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Knowledge means information gathered from the Scriptures, and science means practical realization of the knowledge gathered from the Scriptures. It is scientific knowledge when it is gathered from the Scriptures through the practical application of the bona fide Spiritual Master, but when interpreted by mental concoction it is personal. By scientific understanding of the information from the Scripture, through the bona fide Spiritual Master, one learns, by one's own realization, each actual conception of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The transcendental Form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is different from material manifestation and different from the reactions of matter. Therefore, without scientific understanding of the Spiritual Form of the Personality of Godhead one becomes an impersonalist. The sunshine is itself an illumination, but that illumination is different from the Sun. Yet the Sun and the sunshine are not differently situated; without the Sun there is no sunshine, and without the sunshine there is no Sun.
#$p#Unless one is freed from the influence of material energy, one cannot understand the Supreme Lord and His different energies. One who is captivated by the spell of material energy cannot understand the Spiritual Form of the Supreme Lord. #i#Unless there is realization of the transcendental Form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, there is no question of love of Godhead#/i#. Without realization of the transcendental Form of the Supreme Lord, love of Godhead is fictitious, and without realization of love of Godhead there is no perfection of human life. Such realization of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is as follows: it is just like the five gross elements of Nature, namely earth, water, fire, air and ether: they are both within and without all living beings in this world. Similarly, those who are devotees of the Supreme Lord can realize the Personality of Godhead both inside and outside this existence.
#$p#Pure devotees know very well that they are meant to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and all things that exist are the means for service to the Supreme Lord. Because a devotee has been blessed by the Supreme within the core of his heart, therefore, wherever he looks, he can see the Supreme Lord and nothing more. Srimad Bhagwatam confirms this type of relationship between the devotee and the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the Eleventh Canto, Second Chapter, as follows: "For a person whose heart is always tied to the Lotus Feet of the Supreme Lord by the rope of love of Godhead, the Lord does not leave him even if remembrance is not very carefully done; such a person is called a first .class devotee." An example of this is described in the Bhagavata Tasumskunda: The Gopis were assembled for the Rasa Dance with Krishna, but Krishna left them, and so the assembled Gopis began to chant the Holy Name of Krishna. They became overwhelmed with madness, and began to inquire from the flowers and creepers in the forest about Krishna, Who is compared with the sky and Who is situated everywhere.
#$p#Study of Bhagwatam, therefore, means to be informed about our eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord, the procedure for how to regain Him, and the ultimate realization, which is love of Godhead.
#$p#Lord Chaitanya next explained to Prakasananda Saraswati how to achieve the Supreme Personality of Godhead by devotional service. He quoted in this connection a verse from Srimad Bhagwatam, from the Eleventh Canto, Fourteenth Chapter, in which the Lord says He can be realized only through devotional service, with faith and the love of the devotee, and it is devotional service only which purifies the heart of the devotee and elevates him into the ultimate realization of faith and service unto the Supreme Lord. Even though he is born of a low family such as a Chandala—one who eats dogs—yet by realization of the Supreme stage of love of Godhead one becomes full with transcendental symptoms.
#$p#These symptoms are described in the Srimad Bhagwatam, Eleventh Canto, Third Chapter, as follows: "When devotees discuss the subject of the Supreme Lord, Who can cleanse the heart of a devotee from all kinds of sinful reaction, they become overwhelmed with ecstasies of different symptoms, on account of their devotional service; and, as such, when they chant the Holy Name of the Supreme Lord, due to their spontaneous attachment for Him, they sometimes cry, sometimes laugh, sometimes dance, sometimes sing, without caring for any social convention."
#$p#We should understand, therefore, that Srimad Bhagwatam is the real explanasion of the Brahma Sutra, and it is compiled by the Author Himself. In the Guru Purana it is said: "The Srimad Bhagwatam is the actual explanation of Brahma Sutra, and is a further explanation of Mahabarata. It is the explanation of the Gayatri Mantra and the essence of all Vedic knowledge. This Srimad
Bhagwatam contains 18,000 verses, and is known as the explanation of all Vedic literature." In the First Canto of Srimad Bhagwatam there is an enquiry by the sages of Naimisharanya to Suta Goswami, on how to know the essence of Vedic literature. In answer to the enquiry, Suta Goswami presented Srimad Bhagwatam as the essence of all the Vedas and histories and other Vedic literature. In the Twelfth Canto, Thirteenth Chapter of Srimad Bhagwatam, it is clearly stated the Srimad Bhagwatam is the essence of all Vedanta knowledge, and one who relishes the knowledge from the Srimad Bhagwatam has no taste for studying any other literature. In the very beginning of Srimad Bhagwatam, the meaning and purpose of the Gayatri Mantra is also described: "I am offering my obeisances unto the Supreme Truth." This is the first introductory verse on the Supreme Truth, described in the Bhagwatam as the Source of creation, maintenance, and dissolution of the cosmic manifestation.
#$p#Obeisances unto the Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva, directly indicate. Lord Sri Krishna, Who is the Divine Son of Vasudeva and Devaki. The fact will be more explicitly presented later in the text of the Srimad Bhagwatam, by the direct statement of the Author, in His assertion that Sri Krishna is the Original Personality of Godhead, and all others are either His direct or indirect plenary portions, or portions of the portion. Srila Jiva Goswami has later on still more explicitly developed this subject matter in his Krishna Sandarva, and Brahmaji, the original living being, has explained the subject of Sri Krishna substantially in his treatise, called Brahma Samhita. In the Samveda Upanishad it is also said that Lord Sri Krishna is the Divine Son of Devaki.
#$p#Therefore, in this prayer of the Author of Bhagwatam, the first proposition is that Lord Sri Krishna is the Primeval Lord, and if any transcendental nomenclature for the Absolute Personality of Godhead has to be understood, it must be the Name indicated by the word Krishna, the All-attractive. In the Bhagavad Gita in many passages the Lord has affirmed Himself as the Original Personality of Godhead, and it is confirmed by Arjuna, with the authorized statements of great sages like Narada, Vyasa, and many others. In the Padma Puranam also it is said that, of innumerable Names of the Lord, the Name of Krishna is the principal Name. Therefore, although Vasudeva indicates the plenary portion of the Personality of Godhead, and although all the different Forms of the Lord are identical with Vasudeva, in this text Vasudeva is principally meant to indicate the Divine Son of Vasudeva and Devaki. Sri Krishna is always meditated upon by the Paramhansas, or the most perfect of the renounced order of life. This Vasudeva, or Lord Sri Krishna. is the Cause of all causes. Everything that exists is an emanation from the Lord, and how this so happens is explained in later chapters of Srimad Bhagwatam.
#$p#The Bhagwat Puranam (Srimad Bhagwatam) is described by Mahaprabhu Sri Chaitanya as the spotless Puranam, because It contains the transcendental narration of the Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna. The history of Srimad Bhagwatam is also very glorious. It was compiled by Sri Vyasadeva from His mature experience of transcendental knowledge under the instruction of Sri Naradaji, His Sprirtual Master. Vyasadeva compiled all the Vedic literature, namely the four divisions of the Vedas, the Vedanta Sutra or Brahma Sutras, the Puranas, and the Mahabarata. But He was still not delighted in His mind. This was observed by His Spiritual Master, and thus Narada advised Him to write on the transcendental activities of the Lord, Sri Krishna. The transcendental activities of Lord Sri Krishna are described specifically in the Tenth Canto of the Book, which is considered to be the substance. But, in order to reach the substance of the Tenth Canto, one has to approach gradually by developed knowledge of the categories.
#$p#Generally, a philosophical mind is inquisitive to know what is the Origin of all creations. He sees the night sky and naturally asks what are the stars, how are they situated, who lives there, and so on. All these inquiries are quite natural for a human being, because he has a more developed consciousness than the animals. And to answer at once such a sincere inquirer, the Author of the Srimad Bhagwatam says that the Lord is the Origin of all creations. He is not only the Creator, but He is also the Maintainer of the cosmic situation, and He is also the Destroyer. 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; and as such He is the Supreme Will behind all these activities.
#$p#There are atheists of various categories who do not believe in the conception of a Creator, but that is due only to their poor fund of knowledge. The modern scientist has created a sputnik, and by some arrangement or other the sputnik is thrown into outer space to fly on for some time at the control of a scientist who is far away from the flying sputniks. All the Universes, with innumerable planets within them, are similar to the sputniks, and are controlled by the Personality of Godhead.
#$p#In the Vedic literature it is said that the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, is the Chief amongst the living personalities. All living beings, from the first created being, Brahmaji, down to the smallest ant, are all individual living beings. And, above Brahmaji, there are many other living beings with individual capacities, and the Personality of Godhead is also a similar living being, as individual as the other living beings. But the Supreme Lord, or the Supreme Living Being, has the greatest mind, with the supermost inconceivable energies of different varieties. If a man's mind can produce a sputnik, we can very easily imagine that minds higher than man's can produce similar other wonderful things far superior to the man-made sputniks. A reasonable person will easily accept this argument, but there are stubborn, obstinate ones who may not believe in these reasonable statements.
#$p#But Srila Vyasadeva at once accepts the Supreme Mind as the Parameswara, the Supreme Controller. He proposes to offer His respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And that Parameswara is Sri Krishna, as is stated in the Bhagavad Gita and all other Scriptures delivered by Srila Vyasadeva, and specifically in the Srimad Bhagwatam. In the Bhagavad Gita the Lord says that there is no other Paratattwa (Summum bonum) than Himself. Therefore, the Author at once worships the Paratattwa, Sri Krishna, Whose transcendental activities are described in the Tenth Canto.
#$p#Unscrupulous persons go at once to the Tenth Canto, and especially the five chapters where a description of the Lord's Rasa Dance is kindly given. This portion of the Srimad Bhagwatam, however, is the most confidential part of the great literature. Unless one has thoroughly accomplished himself in the transcendental knowledge of the Lord, one is sure to misunderstand the Lord's worshippable transcendental Pastimes in the form of Rasa Dance, and His love affairs with the Gopis. The subject matter is highly spiritual and technical, and only liberated persons who have gradually attained to the stage of Paramhansa, as referred to before, can transcendentally relish the worshippable Rasa Dance.
#$p#Srila Vyasadeva, therefore, gives us the chance for gradual development of spiritual realization before we can actually relish the essence of the Pastimes of the Lord, He therefore purposely invokes the Gayatri Mantra, "Dheemahi." This Gayatri Mantra is meant for the spiritually advanced people. When one has attained success in the matter of chanting the Gayatri Mantra he can enter into the transcendental position of the Lord. One must acquire the Brahminical qualities, or be perfectly situated in the quality of goodness of the modes of material Nature, in order to chant the Gayatri Mantra successfully, and then attain to the stage of transcendentally realizing the Lord, His Name, His Fame, His Qualities, etc. Srimad Bhagwatam is the narration of the Swarupa or Form of the Lord, manifested by His internal potency; and this potency is distingushed from the external potency, which has manifested the cosmic world which is within our experience. Srila Vyasadeva makes a clear distinction between the two in the 1st verse of the First Chapter.
#$p#He says there that the manifestation of the internal potency is factual reality, whereas the external manifested energy in the form of material existence is temporary and illusory, no more real than the mirage in the desert. In the mirage of the desert there is no actual water. By the interaction of something else there is the appearance of water. Real water is somewhere else. Similarly, the manifestive cosmic Creation appears like reality, but the true reality, of which this is but a reflection only, is somewhere else in the Spiritual World, in which there are no mirages. Absolute Truth is there, and not here. Here everything is relative truth, one seeming truth depending on another. This cosmic Creation is an interactory resultant 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, appearing as so many species of life, including the higher demigods like Brahma, Indra, Chandra, etc. In fact there is no reality in the manifested world, but it appears so on account of the True Reality in the Spiritual World, where the Personality of Godhead eternally exists with His transcendental paraphernalia.
#$p#The chief engineer of a complicated construction does not personally take part in the construction, but it is he only who knows all the nooks and corners of the construction, because everything is done by his direction only. He knows everything about the construction directly and indirectly. Similarly, the Personality of Godhead, Who is the Supreme Engineer of this cosmic Creation, knows very well what is happening in the nooks and corners of the cosmic Creation, although the things are apparently done by someone else. From Brahma down to the insignificant ant, nobody is independent in material Creation, and everywhere there is the Hand of the Supreme Lord. All material elements as well as spiritual sparks are but emanations from Him only. And whatever is created in this material world is but the interaction of the two energies, material and spiritual, or the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna (Vasudeva).
#$p#A living entity called a chemist can manufacture water in the chemical laboratory by mixing hydrogen and oxygen gases, but in reality the living entity works in the laboratory under the direction of the Supreme Lord, and the materials with which the chemist works are also supplied by the Lord. As such, the Lord knows everything directly and indirectly, and He is cognizant of all the minute details of everything, and He is fully independent. He is compared with the mine of gold, and the cosmic creations in different forms are compared with the gold rings and necklaces, etc. The gold ring and the gold necklace are qualitatively one with the gold in the mine, but quantitatively the gold in the mine and the gold in the earring or necklace are different. The whole philosophy of the Absolute Truth is, therefore, that #i#It is simultaneously one and different#/i#. Nothing is absolutely equal to the Absolute Truth, but at the same time nothing is independent of the Absolute Truth.
#$p#Conditioned souls, beginning from Brahma, the engineer of this particular Universe, down to the insignificant ant, are all creating something, but none of them are independent of the Supreme Lord. The materialist wrongly thinks that there is no Creator save and except his own good self, and this is called Maya, or illusion. On account of his poor fund of knowledge the materialist cannot see beyond the purview of his imperfect senses, and thus he thinks that matter automatically takes its own shape without a conscious background. This is refuted in the 1st verse of the Bhagwatam by Srila Vyasadeva, Who is a liberated soul and compiled this book of authority after His mature spiritual perfection. The Complete Whole, or the Absolute Truth, being the Source of everything, nothing is independent of the Whole Body. Any action and reaction on the body becomes a cognizable fact to the embodied Whole. Similarly, if the whole Creation is the Body of the Absolute Whole, then nothing is unknown to the Absolute, directly or indirectly.
#$p#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 only. That is the law of Nature. In the Smriti Mantra also the same thing is confirmed. It is said there that at the beginning of Brahma's millennium the Source from which everything emanates—and, at the end of that millennium, the reservoir that everything enters into—is the Absolute Truth, or Brahman. Material scientists haphazardly take it for granted that the ultimate source of all the planetary systems is the Sun. But they are unable to explain the source of the Sun. Herein the ultimate Source is explained. According to the Vedic literature, Brahma is the creator of this Universe, and yet he also had to meditate to get inspiration for such creation. Therefore Brahma, or the Sun, is not the ultimate creator.
#$p#It is stated here in the 1st verse of Srimad Bhagwatam that Brahma was taught the Vedic knowledge by the Personality of Godhead. One may argue that Brahma is the original living being within this Universe, and who could then give him inspiration, as there was no second being at that time? In the Ist verse of Srimad Bhagwatam it is said that the Supreme Lord inspired the secondary creator, Brahma, who then could go on with the creative functions. What we have already mentioned above about the supervising engineer is applicable here. The Real Mind behind all creative agents is the Absolute Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna. In the Bhagavad Gita Lord Sri Krishna has Personally admitted that it is He only Who superintends over the creative energy, Prakriti, or the sum total of matter. Sri Vyasadeva, therefore, worships neither Brahma nor the Sun, but the Supreme Lord Who guides both Brahma and the Sun in their different activities of creation.
#$p#In the 1st verse of Srimad Bhagwatam the particular Sanscrit words Avijna and Swarat are significant. These two words distinguish the Lord from all other living entities. No living entity other than the Supreme Being, the Absolute Personality of Godhead, is either Avijna or Swarat—i.e., none of the entities are either fully cognizant, or fully independent. Everyone has to learn from the superior all about knowledge. Even Brahma, who is the first living being within this material world, has to meditate upon the Supreme Lord and take help from Him in order to create. When Brahma, or the Sun, cannot create anything without acquiring required knowledge from the superior, then what to speak of the material scientists who are fully dependent on so many things? Jagadish Chandra Bose, Isaac Newton, Prof. Einstein, etc. of the modern scientists who may be boastful of their respective creative energies, were also dependent on the Supreme Lord for so many things. After all, the respective, highly intelligent brains of these gentlemen were certainly not the products of any human being. The brain is created by another agent, other than the celebrated scientists themselves. If brains like that of Jagadish Bose or of Isaac Newton could have been manufactured by any human being, then they would have produced many such brains instead of eulogizing the brains of these scientists. Even the scientists could not manufacture a similar brain, what to speak of other foolish atheists who defy the authority of the Lord?
#$p#Even the Mayavadi impersonalists who flatter themselves that they have become the Lord are not Avijna or Swarat, fully cognizant or fully independent. Such Mayavadi monists undergo a severe process of austerity and penances to acquire the knowledge of becoming one with the Lord, but ultimately they become dependent on some rich follower who supplies them the requisite paraphernalia to conduct a great establishment in the form of monastery and temples. Atheists like Ravana and Hiranya Kashipu had to undergo severe penances before they could flout the authority of the Lord, and ultimately they were so helpless that they could not save themselves when the Lord appeared before them as cruel Death. The same is applicable to the modern atheists also who dare to flout the authority of the Lord. Such atheists will be dealt similar awards as were meted out to the past great atheists like Ravana and Hiranya Kashipu. History repeats itself and so what was accorded in the past, will recur again and again whenever there is such necessity. Whenever there is negligence of the authority of the Lord, the penalty by the laws of Nature is always there.
#$p#That the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, is All-perfect is confirmed in all Sruti Mantras. It is said in the Sruti Mantras that the All-perfect Lord glanced over matter, and thus He created all living beings. The living beings are parts and parcels of the Lord, and He impregnates the vast material Nature with the seeds of spiritual sparks, and thus the creative energies are set in motion for so many wonderful creations. One atheist friend argued that God is no more expert than the manufacturer of a subtle watch which moves by delicate machineries. We had to reply to the atheist friend that God is still a greater mechanic than the watchmaker in the sense that He creates one machine in duplicate male and female forms. The male and female forms of different grades of machinery go on producing innumerable quantities of similar machines without the further attention of God. If a man could manufacture such sets of duplicate machines to produce further machines without any attention from the original manufacturer, then of course a man, could equal the intelligence of God. But that is not possible. Each and every one of the imperfect machines have to be handled individually by the mechanic, for nobody can be equal in intelligence to God. Another Name of God is therefore Asmaurdha. Nobody is equal to or greater than Him. Everybody has his equal or superior in intelligence, and nobody can claim that he has neither. This fact is corroborated in the Sruti Mantras, where it is said that before the Creation of the material Universe, there was the Lord, Who is the Master of everyone. The Lord instructed Brahma in the Vedic knowledge. That Personality of Godhead has to be obeyed in all respects. Anybody who wants to become free of the material entanglement must, therefore, surrender unto Him. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad Gita also.
#$p#Unless one surrenders unto the Lotus Feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead it is sure and certain that one must be bewildered, even if he happens to be a great mind. When the great minds surrender unto the Lotus Feet of Vasudeva and know fully that Lord Vasudeva is the Cause of all causes, as is confirmed in the Bhagavad Gita, then only can such great minds become Mahatmas or the truly broad-minded. But such a broad-minded Mahatma is rarely seen. Only the Mahatmas, however, can understand the Supreme Lord, Who is the Absolute Personality of Godhead, the Primeval Cause of all creations. He is Parama, or Ultimate Truth, because all other truths are relatively dependent on Him. And because He is the Source of everyone's knowledge He is omniscient, and for Him there is no illusion as there is for the relative knower.
#$p#Some scholars of the Mayavadi school argue that Srimad Bhagwatam was not compiled by Sri Vyasadeva, and some of them suggest that this book is a creation in the modern age of somebody by the name of Bopedeva. Srila Sridhar Swami, in order to refute this meaningless argument, says that there is reference to the Bhagwatam in many other of the oldest Puranas. The first Sloka, or verse, of the Srimad Bhagwatam is begun with the Gayatri Mantra, and there is reference to this as the Matsya Puranam (the oldest Puranam). In that Puranam it is said, with reference to the context of Gayatri Mantra in the Bhagwatam, that there are many narrations of spiritual instructions, beginning with the Gayatri Mantra, and also the history of Vitrasura is in Gayatri Mantra. Anyone who makes a gift of this great work on the full moon day, attains to the highest perfection of life by going back to Godhead. Similarly, there is a reference to this Bhagwatam in other Puranas where it is said that the work consists of twelve cantos and 18,000 Slokas. In the Padma Puranam also there is reference to the Bhagwatam, during the conversation of Goutam and Maharaj Amburish. The king was advised therein to read regularly Srimad Bhagwatam if he at all desired liberation from the material bondage. Under the circumstances, there is no doubt regarding the authority of Srimad Bhagwatam Puranam. Within five hundred years from the present era, many scholars, even after the time of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, have made elaborate commentaries on the Bhagwatam Puranam with unique scholarship; and the serious student will do well to make an attempt to go through them, to relish more happily the transcendental messages from the Bhagwatam.
#$p#Srila Viswanath Chakravarty Thakur specifically deals with the original and pure sex psychology (Adirasa) devoid of all mundane inebriety. The whole material world is turning on the basic principle of sex life. In the modern human civilization, sex life is the central point of all activities. Wherever we may turn our face we see a great prominence of sex life. Therefore, sex life is not unreal. Its true reality is experienced in the Spiritual World. Material sex life is but a perverted reflection of the original. The original, therefore, is in the Absolute Truth; and the Absolute Truth cannot be impersonal and have a sense of pure sex life. The impersonal monist philosophy has given an indirect impetus to the abominable mundane sex life, because it has given too much stress to the impersonality of the Ultimate Truth. The result is that men who lack knowledge have accepted the perverted sex life as all-in-all without any information about the actual spiritual form of sex. There is a distinction between sex life in the diseased condition of material life and that in the spiritual existence. The Srimad Bhagwatam will gradually elevate the unbiased reader to the highest perfectional stage of transcendence, above the three modes of material activities, namely fruitive actions. speculative philosophy, and worshipping the functional deities as they are inculcated in the Vedic verses.
#$p#Srimad Bhagwatam is the embodiment of devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna. It is therefore situated in a superior position over all other Vedic literature.
#$p#The term religiousness includes four primary subjects: namely, (1) pious activities, (2) economic development, (3) satisfaction of the senses, and (4) liberation from the material bondage. Religious life is distinguished from the irreligious life of barbarism, and human life begins from the life of religiousness. The four principles of animal life—eating, sleeping, defending and mating—are common both to the animals and the human beings. Religion is the extra concern of the human being, and without religion the so-called human life is no better than that of the animal. Therefore, in real human society there is some form of religion aiming at self-realization, with reference to the eternal relationship with God.
#$p#In the lower stage of human civilization there is always a competition in lording it over material Nature; or in other words, there is a continuous rivalry for satisfying the senses. And, driven by this consciousness of sense gratification, religiousness is performed. Pious activities or religious functions are performed with an aim generally for some material gain. If such material gain is obtainable in another way, then the so-called religiousness is neglected, as we can see in the modern human civilization. The economic desires being seemingly fulfilled in another way, nobody is interested in religion now. The church, mosque, or the temple is practically always a vacant place, and people are more interested in the factories, shops, and cinemas than in the religious places formerly erected by the forefathers of different paths of religiousness. This proves definitely that religiousness is performed for economic development, and economic development is needed for sense gratification. And where one is baffled in the matter of sense gratification, he takes to the cause of salvation in order to become one with the Supreme Whole. Therefore, all these stages are different examples of the same aim of life, namely sense gratification.
#$p#In the Vedas, the above-mentioned four activities are prescribed in a regulative way so that there may not be any undue competition for the purpose of sense gratification. But Srimad Bhagwatam is transcendental to all these sense gratifying activities of the material world. It is purely transcendental literature, understandable by a particular class of men known as devotees of the Lord, who are above the competitive field of sense gratification. In the material world there is keen competition between the animals, between men, communities, or even nations in this sense gratifying activity, but the devotees of the Lord are above this. Devotees have nothing to compete for with the materialists because they are on the path back to Godhead, where everything is eternal, full, blissful. Such transcendentalists are a hundred per cent non-envious, and therefore pure in heart. In the material world everyone is envious of everyone and therefore there is competition. But the transcendentalists or devotees of the Lord are not only freed from all material enviousness, but they are kind to everyone, endeavoring to establish a #i#competitionless society, with God in the center#/i#.
#$p#The socialist idea of society is artificially competitionless, because even in the socialistic state there is competition for the post of dictator. The fact is, therefore, that the state of sense gratification is the order of materialistic life, take it either from the Vedas or from the common human activities. As mentioned above, there are three divisions of the Vedas, namely the stage of fruitive activities for getting advancement to better planets like heaven, etc. And, above this, there are the activities of worshipping different demigods with the same intentions—of getting advanced into the different planets of the different types of demigods. And, lastly, there are the activities of reaching the Absolute Truth in His impersonal Feature, to become One with Him.
#$p#The impersonal aspect of the Absolute Truth is not the last word. Above the impersonal Feature is the Paramatma, or Supersoul, aspect, and above that there is the Personal quality of the Absolute Truth. Srimad Bhagwatam gives us information about the Absolute Truth in His Personal quality, beyond the impersonal aspect. It is therefore greater than the topics of impersonal philosophical speculations, and as such, Srimad Bhagwatam is given higher status than the Jnanakanda division of the Vedas. It is higher than the Karmakanda division as well as the Jnanakanda division and it is above the Upashanakanda division, because Srimad Bhagwatam recommends the worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna, the Divine Son of Vasudeva. In the Karmakanda of the Vedas there is competition for supremacy in reaching the heavenly planets for better sense gratification. And the same competition is there in the Jnanakanda or Upashanakandas. But Srimad Bhagwatam is above all of them because It aims at the Supreme Truth, the Substance or the Root of all categories. In other words, from Srimad Bhagwatam we can know the Substance as well as the relativities in the true sense and prespective. The Substance is the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and all emanations from Him are relativities in different forms of energies. The living entities are also related to all different types of His energies, and therefore nothing is different from the Substance. But, at the same time, the energies are different from the Substance. This concept is not self-contradictory. Srimad Bhagwatam explicitly deals with this simultaneously one and different philosophy of the Vedanta Sutra, which begins with the Janmadyasya Sutra.
#$p#Such knowledge of the simultaneously one and different nature of the Absolute Truth is really for the well-being of the knower. Otherwise the mental speculators mislead the people wrongly establishing the energy as Absolute. When it is understood, the truth becomes more pleasing than the imperfect concept of monism or dualism. Development of this consciousness leads one at once to the stage of freedom from the threefold miseries. The threefold miseries are 1. in relation to the body and the mind, 2. in relation to our dealings with other beings, and 3. in relation to the acts of providence, over which we have no control.
#$p#Srimad Bhagwatam begins from the surrender of the living entity #i#unto the Absolute Person, with clear consciousness of the devotee's oneness with the Absolute, and, at the same time, his awareness of his eternal position of servitorship toward the Lord#/i#. In the material conception of his life he thinks of himself falsely as the lord of all he surveys, and therefore he is always troubled with the above-mentioned threefold miseries of life. But, as soon as he comes to know his real position of transcendental servitude, he at once becomes freed from all the above-mentioned miseries. The servitor position of the living being is wasted in the material concept of his life. With a false sense of overlordship, the living being must offer his service to the relative energies of matter. When this servitorship is transferred unto the Lord in pure consciousness of spiritual identity, the living entity at once becomes freed from the encumbrances of material affliction.
#$p#Over and above this, #i#Srimad Bhagwatam is the Personal commentary on the Vedanta Sutra by the great Author Himself#/i#—and that also in the mature stage of His spiritual realization, through the mercy of Narada. Sri Vyasadeva is the authorized incarnation of Narayan, the Personality of Godhead. Therefore, there is no question about His Authority. He is the Author of all other Vedic literature; but, surpassing all of It, He recommends the study of Srimad Bhagwatam. In other Puranas there are different methods of worshipping the demigods, but in the Bhagwatam only the Supreme Personality of Godhead is mentioned. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the Whole Body, and the demigods are the different parts of the body. As such, by worshipping the Supreme Lord there is no need to worship the demigods, because the Supreme Lord is at once fixed in the heart. Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has recommended this Srimad Bhagwatam as the spotless Puranam, as distinguished from all other Puranas.
#$p#The mode of receiving the transcendental message is to get it through the ears by submissiveness. No challenging mode can help the receiver in getting or realizing the transcendental message. Therefore, in the 1st verse of Srimad Bhagwatam, one particular word is used for our proper guidance. This particular word is Shushrusu: one must be anxious to hear about the transcendental message. And this qualification of hearing with interest is the prime qualification for assimilating transcendental knowledge.
#$p#Unfortunately, some persons are not interested in giving patient hearing to the message of Srimad Bhagwatam. The process is simple, but the application is difficult. Unfortunate persons will find enough time to hear ordinary social, political, and all sorts of idle talks, but when they are invited to attend a meeting of the devotees assembled to hear Srimad Bhagwatam, the unfortunate creatures will either be reluctant to attend such a meeting, or they will indulge in hearing the portion they are unfit to enter into. Professional readers of the Bhagwatam indulge in the confidential topics of the Pastimes of the Supreme Lord, which seemingly appear to be sex literature. Srimad Bhagwatam is meant to be heard from the beginning, and the class of persons who are fit to assimilate it is also mentioned in Srimad Bhagwatam 1/1/2: A bona fide audience for hearing the Srimad Bhagwatam is generated after many pious deeds. But an intelligent person, by thoughtful discretion, can believe in the assurance of the great sage Vyasadeva, and give patient hearing to the message of Srimad Bhagwatam, in order to realize directly the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And without undergoing the different Vedic stages, one can at once be lifted to the position of Paramhansa, simply by agreeing to receive patiently the message of Srimad Bhagwatam. The sages at Naimisharanya confirmed before Suta Goswami that they were increasing in their intense desire to understand the Srimad Bhagwatam. They were hearing from Suta Goswami about Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They were never satiated by such discussion, because persons who are really attached to Krishna never cease to want to hear more and more about Krishna.
#$p#Lord Chaitanya therefore advised Prakasananda Saraswati, "Always read Srimad Bhagwatam and try to understand each and every verse, and you will actually understand the Brahma Sutra. You say you are very anxious about the study of Vedanta Sutra, but you cannot understand Vedanta Sutra without understanding Srimad Bhagwatam." He also advised Prakasananda Saraswati to always chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. "And, by doing that, very easily you will be liberated. And after liberation you'll be eligible to achieve the highest goal of life, love of Godhead."
#$p#The Lord then recited many verses from authoritative Scriptures like Srimad Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagwatam, and Nrishingha Tapani. He quoted a verse from Bhagavad Gita, Eighteenth Chapter, 54th verse, that when one actually becomes self-realized, knowing he is Brahman, he becomes happy and joyful, and has no more cause for lamentation and hankering. Such a person sees all living entities on an equal level, and he becomes a pure devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Similarly, in the Nrishingha Tapani it is said that when a person is actually liberated, then he can understand the transcendental Pastimes of the Supreme Lord, and thus become engaged in His devotional service. He also quoted a verse from the Second Canto of Srimad Bhagwatam, in which Sukadeva Goswami admits that, although he was elevated to the liberated stage and free from the clutches of Maya, still, he was attracted by the transcendental Pastimes of Krishna. And, as such, he studied Srimad Bhagwatam from his great father Vyasadeva.
#$p#He also quoted another sloka from Srimad Bhagwatam, Third Canto, Fifteenth Chapter, about the Kumaras. When the Kumaras entered the temple of the Lord they were attracted by the odor of flowers and tulsi leaves offered to the Lotus Feet of the Supreme Lord with pulp of sandalwood, And, simply being incensed by the aroma of such flowers and tulsi, their minds became inclined to the service of the Supreme Lord, although they were already liberated souls. Therefore, according to Srimad Bhagwatam, First Canto, Seventh Chapter, even if one is a liberated soul and is actually free from material contamination, still he becomes attracted to the devotional service of the Supreme Lord without any cause, and without being hampered by any material propensities. God is so attractive—therefore He is called Krishna.
#$p#Lord Chaitanya was discussing the Atmarama verse from Srimad Bhagwatam with Prakasananda Saraswati. His admirer, the Maharastrian Brahmin related in the assembly that the Lord has already explained the verse in 64 different ways. All the people assembled there were very eager to hear again from the Lord about the different versions of the Atmarama Sloka, and as they were so eager, Lord Chaitanya explained the Atmarama Sloka again, in the same way that He had explained it before to Sanatan Goswami. All the people assembled there heard the explanation of the Atmarama Sloka from the Supreme Lord, and they were amazed and considered that the Lord was nobody else than Sri Krishna Himself.
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Knowledge is information gathered from the scriptures, and science is practical realization of that knowledge. Knowledge is scientific when it is gathered from the scriptures through the bona fide spiritual master, but when it is interpreted by speculation, it is mental concoction. By scientifically understanding the scriptural information through the bona fide spiritual master, one learns, by one’s own realization, the truths of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The transcendental form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is different from material manifestations, and it is above the reactions of matter. Unless one scientifically understands the spiritual form of the Personality of Godhead, one becomes an impersonalist. The example comparing the Lord and the material manifestations to the sun and the sunshine is often given. The sunshine in itself is illumination, but that illumination is different from the sun. Yet the sun and the sunshine are not differently situated, for without the sun there can be no sunshine, and without sunshine there is no meaning to the word sun.
#$p#Unless one is freed from the influence of the material energy, he cannot understand the Supreme Lord and His different energies. Nor can one who is captivated by the spell of material energy understand the spiritual form of the Supreme Lord. Unless there is realization of the transcendental form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, there is no question of love of God, and without love of God there is no perfection of human life. Just as the five gross elements of nature—namely earth, water, fire, air and ether—are both within and without all living beings in this world, the Supreme Lord is both inside and outside this existence, and those who are His devotees can realize this.
#$p#Pure devotees know very well that they are meant to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that all things that exist constitute the means by which they can serve the Lord. Therefore, because a pure devotee has been blessed by the Supreme Lord from within the core of his heart, wherever he looks he sees the Lord and nothing more. #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# 11.2.55 confirms this relationship between the pure devotee and the Supreme Lord as follows:
#dl##dd##i#viṣṛjati hṛdayaṁ na yasya sākṣād#/i##/dd#
#dd##i#dharir avaśābhihito ‘py aghaugha-nāśaḥ#/i##/dd#
#dd##i#praṇaya-raśanayā dhṛtāṅghri-padmaḥ#/i##/dd#
#dd##i#sa bhavati bhāgavata-pradhāna uktaḥ#/i##/dd##/dl#
“If a person’s heart is always tied to the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord with the rope of love, the Lord does not leave him. Indeed, even if his remembrance is not perfect, he is to be considered a first-class devotee.” An example of this is described in #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# (10.30.4). When the #i#gopīs#/i# assembled for their #i#rāsa#/i# dance with Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa apparently left them. Consequently they began to chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa and, being overwhelmed with madness, inquired about Kṛṣṇa from the flowers and creepers in the forest. Kṛṣṇa is like the sky: He is situated everywhere.
#$p#Therefore, by studying #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# we can learn about our eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord, understand the procedure for regaining Him, and attain the ultimate realization, which is love of Godhead.
#$p#Next Lord Caitanya explained to Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī how one can achieve the Supreme Personality of Godhead by devotional service. First the Lord quoted a verse from #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# (11.14.21) in which Kṛṣṇa says that He can be realized only through devotional service executed with faith and love. Indeed, it is devotional service alone which purifies the heart of the devotee and elevates him to the ultimate realization, by which he serves the Supreme Lord with faith and love. Even if one is born in a low family, like a family of #i#caṇḍālas#/i# (dog-eaters), one can become filled with transcendental symptoms through realization of the supreme stage of love of Godhead. These transcendental symptoms are mentioned in #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# (11.3.31):
#dl##dd##i#smarantaḥ smārayantaś ca#/i##/dd#
#dd##i#mitho ’ghaugha-haraṁ harim#/i##/dd#
#dd##i#bhaktyā samjātayā bhaktyā#/i##/dd#
#dd##i#bibhraty utpulakāṁ tanum#/i##/dd##/dl#
“When pure devotees discuss subjects dealing with the Supreme Lord, who can cleanse all kinds of sinful reactions from the heart of His devotee, they become overwhelmed with ecstasy and display different symptoms due to their devotional service.” The #i#Bhāgavatam#/i# (11.2.40) also states: “When pure devotees chant the Lord’s holy name, due to their spontaneous attachment for the Lord they sometimes cry, sometimes laugh, sometimes dance, sometimes sing and so on, not caring for any social convention.”
#$p#We should understand, therefore, that#i# Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# is the real explanation of the #i#Brahma-sūtra#/i#, for it is compiled by the same author, Vyāsadeva himself. In the #i#Garuḍa Purāṇa#/i# it is said:
#dl##dd##i#artho ’yaṁ brahma-sūtrāṇāṁ#/i##/dd#
#dd##i#bhāratārtha-vinirṇayaḥ#/i##/dd#
#dd##i#gāyatrī-bhāṣya-rūpo ’sau#/i##/dd#
#dd##i#vedārtha-paribṛṁhitaḥ#/i##/dd##/dl#
#dl##dd##i#grantho ’ṣṭādaśa-sāhasraḥ#/i##/dd#
#dd##i#śrīmad-bhāgavatābhidhaḥ#/i##/dd##/dl#
“#i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# is the authorized explanation of the #i#Brahma-sūtra#/i#, and it is a further explanation of the #i#Mahābhārata#/i#. It is the explanation of the Gāyatrī mantra and the essence of all Vedic knowledge. This #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i#, containing eighteen thousand verses, is known as the explanation of all Vedic literature.” In the First Canto of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya asked Sūta Gosvāmī to explain the essence of Vedic literature. In answer, Sūta Gosvāmī presented #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# as the essence of all the Vedas, histories and other Vedic literatures. Elsewhere in #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# (12.13.15) it is clearly stated that #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# is the essence of all Vedānta knowledge and that one who relishes the knowledge of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# has no taste for studying any other literature. In the very beginning of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i#, the purport of the Gāyatrī mantra is described: “I offer my obeisances unto the Supreme Truth.” Thus from the first verse #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# deals with the Supreme Truth, which is described in the #i#Bhāgavatam#/i# as the source of the creation, maintenance and destruction of the cosmic manifestation. Obeisances unto the Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva (#i#oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya#/i#), directly indicate Lord Sri Kṛṣṇa, who is the divine son of Vasudeva and Devakī. That Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead is more explicitly presented later in #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# (1.3.28), where Vyāsadeva asserts that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the original Personality of Godhead and that all others are either His direct or indirect plenary portions or portions of those portions. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has still more explicitly developed this subject in his #i#Kṛṣṇa-sandarbha#/i#, and Brahmā, the original living being, has substantially explained the subject of Śrī Kṛṣṇa in his treatise #i#Brahma-saṁhitā#/i#. The #i#Sāma Veda#/i# also verifies the fact that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the divine son of Devakī.
#$p#In his prayer (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.1.1), the author of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# first proposes that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the primeval Lord, and if any transcendental nomenclature for the absolute Personality of Godhead is to be accepted, it should be the name Kṛṣṇa, meaning “all-attractive.” In the #i#Bhagavad-gītā#/i# the Lord has affirmed in many passages that He is the original Personality of Godhead, and this was confirmed by Arjuna, who cited great sages like Nārada, Vyāsa and many others. Also, in the #i#Padma Purāṇa#/i# it is stated that of the innumerable names of the Lord, the name Kṛṣṇa is the principal one. Therefore, although the name Vāsudeva indicates the plenary portion of the Personality of Godhead, and although all the different forms of the Lord are identical with Vāsudeva, in this text Vāsudeva principally indicates the divine son of Vasudeva and Devakī. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is always meditated upon by the #i#paramahaṁsas#/i#, those who are most perfect in the renounced order of life. Vāsudeva, or Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is the cause of all causes, and everything that exists is an emanation from Him. How this is so is explained in later chapters of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i#.
#$p#Caitanya Mahāprabhu describes #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# as the spotless #i#Purāṇa#/i# because it contains transcendental narrations of the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The history of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# is also very glorious. Śrī Vyāsadeva, drawing on his mature experience of transcendental knowledge, compiled it under the instruction of Śrī Nāradajī, his spiritual master. Vyāsadeva had compiled all the Vedic literatures—the four #i#Vedas#/i#, the#i# Vedānta-sūtra#/i# (or #i#Brahma-sūtra#/i#), the #i#Purāṇas#/i# and the #i#Mahābhārata#/i#. Yet he was not satisfied. His dissatisfaction was observed by his spiritual master, and thus Nārada advised him to write about the transcendental activities of the Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental activities are specifically described in the Tenth Canto of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i#, the canto considered to contain the substance of the whole work. One should not approach the Tenth Canto immediately but should approach it gradually by developing knowledge of the subject matters first presented.
#$p#Generally a person with a philosophical mind is inquisitive to learn of the origin of the creation. He sees the night sky and naturally asks, “What are the stars? How are they situated? Who lives there?” and so on. All these inquiries are quite natural for a human being because his consciousness is more developed than the animals’. In answer to such inquiries, the author of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# says that the Lord is the origin of the creation. He is not only the creator but the maintainer and annihilator 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 finally it is annihilated by His will. Thus He is the supreme will behind all activities.
#$p#Of course, there are atheists of various categories who do not believe in the creator, but that is due only to their poor fund of knowledge. The modern scientist creates sputniks, and by some arrangement or other they are thrown into outer space to fly for some time under the control of a scientist far away. All the universes and the innumerable planets within them are similar to such sputniks, and they are all controlled by the Personality of Godhead.
#$p#In the Vedic literature it is said that the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, is the chief among all living personalities. All living beings, from the first created being, Brahmā, down to the smallest ant, are individual living entities. And above Brahmā there are many other living beings with individual capacities. The Personality of Godhead Himself is also a living being, as much an individual as other living beings. But the Supreme Lord is the supreme living being, with the greatest mind and the supermost inconceivable energies in great variety. If a man’s mind can produce a sputnik, we can very easily imagine that a mind higher than man’s can produce wonderful things far superior to man-made sputniks. A reasonable person will accept this argument, but stubborn, obstinate people will not.
#$p#Śrīla Vyāsadeva at once accepts the supreme mind as the#i# parameśvara#/i#, the supreme controller, and offers His respectful obeisances to Him. As stated in the #i#Bhagavad-gītā#/i# and all other scriptures written by Śrīla Vyāsadeva, that #i#parameśvara#/i# is Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself. This is specifically stated in #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i#. In the #i#Bhagavad-gītā#/i# the Lord Himself says that there is no #i#paratattva#/i# (summum bonum) other than Him. Therefore the author at once worships the #i#paratattva#/i#, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, whose transcendental activities are described in the Tenth Canto.
#$p#Unscrupulous persons go at once to the Tenth Canto, especially to the five chapters in which Śrīla Vyāsadeva has kindly described the Lord’s #i#rāsa#/i# dance. However, this portion of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# is the most confidential part of that 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 in the #i#rāsa#/i# dance and His loving dealings with the #i#gopīs#/i#. This subject matter is highly spiritual and technical, and only liberated personalities who have gradually attained the stage of #i#paramahaṁsa#/i# can transcendentally relish the worshipable #i#rāsa#/i# dance.
#$p#Therefore Śrīla Vyāsadeva gives the reader a chance to gradually develop in spiritual realization before actually relishing the essence of the pastimes of the Lord. Thus at the beginning Vyāsadeva purposefully invokes the Gāyatrī mantra with the word #i#dhīmahi#/i#. The Gāyatrī mantra is especially meant for spiritually advanced people. When one attains success in chanting the Gāyatrī mantra, he can enter into the transcendental position of the Lord. But in order to chant the Gāyatrī mantra successfully, one must first acquire the brahminical qualities and become perfectly situated in the mode of goodness. From that point one can begin to transcendentally realize the Lord—His name, His fame, His qualities, etc.
#$p##i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# is a narration dealing with the #i#svarūpa#/i# (form) of the Lord, which is manifested by His internal potency. This potency is distinguished from the external potency, which has manifested the cosmic world within our experience. Śrīla Vyāsadeva makes a clear distinction between the internal and external potencies in the very first verse of the First Chapter of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i#. In that verse he says that the internal potency is factual reality whereas the external manifested energy in the form of material existence is temporary and illusory, no more real than a mirage in the desert. Water may appear present in a mirage, but real water is somewhere else. Similarly, the manifested cosmic creation appears to be reality, but it is simply a reflection of the true reality, which exists in the spiritual world. In the spiritual world there are no mirages. Absolute Truth is there; it is not here in the material world. Here everything is relative truth, with one apparent truth depending upon another. This cosmic creation results from an interaction of the three modes of material nature. 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 higher demigods like Brahmā, Indra, Candra, and so on. In fact there is no reality in the manifested world, but there appears to be reality because of the true reality in the spiritual world, where the Personality of Godhead eternally resides with His transcendental paraphernalia.
#$p#The chief engineer of a complicated construction does not personally take part in the construction itself, but it is he only who knows every nook and corner of the construction because everything is carried out under his direction only. In other words, he knows everything about the construction, directly and indirectly. Similarly, the Personality of Godhead, who is the supreme engineer of this cosmic creation, knows very well what is happening in every nook and corner of the cosmic creation, although activities appear to be performed by someone else. In actuality, from Brahmā down to the insignificant ant, no one is independent in the material creation; the hand of the Supreme Lord is everywhere. All material elements, as well as all spiritual sparks, are but emanations from Him only. Whatever is created in this material world is a result of the interaction of these two energies, material and spiritual, which emanate from the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa (Vāsudeva).
#$p#A living entity known as a chemist can manufacture water in the laboratory by mixing hydrogen and oxygen. But in reality the living entity works under the direction of the Supreme Lord, and all the materials he uses are supplied by the Lord. Thus the Lord knows everything directly and indirectly, in minute detail, and He is fully independent as well. He can be compared to a gold mine, and the objects within the cosmic creation can be compared to ornaments made from that gold, such as gold rings, gold necklaces, and so on. The gold ring and necklace are qualitatively one with the gold in the mine, but quantitatively the gold in the mine and the gold in the ring or necklace are different. The complete philosophy of the Absolute Truth, therefore, centers about the fact that the Absolute Truth is simultaneously one with and different from His creation. Nothing is absolutely equal to the Absolute Truth, but at the same time nothing is independent of the Absolute Truth.
#$p#Conditioned souls, from Brahmā, the engineer of this particular universe, down to an insignificant ant, are all creating something, but none of them are independent of the Supreme Lord. The materialist wrongly thinks that there is no creator but his own good self, and this misconception is called #i#māyā#/i#, or illusion. Due to his poor fund of knowledge, the materialist cannot see beyond the purview of his imperfect senses; thus he thinks that matter automatically takes its own shape independent of a conscious background. This is refuted by Śrīla Vyāsadeva in the first verse of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i#. As stated before, Vyāsadeva is a liberated soul, and he compiled this book of authority after attaining spiritual perfection. Since the complete whole, or the Absolute Truth, is the source of everything, nothing is independent of Him. In one sense, everything that exists is the body of the Absolute Truth. Any action or reaction of a part of a body becomes a cognizable fact to the embodied soul. Similarly, since the creation is the body of the Absolute Truth, then everything in the creation is known to the Absolute, both directly and indirectly.
#$p#In the #i#śruti-mantra#/i# it is stated that the absolute whole, or Brahman, is the ultimate source of everything. Everything emanates from Him, everything is maintained by Him, and at the end everything enters into Him again. That is the law of nature. This is confirmed in the #i#smṛti-mantra#/i#. There it is said that at the beginning of Brahmā’s millennium the source from which everything emanates is the Absolute Truth, or Brahman, and that at the end of that millennium the reservoir into which everything enters is that same Absolute Truth. Material scientists haphazardly take it for granted that the ultimate source of this planetary system is the sun, but they are unable to explain the source of the sun. In the first verse of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# the ultimate source is explained. According to the Vedic literature, Brahmā is the creator of this universe, but because he had to meditate to receive the inspiration for such creation, he is not the ultimate creator. As stated in the first verse of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i#, Brahmā was taught Vedic knowledge by the Personality of Godhead. There it is said that the Supreme Lord inspired Brahmā, the secondary creator, and enabled him to carry out his creative functions. In this way the Supreme Lord is the supervising engineer; the real mind behind all creative agents is the Absolute Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. In the #i#Bhagavad-gītā#/i# (9.10) Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself states that it is He only who superintends the creative energy (#i#prakṛti#/i#), the sum total of matter. Thus Śrī Vyāsadeva worships neither Brahmā nor the sun but the Supreme Lord, who guides both Brahmā and the sun in their creative activities.
#$p#The Sanskrit words #i#abhijña#/i# and #i#svarāṭ#/i#, appearing in the first verse of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i#, are significant. These two words distinguish the Lord from all other living entities. No living entity other than the Supreme Being, the Absolute Personality of Godhead, is either #i#abhijña#/i# or #i#svarāṭ#/i#—that is, none of them are either fully cognizant or fully independent. Everyone has to receive knowledge from his superior; even Brahmā, who is the first living being within this material world, has to meditate upon the Supreme Lord and take help from Him in order to create. If neither Brahmā nor the sun can create anything without acquiring knowledge from a superior, then what to speak of the material scientists, who are fully dependent on so many things? Modern scientists like Jagadisha Chandra Bose, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, etc., may boast of their respective creative energies, but all were dependent on the Supreme Lord for so many things. After all, the highly intelligent brains of these gentlemen were certainly not products of any human being. The brains were created by another agent. If brains like those of Einstein or Newton could have been manufactured by a human being, then mankind would produce many such brains instead of eulogizing these scientists. If such scientists cannot even manufacture such brains, what to speak of foolish atheists who defy the authority of the Lord?
#$p#Even the Māyāvādī impersonalists, who flatter themselves that they have become the Lord, are not #i#abhijña#/i# or #i#svarāṭ#/i#, fully cognizant or fully independent. The Māyāvādī monists undergo a severe process of austerity and penance to acquire the knowledge needed for becoming one with the Lord, but ultimately they become dependent on some rich follower, who supplies them with requisite paraphernalia to construct great monasteries and temples. Atheists like Rāvaṇa and Hiraṇyakaśipu had to undergo severe austerities before they could flout the authority of the Lord, but ultimately they were so helpless that they could not save themselves when the Lord appeared before them as cruel death. This is also applicable to the modern atheists who dare flout the authority of the Lord. Such atheists will be dealt the same awards as were given in the past to great atheists like Rāvaṇa and Hiraṇyakaśipu. History repeats itself, and what occurred in the past will recur again and again when there is necessity. Whenever the authority of the Lord is neglected, the penalties dealt by the laws of nature are always there.
#$p#That the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, is all-perfect is confirmed in all #i#śruti-mantras#/i#. It is said in the #i#śruti-mantras#/i# that the all-perfect Lord glanced over matter and thus created all living beings. The living beings are parts and parcels of the Lord, and He impregnates the vast material nature with the seeds of the spiritual sparks. Thus the creative energies are set in motion for so many wonderful creations. When one atheist argued that God is no more expert than the manufacturer of a subtle watch that has so many delicate parts, we had to reply that God is a greater mechanic than the watchmaker because He creates one machine in male and female forms that go on producing innumerable similar machines without the further attention of God. If a man could manufacture a set of machines capable of producing other machines without the man giving the matter any further attention, then that man could be said to equal the intelligence of God. But that is not possible. Each and every one of man’s imperfect machines has to be handled individually by a mechanic. Because no one can be equal to God in intelligence, another name for God is #i#asamordhva#/i#, which indicates that no one is equal to or greater than Him. Everyone has his intellectual equal and superior, and no one can claim that he has neither. But this is not the case with the Lord. The #i#śruti-mantras#/i# indicate that before the creation of the material universe there existed the Lord, who is the master of everyone. It was the Lord who instructed Brahmā in Vedic knowledge. That Personality of Godhead has to be obeyed in all respects. Anyone who wants to become freed from material entanglement must surrender unto Him, and this is confirmed in the #i#Bhagavad-gītā#/i#.
#$p#Unless one surrenders unto the lotus feet of the Personality of Godhead, it is sure and certain that one will be bewildered, even if he happens to be a great mind. Only when great minds surrender unto the lotus feet of Vāsudeva and know fully that Vāsudeva is the cause of all causes, as confirmed in the #i#Bhagavad-gītā#/i# (7.19), can they become #i#mahātmās#/i#, or the truly broad-minded. But such broad-minded #i#mahātmās#/i# are rarely seen. Only they, however, can understand that the Supreme Lord, the absolute Personality of Godhead, is the primeval cause of all creations. He is the ultimate (#i#parama#/i#) truth because all other truths are dependent on Him. And because He is the source of everyone’s knowledge, He is omniscient; there is no illusion for Him, as there is for the relative knower.
#$p#Some Māyāvādī scholars argue that #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# was not compiled by Śrīla Vyāsadeva, and some suggest that the book is a modern creation written by someone named Vopadeva. In order to refute this meaningless argument, Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī points out that many of the oldest #i#Purāṇas#/i# make reference to #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i#. The first #i#śloka#/i#, or verse, of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# begins with the Gāyatrī mantra, and there is reference to this in the #i#Matsya Purāṇa#/i# (the oldest #i#Purāṇa#/i#). In that #i#Purāṇa#/i# it is said about the #i#Bhāgavatam#/i# that in it there are many narrations and spiritual instructions, that it begins with the Gāyatrī mantra, and that it contains the history of Vṛtrāsura. It is also said that whoever makes a gift of this great work on a full-moon day attains to the highest perfection of life and goes back to Godhead. There is also reference to #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# in other #i#Purāṇas#/i#, which even indicate that the work consists of twelve cantos and eighteen thousand #i#ślokas#/i#. In the #i#Padma Purāṇa#/i# there is also a reference to #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i#, during a conversation between Gautama and Mahārāja Ambarīṣa. The king was advised to read #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# regularly if he at all desired liberation from material bondage. Under these circumstances, there is no doubt regarding the authority of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i#. For the past five hundred years, since the time of Śrī Caitanya Mahaprabhu, many scholars have made elaborate commentaries upon #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# and have displayed unique scholarship. The serious student will do well to attempt to go through these commentaries in order to more happily relish the transcendental messages of the #i#Bhāgavatam#/i#.
#$p#In his commentary on the #i#Bhāgavatam#/i#, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura specifically deals with original and pure sex psychology (#i#ādi-rasa#/i#), devoid of all mundane inebriety. The entire material world turns due to the basic principle of sex life. In modern human civilization, sex is the central point of all activities; indeed, wherever we turn our face we see sex life prominent. Thus sex life is not unreal, but its true reality is experienced in the spiritual world. Material sex is but a perverted reflection of the original; the original is found in the Absolute Truth. This validates the fact that the Absolute Truth is personal, for the Absolute Truth cannot be impersonal and have a sense of pure sex life. The impersonal, monist philosophy has given an indirect impetus to abominable mundane sex because it overly stresses the impersonality of the ultimate truth. The result is that men who lack knowledge have accepted perverted material sex life as all in all because they have no information of the actual spiritual form of sex. There is a distinction between sex in the diseased condition of material life and sex in the spiritual existence. #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# gradually elevates the unbiased reader to the highest perfectional stage of transcendence, above the three kinds of material activities, namely fruitive actions, speculative philosophy and worship of functional deities indicated in the #i#Vedas#/i#. #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# is the embodiment of devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, and is therefore situated in a position superior to other Vedic literatures.
#$p#Religion includes four primary subjects: (1) pious activities, (2) economic development, (3) satisfaction of the senses, and (4) liberation from material bondage. Religious life is distinguished from the irreligious life of barbarism. Indeed, it may be said that human life actually begins with religion. The four principles of animal life—eating, sleeping, defending and mating—are common to both the animals and human beings, but religion is the special concern of human beings. Since human life without religion is no better than animal life, in real human society there is some form of religion aiming at self-realization and referring to one’s eternal relationship with God.
#$p#In the lower stage of human civilization there is always competition between men in their attempt to dominate material nature. In other words, there is continuous rivalry in an attempt to satisfy the senses. Thus driven by sense gratificatory consciousness, men perform religious rituals and pious activities with the aim of acquiring some material gain. But if such material gain is obtainable in another way, this so-called religion is neglected. This can be seen in modern human civilization. Since the economic desires of the people appear to be fulfilled in another way, no one is interested in religion now. The churches, mosques and temples are practically vacant, for people are more interested in factories, shops and cinemas than in the religious places erected by their forefathers. This definitely proves that religious rituals are generally performed for the sake of economic development, which is needed for sense gratification. And when one is baffled in his attempt to attain sense gratification, he takes to the cause of salvation in order to become one with the supreme whole. All these activities arise with the same aim in view—sense gratification.
#$p#In the #i#Vedas#/i#, the four primary subjects mentioned above are prescribed in a regulative way so that there will not be undue competition for sense gratification. But #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# is transcendental to all these sense-gratifying activities of the material world. It is a purely transcendental literature, understandable by the devotees of the Lord, who are above the competition for sense gratification. In the material world there is keen competition between animals, between men, between communities and even between nations in an attempt to gratify the senses. But the devotees of the Lord are above all this. Devotees have no need to compete with materialists because they are on the path back to Godhead, back home, where everything is eternal and fully blissful. Such transcendentalists are a hundred percent non envious and are therefore pure in heart. Because everyone in the material world is envious, there is competition. But the transcendentalists, or devotees of the Lord, are not only free from all material envy but are also kind to everyone in an attempt to establish a competitionless society with God in the center. The socialist’s idea of a society devoid of competition is artificial because even in the socialist states there is competition for the post of dictator.
#$p#It is a fact, therefore, that sense gratification is the central principle of materialistic life, whether based on the #i#Vedas#/i# or simply on common human activities. There are three divisions of the #i#Vedas#/i#. The first division (the #i#karma-kāṇḍa#/i#) recommends fruitive activities by which people can advance to higher planets. Above this is the #i#upāsanā-kāṇḍa#/i#, which recommends worship of the various demigods for the purpose of attaining their planets. Finally there is the #i#jñāna-kāṇḍa#/i#, which recommends activities that enable one to reach the Absolute Truth and realize His impersonal feature in order to become one with Him. But the impersonal aspect of the Absolute Truth is not the last word. Above the impersonal feature is the #i#Paramātmā#/i#, or Supersoul, and above that is the personal aspect of the Absolute Truth. #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# gives information about the personal qualities of the Absolute Truth, beyond the impersonal aspect. Topics concerning these qualities are greater than topics of impersonal philosophical speculation; consequently #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# is given higher status than the #i#jñāna-kāṇḍa#/i# division of the #i#Vedas#/i#. #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# is also greater than the #i#karma-kāṇḍa#/i# and #i#upāsanā-kāṇḍa#/i# divisions because it recommends the worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the divine son of Vasudeva. The #i#karma-kāṇḍa#/i# division of the #i#Vedas#/i# is fraught with competition to reach heavenly planets for better sense gratification, and this competition is also seen in the #i#jñāna-kāṇḍa#/i# and #i#upāsanā-kāṇḍa#/i# divisions. #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# is above all of these because it aims only at the Supreme Truth, the substance or root of all categories.
#$p#In other words, from #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# we can know the substance as well as the relativities in their true sense and perspective. The substance is the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the relativities are the different forms of energy which emanate from Him. Since the living entities are also His energies, there is nothing really different from the substance. At the same time, the energies are different from the substance. This conception is not self-contradictory. #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# explicitly deals with this simultaneously-one-and-different philosophy—a philosophy also found in the #i#Vedānta-sūtra#/i#, which begins with the #i#janmādy asya sūtra#/i#.
#$p#Knowledge of the simultaneously-one-and-different nature of the Absolute Truth has been imparted for the well-being of everyone. Mental speculators mislead people by trying to establish the energy of the Lord as absolute, but when the truth of simultaneous oneness and difference is understood, that truth is more pleasing than the imperfect concepts of monism and dualism. By understanding the Lord’s simultaneous oneness with and difference from His creation, one can immediately attain freedom from the threefold miseries—miseries inflicted by the body and mind, by other living entities, and by acts of nature, over which we have no control.
#$p##i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# begins with the surrender of the living entity unto the Absolute Person. This surrender is made with full awareness of the devotee’s oneness with the Absolute Person and, at the same time, his eternal position of servitorship toward Him. In the material conception one falsely thinks himself the Lord of all he surveys; consequently he is always troubled by the threefold miseries of life. But as soon as one comes to know his real position in transcendental service, he at once becomes freed from all the above-mentioned threefold miseries. The position of servitor is wasted in the material conception of life. In an attempt to dominate material nature, the living entity is forced to offer his service to the relative material energy. When this service is transferred to the Lord in pure consciousness of spiritual identity, the living entity at once becomes free from the encumbrances of material affliction.
#$p#Over and above this, #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# is the personal commentary on the #i#Vedānta-sūtra#/i# by Vyāsadeva after he had attained maturity in spiritual realization. He was able to write it by the mercy of Nārada. Śrīla Vyāsadeva is an incarnation of Nārāyaṇa, the Personality of Godhead; therefore there is no question about his authority. Although he is the author of all Vedic literature, he specifically recommends the study of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# above all other books. In other #i#Purāṇas#/i# various methods for worshiping demigods are mentioned, but in #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# only the Supreme Personality of Godhead is mentioned. The Supreme Lord is the whole body, and the demigods are different parts of that body. Thus one who worships the Supreme Lord need not worship the demigods, for the Supreme Lord is at once fixed in one’s heart. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu distinguished #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# from all other #i#Purāṇas#/i# by recommending it as the spotless #i#Purāṇa#/i#.
#$p#The transcendental message is received through the ears, by the method of submissive hearing. A challenging attitude cannot help one receive or realize the transcendental message; therefore in the second verse of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# the word #i#śuśrūṣu#/i# is used. This word indicates that one should be eager to hear the transcendental message. The desire to hear with interest is the primary qualification for assimilating transcendental knowledge.
#$p#Unfortunately, few people are interested in patiently hearing the message of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i#. The process is simple, but the application is difficult. Those who are unfortunate will find time to hear ordinary social and political topics and all sorts of idle talks, but when they are invited to join an assembly of devotees to hear #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i#, they are reluctant to attend. Or they will indulge in hearing portions of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# they are unfit to hear. Professional reciters of the #i#Bhāgavatam#/i# indulge in reciting the portions dealing with the confidential pastimes of the Supreme Lord. These portions appear to be sex literature. #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# is meant to be heard from the beginning, and those who are fit to assimilate the messages of #i#Bhāgavatam#/i# are mentioned in the very beginning (SB 1.1.2): The bona fide audience fit to hear #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# consists of those who have performed many pious deeds. But any intelligent person, by thoughtful discretion, can come to believe in the assurances of the great sage Vyāsadeva and patiently hear the messages of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# in order to realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead directly. One need not struggle through the different Vedic stages of realization, for one can quickly be lifted to the position of #i#paramahaṁsa#/i# simply by agreeing to patiently hear the message of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i#. The sages of Naimiṣāraṇya told Sūta Gosvāmī that they intensely desired to understand #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i#. They were hearing from Sūta Gosvāmī about Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and they were never satiated by these discussions. People who are really attached to Kṛṣṇa never stop wanting to hear more and more about Him.
#$p#Lord Caitanya therefore advised Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī: “Always read #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# and try to understand each and every verse. Then you will actually understand the #i#Brahma-sūtra#/i#. You say that you are very eager to study the #i#Vedānta-sūtra#/i#, but you cannot understand the #i#Vedānta-sūtra#/i# without understanding #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i#.” He also advised Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī to always chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. “By doing this you will very easily be liberated. After liberation you will be eligible to achieve the highest goal of life, love of Godhead.”
#$p#The Lord then recited many verses from authoritative scriptures like #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i#, the #i#Bhagavad-gītā#/i# and the #i#Nṛsiṁha-tāpanī Upaniṣad#/i#. First He quoted this verse from the #i#Bhagavad-gītā#/i# (18.54):
#dl##dd##i#brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā#/i##/dd#
#dd##i#na śocati na kāṅkṣati#/i##/dd#
#dd##i#samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu#/i##/dd#
#dd##i#mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām#/i##/dd##/dl#
“When one actually becomes self-realized, knowing that he is Brahman, he becomes happy and joyful, and he no longer feels any lamentation or hankering. Such a person sees all living entities on an equal level, and he becomes a pure devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” Next He quoted a statement from Śaṅkarācārya’s commentary to the #i#Nṛsiṁha-tāpanī Upaniṣad#/i# (2.5.16) , which says that when a person is actually liberated he can understand the transcendental pastimes of the Supreme Lord and thus engage in His devotional service. Lord Caitanya also quoted a verse from the Second Canto of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# (2.1.9), in which Śukadeva Gosvāmī states that although he was elevated to the liberated stage and free from the clutches of #i#māyā#/i#, he was still attracted by the transcendental pastimes of Kṛṣṇa. Consequently he studied #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# from his great father, Vyāsadeva.
#$p#Next Lord Caitanya quoted another #i#śloka#/i# from #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# (3.15.43), which deals with the Kumāras. When the Kumāras entered the temple of the Lord, they were attracted by the aroma of the flowers and #i#tulasī#/i# leaves offered to the lotus feet of the Lord with pulp of sandalwood. Simply by the Kumāras’ smelling the aroma of these offerings, their minds turned to the service of the Supreme Lord, although the Kumāras were already liberated souls. It is stated elsewhere in #i#Bhāgavatam#/i# (1.7.10) that even if one is a liberated soul and is actually free from material contamination, he can still become attracted to rendering the Supreme Lord devotional service that is causeless and unhampered by any material propensity. This is because God is so attractive. And because He is so attractive, He is called Kṛṣṇa.
#$p#In this way Lord Caitanya began to discuss the #i#ātmārāma#/i# verse from #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# with Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī. Lord Caitanya’s admirer, the Maharashtrian #i#brāhmaṇa#/i#, related that the Lord had earlier explained this verse in sixty-one different ways. Everyone assembled was very eager to hear the different versions of the Lord’s explanation of the #i#ātmārāma śloka#/i#, and since they were so eager, Lord Caitanya again explained the #i#śloka#/i# in the same way that He had explained it to Sanātana Gosvāmī. Everyone who heard the explanations of the #i#ātmārāma śloka#/i# was amazed. Indeed, everyone considered Lord Caitanya to be none other than Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself.
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