Bhagavata saptaha

not mentioned in Vedas

Imported quote 13202

Srimad-Bhagavatam means everything in relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Whether we hear the pastimes and activities of the Supreme Lord or we hear about the character, reputation and activities of His devotees, they are all one and the same. Neophyte devotees simply try to understand the pastimes of the Lord and are not very interested to hear about the activities of His devotees, but such discrimination should not be indulged in by any real devotee. Sometimes less intelligent men try to hear about the rasa dance of Krsna and do not take care to hear about other portions of Srimad-Bhagavatam, which they completely avoid. There are professional Bhagavata reciters who abruptly go to the rasa-lila chapters of Srimad-Bhagavatam, as if other portions of Srimad-Bhagavatam were useless. This kind of discrimination and abrupt adoption of the rasa-lila pastimes of the Lord is not approved by the acaryas. A sincere devotee should read every chapter and every word of Srimad-Bhagavatam, for the beginning verses describe that it is the ripened fruit of all Vedic literature. Devotees should not try to avoid even a word of Srimad-Bhagavatam. The great sage Maitreya therefore affirmed herein that the Bhagavatam is sammatam satam, approved by great devotees. (More...)

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Professional reciters may ask money to extinguish the blazing fire within their bellies, but they cannot make any spiritual improvement or become perfect. It is therefore strictly forbidden to recite Srimad-Bhagavatam as a profession to earn a livelihood. Only one who is completely surrendered at the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, depending fully on Him for personal maintenance or even for maintenance of his family, can attain perfection by recitation of Srimad-Bhagavatam, which is full of narrations of the pastimes of the Lord and His devotees. The process can be summarized as follows: the audience must be faithfully receptive to the Bhagavata message, and the reciter should completely depend on the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Bhagavata recitation must not be a business. If done in the right way, not only does the reciter achieve perfect satisfaction, but the Lord also is very satisfied with the reciter and the audience, and thus both are liberated from material bondage simply by the process of hearing. (More...)

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There are many religious systems wherein penances and austerities are greatly stressed, but at the end no one understands Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is therefore no point in such penance (tapasya). If one has actually approached the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he does not need to undergo severe austerities. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is understood through the process of devotional service. In the Ninth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita devotional service is explained as raja-guhyam, the king of all confidential knowledge. There are many good reciters of Vedic literatures, and they recite works such as the Ramayana, Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita. Sometimes these professional readers manifest very good scholarship and exhibit word jugglery. Unfortunately they are never devotees of the Supreme Lord. Consequently they cannot impress upon the audience the real essence of knowledge, Krsna. There are also many thoughtful writers and creative philosophers, but despite all their learning, if they cannot approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they are simply useless mental speculators. There are many sharply intelligent people in this material world, and they discover so many things for sense gratification. They also analytically study all the material elements, but despite their expert knowledge and expert scientific analysis of the whole cosmic manifestation, their endeavors are useless because they cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. (More...)

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So this is the way, that "Don't speculate nonsensically." That is the injunction of Lord Brahma: jnane prayasam, that " 'You are very much learned scholar. You are a great politician. So I can speculate some religious system by misinterpreting this Bhagavad-gita'-no, you should stop this." That is the recommendation. Jnane prayasam udapasya namanta eva: "Just become submissive. Submissive." That is the only way-to become submissive first of all. Then you can understand what is God. Therefore Krsna demands, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg 18.66]. (More...)

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Just like here we are having Bhagavata class. This is not ordinary Bhagavata class, not jumping over Krsna's rasa-lila. It is not like that. It is step by step studying what is Krsna, what is this material world, what is the sambandha, or relationship with Krsna-so many things-how this body has developed, how we have forgotten Krsna, how to revive our Krsna consciousness. These things must be studied first of all. Then we can understand what is Krsna's pastimes with the gopis. But these professional Bhagavata preachers, they go, jump over at once. Because it appears like the dealings of young boys and girls, so that is the... Here in this material world, sex impulse... Here in this material world, sex impulse is the center of all activity. Yan maithunadi-grhamedhi-sukham hi tuccham kanḍūyanena karayor iva duḥkha-duḥkham [SB 7.9.45]. People are working so hard day and night. What is their happiness? The happiness is sex, that's all. That has been described as tuccham, most abominable. Yan maithunadi-grhamedhi-sukham hi tuccham. Ataḥ grha-ksetra-sutapta-vittair janasya moho 'yam aham mameti [SB 5.5.8]. (More...)

Imported quote 24129

In order to learn how Krsna's pleasure can be obtained, we must read the Tenth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam in which Krsna's pleasure potency is displayed in His pastimes with Radharani and the damsels of Vraja. Unfortunately, unintelligent people turn at once to the sports of Krsna in the Dasama-skandha, the Tenth Canto. Krsna's embracing Radharani or His dancing with the cowherd girls in the rasa dance are generally not understood by ordinary men because they consider these pastimes in the light of mundane lust. They incorrectly think that Krsna is like themselves and that He embraces the gopis just as an ordinary man embraces a young girl. Some people thus become interested in Krsna because they think that His religion allows indulgence in sex. This is not krsna-bhakti, love of Krsna, but prakrta-sahajiya-materialistic lust. (More...)

The materialist wants to derive some material benefit from his so-called hearing of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Undoubtedly such an audience, hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the professional men, can derive some material benefit, but t

The hearing of Srimad-Bhagavatam performed by the professional men is different from the transcendental hearing of Maharaja Pariksit. Maharaja Pariksit was a soul realized in the Absolute Truth, Sri Krsna, the Personality of Godhead. The fruitive materialist is not a realized soul; he wants to derive some material benefit from his so-called hearing of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Undoubtedly such an audience, hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam from the professional men, can derive some material benefit as desired by them, but that does not mean that such a pretense of hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam for a week is as good as that of Maharaja Pariksit. (More...)

It is the duty of the sane to hear Srimad-Bhagavatam from a self-realized soul without being duped by professional men, and one should continue such hearing till the end of one's life so that one can actually have the transcendental association of the Lord and thus be liberated simply by hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam. (More...)

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