Govinda Mahārāja's version

His Divine Grace, Bhakti Sundara Govinda Mahārāja has made some fascinating observations about the composition and meaning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in his book Bhagavat-Darshan:

The discoveries of the great ṛṣis who received light from the transcendental world were later organised and compiled into scriptures by Vedavyās. Vyās, or Vedavyās, is a title which means Veda-vistāra-kārī, one who spreads Veda by putting it into suitable written form. Veda means the consciousness given by āmnāya, revealed knowledge that is essential in the lives of everyone. A Vedavyās is actually a Śaktyāveś-avatār, an incarnation of the Lord in the form of an empowered jīva-soul who has the capacity to spread āmnāya.

Hinduism, Vedic culture, and Indian culture come from the rulings of Vedavyās. All religious groups within India, mostly Hindu groups, still follow Vedavyās’ teachings and the Manu-saṁhitā, the laws of mankind. Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana was the name of the ṛṣi who performed the service of compiling the scriptures in the recent age and became known as Vedavyās.

The discoveries of the ṛṣis were very broad. The ṛṣis understood everything about all aspects of life, both material and spiritual. Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyan Vedavyās collected all of their research and “mixed it with material examples so that the conditioned souls could understand it. Then he divided and presented their research in different scriptures to be taught to students within the schools of Vedic culture. In this way he composed the four Vedas—the Ṛg-veda, Sāma-veda, Yajur-veda, and Atharva-veda—the Āyurveda scripture, and the fifth Veda, the Mahābhārata.

These scriptures are so vast; they are huge books. The Mahābhārata alone has over one hundred thousand verses in it. We have heard that there is also another part of the Mahābhārata found only in heaven that has even more verses. But even within the one hundred thousand verses of our Mahābhārata here, there are so many stories; we cannot even conceive how many stories. They are all very sweet, hopeful stories, but sometimes they are mixed with some alloy, some themes which are not purely devotional. Still, they are all related to religion and always give us remembrance of the fundamental questions of life: “Who are you? Why are you suffering in the illusory environment? What is the cause of everything?” All the scriptures are always giving us this consciousness. Questions about who we are and what the goal of our life should be are the fundamental basis of all religious thought.

“The Mahābhārata presents everything to us, but, along with the other Vedas, it is so vast. We could not finish reading all of the Vedic scriptures even within an entire lifetime. Also, the knowledge given in the Vedas is widely differentiated; there are sections that describe all the different aspects of life. If we try to learn everything just by reading the Vedas ourselves, we become lost in a jungle of knowledge. Considering that this would happen, Vedavyās felt his work was not sufficient. He then composed the one hundred and eight Upaniṣads.

“The Vedas are very big. The Upaniṣads are much shorter. They present all the ideals found in the Vedas in a much shorter form.4 But the Upaniṣads are still so many, so Vedavyās finally composed the Vedānta-darśana.

Within the Vedānta-darśana is present the gist of all revealed knowledge and all the previous scriptures. When Vedavyās wanted to give the substance of the whole of Vedic literature in a very short way, he presented the Vedānta-darśana. Within the Vedānta-darśana there are only very short sūtras, codes, but there is so much light and so much knowledge within each and every one of them.”

“Vedavyās wanted to present everything in the sūtras of his Vedānta-darśana. He did this, but the sūtras contain so much condensed knowledge that they are very difficult to properly understand. Only a very highly qualified person can properly understand the condensed knowledge of the Vedānta-darśana. General persons are not able to understand it. We have seen that now there are also many wrong interpretations of the Vedānta “ wrong interpretations of the Vedānta-darśana being presented that were not intended by Vedavyās. These wrong interpretations create confusion and many mistaken theories which lead towards māyāvād, illusionism, and nāstikavād, atheism.

Vedavyās wanted that everyone would understand the gist of the Vedas through his writings, especially the Vedānta-darśana, and when he saw that this was not happening, he felt he felt unsatisfied.

“He thought, “I have given so much knowledge to rescue the conditioned souls. I have given so many things for their benefit. Why am I not feeling peace in my heart? Why am I not fully satisfied? Why is my work unsatisfactory? I cannot understand.”

As Vedavyās was thinking in this way his Gurudev, Nārad Goswāmī, came to visit him by the will of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Vedavyās was very happy to see Nārad Goswāmī. He received him and worshipped him. Then Vedavyās asked him, “Prabhu, why am I unhappy? You know everything, and you can understand why I am unhappy. Please explain this to me.” Nārad Goswāmī said, “Yes, I can explain everything; it is for this purpose that I have come to visit you.”

“Then Nārad Goswāmī chastised Vedavyās: “What you have given the conditioned souls is actually not sufficient.

jugupsitaṁ dharma-kṛte ’nuśāsataḥ

svabhāva-raktasya mahān vyatikramaḥ

yad-vākyato dharma itītaraḥ sthito

na manyate tasya nivāraṇaṁ janaḥ

(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.5.15)

“Jugupsitaṁ dharma-kṛte ’nuśāsataḥ: you have explained religion in khichuri form; everything is mixed together. That is tasteful to the conditioned souls, and they will no doubt enjoy with that. But you have left a puzzle for anyone who wants to transcend this mundane world. They will be frustrated when they try to find the clear path to the spiritual ”

“world. The conditioned souls are always active, and they need to know which path is best for them to follow and what their destination should be. Should they follow the path of karma-yoga, the path of action? Jñāna-yoga, the path of knowledge? Aṣṭāṅga-yoga, the path of meditation? Karma-miśra-bhakti, the path of devotion mixed with action? Jñāna-miśrā-bhakti, the path of devotion mixed with knowledge? This has not been clearly explained.

“What should be their ideal conception? Brahma conception, the conception of the nondifferentiated Absolute? Paramātmā conception, the conception of the Supreme Soul? Bhāgavat conception, the conception of the Supreme Personality of Godhead? You have not explained these things clearly, and you have not explained what is Supreme. It is necessary for you to clarify this to complete your work and truly benefit the conditioned souls.

“The conditioned souls can’t conceive that their greatest benefit will come to them through service and dedication to the Lord. They only understand exploitation. When they see the bad reactions they receive in the plane of “exploitation they seek relief in the plane of renunciation. But there they lose everything; the jīva-souls cannot find the fulfilment of their existence in impersonal liberation. Only in the plane of dedication and service to the Lord is everything existing beautifully in harmony with the jīva-souls’ true nature. You have not explained this to the conditioned souls.”

“Nārad Goswāmī continued, “You have already given medicine for rogīs, sick men, in the Vedas, Upaniṣads, and so on, but you have not explained what is nourishing to strong and healthy men. Your duty is to provide nourishment for everyone. You have given the medicine needed to release the conditioned souls from their suffering. You have given them the clue to find relief. But you have not given any nourishment to the healthy persons, liberated souls, who know they are transcendental, have goodwill, and want further nourishment. You are the supreme authority on religion; no one can change, or argue with, your conclusions. But what you have done is wrong and you must correct it.

“You have said, ‘Raso vai Saḥ: the Supreme is rasa.’ That is very good. But what is that rasa actually? There are so many forms of ecstasy. What is the supreme form of ecstasy? If a jīva-soul enters the emporium of ecstasy, how will he know what he wants and what is best for him?

“That is very good. But what is that rasa actually? There are so many forms of ecstasy. What is the supreme form of ecstasy? If a jīva-soul enters the emporium of ecstasy, how will he know what he wants and what is best for him? You have not clearly given that knowledge to the jīva-souls. So what have you actually distributed?

“You began the Vedānta-darśana with, ‘Athāto Brahma jijñāsā: now search for the Supreme.’ But who will understand that this actually means, ‘Search for Śrī Kṛṣṇa—Reality the Beautiful’? Who will understand that Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s divine form coupled with Rādhārāṇī is the emporium of all ecstasy (raso vai Saḥ)?

In this way, according to the conception of Śrīla Guru Mahārāj, Nārad Goswāmī chastised Vedavyās. Then Vedavyās folded his palms and asked Nārad Goswāmī, “Prabhu, what should I do now?

Nārad Goswāmī said, “Try to give Kṛṣṇa consciousness to the jīva-souls by describing and distributing Kṛṣṇa-līlā, the divine Pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa-līlā is not only the property of the mundane world; it is the property of Goloka Vṛndāvan, the highest realm of the spiritual world. I will give you in four short notes the seed form of that divine play, the gist form of that knowledge. You are qualified; you have the capacity to meditate. Plant these “seeds in your heart and meditate, and they will reveal their full form to you. With proper vision you will see everything cleanly and clearly. Then you can express that through your writing and distribute it all over the world. You will be fully satisfied and happy with that.”

Nārad Goswāmī properly and authentically gave the Bhāgavat-chatuḥ-ślokī mantram to Vedavyās, that is, transcendental light and knowledge of ananya-bhakti, exclusive devotion.6 Vedavyās meditated and saw Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself in his heart along with all of His potencies. Then, with inspiration from the chatuḥ-ślokī mantram, plus the twelve verses of chastisement from Nārad Goswāmī, and the idea to write a commentary on his Vedānta-darśana, Vedavyās com“posed his final work, his supreme scripture—Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.

Within Śrīmad Bhāgavatam four sittings are described in which the Bhāgavat’s message—the message which Nārad Goswāmī received from Brahmā and Brahmā received from Kṛṣṇa Himself at the beginning of creation—was transmitted. The first sitting was the meeting of Nārad Goswāmī and Vedavyās. The next sitting was the meeting of Vedavyās and his son Śukadev Goswāmī. The third sitting happened at Sukratala, where Śukadev Goswāmī spoke to Mahārāj Parīkṣit. The fourth sitting happened at Naimiṣāraṇya, where a disciple of Śukadev Goswāmī, Sūta Goswāmī, spoke to 60,000 ṛṣis who were assembled “for a fire sacrifice. After these four sittings Vedavyās collected everything that was expressed, gradually composed Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, and then gave it to the world.

In this way Vedavyās wrote his own commentary on the Vedānta-darśana and clearly explained everything about revealed knowledge for everyone. With full satisfaction in his heart he presented his introduction to Śrīmad Bhāgavatam in a simple way: “This Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is my last will and testament. It contains the highest knowledge—pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness—and any jīva-soul who can follow its directives will attain the supreme goal of life. They will attain a liberated position, get entrance into the transcendental service world, and happily play with the Supreme ”

“Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa in full love, affection, and ecstasy.”

Vedavyās also concluded Śrīmad Bhāgavatam with full satisfaction:

sarva-vedānta-sāraṁ hi śrīmad-bhāgavatam iṣyate

tad-rasāmṛta-tṛptasya nānyatra syād ratiḥ kvachit

(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 12.13.15)

“Śrīmad Bhāgavatam contains the gist of all the Vedas, the Vedānta-darśana, and the Upaniṣads. Anyone who once reads Śrīmad Bhāgavatam will never become attracted to any other scripture; one will only continue without interruption to drink the transcendental nectar of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.”

śrīmad-bhāgavataṁ purāṇam amalaṁ yad vaiṣṇavānāṁ priyaṁ

(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 12.13.18)”

“There was something wrong with what I presented previously, but here in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam there is nothing wrong; everything is clean and clear. Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is purāṇam amalam, the spotless Purāṇa, and, yad Vaiṣṇavānāṁ priyam, all the Vaiṣṇavas have accepted it very dearly within their hearts.”

In this way we can understand,

artho ’yaṁ brahma-sūtrāṇāṁ bhāratārtha-vinirṇayaḥ

gāyatrī-bhāṣya-rūpo ’sau vedārtha-paribṛṁhitaḥ

(Garuḍa-purāṇa)

“Śrīmad Bhāgavatam presents full knowledge of the sūtras of the Vedānta-darśana. It is the natural commentary on the Vedānta-darśana, the Mahābhārata, and the gāyatrī-mantram; all knowledge, everything, is presented in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.”

If you can follow the conception of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam you will understand the gist of all revealed truth, all āmnāya.”