Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 1 st Chapter 2 nd

1. Srimad-BhagavatamCanto 1stChapter 2nd Text 1-3 Varna-ashram. Srimad Bhagavatam – the transcendental torchlight.

2. Text 1 vyäsa uväca iti sampraçna-saàhåñöo vipräëäà raumaharñaëiù pratipüjya vacas teñäà pravaktum upacakrame Ugraçravä [Süta Gosvämé], the son of Romaharñaëa, being fully satisfied by the perfect questions of the brähmaëas, thanked them and thus attempted to reply.

3. Six questions by the Sages • (9) Explain the absolute & ultimate good in easily understandable way. • (11) Select the essence of all the scriptures and explain. • (12-13) The purpose of Supreme Lord’s descend & incarnations. • (13) Expalin teachings by previous acharyas (uplifted by speaking or hearing them). • (17) Speak adventures of Lord in different incarnations. • (23) After the departure of Lord Krishna to His own abode, whom the religious principles have now gone for shelter.

4. Text 2 süta uväca yaà pravrajantam anupetam apeta-kåtyaà dvaipäyano viraha-kätara äjuhäva putreti tan-mayatayä taravo 'bhinedus taà sarva-bhüta-hådayaà munim änato 'smi Çréla Süta Gosvämé said: Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto that great sage [Çukadeva Gosvämé] who can enter the hearts of all. When he went away to take up the renounced order of life [sannyäsa], leaving home without undergoing reformation by the sacred thread or the ceremonies observed by the higher castes, his father, Vyäsadeva, fearing separation from him, cried out, "O my son!" Indeed, only the trees, which were absorbed in the same feelings of separation, echoed in response to the begrieved father.

5. Purificatory ceremonies • The institution of varëa and äçrama prescribes many regulative duties to be observed by its followers. • Such duties enjoin that a candidate willing to study the Vedas must approach a bona fide spiritual master and request acceptance as his disciple. • Çré Çukadeva Gosvämé did not undergo such purificatory ceremonies because he was a liberated soul from his very birth.

6. Vaishnava – perfectional stage. • Generally, a man is born as an ordinary being, and by the purificatory processes he is born for the second time. • When he sees a new light and seeks direction for spiritual progress, he approaches a spiritual master for instruction in the Vedas. • The spiritual master accepts only the sincere inquirer as his disciple and gives him the sacred thread. In this way a man becomes twice-born, or a dvija. • After qualifying as a dvija one may study the Vedas, and after becoming well versed in the Vedas one becomes a vipra. A vipra, or a qualified brähmaëa, thus realizes the Absolute and makes further progress in spiritual life until he reaches the Vaiñëava stage. • The Vaiñëava stage is the postgraduate status of a brähmaëa. A progressive brähmaëa must necessarily become a Vaiñëava, for a Vaiñëava is a self-realized, learned brähmaëa.

7. Aim of Varna-ashram dharma • Ultimately the aim of varëäçrama-dharma is to turn a crude man into a pure devotee of the Lord, or a Vaiñëava. • Vaiñëava is already considered a brähmaëa. E.g. Haridas Thakur. • Any lowborn person can be delivered to the highest transcendental position by the mercy of Vaiñëavas.

8. Text 3 yaù svänubhävam akhila-çruti-säram ekam adhyätma-dépam atititérñatäà tamo 'ndham saàsäriëäà karuëayäha puräëa-guhyaà taà vyäsa-sünum upayämi guruà munénäm Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto him [Çuka], the spiritual master of all sages, the son of Vyäsadeva, who, out of his great compassion for those gross materialists who struggle to cross over the darkest regions of material existence, spoke this most confidential supplement to the cream of Vedic knowledge, after having personally assimilated it by experience.

9. Natural commentary on the Vedanta-sutras • Çrémad-Bhägavatam is the natural supplementary commentary on the Vedänta-sütras. • The Vedänta-sütras, or the Brahma-sütras, were compiled by Vyäsadeva with a view to presenting just the cream of Vedic knowledge. • Çrémad-Bhägavatam is the natural commentary on this cream. • Çréla Çukadeva Gosvämé was a thoroughly realized master of the Vedänta-sütra, and consequently he also personally realized the commentary, Çrémad-Bhägavatam. And just to show his boundless mercy upon bewildered materialistic men who want to cross completely over nescience, he recited for the first time this confidential knowledge.

10. Plight of materialistic people. • No materialistic creature can be happy. • Everyone tries to make a permanent plan for happiness, but everyone is baffled by the laws of material nature. • Therefore the materialistic world is called the darkest region of God's creation. • Yet the unhappy materialists can get out of it simply by desiring to get out. Unfortunately they are so foolish that they do not want to escape.

11. Transcendental Torchlight • Çrémad-Bhägavatam is the one unrivaled commentary on Vedänta-sütra. • Çrémad-Bhägavatam is the only transcendental literature meant for those who are paramahaàsas and completely freed from the material disease called malice. • The envious Mäyävädé cannot have access to the Bhägavatam, but those who are really anxious to get out of this material existence may take shelter of this Bhägavatam because it is uttered by the liberated Çréla Çukadeva Gosvämé. • It is the transcendental torchlight by which one can see perfectly the transcendental Absolute Truth realized as Brahman, Paramätmä and Bhagavän.