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The Secret of Relishing Bhagavatam - 1

 Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis,
Please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev!

The following is a transcription of the class delivered by HG Devakinandan prabhuji in Sydney on Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.44.

tatra kirtayato vipraa / viprarsher bhuri-tejasah
aham caadhyagamam tatra / nivishtas tad-anugrahaat
so 'ham vah shraavayishyaami / yathaadhitam yathaa-mati

"O learned brahmanas, when Sukadeva Gosvami recited Bhagavatam there [in the presence of Emperor Parikshit], I heard him with rapt attention, and thus, by his mercy, I learned the Bhagavatam from that great and powerful sage. Now I shall try to make you hear the very same thing as I learned it from him and as I have realized it."

This verse is very instructive because it tells us how to study Srimad Bhagavatam and very often we may take it for granted that Srimad Bhagavatam is available and sometimes we may read Srimad Bhagavatam but the taste for Bhagavatam and the joy and bliss of being fixed in Srimad Bhagavatam may not be there and the reason for that is described in the purport to this verse.

1. We should hear Bhagavatam from a bonafide source: This is the starting point. Srila Prabhupada writes in the purport to SB 1.3.44, "One can certainly see directly the presence of Lord Sri Krishna in the pages of Bhagavatam if one has heard it from a self-realized great soul like Sukadeva Gosvami. One cannot, however, learn Bhagavatam from a bogus hired reciter whose aim of life is to earn some money out of such recitation and employ the earning in sex indulgence. No one can learn Srimad-Bhagavatam who is associated with persons engaged in sex life. That is the secret of learning Bhagavatam. Nor can one learn Bhagavatam from one who interprets the text by his mundane scholarship. One has to learn Bhagavatam from the representative of Sukadeva Gosvami, and no one else, if one at all wants to see Lord Sri Krishna in the pages. That is the process, and there is no alternative. Suta Gosvami is a bona fide representative of Sukadeva Gosvami because he wants to present the message which he received from the great learned brahmana. Sukadeva Gosvami presented Bhagavatam as he heard it from his great father, and so also Suta Gosvami is presenting Bhagavatam as he had heard it from Sukadeva Gosvami." So the first step of the formula to know Bhagavatam is to hear from the acharyas in the parampara or disciplic succession. If we do not know who is coming from parampara, all we have to do is we hear from Srila Prabhupada, and our spiritual masters.

2. We should hear Bhagavatam with rapt attention: In the purport, Srila Prabhupada writes, "One should hear with rapt attention from the real person, and then he can at once realize the presence of Lord Krishna in every page. The secret of knowing Bhagavatam is mentioned here. No one can give rapt attention who is not pure in mind. No one can be pure in mind who is not pure in action. No one can be pure in action who is not pure in eating, sleeping, fearing and mating. But somehow or other if someone hears with rapt attention from the right person, at the very beginning one can assuredly see Lord Sri Krishna in person in the pages of Bhagavatam."

Here the word 'nivishta' is used in the verse. It means fully attentive. When something is heard in a rapt manner, it means the sense of urgency is born in the heart. When one hears Srimad Bhagavatam with the sense of urgency, knowing that any time our life can end, then that attention becomes very fixed. If we sincerely believe that today we will not die, then we cannot be attentive to Srimad Bhagavatam. If we are fully conscious of the fact that at any time we may go, then our attention becomes rapt.

When someone pays attention to something, where does his mind go? The mind goes to the subject he is paying attention. If a person does not pay attention, then he is seated here, but his mind is everywhere and anywhere except here. This is the nature of the mind. The mind is so expert that it can divide you into pieces. So if we want to be attentive, Srimad Bhagavatam tells us we must be 'tivrena', meaning we must be one-pointed. Only when you are attentive to Srimad Bhagavatam, will you become attracted to Bhagavatam. Two 'A's always remember - Attention and Attraction. We are always wondering how to have taste for Bhagavatam. Before attraction can come, we must become attentive. If you are attentive in your service to the deities, then the deities will give you the mercy to be attracted to Them. This is the reciprocation between the Deity and the living entity. One cannot artificially induce attraction. If you artificially induce attraction to read Bhagavatam, for a while it is colorful but when you go back home, you cannot put Bhagavatam into practice. It was all in the air and the sky. This happens with the professional reciters of Bhagavatam who sound very pleasing to the ears, but we are unable to understand and realize Bhagavatam. We are here to realize that our time is short and we must become attentive to Bhagavatam. In the school, whenever we were attentive to any subject, we did well in it and most of the times we developed attraction for it. When there is no study or no attention, how can there be attraction? So for us to become attracted to the pages of Bhagavatam, Suta Goswami is giving the clue - to be rapt in attention. If you are rapt in attention (matih) it leads to attraction (ratih). If you become matir Krishna, you become Krishna rati and if you become Krishna rati (attracted to Krishna) your gati - destination will definitely be Krishna. That is why matih must come first, rati comes next and then gati. 

3. We should hear Bhagavatam submissively: The best way to be attentive is to be submissive. Only when you are submissive to your teacher, you will be attentive to what he or she is speaking. If you are not submissive but challenging, whatever your teacher speaks, for the sake of challenging you will fight. The more you fight, the less attention you pay to the subject and the less attention you pay to the subject, the less attraction you will ever have for the subject. This is the reason we must be submissive. In the material world, if we are submissive in a corporate structure, it is taken as a sign of weakness. We say we will be eaten up. But in spiritual world it is the exact opposite. The more submissive one is, more the fruits of ripened devotional service will manifest. Srila Prabhupada gives the example of a tree with ripened fruits. It always bends low because of the weight of the ripened fruit. A tree without any fruit stands high because there is nothing there. So whenever we are not submissive, the false pride makes us stand up very straight and we challenge the authorities and when we challenge, we cannot concentrate on what the message is. Concentration equals to attention. When there is no concentration, there is no attention; when there is no attention, forget about attraction. Then Srimad Bhagavatam remains just as a book. After a while all other motives to read Bhagavatam come. Except the motive of glorifying Krishna there should be no other motive in our heart to read Bhagavatam. If you read Bhagavatam to learn shlokas, you are on the wrong track. Srimad Bhagavatam will give you all the knowledge to learn shlokas, but we will never be able to act on the shlokas.

What is the point of learning so many verses if our behaviour does not change? Guru Maharaj always said that 90% of Bhagavatam involves change of our behaviour. Only 10% is Krishna katha. Every prayer every devotee speaks in Srimad Bhagavatam is about how the character of the devotee must come to the standard that Krishna wants. In the absence of good behaviour, we are doing disservice to Srila Prabhupada and Srimad Bhagavatam because the main purpose of our wearing dhoti and tilak is to change our consciousness. Consciousness change means character change. Whatever we were before, we must try to change and whatever is the standard of devotional behaviour we must try to imbibe. If with Srimad Bhagavatam we cannot change the behavior, we have lost the race. If Bhagavatam changes our character, then it is a sign that we have heard Bhagavatam attentively and submissively. This is the litmus test. The sages in Naimisharanya request Suta goswami to speak Bhagavatam and they give the reasons on why they want him to speak in SB 1.1.8:

vettha tvam saumya tat sarvam / tattvatas tad-anugrahaat
bruyuhj snigdhasya shisyasya / guravo guhyam apy uta

"And because you are submissive, your spiritual masters have endowed you with all the favors bestowed upon a gentle disciple. Therefore you can tell us all that you have scientifically learned from them."

The sages say that Suta Goswami is gentle in behaviour. This is the hall mark of a devotee. A devotee is never harsh. Devotees do not lose temper. Devotees do not shout. Devotees do not scream. This harshness is the trait of demoniac nature. In Srimad Bhagavad Gita 16.4, the Lord mentions that the quality of harshness (paarushyam) belongs to demons. The quality of gentleness is the asset of the devotees. We cannot be artificially gentle. You will find, no matter what you do, if your sadhana is not up to the mark, you can behave as if gentle, but at some point Krishna will expose the temper within us. Suta Goswami was gentle because he was submissive to the acharyas. We cannot say that, 'I will be submissive only to spiritual master and do not care for the devotees.' Once when Srila Prabhupada was asked how to define a pure devotee to whom we must be submissive, Srila Prabhupada said, "except for you, everyone else is a pure devotee." The mood Srila Prabhupada was trying to cultivate in us is that we should not see the faults in the devotees. A gentle disciple is submissive not only to his guru, but he sees all other devotees to be more advanced than him genuinely. He feels that he can learn from every devotee atleast one aspect of Krishna consciousness. He believes sincerely that every devotee is a gem and when he sees the goodness in other devotees, he extracts the best in the other devotees and he learns. That submissive nature will make him endowed. What is endowment fund? Technically speaking it is a fund we do not have right to, but that is given to us out of mercy, so to speak. When someone is endowed with something, it is considered to be mercifully given. You have plenty of that you should not have or that which exceeds your quota. So the blessings of spiritual master, when they are pleased with the submissive and attentive disciple, those blessings will transform into an endowment of bhakti. So the sages at Naimisaranya tell Suta Goswami that he has the qualification to speak on Bhagavatam as he is endowed by his spiritual masters. 

We shall see the other points in the ensuing offering, Krishna willing.

Thank you very much.
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev,
Vaijayanti mala devi dasi,
Abu dhabi.