Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.11.20

yasyām na me pāvanam ańga karma

sthity-udbhava-prāna-nirodham asya

līlāvatārepsita-janma vā syād

vandhyām giram tām bibhriyān na dhīrah

SYNONYMS

yasyām — in which (literature); na — not; me — My; pāvanam — purifying; ańga — O Uddhava; karma — activities; sthiti — maintenance; udbhava — creation; prāna-nirodham — and annihilation; asya — of the material world; līlā-avatāra — among the pastime incarnations; īpsita — desired; janma — appearance; vā — or; syāt — is; vandhyām — barren; giram — vibration; tām — this; bibhriyāt — should support; na — not; dhīrah — an intelligent person.

TRANSLATION

My dear Uddhava, an intelligent person should never take to literatures that do not contain descriptions of My activities, which purify the whole universe. Indeed, I create, maintain and annihilate the entire material manifestation. Among all My pastime incarnations, the most beloved are Krishna and Balarāma. Any so-called knowledge that does not recognize these activities of Mine is simply barren and is not acceptable to those who are actually intelligent.

PURPORT

The words līlāvatārepsita-janma are very significant here. The Lord's incarnation for executing wonderful pastimes is called līlāvatāra, and such wonderful forms of Vishnu are glorified by the names Rāmacandra, Nrisimhadeva, Kūrma, Varāha, and so on. Among all such līlāvatāras, however, the most beloved, even to this day, is Lord Krishna, the original source of the vishnu-tattva. The Lord appears in the prison house of Kamsa and is immediately transferred to the rural setting of Vrindāvana, where He exhibits unique childhood pastimes with His cowherd boyfriends, girl friends, parents and well-wishers. After some time, the Lord's pastimes are transferred to Mathurā and Dvārakā, and the extraordinary love of the inhabitants of Vrindāvana is exhibited in their anguished separation from Lord Krishna. Such pastimes of the Lord are īpsita, or the reservoir of all loving exchanges with the Absolute Truth. The pure devotees of the Lord are most intelligent and expert and do not pay any attention to useless, fruitless literatures that neglect the highest truth, Lord Krishna. Although such literatures are very popular among materialistic persons all over the world, they are completely neglected by the community of pure Vaishnavas. In this verse the Lord explains that the literatures approved for the devotees are those that glorify the Lord's pastimes as the purusha-avatāra and the līlāvatāras, culminating in the personal appearance of Lord Krishna Himself, as confirmed in Brahma-samhitā (5.39):

rāmādi-mūrtishu kalā-niyamena tishthan

nānāvatāram akarod bhuvaneshu kintu

krishnah svayam samabhavat paramah pumān yo

govindam ādi-purusham tam aham bhajāmi

"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who manifested Himself personally as Krishna and the different avatāras in the world in the forms of Rāma, Nrisimha, Vāmana, etc., as His subjective portions."

Even Vedic literatures that neglect the Supreme Personality of Godhead should be ignored. This fact was also explained by Nārada Muni to Śrīla Vyāsadeva, the author of the Vedas, when the great Vedavyāsa felt dissatisfied with his work.

<<< >>>

Copyright ©r The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
His Holiness Hrdayananda dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari
Dravida dasa Brahmacari