Srimad Bhagavatam Course. Session 1

Hare Krishna. It's a great honor for the Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies to be sponsoring a course by Bhaktivijana Swami. I think you will find this course different and refreshing. Maharaj has taken a great deal, a great amount of study time to really get deep into the Bhaktivedanta. And this course will offer an opportunity to delve in a way into the Bhagavatam that you may not be used to. Now, this course is intended for devotees who are familiar with the Bhagavatam, not people who haven't read it or at least read good parts of it. But for those who are familiar, it is the opportunity to really go deep. I am very pleased to have Bhaktivedya Vyanaswami as a mentor and friend. I love spending time with him. I just visited his new retreat at Govardhan Hill, which is an ecological, brilliant place. It's brilliant, the way he's restoring in a desert area of Govardhan, the way the forest would have been in the times of the Go Swamis. And I'm gonna give a little introduction to who Bhaktivijana Swami is. I mean, he was born in the former Soviet Union and took the spiritual life during the communist era in the 1980s. And it was challenging. He worked very closely with Ari Keshe Maharaj. Then he moved on to Sweden and was very active with the BBT and translating books and literally getting millions books distributed in Russia. I was just in the Soviet Union times and then in the Russian times. I was just listening to a podcast of Bhaktivyana Swami and Namrasa in which he described how there was no money. So they would trade books to factory owners. And factory owners could somehow get some money transferred to them and they would be paying the workers and books. Some devotees could do 20,000 books in a day, which is quite amazing. So Bhaktivigyana Swami himself, though, has a PhD in science. And there are different kinds of people that approach Krishna, according to the Bhagavatita. But those who approach in wisdom are the rarest. And I'm pleased to say it's my opinion that Bhaktivyana Swami has approached Krishna out of wisdom, highly educated, highly studied, and realized, yes, this Krishna consciousness will answer the questions of his scientific mind. Bhaktivyana Swami is also an advisor to the Bhaktivedanta Institute and we greatly value his advice, company, and good sense of humor. Now I want to welcome everyone here today. I'm not going to be able to name all 180 people here, but I will point out some of the senior devotees who have joined us and I will leave out some names because I can't see everyone on my screen and for that I apologize. But I particularly want to welcome Malati Prabhu, an old dear friend and mentor. I want to welcome Brajabihari, my partner in Skarnasalve and dear friend, and Kuranath Prabhu, Sesha Krishasetra Swami, and I'm sure there are names I left off. We also have here Prabhupada Priya and Nagaraj, two very senior, very, very active outreach devotees. And I want to offer a special thanks. Lakshmi Moni and Gandini and Radha Pramod have been behind the scenes organizing. We might think you just send out a Zoom link and things automatically happen. That's not reality. They spend many, many hours organizing, registering, filtering, trying to make this seminar work technically, so all Maharaj has to do is step in front of the microphone and give us the nectar. So without further ado, I turn this over to Bhaktivyanaswamy who will give us the nectar. Thank you very much, Maharaj. welcome and R.A. Krishna. Thank you very much, Brahmatirta Prabhu. I'm very honored and humbled by this introduction. And well, I'll try to follow your instructions which you just gave to me. and regarding the sense of humor I think nobody can beat you in this regard so but again I'll try to follow your footsteps let me chant Mangala Charana Namo Vishnu Padaya Krishna Prashtaya Bhutale Shri Matai Bhaktivedanta Swamini Tinamini Namaste Sarasvati Devi Gauravāṇi prachārināe nirviśeśya sunyavādi paścchatyadeśa tarināe vāñca kaupatarubyaścā kripa sindhūbevacā patitanam pavanebhyo vaishnavaibhyo namonamaha jaya śri Krishna chaitanya prabunitananda syadvaita gadāthara śrivasadi gaurabhakta vrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Janmadyasyaya tonvayate tarataschartya svabhigyasvarat Teni brahmachridaya adhikovaye muhyantiyat surayahate jovarimridam Yathāvinimaya yatratrisārgumrishadhamnasvina sadanirastakuhakam Satyamparam dhimahi, Satyamparam dhimahi, Satyamparam dhimahi I am pravrajanta manupeta mateta krityam dvajpāya no viraha kātara juhāva putrēti tanma yata yo taravobin edus tam sarva bhūta hridayam munimāna tosmi Narayanam namaskritya naram cheva naram chitarautamam devim sarasvati vyasam tatou jaya mudirayet Nashta praeshvabhadri sunityam bhagavata sevayam bhagavati uttama shlokye vaktir bhavati naištikin Hare Krishna. As I said, I am truly humbled by the response. I never expected such a response. I will say a few words about the history of this particular course, because it may explain something about the course. Some time ago I was asked by my friends from Muscat to give some seminar and I thought, why not discuss Srimad Bhagavatam. And I did something like 20 or so lectures trying to explain the context of Simad Bhagavatam, trying to keep the context of Simad Bhagavatam alive and vibrant so that we could understand the particular sections of Simad Bhagavatam in the context of the whole. To my great surprise, this course, which was not intended to be even kind of popular, so to speak, gained some popularity. and many people gave very positive reviews of this course. And then I was asked to repeat it in Russian. My big problem is that I cannot repeat anything. I have to do something completely new. So I started, quote-unquote, repeating this course in Russian, but it became a completely different course, much more elaborate, but with the same idea. And while trying to explain Simad Bhagavatam, I realized that to call it overview of Simad Bhagavatam is not proper because you cannot really overview the Simad Bhagavatam. To say that Simad Bhagavatam can be overviewed means to approach Simad Bhagavatam as the material subject matter. That's what we usually do when we study something which is material. And we look down at it and try to analyze it. But the idea of this course is exactly opposite. Try to approach Srimad Bhagavatam from the bottom, so to speak. Therefore it is not overview, rather it is under view of Srimad Bhagavatam. I don't know if it's the proper English construct. The scientific approach, usually all the people who were scientists and then became devotees, they become very ardent enemies of science, at least I'm speaking about myself. The science, modern science, materialistic science, dissects the subject of its study and tries to study different parts of it. And while studying the different parts of it, it completely forgets about the whole. And it is trying by the method of reductionism to say that the whole is nothing but the sum total of the parts. But whole is never just sum total of the parts. Whole is always bigger than the sum total of the parts. So the idea of this course is again not to dissect Srimad Bhagavatam into different parts and study the parts, but rather always keep the whole alive and always come back to the whole while referring to the parts of Srimad Bhagavatam. So that's under view or contextual study of Srimad Bhagavatam. This is some aims of the course which I quickly put together. Basically at least in my own experience, this approach to Srimad Bhagavatam makes the study of Srimad Bhagavatam much more interesting. Yeah, I forget to say that after giving this course in Russian, I was approached by, again, some of my friends who asked me to give the same course in English. and of course it's not the same course it's a different course again that's my big problem but why I finally decided to give it in English and why it is under the banner of Bhaktivedanta Institute because while studying the Srila Prabhupada's idea for Bhaktivedanta Institute I realized that Bhaktivedanta Institute is not just a preaching tool for the outsiders or scientific community. Bhaktivedanta Institute was created by Srila Prabhupada to preach Bhagavata signs to the devotees first and foremost. To present Krishna consciousness as a science. and I think this is something which is greatly lacking in the present-day ISKCON. We are more or less preaching to our constituencies, to our devotees, but we are preaching it in more like religious, ritualistic ways. So that's why I approached Brahmatirta Prabhu and suggested, offered that I could give this course and here we are a few months later, I am sitting in front of a computer, assuming that you are all there, and trying to explain what is this course all about. So the first is to ignite the interest of Srimad Bhagavatam, while keeping Srimad Bhagavatam alive, because again in my experience when we just dissect the Srimad Bhagavatam, especially when we study it verse by verse, we always forget what was before, what is going to be next. And it's oftentimes becoming quite a tedious exercise. The second aim of this course is to try to explain the special methodology of the study of Srimad Bhagavatam. And while again studying or investigating the principles of its commentary tradition or traditions rather. What I want to say is that here, again, the methodology of studying Srimad Bhagavatam is greatly different from the usual methodology of studying some books. because it's the revelation and the methodology is supposed to help us to rediscover the revelation. Sometimes we think that the truth was revealed to somebody like Shilavyasadev or Shilashukadev Goswami and we just have to study the words which they put together. But that's a mistake. Actually, the same absolute truth which revealed itself or himself to Shilavyasadev through the media of his words has to reveal itself or himself to us. so to understand the revelation we have to obtain the revelation we have to approach Shabda in a proper way with the proper attitude so that the truth would be revealed within our heart this is explained in the very first verse of Srimad Bhagavatam how the truth is being revealed so and usually we study again, Srimad Bhagavatam as an ordinary literature and the end result is that we get an ordinary literature. We may know the content of Srimad Bhagavatam, we may know some stories of Srimad Bhagavatam, but whether these stories are revealed to us, revealed to us their inner meaning, remains a big question. So, and therefore in this course I will give a specific emphasis to the proper methodology, which is actually meditation. Because Simad Bhagavatam, as we know, is the result of Samadhi or Trance of Shilavyasadev. So to study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam basically means to go into Samādhi and approaching this fruit of Samādhi of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the Samādhi as much as we can reproduce Samādhi condition in our consciousness will reveal us the meaning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The third aim I already explained, it's basically keep the context, the broad context of Srimad Bhagavatam. And at the same time, understanding the logical structure. There is a difference between the two, and I will explain it in the course. so basically always keeping together the meaning because sometimes we know the stories we know that Dhruva's story is there Prahlath's story is there but if somebody asks us why Dhruva's story is in the 4th canto and not in the 8th canto or not in the 2nd canto or 3rd canto and why Prahlath's story is in the seventh canto and why this particular story assembled in a very specific way and what is the inner connection between the stories and how through the whole story, chain of the stories the main idea of Srimad Bhagavatam is being conveyed to the listeners of Srimad Bhagavatam, we may have difficulties in answering all these questions. So I will emphasize this particular thing and today I will speak a little bit more about this in today's class. and again to show how Simad Bhagavatam is the very foundation of Srila Prabhupada's movement and how to keep Simad Bhagavatam as such and what it means in reality Anyway, so this is just four aims, let's see. And elaborating on the third aim, which is the context, I would like to quote a very important verse, which serves as the pramana or the proof for such approach. this verse is taken actually the first part of the verse Shastriskande Pramane Adhyaya the apostrophe should go in front of Adhyaya Vakye Pade Akshari so these seven elements of the whole book they are listed by Vopadev and his Harililamrita his very short overview or under view of Simad Bhagavatam the seven levels of the book, the whole book Skanda Prakarana which is topic in the Skanda and in the Skanda there are several topics, few topics, three, four, sometimes more. Adhyaya, Adhyaya means the chapter, Vakya means one sentence, and Pada means half of the verse, and Akshara, Akshara means one syllable. So the verse says, Eka Artham Saptadha Janan Navirodhena Mucyate If one becomes free from all apparent contradictions by recognizing the singularity of meaning present within a sevenfold span, namely in a letter, a word, a sentence, a chapter, a topic, a canto, and the book as a whole. So what Valabacharya is explaining here in this very important verse, he says that to understand the book truly without any contradictions, because sometimes we read Simad Bhagavatam and some stories, especially from the ninth canto of Simad Bhagavatam, They're kind of weird. I mean, from the very beginning. And it's very difficult to understand why they're there. Simad Bhagavatam is supposed to be Amalapurana, Amalapramana, so on and so forth. but sometimes we cannot really understand why the story is there. And some contradiction comes into our mind. And contradiction is an enemy of understanding the message of the book. So to understand the message of the book, and to understand the message of the book, it's actually interesting, the English word understand means to stand under. So I guess under view is a bona fide construct. So what I mean to say is that to understand something we have to understand the whole, and then different parts of it will play its beautiful role in the whole, and there will be no contradiction. Otherwise, like even some commentators, even some great commentators, like just today, just a few minutes back, a few seconds back, I mentioned Vopadev with his Harili Lomrita. He's a great pandit. But when he explains something, for example, he explains the first kanto of Srimad Bhagavatam, And he says, actually, there is no need of having 19th chapter of the first canto. The 18th chapter are enough, and he merges two chapters together. Again, I don't want to say that I understand Bhagavatam better than him, but I want to say that actually 19 is a very important and significant number for the first canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. So again, when we just study Simad Bhagavatam without keeping the context, then the virodas, the contradictions may appear in our mind. Therefore, even up to the level of the syllable of Simad Bhagavatam, we have to understand that even the syllable of Simad Bhagavatam conveys the same meaning as the whole book. and how to connect this or always keep this connection. It's the purpose, very important purpose of this particular way of explaining Srimad Bhagavatam. And why? Because actually context defines the meaning. You cannot really understand anything without the context. Brahma Tirta Prabhu mentioned that I have been translating Srila Prabhupada's books into Russian and I know very well that any English word you can translate into different language in Russian, in my case, in at least 10 different ways. But which one, which word you have to choose really depends on the context and the quality of translation is better or superior if the translator keeps the context. Sometimes I hear, unfortunately, some translations from English into Russian from lectures, and I immediately can catch when the translator doesn't understand the context. He translates the words properly, but the meaning is lost. So actually the good translators, they explain that when you translate something into different language you have to keep not the context of one sentence, not even the context of one paragraph, you have to keep the context of the whole book to translate one word properly. It may be an exaggeration, you may not keep the context of the whole book, but in reality it is like this. Ultimately it is like this. To understand the world you have to keep the context of the whole book. Or in any other instance the context is everything and the parts are less important than the the hold and the context. Like for example music. What is important in music? Individual notes? No, the relationship between the notes, the sequence of the notes. They convey the meaning. And if you take the individual notes and try to figure out what is the meaning which is being conveyed by this music by just you know dissecting it into the notes you will lose the hold. And everything is like this. To understand the event, you need broader context and everything else. So there is a very important principle. Relationship between the things are more important than the things themselves. Because what is the context? The context is the relationship. And therefore, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's approach to scriptures is very unique. he gave this it's only him it's only now Sampradaya this understanding to understand the Shastra you have to understand Sambanda and what is Sambanda? Sambanda is the context and when you understand Sambanda then only you can understand Abhideye which is meaning the word Sambanda is taken from the literature from the from the the study of the literature from the philology and Abhideya it's also philological term it's a term of the study of literature so if you understand Sambandha then you can understand Abhideya the meaning and then you can realize Prayodhana the purpose so that's the scheme which Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu suggested for understanding any Shastra and that's why in this particular course we give this specific emphasis on Sambanda to understand and be there and ultimately to realize Prayodhana why it is there why we're studying this what what should be the expected result of of this study. So that's more elaborate explanation of the specific feature of this course. So and today we will not do all the five... Today will be very boring class. I will cover the three first items in this lesson plan, I will speak a little bit about the special role of Srimad Bhagavatam in Gaudiya and Sampradaya. It's a very special place and then I will very quickly go through the Tattva Sandharva, the section of Tattva Sandharva which actually proves why Srimad Bhagavatam is so special and why Gaudiya Sampradaya basically neglects any other Pramana. It's a very peculiar feature of Gaudiya Sampradaya, which is supposed to be a school of Vedanta, and Vedanta is supposed to be based on Prastanatraya. I will explain it later. but our acaryas, the founding acaryas they couldn't care less about Prastana Tray they didn't write any commentaries on Bhagavad Gita they didn't write any commentaries on Vedanta Sutra and Upanishads so they basically broke from the tradition but in reality they didn't break from the tradition they developed the tradition to a very amazing extent. So, and Srila Jiva Goswami in Tattva Sandarbha, he explains it very logically and very beautifully. And I think, even though I'm sure many listeners of this course read Tattva Sandarbha, still it will be very beneficial if we go through the logics of Srila Jiva Goswami again and then at the end I will explain the title of the book why Simad Bhagavatam is called Simad Bhagavatam and not anything else why it is called beautiful Bhagavatam or Simad Bhagavatam it's a it's amazing explanation given by Silla Jiva Goswami and his Paramatma Sandarbha so that's three big points which I will try to cover today. And of course, everything in Aosampradaya starts with Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And it is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who established this sort of tradition, not tradition, but the rule in Aosampradaya, that it's entirely based on Srimad Bhagavatam. Sitya Tanya Mahaprabhu himself is a living Bhagavatam. And therefore, Silla Prabhupada, he plays the short sketch of Sitya Tanya Mahaprabhu's life as his introduction to Srimad Bhagavatam because without understanding the life of Sitya Tanya Mahaprabhu, So his life is an explanation of Srimad Bhagavatam. His life is a basically vivid explanation of the essence, of the message of Srimad Bhagavatam. The essential message of Srimad Bhagavatam. Again, if I understand it properly. So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he was living Srimad Bhagavatam. He was breathing Srimad Bhagavatam. He was explaining Srimad Bhagavatam. And we cannot really understand fully Simad Bhagavatam without studying the Sri Chaitanya's teachings and his life. And Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, of course, gave a very unique, very unique interpretation of Simad Bhagavatam. There are so many commentaries of Simad Bhagavatam. Shri Mat Bhagavatam actually is more popular among the commentators than even Bhagavad Gita. There are more commentaries existing on Shri Mat Bhagavatam than commentaries on Bhagavad Gita. We will talk about this in the second lecture of this course where I will speak about the tradition of commenting on Shri Mat Bhagavatam. But Sri Chaitanya Mahprabhu gave a very unique approach. He analyzed Srimad Bhagavatam through a very special angle of vision which is Rasa Darsana. He analyzed it. It's amazing because it's obvious in the third verse of Srimad Bhagavatam it is said, Pivata Bhagavatam Rasa Malayam, that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is full of Ras, but nobody else before Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu looked at Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the Rasa perspective, from the perspective of Aesthetics, from the perspective of Bharata Muni's theory. And this approach, this angle of vision really opened the whole new dimensions of Simad Bhagavatam. And therefore, it's very important to understand this dynamic. And so he based his Rasa Darsana on Simad Bhagavatam. He derived his Rasa theory or Rasa Darsana and Rasa explanation of Bhakti from Simad Bhagavatam. But at the same time, this approach also revealed much deeper meanings of Simad Bhagavatam. So, and therefore, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself, he was listening, in this picture we see Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sitting in the Tata Gopinath temple, in the courtyard of Tata Gopinath, and Gadhathar Pandit, who is Radharani herself, reads Simad Bhagavatam to him. And in Chaitanya Bhagavata it is said that he would listen to Simad Bhagavatam, one story of Simad Bhagavatam for hundreds of times. Or hundreds of times. While relieving this story and while getting deeper. And not only the tense canto of Simad Bhagavatam, but the story specifically, it is mentioned the story about Dhruvamaraj and Prahladmaraj. So, and of course, Gadadhar Pandit, while reading Srimad Bhagavatam, he was crying, and therefore when Srinivas Acharya came to Jagannath Puri and wanted to study Srimad Bhagavatam under Gadadhar Pandit, he couldn't teach him Srimad Bhagavatam because the whole Srimad Bhagavatam was washed away by his tears. And of course, all the associates of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu were present there. Even in this picture, Maharaja Prataparudra is depicted sitting there. And Lord Nityananda is also there. so and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu he specifically ordered Raghunad Bhattagaswami to study Srimad Bhagavatam and to preach Srimad Bhagavatam and we know that it was his specialty he was the great knower of Srimad Bhagavatam and he was chanting Srimad Bhagavatam in many different tunes many different ragas and while he was explaining Srimad Bhagavatam Everyone was in this samadhi, was going into the samadhi while meditating on the verses of Srimad Bhagavatam. So from the very beginning of our Sampradaya, the importance of Srimad Bhagavatam was crystal clear. Sivasa Pandit we know, he went to Devananda Pandit Smat in Navadvip and he was listening his explanation and he went into Samadhi while listening to Srimad Bhagavatam. So basically that's what we are supposed to do. We are supposed to go into Samadhi while listening to Srimad Bhagavatam. That's the method of understanding Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which was taught by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself. And therefore, in Antilily it is said, Yaha bhāgavatapāda vaiṣṇava yārstāni ekantāśraya kar chaitanya-charani. If you want to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you must approach a self-realized Vaiṣṇava and hear from him. is the method of understanding Simad Bhagavatam. Only by hearing we can be completely absorbed. It's much more difficult to be absorbed while studying because our mind will distract us. And you can only do this, Svarugam Damadharga Swami who speaks this verse, he says, you can only do this if you are completely taking shelter of the lotus feet of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Ekanta Asraya Kora Chaitanya Charani. So this, to understand Simad Bhagavatam, you have to take shelter of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. There is no other way, there is no other way, there is no other way. Through Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, only you can really understand the message of Simad Bhagavatam, even though, and we are not sectarian, Srila Prabhupada quotes different commentators, sometimes Vijayadvaja Tirta from Madhva Sampradaya, sometimes Viraragavacharya from Ramanuja's impradaya, sometimes Siddhar Swami and so many others. But we really have to understand, to understand Simad Bhagavatam as a whole and the message and to understand means to really take it into the heart. we have to be the followers of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and we have to find a follower of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who is completely absorbed in Srimad Bhagavatam and studied Srimad Bhagavatam under him. And of course, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself in his teachings to Sanatana Goswami, he says that Bhagavata Sravana, again, Sravana, not a dhyaya, not the study of Srimad Bhagavatam, But listening, hearing of Srimad Bhagavatam is one of the five most important and most powerful forms of devotional service with Sadhu Sangha, Nama Kirtanam, Bhagavad Shravan, Mathuravasana, Srimuhti Raja Shradaya Sevan. So there is no doubt that Srimad Bhagavatam was very important at the very dawn of Aosam Pradaya. In the very beginning there in Tata Gopinath's temple, the root of Srimad Bhagavatam, hearing of Srimad Bhagavatam, tradition, the culture of hearing of Srimad Bhagavatam is coming to us. us. And of course, the first, the very first book of Aosam Prada is Brihad Bhagavatamrita. What is Brihad Bhagavatamrita? Brihad Bhagavatamrita is Sanatana Goswami's explanation of Srimad Bhagavatam. It's the essence of Srimad Bhagavatam, Bhagavatamrita, taken and explained in a logical way from the point of view of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his teaching. So that's what it is. Again, And Sanat Nga Swamy was the great fan of Simad Bhagavatam, if you can use this terminology. And this is one of the verses of Sanat Nga Swamy from Krishna Lila's stava. Asadu saduta daim. Simad Bhagavatam makes asadu asadu. He gives saduta, the quality of asadu, to asadu. So it's very much relevant to us. We are not sadhus, but we have a hope to become sadhus by studying or listening, hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He can uplift the most fallen people. He can save, he can basically bring the most fallen people on the other shore of the coastal ocean. and Sanatana Goswami he prays to Shemad Bhagavatam please don't leave me please never leave me please always remain with me please always be within my heart never leave my heart and please help to reveal or to manifest prema, love of God within my heart. So he explains here the amazing qualities of of Srimad Bhagavatam that he can purify the heart and he can give liberation to any person but as far as I am concerned Sanatana Goswami says, please give me prema, because this is what you are capable to do. Give prema to my heart. So, and of course, Jiva Goswami, he wrote, it's amazing, he wrote five different commentaries on Srimad Bhagavatam. First unique commentary of Srimad Bhagavatam, Sansa Darbhut, huge commentary. six different treatises about the meaning of Srimad Bhagavatam then Kramasandharva then Brihad Kramasandharva of course somebody contests that this is Jiva Goswami's work somebody says that it was written after that but still our tradition is that Brihad Kramasandharva which is quite different from Kramasandharva much more elaborate version of commentary for the whole Simad Bhagavatam, all 12 cantos is Brihad Kramasandarva then Gopal Champu his unique, amazing most poetic commentary on the 10th canto and then Lagu Vaisnava Toshini his commentary on the 10th canto of Simad Bhagavatam so 5 different ways of explaining verses of Simad Bhagavatam But what happened in Naus and Pradaya, in reality, even though the role of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the beginning was very clear, but in reality Chaitanya-Ceritamirtā overshadowed Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in Gaudiya and Pradaya. the reasons are very clear because Gaudias are Bengalis and they can understand simple Bengali language of Krishnadas Kavirachi it's such a masterpiece it's such an amazing book and it explains the essence of Simad Bhagavatam but gradually, gradually Simad Bhagavatam went out of work in Gaudias and Pradaya more or less because it's much more difficult. It's written in Sanskrit. The commentaries are in Sanskrit. And then the books which are written on the basis of Srimad Bhagavatam, especially on the basis of the 10th kent of Srimad Bhagavatam, such as Sri Gavindali Lamrita and Sri Bajanamrita by Vishwanath Chakravartakur, they became actually the... or Vilapkusmanjali. They all written on the basis of Srimad Bhagavatam. They all derived their meaning and the essence from the Srimad Bhagavatam. That's the branches basically. All the elaborations, meditations on different verses of Srimad Bhagavatam. Like Bilab Kusmanjali. But they completely overshadowed Srimad Bhagavatam. it was not really thoroughly methodically studied in Nausam Pradaya because of different reasons and some of these reasons I mentioned and of course Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati he translated Srimad Bhagavatam and gave the complete commentary Bengali commentary on Srimad Bhagavatam to reestablish the role of Srimad Bhagavatam And we know that Śrīla Prabhupāda, he did it. He wrote the first commentary on the first kanto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, made it as the basis of his preaching movement in America, and ultimately wrote the complete set of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam up to the 13th chapter of the 10th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. And he said that every morning we should start by meditating on the verses of Srimad Bhagavatam. So he re-established the role of Srimad Bhagavatam. Even though it's difficult, And still many followers of Śrīla Prabhupada are struggling to comprehend Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So here we are coming to the second part. Why it is so? How is it? Why Sīmad-Bhāgavatam basically in the minds of followers of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has become the main Pramana. And there is a very interesting historic development of this. We know that Shankaracharya, it is a custom to say that Shankaracharya suggested this Prasthana Trai, the exgesis of the meaning of the Vedas. To understand the meaning of the Vedas, he suggested this scheme or this device, so to speak, of Prastana Trai. Actually, it may not be correct. Shankaracharya himself says that he is just following his predecessors. It's just that this was the original tradition of explaining Vedanta, the school of Vedanta, by commenting on this. Let's talk a little bit about this Prastana Trahi. The word Prastana literally means departure. We know the Mahaprastana, the section of Mahabharata where Pandavas went to their last journey, when they departed from the kingdom or basically from this world. so prastana traya basically means three points of departure literally means three points of departure it means that three points from which we start explaining the complete teachings so complete how you call it complete the philosophical system. That's three starting points or the points of departure from which, coming from which, we are explaining coherent philosophical system. So that's his term, Shankaracharya's term, Prasthana Trahi, and because it has become very popular the conventional meaning of Prasthana Traya means canonical source this is the canon of any school of Vedanta so any investigation of Vedanta must be preceded by inquiry into traditional sources at least this is how it's supposed to be you have to look at the three sources the three canons which which we will mention in a second. And then while using them as the departure point, as the starting point to create a coherent philosophical system, including the practices and everything else. Because any philosophical system in Vedic culture is never just a philosophy. It always includes specific sadhanas derived from the philosophy and specific goals which you are supposed to achieve by practicing this. So Shankarachari was very clear. He said that Prastana Trai consists of first Shruti, which is Upanishads. And sometimes it's called Upadesha Prasthana, injunctive text, Osruti Prasthana, which basically means revelation. The starting points of revelation, where you start, basically it's revelation of the broader context of reality. so the principle Upanishads 11 sometimes 12 or at least 10 Vedic Upanishads that's the first Prasthana the first starting point you have to understand them the second starting point is Smriti Prasthana Smriti Prasthana is the Sadhana Prasthana it's Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavad Gita in this scheme of Prastana Trahi plays a very important role of explanation of sadhana, what you should do. It's very difficult to figure out what you're supposed to do while reading Upanishads. But Bhagavad Gita is extremely practical and Smriti Prasthana actually is the teaching of what you are supposed to do if this is the truth. If the truth which is revealed in Upanishad is the truth and you accept this and you have no other choice, then to understand how to realize this, you have to go to Bhagavad Gita. so that's Smriti Prastan and sometimes Vishnu Sahasranam is included there but it's not necessarily and then the third Prastan is of course Brahma Sutras or Badarayana Sutras or Shari Raka Sutras the Sutras of Nyaya Prastan or the reasoning it's actually the explanation of how the logic should work more or less Nyaya Prastan the commentary on Brahma Sutra so according to Shankaracharya if you are claiming to be if you want to establish the school of Vedanta if you want to explain Vedanta or the essence of the Vedas you have to write the commentaries on these three things at least ten Upanishads and Shankaracharya brought beautiful commentaries on Upanishads sometimes I go into them while trying to explain or understand some passages his explanations are superb of course they are not always correct according to all Siddhanta but it's really amazing what he did and then he wrote of course the commentary on Bhagavad Gita and Shari Raka Bhashya commentary on Shari Raka Sutras or Brahma Sutras then after him Ramanuja Acharya came then Madhavacharya came Nimbarka Acharya came Vallabhacharya came and they all accepted the principle of Prastana Trahi. Nobody contested this. But not all of them wrote everything as Shankaracharya did. Like Ramanujyacharya, he wrote some Vedarta Sangraha, the book on the essence of the Vedas. He wrote, of course, Sri Bhashya, his main explanation of Vedanta Sutra. He wrote Bhagavad Gita Bhashya. He wrote the simpler version of Sri Bhashya. So he wrote this. He quoted many Upanishads. Ranga Ramanuja in his Sampradaya. Later wrote commentaries on all the Upanishads. So it's complete. But still he kind of omitted and he didn't bother himself to explain Upanishads. Madhavacharya wrote everything. He wrote two commentaries on Bhagavad Gita. He wrote commentaries on Upanishads, but very short. He wrote four commentaries on Vedanta Sutra itself. For him, Nyaya Prastana was the main Prastana. He wanted to establish in a very reasonable way the philosophy of Vedanta and therefore he made such an emphasis on Vedanta Sutra and four times he explained it and his, of course, his followers, they explained it, his explanation and the explanation of his explanations and it goes on eternally. But then he also introduced Bhagavata Purana and Mahabharata and Vala Bacari, Nimbarka Aacari, they wrote bhashyas on Brahma Sutra and Bhagavad Gita but didn't comment on Upanishads so not everyone commented on all Prastana Trahi but everyone accepted Prastana Trahi except for Gaudius well Gaudius also accepted Prastana Trahi but they don't care about it so it's a very interesting historical development how it is If we look at the history of Vedanta school of explanation of the Vedas, which is actually the only school which is explaining Vedas, any other philosophical school, they don't really explain the Vedas. Only Vedanta is doing this. Well, Purvami Mamsi explains, but only Karmakanda. Anyway, so Shankaracharya, he explained the Vedic revelation, but he condemned agamas, pancharatra agamas. He said they are non-Vedic. He didn't bother to explain them. He rejected them from the beginning. why? because it is Pancharatra Agamas who explain the personal feature of the absolute and according to Shankaracharya who wanted to create the coherent philosophical system about non-personal nature of reality impersonal nature of reality or of absolute truth. Pancharatra agamas were, how to say this, in the neck? How they say this? Pain in the neck. Pain in the neck. Or something like this. It was, for him, it was really not a question of going into it because it really completely destroyed his whole beautiful creation of giving impersonal explanation of the Vedas. Even though Pancharatra Agamas themselves claim the Vedic nature of it. Pancharatra Agamas, there are Nigamas and Agamas, and Agamas, Nigama is the Vedas, original Vedas. Agamas, the explanation of the original Vedas. So he rejected them. Ramanujja came and he said, no, no, no, you cannot really explain Vedanta without Pancharatra. So he accepted Prastanathraya, but he also drew, drew, is it correct? A lot of material, drew? Yes. A lot of material from Pancharatra literature to give his explanation, because his personal explanation, his bhakti explanation of Vedanta would not be complete without this. And of course, he introduced Valmiki Ramayana as Pramana and Vishnu Purana as Pramana as a very important sources of evidence. And Madhavacharya came after that. And Madhavacharya, he even much more vigorously propagated Pancharatra Agamas. He wrote a commentary on Pancharatra Agamas, an amazing treatise on this. And then he made Mahabharata a very prominent source of Pramana. Nobody else before was taking, at least in Kali Yuga, in the development of Kali Yuga, was taking Mahabharata as seriously as him. So for him, Mahabharata was very prominent. And then he introduced Simad Bhagavatam into Vedantic studies. But of course, for him, it was just secondary Pramana. He wrote Bhagavad Tathparia, he glorified Srimad Bhagavatam, but it's a very short commentary on Srimad Bhagavatam. It's perhaps the most ancient one existent, but it only explains some difficult verses of Srimad Bhagavatam to give the complete picture. He didn't really write elaborate commentary on Srimad Bhagavatam, but he first introduced it into the Vedanta schools. So, Jiva Goswami explains in Paramatma Sandarbha why it is so important to use Pancharatra. The intention of the authors of the Shastra, he says, is to bring people to the absolute reality of Bhagavan. Pancharatra is written as an alternative to the Veda which is very difficult to understand and follow Veda is very difficult to understand and follow nor is everyone eligible to follow it so Jiva Goswami explains that Pancharatra is very important and without Pancharatra we will not be able to understand the personal feature of the Lord because it has a practical nature and it is an explanation of the Vedas. So he agreed with Ramanujacari, Madhavacharya who introduced it and of course everyone else all the other Acharyas they followed Ramanujacari and Madhavacharya. But then Valabacharya comes and Valabacharya first among the teachers of bhakti schools makes Simad Bhagavatam Mukhyaprama. It's amazing, very bold move, which Valabhachari did. He said that, yes, Prastanathrai is there, but if anything in this Prastanathrai contradicts Simad Bhagavatam, it has to be rejected or it has to be explained out that this is anyamata, that this is the opinion of other people. So he said, Prastanatraya is a pramana, it's an important pramana, but Simad Bhagavatam is an independent pramana. And Prastanatraya has to depend on Simad Bhagavatam in his explanation. So he extolled Simad Bhagavatam on a very high footing in comparison with everyone else historically. And then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came. He was contemporary of Vallabhacarya. Vallabhacarya was just a few years older than Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Of course, he started his career as a preacher and as a teacher much earlier because he became a prominent teacher when he was 12 years old or 13 years old. So he started his career as Acharya earlier than Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. But Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he said that there is no need even to so much use other Pramanas if we have Srimad Bhagavad. and therefore the commentaries on Bhagavad Gita were first written in Nausampradaya by Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur much later and of course Baladev Vidyabhushan again wrote commentary on Bhagavad Gita and on Vedanta Sutra and on all Upanishads he completed the course he really proved that we are bona fide sampradaya of Vedanta or school of Vedanta but in reality there is no need for this and yeah and how it is was proven by Shilajiva Goswami or was explained by Shilajiva Goswami in Tatva Sandarva in his Pramana section so I do have a few more sometime, right? Okay. So, Śīla Jīva Goswami first, of course, says that Pratyakṣa Pramana and Anumana Pramana are not valid. And he actually takes this whole refutation of Pratyakṣa and Anumana Pramana as not really valid. they're valid but they're limited their Pramanata or Pramanata is limited due to reasons he takes it from Vajraspati Misra literally copy paste from from one Mayavadi philosopher but because it's truth he just takes it it's it's very interesting and that's one of the features perhaps we will talk about this in the next lecture very often commentators of Srimad Bhagavatam or not only Srimad Bhagavatam they just copy paste somebody what somebody else wrote before then without any problem because there is no concept of intellectual property in the Vedic culture. The truth is the truth. And you cannot invent the truth. If somebody revealed the truth, why not take it and use it? It's not the plagiarism. Yeah, it's not the plagiarism. It's just the truth. That's a completely different idea. But anyway, so having done with the Pratyakshaya Nunmanapramana, he explains in this passage, which I have chosen to give complete Sanskrit, that why we should approach the Vedas. lakshana veda eva asmakam sarvatita sarvasraya sarva cintya sarvaschaya svabhavam vastu vivi dsatvam pramanam so it's a very interesting statement very important statement too it said to comprehend the absolute truth vastu here is vastu vastu if you want if you want to understand Vastu then the Pramana has to be of a certain quality why? because the absolute truth, this Vastu which we are talking about by nature, by its Svabhava is beyond all things and yet it is the foundation of everything so he says it's Sarvatita it's beyond everything and it's Sarva-ashraya at the same time it's the foundation of everything it's beyond everything and everything is founded on it and therefore you cannot really know it by Pratyaksha you cannot know your origin or something which is beyond everything by Pratyaksha by definition so he first says this is the characteristic of absolute truth of Vastu, by nature it is Sarva-Athita and Sarva-Ashraya. And therefore it's not knowable by Pratyakshapramana. And then he says another feature of this Absolute Truth, it is Sarva-Achintya and Ascharya Svabhava. It's by nature Sarva-Achintya or completely incomprehensible and Sarva-Ashcharya very wonderful, very amazing amazing, again, not logically, you cannot really understand it with your logic, the scope of this truth. And therefore it's not knowable by anumana pramana. And therefore if you want to understand the Absolute Truth, which is this nature, these four features of the nature of the Absolute Truth, you need to seek the help of the Vedas not the help of Pratyakshana Numana, Tathasthani Napramaniti. They will not really explain to you anything. And what is the characteristic of the Vedas? What is the Shabda Pramana? Why it can explain or help us to understand the truth? First of all, it has Aprakritavacana Lakshana Veda. The Vedas, they have their vachana, their statements, their words are aprakrita. They are non-material. If you want to understand something which is non-material, which is transcendental, you have to use the words which are non-material. You cannot explain something non-material by material words, by material sounds. Therefore he says, aprakrita vachana laksana veda. and there is this revelation there is this amazing phenomenon which we have the Vedas which have this quality aprakritalajana vachana and the eternal the words of the Vedas the eternal so they can only explain the origin of everything because something which is coming or derived from something else cannot really explain or understand the origin so they are anadisida and the Vedas besides that he says that Vedas are the source Nidana Tvart of all material and non-material knowledge sarva lokika alokika vjana so he says even though it's very interesting he explains the Shabda Pramana the features of the Vedas which make it the appropriate instrument for understanding the absolute truth. He says that it has this transcendental words, totally spiritual, but it's a source of all kinds of knowledge including logical knowledge, including the material knowledge and therefore they have proven its validity from Pratyakshapramana. It's not just something, some mumbling of some, you know, wild people who were drinking so much juice and in trance they started mumbling something. No, it's a very valid knowledge because from it so much knowledge derived, including practical knowledge. And it is completely undistorted because it's anadisida sarvapurusha paramparasu, because it is transmitted through the perfect chains of disciplic succession. So he, in one sentence, in one Sanskrit sentence, he explains why to understand the nature of the absolute truth and why it could not be understood by Pratyaksha Pramana and Anumana Pramana and why it has to be understood if we want to understand. It's a big if. Not everyone wants to understand it. But if we want to understand, we have to approach Vedas. So I'm getting a little nervous. so basically he says that there are two kinds of Shabda and he explains that the Shabda we are talking about if you go to other schools when they say Shabda they say you know somebody who is knowledgeable authoritative statements any teacher can teach you he keeps Shabda he says no, we are talking about Oporu Shei Shabda if we want to understand the absolute truth this Shabda should be Aparusheya it has to have non-human origin it doesn't have to be it cannot be human so Vedas this Aparusheya Shabda and therefore they can give Aparoksha Gyana direct knowledge Vedas are self-evident, they are Svatah Pramana and they have the potency to reveal the truth through the recitation of their sounds that's the special potency which is in the sounds invested into the sounds of the Vedas by Bhagavan himself so and therefore again coming back to my initial point if we want to understand the absolute truth while studying Srimad Bhagavatam we should also try to understand that it has to be revealed to us that Aparoksha Gyana or direct knowledge Paroksha Gyana or direct knowledge has to be revealed. So the difference between Aparoksha Gyana and Paroksha Gyana theoretical knowledge or indirect knowledge sorry that's Paroksha Gyana and Aparoksha Gyana direct knowledge the paroksha jnana is the knowledge about something and the direct knowledge is the knowledge of something so usually when we study simad bhagavatam we study something about simad bhagavatam but we try to we should try to aspire to know simad bhagavatam directly to get the revelation. That's what I wanted to say. And therefore philosophy in Sanskrit is called darsana. Darsana means seeing the truth. So, and then, yeah, so many other. So, even though the Vedas are such amazing creation, but in reality they don't play much role at present. You know, everyone says Vedas, Vedas, Vedas. We are Vedic. Everyone claims to be Vedic, but nobody really recites the Vedas. There are few Shaiva reciters of the Vedas, like this little boy. But the role of the Vedas in the modern society is ceremonial. They don't play a real role. And it was very clear, even when Srila Jiva Goswami wrote his three tithes, it was very clear to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Like Madhavachari, he wrote commentary on the Vedas, but Chaitanya Mahaprabhu didn't bother about this at all. No need. and Siljiva Goswami says there are three reasons why Vedas cannot play important role in this Kali Yuga the first reason because the Vedas are not available as simple as this less than 4% of the Vedas are available there are supposed to be 130 Samhitas 1,130 Samhitas 1,130 Brahmanas, the same number of Aranyakas and Upanishads. And out of this, 11 Samhitas are still existent. 18 Brahmanas, 7 Aranyakas and 220 Upanishads. Out of 1,130. So, not available. difficult to understand because they are written in the Vedic Sanskrit and Vedic Sanskrit is very cryptic it's not the codified beautiful Lokic Sanskrit and Puranas are written in the simple Lokic Sanskrit which is not very mysterious it's completely different rules for this not so codified and it's difficult Sanskrit it. They're difficult to understand at present because you need to know Shikshavyakarana kalpa nirukta jyotisha and chandas. And who knows Shikshavyakarana kalpa nirukta jyotisha and chandas? Maybe somebody knows some little jyotisha or claims that he knows some little jyotisha. Nirukta etymology, kalpa, the proper ritual. Actually, you know, in Madhava Sampradaya, which are very Vedic, they still do some things properly in a very beautiful way. But, you know, in Vrindavan, if you come to a Yagya, and the local pundits start reciting the verses of the Vedas, with thick Hindi accent. It's not very impressive. So anyway, it's very difficult to understand because really you have to... Even Vyakran, to really master Vyakran, you have to spend 12 years to master Vyakran itself. You have to remember all 4,000 sutras of this Kaumudi and anyway forget it. Nirukta, there are such difficult rules for Nirukta and Chandas of course, Prasodi anyway and they are difficult to understand because we are spoiled, our minds are spoiled because we have very short memories. It's interesting, still we have the family names of Brahmanas, Dvi-Vedi, Tri-Vedi, and Chatur-Vedi. It means that they knew two Vedas by heart, three Vedas by heart, and four Vedas by heart. But there is no family name, Eka-Vedi, because every Brahmana knew at least one Veda. Ekaveri, to say that he is Ekaveri means to say nothing, because in the past everyone knew the whole weather by heart. If somebody knew two weathers, great, three weathers, four weathers. But who we are in comparison with this, you know, if we watch the two-minute short clip, already a big achievement in our life. So how we're supposed to understand the Vedas or to teach Vedas. And the third reason, the first reason is that they're not available, second reason they're difficult to understand, the third reason is that the different sages explain it in a very contradictory manner. Tadarthā nirnāyā kānam muni nāmāpi paraspara virodat. Because they are paraspara virodat, because they always argue with each other. This is like this, this is like this. And, you know, even Vedanta Sutra is explained in a completely different way. Sankarachari explained in a very logical way Vedanta Sutra. and then Madhavacharya says, no, this is all rubbish. I will explain it completely differently. And he uses the same material, the same sutras, and gives a completely different explanation, completely different ideas. And Vedanta Sutra itself, you know, this is the picture of Nyaya Suda, which is the main book to study for Madhva Sannyasis. they're supposed to study. It's commentary on commentary, sub-commentary on sub-commentary on sub-commentary. And it's literally A4 format books which occupy that much space on the shelf. Just to understand 550 short sutras of Vedanta Sutra. So he says, and you know and then somebody else and you try to understand this logic you become completely convinced and then you try to understand Shankaracharya and you become completely bewildered by these two great philosophers who explain the same thing in a completely different way so therefore Srila Jiva Goswami happily says we are done with the Vedas forget about them let's put them on a shelf and let's not touch them. We are going for Puranas and Itihasas because the basis of the modern Hinduism actually is Puranas and Itihasas. The whole modern, whatever we call Vedic culture now or remnants of Vedic culture, it's not based on Vedas, it's based on Puranas and Itihasas. But of course, Puranas and Itihasas, according to Jiva Goswami and us, are Vedic. There is no doubt about it. But Ramayana, Mahabharata and Puranas, all the practices, all the traditions, all the beliefs, all the rituals, all the festivals, everything is based on Puranas and partially Mahabharata and Ramayana. So, four reasons why it is better. the logika Sanskrit, easy Sanskrit, really easy to understand Sanskrit. Most of the Puranas, like Radhika Raman Prabhu, he explains that at the test of, when you studied Sanskrit, you were supposed to read Akasha Purana. Akashya Purana basically means you have to stare at Akash, at the sky, and recite completely, how you say this? Without any preparation, the verses of Purana, of new Purana, Akashya Purana. You just look there and spontaneously recite the verses. But they're very simple. They're really easy to understand. It's very easy Sanskrit. But at the same time, the esoteric meaning is explained through the media of stories, which is very easy to understand. And there is no restriction. Anyone can study even like Srila Prabhupada or rather the transcriber in this famous verse of Second Kenta of Simad Bhagavatam where they said that Siberians, they can understand the Vedas and even the dogs and cats and everyone else. Of course, Siberians, it doesn't have any... In the original, there are so weird. This is the province of ancient India, but it has become Siberia. Anyway, it's a great compliment. Even Siberians can read Puranas and Nityasas. So the Vedas cannot be studied by undisciplined people. Why? It is not recommended or it's not allowed. It's prohibited to study because to understand Vedas you have to be very clean and very disciplined and very sober and very concentrated in your mind. But Puranas are recited by Sutta Goswami, who is not a Brahmin himself. And, of course, Vyasadeva specifically created Puranas and Nityasas for people of Kali Yuga. So Puranas and Nityasas, they're done. They're Vedic by nature. The stories of Puranas, they convey very difficult philosophy of the Vedas in a very simple way. They explain cosmology of the Vedas. Try to figure out the cosmology by reading the Vedas. It's there. Even the speed of the light is there in the Vedas. It's there. How do you say this? Hidden in the Vedas. But to understand this, you have to decipher it. You have to really be very clever. Like one verse, one simple verse explains or codifies the 35 digits after the comma in the number P. This number P, which is endless. So, this is just one verse about Krishna and the gopis, explains 35 digits, if you know how to derive it from there. So, there is a lot of information in the Vedic hymns themselves, but it's not possible for us to understand. You need to really go through the rigorous study under the Guru. And then you can understand the cosmology, theology, ethics and soteriology. But Puranas are very simple. They are very democratic by nature. We are living in a very democratic age and therefore Puranas are suitable for us. So the same conclusion and the same source, they free from four human defects. and therefore they should be considered as reliable as the Vedas. And of course there are Pramanas from Simad Bhagavatam that the main point of argument here is that so many people contest this opinion that Puranas and Itihasas are Vedic. They say they are not Vedic, they are later creation, and they are ridiculous like these people, Brahma Samaj. They say the Puranas are bad, this is just creation of immoral people, later creation of immoral people, Vedas are good, they are very pure. And of course, they don't understand anything about the Vedas, but that's the opinion which they say. So it's not a platitude to prove that Puranas are Vedic. And therefore, Srila Jiva Goswami goes to the great lengths and he quotes Srimad Bhagavatam, he quotes Upanishads, Chandoghi Upanishads, which says very clearly that Puranam Panchamam Vedanam Vedam. I studied Puranam, which is the fifth Veda. and Vayu Purana says that actually Vyasadev he while editing the verses of the Vedas he combined all the one billion verses of the Vedas together and he put them in the Vedas in the proper order so that it could be used ritually and then the remaining there was still a lot of remaining verses. So he took these remaining verses and that's become the origin of Puranas and Itihasas. He basically took all these ideas from the Vedas and invested it in Mahabharata, in Puranas and Itihasa. And it is said very clearly here that Puranas constitute the part of Yajurveda. So very important thing that this is Vedic thing and Itihasa Purana Byam Vedam Samu Pabram Hayat, this verse from Mahabharata and Manu Samhita repeated twice that you can only understand not only Puranas and Itihasas are Vedic, you can only understand Vedas with the help of Puranas and Itihasas. You will not be able to understand. Samupam Brim Hayat means that you have to understand, to complete the study of the Vedas by studying Puranas and Itihasas. And Srila Jiva Goswami gives the very definition of Puranas. Puranat, Puranam Iti. It is called Puranas because it's Puranat, because it's completing. because its function is to complete the incomplete Vedas. The Vedas itself is not complete. You cannot really understand it in its completeness and therefore you have to study Puranas. So not only the Vedic, they are completing the Vedas. They are explanation of the Vedas. And he gives the example that you cannot really complete the golden bracelet by putting lead there. If they say that Puranas are completing Vedas, they have to be of the same nature. And of course, Vyasadeva is Krishna himself. He is God himself. He is our Vyasadeva. Vyasadeva which comes into our Kali Yuga. He is an avatar of the Lord. Vyasadeva, he comes and he is the author of Puranas. so he comes and then there is this long story about the curse of Gautama Rishi I will not go into it, it's an interesting story but the point of this story is that the Vedas become obsolete even in Dvapara Yuga no in yeah it became somewhat distorted the Vedas became distorted even in Tretta Yuga and completely so in Dvapara Yuga it is very clearly said in Skandapurana in context with this story because of the curse of Gautama Rishi Gautama Rishi cursed the Brahmanas, the contemporary Brahmanas that they will forget and disturb the meaning of the Vedas. So what to speak about Kali Yuga, even in Treta Yuga, people already were confused about the meaning of the Vedas. And therefore, because of this, the degradation speeded up, and therefore the Devatas approached Brahma and therefore Devatas led by Brahma and Rudra, they approached Narayana, the Supreme Person, and they asked him to come as an avatar to reestablish the meaning of the Vedas. And that's exactly what Srila Vyasadeva did. He came, it's an avatar, full-fledged avatar of Krishna, and he came to reestablish the meaning of the Vedas in the form of Puranas. So, yes, let's... Yeah, so, and Puranas, of course, they reveal the personal aspect of the absolute truth, which is hidden in the original Vedas. And they are commenting on the Vedas, so that's clear. okay yeah and this verse is from Skanda Purana says that somebody who knows or Brahmanas one who knows the Vedas along with their supplements Shikshavya Karana Kalpa Jyotish etc. Nirukta and the Upanishads but does not know Puranas, is not truly learned. He doesn't really know. Puranas, they go into this extent that you may know the Vedas. Let's say for the sake of, for the argument's sake, let's say you study the Vedas. I know some Russian people who, one Russian lady, she translated all the Vedas into Russian. it's impossible to understand what she translated I'm sure she didn't understand herself what was there but she studied Vedic Sanskrit she translated it but what's the use what's the point some Russian former devotees studying Vedas now and are very proud that they're studying Vedas good luck so let them do it no problem but Puranas themselves say let's say you understand all the Vedas you don't know Puranas you are nobody, you are nowhere you don't know anything so again the logic so far is that we need the Purusha Shabda to understand the absolute truth the Purusha Shabda is the Vedas but the Vedas you cannot understand therefore you must study the Puranas the problem is that you can't understand Puranas either because of the same reasons basically the three main problems the same the Puranas are too big you know it's all these shells and shells and shells and shells and there are so many different stories there are 400,000 verses in Maha Puranas Maha Puranas only and there are 18 Upo Puranas so too much without you know with our modern spoiled brain. No way. If we understand the first worst of Simad Bhagavatam, we can consider ourselves lucky. And yeah, Puranas are not completely retained. So many interpolations there, so many discrepancies, so many different stuff is there. And of course, it's very confusing if you study it yourself different stories, completely different ideas, you know, Shiva is the supreme, Brahma is the supreme Krishna is the supreme, Krishna is the supreme or Ganesh is the supreme there is Ganesh Purana I was once talking with one follower of Ganesh Purana, he says my whole family is Ganesh Purana followers so Ganesh Purana clearly says that this is the Purana Devi Bhagavata Purana speaks that Devi is the Supreme who is the Supreme? what do you understand? so the same three reasons basically you can't understand and then Sīla Jīva Gassarami goes on to say that yes, out of all Puranas let's keep all the Rajasic Puranas and Tamasic Puranas let's keep Sattvic Puranas why Sattvic Puranas? because only Sattvika Puranas, Sattva Sanjaya Tegyanam, because only Sattva can give you the knowledge. Sattvam Yad Brahma Darshanam, in Srimad Bhagavatam it has said itself that only Sattva can give you Brahma Darshanam, the vision of the Absolute Truth. And if we study, impartially study, all the Puranas, we will see that Rajasic and Tamasic Puranas starts with very specific questions. And Sattvic Puranas, they start with very broad questions. What is the meaning of life? Who is God? What is the purpose of life? And what is the ultimate good for human beings? So Sattvic Puranas, by nature, they explain the higher truth, the absolute truth. Whereas Rajasik and Tamasik Puranas, they specifically meant for the people who are preoccupied with very specific questions in life, in very specific areas. And that's why Sattvic Puranas should be chosen between them. And anyway, he goes on, I just very briefly explain this, I have just a few minutes to finish it. there is a crescendo the final statement he says after this long long explanation he says we would be very happy would be very lucky if we would understand the absolute truth if there was one scripture which would fit to the definition of Purana which was Puranic by nature which would be Oporusheya authority or non-human source which contained the all-essential ideas of all the Vedas, Sathihasas and Puranas be faithful to Brahma Sutra and be completed, completely existent without any interpolations or any missing parts. So if we would find one scripture which would fit the bill, which would fit all these four criterias, then everything would be fine. We would understand the absolute truth from this one scripture. And he says, satya muktam. He said, well said, well said. He himself, he is really happy. What you are looking for is there. It is the emperor of all Pramanas. Chakravarti Bhutam. Glorious Simad Bhagavatam. Who possess all these qualities. In other words, he did all this exercise. And basically by this exercise he proves that this is the main Pramana. This is the only Pramana. Not the main Pramana. Not the Mukhy Pramana. The only Pramana. Everything else is not necessary because it includes into it everything else because Madhavacharya himself in his commentary, in his Bhagavata Tathparya, he quotes Garuda Purana. This verse is not found in the modern version of Garuda Purana, but it's a very important verse for us. And it is glorifying Shri Madhavata Madhavata. It says, Artho Ayam Brahma Sutranam. This is the book which is explaining the Ardha, the meaning of Brahma Sutra. Bharathardha Venerna. It's explained the Ardha, the meaning of Mahabharata. Gayatri Bhashya Rupa. So it has the form of Gayatri Bhashya. The commentary on Gayatri. Vidardha Paribhrimhitam. Vrimhitam, which again completes the meaning of the Vedas, or contains the meaning of the Vedas in its entirety. Puranam Samarupaha, Purananam Samarupaha. It is like Samaveda among the Vedas, it's like the best of the Puranas. Like Samaveda is the best of the Vedas. it's the best of the Puranas and that's Srimad Bhagavatam and Sakshat Bhagavatam which is spoken by God himself so that's the glorification of Srimad Bhagavatam it has all the qualities which you require we don't require anything else if you understand just simple 18,000 verses of Srimad Bhagavatam we're done and that's the confirmation if we only understand the 18,000 verses short book just a few volumes like this we don't need anything else and yeah and very quickly I will go I will not even explain the third part, the third point of this lecture. We will keep the explanation of the name. So, it's the explanation, why it is the explanation of Brahma Sutra, because Vyasadev wrote it after the Brahma Sutra. He wrote Brahma Sutra, he was not satisfied, he knew that it would be confusing, and then he wrote Simad Bhagavatam. And after Srimad Bhagavatam, he threw out his Apple computer into Ganga. It was no need. He's meditating ever since. He was completely, he felt complete after writing Srimad Bhagavatam. I've done it after Vedanta Sutra. Now I can rest. now I can go to retire life and do something funny but I did it so that's the meaning of Vedanta Sutra Bharatarta Vinirna why it is the explanation of the essence of Mahabharata what is the essence of Mahabharata Madhavachari very clearly explains what is the essence of Mahabharata the essence of Mahabharata he says There are so many different stories of Mahabharata. But what is the essence? The essence is the relationship between Krishna and the devotees. That's the message, essential message of Mahabharata. And of course, Srimad Bhagavatam is the best explanation of this particular meaning. So, and that's why it is very aptly says, Bharathartha Vinirneha, it explains. Gayatri Bhashya Rupa, so why it is the essence of Gayatri mantra? because Gayatri Mantra, which is Vedemata, which is the origin of all the Vedas, is a meditation on God and his energy together. And the result of this meditation is Prachodayat, is the enthusiasm which we feel or the revelation of the Supreme Lord, or enlightenment. Prachodaya means enlightenment and that's exactly what is written in the first verse of Srimad Bhagavatam. The first verse of Srimad Bhagavatam is just an elaboration or explanation of Gayatri Mantra. Teni Brahma Hridaya Adi Kavaye that the truth was revealed in the heart of Brahma. why? because he Satyam Param Dhimahi because he was meditating on the Supreme Truth and this Truth was revealed to him and it was revealed to him not as an absolute Truth but the Absolute Truth with its energy so it's very clear the very first verse of Srimad Bhagavatam explaining the essence of Srimad Bhagavatam and at the same time it explains the essence of Gayatri Mantra, therefore it is the Gayatri Bhashya, it's the commentary on Gayatri. And then Vidartha Paribrim Hidam, because it completes the Vedas, it explains and extols in detail the Vedas, again the essence of the Vedas, the essential message of the Vedas, as any other Purana. and it's the best of the Puranas as much as Samaveda among the Puranas. Why it is the best of the Puranas? Why Samaveda is said the best of the Vedas? Because Samaveda reconciles the different contradictions in the Vedas. There are different contradictory statements in the Vedas but Samaveda reconciles them in the same way Simad Bhagavatam reconciles the contradictions which are there in different Puranas. Therefore, it's Purananam Samarupaha. So it just brings the common denominator. It explains, it gives the system how to understand non-contradictory, coherently, all the Puranas and put all the stories in a complete picture while understanding Srimad Bhagavad. If I understand just one line of Simad Bhagavatam, Krishna stu Bhagavan svayam, we will understand everything else. So, and then Sakshat Bhagavad, Bhagavata Udi Taha, that it is spoken by Bhagavan himself, for that Silarupa Goswami, and that will be the last verse, or last statement of this class, which is long enough. This is one of the last verses of Srimad Bhagavatam in the last chapter of the 12th canto, last or the penultimate chapter, in the 13th chapter. It's a beautiful verse, which actually resonates with the first verse of Srimad Bhagavatam. It's written in the same meter. And the amazing feature of this verse, It is said that I meditate upon this pure, spotless, supreme, absolute truth who is free from suffering and death and who is the beginning, personally revealed this incomparable torchlight of knowledge to Brahma. So it is said here, Kasmayena Vibhasi to Yamatullo Gyanapradipa Pura, this uncomparable Atula Gyanapradipa, the deeper, the torch of Gyanama. Tadrupena Chana Radaya Munaya Krishna Tadrupena Yogi Indraya Tata Atmanatha Bhagavatam. It is said that whenever Simad Bhagavatam is being transmitted, it's always transmitted by God himself who enters into the heart of the speaker. Whenever there is a successful transmission of the message of Srimad Bhagavatam it is spoken, we have to understand that it is spoken by Krishna himself. Originally it was spoken by Krishna to Brahma but then when Brahma was explaining it to Narada it's not that Brahma was explaining it to Narada but Krishna through Brahma was explaining it to Narada. And when Narada was explaining it to Vyasadeva, it's not that Narada was explaining it to Vyasadeva, but Krishna was explaining it through Narada. And when Vyasadeva was explaining it to Sukadeva, again the same thing happened. And when Sukadeva was explaining it to Sutagaswami, and that was the successful transmission of the message of Srimad Bhagavatam. God is involved in this process. So if all the conditions are extolled, if all the conditions are in place, then there will be the participation of an unknown friend of ours who is through us explaining the meaning of Srimad Bhagavatam. So that's the self-revolatory nature of Srimad Bhagavatam and the important role of original absolute truth in the transmission of this amazing book. So that's the characteristics of Srimad Bhagavatam. that's the glory of Srimad Bhagavatam and that's the reason the logical reason why our Sampradaya does not bother with I mean for the courtesy sake Baladev Vidya Bhushan wrote commentary on Brahma Sutra and it's a very amazing contribution and on all the Upanishads But in reality, it's not necessary. Just Simad Bhagavatam itself is enough to understand the Absolute Truth. And in fact, everything else if we study will only bewilder us and will not help to understand the Absolute Truth. But if we study Simad Bhagavatam properly, with a proper mood and attitude, then we will understand everything. We don't need anything else. So I'm amazingly punctual. That's it. I'm done for today. Thank you very much, Mahesh, for your presence, for your time, for the 11th class. We have several questions. I have a compartment. I don't know if you want to answer them today or next time. No, no. Next time. I am very hungry today. It's been very long. Thank you so much for loving us. And we look forward to seeing you. So we'll compile all the questions that people ask and I will send it to you. Yes, please. Thank you, Mahesh. I'll be happy. I will do that. Thank you. Thank you, Mahesh. Thank you. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.