Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta Madhya 22.131

śrīmad-bhāgavatārthānām

āsvādo rasikaiḥ saha

sajātīyāśaye snigdhe

sādhau sańgaḥ svato vare

SYNONYMS

śrīmad-bhāgavata — of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam; arthānām — of the meanings; āsvādaḥ — enjoying the taste; rasikaiḥ saha — with the devotees; sa-jātīya — similar; āśaye — endowed with a desire; snigdhe — advanced in devotional affection; sādhau — with a devotee; sańgaḥ — association; svataḥ — for one's self; vare — better.

TRANSLATION

"'One should taste the meaning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the association of pure devotees, and one should associate with the devotees who are more advanced than oneself and who are endowed with a similar type of affection for the Lord.

PURPORT

The words sajātīyāśaye snigdhe sādhau sańgaḥ svato vare are very important. One should not associate with professional Bhāgavatam reciters. A professional Bhāgavatam reciter is one who is not in the disciplic succession or one who has no taste for bhakti-yoga. Simply on the strength of grammatical knowledge and word jugglery, professional reciters maintain their bodies and their desires for sense gratification by reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. One should also avoid those who are averse to Lord Viṣṇu and His devotees, those who are Māyāvādīs, those who offend the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, those who simply dress as Vaiṣṇavas or so-called gosvāmīs, and those who make a business by selling Vedic mantras and reciting Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to maintain their families. One should not try to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from such materialistic people. According to the Vedic injunctions, yasya deve parā bhaktiḥ. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam can be recited only by one who has unflinching faith in the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa and His devotee, the spiritual master. One should try to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the spiritual master. The Vedic injunction states, bhaktyā bhāgavataḿ grāhyaḿ na buddhyā na ca ṭīkayā. One has to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam through the process of devotional service and by hearing the recitation of a pure devotee. These are the injunctions of the Vedic literature — śruti and smṛti. Those who are not in the disciplic succession and who are not pure devotees cannot understand the real mysterious objective of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā.

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