In the first chapter of the Srimad Bhagavatam, the sages ask six questions to Suta Goswami. These questions are not only asked for the sage’s own sake. They are concerned about the situation of people who will be living in the age of Kali, and they want to get from Suta Gaswami some knowledge that can help them find their way out of all the darkness and illusion of this age.
These six questions are asked in chapter one, and the answers are given in chapters two and three. These chapters are thus intimately connected.
The first question is asked in verse 1.1.9: What is the ultimate good for people?
The answer to this question is given in 1.2.6:
“The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.”
The Vedas explain many types of dharma, or religious duties that apply to different people according to their way of life. There are different types of dharma for Brahmanas, Ksatriyas, and so on. However, there is a type of dharma that is higher and applies to everyone: Pure devotional service to Krsna.
Other types of dharma (different duties, rules, and regulations prescribed in the scriptures) can help us to live a pious life and thus gradually advance in spiritual life, but these other types of dharma are by themselves insufficient. Only when they lead us to develop love for Krsna is their real purpose fulfilled.
Pure devotional service has two characteristics. The first is that it is unmotivated since it is practiced out of love, without expectancy of material results. The second is that it is uninterrupted since once one develops this love, he will want to continue serving Krsna without stopping. This transcendental relationship starts here and continues eternally in the spiritual world.
The second question comes on 1.1.11: What is the essence of the scriptures?
The answer is given in 1.2.7:
“By rendering devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, one immediately acquires causeless knowledge and detachment from the world.”
Although the Vedas explain many different subjects, giving different instructions to different types of people, the ultimate goal of the Vedas is to bring people to the platform of devotional service to Krsna. Everything else in the Vedas is more or less just like an excuse or enticement to gradually bring people to this ultimate conclusion.
Different from different activities offered in the Vedas, such as sacrifices, austerities, and so on are available only to certain classes of people who attain the necessary qualifications. Devotional service, on the other hand, can be practiced by everyone, without any consideration of gender, age, culture, social status, and so on. As Prabhupada mentions in his purport to this verse, bhakti is simultaneously sublime and easy. It is sublime for advanced devotees who are in direct contact with the Lord, and easy for others who are just starting. It is a science that is open to all classes of people.
To become free from material things without a positive engagement is very difficult. No one can just give up all desires and become a dead stone. The way to become free from the negative desires connected with material ambitions is to develop positive desires connected with the service to Krsna. When the desire to serve Krsna becomes sufficiently mature, the desire to engage in negative material ambitions starts to disappear. Desire continues to be present, but the quality changes from material to spiritual. Just as material desires keep us in this world, spiritual desires bring us to the spiritual world.
The third question (asked on 1.1.12) is: Why and how did Krsna appear on this planet as the son of Vasudeva and Devaki?
The answer is given on 1.2.34:
“Thus the Lord of the universes maintains all planets inhabited by demigods, men and lower animals. Assuming the roles of incarnations, He performs pastimes to reclaim those in the mode of pure goodness.”
Krsna mentions in the Bhagavad-Gita that He comes to this world to kill the atheistic demons, protect the devotees, and reestablish the principles of religion (BG 4.7-8). However, the first and third activities are actually secondary. The real reason Krsna comes to this world in different forms is to give association to His devotees and thus bring them back to Godhead. Not just His pure devotees, but all pious souls (people influenced by the mode of Godness, such as pious sages, demigods, and so on) are benefited. People influenced by the mode of passion and ignorance, like sinful atheists, fruitive workers, and so on frequently just offend Krsna and consider Him an ordinary person.
Krsna is extraordinarily intelligent, and therefore He can fulfill many purposes simultaneously through each of His actions and pastimes. A more elaborate explanation of the reasons for Krsna’s advent is given later in the tenth canto.
The fourth question (asked on 1.1.17) is: What are the activities and pastimes Krsna displays in His different purusha incarnations, in creating the material universes?
As Lord Maha-Vishnu, Krsna creates the whole material manifestation, by generating the Maha-Tattva (the sum of all material elements) and emanating all the different material universes through His pores. Through His look, he sends all the souls who want to take birth in these different universes, and He enters into each of these different universes as Garbhodakasayi Vishnu. This is the form of the Lord who lays down in the Garbodaka ocean and gives birth to Lord Brahma through a lotus flower coming from His navel. The Lord then expands again and becomes Ksirodakasayi Vishnu, entering into everything as Paramatma, appearing in the heart of all living beings and even inside the atoms.
We often think that there is a separate form of Paramatma in each living being and every atom, but in reality there is just one Ksirodakasayi Vishnu who just observes everything and is present everywhere. The same Ksirodakasayi Vishnu lives on a small island in the ocean of milk (one of the seven cosmic oceans that are part of the intermediate planetary system, in the middle of our universe). This is the form of Lord Vishnu to Whom the demigods pray when they are defeated by the demons, as described in different pastimes of Srimad Bhagavatam.
The fifth question is asked on SB 1.1.18: What are the transcendental incarnations of the Lord and their pastimes?
This question is answered in chapter three, which gives a short description of each of Krsna’s incarnations in this particular universe. Krsna’s forms are unlimited, and therefore He plays unlimited pastimes in the different material universes, as well as in the spiritual world, but to keep the list short, Srila Suta Goswami describes just the incarnations that appeared in this universe, and in the current cycle of creation.
Each time Lord Brahma goes to sleep the universe is partially destroyed, and every time he wakes up the universe is created anew. During each day there is a sequence of different incarnations, including Nara-Narayana rishis, Lord Kapila, Yajña, Ṛṣabhadeva, Pṛthu, Matsya, Dhanvantari, Nṛsiṁha, Vāmanadeva, Parasurama, Rama, Balarama, Kalik and so on, as well as the four Kumaras (the sons of Brahma), Narada Muni and others, who are considered empowered incarnations since they are special souls who are empowered by the Lord to perform different activities. This all culminates with Krsna coming personally with Balarama to perform their pastimes in Vrindavana. Srila Vyasadeva concludes that all of these different incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the original Personality of Godhead.
The sixth and last question is asked on 1.1.23: What became the shelter of the religious principles after Krsna left our planet, five thousand years ago?
Krsna was personally present on our planet with Balarama five thousand years ago. They both played their pastimes like human beings, but at the same time performed many wonderful activities. Krsna organized things so that many demons would be killed, culminating with the battle of Kuruksetra. In this way, Krsna took out the burden of all these sinful people and restored religious principles. However, where can we take shelter now that Krsna left? By the time Suta Goswami was speaking the Bhagavatam to the sages, Krsna had already left, so this question was as relevant back there as it is today.
The answer is given on SB 1.3.43:
“This Bhāgavata Purāṇa is as brilliant as the sun, and it has arisen just after the departure of Lord Kṛṣṇa to His own abode, accompanied by religion, knowledge, etc. Persons who have lost their vision due to the dense darkness of ignorance in the Age of Kali shall get light from this Purāṇa.”
At the same time, Krsna left our planet, going back to the spirtual world, the Srimad Bhagavatam descended, offering a beacon of light to the people confused due to all the ignorance and confusion of the current age. The Srimad Bhagavatam is non-different from Krsna, therefore taking shelter in the Srimad Bhagavatam by attentively studying it is as good as personally associating with Krsna.
When Krsna was present on our planet, five thousand years ago, not everyone could associate with Him. Many devotees were able to associate with Him only briefly, while others (like the sages in Badarikasrama) were not able to meet Him personally at all. However, in our age, we can associate with Krsna constantly through the pages of the Srimad Bhagavatam. In other words, we have an even greater opportunity of understanding Krsna than people who we here when He was personally present.