Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Sri Caitanya Caritamrita Madhya 19.17

bhattacarya pandita bisa trisa lana

bhagavata vicara karena sabhate vasiya

SYNONYMS

bhattacarya pandita -- learned scholars known as bhattacaryas; bisa trisa -- twenty or thirty; lana -- taking with him; bhagavata vicara -- discussion of Srimad-Bhagavatam; karena -- does; sabhate vasiya -- sitting in an assembly.

TRANSLATION

Sri Sanatana Gosvami used to discuss Srimad-Bhagavatam in an assembly of twenty or thirty learned brahmana scholars.

PURPORT

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura gives the following commentary on the words bhagavata vicara. As confirmed in the Mundaka Upanishad (1.1.4-5), there are two kinds of educational systems:

dve vidye veditavya iti, ha sma yad brahma-vido vadanti -- para caivapara ca. tatrapara rig-vedo yajur-vedah sama-vedo 'tharva-vedah siksha kalpo vyakaranam niruktam chando jyotisham iti. atha para yaya tad aksharam adhigamyate.

"There are two kinds of educational systems. One deals with transcendental knowledge [para vidya] and the other with material knowledge [apara vidya]. All the Vedas -- the Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda, along with their corollaries, known as siksha, kalpa, vyakarana, nirukta, chanda and jyotisha -- belong to the inferior system of material knowledge [apara vidya]. By para vidya one can understand the akshara -- Brahman or the Absolute Truth." As far as the Vedic literature is concerned, the Vedanta-sutra is accepted as the para vidya. Srimad-Bhagavatam is an explanation of that para vidya. Those who aspire for liberation (mukti or moksha) and introduce themselves as vaidantika are also equal to those groups aspiring to improve religion (dharma), economic development (artha) and sense gratification (kama). Dharma, artha, kama and moksha are called catur-varga. They are all within the system of inferior, material knowledge. Any literature giving information about the spiritual world, spiritual life, spiritual identity and the spirit soul is called para vidya. Srimad-Bhagavatam does not have anything to do with the materialistic way of life; it gives transcendental information to educate people in the superior system of para vidya. Sanatana Gosvami was engaged in discussing the bhagavata-vidya, which means he discussed transcendental superior knowledge. Those who are karmis, jnanis or yogis are not actually fit to discuss Srimad-Bhagavatam. Only Vaishnavas, or pure devotees, are fit to discuss that literature. As stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam itself (12.13.18):

srimad-bhagavatam puranam amalam yad vaishnavanam priyam

yasmin paramahamsyam ekam amalam jnanam param giyate

yatra jnana-viraga-bhakti-sahitam naishkarmyam avishkritam

tac chrinvan supathan vicarana-paro bhaktya vimucyen narah

Although Srimad-Bhagavatam is counted among the Puranas, it is called the spotless Purana. Because it does not discuss anything material, it is liked by transcendental Vaishnava devotees. The subject matter found in Srimad-Bhagavatam is meant for paramahamsas. As it is said, paramo nirmatsaranam satam vedyam. A paramahamsa is one who does not live in the material world and who does not envy others. In Srimad-Bhagavatam, devotional service is discussed to arouse the living entity to the transcendental position of jnana (knowledge) and vairagya (renunciation). As stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.2.12):

tac chraddadhanah munayo jnana-vairagya-yuktaya

pasyanty atmani catmanam bhaktya sruta-grihitaya

"The seriously inquisitive student or sage, well equipped with knowledge and detachment, realizes that Absolute Truth by rendering devotional service in terms of what he has heard from the Vedanta-sruti."

This is not sentiment. Knowledge and renunciation can be obtained through devotional service (bhaktya sruta-grihitaya), that is, by arousing one's dormant devotional consciousness, Krishna consciousness. When Krishna consciousness is aroused, it relieves one from fruitive activity, activity for economic improvement and material enjoyment. This relief is technically called naishkarmya, and when one is relieved, he is no longer interested in working hard for sense gratification. Srimad-Bhagavatam is Srila Vyasadeva's last, mature contribution, and one should read and hear it in an assembly of realized souls while engaging in devotional service. At such a time one can be liberated from all material bondage. This was the course taken by Sanatana Gosvami, who retired from government service to study Srimad-Bhagavatam with learned scholars.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness