The Glories of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Sūta Gosvāmī said: Unto that personality whom Brahmā, Varuṇa, Indra, Rudra and the Maruts praise by chanting transcendental hymns of the Vedas with all their corollaries, pada-kramas and Upaniṣads, whom the chanters of the Sāma Veda glorify, whom the perfected yogīs see within their minds after fixing themselves in meditation, and whom neither the devatās or demons can fathom—unto that Supreme Lord I offer my respects.

The Thirteenth Chapter offers respects, prayer of auspiciousness concerning the Lord, enumerates the Purāṇas and glorifies gifting them. In the final chapter again respects are offered to the Lord. Stunvanti should be stuvanti. Upaniṣadaiḥ should be upaniṣadbhiḥ. By reciting this Purāṇa I have to some degree praised, meditated on and chanted about the Supreme Lord, but have not completely understood everything.

Actually the Lord in the form of Kūrma churned the Milk Ocean. Devatās were cause in name only. Similarly the churning of the ocean of the Vedas to produce the Bhāgavatam was done by the Lord alone. Vyāsadeva only repeated it. That is expressed in this verse. By the scratching caused by the edges of stone of the very heavy Mandara Mountain being rotating, Kūrma became sleepy. May the breathing of that sleepy Lord protect you. The Lord, taking the nectar obtained from the churning in the form of Mohinī, cheated the demons and gave it to the devatās, his devotees. Similarly the Lord has churned the Vedas and produced the Bhāgavatam containing the nectar of bhakti. Cheating the demons, may he give the nectar to you! This is in the form of a benediction to the devotees. Because of following a few moments of the traces of the breathing of Kūrma, the oceans continually ebb and flow. “But the oceans move because of the tides, not because of the Lord’s breathing.” The tides are only a pretext. Actually it is the Lord doing this.

Just as the various rulers who come before the emperor of the world to praise him should be counted, so the various Mahā-purāṇas should be counted in the presence of the emperor among Mahā-purāṇas. Sambhūtim means manifestation. Please hear the manifested number of Purāṇas and also Bhāgavatam’s subject and purpose.

catur-daśa bhaviṣyaṁ syāt

tathā pañca-śatāni ca

daśāṣṭau brahma-vaivartaṁ

laiḍgam ekādaśaiva tu

catur-viṁśati vārāham

ekāśīti-sahasrakam

skāndaṁ śataṁ tathā caikaṁ

vāmanaṁ daśa kīrtitam

kaurmaṁ sapta-daśākhyātaṁ

mātsyaṁ tat tu catur-daśa

ekona-viṁśat sauparṇaṁ

brahmāṇòaṁ dvādaśaiva tu

evaṁ purāṇa-sandohaś

catur-lakṣa udāhṛtaḥ

tatrāṣṭadaśa-sāhasraṁ

śrī-bhāgavataṁ iṣyate

The Brahmā Purāṇa consists of ten thousand verses, the Padma Purāṇa of fifty-five thousand, Viṣṇu Purāṇa of twenty-three thousand, the Śiva Purāṇa of twenty-four thousand and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam of eighteen thousand. The Nārada Purāṇa has twenty-five thousand verses, the Mārkaṇòeya Purāṇa nine thousand, the Agni Purāṇa fifteen thousand four hundred, the Bhaviṣya Purāṇa fourteen thousand five hundred, the Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa eighteen thousand and the Liḍga Purāṇa eleven thousand. The Varāha Purāṇa contains twenty-four thousand verses, the Skanda Purāṇa eighty-one thousand one hundred, the Vāmana Purāṇa ten thousand, the Kūrma Purāṇa seventeen thousand, the Matsya Purāṇa fourteen thousand, the Garuòa Purāṇa nineteen thousand and the Brahmāṇòa Purāṇa twelve thousand. Thus the total number of verses in all the Purāṇas is four hundred thousand. Eighteen thousand of these belong to the Bhāgavatam.

Trayoviṁśat means twenty-three. Śaivakam means Śiva Purāṇa. Vāhnam means Agni Purāṇa. It has fifteen thousand four hundred verses. Skanda Purāṇa has eighty-one thousand verses. Just as Kṛṣṇa is included in the listing of avatāras since he appears in this world as an avatāra, and yet is distinguished by the words kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svavyam, so Bhāgavatam is included in the list of Purāṇas since it is also a Purāṇa, but it again mentioned at the end as having eighteen thousand verses, to indicate its role as the emperor among the Purāṇas. Just as the svayam indicates the supreme position of Kṛṣṇa in the First Canto verse, the word śrī with Bhāgavatam indicates that it is the most complete among all Purāṇas.

From beginning to end, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is full of the Lord’s pastimes which give bliss to devotees endowed with a sense of renunciation. This Bhāgavatam is the essence of all Vedānta philosophy because its subject matter is one Brahman, a substance with no duality. The main goal of the work is merging.

This verse speaks of the subject matter and goal. The host (vrāta) of topics concerning the pastimes of the Lord is sweet. The devotees who are called devatās become blissful because of these topics. The subject of these topics is bhakti, and bhakti is sweet nectar. The goal is prema, because by prema one can taste the sweetness of bhakti-rasa. The phrase “it gives bliss to the devotees” means that the devotee’s experience of prema. By the use of the words nectar and devatās, the Bhāgavatam giving nectar to the devotees is indicated. By this, the scripture’s nature as Mohinī is indicated, since she is famous for giving nectar to the devatās. With a movement of her brow to the devotees who know her identity, unseen by others, she says “Appearing in this way, I must be favorable to you. Cheating the demons, I will give you nectar.”

By moving her eyebrows at the demons who do not know her identity, she says clearly, “By my appearance you should gain victory. Giving you nectar is a secondary affair. The main thing is that I will constantly give you astonishing bliss while you remain householders. I will serve a little nectar first to the lowly devatās. ” Similarly the Bhāgavatam in half a verse, speaking of the giving the devotees nectar of his pastimes, indicates the goal of the Bhāgavatam. But the Lord has also said parokṣa-vādā ṛṣayaḥ parokṣaṁ mama ca priyam: the Vedic seers and mantras deal in esoteric terms, and I also am pleased by such confidential descriptions. (SB 11.21.35) Thus having said what is unnoticed by most people, he speaks another subject and goal for the person who does not know the Lord, but thinks he knows scriptures. It is the essence of all Vedāntas, which is oneness with Brahman, an object with no duality. The work has Brahman as its subject (niṣṭham) and merging in Brahman as its main goal.

Some people explain the verse as follows. Because this scripture speaks of both bhakti and jñāna, after speaking of the subject and goal of bhakti and prema, the work then speaks of jñāna and merging as the subject and goal. Brahman is the subject. This work has as its goal merging (kaivalyam) as its one goal.

Others explain as follows. At the beginning of this work it is understood from the second verse that bhakti is the subject with the words (dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ‘tra) and from the same verse with the words sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate atra kṛtibhiḥ it is understood the prema is the goal. Thus by the predominance of bhakti over jñāna and liberation, its goal, in the whole work, bhakti is indicated as the main subject and prema is the goal.

It is also necessary to give an esoteric meaning to the verse so it becomes suitable for devotees, in the manner of Mohinī’s appearance to both parties. The meaning tan-niṣṭham is as follows. This work remains (stham), having given up (nisṛtya) Brahman and merging. The work has as its goal only the mood of exclusive devotion (kaivalyam), devoid of jñāna, karma and Svarga.

Prauṣṭhapadyām means related to Bhādra month. In that month Śukadeva completed the Bhāgavatam. One should see the Uttara-khaṇòa of Padma Purāṇa. The king of all scriptures, the sun among the Purāṇas should be seated on a throne and treated royally. The king of all planets, the sun, enters into Siṁha or Leo zodiac sign during Bhādra month. Thus it is like a king seated on his throne (simhāsana). This is the metaphor.

This is the king of all scriptures. That is indicated by the verb rājante. The other Purāṇas reign as kings until Bhāgavatam appears, since Bhāgavatam is like an emperor among kings. Or the verb rājante indicates “shining.” The other Purāṇas shine like stars in the night, until Bhāgavatam rises like the sun.

This verse explains Bhāgavatam’s supreme position. This Purāṇa alone is endowed with all glory (śrīmat), since it does not have contamination arising from the three guṇas (amalam). Because of this it is dear to the devotees. This shows the excellence of its bhakti. Even those who are greedy to attain jñāna arising from bhakti, those who have attained jñāna and those who are ātmārāmas should take shelter of this work. Pāramahaṁsyam means “beneficial for paramahaṁsas. In this Bhāgavatam, knowledge beneficial for paramahaṁsas, the best (param) knowledge, since arises from bhakti, is explained. Those who are practicing jñāna should hear this work. It is completely without karma (naiṣkarmyam).

He invokes auspiciousness, with meditation on the Lord who started the sampradaya of Bhāgavatam knowledge. Kasmai means Brahmā. It is inflexed like a pronoun as poetic license. The twelve volumes of Bhāgavatam previously, at the beginning of the kalpa, was given by Brahmā to Nārada. By Nārada it was given to Vyāsadeva. Vyāsadeva gave it to Śukadeva. Śukadeva gave it to King Parīkṣit (bhagavat-rātāya). I meditate on the form of Nārāyaṇa (tat param satyam). Just as the work began with gāyatrī it concludes with gāyatrī. Gāyatrī is equated with knowledge of the Vedas. Thus this work is equated with knowledge of the Vedas.

Having ended the scripture, he offers respects to his personal deity. I offer respects to the son of Vasudeva, the witness: he directly sees whether I am a devotee or devoid of bhakti, whether I am righteous or sinful, whether I know or do not know how to explain the intended meaning of Bhāgavatam. I take shelter of his mercy. I am such a rascal. Even Brahmā, without his mercy, does not know the meaning of Bhāgavatam. Vāsudeva mercifully explained it to him, who desired liberation. Previous to his request for the knowledge, Brahmā desired liberation. After the instructions however, he desired prema and became indifferent to liberation.

He offers respects to Śukadeva. He is addressed as king of the yogīs because he is the chief master of bhakti-yoga, jñāna-yoga, karma-yoga and aśṭāḍga-yoga. He is the very form of parabrahman (brahma-rūpine). He delivered Parīkṣit who was bitten by the snake of saṁsāra. Just as the Lord removed Arjuna’s illusion by teaching the Gītā, and he removed Uddhava’s illusion by instructions in the Eleventh Canto, Śukadeva removed Parīkṣit saṁsāra by the Bhāgavatam. This is a statement made for common people. Actually, since all three are eternal associates of the Lord, they have no trace of saṁsāra. It is seen that the system for the continuation of beneficial teachings takes support of a single, great devotee among many merciful devotees who expertly bears the task of making the jīvas receive benefit. In this case the word viṣṇu-rāta is used to describe Parīkṣit. Viṣṇu-rāta means Parīkṣit who was given (rāta) to Yudhiṣṭhira by the mercy of Viṣṇu, or who was received by the Lord himself. What foolish person could think he was affected by saṁsāra? Moreover, just as in this world a mantra to remove poison does not depend are material knowledge, so whether one knows or does not know material subjects, the sounds of the Bhāgavatam completely uproot the poison of saṁsāra. This is the intention of the speaker in choosing his words.

I offer respects to guru and Kṛṣṇa, and to the ocean of mercy, Lokanatha.1 O Kṛṣṇa Caitanya! O Gauraḍga along with your associates! O unconditional ocean of mercy! Please fill me with prema. Glory to the couple expert in pastimes of rasa in Vṛṇdāvana! Please lead me to your gopī associates! Be merciful to this commentary! Though I am ignorant, you have made me write this commentary. O Kṛṣṇa! O Bhāgavatam! Be pleased with this commentary! O protector of the cows! Though I am not intelligent, please accept and protect this work! Drink its milk and, if you are pleased, give it to your devotees. This commentary has been completed on the sixth lunar day of the waxing moon, in Māgha month, 1626 Śaka era.

May the devotees of the Lord relish this commentary! Since the most learned among the learned have no taste for the Bhāgavatam whose sole function is to play in the waves of sweetness--a mood incomprehensible to the six philosophies, let it remain an unfortunate creation, defective in every word for them, though it is actually endowed with all good qualities and dances with divine wisdom.

There is no harm if the Bhāgavatam contains ārambha-vāda (asat-kārya-vāda) of the Vaiśeṣikas and Nyāyikas,2 pariṇāma-vāda (sat-kārya-vāda) of the Sāḍkhya philosophers or vivarta-vāda of the Advaitins. The final conclusion of bhakti, the jewel of human endeavors, will be seen by devotion, by the mercy of guru. Therefore I offer repeated respects to my guru. O devotees! This foolish person with fickle mind is crying at your door. Like a dog without a master, may he receive a little mercy!

I offer respects to Govardhana, the best of the Lord’s servants. I offer repeated respects to Rādhā-kuṇòa and Kṛṣṇa-kuṇòa.

Thus ends the commentary on Thirteenth Chapter of the Twelfth Canto of the Bhāgavatam for the pleasure of the devotees, in accordance with the previous ācāryas.