Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 6.3.22

etāvān eva loke 'smin

pumsām dharmah parah smritah

bhakti-yogo bhagavati

tan-nāma-grahanādibhih

SYNONYMS

etāvān — this much; eva — indeed; loke asmin — in this material world; pumsām — of the living entities; dharmah — the religious principles; parah — transcendental; smritah — recognized; bhakti-yogah — bhakti-yoga, or devotional service; bhagavati — to the Supreme Personality of Godhead (not to the demigods); tat — His; nāma — of the holy name; grahana-ādibhih — beginning with chanting.

TRANSLATION

Devotional service, beginning with the chanting of the holy name of the Lord, is the ultimate religious principle for the living entity in human society.

PURPORT

As stated in the previous verse, dharmam bhāgavatam, real religious principles, are bhāgavata-dharma, the principles described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam itself or in Bhagavad-gītā, the preliminary study of the Bhāgavatam. What are these principles? The Bhāgavatam says, dharmah projjhita-kaitavo 'tra: [SB 1.1.2] in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there are no cheating religious systems. Everything in the Bhāgavatam is directly connected with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Bhāgavatam further says, sa vai pumsām paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokshaje: [SB 1.2.6] the supreme religion is that which teaches its followers how to love the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is beyond the reach of experimental knowledge. Such a religious system begins with tan-nāma-grahana, chanting of the holy name of the Lord (śravanam kīrtanam vishnoh smaranam pāda-sevanam [SB 7.5.23]). After chanting the holy name of the Lord and dancing in ecstasy, one gradually sees the form of the Lord, the pastimes of the Lord and the transcendental qualities of the Lord. This way one fully understands the situation of the Personality of Godhead. One can come to this understanding of the Lord, how He descends into the material world, how He takes His births and what activities He performs, but one can know this only by executing devotional service. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti: [Bg. 18.55] simply by devotional service one can understand everything about the Supreme Lord. If one fortunately understands the Supreme Lord in this way, the result is tyaktvā deham punar janma naiti: [Bg. 4.9] after giving up his material body, he no longer has to take birth in this material world. Instead, he returns home, back to Godhead. That is the ultimate perfection. Therefore Krishna says in Bhagavad-gītā (8.15):

mām upetya punar janma

duhkhālayam aśāśvatam

nāpnuvanti mahātmānah

samsiddhim paramām gatāh

"After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogīs in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection."

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