This is the recording of the first session, where we discussed how the Srimad Bhagavatam is the conclusion of the Vedas.
Only two books are needed
Srila Prabhupada and other Vaishnava acaryas before him put great emphasis on the study of the Srimad Bhagavatam as an essential part of our spiritual practice. On his purport to SB 1.3.43, for example, Srila Prabhupada wrote:
“Both the Bhagavad-gītā and the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are like torchbearers for the blind people of this age. In other words, if men in this age of Kali want to see the real light of life, they must take to these two books only, and their aim of life will be fulfilled. Bhagavad-gītā is the preliminary study of the Bhāgavatam. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the summum bonum of life, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa personified. We must therefore accept Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as the direct representation of Lord Kṛṣṇa. One who can see Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam can see also Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa in person. They are identical.”
Even if one doesn’t have time to study any other book, it’s said that one can attain perfection just by studying Srimad Bhagavatam. Srila Vyasadeva himself argues (on SB 1.1.2): śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-kṛte kiṁ vā parair īśvaraḥ, This beautiful Bhāgavatam is sufficient in itself for God realization. What is the need of any other scripture?
The words “kiṁ vā parair” mean, literally, “What is the need for any other scripture?” This comes directly from the person who compiled the Vedas and understood their meaning better than anyone else.
Finding perfect knowledge
To understand why the Srimad Bhagavatam is so important, it’s useful to understand a little about two other books: The Vedanta Sutra, by Vyasadeva, and the Tattva-Sandarbha, by Srila Jiva Goswami.
In his Tattva-Sandarbha, Srila Jiva Goswami makes a long analysis of the process by which we can obtain perfect knowledge. Nowadays of course it’s easy since we have the books from Srila Prabhupada, but it used to be harder.
The soul is originally not part of the material world. There is another reality, which is spiritual and transcendental, and the soul is originally part of this eternal spiritual reality. The original identity of the soul is an eternal servant of Krsna.
Somehow, due to free will, this pure soul at some point leaves this original position and comes to the material world, where he tries to enjoy the material nature and become an imitation ruler. The original ruler of everything is Krsna, but in this material world, we have some space to become smaller rulers, taking charge of a small family, a business, or even a city or country.
However, while in this material world or original, perfect spiritual nature is covered, we assume a temporary, illusory material identity with is formed by the false ego, the intelligence, the mind, and finally the senses and the gross body. At this point, we become affected by four material defects.
The first defect is to commit mistakes. None of us can say that we never make mistakes, to err is human. This applies not just to us, but all conditioned souls. Even great demigods such as Indra and Brahma commit mistakes.
The second defect is to be illusioned. Illusion means to accept something that is not. This is called māyā. We accept the body as our self and work so hard to maintain it. We become conditioned by the idea of belonging to a certain country or a certain group, being part of a certain family, and so on. This all happens under the influence of illusion since all these identifications are temporary and connected with the body.
The third defect is that we have the propensity to cheat others to get what we want. Many false gurus come from India to the West to teach some adulterated philosophy. They attract the public and then use people to fulfill their interests. Politicians and others also do this all the time, and this can happen on a smaller scale even inside families. Cheating and manipulation are unfortunately very common in this world. Therefore, even if a person is sincere in finding the truth, there is no guarantee that he will find it, due to all these cheaters on the way.
Finally, there is the fourth defect, the fact that our senses are imperfect. This includes also our material intelligence. In this way, not only the tools we use to get knowledge (our eyes, ears, and so on) are imperfect, but the tools we use to process this information (our intelligence) are also flawed. In this way, get get some limited information using our eyes and ears and use our limited intelligence to process it, and in this way try to understand reality. However, our understanding of reality will be always incomplete and incorrect.
This affects not only regular people but also philosophers, scientists, and even great demigods such as Indra and Brahma. When Krsna appeared in Vrindavana, 5000 years ago Brahma mistook Him for a regular boy and decided to test Him by stealing his friends and calves. One year later, when he returned to see the result of his prank, he saw that Krsna had just expanded himself into many forms, assuming the forms of all his friends and calves, and was in this way still paying in the same way as before. To the surprise of Brahma, each one of these expansions was shown to be a Vishnu expansion, complete with His own universe, including His own Brahma, Shiva, and other demigods and living entities. Brahma thought he was the only Brahma and that there was only one Lord Vishnu, but he saw that not only there were many forms of Vishnu, but also multiple universes and multiple Lord Brahmas and that they were all subordinate to Krsna!
Considering that we have all these defects, what is the hope for us to get perfect knowledge?
Since all conditioned souls living inside this material universe have these four defects, it’s not possible for anyone to produce perfect knowledge. Perfect knowledge needs to be imported from outside. Only Krsna Himself, or his pure devotees coming from the spiritual world can transmit this pure, perfect knowledge.
This brings us to the Vedas. The Vedas are considered perfect knowledge, originally transmitted directly from Krsna to Lord Brahma. In the Bhagavad-Gita (15.15), Krsna says that “By all the Vedas, I am to be known. Indeed, I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.
This is not an exaggeration. Krsna is the one who originally transmitted the Vedic knowledge, and he also came as Vyasadeva to compile the Vedic knowledge when it was almost lost at the end of the past Dwapara-Yuga. Krsna also spoke the Bhagavad-Gita to Arjuna, starting a new line of disciplic succession for this important book, since the previous one had beem lost.
However, even when we study the Vedas, it’s not easy to find clear answers. The Rig, Yajur, and Sama Vedas deal mainly with auspicious rituals and fruitive activities that one can use to attain material prosperity and promotion to higher planets after death. l while a great part of the Atharva deals with material sciences, like medicine and psychology. Only a small portion of the verses speak directly about self-realization.
In fact, there are many philosophies based on the Vedas that are atheistic.
In His purport to SB 1.1.7, Srila Prabhupada explains that:
“Besides Vyāsadeva, there are other sages who are the authors of six different philosophical systems, namely Gautama, Kaṇāda, Kapila, Patañjali, Jaimini and Aṣṭāvakra. Theism is explained completely in the Vedānta-sūtra, whereas in other systems of philosophical speculations, practically no mention is given to the ultimate cause of all causes. One can sit on the vyāsāsana only after being conversant in all systems of philosophy so that one can present fully the theistic views of the Bhāgavatam in defiance of all other systems.”
The six philosophical systems that Srila Prabhupada mentions here are:
1- The Nyāya system, by Gautama Ṛṣi,
2- The Vaisesika system, by Kaṇāda Ṛṣi,
3- The philosophy of Sāṅkhya, by the atheistic Kapila,
4- The system of mystic yoga, by Patañjali,
5- The philosophy of Karma-mīmāṁsā, by Jaimini,
6- The philosophy of impersonalism, propounded by Aṣṭāvakra and later Sankaracarya.
Different philosophies that come from India can be divided into two groups: astika (philosophies that follow the Vedas) and nastika (philosophies that reject the Vedas). Different from nastika philosophies like Buddhism, Jainism, and the atheistic empiricism of the followers of Charvaka (philosophies that reject the Vedas), the sad-darshanas, or the six systems of philosophy mentioned here by Srila Prabhupada are considered astika philosophies because they all accept the Vedas as authoritative. However, all these six systems are fundamentally atheistic, studying different aspects of the material nature separately from the Supreme Lord. Logic, meditation, and so on are part of our spiritual studies and practice, but when disconnected from Krsna they become just materialistic philosophies that have little purpose in bringing one back to Godhead.
What do these six schools teach?
1- The Nyaya system deals with reasoning and logic, setting up rules of philosophical debate, identifying subjects for discussion, etc. The main concern is in establishing the conditions for obtaining correct knowledge, and the means of receiving knowledge, analyzing the nature and source of different types of knowledge to determine their validity or non-validity, and so on. Logic has a very important role in the study of the Vedanta Sutra, for example, since it is full of logical arguments that lead us to a conclusive understanding of the Upanisads. However, when taken separately, logic becomes just a tool for debating and exerting one’s ego.
2- The Vaisesika system, propounded by philosophers like Gautama and Kaṇāda, studies the material world in great detail, determining its causes and effects in order to destroy material suffering. They conclude that ignorance is the root cause of all misery, and believe that one can attain liberation only by cultivating the right understanding of reality. The main focus in this school is on studying the cause and effects of the material creation, and especially the material elements. Their conclusion, however, is that the atomic combination of material elements is the original cause of creation. This theory, called Paramāṇuvāda, is similar to what is believed by modern physicists.
3- The Sāṅkhya system is an analytic study of the material elements. Although it bears the same name as the ancient system introduced by Lord Kapila the son of Devahuti (narrated in the 3rd canto of Srimad Bhagavatam), which has existed since the beginning of the current day of Brahma, the modern system was propounded by another Kapila. While the original Sāṅkhya system taught by Lord Kapila studies the material elements with the ultimate purpose of ascending to a platform of devotional service, the system propounded by the atheistic Kapila discards the existence of God and concludes that since the material world is ultimately illusory, the causes of this material manifestation are also illusory, and thus the ultimate goal is a form of voidism.
4- The process of mystic yoga, is offered in the Vedas as a bonafide process of self-realization. Krsna himself describes the system of asthanga-yoga in the Bhagavad-Gita. Originally, yoga means to link our consciousness with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, reviving our original spiritual identity. The system that is counted amongst the six philosophical systems is the patanjala-yoga, propounded by Patañjali in his Patanjala-yoga-sutra. This system is focused on examining the nature of the mind, its workings, the impediments it creates, the causes of material suffering, and so on. The ultimate goal in this system is kaivalya, or impersonal liberation.
5- The system of Karma-mīmāṁsā was propounded by a sage called Jaimini. This is a philosophical school that stresses fruitive activities. For them, the results of one’s material activities are supreme, and if there is a God, he is nothing more than an order supplier, who just delivers the results of one’s karma. According to this system, there is no need to become a devotee of the Lord. One should just follow moral principles and perform pious activities, and thus be happy in this world by receiving the results of his good karma.
6- The last system is the interpretation of the Vedanta propounded by impersonalists such as Aṣṭāvakra and more recently by Śaṅkarācārya. They reject the idea of the Absolute truth being ultimately a person and accept the impersonal Brahman effulgence as the cause of everything. According to their theory, the material manifestation is temporary and unreal, and only the Brahman effulgence is reality. Just like in the patanjala-yoga system, their ultimate goal is impersonal liberation, merging into the light of the Brahmajoti. The most dangerous concept in this philosophy is the theory that when God comes to this word as an incarnation, He accepts a material body created by the three modes of material nature. This idea that Maya is greater than God made their philosophy known as “Mayavada”. Lord Caitanya Condemned this philosophy as most offensive. The Bhagavad-Gita also states that when the Personality of Godhead descends in a human form, fools and rascals deride Him.
Apart from these six, there is the philosophy of Brahma-mīmāṁsā, or Vedānta, propounded by Srila Vyasadeva, which brings the ultimate conclusion of the absolute truth. Sometimes the Vedanta philosophy is counted among the six systems, this depends on whether you count it together with the impersonalism of Aṣṭāvakra, or separately.
In this way, Vyasadeva appears at the end of Dwapara-yuga to restore the correct understanding of the Vedas, which at the time had beem covered by these different atheistic philosophies.
From this, we can see that even when one has access to the knowledge of the Vedas, it’s not so easy to find the truth, since the knowledge from the Vedas can be easily misinterpreted.
That’s one of the reasons Vyasadeva compiled the Upanisads and later the Vedanta Sutra, making this spiritual knowledge more evident. However, the Puranas offer spiritual knowledge in a format that is easier to understand and thus they are recommended for the people of our age. In this way, the Puranas are the most direct path back to Godhead.
In his Tattva Sandarbha (13.1), Srila Jiva Goswami explains that the Puranas were originally spoken as a single scripture that contains one billion verses. This original Purana is still recited and studied on the celestial planets, where the demigods have access to many other Vedic texts that are not known on our planet.
“Therefore the Prabhasa-khanda of the Skanda Purana states, “Long ago, Lord Brahma, the grandfather of the demigods, performed severe penances, and as a result the Vedas appeared, along with their six supplements and their pada and krama texts. Then the entire Purana emanated from his mouth. Composed of eternal sound and consisting of one billion verses, it is the unchanging, sacred embodiment of all scriptures.” (TS 13.1)
Understanding that it would be impossible for the people of day and age to study such an extensive text, Srila Vyasadeva compiled the 18 Puranas with selected passages from this original book. Together they contain about 400,000 verses, about 0.04% of the total.
Of the 18 Puranas, six of them contain instructions for people in the mode of ignorance, six for people in the mode of passion, and six for people in the mode of goodness. This explains why some of the Puranas prescribe fruitive activities or the worship of demigods such as Shiva and Surya. They just offer processes of worship that are appropriate according to the public they are destined to. Because they give instructions to different types of people, some passages may look contradictory (in one place it may be said to not worship demigods, and in another to worship Shiva or Surya, for example), but when one one understands the purpose of these different Puranas, everything becomes clear.
Srila Prabhupada mentions that “In other Purāṇas there are different methods set forth by which one can worship the demigods. But in the Bhāgavatam only the Supreme Lord is mentioned. The Supreme Lord is the total body, and the demigods are the different parts of that body. Consequently, by worshiping the Supreme Lord, one does not need to worship the demigods. The Supreme Lord becomes fixed in the heart of the devotee immediately.” (SB 1.1.2)
In this way, if we are interested in learning about Krsna, even the 400,000 verses of the Puranas are not necessary. Just by studying the 18,000 verses of the Srimad Bhagavatam, we have access to the cream of the cream, focussing only on the most relevant passages. The conclusion of Srila Jiva Goswami is thus that we can get everything by just studying the Srimad Bhagavatam.
The conclusion of the Vedas
Another book that is related to the Srimad Bhagavatam is the Vedanta Sutra.
The Vedanta Sutra was compiled by Vyasadeva as the conclusion of the Vedas. Vyasadeva compiled the most important parts of the original Vedas in the form of the Upanisads, short books that bring the ultimate conclusions of the Vedas. The Vedanta Sutra is a book that offers the ultimate conclusions of the Upanisads and clears many common misconceptions. The Vedanta Sutra brings thus the ultimate philosophical conclusions of the Vedas in an extremely compact form, being composed of about 555 sutras.
The Vedanta Sutra starts with the Sutra “athāto brahma-jijñāsā”, Now it’s time to enquire about Brahman.
This is an invitation to properly use our human form of life to try to understand Krsna, the absolute truth, and thus become free of the cycle of birth and death.
It continues with the Sutra “janmādy asya yataḥ”, which starts describing the Absolute Truth by stating that: From Him, everything emanates.
How can we understand this Brahman or the Supreme Absolute truth? This is explained in the third Sutra: “śāstra-yonitvāt”. He can be known through the sastras.
The Sastras offer different arguments and many of them appear to be contradictory. Somewhere it’s said that Vishnu is God, somewhere else that Shiva or another demigod is Supreme. How can we understand all these apparent contradictions?
This is answered in the 4th sutra: “tat tu samanvayāt”.
He is understood by harmonizing the different statements from the sastras.
In other words, we can’t take just one isolated passage as the answer for anything. All passages must be taken inside the context and examined as a single unit if we want to arrive at the right conclusions.
In this way, the Vedanta Sutra offers a series of conclusions about the Absolute Truth in short, concise aphorisms that need to be very attentively studied.
Usually, people think that the Vedanta Sutra supports the idea that God is impersonal, because of the Sariraka-Bhasya, the interpretation of Sankaracarya, which became very popular, but that’s not the case. Sankaracarya intentionally covered the real meaning of the Vedanta Sutra with an imaginary interpretation because he had the mission of attracting people from Buddhism back to the Vedas.
The story is that with the beginning of Kali-Yuga people gradually forgot the purpose of the Vedas, and started using passages of the scriptures to justify their sinful activities. People became used to eating meat and started justifying the unrestricted killing of animals using passages from the Vedas that speak about animal sacrifices. At this point, Krsna incarnated as Lord Buddha to teach non-violence. He was successful in His mission, but in the process, He had to reject the Vedas, since people insisted on the animal killing using the Vedas as support.
As mentioned in the Padma Purana, Sankaracarya is actually an incarnation of Lord Shiva. He came with the mission of re-establishing the authority of the Vedas. For this purpose, he created a philosophy similar to Buddhism, that sounded familiar and attractive to people at the time but that was based on the Vedas, especially the Vedanta Sutra. In this way, he brought India back to the Vedas and paved the way for other acaryas, like Madhvacharya, Ramanujacarya, and others to gradually establish the correct interpretation of the Vedas. This led to a long succession of powerful acaryas, culminating with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Each brought a part of the ultimate conclusion, leading to the Achintya Bheda Abheda Tattva philosophy of Mahaprabhu, which brought the ultimate conclusion of the Vedas.
However, the conclusion that God is a person, Krsna, is clear in the Vedanta Sutra itself. We don’t need to go very far. To illustrate that, I will tell you a small story.
Once, a group of Mayavadis connected with an important university in India challenged Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura for a debate on the Vedas. Mayavadis are well known for having an impersonal interpretation of the sastras, defending that the absolute truth is ultimately impersonal, and all forms and variety exist only under the influence of Maya, or illusion. Even the incarnations of Lord Vishnu and different avatars are interpreted by the Mayavadis as accepting material bodies and performing their activities under the influence of the three modes. In other words, even when the Supreme Brahman appears in this world, He does it under the influence of Maya. That’s why we call them Mayavadis because their philosophy incorrectly concludes that Maya is greater than God.
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura on the other hand was famous for teaching the theistic Vaishnava interpretation of the sastras, which is based chiefly on the Srimad Bhagavatam. When challenged by this group he nonchalantly answered that he was ready to debate with them. They had just to set a date and time.
The Mayavadis took weeks to answer. Instead of offering a time for the debate, they composed another message, telling him that he could not use verses from the Srimad Bhagavatam and other Puranas. The Srimad Bhagavatam is the natural interpretation of the Vedanta Sutra, written by Srila Vyasadeva himself, but Mayavadis don’t accept it very well because it’s very difficult for them to maintain their indirect interpretation when confronted with it. Right in the first verse of the Srimad Bhagavatam, Srila Vyasadeva completely dismounts the Mayavada fallacy by defining Brahman as the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna, who has not only a personal form but is also full of opulences and performs transcendental activities.
Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura again nonchalantly answered that he would be ready to debate at any time. If the Mayavadis objected to the use of the Puranas they could debate based on other books. Apparently, the Mayavadis were a little concerned about their capacity to defeat him even after imposing these artificial limitations, since they again took a long time to set a date for the debate. Finally, they sent him a third message, saying that after careful deliberation they concluded that the debate would be conducted exclusively on the aphorisms of the Vedanta Sutra. No verses from the Upanishads, Mahabharata, or any other books could be quoted. Again, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura answered he was ready to debate with them at any time.
Normally, Vaishanavas and other classes of theistic philosophers contest the Mayavada philosophy by using verses from different sastras that emphasize the personal aspect of God. Although God has also an impersonal aspect, the personal aspect prevails, and there are many verses directly attesting to this. In the Bhagavad-Gita, for example, Krsna directly says that He is the source or basis of the impersonal Brahman (brahmano hi pratisthaham, BG 14.27). The Vedanta Sutra however speaks about God in an indirect way, referring to Him as the Supreme Brahman, which has no material qualities. Mayavadis usually hold very well to their philosophy when using the Vedanta Sutra, but Srila Bhaktisiddhanta was confident that he could defeat them using their own book. How is it even possible?
The truth is that when the direct meaning of the verses is accepted, it becomes clear that the Vedanta Sutra doesn’t at all support the Mayavada interpretation. The verses speak about a personal, conscious God, who can be approached through the practice of devotional service. Sankaracarya had to go to great lengths in his commentary of the Vedanta Sutra to sustain his ideas, by using an indirect and contradictory interpretation.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was able to easily defeat the greatest logicians of His time by just offering a direct and logical interpretation of the Vedanta Sutra, and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was confident he could do the same. The Mayavadis however were not so sure of their philosophical strength, since they retracted their invitation, indirectly admitting defeat before the debate even began.
If you are curious about how it’s possible to defeat Mayavada Philosophy using the aphorisms of the Vedanta Sutra itself, I will give a small demonstration at the end of this presentation, so if you are curious, you have to follow until the end 🙂
After his debate with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Prakasananda Sarasvati, one of the greatest Mayavadis of his time was forced to admit that: “Whatever You have said concerning discrepancies in the Māyāvāda philosophy is also known by us. Indeed, we know that all the commentaries on Vedic scriptures by Māyāvādī philosophers are erroneous, especially those of Śaṅkarācārya. Śaṅkarācārya’s interpretations of the Vedānta-sūtra are all figments of his imagination. You have not explained the aphorisms of the Vedānta-sūtra and verses of the Upaniṣads according to Your imagination but have presented them as they are. Thus we are all pleased to have heard Your explanation.”
Later he added: “We have given up the actual path of spiritual realization. We simply engage in nonsensical talk. Māyāvādī philosophers who are serious about attaining benediction should engage in the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa, but instead, they take pleasure in useless argument only. We hereby admit that the explanation of Śaṅkarācārya hides the actual import of Vedic literature. Only the explanation given by Caitanya is acceptable. All other interpretations are useless.”
Directly speaking about Krsna
This brings us back to the Srimad Bhagavatam.
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.
The Srimad Bhagavatam is the authorized commentary on the Vedanta Sutra and is thus the ultimate conclusion of the Vedas. The philosophy of the Srimad Bhagavatam was then explained by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who made the ultimate conclusion of the text even more clear.
Srila Prabhupada explains that the Bhagavad-Gita is the ABCD of spirtual life, the Srimad Bhagavatam is the graduation, and the Caitanya Caritamrta is the post-graduation. We often think that the Caitanya Caritamrta is a book of pastimes, but if we read attentively the whole text, including all the purports we can see that it is extremely deep and has many philosophical details that are hard to understand. This is so because Srila Prabhupada wrote it for post-graduate students. The idea is that after studying the Srimad Bhagavatam we can deepen our spiritual realization by then studying the Caitanya Caritamrta.
On SB 1.1.7 purport, for example, Srila Prabhupada mentions: “Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is a natural commentation on the Brahma-sūtra, or the Bādarāyaṇi Vedānta-sūtras. It is called natural because Vyāsadeva is author of both the Vedānta-sūtras and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, or the essence of all Vedic literatures.”
The connection between the Srimad Bhagavatam and the Vedanta Sutra becomes evident right in the first verse. The second aphorism of the Vedanta Sutra is “janmādy asya yataḥ”, and this is the beginning of the first verse of the Srimad Bhagavatam:
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
janmādy asya yato ’nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ svarāṭ
tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ
tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ yathā vinimayo yatra tri-sargo ’mṛṣā
dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakaṁ satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi
This verse follows the same long metric we use to chant the Sad-Goswamin-Astaka. It’s good to try to learn these metrics because using the correct metrics makes pronouncing the verses much easier. Learning to pronounce Sanskrit verses it’s not hard, it just requires learning the pronunciation of the different syllables and the metrics (rhythms) we can use in different verses according to their length.
So, the second verse of the Vedanta Sutra is the beginning of the first verse of the Srimad Bhagavatam, and both explain the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The difference is that the Vedanta Sutra is vague, while the Srimad Bhagavatam directly explains the nature of the Absolute Truth in detail right at the start.
Vedanta Sutra (1.1.1 to 1.1.8):
“Now it’s time to enquire about Brahman. He is the one from Whom everything emanates and can be known through the sastras by the harmony of different statements. Brahman is not inexpressible in words. Even if described in words, He doesn’t become covered by the material modes, because Brahman is non-material and existed before the material modes were created. One who concentrates on Him attains liberation. This is proven by the absence of contrary statements in the sastras.”
Srimad Bhagavatam (1.1.1):
“O my Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, son of Vasudeva, O all-pervading Personality of Godhead, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. I meditate upon Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa because He is the Absolute Truth and the primeval cause of all causes of the creation, sustenance and destruction of the manifested universes. He is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations, and He is independent because there is no other cause beyond Him. It is He only who first imparted the Vedic knowledge unto the heart of Brahmājī, the original living being. By Him even the great sages and demigods are placed into illusion, as one is bewildered by the illusory representations of water seen in fire, or land seen on water. Only because of Him do the material universes, temporarily manifested by the reactions of the three modes of nature, appear factual, although they are unreal. I therefore meditate upon Him, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is eternally existent in the transcendental abode, which is forever free from the illusory representations of the material world. I meditate upon Him, for He is the Absolute Truth.”
This first verse of the Srimad Bhagavatam has unlimited meaning. Once, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura gave a seminar of 30 days based on a single verse of the Srimad Bhagavatam and said that if he would explain each verse in detail, it would take a similar time to explain each verse.
However, in order to not make this presentation too long, I will just focus on some of the main points. Later you may come back to this first verse and see how the more we understand the Srimad Bhagavatam, the more we can appreciate this first verse and the more meaning we can see in it.
Vyasadeva starts the verse with the sentence “oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya”, making it clear that the verse speaks about the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and not about some impersonal energy or light. He uses the same sentence in the Bhagavad-Gita when Krsna speaks, and this also indicates that Sri Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Next, he explains that Krsna, is the cause of all causes. Everything that exists has a cause. The cause of my birth is my father, and the cause of his birth is my grandfather. The cause of a car is the company that produced it, and so on. However, if we trace the origin of each one of these causes, eventually we will come to Krsna, the original cause of everything else.
Because everything that exists comes from Krsna’s different energies, everything that exists is part of His transcendental body. In this way, Krsna is aware of everything that exists and everything that happens. As the Supersoul, he is inside the hearts of everyone, and even inside the atoms. However, at the same time, He is completely independent and is completely free to act in the way He desires. Krsna is also the origin of all knowledge. This transcendental knowledge is transmitted to Brahma at the start of the creation and from Him, this knowledge gradually spreads through the universe.
Vyasadeva also mentions that Krsna is the controller of the illusory energy. Originally we are all His eternal servants, but when we somehow reject this position and desire to become masters of this material world, we are put under the care of the illusory energy. The spiritual potency, including the spiritual planets, is real, while the material potency, that gives origin to the material universes is temporary and illusory, just like a dream or a mirage in the desert. A dream is not false, but it is illusory. One may dream that he is Napoleon and is marching through Europe, but in reality, he never left his bed. In another example, a mirage just appears to be water, real water is somewhere else. In the same way, the happiness we find in this material world is just illusory. Real happiness is outside of it.
Two important words in this verse are abhijñaḥ and svarāṭ. These two words describe the nature of the Supreme Lord. Abhijñaḥ means fully cognizant (who knows everything) and svarāṭ means fully independent. No other living entity is either abhijñaḥ or svarāṭ. No one is either fully cognizant or fully independent. Even Brahmā has to meditate on the Supreme Lord in order to be able to create the universe. This means the Lord is the source of his powers, as well as the powers of all other demigods and powerful living beings.
The word “dhīmahi” also connects the Srimad Bhagavatam with the Gayatri mantra, revealing not only the ultimate purpose of the Bhagavatam but of the Gayatri Mantra itself. The word dhīmahi (we meditate) indicates the practice of devotional service as the ultimate goal of life, fixing our attention on the Supreme Personality of Godhead and thus reconnecting with our original nature as eternal servants of Krsna. Vāsudevāya indicates that he directly addresses Krsna, the son of Vasudeva as the Supreme Person. According to him, Kṛṣṇa is the original Personality of Godhead, and all other forms and incarnations are His direct or indirect plenary portions or portions of the portion.
As we discussed previously, the Puranas are divided according to the modes of material nature. Some are directed to people in darkness, some to people in passion, and some to people in the mode of goodness. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, however, describes the Srimad Bhagavatam as the spotless Purāṇa because it contains the transcendental narration of the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, without contamination of anything else. This becomes clear in the second verse:
dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ’tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ
vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu śivadaṁ tāpa-trayonmūlanam
śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-kṛte kiṁ vā parair īśvaraḥ
sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate ’tra kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt
“Completely rejecting all religious activities which are materially motivated, this Bhāgavata Purāṇa propounds the highest truth, which is understandable by those devotees who are fully pure in heart. The highest truth is reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all. Such truth uproots the threefold miseries. This beautiful Bhāgavatam, compiled by the great sage Vyāsadeva [in his maturity], is sufficient in itself for God realization. What is the need of any other scripture? As soon as one attentively and submissively hears the message of Bhāgavatam, by this culture of knowledge the Supreme Lord is established within his heart.”
Most people are just interested in material happiness. They see money, a big house, an expensive car, social status, and so on as sources of happiness and thus they desire these things. When these materialistic people turn to religion, they look for a system of worship that brings material results, that they can use to increase their material opulence and status, be it later in this life or the next. That’s why more than 90% of the verses in the Vedas are dedicated to describing fruitive activities and ceremonies for bringing material results, which is collectively classified as Karma-Kanda. This includes the worship of demigods and so on.
These materialistic systems of religion are based on four principles: religiosity, economic development, sense gratification, and liberation. By becoming religious one becomes pious, and gradually his economic situation improves. This in turn allows him to enjoy life, and after many lives, when he becomes frustrated with such material enjoyment, he may look for impersonal liberation as a means of becoming free of the inconveniences of material life.
The Srimad Bhagavatam, however, rejects all these materialistic systems of religion, including even the ones based on the Karma-Kanda sections of the Vedas.
Dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ’tra: All religiosity that is materially motivated is rejected herein. Instead, it speaks about the highest truth, which is understandable by those devotees who are fully pure in heart.
We may then question how we can understand the Srimad Bhagavatam if we are not completely pure yet. This is answered a little later, on SB 1.2.18, a verse that reveals an important blessing:
naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu
nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā
bhagavaty uttama-śloke
bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī
“By regular attendance in classes on the Bhāgavatam and by rendering of service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed, and loving service unto the Personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact.”
By regularly studying the Srimad Bhagavatam and doing some service to advanced devotees, most of the contaminations in our hearts are destroyed. This by itself allows us to attain the level of purity that is necessary for successfully understanding the Srimad Bhagavatam and attain the fruit of such study, which is love of Godhead.
This leads us to the third verse, which is pronounced with a different metric from the first two:
nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalaṁ
śuka-mukhād amṛta-drava-saṁyutam
pibata bhāgavataṁ rasam ālayam
muhur aho rasikā bhuvi bhāvukāḥ
“O expert and thoughtful men, relish Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the mature fruit of the desire tree of Vedic literatures. It emanated from the lips of Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Therefore this fruit has become even more tasteful, although its nectarean juice was already relishable for all, including liberated souls.”
With this, Srila Vyasadeva concludes his short preface to the Srimad Bhagavatam. Different from the rest of the text, which is composed of verses recited by Saunaki Rsi, Suta Goswami, Sukadeva Goswami, and other greater personalities, these first verses were directly spoken by Srila Vyasadeva Himself. In the next two verses (1.1.4 and 1.1.5) Vyasadeva quickly describes the scenario and then begins the description of the talks of the sages in the forest of Naimisharanya.