibers of cotton moved slightly. Thus he came to know that the Lord's unconscious trance was genuine, and he began to treat Him in the prescribed fashion. But Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu could only be treated in a special way. He would respond only to the resounding of the holy names of the Lord by His devotees. This special treatment was unknown to Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya because the Lord was still unknown to him. When the Bhattacarya saw Him for the first time in the temple, he simply took Him to be one of many pilgrims.
In the meantime the companions of the Lord, who reached the temple a little after Him, heard of the Lord's transcendental feats and of His being carried away by the Bhattacarya. The pilgrims at the temple were still gossiping about the incident. But by chance, one of these pilgrims had met Gopinatha Acarya, who was known to Gadadhara Pandita, and from him it was learned that the Lord was lying in an unconscious state at the residence of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, who happened to be the brother-in-law of Gopinatha Acarya. All the members of the party were introduced by Gadadhara Pandita to Gopinatha Acarya, who took them all to the house of Bhattacarya where the Lord was lying unconscious in a spiritual trance. All the members then chanted loudly the holy name of the Lord Hari as usual, and the Lord regained His consciousness. After this, Bhattacarya received all the members of the party, including Lord Nityananda Prabhu, and asked them to become his guests of honor. The party, including the Lord, went for a bath in the sea, and the Bhattacarya arranged for their residence and meals at the house of Kasi Misra. Gopinatha Acarya, his brother-in-law, also assisted. There were some friendly talks about the Lord's divinity between the two brothers-in-law, and in this argument Gopinatha Acarya, who knew the Lord before, now tried to establish the Lord as the Personality of Godhead, and the Bhattacarya tried to establish Him as one of the great devotees. Both of them argued from the angle of vision of authentic sastras and not on the strength of sentimental vox populi. The incarnations of God are determined by authentic sastras and not by popular votes of foolish fanatics. Because Lord Caitanya was an incarnation of God in fact, foolish fanatics have proclaimed so many so-called incarnations of God in this age without referring to authentic scriptures. But Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya or Gopinatha Acarya did not indulge in such foolish sentimentalism; on the contrary, both of them tried to establish or reject His divinity on the strength of authentic sastras.
Later it was disclosed that Bhattacarya also came from the Navadvipa area, and it was understood from him that Nilambara Cakravarti, the maternal grandfather of Lord Caitanya, happened to be a class fellow of the father of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya. In that sense, the young sannyasi Lord Caitanya evoked paternal affection from Bhattacarya. Bhattacarya was the professor of many sannyasis in the order of the Sankaracarya-sampradaya, and he himself also belonged to that cult. As such, the Bhattacarya desired that the young sannyasi Lord Caitanya also hear from him about the teachings of Vedanta.
Those who are followers of the Sankara cult are generally known as Vedantists. This does not, however, mean that Vedanta is a monopoly study of the Sankara-sampradaya. Vedanta is studied by all the bona fide sampradayas, but they have their own interpretations. But those in the Sankara-sampradaya are generally known to be ignorant of the knowledge of the Vedantist Vaisnavas. For this reason the Bhaktivedanta title was first offered to the author by the Vaisnavas.
The Lord agreed to take lessons from Bhattacarya on the Vedanta, and they sat together in the temple of Lord Jagannatha. The Bhattacarya went on speaking continually for seven days, and the Lord heard him with all attention and did not interrupt. The Lord's silence raised some doubts in Bhattacarya's heart, and he asked the Lord how it was that He did not ask anything or comment on his explanations of Vedanta.
The Lord posed Himself before the Bhattacarya as a foolish student and pretended that He heard the Vedanta from him because the Bhattacarya felt that this was the duty of a sannyasi. But the Lord did not agree with his lectures. By this the Lord indicated that the so-called Vedantists amongst the Sankara-sampradaya, or any other sampradaya who do not follow the instructions of Srila Vyasadeva, are mechanical students of the Vedanta. They are not fully aware of that great knowledge. The explanation of the Vedanta-sutra is given by the author himself in the text of Srimad-Bhagavatam. One who has no knowledge of the Bhagavatam will hardly be able to know what the Vedanta says.
The Bhattacarya, being a vastly learned man, could follow the Lord's sarcastic remarks on the popular Vedantist. He therefore asked Him why He did not ask about any point which He could not follow. The Bhattacarya could understand the purpose of His dead silence for the days He heard him. This showed clearly that the Lord had something else in mind; thus the Bhattacarya requested Him to disclose His mind.
Upon this, the Lord spoke as follows: "My dear sir, I can understand the meaning of the sutras like janmady asya yatah, sastra-yonitvat, and athato brahma jijnasa of the Vedanta-sutra, but when you explain them in your own way it becomes difficult for Me to follow them. The purpose of the sutras is already explained in them, but your explanations are covering them with something else. You do not purposely take the direct meaning of the sutras but indirectly give your own interpretations."
The Lord thus attacked all Vedantists who interpret the Vedanta-sutra fashionably, according to their limited power of thinking, to serve their own purpose. Such indirect interpretations of the authentic literatures like the Vedanta-sutra are hereby condemned by the Lord.
The Lord continued: "Srila Vyasadeva has summarized the direct meanings of the mantras in the Upanisads in the Vedanta-sutra. Unfortunately you do not take their direct meaning. You indirectly interpret them in a different way.
"The authority of the Vedas is unchallengeable and stands without any question of doubt. And whatever is stated in the Vedas must be accepted completely, otherwise one challenges the authority of the Vedas.
"The conchshell and cow dung are bone and stool of two living beings. But because they have been recommended by the Vedas as pure, people accept them as such because of the authority of the Vedas."
The idea is that one cannot set his imperfect reason above the authority of the Vedas. The orders of the Vedas must be obeyed as they stand, without any mundane reasoning. The so-called followers of the Vedic injunctions make their own interpretations of the Vedic injunctions, and thus they establish different parties and sects of the Vedic religion. Lord Buddha directly denied the authority of the Vedas, and he established his own religion. Only for this reason, the Buddhist religion was not accepted by the strict followers of the Vedas. But those who are so-called followers of the Vedas are more harmful than the Buddhists. The Buddhists have the courage to deny the Vedas directly, but the so-called followers of the Vedas have no courage to deny the Vedas, although indirectly they disobey all the injunctions of the Vedas. Lord Caitanya condemned this.
The examples given by the Lord of the conchshell and the cow dung are very much appropriate in this connection. If one argues that since cow dung is pure, the stool of a learned brahmana is still more pure, his argument will not be accepted. Cow dung is accepted, and the stool of a highly posted brahmana is rejected. The Lord continued:
"The Vedic injunctions are self-authorized, and if some mundane creature adjusts the interpretations of the Vedas, he defies their authority. It is foolish to think of oneself as more intelligent than Srila Vyasadeva. He has already expressed himself in his sutras, and there is no need of help from personalities of lesser importance. His work, the Vedanta-sutra, is as dazzling as the midday sun, and when someone tries to give his own interpretations on the self-effulgent sunlike Vedanta-sutra, he attempts to cover this sun with the cloud of his imagination.
"The Vedas and Puranas are one and the same in purpose. They ascertain the Absolute Truth, which is greater than everything else. The Absolute Truth is ultimately realized as the Absolute Personality of Godhead with absolute controlling power. As such, the Absolute Personality of Godhead must be completely full of opulence, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. Yet the transcendental Personality of Godhead is astonishingly ascertained as impersonal.
"The impersonal description of the Absolute Truth in the Vedas is given to nullify the mundane conception of the absolute whole. Personal features of the Lord are completely different from all kinds of mundane features. The living entities are all individual persons, and they are all parts and parcels of the supreme whole. If the parts and parcels are individual persons, the source of their emanation must not be impersonal. He is the Supreme Person amongst all the relative persons.
"The Vedas inform us that from Him [Brahman] everything emanates, and on Him everything rests. And after annihilation, everything merges in Him only. Therefore, He is the ultimate dative, causative and accommodating cause of all causes. And these causes cannot be attributed to an impersonal object.
"The Vedas inform us that He alone became many, and when He so desires He glances over material nature. Before He glanced over material nature there was no material cosmic creation. Therefore, His glance is not material. Material mind or senses were unborn when the Lord glanced over material nature. Thus evidence in the Vedas proves that beyond a doubt the Lord has transcendental eyes and a transcendental mind. They are not material. His impersonality therefore is a negation of His materiality, but not a denial of His transcendental personality.
"Brahman ultimately refers to the Personality of Godhead. Impersonal Brahman realization is just the negative conception of the mundane creations. Paramatma is the localized aspect of Brahman within all kinds of material bodies. Ultimately the Supreme Brahman realization is the realization of the Personality of Godhead according to all evidence of the revealed scriptures. He is the ultimate source of visnu-tattvas.
"The Puranas are also supplementary to the Vedas. The Vedic mantras are too difficult for an ordinary man. Women, sudras and the so-called twice-born higher castes are unable to penetrate into the sense of the Vedas. And thus the Mahabharata as well as the Puranas are made easy to explain the truths of the Vedas. In his prayers before the boy Sri Krsna, Brahma said that there is no limit to the fortune of the residents of Vrajabhumi headed by Sri Nanda Maharaja and Yasodamayi because the eternal Absolute Truth has become their intimate relative.
"The Vedic mantra maintains that the Absolute Truth has no legs and no hands and yet goes faster than all and accepts everything that is offered to Him in devotion. The latter statements definitely suggest the personal features of the Lord, although His hands and legs are distinguished from mundane hands and legs or other senses.
"Brahman, therefore, is never impersonal, but when such mantras are indirectly interpreted, it is wrongly thought that the Absolute Truth is impersonal. The Absolute Truth Personality of Godhead is full of all opulences, and therefore He has a transcendental form of full existence, knowledge and bliss. How then can one establish that the Absolute Truth is impersonal?
"Brahman, being full of opulences, is understood to have manifold energies, and all these energies are classified under three headings under the authority of Visnu Purana [6.7.60], which says that the transcendental energies of Lord Visnu are primarily three. His spiritual energy and the energy of the living entities are classified as superior energy, whereas the material energy is an inferior one which is sprouted out of ignorance.
"The energy of the living entities is technically called ksetrajna energy. This ksetrajna-sakti, although equal in quality with the Lord, becomes overpowered by material energy out of ignorance and thus suffers all sorts of material miseries. In other words, the living entities are located in the marginal energy between the superior (spiritual) and inferior (material) energies, and in proportion to the living being's contact with either the material or spiritual energies, the living entity is situated in proportionately higher and lower levels of existence.
"The Lord is beyond the inferior and marginal energies as above mentioned, and His spiritual energy is manifested in three different phases: as eternal existence, eternal bliss and eternal knowledge. As far as eternal existence is concerned, it is conducted by the sandhini potency; similarly, bliss and knowledge are conducted by the hladhini and samvit potencies respectively. As the supreme energetic Lord, He is the supreme controller of the spiritual, marginal and material energies. And all these different types of energies are connected with the Lord in eternal devotional service.
"The Supreme Personality of Godhead is thus enjoying in His transcendental eternal form. Is it not astounding that one dares to call the Supreme Lord nonenergetic? The Lord is the controller of all energies, and the living entities are parts and parcels of one of the energies. Therefore there is a gulf of difference between the Lord and the living entities. How then can one say that the Lord and the living entities are one and the same? In the Bhagavad-gita also the living entities are described as belonging to the superior energy of the Lord. According to the principles of intimate correlation between the energy and the energetic, both of them are nondifferent also. Therefore, the Lord and the living entities are nondifferent as the energy and the energetic.
"Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and ego are all inferior energies of the Lord, but the living entities are different from all as superior energy. This is the version of Bhagavad-gita [7.4].
"The transcendental form of the Lord is eternally existent and full of transcendental bliss. How then can such a form be a product of the material mode of goodness? Anyone, therefore, who does not believe in the form of the Lord is certainly a faithless demon and as such is untouchable, a not to be seen persona non grata fit to be punished by the Plutonic king.
"The Buddhists are called atheists because they have no respect for the Vedas, but those who defy the Vedic conclusions, as above mentioned, under the pretense of being followers of the Vedas, are verily more dangerous than the Buddhists.
"Sri Vyasadeva very kindly compiled the Vedic knowledge in his Vedanta-sutra, but if one hears the commentation of the Mayavada school (as represented by the Sankara-sampradaya) certainly he will be misled on the path of spiritual realization.
"The theory of emanations is the beginning subject of the Vedanta-sutra. All the cosmic manifestations are emanations from the Absolute Personality of Godhead by His inconceivable different energies. The example of the touchstone is applicable to the theory of emanation. The touchstone can convert an unlimited quantity of iron into gold, and still the touchstone remains as it is. Similarly, the Supreme Lord can produce all manifested worlds by His inconceivable energies, and yet He is full and unchanged. He is purna [complete], and although an unlimited number of purnas emanate from Him, He is still purna.
"The theory of illusion of the Mayavada school is advocated on the ground that the theory of emanation will cause a transformation of the Absolute Truth. If that is the case, Vyasadeva is wrong. To avoid this, they have skillfully brought in the theory of illusion. But the world or the cosmic creation is not false, as maintained by the Mayavada school. It simply has no permanent existence. A nonpermanent thing cannot be called false altogether. But the conception that the material body is the self is certainly wrong.
"Pranava [om], or the omkara in the Vedas, is the primeval hymn. This transcendental sound is identical with the form of the Lord. All the Vedic hymns are based on this pranava omkara. Tat tvam asi is but a side word in the Vedic literatures, and therefore this word cannot be the primeval hymn of the Vedas. Sripada Sankaracarya has given more stress on the side word tat tvam asi than on the primeval principle omkara."
The Lord thus spoke on the Vedanta-sutra and defied all the propaganda of the Mayavada school. * The Bhattacarya tried to defend himself and his Mayavada school by jugglery of logic and grammar, but the Lord defeated him by His forceful arguments. He affirmed that we are all related with the Personality of Godhead eternally and that devotional service is our eternal function in exchanging the dealings of our relations. The result of such exchanges is to attain prema, or love of Godhead. When love of Godhead is attained, love for all other beings automatically follows because the Lord is the sum total of all living beings.
The Lord said that but for these three items--namely, eternal relation with God, exchange of dealings with Him and the attainment of love for Him--all that is instructed in the Vedas is superfluous and concocted.
The Lord further added that the Mayavada philosophy taught by Sripada Sankaracarya is an imaginary explanation of the Vedas, but it had to be taught by him (Sankaracarya) because he was ordered to teach it by the Personality of Godhead. In the Padma Purana it is stated that the Personality of Godhead ordered His Lordship Siva to deviate the human race from Him (the Personality of Godhead). The Personality of Godhead was to be so covered so that people would be encouraged to generate more and more population. His Lordship Siva said to Devi: "In the Kali-yuga, I shall preach the Mayavada philosophy, which is nothing but clouded Buddhism, in the garb of a brahmana."
After hearing all these speeches of the Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the Bhattacarya was struck with wonder and awe and regarded Him in dead silence. The Lord then encouraged him with assurance that there was no cause to wonder. "I say that devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead is the highest goal of human life." He then quoted a sloka from the Bhagavatam and assured him that even the liberated souls who are absorbed in the spirit and spiritual realization also take to the devotional service of the Lord Hari because the Personality of Godhead has such transcendental qualities that He attracts the heart of the liberated soul too.
Then the Bhattacarya desired to listen to the explanation of the "atmarama" sloka from the Bhagavatam (1.7.10). The Lord first of all asked Bhattacarya to explain it, and after that He would explain it. The Bhattacarya then explained the sloka in a scholarly way with special reference to logic. He explained the sloka in nine different ways chiefly based on logic because he was the most renowned scholar of logic of the time.
The Lord, after hearing the Bhattacarya, thanked him for the scholarly presentation of the sloka, and then, at the request of the Bhattacarya, the Lord explained the sloka in sixty-four different ways without touching the nine explanations given by the Bhattacarya.
Thus after hearing the explanation of the atmarama sloka from the Lord, the Bhattacarya was convinced that such a scholarly presentation is impossible for an earthly creature.* Before this, Sri Gopinatha Acarya had tried to convince him of the divinity of the Lord, but at the time he could not so accept Him. But the Bhattacarya was astounded by the Lord's exposition of the Vedanta-sutra and explanations of the atmarama sloka, and thus he began to think that he had committed a great offense at the lotus feet of the Lord by not recognizing Him to be Krsna Himself. He then surrendered unto Him, repenting for his past dealings with Him, and the Lord was kind enough to accept the Bhattacarya. Out of His causeless mercy, the Lord manifested before him first as four-handed Narayana and then again as two-handed Lord Krsna with a flute in His hand.
The Bhattacarya at once fell down at the lotus feet of the Lord and composed many suitable slokas in praise of the Lord by His grace. He composed almost one hundred slokas in praise of the Lord. The Lord then embraced him, and out of transcendental ecstasy the Bhattacarya lost consciousness of the physical state of life. Tears, trembling, throbbing of the heart, perspiration, emotional waves, dancing, singing, crying and all the eight symptoms of trance were manifested in the body of the Bhattacarya. Sri Gopinatha Acarya became very glad and astonished by this marvelous conversion of his brother-in-law by the grace of the Lord.
Out of the hundred celebrated slokas composed by the Bhattacarya in praise of the Lord, the following two are most important, and these two slokas explain the mission of the Lord in gist.
1. Let me surrender unto the Personality of Godhead who has appeared now as Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He is the ocean of all mercy and has now come down to teach us material detachment, learning and devotional service to Himself.
2. Since pure devotional service of the Lord has been lost in the oblivion of time, the Lord has appeared to renovate the principles, and therefore I offer my obeisances unto His lotus feet.
The Lord explained the word mukti to be equivalent to the word Visnu, or the Personality of Godhead. To attain mukti, or liberation from the bondage of material existence, is to attain to the service of the Lord.
The Lord then proceeded towards South India for some time and converted all He met on the way to become devotees of Lord Sri Krsna. Such devotees also converted many others to the cult of devotional service, or to the Bhagavata-dharma of the Lord, and thus He reached the bank of the Godavari, where He met Srila Ramananda Raya, the governor of Madras on behalf of Maharaja Prataparudra, the King of Orissa. His talks with Ramananda Raya are very important for higher realization of transcendental knowledge, and the conversation itself forms a small booklet. We shall, however, give herewith a summary of the conversation.
Sri Ramananda Raya was a self-realized soul, although outwardly he belonged to a caste lower than the brahmana in social status. He was not in the renounced order of life, and besides that he was a high government servant in the state. Still, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu accepted him as a liberated soul on the strength of the high order of his realization of transcendental knowledge. Similarly, the Lord accepted Srila Haridasa Thakura, a veteran devotee of the Lord coming from a Mohammedan family. And there are many other great devotees of the Lord who came from different communities, sects and castes. The Lord's only criterion was the standard of devotional service of the particular person. He was not concerned with the outward dress of a man; He was concerned only with the inner soul and its activities. Therefore all the missionary activities of the Lord are to be understood to be on the spiritual plane, and as such the cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, or the cult of Bhagavata-dharma, has nothing to do with mundane affairs, sociology, politics, economic development or any such sphere of life. Srimad-Bhagavatam is the purely transcendental urge of the soul.
When He met Sri Ramananda Raya on the bank of the Godavari, the varnasrama-dharma followed by the Hindus was mentioned by the Lord. Srila Ramananda Raya said that by following the principles of varnasrama-dharma, the system of four castes and four orders of human life, everyone could realize Transcendence. In the opinion of the Lord, the system of varnasrama-dharma is superficial only, and it has very little to do with the highest realization of spiritual values. The highest perfection of life is to get detached from the material attachment and proportionately realize the transcendental loving service of the Lord. The Personality of Godhead recognizes a living being who is progressing in that line. Devotional service, therefore, is the culmination of the culture of all knowledge. When Sri Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, appeared for the deliverance of all fallen souls, He advised the deliverance of all living entities as follows. The Supreme Absolute Personality of Godhead, from whom all living entities have emanated, must be worshiped by all their respective engagements, because everything that we see is also the expansion of His energy. That is the way of real perfection, and it is approved by all bona fide acaryas past and present. The system of varnasrama is more or less based on moral and ethical principles. There is very little realization of the Transcendence as such, and Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu rejected it as superficial and asked Ramananda Raya to go further into the matter.
Sri Ramananda Raya then suggested renunciation of fruitive actions unto the Lord. The Bhagavad-gita (9.27) advises in this connection: "Whatever you do, whatever you eat and whatever you give, as well as whatever you perform in penance, offer to Me alone." This dedication on the part of the worker suggests that the Personality of Godhead is a step higher than the impersonal conception of the varnasrama system, but still the relation of the living being and the Lord is not distinct in that way. The Lord therefore rejected this proposition and asked Ramananda Raya to go further.
Raya then suggested renunciation of the varnasrama-dharma and acceptance of devotional service. The Lord did not approve of this suggestion also for the reason that all of a sudden one should not renounce his position, for that may not bring in the desired result.
It was further suggested by Raya that attainment of spiritual realization freed from the material conception of life is the topmost achievement for a living being. The Lord rejected this suggestion also because on the plea of such spiritual realization much havoc has been wrought by unscrupulous persons; therefore all of a sudden this is not possible. The Raya then suggested sincere association of self-realized souls and hearing submissively the transcendental message of the pastimes of the Personality of Godhead. This suggestion was welcomed by the Lord. This suggestion was made following in the footsteps of Brahmaji, who said that the Personality of Godhead is known as ajita, or the one who cannot be conquered or approached by anyone. But such ajita also becomes jita (conquered) by one method, which is very simple and easy. The simple method is that one has to give up the arrogant attitude of declaring oneself to be God Himself. One must be very meek and submissive and try to live peacefully by lending the ear to the speeches of the transcendentally self-realized soul who speaks on the message of Bhagavata-dharma, or the religion of glorifying the Supreme Lord and His devotees. To glorify a great man is a natural instinct for living beings, but they have not learned to glorify the Lord. Perfection of life is attained simply by glorifying the Lord in association with a self-realized devotee of the Lord. * The self-realized devotee is he who surrenders unto the Lord fully and who does not have attachment for material prosperity. Material prosperity and sense enjoyment and their advancement are all activities of ignorance in human society. Peace and friendship are impossible for a society detached from the association of God and His devotees. It is imperative, therefore, that one sincerely seek the association of pure devotees and hear them patiently and submissively from any position of life. The position of a person in the higher or lower status of life does not hamper one in the path of self-realization. The only thing one has to do is to hear from a self-realized soul with a routine program. The teacher may also deliver lectures from the Vedic literatures, following in the footsteps of the bygone acaryas who realized the Absolute Truth. Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu recommended this simple method of self-realization generally known as Bhagavata-dharma. Srimad-Bhagavatam is the perfect guide for this purpose.
Above these topics discussed by the Lord and Sri Ramananda Raya, there were still more elevated spiritual talks between the two great personalities, and we purposely withhold those topics for the present because one has to come to the spiritual plane before further talks with Ramananda Raya can be heard. We have presented further talks of Srila Ramananda Raya with the Lord in another book (Teachings of Lord Caitanya).
At the conclusion of this meeting, Sri Ramananda Raya was advised by the Lord to retire from service and come to Puri so that they could live together and relish a transcendental relationship. Some time later, Sri Ramananda Raya retired from the government service and took a pension from the King. He returned to his residence in Puri, where he was one of the most confidential devotees of the Lord. There was another gentleman at Puri of the name Sikhi Mahiti, who was also a confidant like Ramananda Raya. The Lord used to hold confidential talks on spiritual values with three or four companions at Puri, and He passed eighteen years in that way in spiritual trance. His talks were recorded by His private secretary Sri Damodara Gosvami, one of the four most intimate devotees.
The Lord extensively traveled all over the southern part of India. The great saint of Maharastra known as Saint Tukarama was also initiated by the Lord. Saint Tukarama, after initiation by the Lord, overflooded the whole of the Maharastra Province with the sankirtana movement, and the transcendental flow is still rolling on in the southwestern part of the great Indian peninsula.
The Lord excavated from South India two very important old literatures, namely the Brahma-samhita and Krsna-karnamrta, and these two valuable books are authorized studies for the person in the devotional line. The Lord then returned to Puri after His South Indian tour.
On His return to Puri, all the anxious devotees of the Lord got back their life, and the Lord remained there with continued pastimes of His transcendental realizations. The most important incident during that time was His granting audience to King Prataparudra. King Prataparudra was a great devotee of the Lord, and he considered himself to be one of the servants of the Lord entrusted with sweeping the temple. This submissive attitude of the King was very much appreciated by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The King requested both Bhattacarya and Raya to arrange his meeting with the Lord. When, however, the Lord was petitioned by His two stalwart devotees, He flatly refused to grant the request, even though it was put forward by personal associates like Ramananda Raya and Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya. The Lord maintained that it is dangerous for a sannyasi to be in intimate touch with worldly money-conscious men and with women. The Lord was an ideal sannyasi. No woman could approach the Lord even to offer respects. Women's seats were accommodated far away from the Lord. As an ideal teacher and acarya, He was very strict in the routine work of a sannyasi. Apart from being a divine incarnation, the Lord was an ideal character as a human being. His behavior with other persons was also above suspicion. In His dealing as acarya, He was harder than the thunderbolt and softer than the rose. One of His associates, Junior Haridasa, committed a great mistake by lustfully glancing at a young woman. The Lord as Supersoul could detect this lust in the mind of Junior Haridasa, who was at once banished from the Lord's association and was never accepted again, even though the Lord was implored to excuse Haridasa for the mistake. Junior Haridasa afterwards committed suicide due to being disassociated from the company of the Lord, and the news of suicide was duly related to the Lord. Even at that time the Lord was not forgetful of the offense, and He said that Haridasa had rightly met with the proper punishment.
On the principles of the renounced order of life and discipline, the Lord knew no compromise, and therefore even though He knew that the King was a great devotee, He refused to see the King, only because the King was a dollar-and-cent man. By this example the Lord wanted to emphasize the proper behavior for a transcendentalist. A transcendentalist has nothing to do with women and money. He must always refrain from such intimate relations. The King was, however, favored by the Lord by the expert arrangement of the devotees. This means that the beloved devotee of the Lord can favor a neophyte more liberally than the Lord. Pure devotees, therefore, never commit an offense at the feet of another pure devotee. An offense at the lotus feet of the Lord is sometimes excused by the merciful Lord, but an offense at the feet of a devotee is very dangerous for one who actually wants to make progress in devotional service.
As long as the Lord remained at Puri, thousands of His devotees used to come to see Him during the Ratha-yatra car festival of Lord Jagannatha. And during the car festival, the washing of the Gundica temple under the direct supervision of the Lord was an important function. The Lord's congregational sankirtana movement at Puri was a unique exhibition for the mass of people. That is the way to turn the mass mind towards spiritual realization. The Lord inaugurated this system of mass sankirtana, and leaders of all countries can take advantage of this spiritual movement in order to keep the mass of people in a pure state of peace and friendship with one another. This is now the demand of the present human society all over the world.
After some time the Lord again started on His tour towards northern India, and He decided to visit Vrndavana and its neighboring places. He passed through the jungles of Jharikhanda (Madhya Bharata), and all the wild animals also joined His sankirtana movement. The wild tigers, elephants, bears and deer all together accompanied the Lord, and the Lord accompanied them in sankirtana. By this He proved that by the propagation of the sankirtana movement (congregational chanting and glorifying of the name of the Lord) even the wild animals can live in peace and friendship, and what to speak of men who are supposed to be civilized. No man in the world will refuse to join the sankirtana movement. Nor is the Lord's sankirtana movement restricted to any caste, creed, color or species. Here is direct evidence of His great mission: He allowed even the wild animals to partake in His great movement.
On His way back from Vrndavana He first came to Prayaga, where He met Rupa Gosvami along with his younger brother, Anupama. Then He came down to Benares. For two months, He instructed Sri Sanatana Gosvami in the transcendental science. The instruction to Sanatana Gosvami is in itself a long narration, and full presentation of the instruction will not be possible here. The main ideas are given as follows.
Sanatana Gosvami (formerly known as Sakara Mallika) was in the cabinet service of the Bengal government under the regime of Nawab Hussain Shah. He decided to join with the Lord and thus retired from the service. On His way back from Vrndavana, when He reached Varanasi, the Lord became the guest of Sri Tapana Misra and Candrasekhara, assisted by a Maharastra brahmana. At that time Varanasi was headed by a great sannyasi of the Mayavada school named Sripada Prakasananda Sarasvati. When the Lord was at Varanasi, the people in general became more attracted to Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu on account of His mass sankirtana movement. Wherever He visited, especially the Visvanatha temple, thousands of pilgrims would follow Him. Some were attracted by His bodily features, and others were attracted by His melodious songs glorifying the Lord.
The Mayavadi sannyasis designate themselves as Narayana. Varanasi is still overflooded with many Mayavadi sannyasis. Some people who saw the Lord in His sankirtana party considered Him to be actually Narayana, and this report reached the camp of the great sannyasi Prakasananda.
In India there is always a kind of spiritual rivalry between the Mayavada and Bhagavata schools, and thus when the news of the Lord reached Prakasananda he knew that the Lord was a Vaisnava sannyasi, and therefore he minimized the value of the Lord before those who brought him the news. He deprecated the activities of the Lord because of His preaching the sankirtana movement, which was in his opinion nothing but religious sentiment. Prakasananda was a profound student of the Vedanta, and he advised his followers to give attention to the Vedanta and not to indulge in sankirtana.
One devotee brahmana, who became a devotee of the Lord, did not like the criticism of Prakasananda, and he went to the Lord to express his regrets. He told the Lord that when he uttered the Lord's name before the sannyasi Prakasananda, the latter strongly criticized the Lord, although the brahmana heard Prakasananda uttering several times the name Caitanya. The brahmana was astonished to see that the sannyasi Prakasananda could not vibrate the sound Krsna even once, although he uttered the name Caitanya several times.
The Lord smilingly explained to the devotee brahmana why the Mayavadi cannot utter the holy name of Krsna. "The Mayavadis are offenders at the lotus feet of Krsna, although they utter always brahma, atma, or caitanya, etc. And because they are offenders at the lotus feet of Krsna, they are actually unable to utter the holy name of Krsna. The name Krsna and the Personality of Godhead Krsna are identical. There is no difference in the absolute realm between the name, form or person of the Absolute Truth because in the absolute realm everything is transcendental bliss. There is no difference between the body and the soul for the Personality of Godhead, Krsna. Thus He is different from the living entity who is always different from his outward body. Because of Krsna's transcendental position, it is very difficult for a layman to actually know the Personality of Godhead, Krsna, His holy name and fame, etc. His name, fame, form and pastimes all are one and the same transcendental identity, and they are not knowable by the exercise of the material senses.
"The transcendental relationship of the pastimes of the Lord is the source of still more bliss than one can experience by realization of Brahman or by becoming one with the Supreme. Had it not been so, then those who are already situated in the transcendental bliss of Brahman would not have been attracted by the transcendental bliss of the pastimes of the Lord."
After this, a great meeting was arranged by the devotees of the Lord in which all the sannyasis were invited, including the Lord and Prakasananda Sarasvati. In this meeting both the scholars (the Lord and Prakasananda) had a long discourse on the spiritual values of the sankirtana movement, and a summary is given below.
The great Mayavadi sannyasi Prakasananda inquired from the Lord as to the reason for His preferring the sankirtana movement to the study of the Vedanta-sutra. Prakasananda said that it is the duty of a sannyasi to read the Vedanta-sutra. What caused the Lord to indulge in sankirtana?
After this inquiry, the Lord submissively replied: "I have taken to the sankirtana movement instead of the study of Vedanta because I am a great fool." The Lord thus represented Himself as one of the numberless fools of this age who are absolutely incapable of studying the Vedanta philosophy. The fools' indulgence in the study of Vedanta has caused so much havoc in society. The Lord thus continued: "And because I am a great fool, My spiritual master forbade Me to play with Vedanta philosophy. He said that it is better that I chant the holy name of the Lord, for that would deliver Me from material bondage.
"In this age of Kali there is no other religion but the glorification of the Lord by utterance of His holy name, and that is the injunction of all the revealed scriptures. And My spiritual master has taught Me one sloka [from the Brhan-naradiya Purana]:
harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha
"So on the order of My spiritual master, I chant the holy name of Hari, and I am now mad after this holy name. Whenever I utter the holy name I forget Myself completely, and sometimes I laugh, cry and dance like a madman. I thought that I had actually gone mad by this process of chanting, and therefore I asked My spiritual master about it. He informed Me that this was the real effect of chanting the holy name, which produces a transcendental emotion that is a rare manifestation. It is the sign of love of God, which is the ultimate end of life. Love of God is transcendental to liberation [mukti], and thus it is called the fifth stage of spiritual realization, above the stage of liberation. By chanting the holy name of Krsna one attains the stage of love of God, and it was good that fortunately I was favored with the blessing."
On hearing this statement from the Lord, the Mayavadi sannyasi asked the Lord what was the harm in studying the Vedanta along with chanting the holy name. Prakasananda Sarasvati knew well that the Lord was formerly known as Nimai Pandita, a very learned scholar of Navadvipa, and His posing as a great fool was certainly to some purpose. Hearing this inquiry by the sannyasi, the Lord smiled and said, "My dear sir, if you do not mind, I will answer your inquiry."
All the sannyasis there were very much pleased with the Lord for His honest dealings, and they unanimously replied that they would not be offended by whatever He replied. The Lord then spoke as follows:
"Vedanta-sutra consists of transcendental words or sounds uttered by the transcendental Personality of Godhead. As such, in the Vedanta there cannot be any human deficiencies like mistake, illusion, cheating or inefficiency. The message of the Upanisads is expressed in the Vedanta-sutra, and what is said there directly is certainly glorified. Whatever interpretations have been given by Sankaracarya have no direct bearing on the sutra, and therefore such commentation spoils everything.
"The word Brahman indicates the greatest of all, which is full with transcendental opulences, superior to all. Brahman is ultimately the Personality of Godhead, and He is covered by indirect interpretations and established as impersonal. Everything that is in the spiritual world is full of transcendental bliss, including the form, body, place and paraphernalia of the Lord. All are eternally cognizant and blissful. It is not the fault of the Acarya Sankara that he has so interpreted Vedanta, but if someone accepts it, then certainly he is doomed. Anyone who accepts the transcendental body of the Personality of Godhead as something mundane certainly commits the greatest blasphemy."
The Lord thus spoke to the sannyasi almost in the same way that He spoke to the Bhattacarya of Puri, and by forceful arguments He nullified the Mayavada interpretations of the Vedanta-sutra. All the sannyasis there claimed that the Lord was the personified Vedas and the Personality of Godhead. All the sannyasis were converted to the cult of bhakti, all of them accepted the holy name of the Lord Sri Krsna, and they dined together with the Lord in the midst of them. After this conversion of the sannyasis, the popularity of the Lord increased at Varanasi, and thousands of people assembled to see the Lord in person. The Lord thus established the primary importance of Srimad-Bhagavata-dharma, and He defeated all other systems of spiritual realization. After that everyone at Varanasi was overwhelmed with the transcendental sankirtana movement.
While the Lord was camping at Varanasi, Sanatana Gosvami also arrived after retiring from office. He was formerly one of the state ministers in the government of Bengal, then under the regime of Nawab Hussain Shah. He had some difficulty in getting relief from the state service, for the Nawab was reluctant to let him leave. Nonetheless he came to Varanasi, and the Lord taught him the principles of devotional service. He taught him about the constitutional position of the living being, the cause of his bondage under material conditions, his eternal relation with the Personality of Godhead, the transcendental position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, His expansions in different plenary portions of incarnations, His control of different parts of the universe, the nature of His transcendental abode, devotional activities, their different stages of development, the rules and regulations for achieving the gradual stages of spiritual perfection, the symptoms of different incarnations in different ages, and how to detect them with reference to the context of revealed scriptures.
The Lord's teachings to Sanatana Gosvami form a big chapter in the text of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, and to explain the whole teachings in minute details will require a volume in itself. These are treated in detail in our book Teachings of Lord Caitanya.
At Mathura, the Lord visited all the important places; then He reached Vrndavana. Lord Caitanya appeared in the family of a high-caste brahmana, and over and above that as sannyasi He was the preceptor for all the varnas and asramas. But He used to accept meals from all classes of Vaisnavas. At Mathura the Sanodiya brahmanas are considered to be in the lower status of society, but the Lord accepted meals in the family of such a brahmana also because His host happened to be a disciple of the Madhavendra Puri family.
At Vrndavana the Lord took bath in twenty-four important bathing places and ghatas. He traveled to all the twelve important vanas (forests). In these forests all the cows and birds welcomed Him, as if He were their very old friend. The Lord also began to embrace all the trees of those forests, and by doing so He felt the symptoms of transcendental ecstasy. Sometimes He fell unconscious, but He was made to regain consciousness by the chanting of the holy name of Krsna. The transcendental symptoms that were visible on the body of the Lord during His travel within the forest of Vrndavana were all unique and inexplicable, and we have just given a synopsis only.
Some of the important places that were visited by the Lord in Vrndavana were Kamyavana, Adisvara, Pavana-sarovara, Khadiravana, Sesasayi, Khela-tirtha, Bhandiravana, Bhadravana, Srivana, Lauhavana, Mahavana, Gokula, Kaliya-hrada, Dvadasaditya, Kesi-tirtha, etc. When He saw the place where the rasa dance took place, He at once fell down in trance. As long as He remained at Vrndavana, He made His headquarters at Akrura-ghata.
From Vrndavana His personal servitor Krsnadasa Vipra induced Him to go back to Prayaga to take bath during the Magha-mela. The Lord acceded to this proposal, and they started for Prayaga. On the way they met with some Pathans, amongst whom there was a learned Moulana. The Lord had some talks with the Moulana and his companions, and the Lord convinced the Moulana that in the Koran also there are descriptions of Bhagavata-dharma and Krsna. All the Pathans were converted to His cult of devotional service.
When He returned to Prayaga, Srila Rupa Gosvami and his youngest brother met Him near Bindu-madhava temple. This time the Lord was welcomed by the people of Prayaga more respectfully. Vallabha Bhatta, who resided on the other bank of Prayaga in the village of Adaila, was to receive Him at his place. but while going there the Lord jumped in the River Yamuna. With great difficulty He was picked up in an unconscious state. Finally He visited the headquarters of Vallabha Bhatta. This Vallabha Bhatta was one of His chief admirers, but later on he inaugurated his own party, the Vallabha-sampradaya.
On the bank of the Dasasvamedha-ghata at Prayaga for ten days continually the Lord instructed Rupa Gosvami in the science of devotional service to the Lord. He taught the Gosvami the divisions of the living creatures in the 8,400,000 species of life. Then He taught him about the human species. Out of them He discussed the followers of the Vedic principles, out of them the fruitive workers, out of them the empiric philosophers, and out of them the liberated souls. He said that there are only a few who are actually pure devotees of Lord Sri Krsna.
Srila Rupa Gosvami was the younger brother of Sanatana Gosvami, and when he retired from service he brought with him two boatfuls of gold coins. This means that he brought with him some hundreds of thousands of rupees accumulated by the labor of his service. And before leaving home for Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he divided the wealth as follows: fifty percent for the service of the Lord and His devotees, twenty-five percent for relatives and twenty-five percent for his personal needs in case of emergency. In that way he set an example for all householders.
The Lord taught the Gosvami about devotional service, comparing it to a creeper, and advised him to protect the bhakti creeper most carefully against the mad elephant offense against the pure devotees. In addition, the creeper has to be protected from the desires of sense enjoyment, monistic liberation and perfection of the hatha-yoga system. They are all detrimental on the path of devotional service. Similarly, violence against living beings, and desire for worldly gain, worldly reception and worldly fame are all detrimental to the progress of bhakti, or Bhagavata-dharma.
Pure devotional service must be freed from all desires for sense gratification, fruitive aspirations and culture of monistic knowledge. One must be freed from all kinds of designations, and when one is thus converted to transcendental purity, one can then serve the Lord by purified senses.
As long as there is the desire to enjoy sensually or to become one with the Supreme or to possess the mystic powers, there is no question of attaining the stage of pure devotional service.
Devotional service is conducted under two categories, namely primary practice and spontaneous emotion. When one can rise to the platform of spontaneous emotion, he can make further progress by spiritual attachment, feeling, love, and many higher stages of devotional life for which there are no English words. We have tried to explain the science of devotional service in our book The Nectar of Devotion, based on the authority of Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu by Srila Rupa Gosvami.
Transcendental devotional service has five stages of reciprocation:
1. The self-realization stage just after liberation from material bondage is called the santa, or neutral stage.
2. After that, when there is development of transcendental knowledge of the Lord's internal opulences, the devotee engages himself in the dasya stage.
3. By further development of the dasya stage, a respectful fraternity with the Lord develops, and above that a feeling of friendship on equal terms becomes manifest. Both these stages are called sakhya stage, or devotional service in friendship.
4. Above this is the stage of paternal affection toward the Lord, and this is called the vatsalya stage.
5. And above this is the stage of conjugal love, and this stage is called the highest stage of love of God, although there is no difference in quality in any of the above stages. The last stage of conjugal love of God is called the madhurya stage.
Thus He instructed Rupa Gosvami in devotional science and deputed him to Vrndavana to excavate the lost sites of the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. After this, the Lord returned to Varanasi and delivered the sannyasis and instructed the elder brother of Rupa Gosvami. We have already discussed this.
The Lord left only eight slokas of His instructions in writing, and they are known as the Siksastaka. All other literatures of His divine cult were extensively written by the Lord's principal followers, the six Gosvamis of Vrndavana, and their followers. The cult of Caitanya philosophy is richer than any other, and it is admitted to be the living religion of the day with the potency for spreading as visva-dharma, or universal religion. We are glad that the matter has been taken up by some enthusiastic sages like Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja and his disciples. We shall eagerly wait for the happy days of Bhagavata-dharma, or prema-dharma, inaugurated by the Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
The eight slokas completed by the Lord are:
1
Glory to the Sri Krsna sankirtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years and extinguishes the fire of conditional life, of repeated birth and death. This sankirtana movement is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of the benediction moon. It is the life of all transcendental knowledge. It increases the ocean of transcendental bliss, and it enables us to fully taste the nectar for which we are always anxious.
2
O my Lord, Your holy name alone can render all benediction to living beings, and thus You have hundreds and millions of names like Krsna and Govinda. In these transcendental names You have invested all Your transcendental energies. There are not even hard and fast rules for chanting these names. O my Lord, out of kindness You enable us to easily approach You by chanting Your holy names, but I am so unfortunate that I have no attraction for them.
3
One should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking oneself lower than the straw in the street; one should be more tolerant than a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige, and ready to offer all respect to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly.
4
O almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor do I desire beautiful women, nor do I want any number of followers. I only want Your causeless devotional service birth after birth.
5
O son of Maharaja Nanda [Krsna], I am Your eternal servitor, yet somehow or other I have fallen into the ocean of birth and death. please pick me up from this ocean of death and place me as one of the atoms of Your lotus feet.
6
O my Lord, when will my eyes be decorated with tears of love flowing constantly when I chant Your holy name? When will my voice choke up, and when will the hairs of my body stand on end at the recitation of Your name?
7
O Govinda! Feeling Your separation, I am considering a moment to be like twelve years or more. Tears are flowing from my eyes like torrents of rain, and I am feeling all vacant in the world in Your absence.
8
I know no one but Krsna as my Lord, and He shall remain so even if He handles me roughly in His embrace or makes me brokenhearted by not being present before me. He is completely free to do anything and everything, for He is always my worshipful Lord unconditionally.
First Canto
"Creation"
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Questions by the Sages
TEXT 1
TEXT
om namo bhagavate vasudevaya
janmady asya yato 'nvayad itaratas carthesv abhijnah svarat
tene brahma hrda ya adi-kavaye muhyanti yat surayah
tejo-vari-mrdam yatha vinimayo yatra tri-sargo 'mrsa
dhamna svena sada nirasta-kuhakam satyam param dhimahi
SYNONYMS
om--O my Lord; namah--offering my obeisances; bhagavate--unto the Personality of Godhead; vasudevaya--unto Vasudeva (the son of Vasudeva), or Lord Sri Krsna, the primeval Lord; janma-adi--creation, sustenance and destruction; asya--of the manifested universes; yatah--from whom; anvayat--directly; itaratah--indirectly; ca--and; arthesu--purposes; abhijnah--fully cognizant; sva-rat--fully independent; tene--imparted; brahma--the Vedic knowledge; hrda--consciousness of the heart; yah--one who; adi-kavaye--unto the original created being; muhyanti--are illusioned; yat--about whom; surayah--great sages and demigods; tejah--fire; vari--water; mrdam--earth; yatha--as much as; vinimayah--action and reaction; yatra--whereupon; tri-sargah--three modes of creation, creative faculties; amrsa--almost factual; dhamna--along with all transcendental paraphernalia; svena--self-sufficiently; sada--always; nirasta--negation by absence; kuhakam--illusion; satyam--truth; param--absolute; dhimahi--I do meditate upon.
TRANSLATION
O my Lord, Sri Krsna, son of Vasudeva, O all-pervading Personality of Godhead, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. I meditate upon Lord Sri Krsna because He is the Absolute Truth and the primeval cause of all causes of the creation, sustenance and destruction of the manifested universes. He is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations, and He is independent because there is no other cause beyond Him. It is He only who first imparted the Vedic knowledge unto the heart of Brahmaji, the original living being. By Him even the great sages and demigods are placed into illusion, as one is bewildered by the illusory representations of water seen in fire, or land seen on water. Only because of Him do the material universes, temporarily manifested by the reactions of the three modes of nature, appear factual, although they are unreal. I therefore meditate upon Him, Lord Sri Krsna, who is eternally existent in the transcendental abode, which is forever free from the illusory representations of the material world. I meditate upon Him, for He is the Absolute Truth.
PURPORT
Obeisances unto the Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva, directly indicate Lord Sri Krsna, who is the divine son of Vasudeva and Devaki. This fact will be more explicitly explained in the text of this work. Sri Vyasadeva asserts herein that Sri Krsna is the original Personality of Godhead, and all others are His direct or indirect plenary portions or portions of the portion. Srila Jiva Gosvami has even more explicitly explained the subject matter in his Krsna-sandarbha. And Brahma, the original living being, has explained the subject of Sri Krsna substantially in his treatise named Brahma-samhita. In the Sama-veda Upanisad, it is also stated that Lord Sri Krsna is the divine son of Devaki. Therefore, in this prayer, the first proposition holds that Lord Sri Krsna is the primeval Lord, and if any transcendental nomenclature is to be understood as belonging to the Absolute Personality of Godhead, it must be the name indicated by the word Krsna, which means the all-attractive. In Bhagavad-gita, in many places, the Lord asserts Himself to be the original Personality of Godhead, and this is confirmed by Arjuna, and also by great sages like Narada, Vyasa, and many others. In the Padma Purana, it is also stated that out of the innumerable names of the Lord, the name of Krsna is the principal one. Vasudeva indicates the plenary portion of the Personality of Godhead, and all the different forms of the Lord, being identical with Vasudeva, are indicated in this text. The name Vasudeva particularly indicates the divine son of Vasudeva and Devaki. Sri Krsna is always meditated upon by the paramahamsas, who are the perfected ones among those in the renounced order of life.
Vasudeva, or Lord Sri Krsna, is the cause of all causes. Everything that exists emanates from the Lord. How this is so is explained in later chapters of this work. This work is described by Mahaprabhu Sri Caitanya as the spotless Purana because it contains the transcendental narration of the Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna. The history of the Srimad-Bhagavatam is also very glorious. It was compiled by Sri Vyasadeva after he had attained maturity in transcendental knowledge. He wrote this under the instructions of Sri Naradaji, his spiritual master. Vyasadeva compiled all Vedic literatures, containing the four divisions of the Vedas, the Vedanta-sutras (or the Brahma-sutras), the Puranas, the Mahabharata, and so on. But nevertheless he was not satisfied. His dissatisfaction was observed by his spiritual master, and thus Narada advised him to write on the transcendental activities of Lord Sri Krsna. These transcendental activities are described specifically in the Tenth Canto of this work. But, in order to reach to the very substance, one must proceed gradually by developing knowledge of the categories.
It is natural that a philosophical mind wants to know about the origin of the creation. At night he sees the stars in the sky, and he naturally speculates about their inhabitants. Such inquiries are natural for man because man has a developed consciousness which is higher than that of the animals. The author of Srimad-Bhagavatam gives a direct answer to such inquiries. He says that the Lord Sri Krsna is the origin of all creations. He is not only the creator of the universe, but the destroyer as well. The manifested cosmic nature is created at a certain period by the will of the Lord. It is maintained for some time, and then it is annihilated by His will. Therefore, the supreme will is behind all cosmic activities. Of course, there are atheists of various categories who do not believe in a creator, but that is due to a poor fund of knowledge. The modern scientist, for example, has created space satellites, and by some arrangement or other, these satellites are thrown into outer space to fly for some time at the control of the scientist who is far away. Similarly, all the universes with innumerable stars and planets are controlled by the intelligence of the Personality of Godhead.
In Vedic literatures, it is said that the Absolute Truth, Personality of Godhead, is the chief amongst all living personalities. All living beings, beginning from the first created being, Brahma, down to the smallest ant, are individual living beings. And above Brahma, there are even other living beings with individual capacities, and the Personality of Godhead is also a similar living being. And He is an individual as are the other living beings. But the Supreme Lord, or the supreme living being, has the greatest intelligence, and He possesses supermost inconceivable energies of all different varieties. If a man's brain can produce a space satellite, one can very easily imagine how brains higher than man can produce similarly wonderful things which are far superior. The reasonable person will easily accept this argument, but there are stubborn atheists who would never agree. Srila Vyasadeva, however, at once accepts the supreme intelligence as the paramesvara. He offers his respectful obeisances unto the supreme intelligence addressed as the para or the paramesvara or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And that paramesvara is Sri Krsna, as admitted in Bhagavad-gita and other scriptures delivered by Sri Vyasadeva and specifically in this Srimad-Bhagavatam. In Bhagavad-gita, the Lord says that there is no other para-tattva (summum bonum) than Himself. Therefore, Sri Vyasadeva at once worships the para-tattva, Sri Krsna, whose transcendental activities are described in the Tenth Canto.
Unscrupulous persons go immediately to the Tenth Canto and especially to the five chapters which describe the Lord's rasa dance. This portion of the Srimad-Bhagavatam is the most confidential part of this great literature. Unless one is thoroughly accomplished in the transcendental knowledge of the Lord, one is sure to misunderstand the Lord's worshipable transcendental pastimes called rasa dance and His love affairs with the gopis. This subject matter is highly spiritual, and only the liberated persons who have gradually attained to the stage of paramahamsa can transcendentally relish this rasa dance. Srila Vyasadeva therefore gives the reader the chance to gradually develop spiritual realization before actually relishing the essence of the pastimes of the Lord. Therefore, he purposely invokes a Gayatri mantra, dhimahi. This Gayatri mantra is meant for spiritually advanced people. When one is successful in chanting the Gayatri mantra, he can enter into the transcendental position of the Lord. One must therefore acquire brahminical qualities or be perfectly situated in the quality of goodness in order to chant the Gayatri mantra successfully and then attain to the stage of transcendentally realizing the Lord, His name, His fame, His qualities and so on.
Srimad-Bhagavatam is the narration of the svarupa of the Lord manifested by His internal potency, and this potency is distinguished from the external potency which has manifested the cosmic world, which is within our experience. Srila Vyasadeva makes a clear distinction between the two in this sloka. Sri Vyasadeva says herein that the manifested internal potency is real, whereas the external manifested energy in the form of material existence is only temporary and illusory like the mirage in the desert. In the desert mirage there is no actual water. There is only the appearance of water. Real water is somewhere else. The manifested cosmic creation appears as reality. But reality, of which this is but a shadow, is in the spiritual world. Absolute Truth is in the spiritual sky, not the material sky. In the material sky everything is relative truth. That is to say, one truth depends on something else. This cosmic creation results from interaction of the three modes of nature, and the temporary manifestations are so created as to present an illusion of reality to the bewildered mind of the conditioned soul, who appears in so many species of life, including the higher demigods, like Brahma, Indra, Candra, and so on. In actuality, there is no reality in the manifested world. There appears to be reality, however, because of the true reality which exists in the spiritual world, where the Personality of Godhead eternally exists with His transcendental paraphernalia.
The chief engineer of a complicated construction does not personally take part in the construction, but he knows every nook and corner because everything is done under his direction. He knows everything about the construction, both directly and indirectly. Similarly, the Personality of Godhead, who is the supreme engineer of this cosmic creation, knows every nook and corner, although affairs are being carried out by demigods. Beginning from Brahma down to the insignificant ant, no one is independent in the material creation. The hand of the Lord is seen everywhere. All material elements as well as all spiritual sparks emanate from Him only. And whatever is created in this material world is but the interaction of two energies, the material and the spiritual, which emanate from the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna. A chemist can manufacture water in the chemical laboratory by mixing hydrogen and oxygen. But, in reality, the living entity works in the laboratory under the direction of the Supreme Lord. And the materials with which he works are also supplied by the Lord. The Lord knows everything directly and indirectly, and He is cognizant of all minute details, and He is fully independent. He is compared to a mine of gold, and the cosmic creations in so many different forms are compared to objects made from the gold, such as gold rings, necklaces and so on. The gold ring and the gold necklace are qualitatively one with the gold in the mine, but quantitatively the gold in the mine is different. Therefore, the Absolute Truth is simultaneously one and different. Nothing is absolutely equal with the Absolute Truth, but at the same time, nothing is independent of the Absolute Truth.
Conditioned souls, beginning from Brahma, who engineers the entire universe, down to the insignificant ant, are all creating, but none of them are independent of the Supreme Lord. The materialist wrongly thinks that there is no creator other than his own self. This is called maya, or illusion. Because of his poor fund of knowledge, the materialist cannot see beyond the purview of his imperfect senses, and thus he thinks that matter automatically takes its own shape without the aid of a superior intelligence. This is refuted in this sloka by Srila Vyasadeva: "Since the complete whole or the Absolute Truth is the source of everything, nothing can be independent of the body of the Absolute Truth." Whatever happens to the body quickly becomes known to the embodied. Similarly, the creation is the body of the absolute whole. Therefore, the Absolute knows everything directly and indirectly that happens in the creation.
In the sruti-mantra, it is also stated that the absolute whole or Brahman is the ultimate source of everything. Everything emanates from Him, and everything is maintained by Him. And at the end, everything enters into Him. That is the law of nature. In the smrti-mantra, the same is confirmed. It is said that the source from which everything emanates at the beginning of Brahma's millennium and the reservoir to which everything ultimately enters, is the Absolute Truth or Brahman. Material scientists take it for granted that the ultimate source of the planetary system is the sun, but they are unable to explain the source of the sun. Herein, the ultimate source is explained. According to the Vedic literatures, Brahma, who may be compared to the sun, is not the ultimate creator. It is stated in this sloka that Brahma was taught Vedic knowledge by the Personality of Godhead. One may argue that Brahma, being the original living being, could not be inspired because there was no other being living at that time. Herein it is stated that the Supreme Lord inspired the secondary creator, Brahma, in order that Brahma could carry out his creative functions. So, the supreme intelligence behind all creations is the Absolute Godhead, Sri Krsna. In Bhagavad-gita, Lord Sri Krsna states that it is He only who superintends the creative energy, prakrti, which constitutes the totality of matter. Therefore, Sri Vyasadeva does not worship Brahma, but the Supreme Lord, who guides Brahma in his creative activities. In this sloka, the particular words abhijnah and svarat are significant. These two words distinguish the Supreme Lord from all the other living entities. No other living entity is either abhijnah or svarat. That is, no one is either fully cognizant or fully independent. Even Brahma has to meditate upon the Supreme Lord in order to create. Then what to speak of great scientists like Einstein! The brains of such a scientist are certainly not the products of any human being. Scientists cannot manufacture such a brain, and what to speak of foolish atheists who defy the authority of the Lord? Even Mayavadi impersonalists who flatter themselves that they can become one with the Lord are neither abhijnah or svarat. Such impersonalists undergo severe austerities to acquire knowledge to become one with the Lord. But ultimately they become dependent on some rich disciple who supplies them with money to build monasteries and temples. Atheists like Ravana or Hiranyakasipu had to undergo severe penances before they could flout the authority of the Lord. But ultimately, they were rendered helpless and could not save themselves when the Lord appeared before them as cruel death. This is also the case with the modern atheists who also dare to flout the authority of the Lord. Such atheists will be dealt with similarly, for history repeats itself. Whenever men neglect the authority of the Lord, nature and her laws are there to penalize them. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita in the well-known verse yada yada hi dharmasya glanih. "Whenever there is a decline of dharma and a rise of adharma, O Arjuna, then I incarnate Myself." (Bg. 4.7)
That the Supreme Lord is all-perfect is confirmed in all sruti-mantras. It is said in the sruti-mantras that the all-perfect Lord threw a glance over matter and thus created all living beings. The living beings are parts and parcels of the Lord, and He impregnates the vast material creation with seeds of spiritual sparks, and thus the creative energies are set in motion to enact so many wonderful creations. An atheist may argue that God is no more expert than a watchmaker, but of course God is greater because He can create machines in duplicate male and female forms. The male and female forms of different types of machineries go on producing innumerable similar machines without God's further attention. If a man could manufacture such a set of machines that could produce other machines without his attention, then he could approach the intelligence of God. But that is not possible, for each machine has to be handled individually. Therefore, no one can create as well as God. Another name for God is asamaurdhva, which means that no one is equal to or greater than Him. Param satyam, or the Supreme Truth, is He who has no equal or superior. This is confirmed in the sruti-mantras. It is said that before the creation of the material universe there existed the Lord only, who is master of everyone. That Lord instructed Brahma in Vedic knowledge. That Lord has to be obeyed in all respects. Anyone who wants to get rid of the material entanglement must surrender unto Him. This is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gita.
Unless one surrenders unto the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, it is certain that he will be bewildered. When an intelligent man surrenders unto the lotus feet of Krsna and knows completely that Krsna is the cause of all causes, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gita, then only can such an intelligent man become a mahatma, or great soul. But such a great soul is rarely seen. Only the mahatmas can understand that the Supreme Lord is the primeval cause of all creations. He is parama or ultimate truth because all other truths are relative to Him. He is omniscient. For Him, there is no illusion.
Some Mayavadi scholars argue that Srimad-Bhagavatam was not compiled by Sri Vyasadeva. And some of them suggest that this book is a modern creation written by someone named Vopadeva. In order to refute such meaningless arguments, Sri Sridhara Svami points out that there is reference to the Bhagavatam in many of the oldest Puranas. This first sloka of the Bhagavatam begins with the Gayatri mantra. There is reference to this in the Matsya Purana, which is the oldest Purana. In that Purana, it is said with reference to the Gayatri mantra in the Bhagavatam that there are many narrations of spiritual instructions beginning with the Gayatri mantra. And there is the history of Vrtrasura. Anyone who makes a gift of this great work on a full moon day attains to the highest perfection of life by returning to Godhead. There is reference to the Bhagavatam in other Puranas also, where it is clearly stated that this work was finished in twelve cantos, which include eighteen thousand slokas. In the Padma Purana also there is reference to the Bhagavatam in a conversation between Gautama and Maharaja Ambarisa. The king was advised therein to read regularly Srimad-Bhagavatam if he desired liberation from material bondage. Under the circumstances, there is no doubt about the authority of the Bhagavatam. Within the past five hundred years, many erudite scholars and acaryas like Jiva Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami, Visvanatha Cakravarti, Vallabhacarya, and many other distinguished scholars even after the time of Lord Caitanya made elaborate commentaries on the Bhagavatam. And the serious student would do well to attempt to go through them to better relish the transcendental messages.
Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura specifically deals with the original and pure sex psychology (adi-rasa), devoid of all mundane inebriety. The whole material creation is moving under the principle of sex life. In modern civilization, sex life is the focal point for all activities. Wherever one turns his face, he sees sex life predominant. Therefore, sex life is not unreal. Its reality is experienced in the spiritual world. The material sex life is but a perverted reflection of the original fact. The original fact is in the Absolute Truth, and thus the Absolute Truth cannot be impersonal. It is not possible to be impersonal and contain pure sex life. Consequently, the impersonalist philosophers have given indirect impetus to the abominable mundane sex life because they have overstressed the impersonality of the ultimate truth. Consequently, man without information of the actual spiritual form of sex has accepted perverted material sex life as the all in all. There is a distinction between sex life in the diseased material condition and spiritual sex life.
This Srimad-Bhagavatam will gradually elevate the unbiased reader to the highest perfectional stage of transcendence. It will enable him to transcend the three modes of material activities: fruitive actions, speculative philosophy, and worship of functional deities as inculcated in Vedic verses.
TEXT 2
TEXT
dharmah projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsaranam satam
vedyam vastavam atra vastu sivadam tapa-trayonmulanam
srimad-bhagavate maha-muni-krte kim va parair isvarah
sadyo hrdy avarudhyate 'tra krtibhih susrusubhis tat-ksanat
SYNONYMS
dharmah--religiosity; projjhita--completely rejected; kaitavah--covered by fruitive intention; atra--herein; paramah--the highest; nirmatsaranam--of the one-hundred-percent pure in heart; satam--devotees; vedyam--understandable; vastavam--factual; atra--herein; vastu--substance; sivadam--well-being; tapa-traya--threefold miseries; unmulanam--causing uprooting of; srimat--beautiful; bhagavate--the Bhagavata Purana; maha-muni--the great sage (Vyasadeva); krte--having compiled; kim--what is; va--the need; paraih--others; isvarah--the Supreme Lord; sadyah--at once; hrdi--within the heart; avarudhyate--become compact; atra--herein; krtibhih--by the pious men; susrusubhih--by culture; tat-ksanat--without delay.
TRANSLATION
Completely rejecting all religious activities which are materially motivated, this Bhagavata Purana propounds the highest truth, which is understandable by those devotees who are fully pure in heart. The highest truth is reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all. Such truth uproots the threefold miseries. This beautiful Bhagavatam, compiled by the great sage Vyasadeva [in his maturity], is sufficient in itself for God realization. What is the need of any other scripture? As soon as one attentively and submissively hears the message of Bhagavatam, by this culture of knowledge the Supreme Lord is established within his heart.
PURPORT
Religion includes four primary subjects, namely pious activities, economic development, satisfaction of the senses, and finally liberation from material bondage. Irreligious life is a barbarous condition. Indeed, human life begins when religion begins. Eating, sleeping, fearing, and mating are the four principles of animal life. These are common both to animals and to human beings. But religion is the extra function of the human being. Without religion, human life is no better than animal life. Therefore, in human societies there is some form of religion which aims at self-realization and which makes reference to man's eternal relationship with God.
In the lower stages of human civilization, there is always competition to lord it over the material nature or, in other words, there is a continuous rivalry to satisfy the senses. Driven by such consciousness, man turns to religion. He thus performs pious activities or religious functions in order to gain something material. But if such material gains are obtainable in other ways, then so-called religion is neglected. This is the situation in modern civilization. Man is thriving economically, so at present he is not very interested in religion. Churches, mosques or temples are now practically vacant. Men are more interested in factories, shops, and cinemas than in religious places which were erected by their forefathers. This practically proves that religion is performed for some economic gains. Economic gains are needed for sense gratification. Often when one is baffled in the pursuit of sense gratification, he takes to salvation and tries to become one with the Supreme Lord. Consequently, all these states are simply different types of sense gratification.
In the Vedas, the above-mentioned four activities are prescribed in the regulative way so that there will not be any undue competition for sense gratification. But Srimad-Bhagavatam is transcendental to all these sense gratificatory activities. It is purely transcendental literature which can be understood only by the pure devotees of the Lord who are transcendental to competitive sense gratification. In the material world there is keen competition between animal and animal, man and man, community and community, nation and nation. But the devotees of the Lord rise above such competitions. They do not compete with the materialist because they are on the path back to Godhead where life is eternal and blissful. Such transcendentalists are nonenvious and pure in heart. In the material world, everyone is envious of everyone else, and therefore there is competition. But the transcendental devotees of the Lord are not only free from material envy, but are well-wishers to everyone, and they strive to establish a competitionless society with God in the center. The contemporary socialist's conception of a competitionless society is artificial because in the socialist state there is competition for the post of dictator. From the point of view of the Vedas or from the point of view of common human activities, sense gratification is the basis of material life. There are three paths mentioned in the Vedas. One involves fruitive activities to gain promotion to better planets. Another involves worshiping different demigods for promotion to the planets of the demigods, and another involves realizing the Absolute Truth and His impersonal feature and becoming one with Him.
The impersonal aspect of the Absolute Truth is not the highest. Above the impersonal feature is the Paramatma feature, and above this is the personal feature of the Absolute Truth, or Bhagavan. Srimad-Bhagavatam gives information about the Absolute Truth in His personal feature. It is higher than impersonalist literatures and higher than the jnana-kanda division of the Vedas. It is even higher than the karma-kanda division, and even higher than the upasana-kanda division, because it recommends the worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krsna. In the karma-kanda, there is competition to reach heavenly planets for better sense gratification, and there is similar competition in the jnana-kanda and the upasana-kanda. The Srimad-Bhagavatam is superior to all of these because it aims at the Supreme Truth which is the substance or the root of all categories. From Srimad-Bhagavatam one can come to know the substance as well as the categories. The substance is the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Lord, and all emanations are relative forms of energy.
Nothing is apart from the substance, but at the same time the energies are different from the substance. This conception is not contradictory. Srimad-Bhagavatam explicitly promulgates this simultaneously-one-and-different philosophy of the Vedanta-sutra, which begins with the "janmady asya" sutra.
This knowledge that the energy of the Lord is simultaneously one with and different from the Lord is an answer to the mental speculators' attempt to establish the energy as the Absolute. When this knowledge is factually understood, one sees the conceptions of monism and dualism to be imperfect. Development of this transcendental consciousness grounded in the conception of simultaneously-one-and-different leads one immediately to the stage of freedom from the threefold miseries. The threefold miseries are (1) those miseries which arise from the mind and body, (2) those miseries inflicted by other living beings, and (3) those miseries arising from natural catastrophes over which one has no control. Srimad-Bhagavatam begins with the surrender of the devotee unto the Absolute Person. The devotee is fully aware that he is one with the Absolute and at the same time in the eternal position of servant to the Absolute. In the material conception, one falsely thinks himself the lord of all he surveys, and therefore he is always troubled by the threefold miseries of life. But as soon as one comes to know his real position as transcendental servant, he at once becomes free from all miseries. As long as the living entity is trying to master material nature, there is no possibility of his becoming servant of the Supreme. Service to the Lord is rendered in pure consciousness of one's spiritual identity; by service one is immediately freed from material encumbrances.
Over and above this, Srimad-Bhagavatam is a personal commentation on the Vedanta-sutra by Sri Vyasadeva. It was written in the maturity of his spiritual life through the mercy of Narada. Sri Vyasadeva is the authorized incarnation of Narayana, the Personality of Godhead. Therefore, there is no question as to his authority. He is the author of all other Vedic literatures, yet he recommends the study of Srimad-Bhagavatam above all others. In other Puranas there are different methods set forth by which one can worship the demigods. But in the Bhagavatam only the Supreme Lord is mentioned. The Supreme Lord is the total body, and the demigods are the different parts of that body. Consequently, by worshiping the Supreme Lord, one does not need to worship the demigods. The Supreme Lord becomes fixed in the heart of the devotee immediately. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu has recommended the Srimad-Bhagavatam as the spotless Purana and distinguishes it from all other Puranas.
The proper method for receiving this transcendental message is to hear it submissively. A challenging attitude cannot help one realize this transcendental message. One particular word is used herein for proper guidance. This word is susrusu. One must be anxious to hear this transcendental message. The desire to sincerely hear is the first qualification.
Less fortunate persons are not at all interested in hearing this Srimad-Bhagavatam. The process is simple, but the application is difficult. Unfortunate people find enough time to hear idle social and political conversations, but when invited to attend a meeting of devotees to hear Srimad-Bhagavatam they suddenly become reluctant. Sometimes professional readers of the Bhagavatam immediately plunge into the confidential topics of the pastimes of the Supreme Lord, which they seemingly interpret as sex literature. Srimad-Bhagavatam is meant to be heard from the beginning. Those who are fit to assimilate this work are mentioned in this sloka: "One becomes qualified to hear Srimad-Bhagavatam after many pious deeds." The intelligent person, with thoughtful discretion, can be assured by the great sage Vyasadeva that he can realize the Supreme Personality directly by hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam. Without undergoing the different stages of realization set forth in the Vedas, one can be lifted immediately to the position of paramahamsa simply by agreeing to receive this message.
TEXT 3
TEXT
nigama-kalpa-taror galitam phalam
suka-mukhad amrta-drava-samyutam
pibata bhagavatam rasam alayam
muhur aho rasika bhuvi bhavukah
SYNONYMS
nigama--the Vedic literatures; kalpa-taroh--the desire tree; galitam--fully matured; phalam--fruit; suka--Srila Sukadeva Gosvami, the original speaker of Srimad-Bhagavatam; mukhat--from the lips of; amrta--nectar; drava--semisolid and soft and therefore easily swallowable; samyutam--perfect in all respects; pibata--do relish it; bhagavatam--the book dealing in the science of the eternal relation with the Lord; rasam--juice (that which is relishable); alayam--until liberation, or even in a liberated condition; muhuh--always; aho--O; rasikah--those who are full in the knowledge of mellows; bhuvi--on the earth; bhavukah--expert and thoughtful.
TRANSLATION
O expert and thoughtful men, relish Srimad-Bhagavatam, the mature fruit of the desire tree of Vedic literatures. It emanated from the lips of Sri Sukadeva Gosvami. Therefore this fruit has become even more tasteful, although its nectarean juice was already relishable for all, including liberated souls.
PURPORT
In the two previous slokas it has been definitely proved that the Srimad-Bhagavatam is the sublime literature which surpasses all other Vedic scriptures due to its transcendental qualities. It is transcendental to all mundane activities and mundane knowledge. In this sloka it is stated that Srimad-Bhagavatam is not only a superior literature but is the ripened fruit of all Vedic literatures. In other words, it is the cream of all Vedic knowledge. Considering all this, patient and submissive hearing is definitely essential. With great respect and attention, one should receive the message and lessons imparted by the Srimad-Bhagavatam.
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. The Vedas contain regulated principles of knowledge covering social, political, religious, economic, military, medicinal, chemical, physical and metaphysical subject matter and all that may be necessary to keep the body and soul together. Above and beyond all this are specific directions for spiritual realization. Regulated knowledge involves a gradual raising of the living entity to the spiritual platform, and the highest spiritual realization is knowledge that the Personality of Godhead is the reservoir of all spiritual tastes, or rasas.
Every living entity, beginning from Brahma, the first-born living being within the material world, down to the insignificant ant, desires to relish some sort of taste derived from sense perceptions. These sensual pleasures are technically called rasas. Such rasas are of different varieties. In the revealed scriptures the following twelve varieties of rasas are enumerated: (1) raudra (anger), (2) adbhuta (wonder), (3) srngara (conjugal love), (4) hasya (comedy), (5) vira (chivalry), (6) daya (mercy), (7) dasya (servitorship), (8) sakhya (fraternity), (9) bhayanaka (horror), (10) bibhatsa (shock), (11) santa (neutrality), (12) vatsalya (parenthood).
The sum total of all these rasas is called affection or love. Primarily, such signs of love are manifested in adoration, service, friendship, paternal affection, and conjugal love. And when these five are absent, love is present indirectly in anger, wonder, comedy, chivalry, fear, shock and so on. For example, when a man is in love with a woman, the rasa is called conjugal love. But when such love affairs are disturbed there may be wonder, anger, shock, or even horror. Sometimes love affairs between two persons culminate in ghastly murder scenes. Such rasas are displayed between man and man and between animal and animal. There is no possibility of an exchange or rasa between a man and an animal or between a man and any other species of living beings within the material world. The rasas are exchanged between members of the same species. But as far as the spirit souls are concerned, they are one qualitatively with the Supreme Lord. Therefore, the rasas were originally exchanged between the spiritual living being and the spiritual whole, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The spiritual exchange or rasa is fully exhibited in spiritual existence between living beings and the Supreme Lord.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is therefore described in the sruti-mantras, Vedic hymns, as "the fountainhead of all rasas." When one associates with the Supreme Lord and exchanges one's constitutional rasa with the Lord, then the living being is actually happy.
These sruti-mantras indicate that every living being has its constitutional position, which is endowed with a particular type of rasa to be exchanged with the Personality of Godhead. In the liberated condition only, this primary rasa is experienced in full. In the material existence, the rasa is experienced in the perverted form, which is temporary. And thus the rasas of the material world are exhibited in the material form of raudra (anger) and so on.
Therefore, one who attains full knowledge of these different rasas, which are the basic principles of activities, can understand the false representations of the original rasas which are reflected in the material world. The learned scholar seeks to relish the real rasa in the spiritual form. In the beginning he desires to become one with the Supreme. Thus, less intelligent transcendentalists cannot go beyond this conception of becoming one with the spirit whole, without knowing of the different rasas.
In this sloka, it is definitely stated that spiritual rasa, which is relished even in the liberated stage, can be experienced in the literature of the Srimad-Bhagavatam due to its being the ripened fruit of all Vedic knowledge. By submissively hearing this transcendental literature, one can attain the full pleasure of his heart's desire. But one must be very careful to hear the message from the right source. Srimad-Bhagavatam is exactly received from the right source. It was brought by Narada Muni from the spiritual world and given to his disciple Sri Vyasadeva. The latter in turn delivered the message to his son Srila Sukadeva Gosvami, and Srila Sukadeva Gosvami delivered the message to Maharaja Pariksit just seven days before the King's death. Srila Sukadeva Gosvami was a liberated soul from his very birth. He was liberated even in the womb of his mother, and he did not undergo any sort of spiritual training after his birth. At birth no one is qualified, neither in the mundane nor in the spiritual sense. But Sri Sukadeva Gosvami, due to his being a perfectly liberated soul, did not have to undergo an evolutionary process for spiritual realization. Yet despite his being a completely liberated person situated in the transcendental position above the three material modes, he was attracted to this transcendental rasa of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is adored by liberated souls who sing Vedic hymns. The Supreme Lord's pastimes are more attractive to liberated souls than to mundane people. He is of necessity not impersonal because it is only possible to carry on transcendental rasa with a person.
In the Srimad-Bhagavatam the transcendental pastimes of the Lord are narrated, and the narration is systematically depicted by Srila Sukadeva Gosvami. Thus the subject matter is appealing to all classes of persons, including those who seek liberation and those who seek to become one with the supreme whole.
In Sanskrit the parrot is also known as suka. When a ripened fruit is cut by the red beaks of such birds, its sweet flavor is enhanced. The Vedic fruit which is mature and ripe in knowledge is spoken through the lips of Srila Sukadeva Gosvami, who is compared to the parrot not for his ability to recite the Bhagavatam exactly as he heard it from his learned father, but for his ability to present the work in a manner that would appeal to all classes of men.
The subject matter is so presented through the lips of Srila Sukadeva Gosvami that any sincere listener that hears submissively 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 Krsnaloka. Rather, it has come down carefully through the chain of disciplic succession without change or disturbance. Foolish people who are not in the transcendental disciplic succession commit great blunders by trying to understand the highest transcendental rasa known as the rasa dance without following in the footsteps of Sukadeva Gosvami, who presents this fruit very carefully by stages of transcendental realization. One should be intelligent enough to know the position of Srimad-Bhagavatam by considering personalities like Sukadeva Gosvami, who deals with the subject so carefully. This process of disciplic succession of the Bhagavata school suggests that in the future also Srimad-Bhagavatam has to be understood from a person who is factually a representative of Srila Sukadeva Gosvami. A professional man who makes a business out of reciting the Bhagavatam illegally is certainly not a representative of Sukadeva Gosvami. Such a man's business is only to earn his livelihood. Therefore one should refrain from hearing the lectures of such professional men. Such men usually go to the most confidential part of the literature without undergoing the gradual process of understanding this grave subject. They usually plunge into the subject matter of the rasa dance, which is misunderstood by the foolish class of men. Some of them take this to be immoral, while others try to cover it up by their own stupid interpretations. They have no desire to follow in the footsteps of Srila Sukadeva Gosvami.
One should conclude, therefore, that the serious student of the rasa should receive the message of Bhagavatam in the chain of disciplic succession from Srila Sukadeva Gosvami, who describes the Bhagavatam from its very beginning and not whimsically to satisfy the mundaner who has very little knowledge in transcendental science. Srimad-Bhagavatam is so carefully presented that a sincere and serious person can at once enjoy the ripened fruit of Vedic knowledge simply by drinking the nectarean juice through the mouth of Sukadeva Gosvami or his bona fide representative.
TEXT 4
TEXT
naimise 'nimisa-ksetre
rsayah saunakadayah
satram svargaya lokaya
sahasra-samam asata
SYNONYMS
naimise--in the forest known as Naimisaranya; animisa-ksetre--the spot which is especially a favorite of Visnu (who does not close His eyelids); rsayah--sages; saunaka-adayah--headed by the sage Saunaka; satram--sacrifice; svargaya--the Lord who is glorified in heaven; lokaya--and for the devotees who are always in touch with the Lord; sahasra--one thousand; samam--years; asata--performed.
TRANSLATION
Once, in a holy place in the forest of Naimisaranya, great sages headed by the sage Saunaka assembled to perform a great thousand-year sacrifice for the satisfaction of the Lord and His devotees.
PURPORT
The prelude of the Srimad-Bhagavatam was spoken in the previous three slokas. Now the main topic of this great literature is being presented. Srimad-Bhagavatam, after its first recitation by Srila Sukadeva Gosvami, was repeated for the second time at Naimisaranya.
In the Vayaviya Tantra, it is said that Brahma, the engineer of this particular universe, contemplated a great wheel which could enclose the universe. The hub of this great circle was fixed at a particular place known as Naimisaranya. Similarly, there is another reference to the forest of Naimisaranya in the Varaha Purana, where it is stated that by performance of sacrifice at this place, the strength of demoniac people is curtailed. Thus brahmanas prefer Naimisaranya for such sacrificial performances.
The devotees of Lord Visnu offer all kinds of sacrifices for His pleasure. The devotees are always attached to the service of the Lord, whereas fallen souls are attached to the pleasures of material existence. In Bhagavad-gita, it is said that anything performed in the material world for any reason other than for the pleasure of Lord Visnu causes further bondage for the performer. It is enjoined therefore that all acts must be performed sacrificially for the satisfaction of Visnu and His devotees. This will bring everyone peace and prosperity.
The great sages are always anxious to do good to the people in general, and as such the sages headed by Saunaka and others assembled at this holy place of Naimisaranya with a program of performing a great and continuous chain of sacrificial ceremonies. Forgetful men do not know the right path for peace and prosperity. However, the sages know it well, and therefore for the good of all men they are always anxious to perform acts which may bring about peace in the world. They are sincere friends to all living entities, and at the risk of great personal inconvenience they are always engaged in the service of the Lord for the good of all people. Lord Visnu is just like a great tree, and all others, including the demigods, men, Siddhas, Caranas, Vidyadharas and other living entities, are like branches, twigs and leaves of that tree. By pouring water on the root of the tree, all the parts of the tree are automatically nourished. Only those branches and leaves which are detached cannot be so satisfied. Detached branches and leaves dry up gradually despite all watering attempts. Similarly, human society, when it is detached from the Personality of Godhead like detached branches and leaves, is not capable of being watered, and one attempting to do so is simply wasting his energy and resources.
The modern materialistic society is detached from its relation to the Supreme Lord. And all its plans which are being made by atheistic leaders are sure to be baffled at every step. Yet they do not wake up to this.
In this age, the congregational chanting of the holy names of the Lord is the prescribed method for waking up. The ways and means are most scientifically presented by Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and intelligent persons may take advantage of His teachings in order to bring about real peace and prosperity. Srimad-Bhagavatam is also presented for the same purpose, and this will be explained more specifically later in the text.
TEXT 5
TEXT
ta ekada tu munayah
pratar huta-hutagnayah
sat-krtam sutam asinam
papracchur idam adarat
SYNONYMS
te--the sages; ekada--one day; tu--but; munayah--sages; pratah--morning; huta--burning; huta-agnayah--the sacrificial fire; sat-krtam--due respects; sutam--Sri Suta Gosvami; asinam--seated on; papracchuh--made inquiries; idam--on this (as follows); adarat--with due regards.
TRANSLATION
One day, after finishing their morning duties by burning a sacrificial fire and offering a seat of esteem to Srila Suta Gosvami, the great sages made inquiries, with great respect, about the following matters.
PURPORT
Morning is the best time to hold spiritual services. The great sages offered the speaker of the Bhagavatam an elevated seat of respect called the vyasasana, or the seat of Sri Vyasadeva. Sri Vyasadeva is the original spiritual preceptor for all men. And all other preceptors are considered to be his representatives. A representative is one who can exactly present the viewpoint of Sri Vyasadeva. Sri Vyasadeva impregnated the message of Bhagavatam unto Srila Sukadeva Gosvami, and Sri Suta Gosvami heard it from him (Sri Sukadeva Gosvami). All bona fide representatives of Sri Vyasadeva in the chain of disciplic succession are to be understood to be gosvamis. These gosvamis restrain all their senses, and they stick to the path made by the previous acaryas. The gosvamis do not deliver lectures on the Bhagavatam capriciously. Rather, they execute their services most carefully, following their predecessors who delivered the spiritual message unbroken to them.
Those who listen to the Bhagavatam may put questions to the speaker in order to elicit the clear meaning, but this should not be done in a challenging spirit. One must submit questions with a great regard for the speaker and the subject matter. This is also the way recommended in Bhagavad-gita. One must learn the transcendental subject by submissive aural reception from the right sources. Therefore these sages addressed the speaker Suta Gosvami with great respect.
TEXT 6
TEXT
rsaya ucuh
tvaya khalu puranani
setihasani canagha
akhyatany apy adhitani
dharma-sastrani yany uta
SYNONYMS
rsayah--the sages; ucuh--said; tvaya--by you; khalu--undoubtedly; puranani--the supplements to the Vedas with illustrative narrations; sa-itihasani--along with the histories; ca--and; anagha--freed from all vices; akhyatani--explained; api--although; adhitani--well read; dharma-sastrani--scriptures giving right directions to progressive life; yani--all these; uta--said.
TRANSLATION
The sages said: Respected Suta Gosvami, you are completely free from all vice. You are well versed in all the scriptures famous for religious life, and in the Puranas and the histories as well, for you have gone through them under proper guidance and have also explained them.
PURPORT
A gosvami, or the bona fide representative of Sri Vyasadeva, must be free from all kinds of vices. The four major vices of Kali-yuga are (1) illicit connection with women, (2) animal slaughter, (3) intoxication, (4) speculative gambling of all sorts. A gosvami must be free from all these vices before he can dare sit on the vyasasana. No one should be allowed to sit on the vyasasana who is not spotless in character and who is not freed from the above-mentioned vices. He not only should be freed from all such vices, but must also be well versed in all revealed scriptures or in the Vedas. The Puranas are also parts of the Vedas. And histories like the Mahabharata or Ramayana are also parts of the Vedas. The acarya or the gosvami must be well acquainted with all these literatures. To hear and explain them is more important than reading them. One can assimilate the knowledge of the revealed scriptures only by hearing and explaining. Hearing is called sravana, and explaining is called kirtana. The two processes of sravana and kirtana are of primary importance to progressive spiritual life. Only one who has properly grasped the transcendental knowledge from the right source by submissive hearing can properly explain the subject.
TEXT 7
TEXT
yani veda-vidam srestho
bhagavan badarayanah
anye ca munayah suta
paravara-vido viduh
SYNONYMS
yani--all that; veda-vidam--scholars of the Vedas; sresthah--seniormost; bhagavan--incarnation of Godhead; badarayanah--Vyasadeva; anye--others; ca--and; munayah--the sages; suta--O Suta Gosvami; paravara-vidah--amongst the learned scholars, one who is conversant with physical and metaphysical knowledge; viduh--one who knows.
TRANSLATION
Being the eldest learned Vedantist, O Suta Gosvami, you are acquainted with the knowledge of Vyasadeva, who is the incarnation of Godhead, and you also know other sages who are fully versed in all kinds of physical and metaphysical knowledge.
PURPORT
Srimad-Bhagavatam is a natural commentation on the Brahma-sutra, or the Badarayani Vedanta-sutras. It is called natural because Vyasadeva is author of both the Vedanta-sutras and Srimad-Bhagavatam, or the essence of all Vedic literatures. Besides Vyasadeva, there are other sages who are the authors of six different philosophical systems, namely Gautama, Kanada, Kapila, Patanjali, Jaimini and Astavakra. Theism is explained completely in the Vedanta-sutra, whereas in other systems of philosophical speculations, practically no mention is given to the ultimate cause of all causes. One can sit on the vyasasana only after being conversant in all systems of philosophy so that one can present fully the theistic views of the Bhagavatam in defiance of all other systems. Srila Suta Gosvami was the proper teacher, and therefore the sages at Naimisaranya elevated him to the vyasasana. Srila Vyasadeva is designated herein as the Personality of Godhead because he is the authorized empowered incarnation.
TEXT 8
TEXT
vettha tvam saumya tat sarvam
tattvatas tad-anugrahat
bruyuh snigdhasya sisyasya
guravo guhyam apy uta
SYNONYMS
vettha--you are well conversant; tvam--Your Honor; saumya--one who is pure and simple; tat--those; sarvam--all; tattvatah--in fact; tat--their; anugrahat--by the favor of; bruyuh--will tell; snigdhasya--of the one who is submissive; sisyasya--of the disciple; guravah--the spiritual masters; guhyam--secret; api uta--endowed with.
TRANSLATION
And because you are submissive, your spiritual masters have endowed you with all the favors bestowed upon a gentle disciple. Therefore you can tell us all that you have scientifically learned from them.
PURPORT
The secret of success in spiritual life is in satisfying the spiritual master and thereby getting his sincere blessings. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura has sung in his famous eight stanzas on the spiritual master as follows: "I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of my spiritual master. Only by his satisfaction can one please the Personality of Godhead, and when he is dissatisfied there is only havoc on the path of spiritual realization." It is essential, therefore, that a disciple be very much obedient and submissive to the bona fide spiritual master. Srila Suta Gosvami fulfilled all these qualifications as a disciple, and therefore he was endowed with all favors by his learned and self-realized spiritual masters such as Srila Vyasadeva and others. The sages of Naimisaranya were confident that Srila Suta Gosvami was bona fide. Therefore they were anxious to hear from him.
TEXT 9
TEXT
tatra tatranjasayusman
bhavata yad viniscitam
pumsam ekantatah sreyas
tan nah samsitum arhasi
SYNONYMS
tatra--thereof; tatra--thereof; anjasa--made easy; ayusman--blessed with a long duration of life; bhavata--by your good self; yat--whatever; viniscitam--ascertained; pumsam--for the people in general; ekantatah--absolutely; sreyah--ultimate good; tat--that; nah--to us; samsitum--to explain; arhasi--deserve.
TRANSLATION
Please, therefore, being blessed with many years, explain to us, in an easily understandable way, what you have ascertained to be the absolute and ultimate good for the people in general.
PURPORT
In Bhagavad-gita, worship of the acarya is recommended. The acaryas and gosvamis are always absorbed in thought of the well-being of the general public, especially their spiritual well-being. Spiritual wellbeing is automatically followed by material well-being. The acaryas therefore give directions in spiritual well-being for people in general. Foreseeing the incompetencies of the people in this age of Kali, or the iron age of quarrel, the sages requested that Suta Gosvami give a summary of all revealed scriptures because the people of this age are condemned in every respect. The sages, therefore, inquired of the absolute good, which is the ultimate good for the people. The condemned state of affairs of the people of this age is described as follows.
TEXT 10
TEXT
prayenalpayusah sabhya
kalav asmin yuge janah
mandah sumanda-matayo
manda-bhagya hy upadrutah
SYNONYMS
prayena--almost always; alpa--meager; ayusah--duration of life; sabhya--member of a learned society; kalau--in this age of Kali (quarrel); asmin--herein; yuge--age; janah--the public; mandah--lazy; sumanda-matayah--misguided; manda-bhagyah--unlucky; hi--and above all; upadrutah--disturbed.
TRANSLATION
O learned one, in this iron age of Kali men have but short lives. They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky and, above all, always disturbed.
PURPORT
The devotees of the Lord are always anxious for the spiritual improvement of the general public. When the sages of Naimisaranya analyzed the state of affairs of the people in this age of Kali, they foresaw that men would live short lives. In Kali-yuga, the duration of life is shortened not so much because of insufficient food but because of irregular habits. By keeping regular habits and eating simple food, any man can maintain his health. Overeating, over-sense gratification, overdependence on another's mercy, and artificial standards of living sap the very vitality of human energy. Therefore the duration of life is shortened.
The people of this age are also very lazy, not only materially but in the matter of self-realization. The human life is especially meant for self-realization. That is to say, man should come to know what he is, what the world is, and what the supreme truth is. Human life is a means by which the living entity can end all the miseries of the hard struggle for life in material existence and by which he can return to Godhead, his eternal home. But, due to a bad system of education, men have no desire for self-realization. Even if they come to know about it, they unfortunately become victims of misguided teachers.
In this age, men are victims not only of different political creeds and parties, but also of many different types of sense-gratificatory diversions, such as cinemas, sports, gambling, clubs, mundane libraries, bad association, smoking, drinking, cheating, pilfering, bickerings, and so on. Their minds are always disturbed and full of anxieties due to so many different engagements. In this age, many unscrupulous men manufacture their own religious faiths which are not based on any revealed scriptures, and very often people who are addicted to sense gratification are attracted by such institutions. Consequently, in the name of religion so many sinful acts are being carried on that the people in general have neither peace of mind nor health of body. The student (brahmacari) communities are no longer being maintained, and householders do not observe the rules and regulations of the grhastha-asrama. Consequently, the so-called vanaprasthas and sannyasis who come out of such grhastha-asramas are easily deviated from the rigid path. In the Kali-yuga the whole atmosphere is surcharged with faithlessness. Men are no longer interested in spiritual values. Material sense gratification is now the standard of civilization. For the maintenance of such material civilizations, man has formed complex nations and communities, and there is a constant strain of hot and cold wars between these different groups. It has become very difficult, therefore, to raise the spiritual standard due to the present distorted values of human society. The sages of Naimisaranya are anxious to disentangle all fallen souls, and here they are seeking the remedy from Srila Suta Gosvami.
TEXT 11
TEXT
bhurini bhuri-karmani
srotavyani vibhagasah
atah sadho 'tra yat saram
samuddhrtya manisaya
bruhi bhadraya bhutanam
yenatma suprasidati
SYNONYMS
bhurini--multifarious; bhuri--many; karmani--duties; srotavyani--to be learned; vibhagasah--by divisions of subject matter; atah--therefore; sadho--O sage; atra--herein; yat--whatever; saram--essence; samuddhrtya--by selection; manisaya--best to your knowledge; bruhi--please tell us; bhadraya--for the good of; bhutanam--the living beings; yena--by which; atma--the self; suprasidati--becomes fully satisfied.
TRANSLATION
There are many varieties of scriptures, and in all of them there are many prescribed duties, which can be learned only after many years of study in their various divisions. Therefore, O sage, please select the essence of all these scriptures and explain it for the good of all living beings, that by such instruction their hearts may be fully satisfied.
PURPORT
Atma, or self, is distinguished from matter and material elements. It is spiritual in constitution, and thus it is never satisfied by any amount of material planning. All scriptures and spiritual instructions are meant for the satisfaction of this self, or atma. There are many varieties of approaches which are recommended for different types of living beings in different times and at different places. Consequently, the numbers of revealed scriptures are innumerable. There are different methods and prescribed duties recommended in these various scriptures. Taking into consideration the fallen condition of the people in general in this age of Kali, the sages of Naimisaranya suggested that Sri Suta Gosvami relate the essence of all such scriptures because in this age it is not possible for the fallen souls to understand and undergo all the lessons of all these various scriptures in a varna and asrama system.
The varna and asrama society was considered to be the best institution for lifting the human being to the spiritual platform, but due to Kali-yuga it is not possible to execute the rules and regulations of these institutions. Nor is it possible for the people in general to completely sever relations with their families as the varnasrama institution prescribes. The whole atmosphere is surcharged with opposition. And considering this, one can see that spiritual emancipation for the common man in this age is very difficult. The reason the sages presented this matter to Sri Suta Gosvami is explained in the following verses.
TEXT 12
TEXT
suta janasi bhadram te
bhagavan satvatam patih
devakyam vasudevasya
jato yasya cikirsaya
SYNONYMS
suta--O Suta Gosvami; janasi--you know; bhadram te--all blessings upon you; bhagavan--the Personality of Godhead; satvatam--of the pure devotees; patih--the protector; devakyam--in the womb of Devaki; vasudevasya--by Vasudeva; jatah--born of; yasya--for the purpose of; cikirsaya--executing.
TRANSLATION
All blessings upon you, O Suta Gosvami. You know for what purpose the Personality of Godhead appeared in the womb of Devaki as the son of Vasudeva.
PURPORT
Bhagavan means the Almighty God who is the controller of all opulences, power, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. He is the protector of His pure devotees. Although God is equally disposed to everyone, He is especially inclined to His devotees. Sat means the Absolute Truth. And persons who are servitors of the Absolute Truth are called satvatas. And the Personality of Godhead who protects such pure devotees is known as the protector of the satvatas. Bhadram te, or "blessings upon you," indicates the sages' anxiety to know the Absolute Truth from the speaker. Lord Sri Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, appeared to Devaki, the wife of Vasudeva. Vasudeva is the symbol of the transcendental position wherein the appearance of the Supreme Lord takes place.
TEXT 13
TEXT
tan nah susrusamananam
arhasy anganuvarnitum
yasyavataro bhutanam
ksemaya ca bhavaya ca
SYNONYMS
tat--those; nah--unto us; susrusamananam--those who are endeavoring for; arhasi--ought to do it; anga--O Suta Gosvami; anuvarnitum--to explain by following in the footsteps of previous acaryas; yasya--whose; avatarah--incarnation; bhutanam--of the living beings; ksemaya--for good; ca--and; bhavaya--upliftment; ca--and.
TRANSLATION
O Suta Gosvami, we are eager to learn about the Personality of Godhead and His incarnations. Please explain to us those teachings imparted by previous masters [acaryas], for one is uplifted both by speaking them and by hearing them.
PURPORT
The conditions for hearing the transcendental message of the Absolute Truth are set forth herein. The first condition is that the audience must be very sincere and eager to hear. And the speaker must be in the line of disciplic succession from the recognized acarya. The transcendental message of the Absolute is not understandable by those who are materially absorbed. Under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master, one becomes gradually purified. Therefore, one must be in the chain of disciplic succession and learn the spiritual art of submissive hearing. In the case of Suta Gosvami and the sages of Naimisaranya, all these conditions are fulfilled because Srila Suta Gosvami is in the line of Srila Vyasadeva, and the sages of Naimisaranya are all sincere souls who are anxious to learn the truth. Thus the transcendental topics of Lord Sri Krsna's superhuman activities, His incarnation, His birth, appearance or disappearance, His forms, His names and so on are all easily understandable because all requirements are fulfilled. Such discourses help all men on the path of spiritual realization.
TEXT 14
TEXT
apannah samsrtim ghoram
yan-nama vivaso grnan
tatah sadyo vimucyeta
yad bibheti svayam bhayam
SYNONYMS
apannah--being entangled; samsrtim--in the hurdle of birth and death; ghoram--too complicated; yat--what; nama--the absolute name; vivasah--unconsciously; grnan--chanting; tatah--from that; sadyah--at once; vimucyeta--gets freedom; yat--that which; bibheti--fears; svayam--personally; bhayam--fear itself.
TRANSLATION
Living beings who are entangled in the complicated meshes of birth and death can be freed immediately by even unconsciously chanting the holy name of Krsna, which is feared by fear personified.
PURPORT
Vasudeva, or Lord Krsna, the Absolute Personality of Godhead, is the supreme controller of everything. There is no one in creation who is not afraid of the rage of the Almighty. Great asuras like Ravana, Hiranyakasipu, Kamsa, and others who were very powerful living entities were all killed by the Personality of Godhead. And the almighty Vasudeva has empowered His name with the powers of His personal Self. Everything is related to Him, and everything has its identity in Him. It is stated herein that the name of Krsna is feared even by fear personified. This indicates that the name of Krsna is nondifferent from Krsna. Therefore, the name of Krsna is as powerful as Lord Krsna Himself. There is no difference at all. Anyone, therefore, can take advantage of the holy names of Lord Sri Krsna even in the midst of greatest dangers. The transcendental name of Krsna, even though uttered unconsciously or by force of circumstances, can help one obtain freedom from the hurdle of birth and death.
TEXT 15
TEXT
yat-pada-samsrayah suta
munayah prasamayanah
sadyah punanty upasprstah
svardhuny-apo 'nusevaya
SYNONYMS
yat--whose; pada--lotus feet; samsrayah--those who have taken shelter of; suta--O Suta Gosvami; munayah--great sages; prasamayanah--absorbed in devotion to the Supreme; sadyah--at once; punanti--sanctify; upasprstah--simply by association; svardhuni--of the sacred Ganges; apah--water; anusevaya--bringing into use.
TRANSLATION
O Suta, those great sages who have completely taken shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord can at once sanctify those who come in touch with them, whereas the waters of the Ganges can sanctify only after prolonged use.
PURPORT
Pure devotees of the Lord are more powerful than the waters of the sacred river Ganges. One can derive spiritual benefit out of prolonged use of the Ganges waters. But one can be sanctified at once by the mercy of a pure devotee of the Lord. In Bhagavad-gita it is said that any person, regardless of birth as sudra, woman, or merchant, can take shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord and by so doing can return to Godhead. To take shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord means to take shelter of the pure devotees. The pure devotees whose only business is serving are honored by the names Prabhupada and Visnupada, which indicate such devotees to be representatives of the lotus feet of the Lord. Anyone, therefore, who takes shelter of the lotus feet of a pure devotee by accepting the pure devotee as his spiritual master can be at once purified. Such devotees of the Lord are honored equally with the Lord because they are engaged in the most confidential service of the Lord, for they deliver out of the material world the fallen souls whom the Lord wants to return home, back to Godhead. Such pure devotees are better known as vicelords according to revealed scriptures. The sincere disciple of the pure devotee considers the spiritual master equal to the Lord, but always considers himself to be a humble servant of the servant of the Lord. This is the pure devotional path.
TEXT 16
TEXT
ko va bhagavatas tasya
punya-slokedya-karmanah
suddhi-kamo na srnuyad
yasah kali-malapaham
SYNONYMS
kah--who; va--rather; bhagavatah--of the Lord; tasya--His; punya--virtuous; sloka-idya--worshipable by prayers; karmanah--deeds; suddhi-kamah--desiring deliverance from all sins; na--not; srnuyat--does hear; yasah--glories; kali--of the age of quarrel; mala-apaham--the agent for sanctification.
TRANSLATION
Who is there, desiring deliverance from the vices of the age of quarrel, who is not willing to hear the virtuous glories of the Lord?
PURPORT
The age of Kali is the most condemned age due to its quarrelsome features. Kali-yuga is so saturated with vicious habits that there is a great fight at the slightest misunderstanding. Those who are engaged in the pure devotional service of the Lord, who are without any desire for self-aggrandizement and who are freed from the effects of fruitive actions and dry philosophical speculations are capable of getting out of the estrangements of this complicated age. The leaders of the people are very much anxious to live in peace and friendship, but they have no information of the simple method of hearing the glories of the Lord. On the contrary, such leaders are opposed to the propagation of the glories of the Lord. In other words, the foolish leaders want to completely deny the existence of the Lord. In the name of secular state, such leaders are enacting various plans every year. But by the insurmountable intricacies of the material nature of the Lord, all these plans for progress are being constantly frustrated. They have no eyes to see that their attempts at peace and friendship are failing. But here is the hint to get over the hurdle. If we want actual peace, we must open the road to understanding of the Supreme Lord Krsna and glorify Him for His virtuous activities as they are depicted in the pages of Srimad-Bhagavatam.
TEXT 17
TEXT
tasya karmany udarani
parigitani suribhih
bruhi nah sraddadhananam
lilaya dadhatah kalah
SYNONYMS
tasya--His; karmani--transcendental acts; udarani--magnanimous; parigitani--broadcast; suribhih--by the great souls; bruhi--please speak; nah--unto us; sraddadhananam--ready to receive with respect; lilaya--pastimes; dadhatah--advented; kalah--incarnations.
TRANSLATION
His transcendental acts are magnificent and gracious, and great learned sages like Narada sing of them. Please, therefore, speak to us, who are eager to hear about the adventures He performs in His various incarnations.
PURPORT
The Personality of Godhead is never inactive as some less intelligent persons suggest. His works are magnificent and magnanimous. His creations both material and spiritual are all wonderful and contain all variegatedness. They are described nicely by such liberated souls as Srila Narada, Vyasa, Valmiki, Devala, Asita, Madhva, Sri Caitanya, Ramanuja, Visnusvami, Nimbarka, Sridhara, Visvanatha, Baladeva, Bhaktivinoda, Siddhanta Sarasvati and many other learned and self-realized souls. These creations, both material and spiritual, are full of opulence, beauty and knowledge, but the spiritual realm is more magnificent due to its being full of knowledge, bliss and eternity. The material creations are manifested for some time as perverted shadows of the spiritual kingdom and can be likened to cinemas. They attract people of less intelligent caliber who are attracted by false things. Such foolish men have no information of the reality, and they take it for granted that the false material manifestation is the all in all. But more intelligent men guided by sages like Vyasa and Narada know that the eternal kingdom of God is more delightful, larger, and eternally full of bliss and knowledge. Those who are not conversant with the activities of the Lord and His transcendental realm are sometimes favored by the Lord in His adventures as incarnations wherein He displays the eternal bliss of His association in the transcendental realm. By such activities He attracts the conditioned souls of the material world. Some of these conditioned souls are engaged in the false enjoyment of material senses and others in simply negating their real life in the spiritual world. These less intelligent persons are known as karmis, or fruitive workers, and jnanis, or dry mental speculators. But above these two classes of men is the transcendentalist known as satvata, or the devotee, who is busy neither with rampant material activity nor with material speculation. He is engaged in the positive service of the Lord, and thereby he derives the highest spiritual benefit unknown to the karmis and jnanis.
As the supreme controller of both the material and spiritual worlds, the Lord has different incarnations of unlimited categories. Incarnations like Brahma, Rudra, Manu, Prthu and Vyasa are His material qualitative incarnations, but His incarnations like Rama, Narasimha, Varaha and Vamana are His transcendental incarnations. Lord Sri Krsna is the fountainhead of all incarnations, and He is therefore the cause of all causes.
TEXT 18
TEXT
athakhyahi harer dhimann
avatara-kathah subhah
lila vidadhatah svairam
isvarasyatma-mayaya
SYNONYMS
atha--therefore; akhyahi--describe; hareh--of the Lord; dhiman--O sagacious one; avatara--incarnations; kathah--narratives; subhah--auspicious; lila--adventures; vidadhatah--performed; svairam--pastimes; isvarasya--of the supreme controller; atma--personal; mayaya--energies.
TRANSLATION
O wise Suta, please narrate to us the transcendental pastimes of the Supreme Godhead's multi-incarnations. Such auspicious adventures and pastimes of the Lord, the supreme controller, are performed by His internal powers.
PURPORT
For the creation, maintenance and destruction of the material worlds, the Supreme Lord Personality of Godhead Himself appears in many thousands of forms of incarnations, and the specific adventures found in those transcendental forms are all auspicious. Both those who are present during such activities and those who hear the transcendental narrations of such activities are benefited.
TEXT 19
TEXT
vayam tu na vitrpyama
uttama-sloka-vikrame
yac-chrnvatam rasa-jnanam
svadu svadu pade pade
SYNONYMS
vayam--we; tu--but; na--not; vitrpyamah--shall be at rest; uttama-sloka--the Personality of Godhead, who is glorified by transcendental prayers; vikrame--adventures; yat--which; srnvatam--by continuous hearing; rasa--humor; jnanam--those who are conversant with; svadu--relishing; svadu--palatable; pade pade--at every step.
TRANSLATION
We never tire of hearing the transcendental pastimes of the Personality of Godhead, who is glorified by hymns and prayers. Those who have developed a taste for transcendental relationships with Him relish hearing of His pastimes at every moment.
PURPORT
There is a great difference between mundane stories, fiction, or history and the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. The histories of the whole universe contain references to the pastimes of the incarnations of the Lord. The Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Puranas are histories of bygone ages recorded in connection with the pastimes of the incarnations of the Lord and therefore remain fresh even after repeated readings. For example, anyone may read Bhagavad-gita or the Srimad-Bhagavatam repeatedly throughout his whole life and yet find in them new light of information. Mundane news is static whereas transcendental news is dynamic, inasmuch as the spirit is dynamic and matter is static. Those who have developed a taste for understanding the transcendental subject matter are never tired of hearing such narrations. One is quickly satiated by mundane activities, but no one is satiated by transcendental or devotional activities. Uttama-sloka indicates that literature which is not meant for nescience. Mundane literature is in the mode of darkness or ignorance, whereas transcendental literature is quite different. Transcendental literature is above the mode of darkness, and its light becomes more luminous with progressive reading and realization of the transcendental subject matter. The so-called liberated persons are never satisfied by the repetition of the words aham brahmasmi. Such artificial realization of Brahman becomes hackneyed, and so to relish real pleasure they turn to the narrations of the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Those who are not so fortunate turn to altruism and worldly philanthropy. This means the Mayavada philosophy is mundane, whereas the philosophy of Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam is transcendental.
TEXT 20
TEXT
krtavan kila karmani
saha ramena kesavah
atimartyani bhagavan
gudhah kapata-manusah
SYNONYMS
krtavan--done by; kila--what; karmani--acts; saha--along with; ramena--Balarama; kesavah--Sri Krsna; atimartyani--superhuman; bhagavan--the Personality of Godhead; gudhah--masked as; kapata--apparently; manusah--human being.
TRANSLATION
Lord Sri Krsna, the Personality of Godhead, along with Balarama, played like a human being, and so masked He performed many superhuman acts.
PURPORT
The doctrines of anthropomorphism and zoomorphism are never applicable to Sri Krsna, or the Personality of Godhead. The theory that a man becomes God by dint of penance and austerities is very much rampant nowadays, especially in India. Since Lord Rama, Lord Krsna and Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu were detected by the sages and saints to be the Personality of Godhead as indicated in revealed scriptures, many unscrupulous men have created their own incarnations. This process of concocting an incarnation of God has become an ordinary business, especially in Bengal. Any popular personality with a few traits of mystic powers will display some feat of jugglery and easily become an incarnation of Godhead by popular vote. Lord Sri Krsna was not that type of incarnation. He was actually the Personality of Godhead from the very beginning of His appearance. He appeared before His so-called mother as four-armed Visnu. Then, at the request of the mother, He became like a human child and at once left her for another devotee at Gokula, where He was accepted as the son of Nanda Maharaja and Yasoda Mata. Similarly, Sri Baladeva, the counterpart of Lord Sri Krsna, was also considered a human child born of another wife of Sri Vasudeva. In Bhagavad-gita, the Lord says that His birth and deeds are transcendental and that anyone who is so fortunate as to know the transcendental nature of His birth and deeds will at once become liberated and eligible to return to the kingdom of God. So knowledge of the transcendental nature of the birth and deeds of Lord Sri Krsna is sufficient for liberation. In the Bhagavatam, the transcendental nature of the Lord is described in nine cantos, and in the Tenth Canto His specific pastimes are taken up. All this becomes known as one's reading of this literature progresses. It is important to note here, however, that the Lord exhibited His divinity even from the lap of His mother, that His deeds are all superhuman (He lifted Govardhana Hill at the age of seven), and that all these acts definitely prove Him to be actually the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Yet, due to His mystic covering, He was always accepted as an ordinary human child by His so-called father and mother and other relatives. Whenever some herculean task was performed by Him, the father and mother took it otherwise. And they remained satisfied with unflinching filial love for their son. As such, the sages of Naimisaranya describe Him as apparently resembling a human being, but actually He is the supreme almighty Personality of Godhead.
TEXT 21
TEXT
kalim agatam ajnaya
ksetre 'smin vaisnave vayam
asina dirgha-satrena
kathayam saksana hareh
SYNONYMS
kalim--the age of Kali (iron age of quarrel); agatam--having arrived; ajnaya--knowing this; ksetre--in this tract of land; asmin--in this; vaisnave--specially meant for the devotee of the Lord; vayam--we; asinah--seated; dirgha--prolonged; satrena--for performance of sacrifices; kathayam--in the words of; sa-ksanah--with time at our disposal; hareh--of the Personality of Godhead.
TRANSLATION
Knowing well that the age of Kali has already begun, we are assembled here in this holy place to hear at great length the transcendental message of Godhead and in this way perform sacrifice.
PURPORT
This age of Kali is not at all suitable for self-realization as was Satya-yuga, the golden age, or Treta- or Dvapara-yugas, the silver and copper ages. For self-realization, the people in Satya-yuga, living a lifetime of a hundred thousand years, were able to perform prolonged meditation. And in Treta-yuga, when the duration of life was ten thousand years, self-realization was attained by performance of great sacrifice. And in the Dvapara-yuga, when the duration of life was one thousand years, self-realization was attained by worship of the Lord. But in the Kali-yuga, the maximum duration of life being one hundred years only and that combined with various difficulties, the recommended process of self-realization is that of hearing and chanting of the holy name, fame, and pastimes of the Lord. The sages of Naimisaranya began this process in a place meant specifically for the devotees of the Lord. They prepared themselves to hear the pastimes of the Lord over a period of one thousand years. By the example of these sages one should learn that regular hearing and recitation of the Bhagavatam is the only way for self-realization. Other attempts are simply a waste of time, for they do not give any tangible results. Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu preached this system of Bhagavata-dharma, and He recommended that all those who were born in India should take the responsibility of broadcasting the messages of Lord Sri Krsna, primarily the message of Bhagavad-gita. And when one is well established in the teachings of Bhagavad-gita, he can take up the study of Srimad-Bhagavatam for further enlightenment in self-realization.
TEXT 22
TEXT
tvam nah sandarsito dhatra
dustaram nistitirsatam
kalim sattva-haram pumsam
karna-dhara ivarnavam
SYNONYMS
tvam--Your Goodness; nah--unto us; sandarsitah--meeting; dhatra--by providence; dustaram--insurmountable; nistitirsatam--for those desiring to cross over; kalim--the age of Kali; sattva-haram--that which deteriorates the good qualities; pumsam--of a man; karna-dharah--captain; iva--as; arnavam--the ocean.
TRANSLATION
We think that we have met Your Goodness by the will of providence, just so that we may accept you as captain of the ship for those who desire to cross the difficult ocean of Kali, which deteriorates all the good qualities of a human being.
PURPORT
The age of Kali is very dangerous for the human being. Human life is simply meant for self-realization, but due to this dangerous age, men have completely forgotten the aim of life. In this age, the life span will gradually decrease. People will gradually lose their memory, finer sentiments, strength, and better qualities. A list of the anomalies for this age is given in the Twelfth Canto of this work. And so this age is very difficult for those who want to utilize this life for self-realization. The people are so busy with sense gratification that they completely forget about self-realization. Out of madness they frankly say that there is no need for self-realization because they do not realize that this brief life is but a moment on our great journey towards self-realization. The whole system of education is geared to sense gratification, and if a learned man thinks it over, he sees that the children of this age are being intentionally sent to the slaughterhouses of so-called education. Learned men, therefore, must be cautious of this age, and if they at all want to cross over the dangerous ocean of Kali, they must follow the footsteps of the sages of Naimisaranya and accept Sri Suta Gosvami or his bona fide representative as the captain of the ship. The ship is the message of Lord Sri Krsna in the shape of Bhagavad-gita or the Srimad-Bhagavatam.
TEXT 23
TEXT
bruhi yogesvare krsne
brahmanye dharma-varmani
svam kastham adhunopete
dharmah kam saranam gatah
SYNONYMS
bruhi--please tell; yoga-isvare--the Lord of all mystic powers; krsne--Lord Krsna; brahmanye--the Absolute Truth; dharma--religion; varmani--protector; svam--own; kastham--abode; adhuna--nowadays; upete--having gone away; dharmah--religion; kam--unto whom; saranam--shelter; gatah--gone.
TRANSLATION
Since Sri Krsna, the Absolute Truth, the master of all mystic powers, has departed for His own abode, please tell us to whom the religious principles have now gone for shelter.
PURPORT
Essentially religion is the prescribed codes enunciated by the Personality of Godhead Himself. Whenever there is gross misuse or neglect of the principles of religion, the Supreme Lord appears Himself to restore religious principles. This is stated in Bhagavad-gita. Here the sages of Naimisaranya are inquiring about these principles. The reply to this question is given later. The Srimad-Bhagavatam is the transcendental sound representation of the Personality of Godhead, and thus it is the full representation of transcendental knowledge and religious principles.
Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the First Canto, First Chapter, of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, entitled "Questions by the Sages."