ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ।
Why Was Another Grantha Needed?
Our Sanatana Dharma has given us an ocean of granthas. The Vedas are the eternal source. From that Vedic parampara come the Upanishads, the Itihasas, the Puranas, the Dharmashastras, and the many teachings through which our acharyas and rishis have shown us the path of dharma, bhakti and moksha.
And few have given more to this vaidika sanatana dharma than Maharshi Veda Vyasa.
Maharshi Vyasa divided the Vedas and entrusted them to different shishya paramparas. He gave us the Mahabharata. He preserved and taught the Purana tradition. Through these granthas he had already spoken about dharma, yajna, kings and rishis, devas and avataras, karma and jnana, and the many ways in which the jiva moves through this samsara.
And yet, he was not at peace.
His heart was still not fulfilled.
The Bhagavatam itself tells us this story. Vyasa had completed this enormous body of work, but still felt an emptiness within. He knew that something remained unfinished. It is at this point that Narada comes to him and helps him understand the reason.
Maharshi Vyasa has certainly spoken of the greatness of Sriman Narayana, but not with the fullness with which His spotless glory deserves to be sung. Something was still missing.
Vyasa had not yet poured his heart into a grantha where Krishna Himself was at the center. A grantha filled with His gunas and His lilas. A grantha where the greatness of the Bhagavatas was celebrated with the same love. A grantha where we do not merely learn that Sriman Narayana protects His devotees, but enter into the bhava of those devotees and experience their love, their longing, their prapatti and His anugraha.
It is from this inner longing that the Srimad Bhagavatam emerges.
Many of the stories that we encounter in the Bhagavatam are not completely unknown elsewhere. We know of the avataras of Sriman Narayana from other Puranas. We meet the Pandavas and Krishna throughout the Mahabharata. Many rishis, kings and Bhagavatas appear elsewhere in our grantha parampara as well.
What makes the Bhagavatam different is the bhava with which all of this is told.
Here, the lila of Krishna is not merely narrated. It is tasted. The greatness of the Bhagavatas is not merely recorded. Their bhakti is brought before us so that it may speak to our own heart.
We stand with Prahlada before Narasimha. We hear Gajendra call to Narayana when every other refuge has failed. We see Dhruva approach Sriman Narayana with one desire and discover something infinitely greater. We hear Kunti speak to Krishna with a love so deep that even suffering becomes bearable when it brings Him before her eyes. We sit with Parikshit when only seven days of his life remain and watch him give everything else up for Hari-katha.
This is the rasa of the Bhagavatam.
In the previous post, we saw the Bhagavatam describe itself as the galitaṁ phalam, the fully ripened fruit of the Vedic Kalpataru.
If this is the ripened fruit, an important question naturally follows.
What is the sara within this fruit? What is the highest truth that Vyasa is giving us through the Bhagavatam? And what is this grantha ultimately trying to do for the jiva?
Its very first two shlokas answer these questions.
The first tells us the Truth upon which the entire Bhagavatam meditates.
The second tells us what this extraordinary grantha gives to one who approaches it with the desire to hear.
The Supreme Truth Upon Whom We Meditate
Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1.1
जन्माद्यस्य यतोऽन्वयादितरतश्चार्थेष्वभिज्ञः स्वराट्
तेने ब्रह्म हृदा य आदिकवये मुह्यन्ति यत्सूरयः ।
तेजोवारिमृदां यथा विनिमयो यत्र त्रिसर्गोऽमृषा
धाम्ना स्वेन सदा निरस्तकुहकं सत्यं परं धीमहि ॥janmādyasya yato ’nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ svarāṭ
tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ
tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ yathā vinimayo yatra tri-sargo ’mṛṣā
dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakaṁ satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahiWe meditate upon that Supreme Truth from whom the creation, sustenance and dissolution of this universe arise. He knows everything, directly and indirectly, and is completely independent. It is He who revealed Vedic knowledge in the heart of Brahma, the first sage, while even the great learned ones can be bewildered in understanding Him. Through Him this universe of the elements exists, while by His own divine radiance all deception is forever dispelled. Upon that Supreme Truth, we meditate.
The shloka is immensely profound, and great Bhagavatas have spoken about this single shloka at immense depth. But its purpose becomes clear when we look at where it finally takes us:
सत्यं परं धीमहि (satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi)
We meditate upon the Supreme Truth.
These words are not merely a beautiful ending to the first shloka. They tell us what the entire Bhagavatam is going to do.
Before telling us of Prahlada or Dhruva, before taking us to the banks of the Yamuna, before describing the birth of Krishna or the lilas of Vrindavana, Vyasa first tells us where to place our mind.
Upon the Param Satyam.
And the shloka itself tells us who that Param Satyam is.
Janmadyasya YataH
The Bhagavatam begins with:
जन्माद्यस्य यतः
From whom arise the creation and all that follows.
These words are immediately familiar to anyone who has encountered the Brahma Sutras. The second Brahma Sutra itself is: जन्माद्यस्य यतः
Brahman is that from whom the origin and the rest of this universe proceed.
The grantha that will give us some of the sweetest Krishna-katha in our entire tradition begins from one of the deepest questions of Vedanta.
What is the source of everything that we see?
Where does this jagat come from? By whom is it sustained? Into whom does it finally resolve?
The answer is Brahman.
And for us, that Brahman is not some distant or abstract principle. He is Sriman Narayana.
The same Krishna whose childhood lilas we will later hear with such joy is the Param Satyam from whom everything arises. The same Narayana who responds to the cry of Gajendra is the source and support of this entire jagat. The same Sriman Narayana who resides in Paramapadam enters His creation, becomes accessible to His bhaktas, takes avatara after avatara, and allows Himself to be approached through bhakti and prapatti.
This is the Param Satyam upon whom Vyasa asks us to meditate.
The shloka then calls Him:
अभिज्ञः स्वराट् (abhijñaḥ svarāṭ)
He is fully knowing. He is completely independent.
Even Brahma, the first of the created beings and the ādi-kavi, receives his knowledge from Him:
तेने ब्रह्म हृदा य आदिकवये (tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye)
It is Sriman Narayana who gives that knowledge to Brahma in his heart.
And so, after describing the source of the universe, the source of knowledge, and the Supreme who is independent of everything while everything depends upon Him, Vyasa returns to the words that matter most:
सत्यं परं धीमहि (satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi)
We meditate upon that Supreme Truth.
The importance of this phrase becomes even more beautiful when we reach the end of the Bhagavatam. After twelve Skandhas, after all the avataras, all the Bhagavatas, all the teachings, and the ocean of Krishna-katha that lies between them, the Bhagavatam returns once again to the same words: सत्यं परं धीमहि
The Bhagavatam begins with this meditation and, near its conclusion, returns to it again.
Everything in between can be understood in that light.
The stories are not separate from the Param Satyam. They allow us to know Him.
Krishna-katha is not a diversion from Vedanta. It brings that Supreme Truth close enough for the heart to know Him.
What Does the Bhagavatam Give Us?
Having told us whom we are to meditate upon, the Bhagavatam immediately tells us what kind of grantha it is.
Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1.2
धर्मः प्रोज्झितकैतवोऽत्र परमो निर्मत्सराणां सतां
वेद्यं वास्तवमत्र वस्तु शिवदं तापत्रयोन्मूलनम् ।
श्रीमद्भागवते महामुनिकृते किं वा परैरीश्वरः
सद्यो हृद्यवरुध्यतेऽत्र कृतिभिः शुश्रूषुभिस्तत्क्षणात् ॥dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ’tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ
vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu śivadaṁ tāpa-trayonmūlanam
śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-kṛte kiṁ vā parair īśvaraḥ
sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate ’tra kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇātIn this Srimad Bhagavatam, all kaitava dharma, dharma pursued with lesser or deceptive ends, is completely cast aside. Here is taught the highest dharma for those whose hearts are free from matsara. Here the true Reality is to be known, bringing auspiciousness and uprooting the three kinds of suffering. What need is there for anything else? Bhagavan immediately takes His place in the heart of the sincere person who desires to hear this Bhagavatam.
It begins with a powerful statement:
धर्मः प्रोज्झितकैतवोऽत्र (dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ’tra)
Here, kaitava dharma is completely cast away. Dharma can be approached with many desires. We may perform dharma seeking prosperity, punya, svarga, success, relief from suffering, or some other fruit. These too have their place within the vast structure of our shastras. But the Bhagavatam is trying to take the jiva somewhere deeper.
It wants us to turn towards Krishna for His sake. Not merely for what He can give us.
That is why this grantha is filled with Bhagavatas.
Prahlada does not love Narasimha because he wants a kingdom. Gajendra finally calls when every other support has disappeared. The gopis do not measure their love for Krishna through what they receive in return. Again and again, the Bhagavatam takes us beyond transaction and towards a love in which Krishna Himself becomes the goal.
The next phrase tells us what is to be known here:
वेद्यं वास्तवमत्र वस्तु (vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu)
Here is to be known the true vastu. The Reality that is truly real.
And the first shloka has already told us what that Reality is.
satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi
The Param Satyam is Sriman Narayana Himself.
So the Bhagavatam is not merely giving us more information about dharma. It is turning the jiva towards the true vastu, towards the One who is the source of the jiva, the jagat and everything that exists.
And then comes perhaps the most beautiful promise of the second shloka:
ईश्वरः सद्यो हृद्यवरुध्यतेऽत्र (īśvaraḥ sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate ’tra)
Ishwara is held in the heart.
And for whom?
शुश्रूषुभिस्तत्क्षणात् (śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt)
For the one who sincerely desires to hear.
This is the beauty of the Bhagavatam.
The path begins with shravana.
Shuka speaks. Parikshit sits and listens.
The rishis at Naimisharanya sit before Suta Pauranika and listen.
Again and again, the Bhagavatam places Hari-katha at the center. The jiva hears the gunas and lilas of Bhagavan. That hearing creates remembrance. Remembrance creates love. The heart slowly turns away from everything in which it had previously sought refuge and turns towards Him.
And through all of these, the jiva is slowly led towards the Param Satyam.
The Bhagavatam will now tell us thousands of stories. We will travel through many worlds, meet kings and rishis, devas and asuras, children and householders, yogis and Bhagavatas. We will eventually reach Gokula, Vrindavana and the incomparable lilas of Krishna.
But we should never lose sight of the words with which Vyasa began.
सत्यं परं धीमहि
We meditate upon the Supreme Truth.
ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ।