Suta Goswami had many special characteristics that made him qualified to speak the Srimad Bhagavatam. We may never become so qualified as him, but by hearing about his characteristics we can learn how to improve in our own spiritual practice.

He is described as:

• Free from all vice.
• Well-versed in all the scriptures, having studied and explained them many times.
• The most senior learned Vedāntist.
• Acquainted with the knowledge of Vyāsadeva, blessed by Balarama and his spiritual masters.
• Became qualified by submissively hearing from his spiritual masters.

“The sages said: Respected Sūta Gosvāmī, you are completely free from all vice. You are well versed in all the scriptures famous for religious life, and in the Purāṇas and the histories as well, for you have gone through them under proper guidance and have also explained them. Being the eldest learned Vedāntist, O Sūta Gosvāmī, you are acquainted with the knowledge of Vyāsadeva, who is the incarnation of Godhead, and you also know other sages who are fully versed in all kinds of physical and metaphysical knowledge. And because you are submissive, your spiritual masters have endowed you with all the favors bestowed upon a gentle disciple. Therefore you can tell us all that you have scientifically learned from them.” (SB 1.1.6-8)

In his purport, Srila Prabhupada emphasized the importance of hearing the scriptures from advanced devotees. Although reading is essential, hearing has a special quality:

Once, a long time ago, a dispute emerged in a certain temple. Book distributors started claiming that their service was the most important, while the pujaris tried to defend themselves by maintaining that deity worship was also important. When Prabhupada came to visit, one of the book distributors tried to settle the dispute by raising his hand during a class and asking Prabhupada: What is the thing we can do that is the most pleasing to you?

He expected that Prabhupada would answer that book distribution was the most pleasing activity, but instead, Prabhupada shocked everyone by saying:

“That you become Krsna conscious”.

This was an answer that tells a lot about the mentality of a qualified spiritual leader.

In the material world, it’s very difficult to find love, or anything close to it. Everywhere people get into relationships out of interest and are quick to separate when their personal purposes are not fulfilled. People are valued only according to their capacity to fulfill certain roles. A husband loves his wife only to the extent she can fulfill whatever ideas he has about family life, and the same goes for the wife. The same applies to all levels of relationships. People are treated like computer chips and appreciated only according to their specs and capacity to fit into certain roles and perform certain functions. The ones who don’t fit are summarily rejected.

Srila Prabhupada mentioned that everything is inside his books. These are not just empty words, but the truth.

After compiling the four Vedas, Vyasadeva compiled the 108 Upanisads, making the spiritual knowledge contained in the Vedas more evident, culminating in the Vedanta Sutra, which brings forth the conclusions of the Upanisads. In the process, he also compiled the 18 Puranas, the Mahabharata, and other books.

Because the real meaning of the Vedanta Sutra is so difficult to understand, Srila Vyasadeva was instructed by his guru, Narada Muni to compile another book that would directly speak about the glories of devotional service and the pastimes of Krsna, making the real meaning of the Vedanta Sutra easily available.

By the time He received this instruction, Vyasadeva had already compiled the original Bhagavata Purana, as part of the 18 original Puranas, but having received this instruction he had the inspiration to rewrite the book as the Srimad Bhagavatam we have access to today. In this process, he received the help of two other great sages: His son, Sukadeva Goswami, and the son of Romaharshana, Suta Goswami, who added their realizations to the book, making it even sweeter than originally. The Srimad Bhagavatam was originally taught by Srila Vyasadeva to Sukadeva Goswami, who added His own realization while describing it to Maharaja Pariksit. This narration was later expanded by Srila Suta Goswami, resulting in the final text. This, in turn, was commented on by different Vaishnava acaryas, culminating with Srila Prabhupada, who compiled all this knowledge accumulated over thousands of years in his purports, adding his own realization in the process. This Srimad Bhagavatam we have access to is thus the fruit of the combined effort of all these powerful personalities.

Every soul in his pure state has three natural characteristics: eternity, knowledge, and bliss. These are three things we always hanker for when we are in this material world, but unfortunately, here they are in short supply. We want to be eternal, but we live for just a few years at a time. We want knowledge, but more often than not we become frustrated in our efforts. Similarly, everyone is looking for happiness, but it is constantly eluding us.

We look for happiness in different places, the desire is always there. Even self-destructive habits such as addiction come from a desire to find some kind of satisfaction, it’s just that a person looks for it in the wrong place.

People find small things that give them a little bit of happiness or at least some respite from the struggle of modern life. For some, it can be certain foods, for others certain experiences, such as traveling or meeting with friends. Others may find some satisfaction in alcohol or other things, while others may find pleasure in buying things. We have the idea that we do all these things for “ourselves”, but we may fail to consider who “ourselves” are.

Many trust Vedic astrology for important decisions in their lives. Many even take astrology as the main guide for choosing a spouse. Astrology is a Vedic art, and thus it is supposed to be scientific and effective, but that’s not what we frequently observe in practice.

If you look at many temple libraries nowadays, you will see a book called “How to Mess Up Your Life with Astrology”, which was written by a devotee lady who has great experience working as an astrologer. Being experienced in the field, she can naturally write about its shortcomings, and that’s what the book is about, a candid picture of many of the problems that plague the astrological field nowadays.

How can a Vedic science such as astrology be plagued with so many problems, to the point of seriously messing up people’s lives?

A problem that may appear in different circumstances and become a serious stumbling block for the spread of Krsna Consciousness are sects and cults. Of course, Srila Prabhupada uses both words on occasion in the sense of “group” or the practice of a process, but here I’m using it in the negative sense.

Real Krsna Consciousness is non-sectarian, it has to do with the original nature of the soul and his relationship with Krsna. In the Jaiva Dharma of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, we see different examples of Vaishnavas from different ways of life, including even “Muslins” from the family of Chand Kazi who became pure Vaishnavas, despite externally still maintaining their Muslin dresses and social connections. Although Vedic culture is considered the most favorable, Krsna Consciousness does not depend on one changing their external dress or environment. As explained in the Bhagavad-Gita, it is more about internal transformation than external symbols. When properly understood, Krsna Consciousness can be spread unlimitedly to members of all cultures and ways of life.

Sects on the other hand are based on externals. Members are supposed to follow a rigid dress code, eat certain foods, talk in a certain way, share the same opinions, and follow without questioning a certain charismatic leader. Members of sects are tightly controlled and anyone who leaves or deviates from the group’s standards of conduct or opinions is ostracized. Sects can be based on conspiracy theories, religious ideas, fictional books, or even movies. There are many sects and cults in recorded history that did not end well, like the “Heaven’s Gate” and other examples.

One of the topics discussed in the Srimad Bhagavatam is the topic of primary and secondary creations. This may sound quite complicated, especially taking into consideration that the explanations are spread through different descriptions in different cantos. How can we understand it?

The primary creation is done by Lord Maha-Vishnu, who creates everything that will exist in the numerous universes in a subtle form (like a project or an idea). Later, Brahma is inspired from the heart to give physical forms to this project, performing the secondary creation. As he himself mentions in SB 2.5.17: “Inspired by Him only, I discover what is already created by Him [Nārāyaṇa] under His vision as the all-pervading Supersoul, and I also am created by Him only.”

This happens much like most contemporary constructions and products, that exist first in a subtle form (a project) and later are manifested in a gross form when finally built. Similarly, the ideas and desires stored in our minds are the basis for the gross forms and experiences that will be experienced in our future lives.

Once, in a class, someone asked me: “Since all gurus in our movement are uttama-adhikari devotees, how can we understand when some of them fall?”

Once, in a class, someone asked me: “Since all gurus in our movement are uttama-adhikari devotees, how can we understand when some of them fall?”

This question was a little confusing. He started with a statement, saying that all gurus in our movement are pure devotees, then made another statement, saying that some of them fall, and then asked me to explain these two statements he himself made.

To me, this explains a lot about the contradictions we find in spiritual life. We make some incorrect assumptions or hear incorrect assumptions from others, and then become confused when we are confronted with a different reality. This leads to some form of cognitive dissonance that in turn makes us negate reality and refuse to acknowledge the obvious.

Believing all gurus or all authorities in our movement are completely self-realized uttama-adhikaris on the ultimate level of prema also reveals an institutionalized attitude that is not very positive. It implies that all authorities in our movement are perfect just because they are part of our movement, regardless of their personal qualities. It implies a layer of blind faith that is not very positive.

One important point we have to come to terms with in spiritual life is the simple fact that there are things that we can’t understand. Some things are just inconceivable. It’s not about how many books we study, or how many verses we memorize. Certain things simply can’t be fully understood using our material intelligence. They are inconceivable, period.

This is one of the differences between the devotee and the atheist. An atheist trusts his material intelligence and thus wants to dismiss anything that doesn’t fit into his limited framework as fantasy or mythology. Of course, in the process of trying to explain reality through his restricted intelligence, he ends up creating even more fantastic theories, such as the Big Bang or the idea of life coming spontaneously from dead matter, but atheists don’t seem to care, as long as they are not forced to accept the existence of God.

A devotee, on the other hand, can understand how Krsna is great and can appreciate His inconceivable power. No other story illustrates this more directly than the story of the Brahmana and the cobber.

Prabhupada mentions in his books that in previous times people used to marry much earlier. He mentions that in Vedic societies an age of 24 years for the boy and 16 years for the girl was considered ideal. This may be considered quite early by today’s standards but is actually quite conservative in a historical context. In most societies, people used to get married sooner than that. In most of medieval Europe, girls would be married around 13, if not earlier. This ended only in recent times, a couple of centuries ago.

Nowadays is of course more common for both ladies and men to get married much later, often in their late thirties, sometimes in their forties. This is a general tendency that has been noticeable in practically all societies, including among devotees. Good or bad that’s just how things work nowadays.

What changed compared to the traditional societies described by Srila Prabhupada? The main difference is that in these societies people would have strong role models in their mothers, fathers, and other relatives. People would grow up in families and learn by observing how to be a husband, father, wife, mother, etc. On top of that, their education would be strongly geared towards family life and moral values. As a result, a boy of twenty-four years, or a girl of sixteen would be already perfectly capable of cultivating a mature relationship. Even if there were problems, the parents were around to help to fix it.

Nowadays, however, rarely people receive a good example from their parents, and schools teach only technical knowledge. To make things worse, consumer society teaches people to remain in a permanent child-like state, just satisfying their basic instincts and seeing themselves as the center of the universe. We try to apply the same consumer mentality we have towards products and services to our relationships, and as a result, we have people in their twenties or thirties who are completely emotionally immature, and bereft of the basic tools needed to cultivate any kind of healthy relationship.

In this situation, typically, people have to learn by trial and error, usually by going through a series of failed relationships. The ones who are intelligent may be able to learn something by their thirties, but the majority reach maturity only in their forties or fifties, or not even that. Many become so scarred by all these failed relationships and beltways suffered earlier in their lives that continue having problems cultivating normal relationships up to the end.