Hare Krsna
Please accept my humble obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada
There are four ways to serve the Srimad Bhagavatam. These should be understood as service in the modes of passion, goodness and ignorance, and transcendental service.
1. When a busy endeavor like a Vedic sacrifice is made with fanfare for seven days, with pomp and opulent worship, then the Bhagavatam is being served in the mode of passion.
2. Hearing for a month or a whole season with tasteful relishing and not too much endeavor is in the mode of goodness. It promotes all varieties of ecstasy.
3. Service is done in the mode of ignorance when hearing is done over the course of a year, lazily, and without much faith, sometimes remembering what is heard and sometimes forgetting. But even this creates happiness.
4. When, for a year, a month, or some days, one serves the Bhagavatam constantly with pure loving devotion,neither neglecting the scriptural injunctions nor maintaining excessive attachment for them, that is considered transcendental.
It is said that in the discussion between Parikshit Maharaj and Sukadev Goswami that the Bhagavatam was served transcendentally. It is referred to a seven-day recital only because that was how many days remained in Parikshit’s life. But whatever the situation, according to one’s liking and to the best of their ability, one should by all means serve the Bhagavatam sruti in one of the three modes or in the transcendental mode.
-From Vaishnava Khanda of Skanda Purana, Chapter Four.
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