CC Adi 8.36 (1975)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 36
- caitanya-nitāira yāte jāniye mahimā
- yāte jāni kṛṣṇa-bhakti-siddhāntera sīmā
SYNONYMS
caitanya-nitāira—of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu; yāte—in which; jāniye—one can know; mahimā—all glories; yāte—in which; jāni—I can understand; kṛṣṇa-bhakti—of devotion to Lord Kṛṣṇa; siddhāntera—of the conclusion; sīmā—limit.
TRANSLATION
By reading Śrī Caitanya-maṅgala one can understand all the glories and truths of Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda and come to the ultimate conclusion of devotional service to Lord Kṛṣṇa.
PURPORT
Śrīmad-Bhagavatam is the authoritative reference book from which to understand devotional service, but because it is very elaborate, few men can understand its purpose. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the original commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra, which is called nyāya-prasthāna. It was written to enable one to understand the Absolute Truth through infallible logic and argument, and therefore its natural commentary, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, is extremely elaborate. Professional reciters have created the impression that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam deals only with Kṛṣṇa's rāsa-līlā, although Kṛṣṇa's rāsa-līlā is described only in the Tenth Canto (chapters 29-35). They have in this way presented Kṛṣṇa to the Western world as a great woman-hunter, and therefore we sometimes have to deal with such misconceptions in preaching. Another difficulty in understanding Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is that the professional reciters have introduced bhāgavata-saptāha, or seven-day readings of the Bhāgavatam. They want to finish Śrīmad-Bhagavatam in a week, although it is so sublime that even one verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, if properly explained, cannot be completed in three months. Under these circumstances, it is a great aid for the common man to read Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura's Caitanya-bhāgavata, for thus he can actually understand devotional service, Kṛṣṇa, Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has said:
śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi-
- pañcarātra-vidhiṁ vinā
- aikāntikī harer bhaktir
- utpātāyaiva kalpate
"Devotional service to the Lord that ignores the authorized Vedic scriptures like the Upaniṣads, Purāṇas, Nārada-pañcarātra, etc., is simply an unnecessary disturbance in society." Due to misunderstanding Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, people are misled regarding the science of Kṛṣṇa. However, by reading Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura's book one can very easily understand this science.