The Great Merits of this Beautiful Bhagavatam

I understand from the previous discussion that meditation upon the Supreme Entity – Sri Krishna, Vasudeva’s son – is the superlative directive for spiritual evolution. But, how do I perform this meditation?

Those who are well-intentioned perform this divine meditation by very deeply relishing this very book, Srimad Bhagavatam – without delay or distraction. (zrImad-bhAgavate… kRtibhiH zuzrUSubhis tat-kSaNAt)

Why? What is so special about this book?

Unlike other books, even those that are religious and spiritual, Srimad Bhagavatam goes direct and straight to the true heart of the heart of absolute reality, as well as all the wondrous realities which spring forth from it. (vedyaM vAstavam atra vastu)

How is that unlike other religious and spiritual books?

This Bhagavatam banishes from its pages all hints of mundane religiosity – which is really nothing more than common selfishness in a pious disguise, and thus provides the ideal subject matter even for the most elevated and pure-hearted spiritualists to meditate upon. (dharmaH projjhita-kaitavo ‘tra paramo narmatsarANAM satAM)

Religion, in its best forms at least, deals with the four needs of human beings: pleasure, stability, morality, and emancipation. All four, however, are evolutions from the root need: pleasure. And all four are immature evolutions because the retain a self-centered focus, albeit to lesser and lesser extents. Thus, from a critical point of view, all forms of religion are merely materialism (selfishness) in pious disguises. The Srimad Bhagavatam, on the other hand, is quite different because it deals with the true and ultimate human need, the perfection of all other needs: love. And in so doing establishes a selfless goal, centered upon the all-attractive all-fortunate cynosure of divine love, Sri Krishna, Vasudeva’s son. Thus the Srimad Bhagavatam is rightly differentiated here as unique among all the great spiritual and religious works of India and around the world as well.

What is the effect of meditation upon the Srimad Bhagavatam?

That which is inauspicious becomes absolutely annihilated, and that which is all-auspicious becomes absolutely established in your heart. The Supreme Entity himself, Sri Krishna, will at once become captured within the loving confines of your own heart, destroying all inauspiciousness as a mere side-effect! (zivadaM tApa-tray-onmUlanam… IzvaraH sadya hRdy avarudhyate ‘tra)

Srimad Bhagavatam has captured within its core a revelation of the all-attractive Sri Krishna. Therefore if you meditate upon this Bhagavatam’s contents, what is within it’s core will be transferred into your core. You then will become a “Bhagavata” – an entity carrying the all-attractive divine Krishna lovingly in your core.

This is the essence of all auspiciousness! If you are worried about obtaining or avoiding anything else beyond or besides this, don’t. Everything else will immediately be perfected when the all-perfect Supreme Entity is loving captured within you. All the various miseries of life will be completely uprooted, and all the auspiciousness beyond your wildest dreams will be irrevocably established! 

Therefore, besides this beautiful Bhagavatam, compiled by the great sage Mahamuni,  what else could you possibly require?

This great sage Mahamuni is purported to be Veda Vyasa, the figure said to be the author of the entire body of Indian spiritual literature, more or less. The bhagavatam itself consists of several layers of itself, several versions of itself wrapped in larger, more elaborative versions. At the core the Bhagavatam is only 4 verses long, but the many layers of tellings and retellings included in the Bhagavatam we have today expands those four to 18,000. Mahamuni Vyasa is credited here as the compiler, or maker (kRte) of this book, but we know from the book itself that it has many illustrious authors, including Sri Krishna, Shukadeva, and Suta Goswami.

The attentive reader will find that the Srimad Bhagavatam is the most brilliant exposition of pure selfless love for the Divine Supreme and is therefore the most auspicious subject mater for the human heart and mind to contemplate. Let us meditate on the all-fortunate, all-attractive Sri Krishna by attentively and eagerly hearing the beautiful words of this Bhagavatam!

Who and What is the “Supreme Entity”?

Now hear this transcendental declaration:

Krishna, the Son of Vasudeva is the all-attractive, all-fortunate one – not you or I! (oḿ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya)

The great Gayatri Mantra says, “meditate!” (dhīmahi)

But what is the topmost topic for mediation???

The absolute reality is! (satyaḿ paraḿ)

But how shall we meditate upon the absolute reality!?
What shall we focus upon?

 The great Vedanta Sutra defines the absolute reality as:

That creative entity from which all other creative entities in the universe spring forth. (janmādy asya yato)

This entity is all-knowing: fully aware of everything which springs from it – both directly and indirectly, and therefore knows fully well how to fulfill all its goals and intentions. (‘nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ)

Yet this entity never becomes entangled in any of the pettiness that indirectly springs from it – nor is this entity ever dependent on anything which has come from it. It is fully self-complete and independent. (svarAT)

There are many beings which have sprung forth from this entity in the history of the universe who seem nearly all-knowing and totally independent creators of all things. But you must not divert your meditation to them! All of them are dependent in all respects on this Supreme, Absolute Entity. Brahma, for example, is the all-wise creator of everything within the universe – but all his wisdom and power was granted to him by this Supreme Entity. (tene brahma hRdA ya Adi kavaye) Many other gods exist who rule the atom, the heat, the rain, the sky, space, etc. etc. Many powerful human beings also exist who are powerful and smart. They all appear to be all-knowing and all-powerful creators, but they are all dependent upon this Supreme Entity, who confuses and confounds their inferior powers and comprehensions. (muhyanti yat sUrayaH)

This entity is not only the wellspring of all creators and all creativity, it is also the fountainhead of the creative materials and elements themselves! It is only because of this Supreme Entity that the world within the realm of our experience appears to have sensible form, taste, smell, etc. (tejo-vAri-mRdAM yathA vinimayo yatra tri-sargo ‘mRSA)

So meditate upon the Absolute Entity as the all-knowing, fully-independent origin of all creativity, creators, and creation.

This explains how the absolute reality exists in relation to the world we are aware of, our own universe. But how does the absolute reality exist in relation to itself, in its own context, in it’s own world?

The Supreme Entity is an eternal and infinite manifestation of pleasures, replete with all the talents and paraphernalia required by and enjoyed in the process of such bliss. These blissful objects have a resemblance to those sights, smells, and forms which have also sprung from the Supreme into our small realm of experience, our “material world.” But the bliss and pleasures of the absolute are distinct from the dim reflections of the same known to us, because there is no sense of lack or emptiness or need driving them – no dire, miserable hunger at the root of it as is the case with us. All the pleasures and delights of the Supreme Entity are overflowing effulgences of its own naturally inherent self-sufficient bliss. (dhAmnA svena sadA)

Why is there no obstruction to the bliss and pleasures in the wold of the Supreme Entity? Because there is no falsehood there! We have given a home to falsehood and allowed it to embrace and enclose our cores. Therefore we cannot experience unimpeded bliss until we entirely cast off all lies and cheats. What is the essential lie?

The essential truth is that Sri Krishna, the son of Vasudeva is all-fortunate and all-attraction. The essential lie is that we can compete with him for a similar position as the focal point of affection, pleasure, admiration, power, knowledge, etc.

This is the lie that must be cast off if we are to realize our true potential as entity that factually exist. To meditate upon the all-fortunate beauty and attractiveness of Sri Krishna is the medicine that allows and encourages us to cast off our lie and cut our hearts free from it’s thick encrusting embrace.

The Srimad Bhagavatam is 18,000 verses of such meditation.

We have just tasted a drop of the first!