In this part:

Mahārāja Parīkṣit cursed by Śṛṅgi, the Brāhmaṇa Boy (chapter 18)
The auspicious age of Kali
The sages want to hear more
The Bhagavatam can purify anyone
Pariksit ofends Śamīka Ṛṣi
The downfall of the Brahmana class
The determination of Pariksit Maharaja (chapter 19)
Pariksit Maharaja takes a firm vow
The meeting with the sages
The Appearance of Śukadeva Gosvāmī
A timeline of recent and future events, as described in the Srimad Bhagavatam

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Mahārāja Parīkṣit cursed by Śṛṅgi, the Brāhmaṇa Boy (chapter 18)

As long as Pariksit was on the planet, there was no chance Kali could flourish. However, at the same time, Kali-yuga is part of the universal cosmic order. The degradation of Kali-yuga creates an opportunity for the most degraded souls, who don’t have enough pious merits to take birth in other eras, to take birth and have the opportunity of receiving the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

Another factor is that Pariksit was Krsna’s pure devotee, and Krsna wanted him back. We often think that living a long life is a blessing, but this is not exactly true for a pure devotee, because a long life means staying more time in this world. Krsna allows His pure devotees to stay for some time amongst us to give us association, but this is only for a limited time. Pure devotees don’t belong to this world, and eventually, Krsna takes them back.

In this part:

Parīkṣit delays the start of Kali-yuga
Pariksit mets Kali
An introduction to Vedic cosmology
Pariksit mets Bumi and Dharma.
Punishment and Reward of Kali
Dharma in our age
Kali spared

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Parīkṣit delays the start of Kali-yuga (chapter 16)

Chronologically, the age of Kali began just after the battle of Kuruksetra, but its effects were been checked due to the presence of Krsna. As soon as Krsna left, the effects of the age of Kali manifested, which was noticed by Maharaja Yudhisthira. However, when Pariksit ascended to the throne he decided to fight with Kali, checking his influence.

In his purport, Srila Prabhupada connects the root cause of Kali-yuga with low-class men in the modes of passion and ignorance coming to power. These ignorant leaders hurt both the cows and the Brahminical culture, which are the basis of any progressive society. When the basis is destroyed, people can easily fall under the degrading influence of Kali. Pariksit Maharaja was well aware of it, therefore he wanted to cut it from the root.

In this part:

The disappearance of Krsna (The Pāṇḍavas Retire Timely)
Arjuna returns to the palace completely devastated
Krsna leaves the planet, Arjuna is defeated
Krsna leaves
Arjuna remembers the instructions of the Bhagavad-Gita
The Pandavas retire
Kali-yuga starts in force, the Golden Age

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Arjuna returns to the palace completely devastated

Arjuna is the constant companion of Krsna. Every time Krsna appears in some universe of this material world, Arjuna appears with Him. They are always together. In the Bhagavad-Gita, when Arjuna asks Krsna how could he have spoken the Bhagavad-Gita to Vivasvan, millions of years ago, Krsna answers that Arjuna was also present when this happened, but he had forgotten, while He still remembered.

In this part:

• The Birth of Parīkṣit Maharaja
• Vidhura returns and Dhṛtarāṣṭra leaves home
• How Dhrtarastra achieved liberation at the end
• The disappearance of Krsna

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The Birth of Parīkṣit Maharaja

Chapter 12 reveals more details about the birth of Maharaja Pariksit. Certainly, he was born in the most uncommon circumstances, having to face the danger of an atomic explosion while still in the womb, and having the personal darshan of the Lord, who personally appeared just to save him.

As revealed later, on SB 3.3.17, the body of Maharaja Pariksit had been burned by the Brahmastra, but it was restored by the mercy of the Lord. This is confirmed in the first verse:

“The womb of Uttarā, mother of Mahārāja Parīkṣit, was spoiled by the dreadful and invincible brahmāstra weapon released by Aśvatthāmā. But Mahārāja Parīkṣit was saved by the Supreme Lord.”

Main topics:

• The Passing Away of Bhīṣmadeva
• Description of Krsna’s glories
• Why did the Pandavas suffer if they are pure devotees?
• Bhismadeva’s last instructions
• Yudhisthira rules the kingdom and the departure of Krsna
• Kṛṣṇa’s entrance into Dvārakā
• Krsna is greeted by His queens

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The Passing Away of Bhīṣmadeva

Bhismadeva was defeated by Arjuna and Srikandi during the 10th day of the battle of Kuruksetra. Dozens of arrows transpassed his body, but he landed in such a way that the arrows supported the weight of his body, and he didn’t touch the ground. It looked like he was lying on a bed of arrows. Later, at his request, Arjuna added three arrows under his head, that served as a pillow.

Any regular person would die instantly in this situation, but because Bhismadeva had the blessing he would not die until the time he had chosen, he remained alive and conscious, even in this situation. He was waiting for an auspicious moment to leave his body.

It’s mentioned in the Bhagavad-Gita that a yogi should leave his body during the months the sun travels in the northern hemisphere, so Bhismadeva was patiently waiting for the right period to come.

In this part:

• Vyasadeva’s vision
• Atmaramas are also attracted to Srimad Bhagavatam
• Aśvatthāmā punished
• Parīkṣit saved
• Prayers of Queen Kunti

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Srila Vyasadeva’s vision

At the end of chapter 6, Narada Muni leaves after instructing Vyasadeva. Chapter 7 starts with Śaunaka Ṛṣi inquiring about what happened after that. What did he do after receiving these instructions from his spiritual master? Indirectly, Śaunaka Ṛṣi is asking how the Srimad Bhagavatam was compiled.

Suta Goswami answers by describing the meditation of Vyasadeva before starting his work in compiling the Srimad Bhagavatam. Meditating on the bank of the river Sarasvati, he was able to see the Lord along with His external energy.

The Sarasvati is a river described in the Vedic texts that is not available currently. It was a great, sacred river in the North of India, close to what is now New Delhi, that nourished several important kingdoms in Vedic times. From this description, it seems that Vyasadeva was situated in his hermitage in the Himalayas, close to the nascent of the river.

This part covers:

• More questions from the sages.
• The story of the Srimad Bhagavatam.
• Vyasadeva’s dissatisfaction.
• Why did Vyasadeva compile the Srimad Bhagavatam?
• Vedic knowledge appears and disappears on our planet.
• Appearance and disappearance of the Vedic knowledge
• The story of Narada Muni.

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Saunaka Rishi speaks

The Srimad Bhagavatam started with Saunaka Rishi asking questions to Suta Goswami. He wanted to know about the ultimate goal for all people, the essence of all scriptures, the pastimes of the Lord, and the shelter for people living in Kali-yuga. During the course of the answers of Suta Goswami, it became clear that the answer to all these questions is the same: The Srimad Bhagavatam.

Saunaka Rishi then becomes interested in hearing more and begins the 4th chapter by congratulating Suta Goswami and asking him to narrate the Srimad Bhagavatam to them.

The purport of the first verse brings us a very important piece of information about the process by which we can understand and later explain the Srimad Bhagavatam:

This session covers:

• The process of creation of the universe and the constitutional position of the soul.
• The incarnations of the Lord.
• The most important verse of the Bhagavatam and how it helps us to understand the whole text.
• Refuting the idea that Krsna is an avatar of Vishnu.

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In most of this course, we will be studying two or three chapters per lesson, as far as possible trying to cover an entire topic on each section. However, we are going slowly for now because these are foundational chapters that have a lot of important information, and more or less summarize the contents of the whole Srimad Bhagavatam.

Just like the second chapter gives a concise description of the process of devotional service, the third chapter gives us a description of the incarnations of Krsna which will be explained in more detail during the whole Srimad Bhagavatam. The third chapter also includes a special verse, the paribhasa-sutra of Srimad Bhagavatam.

The paribhasa-sutra is the verse that gives the essence of the whole book. Just like a king reigns over all subjects, the paribhasa-sutra is the verse that reigns over all other verses. All the verses of the Srimad Bhagavatam must be understood under the optics of this paribhasa-sutra if one hopes to understand the correct conclusion of the text. Since this is such an important verse, we can’t miss it!

The main topic in this third part is the description of the stages of the process of devotional service, described in the remaining verses of the second chapter.

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In the second part of the course, we studied the sex questions the sages asked Sukadeva Goswami and their answers.

The six questions were:

1- What is the ultimate good for people?
A: Loving, unmotivated, and uninterrupted devotional service to the Lord. (1.2.6)

2- What is the essence of the scriptures?
A: The process of devotional service is the essence. There is nothing superior. By practicing devotional service one develops causeless knowledge and detachment from the world. (1.2.7)
We also studied the next three verses, 1.2.8 to 1.2.10

The main topic of this second part is the six questions of the sages and their answers.

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Srimad Bhagavatam is the conclusion of the Vedas

In the first part, we discussed how we can obtain perfect knowledge, and how the Srimad Bhagavatam is the conclusion of all the Vedas. If one has time, he may gradually study all Vedic literature, starting from the four Vedas, then the Mahabharata, the Upanisads, all the Puranas, etc. However, people of our age, who have limited attention and short lives can attain perfection by just studying the Srimad Bhagavatam.

Srila Prabhupada explains that the Vedas are like a desire tree that contains all types of knowledge. Because most people are interested only in the four materialistic religious principles of dharma, artha, kama, and moksa (mundane religiosity, economic development, material sense gratification, and impersonal liberation) the Vedas explain a lot about how to achieve these things in the karma-kanda sections, the sections for materialistic people, that teach about how to obtain such material results. For people who are spiritually inclined, there are the jnana-kanda sections, that deal with spiritual knowledge, such as the Upanisads and the Vedanta Sutra, but the Srimad Bhagavatam brings the highest knowledge, directly describing the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Srimad Bhagavatam is considered thus the essence or the ripened fruit of all Vedic literature.