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Ambrosial Srimad Bhagavatam

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nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalaṁ
śuka-mukhād amṛta-drava-saṁyutam
pibata bhāgavataṁ rasam ālayam
muhur aho rasikā bhuvi bhāvukāḥ

O expert and thoughtful men, relish Śrīmad-Bhagavatam, the mature fruit of the desire tree of Vedic literatures. It emanated from the lips of Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Therefore this fruit has become even more tasteful, although its nectarean juice was already relishable for all, including liberated souls.

(SB 1.1.3)

Hare Krishna dear devotees,

Please relish as we read, chew,  nibble or rather simply feast upon the nectarean introduction of Srimad Bhagavatam by Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura:

The cloud of Śrī-caitanya has rained a sweet shower of mercy, producing a river of devotion to himself where the jīvas play like elephants in the Gaṅgā. May the dark cloud of Lord Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, made golden with a flash of lightning, illuminate the sky of my mind!

I worship the one absolute truth, Kṛṣṇa, who is eternal bliss and supreme consciousness, (Nityānanda, Advaita-Caitanya), personified as the eternal Bhagavatam which is the complete form of Brahma-sutra, in its most embellished form and who resides with eternal bhakti and the eternal devotees in the eternal spiritual abode. I take shelter of the eternal form, name and qualities of Kṛṣṇa known from Bhagavatam, which I studied for a long time by the mercy of guru. After having studied the Vaiṣṇava-toṣaṇī of Sanātana and after having understood the conclusions of Lord Caitanya from the Sandarbhas of Jīva, by the mercy of Śrīdhara Svāmī, I produce this commentary to show the essence of Bhagavatam. I am not learned. Oh! I am rash in this attempt! The cause, being either my own foolishness or the causeless mercy of the Lord, gives rise to its manifestation, even in an unqualified person. If its cause is my foolishness, it will produce mockery, and if its cause is mercy of the Lord, it will produce bliss with every word for the devotees.

I offer myself and everything I have to the absolute Lord who is dearer than life to all the cowherd men and women, and to the service of his dear devotees. It is not so surprising that this popularly read scripture has qualities of the absolute entity brahman, comparable to the fruit of a desire tree, a lamp and the sun. I praise this work which assumes the form of Mohinī in the assembly of devas and demons, giving the sweet topics of the Lord to the devotees, and denying them to the demons. Svayam Bhagavān, the sweet ocean of all auspicious qualities, the king holding the greatest power, the most splendid sun, shone and then disappeared at scheduled times over the earth. The meanings of the various scriptures, Purāṇas and Itihāsas, placed in three groups just as men are classified into three groups, are like night watchmen (guarding the treasure of satisfaction of the heart), but through time, destiny, the appearance of irregularity, and even laziness, some of the meanings have fallen into deep sleep. Consequently, the great treasure – satisfaction of the heart of all people and the authors of the works – has been stolen by those who have appeared like thieves and given wrong interpretations to those scriptures. This is understood from the following:

jugupsitaṁ dharma-kṛte ’nuśāsataḥ svabhāva-raktasya mahān vyatikramaḥ

The people in general are naturally inclined to enjoy, and you have encouraged them in that way in the name of religion. This is verily condemned and is quite unreasonable. (SB 1.5.15)

However, under these conditions the Lord makes his appearance:

yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata |

abhutthānam adharmasya tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham ||

Whenever there is destruction in dharma, O Bhārata, and a rise in adharma, I manifest my own body. (BG 4.7)

As well, according to the Gītā, the Lord comes to save the devotees and destroy the demons. (BG 4.8) Just as he appears for these purposes as Matsya among the fish, as Varāha among the animals, as Haṁsa among the birds, as svayam bhagavān Kṛṣṇa among humans, and as Upendra among the devatās, so the Lord has now appeared as the crown jewel of the scriptures, Śrīmad-bhāgavatam, among the Vedas, for restoring dharma and delivering the devotees.

kṛṣṇe sva-dhāmopagate dharma-jñānādibhiḥ saha |

kalau naṣṭa-dṛśām eṣa purāṇārko ’dhunoditaḥ ||

This Bhāgavata Purāṇa is as brilliant as the sun, and it has arisen just after the departure of Lord Kṛṣṇa to his own abode, accompanied by religion, knowledge, etc. Persons who have lost their vision due to the dense darkness of ignorance in the age of Kali shall get light from this Purāṇa. (SB 1.3.4)

This indicates that Bhagavatam is another form of Kṛṣṇa, similar to the oneness of I and mine (Kṛṣṇa and the book about Kṛṣṇa). Thus, it bears no comparison with other works. Kṛṣṇa has appeared as Bhagavatam through Śukadeva and Parīkṣit, and like the sun among the planets, it shines among the Purāṇas. It has twelve forms (volumes), just as the sun has twelve forms for each of the months of the year. With eighteen-thousand verses like its leaves, it has appeared like a desire tree to fulfill the goals of the great devotees.

( Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura’s commentary on the first verse of Srimad Bhagavatam)

If its description is so delightful and tempting then we can very well imagine how heavenly will be its taste if we were to serve Srimad Bhagavatam by carefully reading it every day for the rest of our life.

All glories to divine Srimad Bhagavatam

All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

Your servant,

Giriraj dasa

 

Causeless mercy of Krishna

by

Hare Krishna.

25th Sept., 2016. Gurgaon

srila-prabhupada-on-causeless-mercy-of-lord

Each single verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam tastes like transcendental condensed milk of a Surabhi cow mixed with kesar, simply delicious and a nectar most satisfying to even conditioned souls (although it is meant to be tasted by paramhansas – liberated souls).  No wonder that, along with Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the specific scripture meant for kali-yuga.

I am sharing another transcendental verse and its nectarean purport by Srila Prabhupada, for the pleasure of devotees, describing causeless mercy of Krishna.

yathā tvaṁ kṛpayā bhūtyā
tejasā mahimaujasā
juṣṭa īśa guṇaiḥ sarvais
tato ’si bhagavān prabhuḥ

O my Lord, because You are endowed with causeless mercy, all opulences, all prowess and all glories, strength and transcendental qualities, You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of everyone.

(SB 6.19.5)

This verse, more specifically Srila Prabhupada’s purport, describes how kind is Krishna and how He bestows His causeless mercy on His devotees. Srila Prabhupada writes in his purport (I have taken the liberty to break the purport into short sentences) :

In this verse the words tato ’si bhagavān prabhuḥ mean “Therefore You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of everyone.”

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is endowed with all six opulences in full, and moreover He is extremely kind to His devotee. Although He is full in Himself, He nonetheless wants all the living entities to surrender unto Him so that they may engage in His service. Thus He becomes satisfied.

Although He is full in Himself, He nonetheless becomes pleased when His devotee offers Him patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam — a leaf, flower, fruit or water — in devotion.

Sometimes the Lord, as the child of mother Yaśodā, requests His devotee for some food, as if He were very hungry. Sometimes He tells His devotee in a dream that His temple and His garden are now very old and that He cannot enjoy them very nicely. Thus He requests the devotee to repair them. Sometimes He is buried in the earth, and as if unable to come out Himself, He requests His devotee to rescue Him. Sometimes He requests His devotee to preach His glories all over the world, although He alone is quite competent to perform this task.

Even though the Supreme Personality of Godhead is endowed with all possessions and is self-sufficient, He depends on His devotees.

Therefore the relationship of the Lord with His devotees is extremely confidential. Only the devotee can perceive how the Lord, although full in Himself, depends on His devotee for some particular work. This is explained in Bhagavad-gītā (11.33), where the Lord tells Arjuna, nimitta-mātraṁ bhava savyasācin: “O Arjuna, merely be an instrument in the fight.” Lord Krishna had the competence to win the Battle of Kurukṣetra, but nonetheless He induced His devotee Arjuna to fight and become the cause of victory.

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was quite competent enough to spread His name and mission all over the world, but still He depended upon His devotee to do this work.

Considering all these points, the most important aspect of the Supreme Lord’s self-sufficiency is that He depends on His devotees. This is called His causeless mercy.

The devotee who has perceived this causeless mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead by realization can understand the master and the servant.

I strongly suggest that we go back to the beginning of the purport and slowly and carefully read it again, chewing it slowly this time, relishing the sweet nectar.

Could we see any practical application while reading the purport? Here is some food for thought

 

  1. Do I feel and behave like a master (controller) in my day to day dealings or do I take, and also feel, shelter of Krishna in every step?
  2. When I daily offer bhoga to Krishna then do I make each offering to please Him? (or is to please my own senses?)
  3. Am I surrendered to Krishna (or my spiritual master) and properly engaged in His service. Do I even desire to surrender to Krishna? Can I take some steps to progress in that direction. Rather than endlessly waiting for some future ‘favourable’ circumstances  can I make a small beginning today?
  4. Can the Lord depend upon me for any task? Have I purified my consciousness by endeavoring to daily chant offenselessly and by being sincere & serious in my sadhna bhakti.
  5.  Do I have even have a desire to become His (or His instrument’s) instrument. If Yes, then do I share my desire with Krishna by daily praying to Him for the same?
  6.  Which special devotee Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu sent : Srila Prabhupada! (phew! this was easy)
  7. Do I feel causeless mercy of Lord, and His devotees, on me or am I busy speculating being a victim of family, job, circumstances,……
  8. Do I understand, and hence relish & taste, the sweet relationship between Krishna and His devotees or do I read such pastimes merely as stories from which I try to take ‘moral of the story’?
  9. And, last but not the least, am I reading, and tasting, and relishing, Bhagavatam daily ? How much time does it take to read one verse, and its purport, daily? Do I get the time to read newspaper (or browse internet) daily?

But I am a conditioned soul?

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is so carefully presented that a sincere and serious person can at once enjoy the ripened fruit of Vedic knowledge simply by drinking the nectarean juice through the mouth of Śukadeva Gosvāmī or his bona fide representative.

(SB 1.1.3p)

All glories to the causeless mercy of Krishna.

All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.