SB – The Glories of Srimad-Bhagavatam—Part 01

Giriraj Swami: 

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto One, Chapter Five: “Nārada’s Instructions on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,”

TEXT 13

atho mahā-bhāga bhavān amogha-dṛk

śuci-śravāḥ satya-rato dhṛta-vrataḥ

urukramasyākhila-bandha-muktaye

samādhinānusmara tad-viceṣṭitam

TRANSLATION

O Vyāsadeva, your vision is completely perfect. Your good fame is spotless. You are firm in vow and situated in truthfulness. And thus you can think of the pastimes of the Lord in trance for the liberation of the people in general from all material bondage.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

People in general have a taste for literatures by instinct. They want to hear and read from the authorities something about the unknown, but their taste is exploited by unfortunate literatures which are full of subject matter for satisfaction of the material senses. Such literatures contain different kinds of mundane poems and philosophical speculations, more or less under the influence of māyā, ending in sense gratification. These literatures, although worthless in the true sense of the term, are variously decorated to attract the attention of the less intelligent men. Thus the attracted living entities are more and more entangled in material bondage without hope of liberation for thousands and thousands of generations.

COMMENT

So earlier Sri Narada had instructed Srila Vyasadeva to describe the glories of the Lord, His name, His form, His qualities, His pastimes, and His paraphernalia. And he described that people who are like swans will appreciate such literatures even if the literatures are imperfectly composed. And that people who are like crows will be attracted to literatures which are devoid of the glories of the Lord. So here Srila Prabhupada is explaining that people have a natural desire to read, and learn and that materialistic people take advantage of the desire of the people to sell them mundane literatures, with mundane ideas. Srila Prabhupada often quoted the verse to the effect that a dead body may be decorated very nicely, but still it is a dead body. And only foolish people, or ignorant people will appreciate the decoration of the dead body. So any subject, devoid of Krishna consciousness is more or less dead, even though it may be decorated with poetic ornaments. And only silly people are allured by the literary ornaments of mundane literature, which is devoid of the glories of the Lord. So therefore, Narada is advising Vyasa that he should describe the glories of the Lord, and will continue with the purport and discuss further.

PURPORT (continued) 

Thus the attracted living entities are more and more entangled in material bondage without hope of liberation for thousands and thousands of generations. Śrī Nārada Ṛṣi, being the best amongst the Vaiṣṇavas, is compassionate toward such unfortunate victims of worthless literatures, and thus he advises Śrī Vyāsadeva to compose transcendental literature which is not only attractive but can also actually bring liberation from all kinds of bondage.

COMMENT

So the literature, yes if the subject is God, a lot of people will appreciate it, even if the literature is not decorated by beautiful ornament. But if possible, even devotional literature should be attractive, and refined in the line of transcendental scholars, and poets that many of them were among the greatest poets in the history of the world. But even if one is not able to write beautiful poetry in ornamental language, even if one presents the subject matter of Godhead in simple language, even in broken language, even then the message is so valuable that thoughtful people will appreciate it, and accept it. Srila Prabhupada himself never claimed that he had any special literary talent, or scholarly ability. But he said that he just tried to present the message of Krishna as it is, without adulteration, without adding anything, or subtracting anything. And whenever people would try to give credit to Srila Prabhupada, he would always say that he has no personal credit, if he has any credit at all, his credit was that he presented the message of Krishna as it is. And that the subject is itself so good, even though he did not present it very well, people got so much benefit, and therefore they appreciated him. So whether one has literary ability or not, artistic talent or not, one should present the Lord, one should use one’s ability to present the Lord to one’s capacity. The subject itself, Krishna, is all attractive, and therefore purified people will be attracted to Krishna, however He is presented. But if we do have the ability to sing nicely, or paint nicely, or speak nicely, then so much the better. We can glorify the Lord by using our artistic ability or poetic expertise in the service of the Lord. But in any case, we should present the Lord to people because people need to hear about the Lord, and learn about the Lord. And they need to purify their hearts by hearing about the Lord, and thinking about the Lord.

So the message is so important, the subject is so important that we should present it however imperfect our attempt may be, from the material point of view. Even then our effort will bring success, because of the subject, the value of the subject. And therefore Srila Prabhupada always said that anyone can preach. You don’t have to be a great scholar, or a great poet, anyone who just presents the message as it is, can preach that people will appreciate and benefit. He used to give the example of his secretary Shyamasundara Prabhu’s daughter Sarasvati, when she was only three years old. She would approach respectable gentlemen who visited the Bombay temple, and ask them, “Do you know who is Krishna?” Then she would say, “Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” And she was repeating the message, as she heard it. So anyone can preach, if he or she just presents the message as it is, no matter how simple the language is, and if one is pure in one’s practices and is sincere in one’s efforts, then people will appreciate.

PURPORT (continued) 

Śrīla Vyāsadeva or his representatives are qualified because they are rightly trained to see things in true perspective. Śrīla Vyāsadeva and his representatives are pure in thought due to their spiritual enlightenment, fixed in their vows due to their devotional service, and determined to deliver the fallen souls rotting in material activities. The fallen souls are very eager to receive novel informations every day, and the transcendentalists like Vyāsadeva or Nārada can supply such eager people in general with unlimited news from the spiritual world. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that the material world is only a part of the whole creation and that this earth is only a fragment of the whole material world.

COMMENT

So Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura wanted to start a daily newspaper in Navadvipa. So when the devotees went to the printer, he was so much skeptical that how could there be enough news to publish a paper every day. And Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura replied that, “The material world is just one fourth of the entire kingdom of God, and within the material world, there are so many universes, and so many planets, and out of them one planet is the earth. Yet there is enough news to print the newspaper every day with news just about the earth. So how much more news would be from the spiritual world, which is unlimitedly greater than the material world. So Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said, “We have enough news or information to print a paper every second.” But the problem is that there are no customers. So that is the situation. We have so much to say about Krishna, and Krishna consciousness that even Ananta with his unlimited hood, and unlimited tongues, even with an unlimited period of time, could never reach the limit of the glories of the Lord. He could go on speaking unlimitedly, for unlimited time, and still have more to say in glorification for the Lord. So there is no limit, as to how much we can present. The only question is how much people will hear.

PURPORT (continued)

There are thousands and thousands of literary men all over the world, and they have created many, many thousands of literary works for the information of the people in general for thousands and thousands of years. Unfortunately none of them have brought peace and tranquility on the earth. This is due to a spiritual vacuum in those literatures; therefore the Vedic literatures, especially the Bhagavad-gītā and the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, are specifically recommended to suffering humanity to bring about the desired effect of liberation from the pangs of material civilization, which is eating the vital part of human energy. The Bhagavad-gītā is the spoken message of the Lord Himself recorded by Vyāsadeva, and the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the transcendental narration of the activities of the same Lord Kṛṣṇa, which alone can satisfy the hankering desires of the living being for eternal peace and liberation from miseries. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, therefore, is meant for all the living beings all over the universe for total liberation from all kinds of material bondage. Such transcendental narrations of the pastimes of the Lord can be described only by liberated souls like Vyāsadeva and his bona fide representatives who are completely merged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. Only to such devotees do the pastimes of the Lord and their transcendental nature become automatically manifest by dint of devotional service.

COMMENT

So Srila Prabhupada here further distinguishes between mundane literature and spiritual literature. Although literary men have produced thousands and thousands of work of mundane literature for thousands and thousands of years, they have not been able to bring about the desired peace and liberation from the material pain that people really want. So transcendental literatures on the other hand do have the potency to bring the desired peace, and liberation from material pain. And the next question is who can write such literature. And in the verse Sri Narada explains to Vyasa why he is qualified to write such literatures. And the basic qualification, although it is mentioned in different ways, but the basic qualification is that he is a devotee, and he is truthful, he is fixed in devotional service, and he is purified by devotional service. Such persons can present the message of the Lord as it. Now someone on the level of Vyasa, can actually enter into trance and see the pastimes of the Lord, and record what he sees in trance. But even devotees who are not at the stage where they can see the pastimes of the Lord directly in trance, they can still serve the cause of the Lord by repeating the perfect version of liberated soul like Vyasadeva. And therefore Srila Prabhupada said in the context of his devotees, and his followers that if they chanted sixteen rounds, and followed the regulative principles, they would have sufficient strength, and potency, and purity to be able to preach effectively.

PURPORT (continued) 

Only to such devotees do the pastimes of the Lord and their transcendental nature become automatically manifest by dint of devotional service. No one else can either know or describe the acts of the Lord, even if they speculate on the subject for many, many years. The descriptions of the Bhāgavatam are so precise and accurate that whatever has been predicted in this great literature about five thousand years ago is now exactly happening. Therefore, the vision of the author comprehends past, present and future.

COMMENT

So such sages, and rishis like Narada and Vyasa are called [Unintelligible 00:24:35], they know all three phases of time; past, present, and future. And therefore what they have written in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, about five thousand years ago is actually coming true now five thousand years ago later. And the predictions go even further into the future, thousands of years into the future. And we expect that whatever they have said about the future will also come to pass, because they are [Unintelligible 00:25:21], they have knowledge of past, present, and future.

PURPORT (continued)

Such liberated persons as Vyāsadeva are perfect not only by the power of vision and wisdom, but also in aural reception, in thinking, feeling and all other sense activities. A liberated person possesses perfect senses, and with perfect senses only can one serve the sense proprietor, Hṛṣīkeśa, Śrī Kṛṣṇa the Personality of Godhead. 

COMMENT

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ

tat-paratvena nirmalam

hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-

sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate

That by engaging the senses in the service of the proprietor of senses, or Krishna, the senses become purified, one becomes free from material designation that ‘” am man, I am woman, I am black, I am white, I am German, ‘I am Italian, I am French, I am Spanish, or whatever.” And with such purified senses, one can actually engage in the service of the Lord. There are different stages of devotional service. So in sādhana-bhakti, one engages the senses in the service of the Lord in practice, even though the senses are not completely purified. But by engaging them in the service of the Lord, they become purified. And then when the senses are completely purified, when the mind is completely purified then one is able to serve the Lord in bhāva-bhakti, prema-bhakti. And then, because one has purified senses, one can actually see the Lord by direct perception; see, hear, experience the Lord by direct perception through purified senses. So both in the stage of devotional service in practice, and in the stage of devotional service in perfection, one serves the Lord with one’s senses. Just in devotional service in practice, in sādhana-bhakti, the senses are not yet completely purified but they become purified by such service. And in bhāva-bhakti, or prema-bhakti the senses are purified, and therefore one can serve the Lord directly and with purified senses one can see the Lord and enter into the Lord’s pastimes.

PURPORT (continued) 

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, therefore, is the perfect description of the all-perfect Personality of Godhead by the all-perfect personality Śrīla Vyāsadeva, the compiler of the Vedas.

Hare Krishna. So are there any questions or comments?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:29:37–41] I have just discovered a bridge in Sri Lanka which is [Unintelligible 00:29:47-58]

Giriraj Swami: Well, I did receive an email with an article, and some aerial photographs that show the bridge.

Devotee: Most of the writers in India, they write Rāmāyaṇa or Mahābhārata, [Unintelligible 00:30:24–29] Indian mythology and that really made me happy when I heard that. Because Rāmāyaṇa is two million years old and when NASA found this bridge, they actually suspected it is some nuclear things, practiced by India [Unintelligible 00:30:48–57]

Giriraj Swami: Yes. Did you actually see the photos?

Devotee: Yes.

Giriraj Swami: Quite impressive. Good evidence. Any other questions or comments?

Devotee: Maharaja [Unintelligible 00:31:35–00:32:25]

Giriraj Swami: Many devotees have received the need for more presentations of Krishna consciousness. There are a number of books, and a number of music but we don’t have many works of fiction, or historical fiction and some devotees feel we need such books. Tamal Krishna Goswami wrote the book about a young man from China, who came to America and met the devotees. So one devotee even wrote a book on historical fiction about sadhus from hundreds of years ago in India, but we can use more. Vijayananada dasa Gosvami writing, contemporary book, fiction. It may not be too directly Krishna conscious, but to another issue that some devotees feel we need to write, that people are so low, their consciousness is so low that we can’t expect them to come immediately to the understanding of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But they can just start to understand that they are not the body, they are the soul within the body. And the soul transmigrates from one body to another, life after life, that will help them to progress gradually. And as far as films, especially being around Hollywood, there are many devotees that they can turn to, presenting films on Krishna consciousness. The only devotees who have actually succeeded in producing a feature-like film are Kaushalya and Anthony, and now there are entering an agreement with the distributor. I guess we will see if people buy it. But they basically deal with the theme of incarnation, re-incarnation. But they have many ideas, and what they would like to do is produce a featured film of Mahābhārata, or Rāmāyaṇa, using all the technology.

Anthony told me the other day that for the first time in history, there is enough technology to properly present Mahābhārata, Rāmāyaṇa, or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, as it is. And he gave the example of Lord of the Rings and he said that with the technology they have now, they can pretty much show anything that the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam describes. And that is their dream. But to do it properly, If we don’t do it properly than we need even bother. But to do it properly will cost millions of dollars. But they are thinking they can make some partnership with some Indian. Anyway whatever the details are but when something is well done, it really has a tremendous effect. Because Anthony and Kaushalya and their group are very talented, very qualified artists and musicians. And Mother Urvashi, she was just here the other day and she is a Prabhupada disciple. And so every year she arranges a festival for the holidays, around Christmas time. And so she invited Anthony and Kaushalya and [Unintelligible 00:38:17–24], well the whole group. And they did bhajans before I spoke, and they were so good that their music, and not only are they good musically but they are good spiritually. Kaushalya, she really sings from the heart and she also has a lovely voice. So with a presentation like that, we could go anywhere; we could perform in front of any audience, and touch their heart, and melt their hearts. 

So there are many talented devotees, just in southern California, there are many talented devotees. And they are thinking very seriously how to present Krishna consciousness in an artistic way, that can compete with all the polished works of sense gratifications, be marketed, bombarding the conditioned souls. (00:39:52–00:40:10) Prabhu has written a screen play for a movie. He sent it to Anthony and Kaushalya; they thought it had potential and we should pursue it. They are actually producing a CD and they are quite close to finishing it, but then when they decided to go ahead with the idea of the independent featured film, then the CD sort of got, put on the back burner. [Unintelligible 00:40:29–39] Prabhu was also very talented as a musician and as an artist. There are many actually. Parīkṣit Prabhu, he was rose very high in the Disneyworld organization. In fact, in animation, there is basically two divisions; the people and then everything else. Or you say the foreground and the background. So he was in charge of the whole division that dealt with the scenery, the background. But his real love is actually painting. In the credits, I forget which of the famous animated Disney features, but he is like number four. He is like the overall person who is in charge; there is the person in charge of the characters and the person who is in charge of background. But he did not like supervising so much, he actually likes painting more, but very talented. [Unintelligible 00:42:16] Prabhu was also in Disney. Even [Unintelligible 00:42:28–31] painters. In Durban they did the one where Krishna is sort of lying in the grass, [Unintelligible 00:42:40–49] Prabhupada’s library. They are very successful, very talented. They want to paint about Krishna but I guess that is part of the lamentation that the artist that Prabhupada was a patron of the Arts and since Prabhupada left there is really np patron of the Arts. Bhagavān did to some extent, and then Vrindavan did to some extent but it didn’t last. They are very good. [Unintelligible 00:43:24–44] Prabhupada’s deity, he has done and commissioned to do busts of Rama and very important works for very prestigious places. The talent is there, and all of the devotees would rather use the talent for direct Krishna conscious subjects, then we will have the best presentation of Krishna consciousness through every artistic medium.

Any questions or comments? 

Granthraj Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam ki jaya!

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Nitai- Gaura premānande.