SRI BRHAD BHAGAVATAMRTA *verse 5*

verse 5

krsna-bhakti-rasambhodheh prasadad badarayaneh

pariksid-uttara-parsve nivisto 'srausam anjasa

By the mercy of Sri Sukadeva, who is an ocean of the nectar of devotion for Sri Krsna, I sat near Sri Uttara-devi and Sri Pariksit and listened to their conversation with one-pointed attention.

...the dig-Darsini-tika is sooo beautiful. so i hope all have this book and if you don't get it quick!

**here is another amazing aspect of out philosophy - it's not WHAT you know, rather WHO you know on this path. it's more important in the process of bhakti yoga because bhakti comes from bhakti.

  "As in the Bhagavad-gita, mat-prasadat param santim...mat-samstham adhigacchati...(BG 18.62), Krsna Himself speaks of His prasada, or mercy , as the means to attain supreme peace and His eternal abode.  This prasad takes the form of the Lord giving His devotee the power to confer the Lord's own krpa-sakti or mercy.  In other words, one receives the Lord's mercy through the mercy of the devotee who bestows it..." - Madhurya Kadambini by Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura - **

Sage Jaiamini gives all credit to his gurudeva, Sri Sukadeva Gosvami for allowing him to understand this conversation, SBB, and for allowing him to be in proximity of Pariksit and Uttara when they spoke.

when i get some little understanding on this path i have to admit i think i am getting it. but it is only by the mercy of my gurus that i can even put one foot in front of the other on this path...

...so. please Lord let me remember that their (my gurus) mercy is all that i am made of!

                                                                                                 ...this is bhakti's way!

SRI BRHAD BHAGAVATAMRTA *verse 4*

verse 4

 sri-jaiminir uvaca

naitat sva-saktito rajan vaktum jnatum ca sakyate

sarva-jnanam ca durjneyam brahmanubhavinam api

Sri Jaimini said"  O King, it is not possible to describe or understand that conversation by one's own power.  Even the crest jewels of omniscient personalities and even those who have realized Brahman find it hard to comprehend.

DIG-DARSINI-TIKA:  No one is capable of grasping this conversation by the power of mind and words.  to convey this idea, Sri Jaimini speaks this verse beginning with na.  He says,  "This narration of the glories of Goloka  (goloka-mahatmya) is the essence of the nectarean ocean of Srimad Bhagavatam.  It is incomprehensible even for perfected beings who are trikala-jna - who know past, present, and future - and even for liberated souls who have realized Brahman."  This statement indicates the rarity of knowledge about the glories of Sri Bhagavan and His eternal associates.

...i just read a verse in Bhagavatam 3.6.40:  Words, mind and ego, with their respective controlling demigods, have failed to achieve success in knowing the Supreme Personality of Godhead.  Therefore, we simply have to offer our respectful obeisances unto Him as a matter of sanity.

this is spoken by the great sage Maitreya to Vidura.  Maitreya is trying to convey to Vidura what he heard from Lord Krsna just before His departure.  Here he's showing a wonderful aspect of our philosophy, that the glories and attributes of the Lord can not be comprehended by our pea-brains, so we offer pranams to Him in any way that we can and follow our Gurudevas to develop pure love for This Amazing Personality.

Srila Prabhupada says in the purport to this Bhagavatam verse ...The only method for understanding the Supreme truth is devotional service...BG 18:55, bhaktya mama abhijanati yavan yas casmi tattvatah tato mam tattvato jnatva visate tad-anantaram - It is only through bhaki that one can know the tattva of My glories and svarupa.  One then enters My eternal pastimes through that tattva on the strength of prema-bhakti.

...this is the goal of bhakti yoga

                               ...this is the bhakti way

                                              ...today, how can i serve my Lord?

 

SRI BRHAD BHAGAVATAMRTA *verse 3*

verse 3

tan-mata-putrayor vidvan samvadah kathyatam tayoh

sudha-saramayo 'nyo 'pi krsna-padabja-lubdhayoh

Therefore, O best of sages, please narrate more of the nectarean conversation of both mother and son, who were greedy for the honey of Sri Krsna's lotus feet.

DIG-DARSINI-TIKA:  Sri Janamejaya says,  "Mother and son were greedy for the honey of Sri Krsna's lotus feet.  Please narrate their nectarean conversation, which is filled with many sweet stories and sub-stories.  Why?  Because you are the person most conversant with the topic discussed by these rasika devotees, who are skilled in relishing the transcendental mellows of loving relationship with the Lord."

...here is the essence of the human predicament.  really what we're interested in is loving relationships.  and as we progress in the yoga process we are eager to purify our interest in loving relationships and to ultimately direct out love and devotion to the Supreme and His associates...

Once, in Badger, Srila Gurudeva asked us what it is that we need to survive?  well we scrambled and hemed and hawed and came up with, uh, sadhu sanga? hmm, your instructions?  Guru seva? 

and Gurudeva said, No. wrong.

you need food.

oh, yeah, we thought.

and Gurudeva said, yes. we could not live long without food. and what else is a neccessity?

now we got the way this conversation was going and we said, Water!

Yes, gurudeva said, you can only live about 3 days without water. and what else do you need?

Air! its Air!  yes, said srila gurudeva you can only live a few minutes without air. You see the body is made from earth so it needs food that is from the earth.

and the body is  3/4 s  water so it needs water.

and there are so many airs in the body  so it needs air.

but the soul is made of another substance.

the soul is made of prema.

so prema is required.

love and affection are required

and

without love,

we

wouldn't

last a moment!

...that is the way of bhakti....

SRI BRHAD BHAGAVATAMRTA **verse 2**

verse 2

srimad-bhagavatambhodhi-piyusam idan apiban

na trpyami muni-srestha tvan-mukhambhja-vasitam

O topmost sage, despite heartily drinking the nectar of this great ocean of Srimad-Bhagavatam, which is scented with the fragrance of your lotus mouth, I am still not satiated.

...so this is King Janamejaya (the son of Parisit Maharaja), speaking to his guru, Jaimini (a prominent disciple of Vyasadeva).  and he's saying that even though he's heard now so much nectar from the ocean of Srimad Bhagavatm from the first canto of Bhagavatamrta and yet he still wants to hear more.

If you have read the first canto of Bhagavatamrta, http://www.purebhakti.com/resources/ebooks-a-magazines-mainmenu-63/cat_view/53-bhakti-books-download/31-english.html, you will remember that Sri Narada Muni is going from personality to personality asking who is the greatest recipient of Lord Krsna's mercy.  It is a delightful pastime where each personality like Hanuman is aghast thinking that anyone would think he is the greatest recipient of Krsna's mercy and telling Narada, 

"O best of sages why do you make this poor person, suffering due to separation from the lotus feet of Sri Raghunatha, cry by reminding me of his cruelty to me?  If I am really his servant, then why did he abandon me when he took his beloved devotees such as Sugurva and the residents of Ayodhya with him!  When soft hearted mahatmas like you see that I had the good fortune to serve Sri Raghunatha directly, you consider that he was very merciful to me, but it is not so.  

Now he has assumed an incarnation and descended in Mathura, exhibiting the pinnacle of his opulence.  The mercy that he gives the Pandavas is like the great Mt. Sumeru, and in caparison the mercy that he gave me is like a pebble.  By sending them so many troubles  since their childhood, Sri Krsna has broadcast to the world their patience, adherence to religious principles fame, transcendental knowledge, pure devotion and divine love." (Sri Hanuman)

so in this way these great devotees are sending Narada to higher and higher personalities culminating of course in the gopis.

that is the first canto. king Janmejaya is not saying that the first canto is insufficient in any way rather that he is anxious to hear more and more. this is the sign of a devotee. he can never hear enough about his sweet Lord!