Often we have the idea that the Upanisads support the impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth, but this is actually due to the many Mayavadi interpretations of the texts. In reality, the Upanisads directly speak about the personal form of the Lord, just like the Bhagavad-Gita or the Srimad Bhagavatam.

The difficulty is that the Upanisads are parts of the original Vedas, and thus the language is more difficult, and the concepts more abstract. Different from books like the Mahabharata or Ramayana, the Upanisads were written to be studied in the company of the spiritual master, receiving explanations, asking questions, and so on. Just being a Sanskrit scholar is not sufficient.

Unfortunately, not many of us have the opportunity to hear directly from a self-realized soul, but there is another process that can also work. This is based on the suggestions of Jiva Goswami in the Sat Sandharbas. To understand the Upanisads, we should start y studying the Vedanta Sutras, which have the conclusions of the Upanisads. To understand the Vedanta Sutras we should study the Govinda Bhasya of Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana, who explains everything nicely.

However, the Govinda Bhasya is not an easy book. To understand it we need to have a very good grasp of the philosophy, understanding the references, and the correct conclusions. To get that we need to study the books of Srila Prabhupada very carefully.

We hear that the Vedas are eternal knowledge, and thus we get the impression that the Vedas are always available. While this is true in the absolute sense, there are cycles for the revelation of the Vedas inside the universe and on each particular planet.

In the Bhagavad-Gita, Krsna reveals that the knowledge of the Bhagavad-Gita had been transmitted to the sun-god, Vivasvan many millions of years ago, and this knowledge had reached our planet through Iksvaku. However, with the passage of time that succession had been broken and the knowledge forgotten. Because of this, Krsna was again transmitting the same knowledge to Arjuna.

Srila Baladeva Vidyabhushana describes that not only the Bhagavad-Gita but the whole Vedic knowledge was almost lost at the end of the previous Dwapara-yuga, being replaced by different atheistic philosophies, like the atheistic Sankhya, Karma Mimansa, etc. that although superficially based on the Vedas, go against their conclusions. In this environment, it took an empowered incarnation of the Lord, Vyasadeva, to restore the real meaning of the Vedas.

Similarly, by the time of Lord Buddha the so-called followers of the Vedas had degenerated into a group of hedonists who were using the Vedas to justify their meat eating. This led to the advent of a sequence of acaryas, including Lord Buddha, Sankaracarya, Ramanujacarya, Madvacarya, etc. who gradually restored the meaning of the Vedas. This culminated with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who brought the ultimate conclusion, pure love of Godhead.

In the first canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, there is a mysterious passage, the talks between Pariksit Maharaja and Dharma, who had taken the form of a bull.

Kali was beating the bull with a club. Although the situation is quite obvious, Pariksit addresses the bull trying to get a testimony proving the guilt of Kali, just like in modern justice systems. However, the bull refuses to directly accuse Kali directly, speaking instead in a cryptic way:

“O greatest among human beings, it is very difficult to ascertain the particular miscreant who has caused our sufferings, because we are bewildered by all the different opinions of theoretical philosophers.
Some of the philosophers, who deny all sorts of duality, declare that one’s own self is responsible for his personal happiness and distress. Others say that superhuman powers are responsible, while yet others say that activity is responsible, and the gross materialists maintain that nature is the ultimate cause.
There are also some thinkers who believe that no one can ascertain the cause of distress by argumentation, nor know it by imagination, nor express it by words. O sage amongst kings, judge for yourself by thinking over all this with your own intelligence.” (SB 1.17.18-20)

Understanding the deep meaning of the bull’s words, Pariksit replied:

“O you, who are in the form of a bull! You know the truth of religion, and you are speaking according to the principle that the destination intended for the perpetrator of irreligious acts is also intended for one who identifies the perpetrator. You are no other than the personality of religion. Thus it is concluded that the Lord’s energies are inconceivable. No one can estimate them by mental speculation or by word jugglery.” (SB 1.17.22-23)

At first, this passage doesn’t seem to make much sense. It appears that it implies that if someone is a victim of some crime or violence and he reports the perpetrator, asking for justice, he is entitled to receive the same punishment reserved for the criminal, like, for example, if a man stabbed with a knife would be forced to spend ten years in prison alongside the criminal that stabbed him. How could this be called justice?

The pastime of Maharaja Pariksit renouncing his kingdom, hearing the Srimad Bhagavatam from Sukadeva Goswami, and going back to Godhead starts with him hunting in the forest.

It may sound strange to hear about a pure devotee going to the forest to kill animals, but this was actually one of the duties of Ksatriyas. Apart from people living in villages, there were many sages living in the forests, and thus one of the responsibilities of the Ksatriyas was to hunt dangerous animals such as lions and thus check their populations, reducing the risk for the people. These hunting excursions also served as an opportunity for the warriors to perfect their military skills by hunting stags and others, which was also connected with their duties. While hunting, Pariksit Maharaja became extremely thirsty, which led him to the hermitage of the great sage Śamīka Ṛṣi, from whom he expected to receive a little water.

However, the sage was in deep meditation, and when the king arrived, he didn’t hear. Normally, a sage would offer a reception to a saintly king like Maharaja Pariksit, with kind words, a place to sit, and some water to drink, but being absorbed in Samadhi the sage was not aware of his surroundings and was not able to do so.

Even though Pariksit asked for water repeatedly, the sage didn’t answer. The king thought that the sage was pretending to be in samadhi just to avoid receiving him, who was by social position inferior, being a Ksatriya, while the sage was a Brahmana. Therefore, to reciprocate the cold reception, Maharaja Pariksit used his bow to collect a dead snake that was lying on the floor and put it around the neck of the sage, like a garland.

In his purport, Prabhupada comments that becoming angry in this situation, when he needed water so badly and was not able to obtain it due to the negligence of the sage, was not unnatural even for a great devotee such as Maharaja Pariksit, but the fact that he acted on his anger instead of being able to control it was astonishing. In normal circumstances, hunger and thirst would not be able to disturb such a great devotee, much less to the point of disrespecting a Brahmana. Pariksit had already demonstrated his amazing tolerance by being able to tolerate the heat of the Brahmnastra of Aswattama while still in the womb.

In the Srimad Bhagavatam, its described how Pariksit Maharaja met the personification of Kali-yuga, who was at the time beating a cow and a bull. We tend to think of Kali as an age, or perhaps as an energy that causes the degradation of the people, and thus it may sound strange the idea that Pariksit Maharaja could physically meet him, but the fact is that all the different energies that compose the universe have their respective personifications. Just like the power of the sun is personified in the form of the demigod Surya, and the wind is personified as Vayu, all the different energies that compose the universe have their respective personifications, including things like envy, lust, death, and so on. Even our planet is personified in the form of Bhumi.

Just like in the case of the demigods, souls who have the right set of qualifications become the enjoyers and controllers of these energies, and this of course includes Kali. Thus, there is Kali-yuga, the age, and also Kali the personification of it, an embodied being who controls its influence.

The idea that someone could attack a cow and a bull sounded inconceivable to the sages, and they were further puzzled by the fact that Maharaja Pariksit just punished the culprit, instead of immediately putting him to death, as would be expected in such a serious crime. This is yet another example of the difference in values. Nowadays the situation is so hellish that most people see cow killing as normal, while just a few thousand years ago this sounded absolutely inconceivable.