Greatness of hearing Srimad Bhagavatam Properly!
There is nothing greater than hearing Srimad Bhagavatam Properly! This Post explains how to hear Srimad Bhagavatam Properly as explained by Sri Rupa Gosvami with the example of Sukadeva Goswami!
Srimad Bhagavatam is the desire tree of Vedic wisdom.
“Veda” itself means “the aggregate of knowledge.” And whatever knowledge is required for human society is perfectly presented in Srimad-Bhagavatam.
(TEN PRIMARY SUBJECT MATTERS IN BHAGAVATHAM! READ HERE!)
There are different branches of knowledge in the Vedic writings, including sociology, politics, medicine and military art. All these and other branches of knowledge are perfectly described in the Vedas.
So, as far as spiritual knowledge is concerned, that is also perfectly described there, and Srimad-Bhagavatam is considered to be the ripened fruit of this desire-fulfilling tree of the Vedas.
A tree is honored by the production of its fruit. For example, a mango tree is considered very valuable because it produces the king of all fruits, the mango. When the mango fruit becomes ripened it is the greatest gift of that tree, and Srimad-Bhagavatam is similarly held to be the ripened fruit of the Vedic tree.
And as ripened fruit becomes more relishable when first touched by the beak of a parrot, or suka, Srimad-Bhagavatam has become more relishable by being delivered through the transcendental mouth of Sukadeva Gosvami.
Srimad-Bhagavatam should be received in disciplic succession without any breakage. When a ripened fruit comes from the upper part of the tree onto the ground by the process of being handed down from a higher branch to a lower branch by persons in the tree, the fruit does not break.
(SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT LORD SIVA IN SRIMAD BHAGAVATHAM! READ HERE!)
Srimad-Bhagavatam, when received in the parampara system, or disciplic succession, will likewise remain unbroken.
It is stated in Bhagavad-gita that the disciplic succession, or parampara, is the way of receiving transcendental knowledge.
Such knowledge must come down through the disciplic succession, through authorized persons who know the real purpose of the sastra.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu recommended that one learn Srimad-Bhagavatam from the mouth of the self-realized person called bhagavatam. Bhagavata means “in relationship with the Personality of Godhead [Bhagavan].”
So the devotee is sometimes called bhagavatam, and the book which is in relationship with devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead is also called Bhagavatam.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu recommended that, in order to relish the real taste of Srimad-Bhagavatam, one should take instruction from the person bhagavatam.
Srimad-Bhagavatam is relishable even by a liberated person. Sukadeva Gosvami admitted that although he was liberated from within the very womb of his mother, it was only after relishing Srimad-Bhagavatam that he became a great devotee.
Thus, one who is desirous of advancing in Krsna consciousness should relish the purport of Srimad-Bhagavatam through the discussions of authorized devotees.
In Srimad-Bhagavatam, Second Canto, First Chapter, verse 9, Sukadeva Gosvami admits that although he was very much attracted by the impersonal Brahman, when he heard the transcendental pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead from the mouth of his father, Vyasadeva, he became more attracted to Srimad-Bhagavatam.
The idea is that Vyasadeva was also a self-realized soul, and his mature contribution of transcendental knowledge was delivered directly to Sukadeva Gosvami in the manner indicated.
This is the Greatness of hearing Srimad Bhagavatam Properly!
(Why Radharani is not mentioned in Bhagavatham & all the Bonafide Scriptures? READ HERE!)