Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.3.44

tatra kīrtayato viprā

viprarsher bhūri-tejasah

aham cādhyagamam tatra

nivishtas tad-anugrahāt

so 'ham vah śrāvayishyāmi

yathādhītam yathā-mati

SYNONYMS

tatra — there; kīrtayatah — while reciting; viprāh — O brāhmanas; vipra-risheh — from the great brāhmana-rishi; bhūri — greatly; tejasah — powerful; aham — I; ca — also; adhyagamam — could understand; tatra — in that meeting; nivishtah — being perfectly attentive; tat-anugrahāt — by his mercy; sah — that very thing; aham — I; vah — unto you; śrāvayishyāmi — shall let you hear; yathā-adhītam yathā-mati — as far as my realization.

TRANSLATION

O learned brāhmanas, when Śukadeva Gosvāmī recited Bhāgavatam there [in the presence of Emperor Parīkshit], I heard him with rapt attention, and thus, by his mercy, I learned the Bhāgavatam from that great and powerful sage. Now I shall try to make you hear the very same thing as I learned it from him and as I have realized it.

PURPORT

One can certainly see directly the presence of Lord Śrī Krishna in the pages of Bhāgavatam if one has heard it from a self-realized great soul like Śukadeva Gosvāmī. One cannot, however, learn Bhāgavatam from a bogus hired reciter whose aim of life is to earn some money out of such recitation and employ the earning in sex indulgence. No one can learn Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam who is associated with persons engaged in sex life. That is the secret of learning Bhāgavatam Nor can one learn Bhāgavatam from one who interprets the text by his mundane scholarship. One has to learn Bhāgavatam from the representative of Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and no one else, if one at all wants to see Lord Śrī Krishna in the pages. That is the process, and there is no alternative. Sūta Gosvāmī is a bona fide representative of Śukadeva Gosvāmī because he wants to present the message which he received from the great learned brāhmana. Śukadeva Gosvāmī presented Bhāgavatam as he heard it from his great father, and so also Sūta Gosvāmī is presenting Bhāgavatam as he had heard it from Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Simple hearing is not all; one must realize the text with proper attention. The word nivishta means that Sūta Gosvāmī drank the juice of Bhāgavatam through his ears. That is the real process of receiving Bhāgavatam. One should hear with rapt attention from the real person, and then he can at once realize the presence of Lord Krishna in every page. The secret of knowing Bhāgavatam is mentioned here. No one can give rapt attention who is not pure in mind. No one can be pure in mind who is not pure in action. No one can be pure in action who is not pure in eating, sleeping, fearing and mating. But somehow or other if someone hears with rapt attention from the right person, at the very beginning one can assuredly see Lord Śrī Krishna in person in the pages of Bhāgavatam.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the First Canto, Third Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "Krishna Is the Source of All Incarnations."

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